On this edition of The Good News with Angie Austin, Angie welcomes author and speaker Jim Stovall to discuss his Winner’s Wisdom column, “Knowing and Caring.” Jim explains why knowledge and professional success mean far less if people don’t know that you genuinely care — and why serving others can help us do well and do good at the same time.
Angie then talks with LaFon Jantz, President of The Center • A Place of HOPE, about the importance of lasting friendships. LaFon shares three qualities she sees in strong relationships: consistency, caring and being constructive in one another’s lives.
00:00:30 Welcome to The Good News and today’s topic
00:01:59 Different campus cultures and student expectations
00:08:59 People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care
00:11:41 Helping others without being manipulative
00:15:40 The importance of friendship and staying connected
00:23:18 Understanding prostate cancer risk and early screening
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
welcome to the good news with angie austin now with the good news here’s angie hello there it’s angie austin and jim stovall with the good news and today we are talking about his winner’s wisdom column titled knowing and caring hello jim stovall well hello angie how are you this week i am doing quite well You know, I have to tell you before we get into knowing and caring, you know, I’ve been going back to Tennessee to visit my daughter who’s at a Christian school back there. And a lot of people are like, oh, my gosh, they have a curfew and a dorm mom lives there. And, you know, it’s part of their code of conduct. There’s no drinking, no boys in the dorm, no hanky panky, no cursing. They go to chapel every day. So anyway, I got a picture and I sent my daughter a bunch of dresses for church. I’ll send one like every week or so because she didn’t bring a lot of dresses with her. And it’s conservative. My husband says they’re Amish dresses that I send her, but they’re not, Jim. They’re really cute. But anyway, you’re like, you’re like an Amish girl. They’re just long. That’s it. They’re not. You know, they’re like still a regular dress. Right. So anyway. My daughter posts a picture with her teammates from church and they’re all wearing my dresses. And I was like, you don’t know how good that is at my age, you know, to like be able to have the taste that I can pick out dresses that the whole volleyball team will wear. It just cracked me up. I’m like, oh, they’re all wearing your dresses. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, that’s cool. And, you know, as you know, I went to Roberts University, and I’m on the board there now, and I’ve got two classes to teach this week at the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship. You know, they still have a lot of those kind of, you know, restrictions and things like that. And they have an honor code, and, you know, kind of like the military academy. And, I mean, the thing I always tell the kids is… You know, this place is different. And if you don’t like this, don’t come here. But don’t come here and complain about it or try to change it. You can go to just hundreds of other universities and not have to deal with all this. But, you know, when you really look at it, you know, the alcohol, I mean, we’re located in a state, the drinking age is 21. So, I mean, you know, candidly, three-quarters of the undergrad students are legal to drink anyway. And it’s just, you know, I mean, nothing bad happens when you don’t drink. You know, there’s nothing detrimental about not consuming alcohol, I guess, is what I would want to say.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s just a refreshing difference, I guess, between my husband went up to the University of Colorado Boulder game where our son goes to school and where He’s fourth generation. I went there to my dad, my grandmother, and it’s a completely different atmosphere. And so he said, wow, those kids, it’s a really drunk stadium, like so many people drinking and partying and just a crazy scene. And it’s almost more like a professional game now. He said he went up and got a couple of hot dogs and drinks, and it was $71, and the tickets were $3.50 each, and there were three of them going, so over $1,000 for tickets, and it’s just crazy to me. When I went, it was so much less expensive, and it was more like a college football game, and I know that college football has really changed, but anyway, having been at my daughter’s school the weekend before, and then this school this weekend, it is… And she’s found her people, Jim. She loves it. She fit right in. She has no problem. The only thing she didn’t like, she was a little bit worried about the long shorts, mid-thigh, but she wears Nike running shorts and no one says a thing. It’s not as strict, I guess, as she thought it would be that she doesn’t have to dress like an Amish girl, as I was joking around about. But the other interesting thing about that is that she isn’t complaining about it at all. So another one of my friends sent me a picture of her daughter up at college and she was out and she had a see-through dress on. You could see her bra and underwear. And I showed it to my husband and I said, wow, talk about a world of difference. It came from the same high school and the environment is just so different that you could go out in a see-through dress with your bra and underwear at just turning 18. I mean, my daughter turned 18. 18, like a month ago, you know, so yeah. So yes, it’s just a, it’s an interesting place, but I feel like she’s really found her people. She’s so happy.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And you know, it’s ironic. And when, when Crystal and I were in at the university, they had the dress code and the whole deal. And that, that year, Playboy magazine did a, a study to find out what college campus has the best looking undergrad girls. And the UFC came in first, Stanford was second, and Oral Roberts University was third. And I am convinced it’s because, you know, if you’re going to get up and put on a dress, you’re going to wear heels and you’re going to do your makeup and you’re going to fix your hair and you’re going to do all your stuff, you know. And at some of these other colleges, I mean, I have spoken there. I mean, kids roll right out of bed, throw on some shorts. They’ll wear pajamas to their first class sometime. I mean, it’s ridiculous what these kids will wear.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, it’s so true, isn’t it? The coach just recently, the football coach, Deion Sanders… I saw a clip of him telling his team, like, I don’t want to see you in slides going to class. And I want, you know, we talked about their haircuts and making sure that they put on a good presentation wherever they go. And I remember Charles Stanley, one of my favorite Southern pastors. Said his parents, his grandpa and his mom taught him that you always go out and put on your best face. You know, you look as good as you can. And I don’t always do that when I’m going to the grocery store. But if I’m going to be representing my family, my business, my show, my children, they’re like, why are you putting on makeup? You look fine. And I’m like, I just like to like I want to represent people and make them proud and let them know I care that I’m looking the part of being, you know, a good parent to them.
SPEAKER 05 :
and i care when i go someplace that it’s important to me to look good not just for them but you know for our family yeah i have a good friend who was a former miss america and uh and uh well her name is chantelle smith and we we went to class together and then afterwards uh occasionally there was a girl i would go with to work out and when she was out of town chantel would go with me sometimes well normally when i’m done when i’m done with the workout let’s put on some sweats and let’s go to this little diner and get some salad or something and chantel says i’d love to go i need 45 minutes she said i and i said why she said i don’t go anywhere that i’m not ready to like be a photo op do the whole deal and she said it’s my job it is it is literally my job and You know, and as you know, I did a movie with Raquel Welch, and she was the same way. I mean, this is my persona. This is who I am. And I don’t gain anything by going out and being a slob. And you never know where you… Coach Wooden always said, there’s only a few plays in a game that matter. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you where those are. I promise you, you go out, you know, in your torn-up sweats with no makeup and the hair and the whole… And you will run into somebody. It’s a universal law. You will.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, when I first started working at NBC in LA, I didn’t have to dress up for my position, but I wanted to be on air. And I’d read this book that said you have to look the part. And I remember coming in and the weatherman’s like, who did your makeup? What’s up with your makeup? And I was like… nothing I just did my makeup and he goes looks like Picasso did it you look like a different person you know and then I had like a suit jacket on with like a skirt instead of like my sweats and my hair in a ponytail so I just started dressing like that all the time and I did get on air not long after that I did have to drive every weekend to Santa Barbara but I was the youngest person uh doing weather at our station um at the time because you usually have to go to smaller markets etc but Anyway, so looking the part, putting your best face forward, I love that. All right, so your article this week is Knowing and Caring. Actually, this is one from a few weeks back that we didn’t get to. So tell us about this one, Jim.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it goes back to the old saying, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. And we all live in the information age. And we can know anything. I mean, the computer screen will tell us whatever we want to know. We can get in contact with anybody, information about anything. We can know. But all of that pales in comparison to how much do you care. You know, it’s like when you’re going to go fly somewhere and you go up to the counter. And my flight just got canceled. I need some help. Well, you know, one agent may say, hey, I don’t know. Not my problem. There’s nothing I can do. What do you want? And the other one could say, oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Let me see what’s possible. I don’t even know, but let’s see what we can do here. And it’s the same thing. Neither one of them knew any more than the other one. It’s just a matter of do you care? And all of a sudden you get a better feeling. They care about this. And, you know, there’s this whole misunderstanding in our society that, you know, you need to go work hard and do well and make money. Then you can go do good in the community. And I reject it. I think you can do well and do good at the same time. And I have the privilege of speaking to all kinds of corporate things. And I was just talking to a group of, you know, thousands of car salesmen. And, you know, what do you do? Well, I sell cars. No, you don’t. You help people and families with their transportation needs. That’s what you do. You don’t sell houses. You’re not a realtor. You help people find their next home and find the best home for them. And when you really take whatever you’re doing as that kind of a challenge, like how can I do well in my career while doing good for other people? You’ll succeed faster. You’ll have more fun. Life matters. It’s like we were talking about earlier. It’s putting your best foot forward. I’m just doing the best I can every day. What would I do right now if I was amazing? I would make a difference for someone else. And I’ve said for years as an entrepreneur, if I worry first about the people that read my books or watch our movies or watch narrative television, and second, about the people who work here who make it possible for me to do what I do, I’m third place, and we really never get to third. I mean, it doesn’t matter. If you take care of those other people, you’ll have everything you want out of life. As Zig said it best, you can have everything you want if you’ll help enough other people get what they want. And that’s what it’s all about.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, there was this, like, thing, and I don’t know if people are still doing it at networking, but, you know, a few years back, I’d run into people at a networking event because everybody’s looking for you to do something for them, right? So the new thing became to say… Oh, you know, hey, Auntie, how have you been? You know, everything going on with the show, your kids, everything. What can I do for you? What can I do for you? But I felt in many cases it was just this phony thing to ingratiate themselves to you that a lot of them really didn’t want to do something for you. It was their way of saying, hey, I’m going to ask you for something to buy some of my supplements that I’m selling or the candles or the whatever. But I want to pretend that I want to help you. And there were a few people that legit were like connectors. They really did want to help you and connect you with people. But I’d say it was like one out of five. you know, and the others, it was like this hollow saying that you almost like, and I, I don’t respect like manipulating people to get what you want. I think that’s probably why I never went into network marketing or, or even real estate or something where my name, when I was in the news and I transitioned out where at that point in time, maybe I could have used that to sell things. I never wanted anyone to buy anything for me because they felt obligated. And so I, I feel I felt in many cases that what can I do for you? And if it’s like you, you would you would connect me with somebody if I called up and you’re doing it all the time. Like you’re getting you’re putting your email and your phone number and your address out in all your books. And so you get so many emails and so many people asking questions. They’re wanting something. I remember someone wanted advice once and you said read such as think and grow rich. I think it was you said and then and then get in touch with me again and I’ll help you. And they didn’t.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that’s the barrier. I mean, you know, if you can’t get over that hurdle, I probably can’t help you. But, you know, my information is in 10 million books around the world. And so I hear from a lot of people and I try to help as much as I can. And then, like you said, maybe one out of five of them will say, Jim, what can I do for you? And I always say, man, I am glad you asked. Right there in Colorado where you live, there are people that need you. And, you know, the soup kitchen, the Big Brothers, the food bank, whatever. Why don’t you go do something like that? If you want to help me, go do something like that. Shoot me an email. Let me know what you did and how it felt. That would be great. That’s what you can do for me today.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s pretty cool. That’s not a bad idea at all, especially for young people to get them to put their toe in the water. I’ll tell you next time we talk about what my daughter did recently that I was kind of surprised by on her own to go to a retirement community. All right, jimstoval.com. Talk to you next time, friend. Be well.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
Hello there, friend. Angie Austin here with The Good News, and we’re speaking with LaFawn Jance. LaFawn, you and I connected really well right off the bat. Wouldn’t you agree?
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely. I so enjoy talking to you. I do, I do. I look forward to it every week.
SPEAKER 08 :
Me too. Me too. And, you know, since you seem to me to be the type of person that, you know, I would pick as a friend and possibly vice versa, I thought, you know, I want to talk to you about the importance of friendship and because, you know, the work that you do. at the center, a place of hope. And as I always say, Ben voted one of the top 10 facilities in the treatment of depression in the U.S., such a big problem in the U.S. And the Harvard Happiness Study, which I talk about all the time, says that the best indicator of happiness is friendships, connections, family. I guess just talking about the importance of friendships and how to keep them and nurture them, because I think a lot of people lose them because they don’t put the effort in because it does take work. Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
It does. And, you know, when you toss the idea out to talk about this today, I deeply about it and just immediately came to me three C’s of what I believe are so key in my life and what I’ve seen and consistent with everything my husband has spent 40 years writing. It’s almost 50 books about, and it really is truly all about maintaining strong relationships, friendships included. And for me, what I’m on reflection, I see there’s been consistency from my end, but also from my friends, those that are still in my life, you know, for 40 years or longer. And even the more recent ones that are just five to ten years old, there’s consistency, there’s mutual caring, and it’s constructive. It’s not a destructive thing in my life. It’s we’re constructive in each other’s lives, which can be helping each other. It doesn’t have to be. It could just be humoring each other and keeping each other safe. you know, a little more joyful and happy in the midst of the trials of life, but truly a constructive, caring connection. It seems so key over time.
SPEAKER 08 :
And, you know, I count on those friends, too, to, you know, be honest with me. And I, you know, find my like-minded friends. I, you know, seek advice from them or share things with them. And I think that when you’ve moved around a little like I have, some of the friends aren’t close. And so you do have to, meaning, you know, like a lot of them live in California, that I have to make an effort to go out there to communicate with them, to email them. You know, we send each other little messages. funny instagram you know reels or whatever to make each other laugh and you know text um you know periodically and there’s like three or four friends that in california that i text you know pretty frequently like several times probably a week to keep that friendship going and i even started doing this interesting thing with one of my girlfriends in san diego She and I were both weather women in San Diego at the same time. We tried to get the same apartment at the same time. Unbeknownst to us, we went to the same college in Colorado at the same time. And then moved to San Diego slash La Jolla area at the same time. And when I went to look at this apartment, the guy said, oh, yeah, that new weather woman over at such and such station, she got the apartment. And I’m like, what? Who is this person? right so anyway we we um we end up i know we end up becoming really good friends and we do um something we call um a facetime or a zoom date and we have like a phone date and i do that with another friend in phoenix where we facetime so it’s like we’re getting together for coffee um and then we can you know chat and have whatever but we have to put it in our calendar because she’s so busy that’s Yeah, or it doesn’t happen. Exactly.
SPEAKER 06 :
And that’s the consistency. And some of that consistency doesn’t always have to be scheduled. It can be disciplining yourself to go, if a person’s name comes to top of my mind, it’s probably a good idea for me to try to reach out and connect with them and see how they’re doing, let them know I’m thinking about them. That can also be an approach that might seem a little more disorganized or scattered, but you’ll be amazed at the response that people feed back to you, that you did that at just the moment in time. I mean, people have called me an angel just because I’ve, you know, reached out and made a phone call when I felt like it was the Lord impressing on me to reach out to someone, you know, someone I know. But just to see how they’re doing. The timing is not an accident. And it’s not an accident that this new friend of yours, you find out all the commonalities that you have. you know, that you have together and you sort of begin to discover the people that you’re, you know, that you’re writing through life with already naturally. It’s not something you’re forcing to happen. It’s happening already. And so just noticing you’ve got to notice those patterns and notice those people and make that connection.
SPEAKER 08 :
And she and I didn’t ever even work together. We just, you know, kind of I think we had some mutual friends in the news business. And this was, you know, you know, 26 years ago that we became acquainted and have stayed friends all that time. And there’s no one else in the town that I go to see. I only worked in that city for like a year. And we’ve just been able to keep up that friendship because it’s so valuable to me. And I feel like we’re so like minded and we’re different faiths to like, you know, faith’s a very important thing to me. And so, you know, that’s like irrelevant to our friendship in terms of, you know, our bond, et cetera. And I so that it’s also I wanted to mention, I think it’s not convenient sometimes and it can be expensive sometimes to keep up these friendships if they’re not in the same city. And, you know, right now I keep up pretty close relationships with people in Maine, California, Oregon, California. Phoenix and well then down in San Diego and LA and Northern California. And so that’s a lot of different locations for me too. I pretty much, I do end up seeing those people. Some of them definitely a couple of times a year, but some of them every year or two, like my friends up in Maine, you know, that might just be like when they come through where I come through, but we’ll make like a meeting point. Like my cousins will, you know, make a point to like meet in Vegas and go to shows and we’ll get a place together and we’ll come from all corners of the country, because those are some of my best friends. Well, LaFawn, I’ve got another guest joining me, so stay there, because I think that this will be of interest to you. And again, LaFawn Jantz, The Center, A Place of Hope, if you want to look up more about her and her husband’s 50-some-odd books that we often talk about. All right, changing gears now, we are in September, and September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and while prostate cancer risk is rising a lot, so is Hope. Joining us is Rebecca Dabbs. Rebecca is the Implementation Director for Movember’s Prostate Cancer Portfolio, and she is here to help us better understand the cancer risk and the importance of early detection. Welcome, Rebecca. Thank you so much. You know, it’s interesting. This is really in the news. A lot of people are talking about prostate cancer and the cases. I was shocked to see that they’re nearly going to double by 2040, they believe. So what’s driving that trend and what can we do to improve the chances of catching the disease early for our loved ones?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, that increase is driven primarily by an aging and growing population. So it’s not necessarily tied to a behavioral factor, such as smoking is associated with lung cancer. But that trend cannot be prevented through lifestyle changes alone. So it’s really important for men to know their personal risks. and begin having conversations with their doctor on whether or not it’s time for them to get a prostate cancer screening test done.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, let’s talk about that screening. What should men know, and when should they start talking to their doctor about prostate cancer in general?
SPEAKER 07 :
Great question. So we find that the biggest misconception when folks think of prostate cancer screening is the association to an uncomfortable digital rectal exam. Let me put that old myth to rest here today. The recommended screening path for prostate cancer starts first with a conversation with your doctor or healthcare professional, and you’re going to discuss your risk and whether or not it’s appropriate to screen. And the screening is a simple blood test or PSA test. So although some physicians and healthcare professionals might still do a digital rectal exam, the recommended screening path is a blood test, the PSA.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hmm. All right. Well, that’s good to know. I just have to tell you something I think mildly amusing at our house. There’s six people in our house. And when the girls were little, my husband was explaining to my son about this, you know, bending over, coughing, whatever, the whole thing. And little Hope, she was really young then, she goes, Dad, when do I have to start bending over and coughing? And he explained that that was not for her.
SPEAKER 07 :
But I just thought it was really funny that this little kid… They’re all invested in their health. Well done.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Let’s talk about something more serious. I understand that black men and men with a family history of a disease are at greater risk. So are they supposed to do anything different? What should they do? And how is Movember helping ensure that they have access to all this information?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, all men are at risk for prostate cancer, but that risk increases with age and dependent on their race or family history. So for an average risk individual, the conversation and screening should happen around the age of 50. But for those high risk individuals, like you referenced, black men, And those with a family history, such as a father or brother who’s been diagnosed, that conversation needs to happen earlier so that they could be prepared should there be a diagnosis. So that age needs to start at the age of 40. So it’s really important that they know their risk so that they could get screened in a timely manner.
SPEAKER 08 :
Or let’s talk about the diagnosis because I know it can be really overwhelming for both patients and, of course, you know, their families. And what are some of the biggest challenges that caregivers, families are facing after diagnosis and where can they turn, you know, for support? Because there’s always help if we ask for it.
SPEAKER 07 :
There is so true. Well, I like how you say family and support and caregivers, because we know that men’s health is not a men only issue. It affects everyone in their lives who love them, who work with them, who play with them. And oftentimes a patient is not alone in this journey. We find that patients and caregivers and family really struggle with understanding what that diagnosis means and what their treatment options are available to them. And Movember has a wonderful online resource to help navigate those questions and make decisions. That is at truenorth.movember.com. And it’s both for patients and caregivers and communities after diagnosis.
SPEAKER 08 :
And that really helps them navigate through their journey. Yes, it does. And, you know, a lot of us know, too, like, it’s not just the men listening that, you know, it’s women, you know, I schedule all the doctor’s appointments, you know, how everybody has a role like in their marriage and mine is like, every orthodontic, every doctor, every dentist, every vet, you know, any kind of blood work, you know, it’s all that’s all my responsibility. And I don’t even know if my husband would go to the doctor if I didn’t schedule his yearly physicals. So that’s not just for the guys listening, for the people that help care for them to make sure that this is something that the early risk and detection is, I’m sorry, the early detection is so important.
SPEAKER 07 :
It really is. And we all need to support each other to ensure that we’re healthy and we’re showing up in the best way. And like I said, you know, men’s health is not just for men. We all need to be invested and involved and ensure that they get the care that they need in a timely manner.
SPEAKER 08 :
Rebecca, give us that website one more time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so Movember.com for information at our prostate cancer hub there where they’re going to find information on risk awareness and just prostate health. Also, truenorth.movember.com for after diagnosis to support that cancer journey.
SPEAKER 08 :
Excellent. Great information. Thank you, Rebecca. I really appreciate you. I know that today we’ve helped people just by, you know, talking about this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much. Appreciate the opportunity to share.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM 670 KLTT.
SPEAKER 01 :
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