Building Leadership Through Martial Arts With Steve Wilson
Steve Wilson is the Chairman of Koryu Koshu Kai, an international Okinawan Goju Ryu martial arts organization dedicated to preserving and teaching traditional Goju Ryu Karate. Steve is an eighth Dan practitioner with more than 50 years of martial arts experience, including advanced study in Japanese Goju Ryu and Kobudo. A retired CEO of a public utility, he developed leadership expertise through decades of operations and team management. Steve is the author of Budo: A Lifelong Journey, which shares lessons from his lifelong pursuit of discipline, character, and personal growth.
Here's a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
[3:38] How Steve Wilson began his martial arts journey at age 13
[6:00] Steve’s 42-year training journey with Sensei John O’Hara
[16:00] Why practical self-defense should be taught early in martial arts training
[20:27] The importance of practicing between martial arts classes
[26:08] How martial arts shaped Steve’s discipline and perseverance
[37:24] Steve’s transition from utility worker to CEO
[46:31] Steve talks about his leadership coaching and upcoming revisions to his book
[50:45] What develops strong leaders?
[58:08] Steve’s focus on passing martial arts teachings to the next generation
In this episode…
Leadership is often shaped long before someone steps into a formal leadership role. The habits built through consistent practice, the lessons learned from mentors, and the values developed through challenges all influence how people guide and support others. How can the principles behind personal growth and mastery translate into stronger leadership?
According to martial arts instructor and leadership coach Steve Wilson, leadership comes from applying the same discipline required for mastery in martial arts. His sensei taught him that improvement happens through the work done between training sessions, not just during them — a mindset that shaped his approach to developing people. Leaders must also elevate those around them, recognize employees for going above and beyond, and create a culture where people feel valued rather than treated as numbers. Leadership is built through consistent actions, personal accountability, and a commitment to helping others grow.
In this episode of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, Mark Hiddleson chats with Steve Wilson, Chairman of Koryu Koshu Kai, about leadership lessons from martial arts. Steve shares insights on discipline, resilience, and passing knowledge to future generations. He also discusses his journey from utility executive to martial arts leader and coach.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Specialized Storage Solutions, Inc. contact phone: 707-732-3892
Mark Hiddleson's email: markhiddleson@aol.com
Quotable Moments:
“I believe that nobody in the world out-trains a sensei.”
“My definition of leadership is common sense and intuition, guided by experience and fostered by personal character.”
“If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything.”
“If I can breathe, I'm gonna fight.”
“I think that you have to put people first.”
Action Steps:
Practice continuous improvement between training sessions: Applying lessons beyond the classroom helps people build skills, improve consistency, and turn knowledge into lasting progress.
Lead by developing others: Investing time in mentoring and teaching others creates stronger teams while extending the impact of your own experience and knowledge.
Build self-control before taking action: Staying composed under pressure helps leaders make better decisions, support others, and respond effectively in difficult situations.
Recognize people for going above and beyond: Showing appreciation for individual contributions helps employees feel valued and reinforces a culture of commitment and accountability.
Put people first in leadership decisions: Prioritizing the growth, safety, and success of others builds trust and creates an environment where teams can thrive
Sponsor for this episode:
This episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions Inc.
Listen...
I have been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades. I know I don’t look that old, but it's true.
We provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide.
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Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:01
Welcome to The Tao of Pizza, where we feature top logistics leaders, entrepreneurs, and supply chain innovators, and share their inspiring stories with a holistic twist.
Mark Hiddleson 0:14
Mark Hittelson here, host of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, where I talk with top industry innovators in the warehousing, logistics, and supply chain business, with a holistic twist. Now, before I introduce today's guest, this episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions. Look, I've spent decades building warehouse systems that actually work, and after hundreds of conversations with clients and peers at industry conferences nationwide, one thing is clear: innovation only matters when it shows up on the warehouse floor. Especially storage solutions, we provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide. So, if you have a facility that needs racking, shelving, carts, conveyors, or mezzanines, we help across the full life cycle: design, engineering, installation, inspections, and repairs, all focused on real through pit, real people, and real constraints. And here's something many folks don't realize: we also offer permit acquisition services. Yeah, we handle the red tape, so you don't have to. We take a holistic view of your entire supply chain ecosystem, blending physical infrastructure with modern thinking around automation, flow, and adaptability to help our clients continuously improve, not just install and move on. To learn more, visit our website specialracks.com or call us at 707-732-3892. And just for podcast listeners, I give you my personal email, Markhiddleson@AOL.com Yes, I still use AOL, and I'm proud of it. So if you're ready to design warehouse systems built for where the industry is going, not where it's been, drop us a line. Now, today we're joined by Sensei Steve Wilson, a lifelong martial artist with over 50 years of experience, who began training at just 13 years old and went on to become a senior leader in his discipline. He holds the rank of 8th Dan in Okinawan Goju-ryu, along with advanced ranks in Japanese Goju-ryu and Kobudo. And currently, he serves as the chairman of a national martial arts organization. Beyond the dojo, he's been married for 49 years. He's the proud father of three great children and a retired CEO of a public utility. He's also the author of Budo: A Lifelong Journey, continuing to share his wisdom and preserve the art for future generations. Uncle Steve, welcome to The Tao of Pizza.
Steve Wilson 2:33
Thanks for having me. Good to see
Mark Hiddleson 2:35
you. Yeah, this is great. I got this. I've been wanting to interview you for a while for a few reasons. We have a personal connection. You're my wife's uncle, but I've been calling you Uncle Steve for 21 and a half years. I think it is when we met. But I heard your interview, and I love the name of this podcast. It is called Punch Kick Choke Chat. Yeah, and I thought it was a great interview. Even though it was beautiful, I couldn't understand a lot of the language because a lot of it was in Japanese. And so, how did I do on the few words that I did choose to include? I wanted to make sure we honored those traditions, arts. How did I do with the pronunciation?
Steve Wilson 3:22
You did great. Yeah, yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 3:25
So share a little bit about the actual arts because I want you to share the senses you've trained with and their names and how you started this martial arts journey.
Steve Wilson 3:38
Okay. Well, so. When I was 13, my mom had a highway patrolman, a California State Highway Patrolman, that owned a restaurant. He retired and bought a restaurant, and he hired her to cook. My mom was a lifelong cook, and anyway, I had been in juvenile hall several times before I was 13 for truancy and you know throwing throwing oranges at cars and just stupid kid stuff and being out after curfew sneaking out of my window and running the streets and cops picking me up and taking me home and knocking on the door at two a.m. you know and getting in trouble and so anyway he told her, "Hey, there's this guy who was on the an alternate on the 1960 Olympic powerlifting team, who has a karate school, who's also an English teacher in high school, and he would be a really good role model for Steve. I think you should take him there. And my dad had left my mom and us when I was two, and most years I saw him a few weeks to a month in the summer. Some years he couldn't come get me, so I didn't see him at all for a year. But he, you know, we didn't have that normal like he didn't teach me to drive or hunt or fish or. About girls or none of that stuff, and so my mom took me, and his name was John S. O'Hara, and anyway, he was you know quite my senior in age, and he was about 42 or so when I started training, and I was 13, and he told her drop him off at 330 in the afternoon and don't pick him up until 9pm, and his whole life will change. And so, other than when I played basketball and had other commitments and stuff, I was at the dojo training, and you know it'd be you know two to four classes a day, five days a week, and and like 10 to one or two on Saturdays. And he also taught that that started my eighth grade summer going into freshman. And that he told me, "Hey, in high school, don't when you sign up, don't sign up for PE. I have two karate classes that I teach in high school. Sign up for the beginner and the advanced. And so I helped him teach the beginning class and warmed up everybody while he ran around the football track and stuff. And then, I trained with him for 42 years until he passed away in 2015 of pancreatic cancer. And he was my primary sensei for 42 years. And so, probably the last 25 or 30 years, I taught 80 80% or so of our Josh Ku, which is our annual seminars, and they're three days long, and you train eight hours a day and hard sweat, and and so he he was such a good leader that he put me at the forefront 25 or 30 years before he passed away, And so, when he passed away, there was really no transition because I had been around everybody their entire. Because I was his senior, longest, and highest ranked student, I had been around all of them and taught all of them as well. So it wasn't something new. We were missing sensei, but he had told everybody that this is my successor. And in any way, when he was passing, dying, like three, two or three weeks before he passed away, he had a meeting with like 50 black belts in his house, and he was in a hospital bed in his living room, and his family was there, and he told all of them. Steve's my most senior and loyal student. He's my highest ranking student. He's the one I've taught everything I know to. I would appreciate it if all of you would support him, trust him as I do, and effective today, he's the chairman and the chief instructor of the Okanagan Gojuku Karate Kinku Kai. So then a few weeks later he passed away, but he also said in that meeting, you know, Steve's the son I never had, and he he's the one who like he paid for my first date, and he did, and he talked to me, and it was really important to him that I went to school.
Steve Wilson 8:03
And nobody in my family, literally nobody in my family, at that time, none of my siblings or anybody went to college. But you know, he had two master's degrees and and was highly intelligent, and he just really wanted me to, you know, obtain an education and stuff. So anyway, he, he, him, and I trained together, you know, every day as I stated. And and then he had a really bad accident. He hit his horse on his motorcycle going over an overpass, and he hit the horse with his chest and killed the horse. But it really messed him up for a lot of years, his upper lower equilibrium. He was in the hospital for a really long time. I was a young man in a second degree black belt with him at the time, and probably the world's most famous karate teacher in the world, Morio Higona Sensei, 10 th on in Naio Okinawa, moved to Southern California because he has an American wife and she wanted to move to America, so his Hombu, which means headquarters dojo, was in Southern California. And so, long story short, I found him, went down there, trained three days with him. You know, started at 6o'clock in the morning and ended at 1030, 11 o'clock that night, and at the end of it on Sunday, he when we were out for dinner, he said that I wasn't afraid to sweat and that I was welcome, and I became a personal student. I stayed with him seven years at his headquarters dojo and trained with him, and then O'Hara Sensei got well, opened up a dojo, started teaching again. Asked me if I would help, and then I think in 1995 he left Higona Sensei. I was with Higona Sensei four years before he started with him, but O'Hara Sensei was so humble, even though he was older and started karate. Before he' going to seven, say, I said, "Okay, if you're opening up a dojo, I'll quit and come back. And he goes, "Oh no, I'll just go on the floor with you and be a student on that floor too. And he was actually his senior in in life, and that's more important to the Asian culture. Age is much more important than rank, and so they respect age. You know, they fight over who's going to take care of the parents and the grandparents. And here in America, you know, they're shoved off as quickly as possible. Very different culture. So, anyway, he wanted to form his own organization after all the years in training and all of this he had tremendous knowledge in kinesiology and physiology because of his Olympics. He's an Olympic athlete. Do you know how few people ever make it to the Olympics? I mean, it's tremendous. And so he also played football in La Crucis in college and was just a great athlete. And so, but even better than humans. So he's the one that taught me courtesy and discipline and etiquette and respect, and he disciplined me. And his form of discipline was when I messed up and got in fights or in trouble and stuff like that. He just completely ignores you. So he'll still say "Have a good day" or "How are you? " and things like that. But he doesn't help you, and there's no visiting.
Mark Hiddleson 11:23
Yeah, the intimacy. There's an intimacy that you really want with somebody that you love like that, and yes,
Steve Wilson 11:30
yeah, it's kind of funny because I think I was 14, like a year, year and a half after starting with him, I was going to go see my dad in Arkansas for a couple Weeks, and he said, "Okay, well, keep training, keep practicing, be safe and be smart, and I'll see you when you get back. And he said, "When you get home, you're not on vacation. Get back in the dojo. And I said, "Okay, sensei, I go bye. I'll see you soon. And he said, "At 14, he said, "When I was 14, he said bye, and he goes, "Steve, and I go, "Yeah, and he goes, "I love you. I what? And so my mom, I think I was 35 years old the first time my mom told me she loved me. Wow! And I said, "What did you say? And she goes, "You heard me. And I go, "You've never told me you love me before my whole life. She goes, "I don't have to. I show you every day. Well, today, if a karate sensei told a young kid that he loved him, he'd be considered a pervert and he'd be arrested. You know.
Mark Hiddleson 12:33
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 12:33
But this is the 70s, and so you know, I couldn't pay. My mom didn't have the money to pay for the lessons, and so like three months into it, she told me to quit. And I went to him, and I was crying, you know, just not bawling, but tears coming down my face. And I said, "I'm sorry, since I got to quit. He goes, "Oh no, you're not quitting. You train too much to quit. So he said I could. He had two big German shepherds. He said I could scoop poop, clean his pool, and that would pay for my lessons. So I told my mom, and she said that's not enough or equal, and that we don't take charity.
Mark Hiddleson 13:11
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 13:12
So he said, okay, you can clean the dojo and clean the weight room too. And my mom said, okay, that's fair. So from that point forward, for 42 years, I never paid for lessons. Yeah, and the thing that was really special about him is I probably had 130 or more private lessons that went from four to six hours, and that's where the real transmission is given, not in group classes in public. With Higonase, I had many private morning training sessions and evening training sessions. Just him and I. He personally standardized all my kata and taught it to me himself. He would always want to fight me because I'm six four and over 200 pounds and he's five two.
Mark Hiddleson 13:55
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 13:56
so he wanted to always just
Mark Hiddleson 13:57
a lot of things to play with leverage and angles and skills and art. He can't. Yes, history, right? Yeah.
Steve Wilson 14:04
Yes, and then the founder of our system, Miyagi Chojin Sensei, and he died in 53, and so he's an Okinawan, and so one of his first generation students, Matsumoto Jinin Sensei, who actually was from the Matsumura Shore Inru family and lineage, famous actually lineage. His uncle took him to Miyagi Chojin Sensei because his uncle was old, and like in 28 or nine or something, he asked Miyagi Chojin Sensei to teach his nephew, and in 30 he died. In 1930 he died, and so in 1930 Jinan Sensei started training with Miyagi Sensei, and back then there were no group lessons, there was no school. It was all you know in your backyard, in the Sensei's backyard, regardless of weather, rain, whatever. And he was a personal student till 35 or 36, but he was already a very accomplished martial artist at about 22 or 24 years of age when he went to Miyagi Sensei. But he had trained since he was like eight, and and with and with a very high level surfing practitioner. So those are my three teachers. And today, what I've done is kind of taken the best of all of them, and that's what I now teach. And I kind of want to. I kind of went a different path because of how I grew up and stuff. And so, first I did sports competition and karate, and they stop you every time you get a point. You hit somebody, you get a point, and stopping every time you connect is, I don't think, is a good habit to get into. So I switched to full contact, and so I ended up having 72 full contact matches, and so I did full contact karate and kickboxing and stuff, and I also still entered stuff for kata to work my kata and things. And so, you know, I've been a state, regional, and national champion in kata and also in point. But then, I won 68 of 72 full contact matches, and I had 49 knockouts in that, and so I also was I when I wasn't at the water plant in Bakersfield. I worked 12 hour shifts for a week, then I was off for a week. Then when I was off and stuff, I bounced. I was a doorman and a bouncer at the largest bar in Bakersfield, and so every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, you know, I was attacked a lot, and so I so I experimented and kind of played with my art to see, you know, what worked in the street, and so what I want to do today is so many martial artists, no, and no offense to them. It's just, it's just what they know or don't know. In so many karate schools today, you know, it takes 10 years before somebody can really use it to defend theirself. And I've seen people for 10 years that can't. My thing to all of us, we have like nine schools in six states, and my thing is to all of them, and what I teach is, they need to learn real self defense and early, really early. Still do all the traditions, still do all the art, but you have to escalate this ability to defend yourself and others that can't defend themselves. Most of my street encounters have been because I've watched a man freeze when confronted by a bully, and sometimes in front of their kids, and and many times in front of the woman or spouse, and I could see the complete total fear and freezing on their face, and they almost couldn't talk to say I don't I don't want to fight I don't fight
Mark Hiddleson 18:04
right yeah
Steve Wilson 18:05
and I've had a lot of those encounters and um and with my wife there and everything but I go up and I say hey he clearly doesn't want to fight so why don't you leave him alone and why don't you why don't you pick on somebody that does fight and he and they go like you, and I go exactly like me. And but but I would prefer you not do this, and that you just walk away. But I'm not going to let you do this to him. Do you understand? And I've never really got it. I've never started a confrontation. I walk away, but I really can't take it when I see somebody who can't defend themselves being challenged and embarrassed and humiliated, and they can't defend their family,
Mark Hiddleson 18:50
yeah, it's something that happens. We both shared an experience on the punch kick joke chat. I love the name. I've been practicing saying that.
Steve Wilson 19:00
He shared two stories. It is a great name. They're great guys.
Mark Hiddleson 19:03
Yeah, and that's great. I think that's what I want. I want to develop an emotional intelligence. I feel like I have a lot of emotional intelligence, but I think punch, kick, choke, and chat is a good way to discuss emotions because until you've been punched and kicked and choked, are you still willing to chat? Yeah, the real, you know, emotional restraint, like you're saying. It's like you know you could very seriously harm someone or even kill them because of your training, but you really want peace. So I love these stories. There's a couple things I want to get into before. Yeah, I want to ask you because you also had a career in business. You were the CEO of a public utility, so I want to know how that training affected you. But first, I want to figure one out. I want to ask first because I heard I took some notes from that podcast, and one of the things I love is you talked about one of your senses. He wanted you to train. In between the classes, like it wasn't if he left at 9o'clock or 1139, whatever. If he showed up at six, he wanted to see some improvement in between, and I love that principle. It's like you're not just showing up to the games or the practices; you're practicing in between. So, share a little bit about that level of training or level of commitment. I don't think most people look at it like that, right? It's like I'm going to train while I'm here, and then when I get there, we'll start from there. And it's like, no, no, no.
Steve Wilson 20:27
Well, yeah, let me share real quick because nobody in the world, literally, I believe that nobody in the world out trains Higonema Sensei. For the last 50 to 100 years, I don't think anyone's been able to match him. He never had a job for one year in a bank when he was 18, and he quit it because it interfered with his training. So now he's 87 or so, and he's never had a job at Karate. So he has an international organization, which I'm no longer a part of. But he has an international organization that has 75,000 students. So a lot of those people, you know, come to what we call Goshku three-day intensive training, but that's the only time they really saw him. They didn't train with him personally, and you know he can't teach 75,000 people personally, so he has to pick, you know, 20 or 30 that show the spirit he's seeking that he's trying to build for the future, so for them to carry on his teaching in the future, and and I was 25 or six when I got with him, and so I was in my prime, and I played basketball all my life and trained in karate all my life. So, when I went down to train with him, like for as an example, I was six hours away, and I drove six hours, and I get there on Thursday night and train in the group classes, and then he would usually work with me an hour and a half or so afterwards when it when it ended at you know nine, and so then he says for Friday morning, come over to my house at six a.m. and I did. And you go for a run for like an hour, and then you come back and you do this personal training in his garage until nine, and then his wife made us breakfast, and then we went to the dojo, and then we trained until 10 till two, and then we went to eat, and then we had to be back by four, and then you have to take all the classes, even the kids' classes, from four to nine, and then at nine he would practice with me by myself till 1030 or 11, and then he'd say, "See you in the morning at six. Well, if I didn't practice, what he showed me in the morning was mainly just real hard work, not so much technique. But in the evening and in the afternoon, and when we went to the dojo, it'd be technique. And so, if I if he taught me something, and he was standardizing my kata from Japanese version to Okinawan version, if I didn't improve it, or if I couldn't recall it for the next morning, then you could be regulated back to group lessons. So I would have to go back to the hotel at 10: 30 or 11 and practice what I learned that day. So he would see that I was committed and dedicated and willing to put in the work for him to teach me again tomorrow. And if you were late, if you didn't practice, if you didn't retain what he taught you, if you didn't work to your absolute-I mean, it's kind of like you go to your physical gives out, and then your mental has to kick in and force your body to go on, and then your mental gives out, and your spiritual has to push your mental.
Mark Hiddleson 23:41
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 23:41
you're positive you can't do another one. And in karate, there's a saying. It's called moicido, and that means one more time, one more time. Well, Higona Sensei says moichido about 1000 times. So you always think it's one more, but it's never one more. So yeah, so that's the story. You have to go. You have to go home and practice and work. You don't get to see. Today, most karate classes are 45 minutes or an hour. You know, and it takes 15 minutes to warm up. Yeah. So you know, he's never had an hour class in his entire career. You know, I mean, maybe teaching, maybe teaching the pee wees, yeah. And my sense never had an hour class when I was training with him. And when I trained with him privately, the shortest was like three or four hours, and the longest six.
Mark Hiddleson 24:32
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 24:32
just you on the floor with just the only one they're looking at you.
Mark Hiddleson 24:37
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 24:37
and it just takes a different level of. But if you don't, if you don't put that out and you don't have that in you, you're just not going to be a personal student. You're going to be a seminar student, a student that attends the seminars.
Mark Hiddleson 24:52
So I love that. And so it does. It just kind of thins the herd. But I think I mean it's something I've always I've always trained. Between the classes, because I wanted to. If I'm there to learn, and you do something, you don't retain it unless you practice. I've always been a practice junkie. I played basketball. Basketball, I haven't played. I stopped playing basketball when I was like 52 or 53 because I have only full speed. I'd always talk myself out of it. I'm playing with these 20-somethings and guys are playing junior college ball, and I go, you know, I'm out here to get some exercise. It's not the end of the world or life or death, but as soon as I walk on the court, it's life or death, and I'm playing like I'm in the NBA.
Steve Wilson 25:31
Yep, yep.
Mark Hiddleson 25:32
Head close to some ankle sprains and stuff, and it's just like you know, I'm a little embarrassed about it, but I don't play basketball anymore because I don't want to get hurt, right?
Steve Wilson 25:43
Yes,
Mark Hiddleson 25:44
I love the training. So I'll bet you martial arts made you a much better basketball player. Now that I think about a little bit how it transfers into your business career, and then now I think you're doing coaching, right? You have business coaching,
Steve Wilson 26:00
yes,
Mark Hiddleson 26:01
business. So, how do martial arts lessons kind of, you know, make you a better basketball player? I would think it does. I think it for
Steve Wilson 26:08
Sure makes you more disciplined and it develops a spirit of never giving up. So, like one example is I've had super swollen ankle and sprained my ankle in basketball like Everybody does,
Mark Hiddleson 26:20
yeah.
Steve Wilson 26:21
And you know, I stayed on the floor. I wasn't one of those that when you get an ankle sprain, you lay on the floor and scream.
Mark Hiddleson 26:28
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 26:29
So, I mean, actually today, I mean, in my opinion, tons of NBA players are sissies. The way they carry on just kills me. Yeah. It's like, come on, you make millions. You're at the top of your game, and look at you when you have something happen. But anyway, you know, it taught me not to quit or to give up and stuff. And I don't know if God did this or if Karate did this. But one thing is, when I grew to full six four, I was really short in school. But when I grew to six four as an adult, I not only could dunk the basketball, but I could dunk it two hands behind my head. Wow! And I'm only and I'm only six four. So I taught my son to play, and then I coached him in recreation, and then the recreation group chose me to be the travel team coach, and so we had kids from like 10 small communities up in the mountains of Colorado that I coached and took to 26 cities. And my son used to tell all the kids because I could dunk, my dad could have been in the NBA, and I go, son, if I could have been in the NBA, I would have.
Mark Hiddleson 27:42
I would have been in the NBA.
Steve Wilson 27:44
Dunking isn't enough.
Mark Hiddleson 27:45
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 27:46
and and so it was. But we used to play in the Eagle Flight Days father and son basketball tournament, and I would just kick it at rebound and kick it out to my son and let him shoot. And and if we got behind or they caught up, I would just dunk. And so the dads went and petitioned the rec district and the city to prevent dunking, and they said, "Okay, should we prevent threes too? And come on, just because you can't dunk, you don't want Mr. Wilson to dunk. So yeah, those leaves
Mark Hiddleson 28:17
are really competitive. I remember arguing with refs. You know, it's like I'm 52 years old. I'm out here arguing with these 20-something guys that are just doing this for like 18 bucks a game, and they're like,
Steve Wilson 28:28
"Yeah. And you know, my son, you'd get upset and stuff when he missed a shot, or it was a second buzzer beater or something. And I think what Karate did was, and what saved my life in Karate was, it teaches you self control, and so stay calm in the fire, man. And so it's the same thing with fighting. If you can't sit in the pocket and throw while they're throwing on you, you won't win a lot. You can't just receive. Eventually, something's going to connect. You can't. You got to throw back. So it's the same thing in basketball. If you don't shoot or take it to the hoop, you can't score.
Mark Hiddleson 29:03
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 29:04
So you can dribble all day long. You can be a great passer. You can do all those things. But until we go through the net, man, nothing goes on the board.
Mark Hiddleson 29:11
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 29:12
Well, in self defense, until you throw, the guy never falls.
Mark Hiddleson 29:15
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 29:16
So if you want at the end, you have to throw. Yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 29:20
I love that, and then the physical training. You started to allude to it, but there's an aspect of physical training. I've always, as an athlete, one of the things I was, and you saw that I wrote a book. I hadn't told you that I wrote a book, but one of the reasons I did was that it was influenced a lot by Asian philosophy and martial arts training. For me it has always been, but I thought it's mind over matter. But then, like you said, there's levels. Then there's a point where, like, you're learning from your body. Your body is this tool that's like your mind that really activates your spirit realm or access to a spirit realm.
Steve Wilson 30:00
Yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 30:00
Share a little bit about how that training is, because you and I we've only met in-person twice, and this I think is interesting to Bob. It's in a family. This happens, but both times were this
Steve Wilson 30:11
far apart too. Yeah. The
Mark Hiddleson 30:13
The veil was really thin, though. You know, because it was the first time I met you, your mom had just passed away, and then I remember meeting you, and your kind of Uncle Steve is kind of legendary because you have been a martial artist since the '70s, so I knew about you. But we shared those moments in the kitchen at Buck and Clara's, and you had interviewed your mom ahead of time, and you know I was a young man. Drake was just born. I remember I was carrying my youngest in a little basket thing. So that moment of fatherhood is different, you know. But your mom had just passed away, and everything you told me, like you interviewed, you asked all these questions. The first thing I thought was like, wow, I could be a better son, right? I could be a better brother. I could be a better uncle, right? And so, share a little bit about how you know you chose to do things. I don't know if it was martial arts or your relationship with your senseis, but it was a love relationship. He caught me when I said that it was love. You loved him. He loved you. I know. Oh
Steve Wilson 31:08
yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 31:09
I'm not afraid. But how did you know? To me, that was huge for me. And then again, the second time we met in-person because your sister was passing away, and there was some important family stuff that had to be worked out. I, you know, you remember certain people weren't welcome.
Steve Wilson 31:26
Yeah, and it was a
Mark Hiddleson 31:27
hard no. And I'm really proud that you and I were able to work that out. And so I've always loved you really since. Oh,
Steve Wilson 31:34
Thank you.
Mark Hiddleson 31:35
I think life is short. Our pastor has a saying that life is short, eternity is real, and people matter most.
Steve Wilson 31:43
Absolutely,
Mark Hiddleson 31:44
you help me become a better person. So, just share a little bit about your mom, if you don't mind. I told you I was going to get personal. No,
Steve Wilson 31:51
That's fine. But no, that's fine. I'm on it. I'm on it too. So, my mom was, you know, real hardcore.
Mark Hiddleson 31:58
Yeah, but but her mom to your granddaughter,
Steve Wilson 32:01
yeah, and and and her her mom was hardcore, And my grandma, you know, lived four blocks away from me, and for years when I was little, I had to get out of school and ride my bicycle to my grandma's and wait and eat dinner with them and do my homework and stuff and chores at their house, and then Grandma would let me ride my bike home like a half hour before Mom got off work, and that was kind of my life until I got old enough to stay at home by myself. And so my mom was always like, "What was really cool about her is that all of my in laws appreciated that she didn't. She was way ahead of her time. She didn't segregate chores by sex. So boys had to cook and clean and do toilets and stuff, and girls had to mow, and you know all of us had to wash and wax the car, and and so like some of my sister's husbands used in front of me have told my mom, "Man, thank you for what you taught my wife, because it's rare. And like so, my mom, my mom put discipline first and hard work first, and I got my work ethic from her, And then, like I was playing basketball, and we were in middle school, and I hadn't finished pulling all the weeds around our fence. And my mom told me tomorrow after school to pull them. And I said, "Well, I have practice. She goes, "I don't care about practice. You're coming home and pulling the weeds. And I go, Mom, I can't. It's the last practice before the game Friday, and she goes, I don't care. I don't care about basketball at all. I care about our yard and our home, and I care about you doing what you were told. I go, Mom, I ran out of time. She goes, No, you were playing and stuff, and you messed around, and you didn't get it done. So anyway, um, I had to miss practice, and that got me benched. And you know, my coach was all over me, and I told him, you know, well, you got to talk to my mom. That this isn't me. I didn't skip it. And anyway, in short, my mom told my basketball coach I could care less about you or that team. If you want Steve to practice, then you got to instill in him too to get his work done. And so that was her. And you know, she was she was one that you know back in her time, even she controlled the money and had her own money, and like step dads couldn't you know have her money, and she was ahead on things like that, and very, very, very, very strong, super strong woman that didn't have to have a man to live, and yeah, and you know, your wife's mom was. Super strong and independent and opinionated and my mom. My mom didn't talk much. She was real quiet, but she was a super hard worker. And I mean, I remember her working two jobs at a time, and we had an immaculate house. And she was one of those that if you finished your coffee cup or your glass of iced tea and you went to the bathroom when you came out. It was washed. The cup was washed, and you're like, "Mom, I could have had a second cup.
Mark Hiddleson 35:26
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 35:27
but the thing that was cool about her, like you know, this never happened. But let's just say that my job fired me, my wife divorced me, and my kids quit talking to me. If that happened, and I would have gone to my mom's, she would have said, "Let me put on a pot of coffee and cut you a piece of pie and get at the table, and we'll talk about it. So, like no matter what you did, you can still always go home.
Mark Hiddleson 35:59
Uh huh.
Steve Wilson 36:00
And my father, who didn't have a real large influence in my life, but my father would have said, "I don't know what you did, but you need to go fix it. But he wouldn't have tried to comfort me. Do you know what I mean?
Mark Hiddleson 36:16
Yeah, yeah. And so
Steve Wilson 36:17
so that so that's kind of what I got from my mom, and and she also taught me to cook and I worked the longest for her and actually when I went into utilities at 18, you know, man, I I was working a shift and I worked two days a week second, two days a week third and one day a week day as a relief operator at a water plant, and she'd be in the weeds, and she'd call me and say, "Come and help me, because she could put me at any station because I had grown up working with her, and so she didn't have to talk to me or train me. And after like two years, I told her, "Mom, you either got to get along better with people or get out of the weeds yourself. But I have a full time job, and I work and I have a family, and I can't keep coming to the restaurant and helping. And so, so anyway, that's kind of my that was my mom, and you know, and for for my my career and stuff, it it really helped me because I've always given my employer who's paying me 100%
Mark Hiddleson 37:22
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 37:24
and I tried to emulate it. I never succeeded in equaling him, but I tried to emulate how my teacher handled people. I have a much quicker temper than he ever had. He never had a temper.
Mark Hiddleson 37:36
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 37:37
and it. I can take a lot, and I can control my temper now, but until I was probably 26, I really couldn't. And now I can. And but you know, the whole thing was that regardless of how bad a person would like, I'll just give you a quick example. Like somebody's really misbehaving in the dojo and out in the street and everything else. And sense a, I'd say something to him, and he would say, "I know they're a problem, but they're my problem. So instead of kicking him out, he'd try to fix them, and he'd try to help them. And you know, he would sit there. He would sit there. We had like 300, 350 students, and he would sit there. This is a Bruce Lee era, and he would sit there and help you know kids with their homework in his office, and he had already worked all day with kids, and now he's
Intro 38:26
teaching. He's
Steve Wilson 38:26
teaching all night long, and so I had this example from my mom of all this work and keeping your word and doing your chores, and then I see the same thing in my mind. You know, you've worked all day, now you're helping kids with homework, and you're going to go out and teach four classes, and that's just so. It's what I grew up with, and it's all I saw. And so, like now, I struggle. I really struggle with lazy people, and just being honest. And when I was a leader in utilities, I'll just be honest with you. A lot of times, I just got promoted because of my work. I wasn't seeking a promotion. I was happy with my job and the city or the utility I worked for would elevate me, and so I ended up becoming a CEO. And before that, I was director of operations and assistant GM. And you know, before that, I was over all water purification, and before that, I was over distribution, and blah blah blah. And before that, I was just a worker at all those things. But my thing was, you know, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to learn all I can about it, and I'm going to try my hardest to excel, and I'm going to, like the dojo, support others, and so some of the stuff that employees shared at my retirement was things that really hit me deep in the heart that I didn't expect, and I didn't even know, and I wasn't aware they felt that way about me. It was like, regardless if we had a national disaster, because like I went. Earthquakes with utility. I went through tornadoes, etc. Different places in America, but they said if Steve's present, I feel safe. I know we'll get through it and we'll be okay because Steve's here.
Mark Hiddleson 40:17
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 40:18
So no matter how bad things were like when the earthquake caused you know 15 water main breaks in a day, or whatever. I would say, guys, one street at a time. Put a red pen everywhere that's leaking, and put a green one in it when you fix it. Just keep going.
Mark Hiddleson 40:35
Was it Ventura one?
Steve Wilson 40:37
Yeah, yeah, yeah. From the Northridge earthquake. Yep.
Mark Hiddleson 40:39
Yeah.
Steve Wilson 40:40
So I was a utility water superintendent in Ventura for 11 years, and so and I ended my career the last almost 15 years in Colorado Springs. But the other thing is, too, you know, every quarter, everywhere I worked as the boss, even if I was director of operations and not the GM, I cooked for the entire team, and I cooked all of the things. I mean, I had 108 employees and cooked for all of them. And you know, I told my department heads, "You're going to be sous chefs, and you're going to shop, and you're going to serve, and we're going to eat last, and it's that kind of thing. And it was really something because when I left Ventura, you know, it had 687 employees, and I don't know how many, but several 100 came to the retirement, and it was in the big public works yard parking lot. And they set up the tables and covers and all this, and the men barbecued and everything like I had for them. And it was funny because they called that it was time, and people got up and went, and department heads and everything, and went to go get in line, and there was a sea of blue shirts for water there, and they said, "Excuse me, no offense, ladies and gentlemen, but Steve and his family will go first. Because I had never eaten before.
Mark Hiddleson 42:13
Yeah, ever, ever in all those. No, I only
Steve Wilson 42:15
ate last.
Mark Hiddleson 42:16
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 42:17
They said, "Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, today Steve goes first.
Mark Hiddleson 42:20
Nice,
Steve Wilson 42:21
and so they learned. And then the thing I'm most proud of is the employees I've mentored that became the top chair too.
Mark Hiddleson 42:31
Uh huh. Yeah.
Steve Wilson 42:33
That feels more rewarding to me. It's like when my students would win a big competition or full contact or something. It felt better than when I did
Mark Hiddleson 42:42
It really does.
Steve Wilson 42:44
Yeah, because you pass because you pass it on. Not just could you do it, you could teach it. You know. Yeah. And so I think that you know just karate, discipline, self control, and having the same personality. So I teach that when you're in leadership and management or supervision or whatever you're responsible for others. I don't care what's happening at your house. I don't care how bad a fight you and your wife had. I don't care what crap your kids are giving you. When you walk through that door, become an actor.
Mark Hiddleson 43:12
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 43:13
because everybody has problems. Everybody's life is tough.
Mark Hiddleson 43:18
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 43:18
but when you're down, you bring down the entire team, you're paid to elevate.
Mark Hiddleson 43:25
Yeah. Okay.
Steve Wilson 43:25
You're in a leadership role because you're here to elevate. You know, I'm sorry you're having. I'm sorry you're having a bad day and a rough time, but who doesn't?
Mark Hiddleson 43:34
Life is rough. It's called life. Yeah.
Steve Wilson 43:37
Yeah. And how are your employees? What's that have to do with your Employees, nothing, nothing, and it's the same thing with courtesy and etiquette. It's the same thing with customer service. We won four customer service awards nationally. I think we still hold to the safety record of nine years, seven months, and three days of no lost work time. That's impossible in a utility. Impossible. But you had to make safety a part of your culture, not just something you do. Well, customer service is the same way. So what I say to customers is, we're 100% right. You know, and my employees are telling me, Steve, we're 100% right in this. This guy's a jerk, and I go right. I know, but he's still our customer. So customers aren't always right, but they're still our customers. So here's what I say: Hey, Mark, I'm sorry that was your experience with us. We're really better than that. How can I fix this today?
Mark Hiddleson 44:28
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 44:30
and they're instantly diffused.
Mark Hiddleson 44:31
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 44:32
they're like, well, well, nothing. I just wanted to tell you. Well, thank you for sharing. I appreciate it.
Mark Hiddleson 44:38
Yeah, it is the customer. It's one of those oxymorons. Is the customer always right? Is because the customer 99% of the time doesn't know their house from a hole in the ground, but they're no right,
Steve Wilson 44:50
Well, it's like politicians; they get elected and have no idea how the government runs. Yeah. So, it's the same thing. It's the same thing, Mark. With. You know, with the customers and stuff, the whole thing is, um, it really, really, really, really frustrated me, and still does today. How many cities and utilities, because they have a complete and total monopoly, they don't think they have to be good to customers because they don't own a little restaurant that'll go out of business. Their attitude literally is well. Some of them's attitude literally is. Where are they going to go?
Mark Hiddleson 45:28
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 45:29
man. You know what? If I ever heard that, you'd be down the road.
Mark Hiddleson 45:32
Well, our building departments around the country in California are kind of one of the worst ones. It's like building businesses. We're trying to help people be more successful by automating safety. I mean, a lot of the stuff we put in, we do a project. It's safety related, but we're held up for six, 812, weeks of red tea. And again, on my commercial for the customer, like we deal with that. But there isn't, and some of I will say that culture has changed over the years. I mean, it's gotten better because there's leaders like you in those positions, so we're. I didn't. This is the time to just fly. I knew this was going to happen, but I want you to share. What's the best way for people to connect to you now? There's your book. It can definitely be where we can get a copy of a book? What do you want? Right now,
Steve Wilson 46:15
It's awesome. I'm sorry.
Mark Hiddleson 46:18
Yeah, I just want to know who you want to connect with and what's the best way to reach out if people want to learn more about your book or your projects or martial arts or consulting? What's the best way to reach out?
Steve Wilson 46:31
Well, so my book you can't purchase right now because I'm doing version two.
Mark Hiddleson 46:37
Okay,
Steve Wilson 46:38
version one's off the market.
Mark Hiddleson 46:40
Okay,
Steve Wilson 46:41
so I wrote it in 2006. So it's been 20 years.
Mark Hiddleson 46:45
20 years. Wow.
Steve Wilson 46:47
So if you have, if you haven't bought it now, you can't get it. You got to wait for version two.
Mark Hiddleson 46:51
Okay.
Steve Wilson 46:51
But I'm already in that process. It's not like something I'm going to start. Our current web page is ogrkk.com, okay. ogrkk.com. We're launching a new organization name, a new organization emblem, a new organization website. That's all done. A new LLC, everything because of conflicts with names. Too many of the names have Okinawan, Goju-ryu, karate, da da da. So we've changed that up, and to better represent, we'll do a better job at rebranding than Cracker Barrel did. But anyway, that's how they can get a hold of us, and you can get my email off of all those. I mean, off the web page and stuff if you want to get a hold of me. I'm also on LinkedIn for coaching and for leadership, and that's something I really enjoy a lot now. And I even help some young people with mock interviews and practices and stuff to elevate. But you know the thing is that one of the things I'm asked all the time, "What is leadership? And my definition of leadership is common sense and intuition guided by experience and fostered by personal character.
Mark Hiddleson 48:19
That's good. That's good.
Steve Wilson 48:21
So there's a whole lot of things to say, you know. But you know, people always ask, "What's the difference between a manager and a leader? Well, leaders got to manage, and manager's got to lead. So you can try all you want to separate them, but you better know both.
Mark Hiddleson 48:37
Yeah, yeah. No, it's great. Yeah, and I think that leadership. I mean, for me, it's being the kind of person who is the difference in making something happen that wasn't going to happen if you weren't involved in it, and it's being that difference. You actually are. You don't talk about it or say it's. And a lot of it is you who brought it up. I mean, the character is really doing what you said you're going to do, whether you feel like it or not. Because a lot of times, you make a commitment. You're all excited about it, and then when the time comes to do the commitment, it's a totally different mood, right? Or you don't feel good, or everything. But it's kind of like we're not perfect, but I mean, I actually had one of those where I did something, and I was thinking I didn't, I missed a meeting that somebody else wasn't going to. The reason I didn't go is I didn't think that person was going, and I didn't feel like going. And I was like, really, Mark? You know, because I had those conversations because I didn't feel like it. And I'm like, I didn't feel like it. Isn't one of those excuses I use all the time? Again, I'm human.
Steve Wilson 49:34
That's honest.
Mark Hiddleson 49:35
But I just and I thought, and but funny, one of the things about that meeting is not to beat yourself up about stuff like that, but I'm like, but the thing is, me, it wasn't that I broke my word, but it's like I really want to be in that space, you know. And what,
Steve Wilson 49:50
yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 49:50
hand in me is really hurting myself. I'm like, and I let the group down, but they're going to forgive me. But yeah, I needed to be there, and I think that is the difference of a leader really. Doing what you say, like you said, it's character, and and it's well,
Steve Wilson 50:02
yeah, and you know too, if you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything exactly, and you're not trying, and you're not going high risk, and you know the the thing is usually high reward is high risk, but one of the things that I like to share with people real quick is that if you're a leader of any kind and you have employees of any kind, whether there's one or 300, ask department heads and supervisors and others. Look, when somebody does something above and beyond, tell you as the leader. And maybe I won't see that person for two or three weeks, but when I do, and I see them, and I pass them in the hall, I'll go, "Hey, hey, Mark, hey, man, I heard about what you did over on State Street three weeks ago, man, I am so proud of you. Way to kick it, brother.
Mark Hiddleson 50:44
Yeah, that
Steve Wilson 50:45
means the world to them. Then they go back and tell their coworkers, man. Steve stopped me, and thanked me for knowing what I'm saying. And so, and and the other thing is too you know people, a lot of people. I was told my whole career, public entities can't give bonuses. Public entities can't have holiday celebrations. They can't do whatever, and I didn't understand that because we lose people to the private sector. And you know what? All of those leaders that said that didn't care enough to challenge the system and do it. Everywhere I led, employees were eligible for bonuses, and the test you have to pass is if 60 minutes shows up and interviews you, can you justify it to the public? Well, yeah, those bonuses are based on action and performance and savings, et cetera, et cetera. And in addition to that, your holiday thing or whatever, you know, you can do an employee recognition dinner and recognize employees for serving the public in an outstanding way. Anyway, so little things really matter, and if an employee knows they're not a number and that you care, I mean, I surrounded myself with people that I wanted to say, Steve, that's a dumb idea.
Mark Hiddleson 52:04
Yeah, call me out.
Steve Wilson 52:06
Yeah, yeah. Please tell me, save me before the public does that.
Mark Hiddleson 52:09
Yeah, exactly.
Steve Wilson 52:10
And hey, if we made a mistake, let's admit we made it and let's reverse it.
Mark Hiddleson 52:14
Yeah, yeah.
Steve Wilson 52:15
But yeah. So anyway, I just know I just think that you have to put people first, and people make you. And my goal always as an employee was to make my boss's job easier, not just do what they hired me to do, but how can I make your job better? So my thing was I wanted to give my boss the top priority and give them the highest quality of work and the quickest turnaround time I could to make their job easier while still taking care of my folks. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 52:47
yeah.
Steve Wilson 52:49
So make your boss's job better.
Mark Hiddleson 52:51
Yeah, that's what we try to do. That's and our clients are the same way because we, you know, we got 1000 bosses because we've got 1000 clients, but really, even that client has a boss, and my goal is like I want to make you look better in front of your boss. Like with the job we can do here, you know, if you're the warehouse manager and your layout, I want the president to look at you and go, "Wow, you crushed it on this. So
Steve Wilson 53:12
yeah, so it's your show, but you know, if I could ask a question, how did you get into warehouses?
Mark Hiddleson 53:18
So it's a great question. Is right out of Sac State. Back then, the career center was full of three ring binders. You know, there was no internet, or I mean, there was internet. I think it was 1996, and there was the internet, but people were using it for other stuff. So there were three ring binders, and I just spent hours. I had a good job. I was assistant sales manager at a car dealership, so I was already making pretty good money.
Steve Wilson 53:40
Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 53:41
but I had a degree, and it's like, what do I want to do when I grow up? You know, and I was like, I'm 23 or 24, whatever. Like, I do need to grow up at some point. And there was just the funny, the truth lancer in that three ring binder, the job for the material handling industry had the highest salary. So it's like I'm looking at it. I'm just looking at the salary, and it's funny. I don't think that's the number one thing you should pick in a career, but that's kind of where my head was at because I was going to take a pay cut, you know, going into an industry where I had five or six years of experience. But what's funny is I took that experience with me, and the pay cut didn't last for long. But I saw the industry was a combination of sales, engineering, and construction, and my background had kind of set me up for that. And as part of the research, I went to 30 or 40 warehouses just because I was interviewing with a company and I wanted to see because it was all so. So the other thing about the money was 55,000 is what it said, but what that really was was minimum wage plus commission, and so it was like one of those up to 55,000 deals. But I looked at it and I was like, okay, and I've been doing the sales things for five or six years, so it's up to me to get there. But I want to call on some of these clients and just go up cold and knock on doors and go, hey, I just graduated from school and am looking at going to work for this company. Do you guys use them? What do you think about it? And I just loved people like you know because you're cold calling. You think people like to get out of here, but it wasn't like I was selling cologne or no, there's after shit or anything. I was hey, I'm here to provide a service and and it's make
Steve Wilson 55:15
their business is more efficient.
Mark Hiddleson 55:17
And people, I love the way because I was like I've been sitting on a car lot, you know, managing eight knuckleheads that were so talented they'd be the head of IBM if they weren't so flaky, and customers are always mad at you. I'm like, now this is a business I can go out and find customers, and they're happy to see you. So, um, yeah, I went to the yellow pages. I actually didn't end up going to work for that company, but a lot of people I talked to said, "Do you use used equipment? Do you use equipment? And so just came in. So I went to the yellow pages back then. He had that too, and I said, "Who uses the equipment in the material handling? And I found a company that was like seven miles away from my house, and I just called the owner and said, "Hey, I just graduated from Sac State. I've been researching this industry. I want to get into it, and he wanted to schedule a meeting for like a few weeks out. And I was like, "No, you know, real like I'm looking to do something now. So I kind of closed him on getting a meeting, and he was like, "I kind of like this guy.
Intro 56:14
But
Mark Hiddleson 56:15
What's funny, your work ethic. One of the things that impressed him was that we stopped for gas. We were all doing calls together, and he hadn't hired me yet. He went to pay for the gas, and I washed the windows while I was inside because that was just something my grandpa had taught me, and I'm good at it. Like it's one of those things. It's like you have a skill you want to like. I could clean the windshield better than anybody. He came up and went, "Whoa! He goes, "Wow! You know. know, and so it was.
Steve Wilson 56:45
It's funny you said that because when hiring, like I got where I would put a coffee cup, paper coffee cup, in the vestibule where you walk in, and then you go, you open that door, go in. There's a vestibule, then you open the next door and you go up to the customer service counter, and then they'll guide you to the interview. I put a paper cup in there, empty, and see what applicants picked it up,
Mark Hiddleson 57:10
and put it in the trash. You mean?
Steve Wilson 57:11
Yeah. Do you walk by? Yeah. There's a garbage can right there. Do you walk by trash, or do you pick it up?
Mark Hiddleson 57:18
Yeah, that's a great one because one of the things I'll say, and I've walked a lot of warehouses over the years, and that's I enjoy walking the top top COO CEO. If you're walking with them in a warehouse and they see a broken piece of pallet bigger than about this big, they'll go out of their way, bend over, pick it up with pizza stretch films. If you walk in a warehouse, you think it's all chaos, but if you see it's because it's a safety issue, and you know that's something I picked up on early in my career. But it is those little things that add up over time. Looking for it, you know. Now I look like I love. I found a piece of pallet on the floor. No, but thank you, thank you for that was a great question. I've been asked that a lot because like people don't do something for 30 years, and that's I'm so proud to have you on. You've been doing proxy martial arts for 53 years?
Steve Wilson 58:09
Yeah, 53 years. Yeah, yeah. Now, what's really fun is now my big focus is passing on everything I learned to my senior black belts. Like I have, I have one student who's trained with me for 40 years. I have several students that have trained 30, and then some in their 20s . But I mean, I literally have a student who I trained with my senses 42 years before I passed away. Now I have a student who's been with me 40, and I want to. I haven't passed on 100% of everything yet, and that's my real focus right now. In fact, in two weeks, I'm heading not two weeks, 10 nine days. I'm heading to Illinois to teach a seminar, and then once a year at headquarters here, I have just the black belts come, and only black belts are here, and we work hard, and I pass it on. And then I have black belts, senior black belts that come here and train just by themselves. And so that's really super enjoyable to me, and what I really enjoy the most. And like I had, you know, real quick, I had in 2020, I was diagnosed with eight high-grade tumors for cancer.
Mark Hiddleson 59:25
I remember.
Steve Wilson 59:27
Yeah, and you know the largest one was two and a half inches in diameter, and I went through six treatments, a surgery, and six treatments, and then six weeks later, it was already back, and I had tumors again, and so I had to have surgery again, and I had nine more treatments. I had 14 treatments total, and you know, the whole time-I mean, it sounds like BS, but it's true. The whole time. My faith kept me from having fear. I just put it in God's hand in His will, and said, "Just give me the strength to do what You want me to do. And then I asked the oncologists and specialists and stuff, "Okay, I know what you're doing, but what can I do? And anyway, the treatments gave me an autoimmune disease. Anyway, how they discover it is that it makes your eyes go closed, and so your brain tells your eyes to look at something and they won't open. So for six or seven weeks, I couldn't open my eyes, and I had my wife take my hand and walk me into the back yard and let go of me in the middle of the yard, so I couldn't hit anything, and I trained.
Mark Hiddleson 1:00:44
Wow!
Steve Wilson 1:00:45
And I did that, unable to see, and I walked every single day. I walked, and I did all the stuff with you know drinking green tea and changing my diet and you know having blueberries. Anyway, all the good healthy stuff , that's natural medicine, and before treatments, taking 50,000 milligrams of liquid vitamin C. But first, they test your kidneys and stuff, and then it was great because like treatments didn't even really affect me.
Mark Hiddleson 1:01:15
Wow!
Steve Wilson 1:01:16
And anyway, there's all kinds of cool stuff, but karate gave me that strength. If I can breathe, I'm going to fight.
Mark Hiddleson 1:01:24
Yeah,
Steve Wilson 1:01:26
And so whatever life throws or gives me, karate and faith have faith first, but has given me the ability to face whatever occurs and to get through it, and you know that I wished everybody in the world trained because if they did, there'd be worldwide peace.
Mark Hiddleson 1:01:50
Absolutely, yeah.
Steve Wilson 1:01:51
And you know there isn't, and so, but yeah. So you know, no matter if you're in a fire or if you're in a car wreck or whatever, if you can maintain control and control your heart rate, control your breathing, believe and fight and hang on. You may survive. Where if you panic and you go crazy and your heart rate increases and you bleed out more, you could perish. But there's so much more to it than just throwing a punch kick.
Mark Hiddleson 1:02:16
Yeah, yeah, punch kick show chat. Yeah,
Steve Wilson 1:02:20
yeah, I
Mark Hiddleson 1:02:21
I love it. No, it's energy. There's, I knew I was gonna run long on this, but I want to be the first one to thank you so much. We're gonna have to show notes for everything, so there'll be a transcript of this. But we'll have links to your website. We'll have a link to your LinkedIn, and then it's on all the podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple, iTunes. I don't even know the name of all of them, but I mostly promote them on LinkedIn. So, when this comes out, it's going to be probably six or seven weeks because I do a bunch of interviews and then release them one a month. Yeah, but I will keep you posted. We'll stay connected on LinkedIn. Thank you so much, Uncle. Well, thank you for having me. Yeah, great to see you, Wilson. Yeah, great to see you. I love you. We got to connect with you again. Yeah,
Steve Wilson 1:03:06
Yeah, and tell the family hi, and give them a huge hug from Uncle.
Mark Hiddleson 1:03:11
Yeah, I absolutely will.
Outro 1:03:13
Thanks for listening to The Tao of Pizza Podcast. We'll see you again next time, and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.
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