We are so excited to have our new friend, John Kennedy, on the podcast! John is a Neuroplastician. He spent much of his life understanding systems, building better systems, and saving some of the world’s largest companies from defective systems.
In 2007, his life took a significant turn when the US Marines asked him to develop an innovative systems-based approach to reducing casualties and restoring lives. His innovative approach to harmoniously train the brain and body simultaneously – now called The Kennedy Method – forged an entirely new and powerful approach to significantly improving individuals, teams, and companies.
John is a #1 Amazon International Bestselling author, a guest on many podcasts, and a featured speaker and trainer at Military, Leadership, Business, Sports, and Mental Health conferences. He works personally with well-known figures in the Military, Entertainment, Sports, and Business. He transforms lives everywhere, in person and via Zoom.
Resources:
John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennedycg
Website: https://thekennedymethod.co/
Link to Amazon to purchase book: https://amzn.to/3SgLXqQ
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Transcript
John Simon 0:04
Welcome to Simon Says, inspire a podcast about life, leadership and building legacies. I'm John Simon, SR
Dina Simon 0:12
and I'm Dina Simon.
John Simon 0:14
Our guest today is John Kennedy. John created the field of applied neuroplasticity to respond to request of the Department of Defense in 2007 he spent much of his life understanding systems, building better systems, and saving some of the world's leading companies from defective systems. Also the founder of the Kennedy method, which we'll discuss a little further. John, welcome to our podcast. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 0:42
John Dina, good to see you.
Dina Simon 0:44
Good to see you.
John Simon 0:46
So Chad, why don't you take a second to tell us a little bit about yourself?
John Kennedy 0:50
Sure. Well, it's interesting. My and we will talk about leadership, because I've been exposed to a lot of amazing leaders in my time, both in business and with the military, but my most of my earlier career was as a senior level advisor, consultant to the C level of some big companies, Motorola, Aon, AJ, Gallagher and I developed the proprietary way of improving processes, very simply and very powerfully that seemed to attract a lot of people, And probably the last rule I had for the last couple years of that was rescuing troubled projects, so really big, high exposure projects that were out of control, and pretty much with improving teamwork, because that was critical. I learned a long time ago, actually, back in high school, and for high school, I went to a school in Japan called St Mary's. We had 50 nationalities and 200 kids, and I had eight different nationalities on my basketball team. And the most important lesson was, it doesn't matter what you race or how much you make or religion, can you pass and can you shoot? That's what we talk about. So the key to any team is united people around a common purpose. So I brought that in, plus my process work, and I loved what I was doing. And then in 2006 my brother David came back Iraq. He was, had been a missionary in Zimbabwe, Army Reservist, volunteered to go back into combat, and he told me that the the most dangerous weapon then still is today, are IEDs, which are the improvised explosive devices that kill so many of our guys. Because, you know, it could be a bomb and a pile of garbage in a corner and a trigger man a mile away with a trigger and binoculars. And is very, very insidious, and that was during the surge. We call that the surge because we were putting more boots on the ground so that we could protect the civilians, as opposed to just killing bad guys, so more dangerous for our guys. And the Marine Corps, put out an appeal to contractors around the world to try to come up with a methods that might help reduce casualties. And so I was able to talk myself to an event that the Marines had at 29 palms California every year called IED industry date. And the whole purpose of that was for all of us contractors to come together. And they spent a long weekend just inundating us with as much information about IEDs as they had at the time. So we had to look at 1000s of potential trigger devices. We had to go on patrols with Marines through simulated villages, we could try to understand what they were going through. And they scared the crap out of us, blowing stuff up, right? So, so it was trying to give us that full exposures musters possible. And from that, a lot of great ideas came out, better armor, better radio jammers. And I quickly learned that there's nothing I can teach the Marines about processes. Everything is a process. They're great. But as I was shaking hands with General Doug stone, the base commander on the last day, I got one of these God vision eureka moments, right? I was shaking his hand, and I thought, what if I could do the same thing for the brain that I could do for operations? Maybe we can make the brain faster, and maybe we could improve intuition, because the critical learning thing that happened to me, the story was I started around this one street or this one alley, somebody told me something was wrong, and I don't want a different way. Hey, out of all these Marines, similar training, similar demographics, we have some who had better, what we would call an intuition, right? They could sense the danger and act on and I thought maybe I could do that to the brain, no idea if was going to work. General stone helped me get my first contract, and in order to keep going, I had to pass a test. Now, at the time, there was plenty of psychology based programs trying to help the Marines with the same problem. The problem with those type of research based programs is it takes a really long time, and they tend to be reductionist. And we didn't have time, right? These guys were going to deploy Reese deployed every seven months, so I was able to embed with Marie that had three months to make a difference. And, you know, as a consultant. Didn't right, either you're successful, you get fired. So I knew it couldn't have to be halfway. So I embedded with these Marines, and while I developed my program, my exercises, the cool thing for me was I had an opportunity to choose which platoon of 40 guys was about 40 guys at a platoon battalion has about 1000 which platoon I could use from my test platoon, and then they were going to randomly choose another platoon as the control group. So I asked for the worst platoon the battalion, and these guys were really suffering. They lost 16 guys to cycle before a helicopter crash, an IED blast and three attempted suicides, the most number of negative incidences every weekend. They were feeling a lot of their pre deployment objectives. I thought, if I can help anybody, I want to help these guys, so I'm better with them. And what an amazing experience. That was one of the most meaningful experiences for my life. So I went through with all the training events, and he took care of me. You know, they just kind of took me under their wings, even though I was a lot older than them, and they, they really put themselves into helping me develop these exercises. The exercises had a number of requirements. For one thing, not only did I want to improve intuition, to keep them from, you know, getting killed in combat, we just casualties. But my hypothesis was the same type of exercises could also help accelerate recovery from post traumatic stress, concussions and those things, I created a field of applied neuroplasticity, which basically was applying my process approach to the brain using neuroplasticity, which is the incredible capability God has given our brains to change from repeated stimulation and designed then to really strengthen those critical cognitive skills that are important for success. Now, at the time, because I a very short time frame, I did my research, and I found that there's, there had been some, some studies done at MIT on rats, not people yet, but a very specific type of stimulation could make the change brain start to change immediately, not in a day or week or month, but immediately. I knew that's what I wanted. So I studied that, and I realized that in order to create that they called robust stimulation in people, we needed to stimulate the parts of the brain critical to executive function, our ability to make decisions at the same time, we stimulate the connections to the real world, which no one had ever tried, and they're still there's another program in the world, according to the department, like mine, that does that, but that was the key to it being successful. So three months later, not only were these guys the best performing platoon the battalion, but when they went through a final pre deployment training a twin moms instructor said it was the best performance he'd ever seen. So from the very worst to the very best in three months. So then we're kind of spread generically through through the Marine Corps. So the Exo Vation took over a company of specials in California. So that got me to special operations. So Navy SEALs, snipers, pilots, both helicopter and helicopter, paws, EOD, any unit of the military where the commander wanted me to help them, I did so 1000s of military personnel, and then, unfortunately, with a new change of administration, the War on Terror was announced. Over all the funding from my program and all the other really, really clever, great, innovative programs that people were developing were all funded by something called G wat funds, Global War on Terror funds. Well, when there's no war on terror, there's no funding. So that's when I moved to the civilian sector, and I continue to learn I love what I do, because what we're doing with my program is really stimulating, the parts of the brand, critical executive function, a couple of things that I've learned from experience, but also from research, our brains will change the fastest, where they struggle the most. So you put a whole room full of people in together, and they have different strengths, the weaknesses cognitively, wherever you're struggling, they'll change the fastest, and our brains will also rewire around damage. So concussions, strokes, dementia, Alzheimer's, we can help with those symptoms, not because they're trying to fix anything. We're just training the brain to do what it needs to do, and the brain takes over. So that's probably what, unfortunately. So I get to work with high performers now, business leaders, professional athletes, but really, where I enjoy the most are people who are struggling and really have no other way to help them. Young, Young man with severe ADHD, we cured him in about eight weeks. People with strokes, people with concussions. I mean, I'm working with a client now with dementia, and over the course of the year, he's, he has, you can't always stop that eventually, because it's, it's very physical, but his symptoms were diminished for almost a full year. So those are the kind of people I like to work with, because I think you mentioned what's the whole what's the word? I want to give people a. Is hope, right? So we can give people hope that no matter what they're doing in their life, they can perform better. Well,
John Simon 10:07
I know Dina was here in Dallas back in mid June, and that's when she ran into you at the C suite conference, and she called me from there, and she says, I met a guy today that we have to get on the podcast.
Dina Simon 10:20
Yes, yes, he and I sent it to him. So the sheets, yep. And so the exercise, it's so hard to even like describe, right? And so the exercise that we went through as the C suite, I'd like to just kind of for a second. So we did a happy hour, and there was probably what maybe 3040, people in that room. And so going through the going through the exercise of, we've got different arrows on a on the page and, or like, different colored arrows, and then the process that you took us through individually, as a group, you know, and going through it. And I loved the experience. We had so much fun with it, and I could see the, you know, how much better we got as we continued to go through the exercise. But then one of the things I shared with you is that next day we were in then the conference, and some of the people didn't go to happy hour, so they didn't know what we all experienced the night before with going through the exercise with you. And so we did a very quick, abridged version that morning. And those that weren't there the night before, you know, kind of missed out because they weren't part of the team that had gone through the dynamic the night before. So it just was super fun for there to be an exercise that we could go through, we could see some of the impact of it, like in a very short period of time. And yes, so became a huge fan, super interested, obviously. Thank you for all that you've done to support all of the military over the years, and you still are doing some of that. But then love that you're taking this into just mainstream, into corporate America into working with individuals and families that need your help, because we all need, we all need that mental fitness, right? Regardless of what's going on. Yeah.
John Simon 12:10
I think the the amazing part that I find after reading the information that Dina sent me is how quickly these changes take effect. You're not talking years, you're talking days
John Kennedy 12:21
Exactly, and that's what's so powerful about that's that very unique type of stimulation. And Dina, I'm glad you mentioned the group. So when you do it in a group, it's huge for team building, because you have fun. Now, one of the benefits for anyone struggling, they're engaged, they're social, very, very important. And when you do that together with other people, you have to focus on them as well as your decision. So it really improves teamwork at an unconscious level. But yeah, basically just make it harder and harder. The brain works harder. And in order to do that, it has to grow more connections and make them stronger. Now the interesting thing, John, if you keep as you said, you keep practicing that you'll be amazed at how fast your time will get. In fact, probably the most amazing transformation I had was just two weeks ago. So I'm sure I certify people to how to do this, and I'm certifying a psychiatrist, and she wanted me to work with one of her patients. This poor guy, wonderful guy, he his job actually is helping kindergarten for kids with disabilities. So he loves helping kids, but for the last 10 years, he's been diagnosed with 10 different things. They've given 10 different medications. I hate that part of psychiatry where they always look to medications out. People are on five, six different medications. They don't know what's doing. It's a mess, right? So if we can cut through all that and just change the brain to be better, I'd much rather do that. And so I took this young man through the very first exercise, basically what you did Dina in Texas. His first time was the slowest I'd ever had. But by the time he did that second baseline, he said as he's going through the exercise, he could feel these blocks going away in his brain. He was under a minute. It sometimes takes people. He was so fast, so quickly, and he said that that gave him the exercise gave him a huge breakthrough in his life. He said he was really struggling. He didn't want to be the medication. Something simple for some people was difficult for him, like he had to take the trash out, and he just couldn't do it. So he went, ran through the exercise. He said he got the trash done, got the rest of his day going. He said it was huge boo for him, because he realized he could actually do these things. So there's a direct correlation between that speed of processing that we measure as to other parts of the our lives, what we do in the world, courage, you keep practicing, right?
Dina Simon 14:46
Exactly, yeah, well, and at the happy hour, I mean, I remember, because I thought we were doing one more time and we were done. But just in, in my personality, so like my strengths, through cliftonstrengths. You know, one of them is activator and Maximizer, and there's a little bit of competition in there. And for me, my competition and my strengths is not to compete against others, but it's to be part of a winning team. And so I was so stressed out, because I wanted to make sure I was supporting the team, and then when we weren't doing it, when we had had wrapped that I was able to go back and enjoy happy hour because I was making sure I was super focused up until then. So, so excited to get to know you, and thank you for joining the podcast. And I know we've got some other questions for you, but tell us a little bit more the Japan story. So that is so I love that you were in Japan. And I love what you just talked about, as far as all the different nationalities and and you just, you know, playing basketball, everybody just had to figure out how to, how to, you know, gain those skills to be a team. I
John Kennedy 15:51
think it worked well that time. And so I grew up in a Preston yard Brewster, and basically our free time was spent, you know, helping my dad fix the tractor in the car. It was we had, you know, like 12 acres, lots of work for us boys. My dad was smart. He had four boys, so we could do kind of lawn, but then free time we'd be up in the woods exploring. So about 200 acres of woods. And in hindsight, now that I know about neural plasticity, that was really good for us because, as in, this is for any parents out there, your kids should not be spending a lot of time on a device. We learn our critical cognitive skills up until the age of six or seven, pretty much by interaction with our environment and modeling from adults. So you want to be a good model, but more importantly, the more that we engage with the real world, right? Like, even the differences between, like playing with blocks as opposed to doing Minecraft. Well, Minecraft, you're on a screen, and with real blocks, you stack them. And you know what? You know, you learn project management, right? Well, this stack without falling. You throw one at your brother. He starts crying. You learn about velocity. You learn about all these things intrinsically when you're engaging with the environment. So that was really good for us there. But then my dad worked for IBM. That's we went to attend to Tokyo. So that was huge for me for a lot of reasons. First of all, my dad was director of Pat licensing Croatia Pacific, which meant that anyone with a new device or a new invention that they wanted to license IBM came across our dinner table. That's what we that's what we would talk about. So just being exposed to so many innovative ideas. And then the other thing I wanted to do was I wanted to learn how to speak Japanese. And in Tokyo, all the Japanese want to speak with they want to speak English because it naturally won't learn English. So I talk a couple buddies of mine every Saturday, we would try to get lost by lunchtime. So tremendous transportation system, very safe. We'd take a train to the end and then a bus to the end. We wanted to get where nobody spoke English, and then try to spend the rest of the day finding our way back. So I really didn't learn a lot of Japanese, but I learned really good about solving unsolvable problems, which was kind of the basis for my consulting years later, but a lot of funny stories. I remember one time I took my girlfriend with me. We had a long blonde hair, and we were way out in the country, and the door opens, a guy reaches over, cuts off a lock of her hair and jumps off the train, because you never see blonde hair before. Oh, my God. But the cool thing is, is all of us, so So my we have very small senior class. It was only about 25 of us. We're having a reunion coming up this year, and for the last five or six years, we actually communicate, still, still online, so we still keep close to each other, even though it's been almost 50 years. So long, long time. Great experience. And I recommend anyone with kids travel overseas, because we get so insulated here in this country. I mean, to be in another country where you're a minority, where you have to learn to understand other people that are different, I think, is very powerful experience for us, and I definitely recommend you know people do that with their kids, knowing
Dina Simon 18:59
that we were going to have you on, and our podcast is about life, leadership and building legacies. What some other things that you would like to share with our podcast listeners?
John Kennedy 19:08
Well, I could talk about leadership and legacy as well. So I've been exposed to a lot of leaders in my time. Right when I was consulting to C level, there was, I had some really good C level CIOs CEOs, and some that weren't so good, right? So I'm always learning from them. The Marines build leaders like no other force on earth. I mean, the leadership that I experienced the Marine Corps was just incredible. Some would always step up the Marines, unlike the other forces. Maybe others are the same way. But in the Marines, they always know who's in charge. So if a lieutenant gets killed, it'll be the first sergeant, whatever, and if something happens to him, they always know who's going to step up. There's never a vacuum or for leadership. And so so we either actually integrated my program into many different leadership programs, for for non commissioned office, for officers, for Navy SEAL instructors, and. Because my program helps. I don't teach leadership, but the ability to make better decisions without stress and be able to anticipate what's going to happen. Our critical leadership, you know, Skittles and one of the commanders or at Marine Special Operations said it was the best program ever for his leadership team. As I'm in these classes, I'm learning from them, and probably one of my that General Doug stomp on the one who actually helped me get started. I followed his career later, and actually got to meet him a few times. Was amazing, but confidence brilliant after this. He actually was the one who was in charge of the the prisoner in Iraq. You know, when they would capture these inserts, they put them in these prisons, and usually it was seen as an just like in our country, seen as a punishment. Well, when Doug took that over, he completely changed the way that you deal with with prisoners. What he did was all the younger guys, he would have them go to Koran lessons, right? So once they could see that with the Quran, would say, differed from the what the radical leaders trying to get them out there killing themselves and others, they were able to pull away from the radicalism. So it was very successful. But, I mean, that's the kind of outside the box thinking that I think leaders have to have what I know I try to do when I do as far as legacy. So one of the best things about this is when I was developing this for the Marine Corps, back in 2007 my daughter was six, and I wanted the exercises to be powerful enough to help the Marines, you know, make their brain stronger, recover faster, but I wanted to be able to be understandable for a six year old, because I wanted to work with my daughter. So over the years, she just graduated this last year from Hope College in Holland, Michigan with a degree in psychology and neuroscience and minor in Religion and brilliant, of course, lots smarter than me, but she, you know, she's helped me develop exercises, she led training for some volleyball clubs and for students. And so it's kind of legacy, is what I'd like. Obviously, her overall, my large legacy is, again, that legacy of hope, right? So, so the people that we've been able to help, I've given up completely on traditional medicine, and yet, by rewiring the brain, and you know, kind of way God wants us to engage in with the real world, we bring that all together. We really, really have been able to help people, people struggling, not just to get back to normal, but to keep going, to be able beyond what they were before they had any and disability, so So as part of the legacy, so, so I can bring others now that the biggest obstacle has always been me, I've been the roadblock one, because it's me. I love doing what I do, but so that's why I'm certifying others now. So I have a certification program. We have a video series. We're working on this platform. We're actually doing a pilot right now, or the school system in India to see if we can help both students. And then in If so, then we'll bring it back here. And then the book I just wrote is to kind of continue that so. So basically, as I was working with people with the brain training, people want to be a confidence of what, asked, What about habits? And say, Okay, what about habits? What are habits you want to break? And I realize the same approach that I use to change the brain fast, we can also change habits extremely fast, but the name of the book is, hack your habits in 30 minutes or less, not 30 days. And the big way we do that is by, again, by incorporating all the parts the brain that interface with the real world during that habit. And first you define the habit, and then you engage your whole body. Then you repeat it several times. You competed four or five or six times, whatever it takes. Easily. You can do that within 30 minutes. And then that's how quickly you establish a new habit. And I have people I always love conferences. I'll say, Okay, we've got a habit they want to change, right? And we walk them through it, show them how to do it, tell them how to do it. And I get an email from them a week later. I can't believe it, you know, I'm up at out of bed on time in the morning. I'm working out every day. I'm losing weight. You know, whatever the habit they're trying to break, when they use this, it works. So we just, we just really started out Amazon yesterday. That's Friday, I guess, and it's still these, still tweaking one of the shortest books you'll ever read, but it will work if you follow it great.
Dina Simon 24:33
Well, we'll make sure in the show notes that we show how to get in touch with you, that you've got your online classes and then the book. So we'll make sure that we we have that all in there. You
John Simon 24:45
know, John, when I started reading the information Dina sent me about you, it made me think of I have a weekly group of guys that I get together sometimes two or three times a week, and we play pinochle. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with peanut. Echo, but it's a really good card game. And it's a card game they play an awful lot in the military and in playing, you have to put your thinking cap on, and you have to not only know what you have, but you have to assume maybe what your partner has. You can learn a lot from a card game, watching people,
John Kennedy 25:16
yes, well, and games are a great way to engage your brain, with your with your body. So I experiment with maybe 15 different games and exercises. Is one we developed, is the core one, but then we have some others that we use, and we narrowed it down to just two or three. But one of them we use, for example, was Connect Four. Remember, Connect Four, you have to get the we use that as a strategy game. So here's if you like, to play that, here's a way you can play with someone that will help your strategy. What you do is, the goal of the when you do this as a as an exercise, is not to win, but to tie. So what you do is, before you move, you tell your opponent Where are you going to put the piece and why? And then he does the same thing to you. So you get to get inside his strategic thinking force you to be very careful, because if you just dropping things in without thinking about it, there's not a strategy. And so the goal is to type, and the next time you actually play, you'll play much better. And it's the same thing with your card so, so if you're playing, I've never played Pinocchio, it's card games. If you can try to think ahead, like three or five moves, right? So if he does this, this is what I have. We call that thinking process. It's basically what the the arrow exercise does, break it down, think it through, and execute. So as data is coming into your brain, constantly break it down into components. Think through what you want to do with it before you execute. Kids are notorious for, you know, being distracted. So a parent can say, Okay, tell me the next three things you're going to do in order, and then it could be five things. And you'd be amazed that when they think about what they're going to do first. They can make the adjustments, right? So, so I'm going to go turn on the TV, okay, and then you go to turn on a TV. Where's the remote? Okay, so let's, let's re examine that process. The first thing you're going to do is find the remote. Then you're going to try on a TV. You know, we get okay constantly. Want to work on the critical thinking and ask them, okay, so pause the TV for a sec. What do you think is going to happen next? How do you think this, this, this show is going to end, and then the goal right? And then, as they're watching it, they're tracking, oh, man, I was so wrong. Oh, I was right. So reinforces their ability to think ahead before they execute Interesting,
John Simon 27:43
huh? It's funny because we'll sit there and we'll be watching a climb show on TV, and and Jeannie, my wife, will be sitting there trying, trying to decipher what the final, what the end of this show is going to be like. But we do when we go to the movies, yeah, we sit there and say, Okay, how is this going to break out? How's this going to happen? Why is this going to happen?
John Kennedy 28:04
Exactly? That's all good for your brain. You know, you're kind of matching reality. I mean, what really happens with what you think is going to happen? And eventually you get better and
John Simon 28:12
better at that. Yeah, yeah. And it makes you feel good when you're right. Also, yeah, that's right, that's
Unknown Speaker 28:17
right. Oh,
Dina Simon 28:18
my goodness. Well, and for for John Simon, I told John Kennedy, I certainly would love to find some opportunities for us to partner and just bring this work in with some of the clients that I'm working with, because it just, again, it's, it's so fun, so rewarding. And I'm just super excited that we got connected through the C suite.
John Kennedy 28:36
Yeah, me too. I love that and and, you know, it's funny. So there's several people from C suite where I'm kind of talking about partnering with because I don't really teach anything, or, you know, because you do the teaching, the coaching, whatever, I'm just going to help them get it better and faster. And one of my clients says, you don't make the melody make it shine. In fact, did you meet Gary Rodriguez? He has a very powerful way of helping people overcome trauma. Oh, sure, yeah. So now we're working on a course right now where we can integrate the two, right to, you know, help them do that even better. So many guys, I get to learn too, right? I always get to spend time within Dina,
Dina Simon 29:13
yeah, well, and that's where, yeah, that's the where the collaboration comes in. And just like you said, the work that you did all throughout, as you were beta ing and testing and sitting in those rooms with people you were, you were a sponge and and learning different things. And so it just super, super extraordinary path. Love the legacy. Love what your daughter is doing. So obviously the Apple did not fall far from the tree, and your apple that you like your what your dad but based on what your dad's career was. And like you said, just the conversation sitting around the dinner table based on what he was doing for IBM, just super fun, well,
John Kennedy 29:49
and you know, it's interesting. So my dad in the Navy was EOD explosive ordinance disposal, and those are the guys that have to dismantle bombs. And actually, I felt one. Of my best EX in San Diego. It was really cool, right? Because they showed me all their stuff. They've got all this technical stuff, right? My dad, they got it. You gotta get a knife and some swim trunks, but it was meaningful to train them. And as best as we talked about preventing casualties, and they said, Well, you're kind of your dad's footsteps, because he was preventing people from getting blown up, and you're preventing people from getting blown up. There you go. That was, that was kind of cool. Very
Dina Simon 30:28
cool, very cool. Well, we just are so appreciative of your time and for joining us. Again, I'm super excited to to get to know you and to share your your Kennedy method with with John, and then with our listeners, and also very powerful name that you have. I'm sure that people take a double take every once in a while. Yeah,
John Kennedy 30:50
it's, uh, it's interesting, although now people ask me from related to the senator, as opposed to the president,
Dina Simon 30:56
but Right, yeah. Well, thank you, John for joining us. We appreciate it.
Unknown Speaker 31:01
This is great. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Dina Simon 31:03
I would like to thank John Kennedy, the founder of the Kennedy method, for joining us on this podcast. I am so excited that I got to meet him. As we mentioned, we're part of a C suite thought leadership council together, and he took us just through this amazing exercise. We will make sure in the show notes, you know how to get in touch with him his new book that just is launching. But just can't say enough about how fun it was just to go through some of these exercises and see an immediate impact. So thank you. Thank you, John for joining us. And then, as always, I'd like to thank my father in law, John Simon, for joining me as a co host on the podcast. And our podcast is produced by Simon and Associates, and we are proud to be part of the C suite radio network. And until we talk again, you.
Welcome to Simon Says, inspire a podcast about life, leadership and building legacies. I'm John Simon, SR
Dina Simon 0:12
and I'm Dina Simon.
John Simon 0:14
Our guest today is John Kennedy. John created the field of applied neuroplasticity to respond to request of the Department of Defense in 2007 he spent much of his life understanding systems, building better systems, and saving some of the world's leading companies from defective systems. Also the founder of the Kennedy method, which we'll discuss a little further. John, welcome to our podcast. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 0:42
John Dina, good to see you.
Dina Simon 0:44
Good to see you.
John Simon 0:46
So Chad, why don't you take a second to tell us a little bit about yourself?
John Kennedy 0:50
Sure. Well, it's interesting. My and we will talk about leadership, because I've been exposed to a lot of amazing leaders in my time, both in business and with the military, but my most of my earlier career was as a senior level advisor, consultant to the C level of some big companies, Motorola, Aon, AJ, Gallagher and I developed the proprietary way of improving processes, very simply and very powerfully that seemed to attract a lot of people, And probably the last rule I had for the last couple years of that was rescuing troubled projects, so really big, high exposure projects that were out of control, and pretty much with improving teamwork, because that was critical. I learned a long time ago, actually, back in high school, and for high school, I went to a school in Japan called St Mary's. We had 50 nationalities and 200 kids, and I had eight different nationalities on my basketball team. And the most important lesson was, it doesn't matter what you race or how much you make or religion, can you pass and can you shoot? That's what we talk about. So the key to any team is united people around a common purpose. So I brought that in, plus my process work, and I loved what I was doing. And then in 2006 my brother David came back Iraq. He was, had been a missionary in Zimbabwe, Army Reservist, volunteered to go back into combat, and he told me that the the most dangerous weapon then still is today, are IEDs, which are the improvised explosive devices that kill so many of our guys. Because, you know, it could be a bomb and a pile of garbage in a corner and a trigger man a mile away with a trigger and binoculars. And is very, very insidious, and that was during the surge. We call that the surge because we were putting more boots on the ground so that we could protect the civilians, as opposed to just killing bad guys, so more dangerous for our guys. And the Marine Corps, put out an appeal to contractors around the world to try to come up with a methods that might help reduce casualties. And so I was able to talk myself to an event that the Marines had at 29 palms California every year called IED industry date. And the whole purpose of that was for all of us contractors to come together. And they spent a long weekend just inundating us with as much information about IEDs as they had at the time. So we had to look at 1000s of potential trigger devices. We had to go on patrols with Marines through simulated villages, we could try to understand what they were going through. And they scared the crap out of us, blowing stuff up, right? So, so it was trying to give us that full exposures musters possible. And from that, a lot of great ideas came out, better armor, better radio jammers. And I quickly learned that there's nothing I can teach the Marines about processes. Everything is a process. They're great. But as I was shaking hands with General Doug stone, the base commander on the last day, I got one of these God vision eureka moments, right? I was shaking his hand, and I thought, what if I could do the same thing for the brain that I could do for operations? Maybe we can make the brain faster, and maybe we could improve intuition, because the critical learning thing that happened to me, the story was I started around this one street or this one alley, somebody told me something was wrong, and I don't want a different way. Hey, out of all these Marines, similar training, similar demographics, we have some who had better, what we would call an intuition, right? They could sense the danger and act on and I thought maybe I could do that to the brain, no idea if was going to work. General stone helped me get my first contract, and in order to keep going, I had to pass a test. Now, at the time, there was plenty of psychology based programs trying to help the Marines with the same problem. The problem with those type of research based programs is it takes a really long time, and they tend to be reductionist. And we didn't have time, right? These guys were going to deploy Reese deployed every seven months, so I was able to embed with Marie that had three months to make a difference. And, you know, as a consultant. Didn't right, either you're successful, you get fired. So I knew it couldn't have to be halfway. So I embedded with these Marines, and while I developed my program, my exercises, the cool thing for me was I had an opportunity to choose which platoon of 40 guys was about 40 guys at a platoon battalion has about 1000 which platoon I could use from my test platoon, and then they were going to randomly choose another platoon as the control group. So I asked for the worst platoon the battalion, and these guys were really suffering. They lost 16 guys to cycle before a helicopter crash, an IED blast and three attempted suicides, the most number of negative incidences every weekend. They were feeling a lot of their pre deployment objectives. I thought, if I can help anybody, I want to help these guys, so I'm better with them. And what an amazing experience. That was one of the most meaningful experiences for my life. So I went through with all the training events, and he took care of me. You know, they just kind of took me under their wings, even though I was a lot older than them, and they, they really put themselves into helping me develop these exercises. The exercises had a number of requirements. For one thing, not only did I want to improve intuition, to keep them from, you know, getting killed in combat, we just casualties. But my hypothesis was the same type of exercises could also help accelerate recovery from post traumatic stress, concussions and those things, I created a field of applied neuroplasticity, which basically was applying my process approach to the brain using neuroplasticity, which is the incredible capability God has given our brains to change from repeated stimulation and designed then to really strengthen those critical cognitive skills that are important for success. Now, at the time, because I a very short time frame, I did my research, and I found that there's, there had been some, some studies done at MIT on rats, not people yet, but a very specific type of stimulation could make the change brain start to change immediately, not in a day or week or month, but immediately. I knew that's what I wanted. So I studied that, and I realized that in order to create that they called robust stimulation in people, we needed to stimulate the parts of the brain critical to executive function, our ability to make decisions at the same time, we stimulate the connections to the real world, which no one had ever tried, and they're still there's another program in the world, according to the department, like mine, that does that, but that was the key to it being successful. So three months later, not only were these guys the best performing platoon the battalion, but when they went through a final pre deployment training a twin moms instructor said it was the best performance he'd ever seen. So from the very worst to the very best in three months. So then we're kind of spread generically through through the Marine Corps. So the Exo Vation took over a company of specials in California. So that got me to special operations. So Navy SEALs, snipers, pilots, both helicopter and helicopter, paws, EOD, any unit of the military where the commander wanted me to help them, I did so 1000s of military personnel, and then, unfortunately, with a new change of administration, the War on Terror was announced. Over all the funding from my program and all the other really, really clever, great, innovative programs that people were developing were all funded by something called G wat funds, Global War on Terror funds. Well, when there's no war on terror, there's no funding. So that's when I moved to the civilian sector, and I continue to learn I love what I do, because what we're doing with my program is really stimulating, the parts of the brand, critical executive function, a couple of things that I've learned from experience, but also from research, our brains will change the fastest, where they struggle the most. So you put a whole room full of people in together, and they have different strengths, the weaknesses cognitively, wherever you're struggling, they'll change the fastest, and our brains will also rewire around damage. So concussions, strokes, dementia, Alzheimer's, we can help with those symptoms, not because they're trying to fix anything. We're just training the brain to do what it needs to do, and the brain takes over. So that's probably what, unfortunately. So I get to work with high performers now, business leaders, professional athletes, but really, where I enjoy the most are people who are struggling and really have no other way to help them. Young, Young man with severe ADHD, we cured him in about eight weeks. People with strokes, people with concussions. I mean, I'm working with a client now with dementia, and over the course of the year, he's, he has, you can't always stop that eventually, because it's, it's very physical, but his symptoms were diminished for almost a full year. So those are the kind of people I like to work with, because I think you mentioned what's the whole what's the word? I want to give people a. Is hope, right? So we can give people hope that no matter what they're doing in their life, they can perform better. Well,
John Simon 10:07
I know Dina was here in Dallas back in mid June, and that's when she ran into you at the C suite conference, and she called me from there, and she says, I met a guy today that we have to get on the podcast.
Dina Simon 10:20
Yes, yes, he and I sent it to him. So the sheets, yep. And so the exercise, it's so hard to even like describe, right? And so the exercise that we went through as the C suite, I'd like to just kind of for a second. So we did a happy hour, and there was probably what maybe 3040, people in that room. And so going through the going through the exercise of, we've got different arrows on a on the page and, or like, different colored arrows, and then the process that you took us through individually, as a group, you know, and going through it. And I loved the experience. We had so much fun with it, and I could see the, you know, how much better we got as we continued to go through the exercise. But then one of the things I shared with you is that next day we were in then the conference, and some of the people didn't go to happy hour, so they didn't know what we all experienced the night before with going through the exercise with you. And so we did a very quick, abridged version that morning. And those that weren't there the night before, you know, kind of missed out because they weren't part of the team that had gone through the dynamic the night before. So it just was super fun for there to be an exercise that we could go through, we could see some of the impact of it, like in a very short period of time. And yes, so became a huge fan, super interested, obviously. Thank you for all that you've done to support all of the military over the years, and you still are doing some of that. But then love that you're taking this into just mainstream, into corporate America into working with individuals and families that need your help, because we all need, we all need that mental fitness, right? Regardless of what's going on. Yeah.
John Simon 12:10
I think the the amazing part that I find after reading the information that Dina sent me is how quickly these changes take effect. You're not talking years, you're talking days
John Kennedy 12:21
Exactly, and that's what's so powerful about that's that very unique type of stimulation. And Dina, I'm glad you mentioned the group. So when you do it in a group, it's huge for team building, because you have fun. Now, one of the benefits for anyone struggling, they're engaged, they're social, very, very important. And when you do that together with other people, you have to focus on them as well as your decision. So it really improves teamwork at an unconscious level. But yeah, basically just make it harder and harder. The brain works harder. And in order to do that, it has to grow more connections and make them stronger. Now the interesting thing, John, if you keep as you said, you keep practicing that you'll be amazed at how fast your time will get. In fact, probably the most amazing transformation I had was just two weeks ago. So I'm sure I certify people to how to do this, and I'm certifying a psychiatrist, and she wanted me to work with one of her patients. This poor guy, wonderful guy, he his job actually is helping kindergarten for kids with disabilities. So he loves helping kids, but for the last 10 years, he's been diagnosed with 10 different things. They've given 10 different medications. I hate that part of psychiatry where they always look to medications out. People are on five, six different medications. They don't know what's doing. It's a mess, right? So if we can cut through all that and just change the brain to be better, I'd much rather do that. And so I took this young man through the very first exercise, basically what you did Dina in Texas. His first time was the slowest I'd ever had. But by the time he did that second baseline, he said as he's going through the exercise, he could feel these blocks going away in his brain. He was under a minute. It sometimes takes people. He was so fast, so quickly, and he said that that gave him the exercise gave him a huge breakthrough in his life. He said he was really struggling. He didn't want to be the medication. Something simple for some people was difficult for him, like he had to take the trash out, and he just couldn't do it. So he went, ran through the exercise. He said he got the trash done, got the rest of his day going. He said it was huge boo for him, because he realized he could actually do these things. So there's a direct correlation between that speed of processing that we measure as to other parts of the our lives, what we do in the world, courage, you keep practicing, right?
Dina Simon 14:46
Exactly, yeah, well, and at the happy hour, I mean, I remember, because I thought we were doing one more time and we were done. But just in, in my personality, so like my strengths, through cliftonstrengths. You know, one of them is activator and Maximizer, and there's a little bit of competition in there. And for me, my competition and my strengths is not to compete against others, but it's to be part of a winning team. And so I was so stressed out, because I wanted to make sure I was supporting the team, and then when we weren't doing it, when we had had wrapped that I was able to go back and enjoy happy hour because I was making sure I was super focused up until then. So, so excited to get to know you, and thank you for joining the podcast. And I know we've got some other questions for you, but tell us a little bit more the Japan story. So that is so I love that you were in Japan. And I love what you just talked about, as far as all the different nationalities and and you just, you know, playing basketball, everybody just had to figure out how to, how to, you know, gain those skills to be a team. I
John Kennedy 15:51
think it worked well that time. And so I grew up in a Preston yard Brewster, and basically our free time was spent, you know, helping my dad fix the tractor in the car. It was we had, you know, like 12 acres, lots of work for us boys. My dad was smart. He had four boys, so we could do kind of lawn, but then free time we'd be up in the woods exploring. So about 200 acres of woods. And in hindsight, now that I know about neural plasticity, that was really good for us because, as in, this is for any parents out there, your kids should not be spending a lot of time on a device. We learn our critical cognitive skills up until the age of six or seven, pretty much by interaction with our environment and modeling from adults. So you want to be a good model, but more importantly, the more that we engage with the real world, right? Like, even the differences between, like playing with blocks as opposed to doing Minecraft. Well, Minecraft, you're on a screen, and with real blocks, you stack them. And you know what? You know, you learn project management, right? Well, this stack without falling. You throw one at your brother. He starts crying. You learn about velocity. You learn about all these things intrinsically when you're engaging with the environment. So that was really good for us there. But then my dad worked for IBM. That's we went to attend to Tokyo. So that was huge for me for a lot of reasons. First of all, my dad was director of Pat licensing Croatia Pacific, which meant that anyone with a new device or a new invention that they wanted to license IBM came across our dinner table. That's what we that's what we would talk about. So just being exposed to so many innovative ideas. And then the other thing I wanted to do was I wanted to learn how to speak Japanese. And in Tokyo, all the Japanese want to speak with they want to speak English because it naturally won't learn English. So I talk a couple buddies of mine every Saturday, we would try to get lost by lunchtime. So tremendous transportation system, very safe. We'd take a train to the end and then a bus to the end. We wanted to get where nobody spoke English, and then try to spend the rest of the day finding our way back. So I really didn't learn a lot of Japanese, but I learned really good about solving unsolvable problems, which was kind of the basis for my consulting years later, but a lot of funny stories. I remember one time I took my girlfriend with me. We had a long blonde hair, and we were way out in the country, and the door opens, a guy reaches over, cuts off a lock of her hair and jumps off the train, because you never see blonde hair before. Oh, my God. But the cool thing is, is all of us, so So my we have very small senior class. It was only about 25 of us. We're having a reunion coming up this year, and for the last five or six years, we actually communicate, still, still online, so we still keep close to each other, even though it's been almost 50 years. So long, long time. Great experience. And I recommend anyone with kids travel overseas, because we get so insulated here in this country. I mean, to be in another country where you're a minority, where you have to learn to understand other people that are different, I think, is very powerful experience for us, and I definitely recommend you know people do that with their kids, knowing
Dina Simon 18:59
that we were going to have you on, and our podcast is about life, leadership and building legacies. What some other things that you would like to share with our podcast listeners?
John Kennedy 19:08
Well, I could talk about leadership and legacy as well. So I've been exposed to a lot of leaders in my time. Right when I was consulting to C level, there was, I had some really good C level CIOs CEOs, and some that weren't so good, right? So I'm always learning from them. The Marines build leaders like no other force on earth. I mean, the leadership that I experienced the Marine Corps was just incredible. Some would always step up the Marines, unlike the other forces. Maybe others are the same way. But in the Marines, they always know who's in charge. So if a lieutenant gets killed, it'll be the first sergeant, whatever, and if something happens to him, they always know who's going to step up. There's never a vacuum or for leadership. And so so we either actually integrated my program into many different leadership programs, for for non commissioned office, for officers, for Navy SEAL instructors, and. Because my program helps. I don't teach leadership, but the ability to make better decisions without stress and be able to anticipate what's going to happen. Our critical leadership, you know, Skittles and one of the commanders or at Marine Special Operations said it was the best program ever for his leadership team. As I'm in these classes, I'm learning from them, and probably one of my that General Doug stomp on the one who actually helped me get started. I followed his career later, and actually got to meet him a few times. Was amazing, but confidence brilliant after this. He actually was the one who was in charge of the the prisoner in Iraq. You know, when they would capture these inserts, they put them in these prisons, and usually it was seen as an just like in our country, seen as a punishment. Well, when Doug took that over, he completely changed the way that you deal with with prisoners. What he did was all the younger guys, he would have them go to Koran lessons, right? So once they could see that with the Quran, would say, differed from the what the radical leaders trying to get them out there killing themselves and others, they were able to pull away from the radicalism. So it was very successful. But, I mean, that's the kind of outside the box thinking that I think leaders have to have what I know I try to do when I do as far as legacy. So one of the best things about this is when I was developing this for the Marine Corps, back in 2007 my daughter was six, and I wanted the exercises to be powerful enough to help the Marines, you know, make their brain stronger, recover faster, but I wanted to be able to be understandable for a six year old, because I wanted to work with my daughter. So over the years, she just graduated this last year from Hope College in Holland, Michigan with a degree in psychology and neuroscience and minor in Religion and brilliant, of course, lots smarter than me, but she, you know, she's helped me develop exercises, she led training for some volleyball clubs and for students. And so it's kind of legacy, is what I'd like. Obviously, her overall, my large legacy is, again, that legacy of hope, right? So, so the people that we've been able to help, I've given up completely on traditional medicine, and yet, by rewiring the brain, and you know, kind of way God wants us to engage in with the real world, we bring that all together. We really, really have been able to help people, people struggling, not just to get back to normal, but to keep going, to be able beyond what they were before they had any and disability, so So as part of the legacy, so, so I can bring others now that the biggest obstacle has always been me, I've been the roadblock one, because it's me. I love doing what I do, but so that's why I'm certifying others now. So I have a certification program. We have a video series. We're working on this platform. We're actually doing a pilot right now, or the school system in India to see if we can help both students. And then in If so, then we'll bring it back here. And then the book I just wrote is to kind of continue that so. So basically, as I was working with people with the brain training, people want to be a confidence of what, asked, What about habits? And say, Okay, what about habits? What are habits you want to break? And I realize the same approach that I use to change the brain fast, we can also change habits extremely fast, but the name of the book is, hack your habits in 30 minutes or less, not 30 days. And the big way we do that is by, again, by incorporating all the parts the brain that interface with the real world during that habit. And first you define the habit, and then you engage your whole body. Then you repeat it several times. You competed four or five or six times, whatever it takes. Easily. You can do that within 30 minutes. And then that's how quickly you establish a new habit. And I have people I always love conferences. I'll say, Okay, we've got a habit they want to change, right? And we walk them through it, show them how to do it, tell them how to do it. And I get an email from them a week later. I can't believe it, you know, I'm up at out of bed on time in the morning. I'm working out every day. I'm losing weight. You know, whatever the habit they're trying to break, when they use this, it works. So we just, we just really started out Amazon yesterday. That's Friday, I guess, and it's still these, still tweaking one of the shortest books you'll ever read, but it will work if you follow it great.
Dina Simon 24:33
Well, we'll make sure in the show notes that we show how to get in touch with you, that you've got your online classes and then the book. So we'll make sure that we we have that all in there. You
John Simon 24:45
know, John, when I started reading the information Dina sent me about you, it made me think of I have a weekly group of guys that I get together sometimes two or three times a week, and we play pinochle. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with peanut. Echo, but it's a really good card game. And it's a card game they play an awful lot in the military and in playing, you have to put your thinking cap on, and you have to not only know what you have, but you have to assume maybe what your partner has. You can learn a lot from a card game, watching people,
John Kennedy 25:16
yes, well, and games are a great way to engage your brain, with your with your body. So I experiment with maybe 15 different games and exercises. Is one we developed, is the core one, but then we have some others that we use, and we narrowed it down to just two or three. But one of them we use, for example, was Connect Four. Remember, Connect Four, you have to get the we use that as a strategy game. So here's if you like, to play that, here's a way you can play with someone that will help your strategy. What you do is, the goal of the when you do this as a as an exercise, is not to win, but to tie. So what you do is, before you move, you tell your opponent Where are you going to put the piece and why? And then he does the same thing to you. So you get to get inside his strategic thinking force you to be very careful, because if you just dropping things in without thinking about it, there's not a strategy. And so the goal is to type, and the next time you actually play, you'll play much better. And it's the same thing with your card so, so if you're playing, I've never played Pinocchio, it's card games. If you can try to think ahead, like three or five moves, right? So if he does this, this is what I have. We call that thinking process. It's basically what the the arrow exercise does, break it down, think it through, and execute. So as data is coming into your brain, constantly break it down into components. Think through what you want to do with it before you execute. Kids are notorious for, you know, being distracted. So a parent can say, Okay, tell me the next three things you're going to do in order, and then it could be five things. And you'd be amazed that when they think about what they're going to do first. They can make the adjustments, right? So, so I'm going to go turn on the TV, okay, and then you go to turn on a TV. Where's the remote? Okay, so let's, let's re examine that process. The first thing you're going to do is find the remote. Then you're going to try on a TV. You know, we get okay constantly. Want to work on the critical thinking and ask them, okay, so pause the TV for a sec. What do you think is going to happen next? How do you think this, this, this show is going to end, and then the goal right? And then, as they're watching it, they're tracking, oh, man, I was so wrong. Oh, I was right. So reinforces their ability to think ahead before they execute Interesting,
John Simon 27:43
huh? It's funny because we'll sit there and we'll be watching a climb show on TV, and and Jeannie, my wife, will be sitting there trying, trying to decipher what the final, what the end of this show is going to be like. But we do when we go to the movies, yeah, we sit there and say, Okay, how is this going to break out? How's this going to happen? Why is this going to happen?
John Kennedy 28:04
Exactly? That's all good for your brain. You know, you're kind of matching reality. I mean, what really happens with what you think is going to happen? And eventually you get better and
John Simon 28:12
better at that. Yeah, yeah. And it makes you feel good when you're right. Also, yeah, that's right, that's
Unknown Speaker 28:17
right. Oh,
Dina Simon 28:18
my goodness. Well, and for for John Simon, I told John Kennedy, I certainly would love to find some opportunities for us to partner and just bring this work in with some of the clients that I'm working with, because it just, again, it's, it's so fun, so rewarding. And I'm just super excited that we got connected through the C suite.
John Kennedy 28:36
Yeah, me too. I love that and and, you know, it's funny. So there's several people from C suite where I'm kind of talking about partnering with because I don't really teach anything, or, you know, because you do the teaching, the coaching, whatever, I'm just going to help them get it better and faster. And one of my clients says, you don't make the melody make it shine. In fact, did you meet Gary Rodriguez? He has a very powerful way of helping people overcome trauma. Oh, sure, yeah. So now we're working on a course right now where we can integrate the two, right to, you know, help them do that even better. So many guys, I get to learn too, right? I always get to spend time within Dina,
Dina Simon 29:13
yeah, well, and that's where, yeah, that's the where the collaboration comes in. And just like you said, the work that you did all throughout, as you were beta ing and testing and sitting in those rooms with people you were, you were a sponge and and learning different things. And so it just super, super extraordinary path. Love the legacy. Love what your daughter is doing. So obviously the Apple did not fall far from the tree, and your apple that you like your what your dad but based on what your dad's career was. And like you said, just the conversation sitting around the dinner table based on what he was doing for IBM, just super fun, well,
John Kennedy 29:49
and you know, it's interesting. So my dad in the Navy was EOD explosive ordinance disposal, and those are the guys that have to dismantle bombs. And actually, I felt one. Of my best EX in San Diego. It was really cool, right? Because they showed me all their stuff. They've got all this technical stuff, right? My dad, they got it. You gotta get a knife and some swim trunks, but it was meaningful to train them. And as best as we talked about preventing casualties, and they said, Well, you're kind of your dad's footsteps, because he was preventing people from getting blown up, and you're preventing people from getting blown up. There you go. That was, that was kind of cool. Very
Dina Simon 30:28
cool, very cool. Well, we just are so appreciative of your time and for joining us. Again, I'm super excited to to get to know you and to share your your Kennedy method with with John, and then with our listeners, and also very powerful name that you have. I'm sure that people take a double take every once in a while. Yeah,
John Kennedy 30:50
it's, uh, it's interesting, although now people ask me from related to the senator, as opposed to the president,
Dina Simon 30:56
but Right, yeah. Well, thank you, John for joining us. We appreciate it.
Unknown Speaker 31:01
This is great. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Dina Simon 31:03
I would like to thank John Kennedy, the founder of the Kennedy method, for joining us on this podcast. I am so excited that I got to meet him. As we mentioned, we're part of a C suite thought leadership council together, and he took us just through this amazing exercise. We will make sure in the show notes, you know how to get in touch with him his new book that just is launching. But just can't say enough about how fun it was just to go through some of these exercises and see an immediate impact. So thank you. Thank you, John for joining us. And then, as always, I'd like to thank my father in law, John Simon, for joining me as a co host on the podcast. And our podcast is produced by Simon and Associates, and we are proud to be part of the C suite radio network. And until we talk again, you.