It’s time for another blast from my past! In the very first episode of Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People, I talked about a pivotal program from my childhood called Youth in Government (YIG). This episode’s guest was one of my best friends from that program. Morgan Anderson’s career has taken him across the country and through multiple industries (which I will NOT list ahead of time because I feel there is such great joy in being surprised and peeling back the layers of a story.)

In this episode we talked about YIG and why it was so impactful for us, the Renaissance “All or Nothing” mentality and how Morgan has employed it repeatedly in his multifaceted career, and the unifying feature of caring about people and supporting them that Renaissance People share. We also discussed selling confidence (compared to the many other things Morgan has sold).

I will share one little tidbit that I couldn't include in the show because we discussed it after I stopped recording. I’m a huge fan of the reality TV show competition Top Chef and Morgan was once in the running to be on the show. Shows like that have archetypical characters they cast for (sorry to ruin it if you thought everything was completely real). When it comes to the season where Morgan was in the running to appear, they had already filled the role of “prodigal chef/kitchen villain” for that season so the opportunity passed by. By the next time he could have been cast, he’d already moved on from cooking. Intrigued yet?

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

• Sign up for updates on my podcast and what’s happening in the Renaissance People Community.
• Work with me to Find Your Golden Thread
• Episode 1: Hello! I’m Sara Kobilka, Renaissance Woman
• Morgan and I were involved with the Minnesota Youth in Government (YIG) program in high school but the YMCA of the USA has Youth and Government programs across the United States.
• Where are they now article about me on the Alumni and Friends page for the Center for Youth Voice (the current home of Youth in Government within the Minnesota YMCA programs)
• Alton Brown’s video of burping sock puppets Good Eats – Dr. Strangeloaf Yeasts
• Obituary for UW-Madison Plants and Man professor Tim Allen (yes, I'm recommending you read an obituary) and another article about him
• Author Mary Roach’s website
• Book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
• Iowa’s RAGBRAI bike ride

Follow Morgan on Social Media:

LinkedIn | YouTube (aka the Critter Gitter)

A few things Morgan and I discuss:

3:11 Why Youth in Government was so impactful in our lives

12:37 The Renaissance “All or Nothing” mentality

15:26 The first of many zigzags for Morgan

16:54 Morgan’s early success

17:19 Alton Brown love fest

22:19 How Morgan lost his passion

24:5 Morgan’s travels around the country

33:13 Turns out you really can go home…at least in Morgan’s case

34:45 Science’s allure draws Morgan in

39:41 Selling confidence

48:06 Improv Game

53:54 Find Your Golden Thread

57:03 Rapidish Fire Questions

Quotes from the episode:

(Morgan) Have fun, get things done. Man! I haven't said that in about 30 years!

(Sara) It's that live hard, play hard mentality. I think a lot of Renaissance People and multi-passionate are good at that. They are both good at having fun and playing and being curious and creative. But then when there's stuff that needs to get done, they're also really good at like putting their heads down and getting things done.

(Morgan) Oh, that describes me to a T. You nailed me there. Because if I get into something, it's all or nothing.

(Morgan) I tell everyone this. I had my passion for food beat out of me and it was my own fault.

(Sara) Do you think it could come back ever? Or is it, do you think it's gone?

(Morgan) It has. Not so much like it used to be there. But I have an absolutely amazing time cooking and teaching my wife how to cook.

(Morgan) That’s where the Renaissance Person in me was first realized. Because you'd be working on a project for weeks and on a Monday morning, the CEO looks at me and says, "Oh, we're not doing that anymore, and you have to do a 180 and start over." And it's just like, oh my gosh! You know? So I went from leading a very structured, professional life in culinary and in management, and all of a sudden I'm in this nebulous area where you've gotta orchestrate amongst chaos.

(Morgan) You get really good at selling something when you're selling something people don't need like ice cream.

(Sara) I think these are the case studies of confidence as a Renaissance Person. And it sounds like for you, it took a long time to really say, “Hey, this multifaceted, well-rounded kid from high school who's traveled around the country and had all these careers and done all this stuff, there's value in me for that diversity of things that I know. Not just because I taught this one class, or I got this one degree, or I worked in this one position.” It's the multitudes that makes you magical.

(Morgan) My brother-in-law said something this last summer. There's people that are smart and there's people that have experience. And wisdom is the combination. Mm. You do not have to be smart to be wise, but you do have to have the experiences. And I think in confidence in what we were talking about, where my confidence comes from is the knowledge is the background.

(Morgan) I don't half ass anything. If I'm gonna be training my dog, it is intense! Books will show up from Amazon. And treats will be researched. And I will morph my own training program from, you know, reading 36 different books.

(Sara) That's like the antithesis of what I think is one of the superpowers of Renaissance People is, we can be creative. We have all these experiences like you're talking about, that we can draw from. And so we're the ones who can come up with those outside-the-box ideas and we can implement them and be like, let's get this shit done.

(Morgan) Humans are horrible multitaskers, and I am primed to prove that wrong. Cause there's always multiple things.

Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy, and Facebook.

If you’re extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I’d love it if you’d buy me an oat milk cappuccino, my caffeinated beverage of choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particulate Media