Legacy In The Making with Jimmy Hart

Jimmy Hart is back on the podcast to share the heart and vision behind his newest book, “Legacy in the Making: Men’s Stories That Shape Young Men.” In this conversation, he opens up about what’s been happening in his business, shares his personal truth and story, and offers powerful tips for anyone called to lead the next generation. We dive into his RAI framework (respect, affirmation, and inclusion), his favorite book affirmation, and the proudest moment that continues to fuel his work. Tune in for Jimmy’s wisdom, honesty, and practical tools to help you live a legacy that impacts young men—and everyone you’re called to serve—right now.

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Transcript

Theresa Cesare 0:06

Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Theresa Cesare My intention for this podcast is to deliver to you wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Through solo episodes and conversations amongst insightful people. It is my greatest honor to bring to you talks that come from the. Welcome back to the podcast, amazing souls. Today's episode is extra special because we're joined by someone who is not only doing impactful work in the world, but someone I'm honored to call a friend. Jimmy Hart He's back on the podcast to share his newest book, Legacy in the Making:

Speaker 3 0:50

men's Stories That Shape Young Men,

Theresa Cesare 0:53

Volume One, a powerful collection that speaks directly to the experiences, growth, and defining moments that shape young men into who they become. Jimmy Hart Is the CEO of Hart Global Industries, where he helps schools and organizations build stronger, more connected communities through his RAI framework: respect, affirmation, and inclusion. With over 30 years in education as a teacher, coach, principal, and district leader, his work has transformed the lives of thousands. He's also a number one Amazon bestseller author, a globally recognized speaker, and was ranked the number one Disrupt HR speaker in the world. But beyond all the titles, what makes Jimmy's work so powerful is his heart, his ability to connect, inspire, and remind us that real impact always starts with human connection and kindness. Friends, I am so excited to bring to you this conversation with Jimmy Hart. Let's get started welcome back to Heart to Talk

Jimmy Hart 2:04

I'm excited to be here. Thank you for the invite.

Theresa Cesare 2:07

It's just such an honor. I was just thinking back, gosh, it's been a couple years since you've been on the show. You've been on twice- Great and it was to promote your books, and- Yeah here we are. We're gonna talk about your fourth book today. Yes. But tell us what you've been up to since you've been on the show last. I've

Jimmy Hart 2:25

had a lot of fun. Let's see. I retired from, the school district, decided to go back and work in another school district. Continue to publish, have had some keynote opportunities, so really moving into the keynote space. Still publishing, having fun publishing, and then this last book, Legacy in the Making: Men's Stories That Shape Young Men, we were able to hit number one on Amazon. So that was real exciting to, to do that and give out, about 100 copies to young men back in April, to celebrate them. Enjoying life. Kids are getting older. Son finished his MBA. Daughter, is, finishing... going into her senior year, so, so life is good.

Theresa Cesare 3:06

That is incredible. Well, congratulations-

Jimmy Hart 3:08

Thank

Theresa Cesare 3:08

you on your kids' success, your family, and your personal success. And for those who don't know you, could you tell them a little bit about your business and your keynote speaking and all of that? And then we're gonna dive into this book, which I'm so excited.

Jimmy Hart 3:22

Appreciate that. Yeah, so I enjoy training. I'm longtime educator, teacher by trade, been in education 30-plus years. Back in 2020 decided to start a business, Hart Global Industries, to focus on leadership development, climate and culture work. That's a big part of what I do. So within that work, we have an acronym called ACTS, and ACTS stands... The A stands for authorship, so we publish books. We help others write books. Coach, providing coaching services. Training, which is the thing I really love. And then, speaking, keynote speaking. So that's ACTS. That's the core of, of the work that I do. Hart Global Industries, our work is focused in climate and culture work. That's the primary focus of our work, and we've had some great opportunities just here locally in, in the Tucson area. We've done work with City had a number of sessions we've done with City of Tucson. We just recently completed their, supervisor, training series, so we, i got the chance to participate and train and engage with about 500 other supervisors in the City of Tucson. We've done some work with Tucson Unified School District, and then we continue our work with Tanque Verde Unified School District, who adopted our work. And then there's other opportunities that come here and there, keynote speaking, Arizona School Counselors Association. So really just having fun, enjoying life, and, I've had so many people give and sow into me. This is my opportunity at this point in my life, past 30 years in the field of education, to give back and to sow in other people.

Theresa Cesare 4:50

Yes. Thank you for that. I'm just so grateful that you're my friend, i'm so grateful that our paths crossed. So just to give this audience-

Jimmy Hart 4:58

Yeah. And

Theresa Cesare 4:59

so, yes some context, so back when- Yes I worked in Tucson Unified, I wanna say reassigned. It wasn't even my normal office and location, but you know what? The universe has a plan way better than your own. Yes. And you are placed along your journey to meet the right people, and if you are, you know, paying attention, you realize how many people along the way who you're meant to- Yeah. It's- you know, connect with, and we stayed in touch.

Jimmy Hart 5:23

Definitely. Do

Theresa Cesare 5:23

you remember that, Jimmy, when I popped into your

Jimmy Hart 5:25

Yes

Theresa Cesare 5:25

where your office was?

Jimmy Hart 5:27

And you know what? You're the same person today as you were then, just, full of positive energy, full of affirmations, made the room brighter. And so I took note of that. I was like, "Wow, this is, we need this type of energy, all of us, every day of our life." So, uh, that stood out front and center to me, and you're s- still the same today. Oh. It's, it's who you are.

Theresa Cesare 5:52

Well, I love that we continued our friendship and just support because we both- Yes share the entrepreneurship journey building our platforms- Definitely. Yeah with just our voice, right? Like you speak. Yes. I do the podcasting- Starting from scratch and hosting. Yeah, and so here we are, and four books in, guys. Four books. I, for all you all listeners, I love, as you know, 'cause I have a podcast, so you listen, I love audiobooks. But if there's one person's book that I'm gonna read front to back or cover to cover, it is Jimmy Hart's books. You- Oh, appreciate that like lay them out so perfectly. It's such a, like rich, easy read, with takeaways. Yes. That's

Jimmy Hart 6:31

true. Uh-huh.

Theresa Cesare 6:32

And I mean, we have "The Championship Mentality: Timeless Principles for Student Athletes." We have "Nine Leadership Habits to Empower Teams." Yeah. Number eight, sure. And then the third book, what was the other book? I don't have it.

Jimmy Hart 6:45

Equipped to Serve."

Theresa Cesare 6:46

Yes, and then today- we're gonna highlight "Legacy in the Making." This book, Jimmy, wow. Okay, walk us through the book, the inspiration. I know that you highlight, was it 12 Incredible men? Yeah,

Jimmy Hart 6:59

12 men. Okay. 12 men, 10 local, here within our community, two from out of state, but all men who participated over the years in our Young Men's Leadership Symposium. So we do a- host a Young Men's Leadership Symposium every year. We give out scholarships, partnership with Pima College. We, uh, do some career readiness and career awareness. We connect them with mentors. And so this book was... is the next step in that process. So our foundation outside of the Hart Global Industries, I have a team member, Aaron Scott, where we're co-leaders in, founding a Strengthening Community Foundation, and it's geared toward young men. And the reason we developed, the foundation around young men is because here, just within Pima County and all over the United States, there's, uh, a lot of challenges around young men. And so with this book, we wanted to find a way to really give back to the men who continue to give back to the symposium. We have men who come every year, give their time, they donate, they speak without charging. And so we said, "You know what? Let's do a book. Let's..." And so, you know, as we and you have been talking about you writing your book, I'm big on all of us having an opportunity to tell our own stories and to put it in writing where it's forever until Amazon and print goes away. It's there forever. It's there for your family. It's there for your friends. It's there for your grandkids, great-grandkids, and so on. And so we wanted to honor these men, uh, dynamic men within our community and in two other states, uh, uh, here in the United States, Texas and Seattle, Washington area. We just wanted to honor them for their giving to the youth. And what, what really got us here is, uh, last year we had a question at one of our symposiums. One of the young men said... Well, I was up talking and, uh, introducing the next speaker, and one of the, the, the boys, the teenagers said, "Well, what do you do? I wanna know your story." And so that "I wanna know your story" stood out. And then Aaron, uh, my co-founder, he said, "You know what? Let's put together a book. Let's write a book About men for young men. And the cool thing about the book, we purposely wrote it in a way where it's not a whole lot of big paragraphs. There's a whole lot of one and two, two-line sentences by design because we know a lot of times boys don't like to read books. You know, it's just too boring. So we've wrote it in a way where it's easy reading, they can get through a chapter, there's questions at the back. And each of the men, the men are all different. Uh, and one of, one of the... So I keep saying one of the things, but one of the big things about Strengthening Community Foundation is we wanted to do things that were multi-generational and multi-ethnicity, and that was a big part of our purpose because we can't build community if we continue to do things in isolation. And so the book is about 12 different men, uh, spanning at least three different generations, uh, from no college degree to doctorate degrees, to, uh, VPs of, uh, Fortune 100 companies, to I'm just trying to figure out life out right now, to I have kids, I haven't had kids, I've been to, I've been to jail, I've been shot at. So there's all these stories in the book and the way we asked the men to write their story is we wanted them to tell the boys the truth, not the finished product, because that was why the, the young man asked me the question at the symposium last year. He said, "Well, what's your story?" He saw what he thought was a finished product. You know, nowhere near finished, but in his mind it was a finished product. So we asked the men to write the truth, write about the challenges, write about things that they had to overcome. We can't help the young men if they don't see, read, and understand and talk about, "Hey, we have these same challenges. This is how we got through it." So it's, it's about sharing some challenges, sharing your childhood. How'd you get through it? What was the outcome? So that's the whole basis of the book. 12 men telling their stories about situations they had to deal with. Uh, one of the people in the book is, uh, he's a local principal here, in TUSD. He's, at Sabino High School, and y- if you look at him, and then you read his story, the two don't go together And for his students, all they see is a finished product, but if they read his story about the things he went through, it's totally contrary to what you would assume about him as a high school principal. So that's the whole purpose of the book. And then our goal is to create a legacy volume, so next year we'll have a volume two. There'll be a whole 'nother set of 12 men, and so we wanna do this for at least 10 years, where we've got 120 men's stories in books, uh, available for young men to go back and read and say, and hopefully find someone that they've experienced something similar, and they can learn from that person's walk, um, and, and make some different decisions about their life.

Theresa Cesare 11:52

That is so inspiring, and I love the opening quote by Frederick Douglass. Yes. "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." So that being said, when a young man reads this, what do you hope activates within him?

Jimmy Hart 12:09

I mean, you, you, you literally said it. Hope. That's what we hope activates-

Theresa Cesare 12:14

Mm-hmm

Jimmy Hart 12:14

every young man when they read this, and quite frankly, every man that's over 18 that reads this. Because the other piece we don't talk about is all the challenges that men experience and go through. You know, learning how to be a parent, learning how to be a father, learning how to navigate, family and not just focusing on self. And a lot of times men don't have conversations. Men don't talk about their challenges. So we're also hopeful that men will, you know, pick up the book, by happenstance or, picking up the book for a young man and they happen to read a chapter or two and reflect on how it can impact their life. But you said it, the number one word is hope. This book was written, the Strengthening Community Foundation, the symposium, the book is all about hope. 'Cause if we have hope, we can, like, go to next day. We can keep-

Theresa Cesare 13:00

Mm

Jimmy Hart 13:01

you know, if we have hope, we know there's like a tomorrow. There's still opportunity. It's not over yet. And so that was the whole purpose of the book is hope.

Theresa Cesare 13:10

I love that. And I love that you mentioned truth because anyone like you could say, could s- you know, see you, see me, and think, oh. Yeah.

Jimmy Hart 13:17

But

Theresa Cesare 13:17

man, most of us would have so much more in common of the hard things.

Jimmy Hart 13:21

Yes.

Theresa Cesare 13:22

And that's the difference between someone hearing your story and mine or one of the men in this book, volume one, that will give them, like you said, the hope and realize, oh, if they can do it, I can do it.

Jimmy Hart 13:33

Yes. Real talk. Real, real talk. I even get a little bit transparent with some of my experiences,

Theresa Cesare 13:39

growing

Jimmy Hart 13:39

up- Yes. Tell us. not knowing who my, my biological father was until I was, uh... Never meeting him till I was 40. I was told about him when I was 12. Didn't believe it because I grew up with a father. I was fortunate to grow up with a father, but not meet, not meeting him till I was 40 years old, and all that comes with that. And then, my biological father coming and being a, a keynote speaker at one of our parent events years back and, uh, bringing me up on stage and bringing my father who raised me up on stage and telling the audience that he did what I couldn't do. You know? So just, um, exposing myself in the book as well. You know, life isn't perfect for all of us. We all have challenges. Uh, we all have questions about why, um- But yeah, that's the whole purpose of the book, to, to, to give hope.

Theresa Cesare 14:28

I love it Not- So anyone... Like, I love that you mentioned it's not j- not just for the young readers, but any man over 18 would probably resonate. Yes. This would be a great Father's Day gift or a gift, um-

Jimmy Hart 14:39

Great, great Father's Day gift.

Theresa Cesare 14:41

Yeah.

Jimmy Hart 14:41

Great Father's Day gift. Um, with

Theresa Cesare 14:44

that- It could be a son and, a son and father, even mother, everyone, the whole family. Of course. Could be a good book club book. I love nonfiction. Absolutely. I love true stories of people. Yeah. And that's why I have this podcast 'cause it's like it doesn't get better than hearing people's true stories, just, you know, to get inspired.

Jimmy Hart 14:59

Yes. We've had, uh, I've had, uh, there's been, uh, wives who, who got the copy of the book, wanted to share with their husband so their husband could read it to navigate through some of their past experiences with, uh, not growing up with a father or, or some of the challenges that they've encountered. But definitely it's, it's, it's a, a really good book. It's, it's from the heart of the men who wrote it. When we, when we asked them to write, uh, uh, you know, with writing a book it could, uh, be scary, it could be like a, feel like a really large task. Like, I don't know if I can do this. And they were just writing one chapter, and you, you're talking about men, you know, outside of the, the gentleman who's a doctorate who just aren't used to writing all the time. And we said, "Pour out your heart. That's all we need. Just tell us from your heart." That's what's gonna resonate with the young men. We've spent too many years, uh, showing the polished version or telling the polished version. Let's, let's get to the heart and the truth of how we overcame so these young men can do the same.

Theresa Cesare 15:58

Ooh, I love it. And thank God you're my friend because you're gonna help me with my book.

Jimmy Hart 16:02

Yeah, I am.

Theresa Cesare 16:02

I'm writing it, and if it wasn't for you, who knows if it would ever get done. It's gonna get done. That's the power of having amazing friends- Yes that hold you accountable, right? And help you to, like- Yes reach higher. Mm. So I'm grateful for you.

Jimmy Hart 16:14

As, as am I grateful for you, Theresa.

Theresa Cesare 16:17

And so those listening who are like, okay, I'm gonna, one, get the book because I'm inspired, and two, they wanna write their story, how do you help with that?

Jimmy Hart 16:26

So if someone reaches out or if I have a conversation with someone, uh, like there's a gentleman I went to elementary school with, he was at an event I was at last week, and he's like, "You know, I've got a book I wanna write." I'm like, "Okay, let's get together. Let's work together and let's get this book published." But yes, I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn. You can... I mean, I'm always open to receiving text messages from people. Just put in the message what you're texting me about. So you know my number, 520-247-9963. Text, say, "Hey, look, I'm interested in publishing. How do I do this?" And we can talk about what that looks like. Um, I do have a fee, a very, very, very low fee,, for that right now, c- because for me, it's really about helping people get their stories out. the Financial side of that I know will come down the line. The biggest piece for me is helping people put their stories out. So one of my mom's, a lady from the church, she reached out. She didn't know how to publish, she didn't know where to start, so I'm helping her publish her book.

Theresa Cesare 17:26

Um, I think- That's incredible. And I'll definitely put, like, your information in the show notes-

Jimmy Hart 17:30

Yes

Theresa Cesare 17:31

as well as the links to all your books. You can get them on Amazon. And so Jimmy, what is your mission

Jimmy Hart 17:37

I have a few different missions, but my primary mission Is to spread the RAI Framework, the respect, affirm, include. That's my pri- primary mission. How do we become more respectful? How do we become more affirming? And, and, you know, I love all your work. Everything you do is like, I just love it. Can't get enough of it.

Theresa Cesare 17:57

Aw.

Jimmy Hart 17:57

And, and how do we practice being more inclusive of others? And I, and I believe those three words, uh, show up in all that I do. So with the Strengthening Community Foundation and the symposium, the multicultural focus on the book, the different generations, the different demographics, so being inclusive. So that's my primary mission is to, uh, spread the RAI Framework, to as many people, uh, in our society and our world and our city to practice living out those three words every day. I just, prior to the coming onto your podcast, I met with the superintendent of Tanque Verde. We just had lunch, and we talked about the RAI Framework, which is a part of their school district. It's all a part of their mission, their vision, and one of their guiding, principles. And so we talked about, how do we extend RAI? So one of the things we're discussing is creating a, a, a follow-up workshop for teachers. How do you apply RAI to yourself? A lot of times if it's not labeled as self-help, it's for, like, someone else outside of us.

Theresa Cesare 18:52

Yeah.

Jimmy Hart 18:53

But with RAI, we spend a lot of time with how do we live that out in our school systems. So our next step is talking about how do we live out RAI for ourselves? What does respecting myself look like? What does affirming myself look like? What does being inclusive of myself, how am I including myself in the goals I have for my future? How am I including myself in keeping my- myself healthy, keeping my mentality strong, having a, a healthy mindset? So that, that's my primary mission right now is spreading the RAI Framework, respect, affirm, include.

Theresa Cesare 19:22

I love it. And then we have the second thing. We talked about it, in the episode, the symposium. Can you tell everyone a little bit about that?

Jimmy Hart 19:29

Yes. Yeah. So the s- so the symposium, that is the, Strengthening Community Young Men's Leadership Symposium. We do that every year, every April. We bring in dynamic speakers, some are fairly famous, individuals. We had someone play in the Super Bowl come speak one year. A local young man spoke to us last year, Levi Wallace, Tucson High, who gives a lot back to the Tucson community. And it's all designed, the symposium is designed for young men to just be free and be themselves. They don't have to show out. Um, they don't have to be tough. They don't have to be cool. They can come dressed up or they can come dressed down. Um, they don't have to, to fake their conversations. And we do a lot of training with the, we do training with the men who serve as mentors before the event Because with men, we like to, like, we like to solve the boy's life story in, like, five minutes, and you just- Yeah can't do that. So we train the men in some strategies on how to listen, how to not project themselves, how to affirm. There goes that affirm word again. I love it. Uh, how to affirm, um, and just be quiet to give the young boys, the, the young men the space to talk. Um, we have it every year. Uh, past few years we've had it at Pima College, but it's every April. It's gonna be April 17th. I believe April 17th, uh, 2027. That's a Saturday. Uh, this will be year five. It'll be bigger and better. Uh, we were given a proclamation by, uh, uh, Pima County, so we're excited about that, uh, that they were willing to acknowledge and honor the work that we're doing. Um, the symposium is, is, is, is for any young man ages, uh, grade 7 through 12. Grade 7 through 12. So next year we're hoping for 200 young men at the event, and who knows what will happen after that. Uh, we are gonna expand probably... We're looking at going to Seattle next year as well- Wow because our co-founder's in Seattle now, so we've already got the keynote speaker lined up, so we're looking at facility. Uh, we're looking at expanding to, uh, to Phoenix. Uh, we'll, we'll figure out if we need, if we can do it in '27 or if we gotta go to '28. Um, but that's a big part of who we are as Strengthening Community Foundation. Um, and it, that, that carries over into my, my work with Heart Global Industries, the RAID framework, because if we can help our young men be respectful, be affirming, uh, understand what inclusiveness looks like, um, we'll reduce a whole lot of, uh, crime, uh, we'll improve a whole lot of good stuff like graduation rates, um, career opportunities, uh, just good people. You know, just living in a world where, where, where more of the masses are good people and kind and being respectful to everyone that they encounter. Uh, so that's, that's the whole purpose of the, the Strength of Community Young Men's Leadership Symposium.

Theresa Cesare 22:24

Is it free for these young men to attend?

Jimmy Hart 22:26

Oh, yes. The symposium- is free for the young men. Okay. No charge. Um, we covered the cost our first two years out of pocket. As we've grown, we've gotten partners, for example, Tucson Juneteenth partnered with us.

Theresa Cesare 22:37

Nice.

Jimmy Hart 22:38

Boys to Men, uh, Tucson partnered with us. Yeah Few other organizations will... Definitely Pima Community College partner with us, Pima Community College Foundation partner with us, so we continue to grow in our partners. Chick-fil-A, this year o- off of, Broadway at El Con, sponsored breakfast for us. Wow. Um, then there's some individuals who did a lot of behind the scenes work for us. One in particular, her name, Jorge Ruiz. I believe- Mm-hmm in giving people credit, you know, for-

Theresa Cesare 23:07

Yeah

Jimmy Hart 23:08

for, for, for what they do. I can't, like, take, take credit for, for everything that has happened. So I do believe it's important to, like, acknowledge those people who have made our work easier and help, uh, impact the young men along the way.

Theresa Cesare 23:20

Yeah. That's incredible. I love our community. So many people willing to, like, help out and-

Jimmy Hart 23:25

Yes

Theresa Cesare 23:25

work together, and I'm so proud of you. Year five coming up.

Jimmy Hart 23:29

Year five, Strengthening Community Young Men's Leadership Symposium.

Theresa Cesare 23:32

Awesome. Well- Volume

Jimmy Hart 23:33

two of the book.

Theresa Cesare 23:34

And then volume two of the book. That is seriously... That's so exciting, so we, before we pivot to the ending questions, is there any tips- Yeah for the listeners

Jimmy Hart 23:44

Yes. So one Just take time to live out those three words for yourself. I think the more we do that, sometimes we forget about ourselves. We forget about ourselves a lot, quite frankly. Yeah. And for the educators listening, you know, we're so focused during the school year on, on the students, on others, we gotta remember to take care of ourselves, to respect ourselves, to affirm ourselves on a daily basis. Take Theresa's classes. That's, tip number two. It's all about affirmations. It's real. It works. We finished, uh, coming off the, uh, NBA championship. There's a reason you see the guys whispering to themselves before they shoot a free throw, or they're closing their eyes. You know, they're doing lots of affirmations. They're reminding themselves of how good they are, how great they are. They missed the one shot, they come back, they make the next shot. So, uh, tap into all the affirmations you can. Um, that's tip number two. And then tip number three, you never lose being kind. That's something my father taught me. I have a big poster. If you were to go to my office, at school, um, I have a big poster of my father, and the words are even bigger. Say, "You never lose being kind," because we don't lose being kind.

Theresa Cesare 24:55

Mm. I love it. So, so inspiring, so powerful. Great tips. Love them, love them. Okay. So per tradition, I'm gonna wrap up with some questions for you. The first one, what is your favorite affirmation or mantra that keeps you motivated?

Jimmy Hart 25:09

Num- the number one is, "I am empowered."

Theresa Cesare 25:12

Mm.

Jimmy Hart 25:13

I'm empowered, and so, you know, the book, I, uh, be quick to serve, empower people, empower others. If I can remind myself I'm empowered every day, I don't... it takes away me making lots of excuses and having a, having a long time pity party for myself, you know? Sometimes you can have one for a few minutes or a day, depending on the circumstance, but, we all are empowered. We have the ability to, to do more, to, to make an impact. As long as, we are in our right mind, we are pretty whole in terms of, our body, our mind, we can get a lot done. So I am empowered.

Theresa Cesare 25:50

I love it. What is your favorite book?

Jimmy Hart 25:54

My favorite book is the one I've read the most over the years, and it's the Bible. That's my favorite book. Ooh. So when I thought about that, I was like, "Okay, what... This is the book I always read."

Theresa Cesare 26:05

I love that. You know?

Jimmy Hart 26:06

And I have to make, I make a choice to pick it up, you know? Sometimes I don't pick it up. Sometimes more time goes by than I want, but I always go back to that book. If there's any book I'm gonna go to, it's gonna be that book that I go to.

Theresa Cesare 26:19

Mm. So good. Love it. And what inspires you in your work?

Jimmy Hart 26:25

My biggest inspiration are my two children. They inspire me the most, and a lot of what I've done, even when I worked in TUSD, was a result of them, whether it was something that I wanted them to have and then I felt it was important for other students to have the same opportunity, or it was something that they had that other students didn't have the opportunity to have. So they're my biggest inspiration. And, they're pretty, transparent. So they always keep me grounded, keep me honest, and my daughter's always gonna tell me the truth. So she makes me reflect on my thinking the most. And the reason I say they're my biggest inspiration and they've impacted, like, how I do my work, for example, my kids, they had the opportunity to participate in a leadership conference where they stayed on college campuses every summer Then I thought about the kids in school systems who don't get that opportunity. Mm-hmm. So what if we have the opportunity to do? We created a program where it was called LIT at the time, where over about f- five, six years, we took kids from the school district to University of Arizona. They got to live on, on the college campus. Or my son when he needed tutoring in a, a calculus class, I was able to pay for the tutoring. And then I thought about all the kids in the school district who don't have, aren't able to pay for the tutoring, so we came with a partnership with University of Arizona math department, and we were to give access to free tutoring virtual. So they're my biggest motivation and my biggest inspiration. With that also, men in my fam- my dad that raised me, he's my inspiration. Clifton Talbert, who allowed me to carry on his work, he's my inspiration. So those are a few people who really inspire me. Um, and then there's some, some educators out there and some keynote speakers who I want to be like, that I put on my... I literally have a, I have a, uh, what do you call it? Vision board.

Theresa Cesare 28:14

Yeah. I have- Yeah.

Jimmy Hart 28:15

So I actually have a vision board. You'd be proud of me.

Theresa Cesare 28:18

Yes.

Jimmy Hart 28:19

I have about, I have a- about 50 affirmations.

Theresa Cesare 28:22

Love it.

Jimmy Hart 28:23

I d- did that recently. But yeah, so the biggest inspiration, my kids, my dad, Clifton Talbert.

Theresa Cesare 28:30

I love it. Okay, I'm gonna ask you one last question. So I know that you are a legacy in the making as well, and I know that you're proud of your kids. Yes. But what are you most proud of when it comes to yourself?

Jimmy Hart 28:43

Most proud of when it comes to myself Most proud of when it comes to myself, um, constantly grinding, willing to grind, constantly pursuing this, vision I have for myself, the type of life I want, the type of impact I want. 'Cause it, it can get easy to give up, to go back to the status quo, to stay in the status quo or feel like, "You know what? This is it. Uh, this is just what it's gonna be." Um, but that's the piece I'm most proud of myself, uh, knowing that there's always more, you know, that hope word. Mm-hmm. There's always more. And that's the piece I've been working on the most recent.

Theresa Cesare 29:26

Mm.

Jimmy Hart 29:27

It's easy for me to do it for everyone else, for other people, but I realize I can't impact the type of masses I wanna impact if I don't, like, put myself front and center and focus on my vision. I have to do that. And it's not selfish. And we don't always have that conversation.

Theresa Cesare 29:48

Yeah. That's why I wanted you to highlight yourself, and look what you've brought to life. The legacy of a book, your children.

Jimmy Hart 29:54

Yeah. Yes.

Theresa Cesare 29:55

All the things that will continue to live on.

Jimmy Hart 29:59

Continue to live on, and I'm a- It's a

Theresa Cesare 30:00

legacy in the making

Jimmy Hart 30:01

legacy in the making. I am a legacy in the making.

Theresa Cesare 30:09

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please download, rate, subscribe, and share this podcast.

Speaker 3 30:15

I also want to let you know that I'm officially entering summer break, but don't worry, I'll be back with episode 141 on August 8th.