Ep 32: Troy Eden - Helping Young Individuals find Purpose and Motivation through nature and Practical Leadership Training

Transcript

Bio - Troy Eden is the Chief Operations Officer of the Light Foundation and joined the Light Foundation in October of 2022. As the COO, he oversees the day-to-day operations at Chenoweth Trails in Ohio. He leads the team to higher impact numbers, but also makes sure the team instills the highest of leadership qualities into the young people they meet through the hands-on, outdoor programs.

Background – The mission of The Light Foundation is to take young people out of their everyday environments and provide them with unique opportunities that ignite their passion, purpose, and motivation to succeed. Prior to this, Troy served in the Air Force for over 26 years. During this time, he led thousands of people, managed budgets worth tens of millions, and served as a top advisor for multiple high ranking military officials. I first met Troy in 2014 when I was a young NCO and I am honored to have him join my podcast.

Intro
00:00 – 02:18 Troy Eden: Man, I think you give me way too much credit, but Martin, I appreciate you inviting me in to be a part of this. Yeah. Let me feel famous for about 30 or 40 minutes, and I'm excited.

Describing why life is great right now
02:20 – 05:13 Troy Eden: Oh my goodness I am so blessed with so many different things. Almost 27 years and then I rolled right into a a contractor job for five years and this opportunity came about with the Light Foundation, Matt Light. If you're a Patriots fan, then who he is. Left tackle for Tom Brady, three Super Bowl wins and he played at Purdue and blocked for Drew Brees. So I mean, talk about, , a dream team, both in Purdue blocking for Brees and getting drafted and going to block for Brady and the rest is, , history. Yeah, this opportunity presented itself in we met through a mutual friend, Curt King, a guy I went to high school with. He calls me up after I retired and he says, hey, I work for a guy named Adam LaRoche. Used to be a professional baseball player. So he calls me up, he's like, hey man, I know you like hunting and fishing and I work for Adam LaRoche doing veteran hunts. We want to bring you out to Kansas. , he's also a part of this organization called Buck Commander. Luke Bryan, Willie from Duck Dynasty. So it, Jason Aldean. So it's a phenomenal organization. It's called the E3 Ranch. So he calls me and says, hey, remember when you took me trapping in the seventh grade? And I'm like, ah man, I think so. I want you to come out and do a hunt out here. Yeah. So I go out, , meet Adam and the gang, who's a phenomenal human being. And from there on, Adam and Curt asked me to come out and be a part of these veteran hunts to help them out, , whether it's duck hunting or turkey hunting or deer hunting. And it's been a phenomenal five years. I go out there a couple of times a year. Anyway, he introduces me to Matt Light and says, Matt's in your backyard. You should get to know him. Volunteer up there. Started volunteering, one camp. I was in camp for three days and I told Matt, I said, , I can't tell you how I know, but I know God wants me to be at this place at this time. Man, brother, life is great. I wake up, I'm excited to be a part of this foundation and helping kids. Couldn't ask for more.

The Light Foundation
05:14 – 07:02 Troy Eden: You hit it on the head when you said, we're trying to get kids out of their day-to-day routines. Get them away from the cell phones. Get them away from video games. We believe in this thing called attention, or what is it, nature deficit disorder and getting kids out and something magical happens when you get them away from all that crap of day-to-day life. What I want you to know about that is we're a bunch of good people who are trying to instill these values of what we acronym is REAL Responsible Ethical Accountable Leaders and we're driving home those characteristics of like in the military integrity integrity first and the service and the excellence, it all comes together in our audiences anywhere from first graders where up in Darke County we have the Light Project where we issue 72 science books to every first grade class in Darke County. We get them out to the trails, get them fishing, just looking at nature, enjoying being outside. From there we have a slew of the we run 9,000 kids a year. Chenoweth Trails up there and any nonprofit especially like Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, high school sports teams if you're a nonprofit you can use this 500 acre facility for free and that's the way Matt is giving back to his hometown of Greenville. It's a way that he gives back to trying to build good citizens and in the end that's what we're trying to do is build good citizens.

Story about THE CROSS
08:40 – 13:09 Troy Eden: I have it in my pocket right now. A lot of people won't believe this story, and I'm okay with that. But when I joined the Air Force, I had a really strong Christian lady, neighbor lady. She gave me...a cross and I took it with me every assignment. I carried it daily, every deployment, all around the world. 65 different countries. Well, it's unreal, but in the end, that's the truth. So I lost this cross. I was at DIA, I was Command Chief at DIA, and I was up in my office and for whatever reason, I put my hand in my pocket, the cross is not there. And I'm like, oh no, I had to be in the metal detector. When you walk through, you dump all your stuff in the little bowl. I had it for, well, since 1991, and it was 2014. So 23 years. So I went immediately down to the security checkpoint, and I was like, hey, did anybody turn in this little cross? And no, they never, I never saw that cross again until last August of 2022. Maybe mourning is too strong of a word But I mean it was just kind of like dread like this cross had been everywhere with me and it meant and it's not like a lucky charm or anything. It's just a reminder of my faith and just the things that are important to me in my life. And yeah, so dread, I'm like, this is unbelievable. Where could it be? Never saw that cross again. Eight years later, I know this sounds strange. I'm praying, so I'm working for the defense contractor and I'm toying with this idea with the Light Foundation and I'm praying about what's the right answer, where does God want me to be? I get a little choked up. Yeah, but my wife came upstairs and she said, when did you find your cross? I'm like, what are you, I guess it was the farthest thing from, I'm like, what are you talking about? And she's like, your little cross. I found it in the dryer. This is a brand new dryer. I wear this, I'm not a fancy clothes guy. I'm usually in the same clothes, week in and week out. How this cross ended up in the dryer, it's unbelievable. And when I tell that story, , I know people are like, oh, well, maybe you washed something that you wore eight years ago and it just popped out. If I did, I certainly don't remember that and my wife doesn't either. It's just, where, how did this happen? But it was, , for me, it was another sign that, what, I needed to follow my heart, go work with these kids and try to make a difference in their life. This was last year in August of 22. Eight years, I never saw that cross again. And like I said, this is the cross. 32 years now I've had this cross. It's just a simple little aluminum cross, but the lady that gave it to me, it meant something to her and it certainly has meant something for me. And it...I can't explain it, Martin. I really can't, but all I can tell you is that's the truth. You feel like that was some divine intervention, and you kind of alluded to it to maybe as a sign to take that position. I do, and as I'm getting older, maybe that's it. I've always been a believer, , but I would say God wasn't first in my life. Honestly, the Air Force became my God. , that I was all in on the Air Force and whatever it took to meet the demands there, But as I'm getting older, I pray a lot more, meditate a lot more. Certainly about the meaning of life and what's important. I do think it was a sign.

Translating military career and skills
13:10 – 15:42 Troy Eden: I think at any age, mentoring is basically the same. So I take the Air Force Corps values very seriously and I try to instill them in the kids. Talking with, getting to know what motivates these, the young men and women that come through these programs, sitting with them and talking without distractions. We used to call it management by walking around. You have to know your people, know what motivates them, what they're dealing with in their life and what situation they come from. It's as simple as that, , and certainly after, , almost 27 years in the military, all the leadership courses that you go through, and I was very blessed. I was able to wear Chief for almost 10 years. I did three different command chief tours and, the chief of the chiefs group, but those, like when I look back, you get further away from actually really getting to know the people and you rely on a lot of secondhand information from different levels of the command. But man, that squadron supt job when I look back, that, man, that was one of the greatest jobs I ever had. See the immediate impact of decisions that you make and nothing like being as close as you can get to the folks who are actually getting the mission done. Cherish those days and I'll tell you. And it's funny, we get to wear Chief. We get to wear the uniform for just such a brief period of time. And when you look back, you look at some of the things. Maybe I should have paused a little bit and just appreciated where I stood in whatever organization or where I was at in my career. I was always, I always felt like I was running out of time. Like, , like I got to hurry up and get this done. And so I pushed through a lot of things when I wish I would have just said, hey, what? This is pretty cool right now, just enjoy it for a minute.

If he were given control of the American education system, what would be added to the curriculum for high school students
16:58 – 18:56 Troy Eden: Wow, that's, can I start with elementary school kids? In my mind, all through education and life, but, , ethics. I don't think until you get to high school do you really dive into probably an optional class to bring ethics. But character, character matters. And it matters more and more in today's age where everything is digital, everything is done really without feeling. You're on your Facebook or Instagram, whatever it is, and you instantly reply. And there's really no thought put into it. And I think the developing of character, especially through elementary school, middle school, and high school is critical. And I think in today's society, soaring crime rates with a lack of respect for your neighbor, I think we have drifted away from our soul, from our character. And I do think, you hit on the check, but financial education, it was nonexistent. When I went through high school, and way back, I graduated in 88, it was nonexistent. And I just talked to a one of the doctors in the Dayton school system. And he said, yeah, oh no, we don't teach any financial education and we're doing away with physical fitness, PE class.

Advice to people on learning how to lead and influence up
19:00 – 26:30 Troy Eden: Honestly, throughout my career, you see it at all levels where, they only want to say good news, right? That middle, if you're a middle leader, you're only piping up good news to the, and I've had fantastic bosses. I mean, from the current, actually, I mean, from Lieutenant through Three Star General, that were my direct bosses, and- Oh man, I can throw out some names. Let's talk with, about Lieutenant Hough who just picked up his fourth star and is going to be NSA. His first day, the NSA director, his first day on flight in the Air Force was with me over in Misawa Air Base Japan, 1992, 93. He came in as a flight commander, obviously there was a captain there that he was learning from, but yeah, he came in as a flight commander, phenomenal human being then and phenomenal human being now. He's never changed his core principles. Paul Nelson, he was the commander of the 480th ISR wing. He hired me in my first command chief job. And he's, let me just rattle, General Michael Flynn. He was, there's been a lot of bad publicity surrounding him. And I'll tell you, it's a funny story. When I was leaving DIA, he's like, Troy, what are you going to do? And I said, well, I still want to serve a couple years. No, I'm not talking about that. When you retire, what do you want to do? And I said, well, I don't know. Maybe go into politics do a school and it's funny he's like hey Troy I'm telling you stay out of politics so I was like all right General and then to see what happened when he became Trump's national security adviser the politicization of that whole situation it but he was a phenomenal leader he would walk down the halls of DIA, any of the janitorial staff, the cooks, the people cleaning the tables in the cafeteria, he knew their name and he knew their story. A lot of them were immigrants. He knew where they came from. He knew their background. I mean, man, you talk about servant-based leadership. He wasn't just the commander for the intel folks or some of the ops folks. He was the commander for every person in that building. And I mean, like I said, servant-based leadership. He's a phenomenal example. General Lauderback great human being and great leader. And you mentioned it earlier, like consistent. When I was at the Chiefs group, we had this saying about being firm, fair, and consistent. Right? That's how you, that's good leadership. She was as consistent as you can get. I learned through her a lot of taking the emotion out of the situation, and just looking at the facts Let's look at the facts because a lot of things hit you personally and actually it's a book I’m reading now and how not to take things personal book. It's called the Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz and it's a fantastic book and it basically it's saying that you're kind of hardwired from birth or the influence you get early on these agreements in your mind. Like the first agreement, be impeccable with your word. So that's not just saying, oh, I'll be there at this time and showing up. It's more than that. It's impeccable actually means without sin. The Latin is, , impectus, or pectus is sin and then the im, em is without. And so without sin, meaning how you talk about people, how you talk to people. Staying above, kind of the emotional outbursts we all go through. The four agreements are be impeccable with your word Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions and do your best always and It's interesting how he dives into like I'll just say the don't make assumptions. How many disagreements have you had with your wife? only you're assuming, oh yeah, she's going to take care of that. So don't make assumptions, just ask. Ask questions and be open to that. But I would highly recommend that. Four Agreements, it's just a good thought provoking book. I know I mentioned a lot of officers, , there's, there's chiefs that I grew up with, , Buddy Hutchinson. I don't know if you remember him. Phenomenal, phenomenal chief, Jack Johnson. Another just unbelievable leader with character. (Regarding Paul Nelson) We still talk to this day. We still text. We're talking about fishing and hunting now. I think you started this off with, how do you pass information up the chain of command? So he was one of those guys that said, Troy. I don't need you to agree with me, right? I need a devil's advocate. I need to hear the ugly stuff. And that's the story of my career. All those leaders, they wanted to hear that. It says a lot about you as a leader. If you don't want to hear the negative stuff, then you're not really doing your job. But they didn't need somebody in that same room agreeing with everything they said. They needed to hear a different perspective and that's the same with, no matter if you're a staff sergeant, up through chief. You got to give the leaders a perspective and the truth.

More info about the Light Foundation
26:54 – 32:25 Troy Eden: In 2001, Matt and Susie Light, and Suzy is just as important as Matt is, but they formed this Light Foundation with the goal of getting kids into nature. We have a 500 acre facility. We have two yurts that sleep 24 individuals at a time. There's a pavilion. There's a hundred seat amphitheater. There's a pond for fishing and swimming. And there's a bunch of leadership opportunities, different games and obstacles on that. There's 10 miles of trails out there. And they have built that from literally scratch. It was farmland and woodland before they purchased it and started this this journey of the Light foundation but i mentioned earlier 9,000 kids come through that facility a year it's a tremendous impact I can tell you a little bit about this camp that you got to be a part of go for it absolutely so this is an amazing it's called Camp Voho’kase that's a northern Cheyenne word for light okay and it's it's kind of where this the foundation's name stemmed from. But Camp Voho’kase takes four kids a year. So it's like a high school. So picture it, at the most we'll have 16 kids in a camp every year. But these eighth graders that are going into their freshman year, they go through an interview process, they sign a contract. And we're working with the school districts, we're working with superintendents. I met with Mayor Mims, or I think it's Mayor Mims of Dayton to get this net last class from Dayton. But they sign a four-year agreement stating that, hey, I'm going to maintain at least a C average. I'm going to do community service. I'm going to be a leader where I stand. But what you got to experience were we have four Native Americans from the Passamaquoddy Reservation in Maine. We have four kids from Brockton just outside of Boston. We've got four Greenville kids who just graduated this year. I'm sorry, three Greenville kids that just graduated this year. And we brought in three Dayton kids. They're the incoming freshman class. And man, you get them. You bring those different cultures, different personalities. you talk about diversity of thought and, diversity in general. And man, that it's just phenomenal to see these kids come together. And we put them through the ringers. Last year, it's an eight day camp. We are busy from six thirty in the morning when we get up and do PT. We do a fireside chat at nine o'clock at night for about an hour where it gets real. It gets a lot of tears, a lot of emotions. And then they're in bed and we're back at it near the last day of camp. We had taught them some shelter building, fire making, boiling water. So at eight o'clock at night, after we went all day, we said, hey, go get your paintball clothes on we're going for a hike. And we did an overnight hike and hit 13 different obstacles. These kids were phenomenal. We used land nav. There are some really incredible exercises that they went through. One, we're at 130 in the morning and we're going through, following our path. And we come up on 65 cinder blocks that's on a pallet. And we're in the middle of the woods, middle of nowhere. And the challenge was find another pallet within a hundred yards, transfer these blocks to that pallet. So, what they did was they found it and they transferred these blocks about a hundred yards, 65 of them, 130. If you would have thought about it, it didn't say you couldn't move that pallet, put it next to the pallet with the blocks and just transfer the blocks like that. So a lot of exercises like that, thinking through, but , some of them still talking, they're like, what? Hey, I had a bad day today, but I wasn't moving cinder blocks at 130 in the morning. It's a pretty cool thing. The senior class was from Southeast DC. They are all in school. One of them is going to a small school in Pennsylvania College. He's a quarterback out there. We got a guy going to Wisconsin and these were going to be the leaders in the future, they are absolutely going to be leaders wherever they are. I am so blessed, that I just want to say it like that, like I am blessed and, here's another story. My wife could verify, but I used to joke like, I'd say, wow, he hit the lottery. I want to start a camp for underprivileged kids or underserved kids, and teach them hunting, fishing, trapping and all that stuff. I hit the lottery. I mean, this is my lottery. I feel like I still get to serve and that's a good feeling.

When thinking of a movie image that depicts leadership, who or what comes to mind
32:40 – 35:17 Troy Eden: So Braveheart, Braveheart comes to mind, William Wallace…Matt obviously has a lot of connections, Matt and Susie. We had a gentleman come in from Scotland. This last camp, last week, billionaire, came in like a legit billionaire, owns half of Scotland, comes in to spend two and a half days in our camp because Matt was over there in Scotland telling him about what we do out here. And he's like, I got to see it. So he comes and spend two and a half days with us. He is giving us the William Wallace speech with his Scottish accent. I mean, it's incredible, but man, you look at William Wallace as being an authentic leader and leading from the front and he's willing to take the arrows right along with his comrades. And to me, Like if you're in the trenches, then you're doing something right and people are going to find, they see authenticity. People naturally, they have a BS detector. They can tell when you're being fake and they can tell when you're authentic and I think he pops to my mind immediately. But this gentleman, I mean, to spend that much time with these kids, out of purity, like I want to see what you're doing. I might replicate this in Scotland. That's incredible. He's the one that recommended the four agreements to me. I mean actually he recommended it to everybody and I immediately bought it I'm like I want to know what how this guy thinks and yeah, this is this is how I think and not only did he come out and meet me, but he gave us his email address for these kids while to fire away questions at him. It's just unbelievable and we're already talking about doing a joint American Scottish camp. It’s crazy how things are lining up.

Who would play Troy Eden and Matt Light in a movie
35:25 – 38:09 Troy Eden: Well obviously, I mean I'm better looking and physically stronger. I guess, probably Danny DeVito if people remember him. Who I'd want to play me, my Son. My son Joey Eden is in The Diplomat, the Netflix series. He's in that. He's separating from the Marine Corps in about a week. Yeah, he's a Marine and done eight years and he's separating, like I said, in the week to pursue his acting. He's already shot season two of The Diplomat. And I would want him to play me.

If Troy Eden could put a billboard anywhere and write anything on it for the world to see, where would it be and what it would say
38:10 – 39:34 Troy Eden: So let's put the billboard in Times Square. God changed my life, that faith is powerful. In the military, wearing the uniform, you didn't do a lot of preaching, right? You didn't want to alienate? Now that I'm not in uniform, and really recognize how much God has been along, the path with me, I mean, yeah. God changed my life, and that's what I'd want to. Maybe God changed my life and he can change yours too.

Asks and requests of listeners

More info about the guest:
Website: https://www.mattlight72.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/lightfoundation/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-eden-24805465/

Books and People mentioned:
Matt Light
Light Foundation
Curtis King
Adam LaRoche
Buck Commander
Duck Dynasty
E3 Ranch
Luke Bryan
Willie Robertson
Jason Aldean
Darke County
Light Project
General Haugh
Lt Gen Lauderback
Lt Gen Flynn
BG Nelson
Book – The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
Buddy Hutchinson
Jack Johnson
Joey Eden
Susie Light
Camp Voho’kase
Mayor Mims
Passamaquoddy
Ryan Gosling
Chris Hemsworth
Book – The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews

Quotes:
“If not us, who? If not now, when?" - John F. Kennedy
"We are a bunch of good people who are trying to instill these values of what we acronym is real, responsible, Ethical, Accountable Leaders." - Troy Eden

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Key Takeaways:

Helping young individuals find purpose and motivation through nature and practical leadership training. The Light Foundation, co-founded by Matt and Susie Light, is an organization that focuses on taking young people out of their usual environments and providing them with unique opportunities through outdoor programs. The foundation's mission is to inspire passion, purpose, and motivation to succeed in these young people. Troy Eaton, the chief operations officer of the Light Foundation, emphasized the importance of this mission during the webinar.
The power of honesty and authentic leadership. Troy Eden emphasized the value of honesty and authenticity in leadership roles. He highlighted the importance of understanding the people under one's leadership and providing an environment where they can express their views openly. This, he argued, fosters a culture of trust and mutual respect.
The importance of instilling ethical values from a young age. In regard to the American education system, the inclusion of ethics education starting from elementary school. He asserted that character building and ethical education are fundamental in shaping future leaders and good citizens.