Episode 1571: Interview with John Kippen About His Book Dealing with the Hand Your Dealt

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Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining us on episode 1,571 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

John Kippen: Having the ability to love yourself unconditionally is key, and one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this Tired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

Reach out, no obligation. I'll get on the phone with you. I'll get on the Zoom with you and just listen to you and, and see if maybe we're a good fit. I'm invested in everyone else's success. It's through. That allows me. To win the joy into my life.

Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

If you truly desire to become the [00:01:00] person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling in the Inspired Stewardship Podcast who will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

In today's podcast episode, I interview John Kippe. I asked John about how his experience with trauma left his face paralyzed, and how he took that hand. He was dealt and turned it into a magic career and book. I also asked John about how he deals with challenges and comparison and what you can do if you struggle with that as well.

And John also shares how important it is to him to make a difference for others. I have a great book that's been out for a while now called Inspired Living. Assemble the puzzle of your calling by mastering your time, your [00:02:00] talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about that book over@inspiredlivingbook.com.

It'll take you to a page where there's information and you can sign up to get some mailings about it, as well as purchase a copy there. I'd love to see you get a copy and share with me how it impacted your world. John Kippen is the CEO of a successful IT company, a motivational speaker, a success in resilience and empowerment coach, an award-winning film producer, and now a published Arthur.

Of the book dealing with the hand you are dealt. He's also a world-class magician who performs at private events and venues, including Hollywood's prestigious Magic Castle. John was dealt a bad hand when trauma left his face paralyzed and branded him negatively as. Different. This life shattering event ironically exposed his life's purpose to assist others and to realize that being different is your superpower and how to [00:03:00] feed your heart with your art.

In this book, he revealed how he harnessed the power of magic to transform himself from a man who is depressed and defeated into an inspirational leader. He currently lives in Los Angeles. Welcome to the show, John. Thank you Scott. Appreciate

John Kippen: it. Love to be here

Scott Maderer: ab Absolutely. We're great. It's great to have you.

Yeah. I talked a little bit in the intro about some of the things you've done your book and some of the challenges you. You've gone through, but I always think of intros as like the Instagram photos of our life, right? We just show the snapshot. We don't show the whole story. So talk a little bit more about your journey and what you've done and how you've transformed your life to where you are today.

John Kippen: I grew up a privileged life with two great parents, both attorneys in Los Angeles. I never needed anything. They provided a great education for me. [00:04:00] I'm a creative problem solver, so in college I started a computer consulting company and allowed me. Make enough money to buy my first house and get into a relationship, and everything was going great.

I was having a good time and really enjoying life. And then in 2002, I was diagnosed with a four and a half centimeter brain tumor. And from diagnosis to surgery was less than a week. Wow. 'cause it had grown to a point where I was displacing my brainstem and causing me significant hearing issues as well as balance and d disease issues.

Fortunately the ear clinic downtown in la deals with these kind of tumors on a regular basis. I went there and I remember sitting [00:05:00] on the examining table bench. And having the surgeon look at my MRI and consult with the neurosurgeon who left, and then he turned around and said, John, you have a four and a half centimeter acoustic neuroma brain tumor.

It's killing you. I pushed other patients and you're gonna be operated on on Monday. And you're gonna go deaf in your left ear. There's a possibility of facial paralysis, although we'll do our best not to make that happen and left the room

Scott Maderer: Heck of a bedside manner.

John Kippen: And for anyone going through any kind of traumatic. Yeah, sure. When you go to an appointment like that, you bring someone with you because you can't record it. Doctors don't like you to turn on your phone and record conversations. And so I remember [00:06:00] my head was literally turning around like Linda Blair and I was like, what did he just say?

And I was able to go and find him and bring him back to the room and asked some more questions, but I met my parents for lunch that day and they asked questions that I had no idea were discussed I was in shock.

Anyway, fast forward a week to the surgery was a 17 hour surgery.

I woke up in surgery recovery. And once I came to, which took five or 10 minutes, my, my dad was sitting on the side of the bed holding my hand and smiling at me, and I was looking for my mom and didn't see her. So I asked for my glasses as I wore glasses at the time. And I, first thing I realized when trying to put my glasses on, that my head was bandaged and I, so I had to figure out how to get my glasses on, [00:07:00] and I looked across the room and I saw my dog, my mom.

And the look on her face was one of horror. And I didn't understand until later that day where I had the energy to get up and go to the bathroom and look in the mirror and saw that my face had been paralyzed. And I think that sent me into a downward spiral. Spiral where if my mom didn't.

Like my new face, how was I supposed to like my new face?

And fortunately or unfortunately at that time, I was able to work from home and do my IT consulting company via phone and computer and not have to deal with people wondering what happened and so forth. So I hid from cameras and mirrors for over 12 years.

And finally I [00:08:00] got sick and tired of it. And I found my, we found rediscovered my love for performing closeup magic.

And in Los Angeles where I lived, there's a private club called the Magic Castle, and I joined. And so living, surely I started performing closeup magic and, I developed an act where I shared my story and because people would look at me and were distracted by my facial paralysis, not in a judgment way, they were just curious did he have a stroke or Bell's palsy or whatever it was.

And so I would start my act saying, hi guys. Welcome. Have a good time. I've been doing magic all my life, but in 2002, I had a brain tumor and it cut on my head to get the brain tumor. They traumatized my facial nerve, hence the paralyzed face. But something happened to me when I was on the operating room table.

Now I'm not sure what it was [00:09:00] because I was unconscious. All I know is I recovered well. I realized I've acquired some new skills and then I paused and wait for audience to get on the edge of their seat. Wanted to know what kind of skills I could possibly have acquired from having brain search. And I look to my left, to my right, and in a loud whispered voice, I say, guys, I am able to visualize people's thoughts and then go on to do some mental magic or mentalism.

And I found through doing that, from sharing something very personal and very traumatic and my journey I was able to get people to look beyond my face. Into my heart and just sit there and enjoy the magic and not judge, just be in the moment and entertain.

And through many thousands of [00:10:00] performances, I met so many people and realized that I had become very empathetic and had the ability to sense when someone else was going through something traumatic.

And so I started my coaching practice unofficially then, because I would make these connections with people and I. Fortunately they saw my authenticity and saw something in me that they liked and wanted to have for themselves. So they would open up to me and ask for my guidance and take strength from my journey.

As we start I wrote a book. Playing the hand you're de that you were dealt. And if you guys get to the end of this [00:11:00] podcast, I'll provide you guys a link to download the PDF version of that book. Awesome because it talks about my entire journey and lots of fun stories of people.

That I met and worked with.

Scott Maderer: So you've written a couple of books, right?

John Kippen: Yeah, I wrote one. Living in Los Angeles when our, we had those recent Palace Fas fires.

I knew, I don't, I think 17 people who lost our homes in the ADEs fires.

And I need to do something to bring them some peace and some support.

And I put together a really quick ebook giving people strategies to deal with the adversity of losing everything and having to start over. [00:12:00]

Scott Maderer: Awesome. So one of the questions that came to mind when you were talking is why magic? Why was that something that you did younger and then that you came back to when you were older?

John Kippen: I am a creative problem solver. I love looking at puzzles and dealing with puzzles and figuring things, how things work. I love the idea that everything in life is impossible until you try it and then discover it is truly possible, and that's the lens that I look at life through.

That there is no impossible.

It's just a mindset. It's a frame of thinking that allows you to turn the impossible possible. And what a better magic metaphor than performing magic. In my keynotes, I use magic illusions and metaphors for [00:13:00] my topics that I discuss.

And it just. It allows me to share who I am as a human being through my storytelling, my magic.

It grabs their attention. It makes them interested, it engages them. It gives them hope. I'm a big believer in hope.

Scott Maderer: So how did you find magic though? When you know what? When I was a kid, my uncle that I had never met him the first time, six or seven years old, and he pulled a quarter out of my ear.

Okay.

John Kippen: And then I got interested in magic. And you've

Scott Maderer: been, and you've been looking for more quarters ever since. Yeah, exactly. And unfortunately I went to Vegas and now that didn't work. So

Yeah. That doesn't work out then?

John Kippen: No. And then I had the opportunity, there was a local magic shop that was [00:14:00] within.

Bike distance. I would ride my bike every weekend to the magic shop and I would walk in and just hang out and friend the owner of the shop and the demonstrator, and finally the owner said, John you're here every weekend. You want a job? I'm like, sure. So she put me to work minimum wage, and I'd come in every Saturday and demonstrate magic for people.

And I don't know, I was 14 or 15 years old, but. It became a skill that I developed

Which allowed me to be proud of myself. It encouraged me to think outside the box. And so had you given it up before the facial paralysis and the brain tumor or, and then you came back to it?

Scott Maderer: Or was it I would do it for friends and family and at had special occasions, but I didn't [00:15:00] try to monetize it back then. It was just, it was a hobby. You dabbled in it. It was a hobby. It was something that just, yeah. I would see an ad for something and I'd buy it.

John Kippen: Figure it out play with it a little bit. If it really inspired me, I stick it in my wallet or in my pocket and have an everyday carry of a few tricks. So if I went to a party or a dinner with someone, I pull out a magic trick and just perform it. But I didn't really start I saw a David Copperfield special

On tv and that was like. Mind opening that maybe I could bring joy to others. Like he brought joy to me.

And when I started researching in the town, the Magic Castle, I said, what do I have to lose? I was making good money, the dues were manageable for me. I went in, I learned three pre a present [00:16:00] presentation of three tricks.

Audition immediately became a full fledged magician member. And, then I just must the courage to start sitting down despite the facial paralysis.

Because I don't know my face is paralyzed unless I see it in the mirror or a picture. Yeah. So at times I, I forget about it.

Scott Maderer: And do you think the magic helped you with that?

Being able to forget about it? Oh, absolutely. And heal.

John Kippen: How? How absolutely. Because again my magic isn't. Silent. I'm a storyteller, so every story I incorporate with the magic tells you something about me, something about what I'm passionate about. Some experience, life experience.

I do a trick every time I do a keynote. It's funny I go to the mc who's gonna [00:17:00] introduce me. And right before they go on stage to do the introduction, I do a magic trick and I turn Monopoly money into real money. And they look at that and they're amazed.

And they walk out on stage completely jazzed, and they can't help but introduce me with enthusiasm to the audience and say, guys, the man you're about to meet.

Just blew my mind backstage a minute ago, he turned Monopoly money into real money. So I don't know if he's gonna share that secret with you, but you should pay attention. So now I walk on stage to everyone in the audience from a dozen to 500 to a thousand people. They are ready for me, they're attentive, and I feel warmth.

I feel love. Because someone else introduced [00:18:00] me with passion

And excitement. It immediately gets rid of any of the butterflies and I walk out there and just deliver whatever my presentation is. Without feeling apprehensive, without feeling that they're gonna judge me or be distracted or start texting on their phone or talking to their neighbor.

They're engaged because they know that they're gonna get to see some really good magic during that 45 minute speech.

Scott Maderer: Speech. So what what's your favorite moment when you're performing?

John Kippen: Wow. That's a good question. The change in people's body language. At the Magic Castle, I would sit down in front of it, behind the table and audience would come and yeah.

That, that's

Scott Maderer: close [00:19:00] up. That they're right there,

John Kippen: two to three feet away and you have to dress up I had to wear a, jacket and tie, and women are it's a time where women can dress up really provocatively.

And so I would find that I would sit down. And I'm this overweight, balding guy with facial paralysis.

I'm not visually the no Tom Cruise. Whis come and sit down at the table and their body language was one of being very protective. They would sit back, they would have their arms and legs crossed. With a a grin on their face. But they didn't know what they were gonna see.

They didn't know who I was if I was gonna be in it appropriate. But as soon as they started performing and started to telling stories, I would see their body language change. I would see their arms dropped to their side and they would [00:20:00] plant their feet swirly on the ground, and then they'd start leaning in and smiling.

And I could tell whatever baggage or whatever issues they were dealing with or this wall that women are forced to put up in today's society because of all the men who take, tried to take advantage of them. I would see these walls drop.

And they would make eye contact and really smile like they were really attracted to me.

And it wasn't a physical attraction.

But it manifested itself that after 20 or 30 minutes, I lost track of how many times these women would ask permission to give me a hug.

And at that point I was like, man, I'm doing something right. I've got these really attractive and smart women all of a sudden feeling like [00:21:00] they want to be feminine in front of me.

They want to be able to open their feminine side and share that gift with me. There's no better feeling.

Scott Maderer: Why do you think magic does that for people? Or is it the stories or is it both?

John Kippen: Yeah, it's a combination of the stories. I use magic as a metaphor for the messages in the stories.

I remember I was performing for a group for Microsoft and Steve Bomber's assistant or he head his henchman. At the table and I performed my 30 minute show for them. And they got up, they brought it, they got up and they started walking down the hall. And a friend of mine was just observing and he [00:22:00] overheard the gentleman say to his friends, now I believe in magic.

And that's probably the best compliment I've ever received. To be able to allow people to get out of their head and imagine, and just enjoy being in the moment with you're when you're enjoying any kind of interaction like that, all of your troubles that one of the things I love about magic is it's not about trying to figure it out or knowing how it's done or I've seen magicians who know how the trick is done, enjoy magic as every bit as much as somebody who has no idea how the trick was done, because it's not really about the trick it's about the [00:23:00] experience or the connection that you have to that moment of going. Wow. We're appreciate, I think somebody who really knows how it's done is appreciating it for a different reason. But there's still, it's that same connection and spirit of wow, that's really unique.

Scott Maderer: Or that's a cool that's a neat way of doing it. Or oh, I could learn something from that. But it's still that same experience. It's not, 'cause I think so often people think, oh, if you. If you understand it, you can't find the joy in it. And I know if you, that's not true. I know a few professional musicians that they're like, oh no, absolutely not.

If anything, I find more joy in it. 'cause when they say something, do it. Yeah. We're inspired wow.

John Kippen: We're inspired by their presentations and their creativity and as a magician you try not to copy someone else's routine. But you get inspiration.

And it starts your mind going.

[00:24:00] And all of a sudden you can take a specific method or a specific presentation and then make it your own.

I buy a lot of magic online and when I get it, I catalog it and stick it in a filing cabinet, and I wait until I get an idea.

All of a sudden, I remember that I bought that prop a month ago, or six years ago, whatever, and I go digging through it and I pull out the prop.

And then now I have that routine where that prop helps me with the illusion.

It's just, it's one of those art forms that transcends language. And it. Makes you connect with people

Scott Maderer: on a

John Kippen: human level.

Scott Maderer: I think there was a, I think it was Penn [00:25:00] and Teller special a number of years ago where they went to a whole bunch of different countries.

Basically just doing cups and balls is all. And, but they would find magicians in that country who. A version of cups and balls, that's, and they just went and present. And again, it was like you said, sometimes these people didn't speak a lick of English, pet intelligent, didn't speak the local language, didn't matter.

They could still have a whole conversation and yeah. Interaction around how do we do this trick and what's different, what's the same? And what's unique that they bring to it because it's a. Very basic trick that everybody has seen, and yet there's a billion ways to do it and all of these different little nuances that they did.

And of course I think, I'm pretty sure it was Penn and Teller. It may not have been, but I'm pretty sure it was. When you look at people and for you, magic has helped you [00:26:00] discover the, this. Discomfort and this assurance and this feeling. I think a lot of folks want that feeling, but feel like I don't have a thing I don't have magic.

I don't have, I'm not really special in that way. John has this gift and he's able to develop it, and I couldn't do that. W what would you say to those folks that kind of have that knee jerk reaction?

John Kippen: Everybody has a hobby. Everybody has interests outside of their day-to-day job career. It's a matter of using whatever that interest of yours to strike up a conversation with somebody.

And when you talk about your life's experiences to someone else and you share something really personal. [00:27:00] Whatever happens to be, you immediately decre, you become authentic and credible. You immediately attract others to be interested in what you're talking about. And that is magic in and itself.

Being able to connect with someone on such a human level is the greatest gift. That I get from performing magic. I'll tell you a quick story. I was looking at the castle, looking for an audience to do a show, and this woman was walking down the hallway dressed in baggy black clothes and wearing a hat that reminded me of a witch's hat, and she was looking at her, the crown, and I could tell she wasn't having a good tongue.

So as she passed me, I said, hi, how are you? She stopped. She gave me this look that said, just leave me the heck alone, [00:28:00] and continuing downstairs to catch up with her friends. I ignored that and I followed her and I caught up with the friends and I was like, Hey guys, having a good time. They're like, oh, yeah, amazing.

But I said, yeah, but have you seen any really good closeup magic? And they shrugged their shoulders. I said, come on, let's go. And I took 'em over to one of those green tables and it with green felt,

Where five or six chairs. And I sat down and I put the woman dressed in baggy black clothes.

Her name was Darren. And I put it to my right and I could tell she was carrying some heavy baggage with her. She didn't want to be there. And my goal for that interaction was to simply get her to smile. That was it. No more, no less. I just wanted them to have a good time and smile and escape from whatever life was splitting in their way or throwing at them for 20 or 30 minutes.

[00:29:00] So in my performance I put my spectators as the heroes. I make the magic all about them and what they do, and they actually make the magic happen. I'm just a conduit to make. It's not about look at me, how great I am. It's about making that connection with people and making them make the magic happen.

And so as I started performing, all of a sudden Darren sat up straight, she ditched the hat and she started smiling and her eyes started to dance, and I could tell whatever baggage she brought with her were gone. And I finished my show and normally audiences applaud and they get up and they leave.

But this group wanted more. So I shared the story about how I had hid from cameras and mirrors for 12 years. Because I didn't, wasn't comfortable with my new face and in my body and I gained a lot of weight and just went through depression [00:30:00] and it all changed August 3rd, 2017, when I was at my first magic invention in Las Vegas and I was amongst the greatest minds of magic.

I said, darn it. I want to get photos with these great minds of magic. I must have the courage to take photos with these great magicians. And I got home and I'm uploading them to my computer. And it dawned on me if these great mine's in magic had no trouble taking a picture with me, what was my problem?

And it's funny we all talk about healing moments and where or our perception of ourselves change. Why no to the minute. When that happened.

Because I have the date stamp on that first photo I took.

And that's when my mindset changed and my perception changed that I was worthy.[00:31:00]

My facial paralysis did not need to define me if I didn't let it. And my. Platform is making, being different is your superpower.

That's what I talk about. And how to take life's little bumps in the road and make the most of them. That's why I became a resilience and empowerment coach.

There are millions of life coaches out there. But there are not many people who position themselves as a resilience and empowerment coach.

And when I get to on calls with potential clients and I share my story and they see the passion in me when I talk about helping others they're on board.

Because they want some of that magic juice. They want to feel [00:32:00] like, I feel, and so it's my best. Being authentic and being myself is my best sales tool. I live my life for good and bad, feeling like it's better to ask for forgiveness and permission. That has bit me in the butt a number of times where I've crossed a line and had someone make a judgment or scold me for it.

But it's also given me some opportunities that I would never have had if I didn't just do it. And then wait for someone to say but all right. You're halfway done. I'll just let you do it.

Scott Maderer: So one of the things that came to mind as you were talking is I think all of us have moments of self-doubt of comparison, of [00:33:00] feeling, what you just talked about, it. Resilience is we deal with that, we struggle with that. We don't always feel like we can pick up our feet, put one in front of the other.

What's your best advice or what would you say to somebody who's feeling that way right now?

John Kippen: I have a full coaching program that I have 10, 10 strategies to overcome that. Learning how to love yourself despite your challenges and not in your head, in your heart.

And there's a huge difference. I also find that as kids, we grow up. And we're lucky to have a, a good home with loving parents.

They have friends come over and their friends, adult friends say, oh, [00:34:00] Johnny, nice to meet you. Hey, I got a question for you. What do you wanna be when you grow up? Up? Yeah. I always think that's a horrible question to ask

Scott Maderer: kids, but there you go.

John Kippen: And my response would be, I think I wanna be a fireman.

No, I wanna be a policeman. Wait no. I wanna be an astronaut. No, I wanna be a rockstar. Then I go in my room and start playing your guitar and pick up a couple rulers and start pretending that I'm a drummer and I'm imagining, and I'm dreaming about what it would be like to walk out on stage and perform in front of thousands of people at a huge venue.

And I'm dreaming, and I'm imagining and it brings so much joy to me. And then at some point in your life. You get a job and you start a [00:35:00] family and adults stop dreaming.

And that is people need to learn how to dream. Again, as adults, even if you don't do anything to achieve those dreams, at least you have them.

Because we all go through I would think we all go through a midlife crisis where what we, you currently have isn't quite fulfilling enough, and there's gotta be more. And the only way you figure out what that more is by closing your eyes and a comfortable chair sipping your favorite cocktail, and just letting your mind wander, letting your mind completely empty of thoughts.

Imagine where you would love to be given a billion dollars. What would you want to be doing? [00:36:00] And that is powerful. It refuels the soul.

That's really what I really enjoy to do and I do it as often as I can and I help my clients. Do you know I have friends. I'll be walking down the street and we're having a conversation and I say, Hey Scott, how you doing?

They go, yeah, I'm living the dream. And I always, without exception, stop. And I say, yes, Scott, but is it your dream or somebody else's? Or somebody else's? Is it your wife or sisters or parents or kids'? Dream? You know what, is it really your dream? Yeah. 'cause at the end of the day, if you're not living your dream, you're not living

Scott Maderer: right.

Yeah. That's one of those things too that I actually had a conversation earlier today as we're recording this, where [00:37:00] somebody was. Basically pitching me on a whole bunch of stuff that they could do to help this and help that, and help this other thing on my business. And it's but my business is what I want it to be.

Why? Why would I do all of that to change it? It's kind. I'm already it's the old joke of the guy who's fishing and the guy comes along and says if you work really hard, then you can retire and fish. And it's but I'm already fishing. Why do I need to do all of that?

And it's not, like you said, it's not about not working and it's not about not having goals, and it's not about not doing or having hope or dreams. It's that sometimes I think we miss out on the fact that we're able to live our own dream because we're so busy trying to live whatever marketing or other people have told us someone else's expectation

John Kippen: of what we should be doing.

Yeah.

Scott Maderer: This is what you should be doing. And it's no, why? Yeah. [00:38:00] But every once in a while you actually wake up and smell the coffee. Ask.

Yeah.

John Kippen: And you go, holy crap. I'm not living my dream. And the adage is so true. If you love what you don't work a day in your life.

Scott Maderer: Yeah.

John Kippen: And I've run into so many people who have forgotten that. Because they're getting by. They're making some money. They're they have, you're in a relationship. They got kids, they got responsibilities and their life is going okay.

Scott Maderer: What

John Kippen: are they really living

Scott Maderer: well and even there it's take money as an example.

Because I work with a lot of folks that are business owners and initially when you ask them what they want they'll tell you they want a lot of money. But then when you dig deeper and start asking 'em questions and why do you want a lot of money? What is it about having a lot of money?

It's not money that they're after, it's [00:39:00] security or freedom or flexibility or it's those things that they're really after. They just think money's the way to get it right. And it may be, but it also may not be there may be ways to get it without. Just, yeah. Making a lot of money.

And so it's almost like I, if you're chasing one thing too hard, you end up missing all of the things along the way that are actually the joy of the moment. You forget to live. It's the journey.

John Kippen: That's the journey.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. You to live

John Kippen: the most fun and excitement.

It's not the destination as much as the journey,

Scott Maderer: and often when you get to the destination, you find out that's not the final destination anyway.

That's right.

John Kippen: Exactly right.

Scott Maderer: It moves.

John Kippen: But if you hate getting up Monday mornings because you dread whatever your week is you dread what you're doing for whatever reason.

[00:40:00] It's time to. Think about that and make a change.

Scott Maderer: Get some help or get a coach or get somebody that can help you reprogram some of that.

So you look at it and act a different way. So I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, John, but before I ask you those, what else about the work you do or the experiences you've had? Do you think it's really important to share with the listener?

John Kippen: In our pre-talk you talked about stewardship.

Scott Maderer: Yeah. I'm about to ask you that question. Go ahead. And to be honest with you, I had to look up the definition of stewardship because it wasn't a term that I was really familiar with.

Yeah. It's an old fashioned word.

John Kippen: And so my definition or my answer to stewardship is. The joy I get from helping others.

Building [00:41:00] relationships supporting friends and family, and being there when they most need somebody through the pandemic we all got locked down and we were confined. To our homes and whatever, and I was single at the time, so I'm sitting there with my dog and it's just the two of us, and I got lonely.

So I invented this game called Rolodex Roulette. Now for your listeners who are not old enough to know what a Rolodex is, imagine this spindle. With two handles and these cardboard cards that you, staple index cards that

Scott Maderer: you can put in there. Yeah. Where it becomes your way of knowing how to reach somebody.

John Kippen: And it's an album with order now. Today you have it's

Scott Maderer: con, it's the contact list in your phone. Only physical.

John Kippen: Yeah. Absolutely. [00:42:00] So the way you play my game. As you open your contacts on your phone, you turn the phone away from you, and you scroll up and down for 30 seconds and you stop on a name and that's who you call that day.

Just to say hi and check in. And a lot of times it'll be someone you haven't talked to in 20 years. A lot of times it'll be someone that you had a conversation with two days ago. It doesn't matter. The object of the game is you stop. You call that person. You say, Hey, I was thinking about you, and I just wanted to check in to see how you're doing, what's going on, what's new and exciting in your life?

And you catch people off guard. You don't want anything, you just want to share a moment or two or an hour, depending upon how the conversation goes. [00:43:00] But I guarantee you, you play that game and by the end of that conversation, both of you are feeling uplifted because you know that we often go through life and someone crosses our mind and we don't do anything about it.

We don't take the time to reach out and I'm not a. I'm an IT guy. I don't like texting I'd much rather get someone on the phone because you get their attention. You get more than 30 seconds of their time, and you're able to hear their voices, what they're saying and what they're not saying.

Whether or not they're going through a tough time or whether or not they're really finding joy and. It's just a way, an amazing way of connecting and reconnecting with friends. We all have those people in our [00:44:00] contacts that we had a falling out with and whether or not whose fault it was, it doesn't really matter, or a lot of times we've even forgotten the exact situation.

We just know that we don't want to be the person to make that first reach out to men, that fence, we're gonna let them do it. My game, Rolodex Roulette allows you to get on the phone with that one of those people and say, Scott, before we start, I'm playing this game. I learned from my friend John, and it's called Rolodex Roulette, and the way it works is you think about someone, you call him and just check in.

How are you?

And it disarms any, the hostility that you might have had with that person. And you mend fences so much easier when you attribute the reaching out to just following the [00:45:00] rules of the game. It's amazing how many friendships I've been able to rekindle. And so many times those disagreements are misunderstandings.

And it gives you the ability to just be honest about, Hey, whatever happened to that? You stole my girlfriend, I stole your what are you

talking about? Whatever it is it's all we really have in this life. Is our relationship with others. Spirituality everybody you know is spirituality, whatever they call it, whether or not it's their belief in God or belief in society or whatever.

But at the end of the day, it's really our relationships with others. That brings us joy and [00:46:00] makes us feel wanted and listened to and less lonely.

Scott Maderer: John, this is my favorite question that I like to ask everybody. Imagine for a moment that I invented this magic machine. And with this machine, I could pluck you from where you are today and transport you into the future, maybe 150, maybe 250 years.

But through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life, see all of the connections, all of the ripples, all of the impacts you've left. What impact do you hope you've left in the world?

John Kippen: I hope that through my speaking and coaching and my. Investing in other people's success that I've been able to

over, I've been able to get people to overcome their limiting beliefs [00:47:00] and enjoy their lives. It's all about being present and helping others to me. That's what brings me the most joy is I'll see someone post something on social media that's out of character for them.

And sometimes you read that, one of those votes and you keep on scrolling. Yeah. They're just having a bad day. And I don't stop scrolling and I call them and I say, Hey Scott I saw your post from yesterday. What's going on, man? How can I help?

And sometimes they say, oh no, just having a bad day.

Or sometimes you get them in the right frame of mind to open up and talk to you and ask for advice or just wanna be [00:48:00] heard.

They don't want judgment. They just want to be heard. So important. I just hope the sushi. We have enough sushi in that world that in, in 200 years, I get transported to.

Scott Maderer: You just hope they have sushi there?

Is that?

John Kippen: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Really good. Really good quality. Unlimited sushi. That's

Scott Maderer: quality. Unlimited sushi. Yeah. By then, maybe they'll have replicators. You just walk up to it and say, yeah, order what you want. It just, that

John Kippen: you can 3D print.

Scott Maderer: Yeah.

John Kippen: Desserts now. You can

Scott Maderer: 3D print your sushi. I don't know, something Yeah.

That, that might have. So what's on the roadmap, John? What's on the horizon as you continue on your journey?

John Kippen: Trying to make a difference. Trying to make a difference day by day. One interaction at a time. When. [00:49:00] One of my idols as I was growing up was Alex Rebek the

Host of Jeopardy.

And he was so courageous to come on national television and share his cancer diagnosis with tens of millions of people and asked for their prayers and support. And I had dealt with people dealing with all sorts of. Medical issues from cancer to Alzheimer's to whatever, and I decided to reach out to his family.

I found his daughter named Nikki, and I found her contacting info and I called her and I said, Nikki, I love your dad. I want to perform for him. I wanna ring him some joy through his adverse times. She didn't know what to [00:50:00] say. I invited them to be my guest at the castle and they're no.

My dad won't want to be in public like that. But we are having a 70 minutes birthday party and we have no entertainment plan. So you want to come entertain the the 40 or so guests at the party by all means. And so I had a month to put together a brand new show. Specifically geared towards Alex Beck.

And you go to my john kipa.com and under the magic section, there's some videos of me performing for Alex Rebe at that party. And we had such a great time with a give and take. He wanted to know how things worked. He was constantly looking, trying to look under, behind, under my hands or under the table or whatever, and to see his joy.

I was able to get him to stop thinking [00:51:00] about his cancer for 45 minutes, and that was my gift to him.

And then he asked me to follow him into another room after the show. And we sat down and I got to share with him that he was one of my heroes. He, unlike the Matt Lau of the World, was wast a, was a a celebrity that was above reproach.

And I just said I saw you dealing with something that was difficult and scary as whatever, and I just wanted to know what you mean To me, what you need to the world. Your life's mission is worthwhile. You are such a smart man. You were such a compassionate man and we had the ob, the opportunity to.

Be having you in our living room, in our kitchen, in our bedrooms at 7:00 PM [00:52:00] every mon, every Monday through Friday, and you became a part of our family, and I just want to make sure you understand how much you mean to the world. And he started crying.

Scott Maderer: Sure.

John Kippen: He was like, John no one takes the time for a simple thank you for my life's work.

And I said, yeah I had a feeling and so I wanted to be a person who did. And God, that was one of my proudest moments.

Scott Maderer: As John just mentioned, you can find out more about John and the work that he does over@johnkippen.com. Of course, I'll have a link to that over in the show notes as well, so you can find it real easy.

John, anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

John Kippen: I'm gonna give you the link to download the PDF copy of Claim. The [00:53:00] hand you're Dealt, it's very simple. It's john kipp.com/free gift, all one word. And it'll take you up to a sign in page. So I'll be able to collect your email address and your name, and then it'll take you to a download page where you can download the 200 and whatever 33 page book.

In the book there are QR codes. You can scan or in the pdf D version, simply click and it will transport you to a secret area on my website where all of these videos of me doing my TED Talk or doing a documentary that I did with. Jamie Curtis. Curtis is my co-star and magic routines I did and my performance was I tak and all of my life's experiences.

Pictures of me, of a little kid and just so you get to know a little bit about me, my journey, my messages, and what I'm [00:54:00] all about. Awesome. And I hope if any of you out there feel stalked in your life. And you don't really know what to do about it, gimme a call, send me an email, reach out, no obligation.

I'll get on the phone with you. I'll get on the Zoom with you and just listen to you and see if maybe we're a good fit. I'm invested in everyone else's success because through that allows me to bring the joy into my life.

Scott Maderer: Awesome. Thanks so much, John.

John Kippen: Thank you, Scott, for the opportunity.

Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way [00:55:00] to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode. Please. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

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