Welcome back to Inside personal growth. This is Greg Voisen, the host of inside personal growth and Butch, my listeners know me, but they don't know you. It's Butch Meily, and he is joining us from Manila in the Philippines. Good day to you, and

good evening to you, Greg. I'm on the other side of the world, literally

you. You literally are and in a beautiful part of the world. For many people who maybe have visited there, they know it is a beautiful part and and beautiful people that live and populate the islands there. So it is. You guys are great. And I see a picture I think of your mom and dad right over your shoulder, so and you have so much to be grateful for. And you know Butch, you have written a book, and we were going to tell our listeners that it's due out May 6, and that it he doesn't have a copy of the book, but for those of you listening this right now, this book is called from Manila to Wall Street, an immigrant's journey with Americans, first black tycoon. And it's such an interesting book because it weaves into this great story all about Butch and all about reg. And we'll just say Reg, and this, I want to let the listeners just know a tad bit about you before we get too deep into the questions about the book. And as we said, the book will be out shortly. We'll put a link to Amazon. We'll put a link to all the best booksellers. So he's written articles for The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily Times, The Baltimore Sun, Black Enterprise magazine and the Philippine Star newspaper. He's also done two book tours promoting his former boss's biography. Why should white guys have all the fun? Brian Butch, his current job is president of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, a private sector disaster management organization that includes the major business groups in his country. He's also worked in conflict situations in Southern Philippines, including terror, terror siege in 2013 and an ISIS inspired rebellion in 2017 Butch wear several hats. He heads an idea Space Foundation, a Technology Accelerator for early stage startups, and a QB Q Innovation Hub, public and private partnership launched to mentor startups. So he's doing that work as well, and previously was the Vice President and Special Assistant to the chairman of PLDT. And it goes on and on. He Butch has graduated from and I want to get this right. Is it a Tino attino di Manila at

the nail. It's a Jesuit university over here, okay, and

Manila. And earned an MA in journalism, and he also has a degree from the University of Florida, becoming the first honors graduate of the program. And in 77 he established a permanent scholarship in his father Joe's name, and he made donations to the College of journalism and communications at the University of Florida. Well, you know, this book is going to be a great book when people get their hands on it, which is soon, and by the time this podcast out, everyone will be able to do it. You know, one of the thing that fascinated me is, you know, you work for this black man who Reg, Reginald Lewis, who became just incredibly successful. I'm sure the listeners want to know, what did you learn from him, and what during that time in history were some of the biggest challenges that the two of you faced? And in spite, I mean, this was a very driven man, and I think people should know more about him and about you and your and your partnership or relationship.

Well, that's a, that's a great question. Uh, Greg. I mean, we, we met by chance. I mean, his, his wife, Loida, had gotten my name from a Wall Street Journal reporter, and she called me out of the blue. I didn't know who she was, and she said, my husband's got a PR problem. I was in public relations, and don't worry, he'll be a big client someday. And with that point, I took a call from him in his office, and I finally got to meet him in the lobby of the New York Times on the way up to an interview there. And that's the only time I realized he was, he was black. And I, you know, I mean, for me, it was a new experience. I think reg taught me a lot of things, but one of the things he did teach me was the least part of the experience of being African American in the United States, which I, you know, I read stuff, I'd watch movies and all that, but I was, I'd never really had that kind of a relationship with An African American, where he was my boss, and we got to be fairly close together, and I was just confident to some extent, and that he always accused me, Greg of having this candy cane vision of America because I grew up with Jimmy Stewart movies, Gregory Peck all these things and reading, I'm Newsweek life, and, you know, I just loved all that stuff. And, you know, I thought the United States was just like that, and people were just like that. And so instead, I think that, you know, it, it was, I mean, America is, and was, you know, a great country, but he just showed me just a different aspect to it, which I had not been familiar with. And so that that made me think about things, yeah, you

know, your relationship certainly had it up. It had its ups and downs and and he was a very driven man. But you know, one of the things that you had to do is you had to move from the Philippines to America, and it was really both a leap of faith and necessity. What were the most jarring cultural adjustments that you kind of faced with when you arrived to the United States. Because, look, you've you've lived back and forth now, right? You not when, but when you first started. That wasn't the case. And how did this shape? You know meaning Butch is identity. Because here is somebody from the Philippines moving to the United States and working with a black entrepreneur, you know, at the time, and, and as you said, you were in communications. That was your, that was what you've done most of your life, right? Yeah, that's right, he and he had a problem, and you were going to fix it.

I hadn't fixed it, I wouldn't be here, or we wouldn't be talking about this or this book. Yes, exactly. There would be no book, different kind of book. Yeah, exactly. You know, I that was just my second, my second trip abroad. Actually, when I went to the United States, as long as trip I ever took. I had only had a short trip to Hong Kong, which, back then, was a British colony. This is 1977 and a you know, America was like a breath of fresh air to me. I have to tell you, I fell in love with the country, with the people I grew up in a strict Catholic upbringing. You know, my folks were great. I had great friends, but it was just a very different experience coming from the Philippines in 1977 to the United States of America. I mean, it was just a there's a lot of freedom. Cousin of mine, who lived in California, told me, you were free to do whatever you wanted, as long as you didn't, you know, affect somebody else or impinge on somebody else's freedom. So but, and that really what is true. And I, you know, I just at the University of Florida, I, you know, I wasn't earning any money or anything, but I, I was living, you know, you know, very simply. But it was just a great experience. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed my classmates and the people and everybody was really open. And I, I just love the whole thing. I mean, I don't think Americans appreciate enough, you know what the country means, our

freedoms, yeah, well, you know, it's been as a challenging time here lately. I think for many of them, it's a lot of division. And obviously, just yesterday, you know, you being Catholic, the Pope Francis passing away. And you really look kind of how he left. There was Easter Sunday, and then Monday he was gone. And you think about that, and that's a really spiritual transition that that pope made. And quite a person who was changing the Catholic Church, and the way in which the Catholic Church fundamentally operated, right? And you know you you talk about in the book, it's full of these poignant moments with your family, your father's farewell, which now you have a scholarship, your mother's prediction. How did your Filipino heritage and upbringing ground you during this most tumultuous time in America? Because, you know, look the 70s in America, it was a I know, because I'm going to be 71 years old in July. So I remember the 70s really, really well, right? And those were times when we we had a lot of tumultuous stuff going on. What I remember more than anything, was waiting in line for gasoline. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if you remember that or not, but if you had an odd number plate or even number plate, yeah, so What? What? What is it about your heritage and upbringing that kind of grounded you during these kind of most tumultuous times? What did your family teach you? What did you learn? And then you coming from a more, I don't want to call structured, structured restricted environment, to this really free environment that even though we were having our challenges, we were still much freer than the Philippines. Oh yeah, let's, let's face it, we

had, we had martial law back then. I mean, that's reasons it was, it was good to get out, but I think the US was coming back from the Vietnam War, and some of my fellow classmates were were army guys. They were army captains who the US Army had sent to the University of Florida to study journalism. So it was good talking to them and comparing notes about what happened over there and what went wrong, but I mean in terms of what got me through everything was my my values. I think the fact that my, my parents were good people, and I think that's that's one of the gifts they gave me, was that they, they, they formed my values. By the time I got to Gainesville, Florida, my values were pretty well formed. And though I, you know, I I did all sorts of stuff and, you know, but I think in the end, I came through it, and I came through it okay, which was, well,

you know, a lot of people, one of the things to be a journalist, you've got to be curious. I'm just wondering, you know, how am I? What role did curiosity really play for you in all of this? Because when you really look at somebody who is curious, somebody who has a purpose and a vision and goals, that really is some of the foundational things you need from a personal growth standpoint, and as you reflect back on that, you know, I may be a podcaster, but I'm probably the most curious person that there is, because I wouldn't have done 1200 podcasts at this point. Because I'm interested in people's lives. I'm interested in the story. I'm interested in their stories. And there is an old saying that I'm sure you know, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And you know, that's that's a really powerful statement, because you're a guy that cares a lot. Yeah,

yeah, no, I, you know, I believe Greg. Everyone's had, everyone has a story. I mean, doesn't matter what you do or you know, where you are in life, everybody's got a great story. And I, you know, I, terms of the caring I, you know, that's where my what I do every day. Now I've changed a lot, but the being curious, you know, I just coming to a new country was a big experience. And then I moved around a lot. I went to Chicago for a couple of years in San Francisco, then I did wind up in New York City. So each time I moved or changed my life, it was, it was a leap of faith and taking a bit of a gamble, but willingness to meet new people and the readiness to take on new challenges, because I helped this impulse to always try to move up the ladder and to try to do better for myself, and that kind of drove me in more ways than one, just looking back on it, but I was incredibly lucky in terms of all the breaks I've had. I think that's important for people that they they have, they're going to get the break. They just have to be ready to take advantage of it when it happens.

Yeah, that's, that's, you know. And I think when preparedness meets that, would you were prepared. And as you said, his wife called you. So reg is reg Lewis is the man we're talking about, you know. And he's described in your book as intense and brilliant, but also often volatile, you know. And here's this guy, I mean, you know, he didn't have, like, one of these personalities that was like, okay, meek and mild. What was it like navigating this working relationship with somebody that's so driven. I mean, I saw the pictures in the book, right, but so unpredictable, yeah. And I think you might want to set the stage here and tell our listeners a little about Reg, because, you know, he acquired these companies, he grew this into a billion. He was the first black billionaire, right?

Not billionaire. You know, he never made a billion. It wasn't until recently that anyone made a billion, but he, he was the first African American to bid a billion dollars for a company and to win it. That was Beatrice International, 64 companies in 31 country. Countries have been a billion dollars, mostly of borrowed money, and he won it. Those were the days in the 80s when you could do that, and the he was also the first black guy to to try to take his company public on the New York Stock Exchange, where we failed. I tell the story about that in my book. And then he was the first one to run a billion dollar, multi billion dollar company, be it CEO, which is very rare. Back then he back then Greg, blacks really weren't allowed to live on Fifth Avenue, so that's what he used to tell me, the only blacks that on Fifth Avenue came in through the servant entrance. And because New York go upwards, when they said, No, that was it. I mean, no explanation. No. I mean, I didn't need to explain it. So they just turned everybody down. But he, he managed to get in. He was the first black guy to live on Fifth Avenue in a great building, and that's that's in Forbes and a lot of other places. It amazed the real estate world that it actually happened. But he, he died within a month after moving in. Though

he was 57 right

when he died? No five, oh, 50,

oh, 50. So he was really young, really

on a peak of his achievements and his powers, and that kind of shook me.

Do you think that the stress of everything that he did, he was so intense and so driven and so, you know, I think that, you know, sometimes people like that. The stress is just is immense, right?

Yeah. I mean, every day was like coming in for getting ready for this fight,

yeah. What do you think he was trying to prove?

Well, I think he had a lot to prove for himself, but he, because he came from semi tough neighborhood, let's call it that in Baltimore, broken to got a scholarship to Harvard Law School, and kept moving up. And he he was just really driven. And I think he felt this burden be honest that every time he went out and did a deal, or when any or any type of social interaction, he was like, representing all African Americans, because there's nobody else back then in in at that level, on Wall Street, and so, I mean, he felt all this pressure, and a lot of it seeped over to us with, yeah,

you know you mentioned in the book that being both participant and a server or observer in Regis orbit. You know that that's exact words from the book. Yeah. Did the duality help you survive in such high stakes environments, or did it come at a cost for you?

Well, you know, I guess it did come at a cost, but I found myself in the situations where, you know, you'd be yelling at me, or you'd be yelling at somebody else, or there'd be some kind of drama going on, and I found myself sometimes standing outside of it and just watching his what he was doing, and watching the reaction of my my work mates and colleagues and and just Well, I said, Wow, what Am I? What am I doing here? About the window or something, but, yeah, because it was like the non stop, non stop stress.

Yeah, I can imagine. And you know, you do a really great job in the book of explaining this too. And I want my listeners to know that, and it it's very engaging book, because it really tells a story, but then it goes into your story as well. You know, there's a moment when reg tells you not to make his success a black success story. Look, you're his, basically his PR department. And how did you reconcile your role in shaping, kind of his public image with the deeper significance of his race in really a widely or largely dominated white world, and especially business world on Wall Street. Yeah, yeah. I mean, on Wall Street you didn't see in the 70s, a lot of, a lot of black men. And even today, you still don't see that. Oh no, it's really dominated by white older men. Well,

much more so then much more so then. But he, you know, I mean, the, I guess for him, it was like, you know, battling through these, through these situations and and making himself a presence, and not letting all this stuff get him down. But, you know, I remember race was always a factor, you know, whether we were going out to lunch, or whether we were, you know, going out for a walk or trying to get a cab in New York, it was, it was, and that made it always hard to relax, because even when you're supposed to be in a situation, we're having drinks, you could say something, or the waiter might be a little slower, the service might not be great, and he'd always wonder whether it was his race and so, but yeah, back then, I mean, we'd walk into these big business situations, and, you know, I mean, we were kind of alone. We were, we were, you know, I mean, people would come up to him and then chat with him, but not not many and but

it's interesting. You know, you look at this, our world now is so mixed all over and the United States is certainly a hodgepodge today. Back in the 70s, maybe not as much, but still, that was so much segregation with blacks back in the 70s. And one of the things here I want to talk about is what you refer as power, loyalty and morality, and you write that you made a living by attaching yourself to powerful people. Obviously, you're in the PR business. Was this a conscious strategy or something that you only realized kind of in hindsight?

Yeah, it was something I realized in hindsight. Critic, I didn't set out to do that. I just looked back on my career as I writing this, as I was writing this book and saw that, but in the middle of that career, like after reg died, I I began to realize that this to understand that there was something there that I had if I could work with CEOs who were high up and powerful, or leaders who are high up and powerful, there were, there were benefits to it. I mean, I mean, you could. And I consciously, at some point in my career, I consciously began to look for those situations, whether as chief of staff or as as their top PR person. And but, but there's a, there's a trade off for it, you know, I mean, and that's the loss of your personal time and your personal life with a lot of these, these guys, well, being a

journalist and and it kind of like the PR guy for him, you really got it. I'm surprised that you didn't write a book about him, sooner than this book,

30 years. 35 years.

Yeah, think about that. Now you you work closely with these people of power. Obviously, Reg was even though he's black, he was still quite powerful. And you had this corporate, political and social so when you change, did that environment change your definition of success, when you think about the corporate world, the political world, the social world that you were involved in, even with with REG, did this change how you saw, how people became successful? Obviously, it's kind of a game, isn't it? You know, they're all playing the game. We can see the big game happening right now in a political world, right? And, I mean, we go back to Manila Marcos, who, you know, I always remember the stories about the the shoe closet and, and I think the Americans remember that she had like, 1000 pairs of shoes or something like that, right? And now her son is still ruling your country, right?

I work with him occasionally. Great. Do you okay?

Nothing against him. I hear that he's a wonderful I say, young man, he's not that young anymore. But the reality is, yeah, you do work with him occasionally.

Yeah, yeah. Nature of my work masters dealing with disasters and the private sectors response in these situations. So yeah, I've had the opportunity. What I haven't told him is I actually met his mother, Mel de Marcos, and worked with her on a van Clyburn concert. I was just a college student van

Clyburn, boy, you're taking me back.

Yeah, that's right. Well, you know, all these people were famous, that's a problem with fame. But he got him over, and I was a college student, and had a chance to work with her at her peak, and I saw her technique for raising money, for fundraising, and she could raise a lot of money with a few phone calls. I

guarantee you she could. Now, you know, you mentioned that this journey may have come at a cost to you. You said what you most wanted in life was Love, a family, a home. Is that a regret or a price that you kind of came to accept? Because, look, you were quite a busy guy. You were, like, crazy busy. What? What is the what do you want the listeners to know about this part of your own life.

Well, I do have a lot of regrets, Greg. I mean, I, you know, I lost something along the way. And I, you know, I think about it all the time. If I had done this differently, if I'd spent a little more time with my family, with my then wife, you know, I, I always thought, I mean to my parents, when you got married, that you'd be there forever. And I realized much later on in life that that's not, that's not necessarily true, and I fault myself to a large extent. I very early on, my focus was on my career and working with somebody like reg or some of the other CEOs I worked with, they tend to take your time. And he, he told me at one point, I thought, if I paid you enough that you give up that time with your family. And that was, that was the trade. I said that that's not true in my case, you know, I It's a good thing. I never had my kid when, when I was working with him, I only had children, only one, with one son. A few years after he died, I just never started a family. And I kind of regret that, you know, I was like my I'm I'm older now my son's relatively young. I hope I get a chance to see my grandkids, you know, but I compare them that to people my age. They their grandparents. I mean, they're, they're, they're playing with their grandkids, and they've seen their their children transition and become adults. But I started a little late because of all that work and all that traveling, what would

you tell the listeners today about impermanence and attachment. You know the the Buddha's philosophy, obviously and in many spiritual practices. And you're very spiritual man. What is it that you know you you've lost your father, you been through a divorce, you've obviously had your ups and downs in many different areas. And when we say, you know impermanence, nothing's permanent. Your job wasn't permanent, your relationship wasn't permanent. And detachment, or being able to detach, meaning not seeing. You know, it's like, when is enough enough, you know, if you give up something. So if I say, Hey, will you sacrifice time with your family for this great job with REG? Yeah. And then you tell yourself, well, okay, I mean, because I've interviewed some of the greatest coaches around Marshall Goldsmith, and he'll always say this, well, you know, interview, these people are just so ambitious and successful. They have 18 zillion degrees. They got 15 cars in their driveway. They have a 20,000 square foot house. They own two companies and are worth a half a billion dollars. And you'll say, well, when's enough enough? And they don't know when to stop?

Yeah, Greg, I don't think they're happy. I mean, right? I discovered a lot of these people at the top are very happy at the end of the day, because they come home and it's a really empty feeling. Even the relationships they're with are transactional. Yeah, I mean, they wind up with people who view them as a money bag, and when they lose it, they know they're going to walk out on them. And what would

you define as your what would you tell listeners today? Because the elusive happiness seems to slip through so many people's hands. What are some of the things that you would say have made you happy?

Well, I I've learned that family is really important, because in the end, when everything else is gone, when you've lost the fame or the money and everything else. I mean, the it's the family, it's the people you grow grew up with. It's your brothers and sisters. It's your kids, your parents, if they're still around, they'll never desert you. I mean, nobody will ever love you more than your mother, but you know, I mean that's, that's true. I mean, no matter who you meet, it's unconditional love. And you know, it's a rare thing. So I, you know, I'm looking for that, I'm searching for that, and it's tough to find that in other people, but I think that's really important. I mean, it's a cliche in a sense, but I think if you don't have that, if you don't have that love in your life, nothing else matters. Well, I think one of the successes,

I think one of the things we learn Butch, is we talk about love from outside, but it's really, do we love ourselves? And many people don't have much, especially when you keep acquiring, acquiring, acquiring, going after stuff, you think that stuff's going to make you happy, but they don't really love themselves that much. And that brings me to this question, if you were to go back and whisper one piece of advice to your younger self on the way to the first meeting with REG. What would it be?

Well, I tell myself, get ready, because this one meeting is going to change your whole life. And that's certainly not the feeling I had back then in 1987 when it happened in July of 1987 it just I thought I was just going with some to meet some client and have an interview with New York Times and do our best there. But just meeting him, he's a larger than life figure. It changed my life completely. It, you know, it raised me to a different level, whether it was financially or professionally, my life is never the same after that. So I'm grateful

that. Well, you know, you've had a lot of people that have influenced you along the way, your father, your mother, all kinds of other people you met along the way, if you were to tell the listeners out there about a mentor figure who changed the direct trajectory of your career, besides Reg, what was that and what stuck from them that you learned that you would say they had an impact on your career?

Well, it's a lot of the mentors I had in New York City, in the PR world, I really looked up to and and there are many, and they kind of took me under their wing and and schooled me a little public relations. So that was important. And then the my professors in the University of Florida, they are great to I'm still in touch with a lot of them, and they they gave me a lot of confidence. And some of the former, some of the Jesuit priests I grew up with in school were from the Bronx and the queens or something, and they left a lasting impact on me. They're all Americans, and many of them left the priesthood after that. Those were the days when everybody did their own thing. But they while they were there, they were they were great models and great teachers, and I looked up to them.

Well, you know, look, you've had spiritual teachers. You've had business teachers, and one of the things you've done is you're deeply involved in what I call impact driven projects, especially through the Philippine Disaster Resilience foundation. How do you define this, what I'd call a social responsibility in business today.

Well, I think we're faced with a situation where, you know, I mean, I've, I've been schooled in this corporate social responsibility, but now situations are different, and what we're encouraging companies to do is that they, they have to be active. I mean, they have to be active before a disaster happens, during a disaster, and after the disaster is finished and the media has gone away, they've got to still be in place and helping people, because they there's nothing like the power of the private sector, and we can do things quickly in an innovative way, and if you can harness that, harness the resources of the private sector and help them in terms of preparing communities and businesses, small businesses, to prepare for calamities. They're doing it. They're saving lives. They're saving the economy and and when something happens, that's when everybody sort of jumps in, but which is great, but you also have to be there after the cameras are gone, and helping those communities and businesses rebuild, but make sure that they get their their products and their their businesses are back up, and you just don't leave when the when the media is gone, you know, it really

that's a really interesting perspective, you know, because the world sees A natural disaster like an earthquake or a typhoon or something, and they'll see it from the media, maybe for two or three days, and then after that, it's gone. And there's like, well, but there's so much more that has to happen to get this area cleaned up, to get people back to their normal, quote, unquote, normal life, even if it doesn't ever get back to normal, yeah, but I really commend you in this work that you're doing, because it's so important now your your work, really when you look at your bio, it touches on everything from technology, as you said, To crisis response. How do you stay grounded and focused when working across such as wide spectrum of initiatives? Because, you know, you're involved in these ideation things. You're involved in this disaster. I mean, you're a man of many hats. So what keeps you grounded and focused? If you were to tell people today, hey, I have a lot of things that I like to do, but I need to stay grounded and focused

Well, I try to prioritize things I every day. I have a long list of things that I list down what's important for the week. I list out what's important for the day, and I try to get through that list as quickly as I can. And, you know, I mean, you know, I've got this book to now so that I'm juggling that as well. Yeah, but I, I don't know if you can do everything, but I try to, it helps having good people working with you. And I, I'm not blessed to have good leaders who are working with me and who could carry the ball when I'm not around, if they if they weren't there. I couldn't do this stuff, Greg. I couldn't run a foundation and disasters and a couple things offer startups and then do a book tour too.

Well. You've got a lot on your plate, Butch, but you do a good job of juggling it, and you don't seem as affected by stress. If I think if there's anything that reg taught you was probably how to manage your stress, and you're quite a spiritual man, and you know you titled your book from Manila to Wall Street, but in spirit, it's about returning to Manila with greater purpose. What's next on your journey?

Well, I, you know that journey continues. I'm, I'm, I'm focused on getting the word out about what happened in the 70s, 80s and 90s, during this particular time in business, when companies were getting taken over, when I worked with one of the most exciting guys I've ever met, and how what I learned, I learned a lot of stuff. And then at the end, I touch on the transition from doing LBOs and billion dollar takeovers to helping people how fulfilling that is and how different it is from what I used to do. And so I mean, it's all of that. It's important, but it's in the trajectory of a life. And what I've learned is that, as you were talking about, everything changes, you know? I mean, nothing stays the same. And when I was talking to my boy, and he was nine years old, I said, he told me to dad, I wish you could stay like this forever when you're living in Connecticut, and I was teaching in baseball and all that stuff, and I told him, you know, you're going to get older someday, and you may not feel like she said, Yeah, I'm going to get older. But doesn't mean anything. Things have to change. But actually they do.

Things change because it's like, it's the cycle of life, right? Yeah, and, and we look at our finitude, you know, the older we get, the we realize that the amount of time, whatever God gives us left, we want to make, we want to make the best of it. And that's why I think, if you're an engaged, curious, let's say older person, or, you know, middle aged at this time, because everybody says all the new Middle Ages, like is 70 years old. The reality is, is that you want to make meaning and purpose. You want to make a difference. So if listeners were to take one thing away from your story, Regis story, this book, what do you hope that it is that they take away after reading this book,

that that ordinary lives, ordinary people being able to get home one time and kick up your feet and have a beer and watch a ball game, I think people like that are much happier than many of the people at the top or to read about in the media or you see on TV, believe me, those kinds of people are are have more fulfilling relationships and happier lives than the people that are always in the news, who you might envy or think about or who are always on social media. Many them just aren't happy. They're very lonely people, and you shouldn't. Somebody

who's in the media will understand this. I, I, I went back later in life and got a degree in spiritual psychology, and the professors of that class used to say, and I love this about this, this comment, if there was a video camera, because this goes right to your media, and it followed you all day long, and you watched that video back at the end of the day. Would you like what you saw? And I think there's something to be said for that. In other words, it's like, hey, if a video camera followed me during the day. What is it that I am doing that's making a difference, and did I like what it was that I saw at the end of the day? And I want to say to you, Butch, that it's been a pleasure having you on this podcast. It's been an honor to have you on and for all my listeners. If you want to know more, go to Butch, B, U, T, C, H, M, e, i, l, y.com, there you're going to learn more about his writings, his book, his blog and so on. We'll put a link to that as well. Also this book will be in our show notes, where there will be a link to Amazon to get the book. So this book is called from Manila to Wall Street, an immigrant's journey with America's first black tycoon and Butch. It's just been an honor having you on the show. I enjoyed having you today to speak about this book, your life, Regis life, the lessons you've learned, and the things that our listeners will learn if they pick up a copy of your book and they go read the book, because there's a lot of great stories, but there's also a lot of great lessons that come from that. So again, thank you. Thank you for being on. Namaste to you. Thank you for everything that you do in the Philippines, here in the United States, with your idea Space Foundation, the things that you're doing with your innovation hubs. I'm sure that all of the young people or middle aged people that are involved in that are learning a lot from you.

Yeah, I hope so. But thank you for having me on, Greg. I really enjoyed the show, and you're a great guy.