John talks with Andy Crocker — aerospace engineer and executive with 30+ years experience across human and robotic exploration, hypersonics, and missile defense, contributed to NASA's Human Landing System, leadership development enhanced through coursework at Harvard Business School and The Wharton School, and author of The Unconditionals: Five Timeless Values to Live Without Limits and Ignite Your Superpower.

Andy shares his journey to becoming an aerospace engineer and opens up about his career setback, competing with companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, and how that moment pushed him to rethink his purpose and write his book.

Listen to this episode to learn more:

[00:00] - Intro

[00:40] - Andy's bio and backstory

[03:47] - How Andy got into aerospace engineering

[05:39] - Why Andy can't talk about some projects

[06:48] - Competing with SpaceX and Blue Origin for a NASA project

[08:56] - Losing the contract and dealing with a major career setback

[10:23] - Caring for the team after loss

[13:50] - 5 core values from The Unconditionals

[19:30] - Love is the foundation of all values

[22:16] - The Fruit of the Spirit

[24:28] - How John's understanding of gratitude changed with age and pain

[27:19] - Gratitude is the most direct path to happiness

[29:09] - Happiness vs. Joy

[33:27] - The keys to overcoming self limiting beliefs

NOTABLE QUOTES:

"Relationships are at the center of everything that we do. We have to connect. That connection is critical to whatever we do. We do almost nothing in solitude."

"We're going to deal with hardship, no matter how great we are … and it's realizing that we've got to accept that. It doesn't mean we have to like it, but we have to accept the fact that it's going to be there and appreciate what comes out of it."

"Unconditional love is not just romantic love. It's not just friendship. It's not just family. It's really about connection with people. It's about connectedness."

"We always want to grow. We always want to have more, but it's: what do we have today? How can we make the best of what we have and be appreciative of what we have? And if you're a leader, it is valuing and appreciating the people who work with you, the team members."

"Integrity ties to the word 'integer,' which is a whole number, and integrity means it's about being whole. It's about being uncorrupted. So integrity as a leader means you're consistent and you're authentic."

"I'm a human, you're a human. We're all dealing with the same stuff, and therefore you deserve the same respect, kindness, and compassion as I do, or anybody does."

"Compassion is more than just sympathy, and it's more than just empathy. It's actually recognizing that someone needs help and then acting on it."

"The older we get, the more we realize the power of all the things that happened to us, in particular, the things that we thought were bad, the difficulties. We realize what we got out of those. We got stronger, hopefully, or if we didn't, at some point we're going to learn. You've got to figure out how to get through those in order to grow."

"If you really can have unconditional gratitude, what comes out of it is joy. And that doesn't mean that you're always happy. It means that you accept what comes, you deal with it, and you have this unconditional contentedness inside that allows you to get through whatever comes."

USEFUL RESOURCES:

https://andycrockerbooks.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andycrocker/

https://www.instagram.com/andycrockerbooks/

https://www.facebook.com/andycrockerbooks/

The Unconditionals: Five Timeless Values to Live Without Limits and Ignite Your Superpower (https://a.co/d/0dNbjtKG)

Andy's Animal Alphabet Almanac (https://a.co/d/006VHGdl)

CONNECT WITH JOHN

Website - https://iamjohnhulen.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhulen

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/johnhulen

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/johnhulen

X - https://x.com/johnhulen

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLX_NchE8lisC4NL2GciIWA

EPISODE CREDITS

Intro and Outro music provided by Jeff Scheetz - https://jeffscheetz.com/