Austin Hatch: From Tragedy to Triumph with Grit, Faith, and an Unstoppable Purpose

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Speaker 1 Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement, leadership, and relentless growth.

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Speaker 2 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of McUnplugged. And today we have a story full of emotion, full of grit, and full of resilience.

Speaker 2 We're talking to a guy who survived two plane crashes, lost his immediate family, and still earned a scholarship to play Division I basketball at the University of Michigan.

Speaker 2 His journey from tragedy to triumph is one that you're going to want to hear. You know,

Speaker 2 when I think of Austin Hatch, I think of toughness, I think of faith, I think of resiliency. But more importantly,

Speaker 2 I think of an overall just good human being. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the guy, Mr.
Austin Hatch. Austin, how are you doing today, brother?

Speaker 4 Thank you very much. I really appreciate the introduction.
Thanks for your kind words. Really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 No, absolutely. Austin, man.
You know,

Speaker 2 I usually start with one question for all my guests on Mick Unplugged, but, you know, I know your story. I've been a follower of yours for over 10 years now.

Speaker 2 When I ask you, Austin, what's your because?

Speaker 2 What's that thing that's deeper than your why? What's your purpose today? What would Austin Hatch say his because is?

Speaker 4 Well, I think it's

Speaker 4 been my wife for going on seven years now, right? Honor her.

Speaker 4 Do my best to lead our family.

Speaker 4 We have a two and a half year old son named Hudson.

Speaker 2 Hudson, yes, sir.

Speaker 4 And we have a five-month-old daughter named Marley.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 4 they're my why now. They're my purpose.
They're my because, right? You know,

Speaker 4 it's yeah.

Speaker 4 I think the big thing about that is remembering what that is for you.

Speaker 4 We all have a different purpose, a different why, a different because, right? But i think always remembering it is important because when things get really tough

Speaker 2 if it's just for us we'll probably throw in the towel give up but if we remember that greater purpose that why that you know like i think we'll always be willing to do what it takes to overcome so totally agree man and and specifically i wanted to ask you that question man again just knowing your story knowing the triumph, the tragedy, and everything in between,

Speaker 2 to survive. And I don't think people understand the magnitude of this, to survive two plane crashes.

Speaker 2 And in those two plane crashes, the first one you lost your mother, your siblings, the second one, you lost

Speaker 2 your dad and stepmom, right? Like the magnitude of that,

Speaker 2 how did Austin Hatch keep going, bro? When most people...

Speaker 2 That's not really going to be the thing. Like, how did Austin Hatch keep going?

Speaker 4 Well, I think after the first one,

Speaker 4 when I tragically lost my mom, Julie, my sister, Lindsay, little brother Ian,

Speaker 4 obviously devastating loss, incomprehensible loss, but

Speaker 4 my dad led me through that, right? And I don't know how he did it, to be honest with you, but

Speaker 4 he kept going, he kept living, and obviously it was a...

Speaker 4 There was some grief and adjustment. But, you know, we

Speaker 4 that wasn't the end of the road for us. It was was obviously a terrible loss, a terrible tragedy, terrible circumstance.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 4 we still had life to live, and we felt that we could honor our family in heaven by how we loved each other and kept living our life.

Speaker 5 And

Speaker 4 life was good. And he was remarried a couple years later.
Then

Speaker 4 we had a great-bunded family. you know, and it didn't replace what we lost, obviously.
But it was great to have a mom and siblings at home again.

Speaker 4 And then tragically, the second plane crash happened nine days days after I accepted a scholarship to play for Michigan.

Speaker 5 And

Speaker 4 I was in a coma for two and a half months. And I, by the grace of God, came out of that coma.
And I had so many people who were there to support me, right?

Speaker 4 And who they did it out of the goodness of their heart. And

Speaker 4 I had, and Coach Beline, too, he made it clear to me that he was going to honor his commitment to me.

Speaker 4 And so I felt I owed it to him too, right, to make to make the best recovery that I could and try to, you know, get as much of my ability back as I could, which obviously I was not really able to get much of of anything back but coach stayed true to his commitment and i think from a leadership standpoint that that principle um of following through on our commitments all the time no matter the task no matter the circumstance i feel like if we're known as that kind of a person um who wouldn't want to give everything they have for that kind of a leader so but yeah back to your question though um

Speaker 4 there wasn't really an option well i mean there well there definitely was but it's like i i had i had you know okay I want to, I'm coming out of a coma right now. I can't walk.

Speaker 4 Coach Beline is going to honor his commitment to me and have me a part of the team at Michigan. Okay, well, I got some work to do.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 So, you know, it's like, what do they say? Every day you either get better or you get worse, right?

Speaker 4 So I just try to take every single day, use that as an opportunity to get a little bit, little bit better. You know, walk.

Speaker 4 one a little bit further, do a little bit more wall push-ups, do a little, like get my balance a little bit better. Just one day at a time.
Just try to get a little bit better. So

Speaker 2 no, I love that. You know, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse.

Speaker 2 And I would say, you know, especially in today's era, in today's society, if you're not getting better, you're falling way behind, right?

Speaker 2 Um, Austin, another question for you, man. So,

Speaker 2 you were given a second chance twice,

Speaker 2 right?

Speaker 2 Like, how do you stay grounded in gratitude with that?

Speaker 4 Well, I think

Speaker 4 gratitude, I'm not going to say that could solve every issue on the planet,

Speaker 4 but if everybody

Speaker 4 in the world had had a lot more gratitude, and here's the thing, it's not hard to have gratitude, right? It's just a choice to look for the good,

Speaker 4 look for the positive, look for the opportunity, focus on the blessings, right? And it's like, man, if you, because here's what I found.

Speaker 4 Obviously, we all have reasons to be negative, right?

Speaker 4 You do, I do, people watching, listening, everybody has reasons to be negative, negative right and we're all human and i'm and of course there are times when i'm negative of course there are times when you're negative i'm sure when things you know things aren't far away whatever but

Speaker 4 coming back to gratitude though it's impossible to be truly grateful and very negative at the same time

Speaker 4 it's impossible right those two emotions can't coexist you can't be oh man what a beautiful family i have what a great life what an amazing situation we're so blessed how how lucky are we you're still probably dealing with something that's not going great,

Speaker 4 but you can't really dwell on that when you're focusing more on the good.

Speaker 4 And so I just choose not to ignore, not to ignore the negative, not to ignore the challenges, but why not spend more time and energy looking at what's going right?

Speaker 4 You know, and looking at the positives. Like for me, obviously, it's so terrible what I've lost.

Speaker 4 You know, and my whole immediate family and everything.

Speaker 4 And it's so sad. And I can't, I hope to see him again someday.

Speaker 5 I think I will.

Speaker 4 But it's like, man, my family here, like, it doesn't get any better than this. My wife, Abby, are two kids.
Hopefully, my wife wants, you know, four or five.

Speaker 4 So I think we're going to compromise and have four or five kids. So, so, but, you know, so it's like, but it's like, man, how good life is so good here?

Speaker 4 Obviously, that doesn't mean I don't remember my family and don't acknowledge the loss.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 But it's hard to be overcome by it.

Speaker 2 You know?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Man, so I have two friends who lost

Speaker 2 two different friends, not the same family, who each lost their parents at a young age,

Speaker 2 both somewhat tragically. And one of them also lost a sibling as well.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 2 they each, yeah, they each told me, or tell me, Mick, you know,

Speaker 2 it became really hard for us to want to get close to people because we felt like if we got close to someone, we might lose them.

Speaker 2 And the hurt of losing family is really tough, like, especially at a younger age when that's traditionally not supposed to happen.

Speaker 2 Is that something that you went through? Like, getting close to people, like wanting to be around people. Like, what was that like for you? Or what is that like for you?

Speaker 4 Yeah, well, for me, kind of the opposite. is true for me.
I just love people. I love relationships.
I'm just so grateful again.

Speaker 4 And obviously, i'm so sad and you know what i lost and everything but um you know my family still impact impacted me to this day and um

Speaker 4 but yeah i'm just like so i love i love yeah i i not not to just completely shut down your your point but just for me i i never dealt with that um okay i just you know my my my fam i had so many people like especially after well after both plane crashes but especially the second one when i was almost killed i had so many people out of who out of the goodness of their heart.

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Speaker 4 Made sacrifices to be there for me, right? Like maybe, maybe it, maybe it gave them some gratification.

Speaker 4 To like, oh yeah, you know, I want to be here for this guy, Austin, who went through a terrible tragedy. I want to make sure I'm there for him.
Make sure he knows I'm there for him.

Speaker 4 Maybe that, maybe that made them feel good, but

Speaker 4 it was more for me.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 4 And I'm just like, man, like people that

Speaker 4 are willing to invest their time and give their, you know, their talents and energy.

Speaker 4 And it's like, yeah, I mean, I mean, I just, I love, I love people and I'm so appreciative of everybody in any area of life who's had a, who's had a role in my, in my recovery, in my life today.

Speaker 4 Like, I had so many, like, it took a village, you know, the whole saying, it takes a village, right? Yeah.

Speaker 4 Like, for me, especially after the the second plane crash, after both plane crashes, but the first one, I had my dad there, right?

Speaker 4 The second one, I didn't, and I had extended family, friends.

Speaker 4 Unfortunately, or unfortunately, my store was pretty public for better or worse. So I'm not going to say I had millions of people praying for me, but I think I had a lot of people praying for me.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 You know, so it's like, and I'm just so, again, I'm so grateful. And

Speaker 4 I love, love building friendships.

Speaker 2 So there it is. No, I love that, man.
And I want people to remember this as well.

Speaker 2 Austin had a basketball scholarship to Michigan, right?

Speaker 2 That means, and Austin is from Indiana. Like some folks would say that's the hoops capital of the world.
I'm a Carolina guy, so you know, I'm a little biased to that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 But man, so let's talk about Austin the Hooper for a minute because I don't want people to forget that story either, man.

Speaker 2 So growing up in Indiana, one of the top high school players in the country, definitely in Indiana, man. So, like, let's go through high school.

Speaker 2 I think, what, your junior year, you average, what, 23, 24?

Speaker 4 So, well, well, so I got the second plane crash happened after my sophomore year of high school.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So, um,

Speaker 4 freshman year was okay. I didn't, you know, maybe, I don't know, maybe

Speaker 4 18,

Speaker 4 18 points,

Speaker 2 nine points. Just okay.

Speaker 2 18 as a freshman in Indiana.

Speaker 4 I think sophomore year, sophomore year was a little better. Yeah.

Speaker 4 24 and 10 or something.

Speaker 2 There you go. 24 and sophomore year.
Okay, I remember the stats. There you go.
Yeah,

Speaker 4 had a good game. Coach Beline came to see me play against a rival school from across town who he'd never beaten.
And

Speaker 4 it was packed gym standing room only.

Speaker 4 Bishop Lewis was the name of the school. And from a Catholic school from across town.
And

Speaker 4 yeah, had a pretty good game. I think I had 30 and 16, I think.

Speaker 2 A casual 30 and 16. I like it.

Speaker 4 Yeah. And coached,

Speaker 4 and then so he waited. And then he waited, because he wanted to see two years of good grades to prove that

Speaker 4 I could handle the coursework at Michigan, right?

Speaker 4 So he got my transcript after

Speaker 4 the semester. And then saw that.
He's like, cool, let's bring him to Michigan. And yeah, man, it was a dream come true.
Dream come true.

Speaker 2 Were there any other schools you thought about going other than University of North Carolina? I knew that was number one on your list. Yeah.
But outside of UNC.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Well,

Speaker 4 University of Virginia.

Speaker 4 Coach Tony Bennett, great guy. Took a couple visits there.

Speaker 4 Great guy.

Speaker 4 Maybe went to Notre Dame a couple times.

Speaker 4 I wasn't interested in, I wasn't good enough to go to Duke.

Speaker 2 Oh, you were good enough. You just made a smart choice and not decided to go there.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 Like I said, yeah, I got went to camp a few years and

Speaker 4 got to know Coach Collins, played a little open gym with him a little bit.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 4 he actually wrote me a letter

Speaker 4 after the second plane accident.

Speaker 4 And it was really touching that he did. And he was like, he was like, yeah, I was excited to recruit you.
But then, yeah, then you jumped at that Michigan offer.

Speaker 4 So,

Speaker 2 yeah.

Speaker 4 I don't think

Speaker 4 I was good enough to play for Duke, but

Speaker 4 I think I could have been okay at Michigan. I could have been okay.

Speaker 2 Yeah. No, for sure, man.
So, what did it mean to you for Coach Belon to honor the scholarship that he had given you after the crash, after the second crash?

Speaker 4 One of the things that I talk about, so I speak for a living now, right? Which maybe we'll talk about more in a minute.

Speaker 4 I talk about integrity.

Speaker 4 And the way I define integrity, of course, is doing the right thing and no one's looking. Very important, obviously.

Speaker 4 But I think it's also following through on our commitments, even when circumstances change. Or I should say, especially when circumstances change, right?

Speaker 4 So

Speaker 4 as I mentioned earlier, so June 15, 2011.

Speaker 4 I think, you know, coach thinks I'm going to be able to help the team on the court at Michigan by scoring and and rebounding, playing defense, things like that. He offered me a scholarship.

Speaker 4 Dream come true. We committed to each other that day.
A scholarship at Michigan over four years is about a million bucks, more or less.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 4 that second plan crash happened nine days later. I might not survive.

Speaker 4 I come out of a coma, can't walk, might never walk ever again. I'm in a wheelchair, right? Comes to see me.
And he basically said, I can't wait to have you on my team someday.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 4 Whenever you have to come play for me at Michigan, man, I can't wait to coach you. So

Speaker 4 his follow-through and his commitment didn't depend on the circumstance, you know. And I'm like, that's like,

Speaker 4 and so Coach B-line changed my life forever, right?

Speaker 4 He doesn't follow through on the scholarship. I don't go to Michigan.
I don't, you know, he doesn't follow through on the scholarship offer.

Speaker 4 I don't go to Michigan, don't meet my wife. We don't have our kids.
I don't, I don't get the education there. I don't, you know, so like he changed my life.
And

Speaker 4 for all, for anyone listening, maybe, maybe your commitment

Speaker 4 following through on it, is not going to change somebody's life, but maybe it does.

Speaker 2 Maybe it will, right?

Speaker 4 You don't know. I mean, it could.
And it may seem small to you,

Speaker 4 but it's probably big to them.

Speaker 2 The impact. The impact.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 So

Speaker 4 my thing is,

Speaker 4 I think, so here's the thing, though. A lot of people make commitments every day, right?

Speaker 2 Everybody does.

Speaker 4 But not everybody follows through. on every commitment, especially when the circumstances change, you know?

Speaker 4 So I think following through on our commitments when there's a change in circumstance is doing a common thing in an uncommon way.

Speaker 4 And doing the common things in an uncommon way, I think it's going to leave people better than we found them. That's really the goal.
That's my goal at least.

Speaker 4 I just, my goal is I just try to leave people just a little bit better than I found them, right?

Speaker 2 Wherever I go.

Speaker 4 So quick story. So my dad, my hero,

Speaker 4 miss him every day, obviously. My whole family, of course, but learned so much from my dad, still learning from him to this day.

Speaker 4 And he would drive Carpool two days a week on Wednesday and Friday from from 2005 to the spring of 2011.

Speaker 4 Um, before I could drive myself to school, we'd stop at this McDonald's on the way to pick up my buddy and his little sister at their house.

Speaker 4 And instead of just getting the food and driving away, my dad would take an extra two or three seconds to interact with the guy at the pickup window, Josiah was his name, who would give us our food.

Speaker 4 And he, I would just take two or three seconds and say, Appreciate you, man, praying for you and your family. Make it a great day.
Look forward to seeing you next time.

Speaker 4 Very small.

Speaker 4 A family friend of mine told me last summer that that cashier from mcdonald's on dupont road in fort wayne josiah he was josiah was at my parents funeral after my dad and second mom died in the second plane crash he was at their funeral right and maybe he probably maybe he would have gone to anybody any person that came to mcdonald's regularly maybe he would have gone to all their funerals probably would have but i think it i think because he felt he should honor my dad's life and his legacy because my dad left him a little better better than he found him by doing a common thing in an uncommon way.

Speaker 4 So

Speaker 4 I think we can all do that. We can all do that.

Speaker 2 I love it. I love it, man.
So, so let's go from Michigan to speaking, but in between speaking,

Speaker 2 you had a corporate job at Domino's, right? And you created something that I've been following and implementing for a while now, your grit framework.

Speaker 2 Let's talk to the viewers and listeners about Austin Hatch's grit framework, man.

Speaker 4 Yeah. So

Speaker 4 I think a lot of our goal, a lot of achieving our goals in life, obviously, we need to rely on other people for support and help and other things have to happen to, you know, the market's got to be in the, you know, all there's all this other business stuff.

Speaker 4 But I think it all comes down to grit. I think it all comes down to grit.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 4 Angela Duckworth, really smart lady at, you know, the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, my friend.

Speaker 4 Not, you know, Wharton's not Michigan, but, you know, it's a pretty good school, obviously.

Speaker 2 Not North Carolina either, but yeah, it's not UNC, but you know, yeah, whatever.

Speaker 4 So she's she says that grit's passionate perseverance for the long-term vision for your long-term goals.

Speaker 4 That's true. I think grit does apply to the long-term.
You know, for me, I think about my journey going from a coma to playing for Michigan. That's a long-term goal, right?

Speaker 4 That's like going from you're trying to get to the going from the first floor to the top of the Empire State Building, and you got to take the stairs. It takes grit to get there.
That's long-term.

Speaker 4 That's, you you know, whatever.

Speaker 4 A couple hundred flights of stairs or whatever.

Speaker 4 It takes grit to get there, but for me, grit was every day because how could I expect to achieve the long-term goal if I wasn't winning one day at a time?

Speaker 4 So I think grit's a little more specific than just hard work for the long-term goal. So it's four letters, four key components to it.

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Speaker 4 But first and foremost I think it's driven by a greater purpose. I think we need to be driven by something bigger than ourselves.

Speaker 4 Faith, family, friends, teammates, colleagues, your organization, your part of whatever your purpose is.

Speaker 4 I just think we got to be driven by something bigger than ourselves that'll drive us just to be willing just to be willing because it was just for us it'd be nice if I overcame this challenge or bounce back from this adversity but it's only really for me so it's gonna require too much time and effort and sacrifice I'm not sure it's worth it right

Speaker 4 but if it's for a greater purpose whatever that is for you I think we're always gonna be willing we're always gonna be willing to do what it takes so Purpose drives grit the G the growth mindset adversity is opportunity there's no opportunity in the adversity itself right Nobody grows from losing a game in sports.

Speaker 4 Nobody grows from losing a deal in business or having a tough week or quarter or year. Nobody grows from that.
But we grow by how we choose to respond. It's a choice to look for the opportunity.

Speaker 4 It's a choice to have the growth mindset. And the route is, though, a lot of people choose to have the victim mindset.
You can choose that. More people choose that, though.

Speaker 4 You know, I didn't deserve this. How much easier would life or business be? if conditions were good or whatever.
If my family was good, why are they making my life so difficult?

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 4 Well,

Speaker 4 you could have that mindset, but why not choose a growth mindset? Choose to look for the opportunity. So the R is the decision to be resilient.

Speaker 4 And I don't think you're resilient if you overcome your challenges. I think overcoming challenges in adversity is a result of being resilient.
I think you're resilient if you take action.

Speaker 4 Absolutely massive action in the face of challenge and adversity. My dad,

Speaker 4 he always said, oh, go bigger, go home, man. Go bigger, go home.
And that's what resilience is to me. Like I said, you're not resilient if you overcome your challenges and achieve your goals.

Speaker 4 I think you're resilient if you go big in the face of adversity, if you take massive action. So the I, the I is integrity.

Speaker 4 Of course, you know, integrity is, as I said earlier, going about our business the right way,

Speaker 4 doing the right thing, and no one's looking, obviously very important. Yeah.
But in addition to that, I think it's following through on our commitments, especially when circumstances change, right?

Speaker 4 People giving people our word and staying true to that. Like I said, with Coach Beline,

Speaker 4 we committed to each other June 15th. He just gave me his word.
There's nothing signed, no documents or anything. He just said, Austin, I want to have you on my team.

Speaker 4 So I want to have you on my team at Michigan.

Speaker 4 And I said, Coach, I'd love to come play for you. Yeah.
Like, literally, the conversation was two minutes.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 4 Like, there was nothing formal,

Speaker 4 nothing signed, nothing that made him feel obligated.

Speaker 4 Like, he was not legally obligated to do anything but he I couldn't I came out of the coma after the second plane crash couldn't walk probably never gonna be able to play again at least not the way that I that he would need me to play to help the team but he said yeah I gave you my word so it was a no-brainer yeah this is what we do we just follow through on our commitments at Michigan so I think again if we can all do that we can all do that.

Speaker 4 So last letter of grits, T, T's the team first mentality. The team first mentality.
So as I said, I was blessed to be a part of the team at michigan four years um

Speaker 4 um and i actually put myself in the record books there believe it or not um i'm the all-time lowest scoring full scholarship athlete in program history at michigan i scored i scored one point in four years

Speaker 4 one point in four years right yeah so i'm definitely the all-time lowest scoring full scholarship athlete but I was on the team that so I had a role right yeah be a great teammate shag balls in practice help with drills rebound and shoot on before games unload luggers on road trips, you know, work hard every day to be the best that I could be.

Speaker 4 And here's what I learned. So my wife was a three-time all-American volleyball player at Michigan.

Speaker 4 She was the best on her team

Speaker 4 three of the four years. Her freshman year, there was an all-American setter, a senior all-American, who was, she was the best that year, but

Speaker 4 sophomore, junior, senior year, my wife, Abby, was the best on her team.

Speaker 4 I was not, obviously.

Speaker 4 Even though I wasn't the best on the team, I could be my best for the team right

Speaker 4 I think we can all do that again we may not be the CEO or team captain or president or head headmaster principal whatever we may not be the best on the team we may not be the most important person on the team

Speaker 4 but we can all make the effort every day to be our best for the team so just it's a very subtle difference best on the team

Speaker 4 versus best for the team. So again, I think if we can all just make the effort every day to be the best that we can be for the team, I think the team's going to win.

Speaker 2 I love that, brother. I just wrote that quote down, man.
Like,

Speaker 2 that parallels so much,

Speaker 2 not just in corporate world, like you said, but in leadership too, like understanding that as a leader, right?

Speaker 2 Like...

Speaker 2 It's not about you. It's about doing what's best for others.
And that's something that I speak about. And I know you do a lot with leadership and what you do as well.

Speaker 2 I want to go back to something you said early on about mindset, man. And, you know, I'm a big believer in mindset, but also a bigger believer in action and impact behind the mindset.

Speaker 2 But when you think of mindset, what are some of the daily habits or mental disciplines that the viewers and listeners need to start putting into practice?

Speaker 4 I think it's,

Speaker 4 you know, for me, and my goal,

Speaker 4 My goal is to build every day, build the business, build my family, build my marriage build my like just build just grow and and i think and i'll be totally honest with you i don't have a checklist of you know three or four things that i go through every single day to make sure i do that but it's just it's just attacking

Speaker 4 life with a with a with a sense of urgency yeah man with a sense of urgency because here's what here's what i've learned um look i'm only 30 i haven't i don't have that much experience in business or life yet or family or anything but the most you think back to sports too right like the most the most urgent person usually wins

Speaker 4 usually right like if I think back in my own life it's like man like what like if you if you say winning is achieving a goal that's what that's a win and most goal most of the times that I've won it's because I really wanted it I was urgent I had some urgency to it right and it's like I think about my life now it's like with as a dad I want to attack my role as a dad with some urgency.

Speaker 4 I want to attack my role as a husband with some urgency. I want to attack my role as the leader and provider of my family with some urgency.

Speaker 4 Like I want to attack my business with some with a sense of urgency. Not like, because

Speaker 4 you had to be a little patient at times, right? And, you know, trust the process. That whole, everybody, you know, well, everybody says, let the process, you know, work itself out.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 4 I'm not trying, like, like if something could take

Speaker 4 five weeks, I'm not trying to, I want to do it in one week.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I want to attack it with some urgency, you know? And like,

Speaker 4 maybe, maybe, maybe I'll get, maybe I'll get, we can get our family where we want where we want it to be in 10 years.

Speaker 4 I don't want to wait 10 years. Yeah.
I want to be there

Speaker 4 sooner than that. So I think attacking life with the sense of urgency.
And I think that applies differently for all of us in different ways.

Speaker 2 But I think that's a good way.

Speaker 4 It's a good way to live. Good way to live.

Speaker 2 For sure. What's one principle that you live by today?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 4 for me and my family, there's three things that, and obviously, our kids are really young, they don't understand this yet. Um, just for us,

Speaker 4 honor God,

Speaker 4 respect everyone, leave things

Speaker 4 in people better than you found them.

Speaker 2 Yeah,

Speaker 4 that's that's how we do it. And I'm like,

Speaker 4 obviously, the faith is faith is a big part of my family. Um, but going back to that thing that I said about integrity,

Speaker 4 just trying to leave people everywhere you go, just trying to leave them a little bit better than you found them, right? Yes.

Speaker 4 And I definitely don't do that all the time with everybody I ever interact with in the world. But

Speaker 4 like, man, you know what? If you, if you can think, if you, at the end of the day,

Speaker 4 if you can look back on your day, and this is kind of a leadership self-assessment, too. If you think about it, like,

Speaker 4 who did I impact today?

Speaker 4 The more specific about that you can be, the better.

Speaker 4 Whether it was my, obviously, you know, your family, probably, but even maybe even beyond that, if you, if you had a call with someone, if you, if you closed the deal, if you, if you had an opportunity to, you know, collaborate with somebody else, think just who did I impact today?

Speaker 4 And how will I be remembered by the people that I work with today?

Speaker 2 Who did it impact?

Speaker 4 And how will I be remembered? And I think if you can answer both of those questions

Speaker 4 in the in the positive sense, if you, if you can say, yeah, I impacted these people.

Speaker 4 Well, it's not really up to us to say, well, then I impacted them, but you can kind of feel it, right? If you think,

Speaker 4 and obviously it's not up to us to say, yeah, I left you better than I found you. I definitely did.
Like, of course, that's not us, but that's not on us to say that.

Speaker 4 But if you can think in your mind, right?

Speaker 4 If you can honestly give yourself a good grade on that. Like,

Speaker 4 if you can honestly tell yourself, yeah, I left some people better than I found them today. Love it.
If you can string a lot of days like that together, man,

Speaker 4 I think you're going to be in a good place. I think you're going to be in a good place.
I love it, man.

Speaker 2 I love it. All right, Austin.
You're a Michigan guy. I'm a Carolina guy.
We're going to go starting five all-time. Your all-time Michigan starting five against my all-time Carolina starting five.

Speaker 2 Who you got is your starting five

Speaker 4 at Michigan.

Speaker 2 All-time.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 5 Um,

Speaker 4 so you could obviously go back to you know the Cassie Russells, but that was before my time. I never saw him play.
I know he was good.

Speaker 2 Okay. Um, so we're gonna do it: people that we saw play.
Is that gonna be the caveat? Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, cool, cool, cool, got it. Um,

Speaker 4 okay, so I'm gonna say

Speaker 2 Trey Burke,

Speaker 4 yep, Trey Burke point guard.

Speaker 4 I'm gonna say,

Speaker 4 Hmm. Yeah, you could uh I think I think Karis Lavert

Speaker 4 my friend Karis play yeah

Speaker 4 You could do gosh who could you do um

Speaker 4 who could be three four well well, yeah, because now I'm thinking

Speaker 4 Trey Burke Karis. Let's go.
I think I think Tim Hardaway could play the three. He's kind of a two.
He could play a three.

Speaker 2 Yeah, he's tall. Yeah.
He's yeah, he's got a three.

Speaker 4 He could play three.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 Four.

Speaker 2 Um

Speaker 4 maybe

Speaker 4 no, I'm just catching. I'm gonna do

Speaker 4 Trey Burke.

Speaker 4 Okay, yeah. Trey Burke, Karis, Tim.

Speaker 4 Let's go. Mo Wagner.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 4 At the four.

Speaker 4 My friend Mo.

Speaker 4 I never saw Chris Weber play, but I think he was good at the five.

Speaker 4 Maybe Coach Howard is in there too, somewhere. Maybe Juan Howard's in there too.

Speaker 2 Juan Howard at the five. Okay.
Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 2 So no Jalen Rose, no C. Webb.
Okay.

Speaker 2 But you didn't see them play, so I got it.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 4 So so you got you got

Speaker 4 Michael, Michael Jordan in here somewhere.

Speaker 2 He's

Speaker 2 yeah. So I'll give you, so if we're going

Speaker 2 guys that we saw play at UNC or at Carolina, so yeah, that I saw play. So I'm going to give you, yeah, my point guard is, that's, I have so many options at point guard.

Speaker 2 But I'm going to go to the OG

Speaker 2 Kenny Smith. Yep.

Speaker 4 Kenny the Jet Smith. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Kenny the Jet Smith. Yeah.
So I've won the point guard position.

Speaker 4 You think Kenny the Jet?

Speaker 2 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 I'm messing with you.

Speaker 2 We'll let the listeners and viewers tell us who won this matchup.

Speaker 2 So I got Kenny Smith at the one

Speaker 2 at the point. I got Jordan

Speaker 2 at the two.

Speaker 2 At the three, I'm going to give you Vince Carter.

Speaker 2 At the four, I'm going to give you Tyler Hansbrough. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Right? At the five, I got something special for you. So at the five, I got someone from Indiana.
And you talk about grit. We called him Big Grits.
So Eric Montrose.

Speaker 4 Luke Zeller.

Speaker 2 Eric Montrose.

Speaker 2 It's before your time. Big Grits, Eric Montrose.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Wasn't there.
Tyler Zeller was there.

Speaker 4 Tyler. It was Tyler.

Speaker 2 Luke was a little name. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 So, so we'll let the fan, we'll let the viewers and listeners say who's all-time five.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah, yeah. okay okay okay so so so

Speaker 4 yeah you might have me in the one

Speaker 4 yeah obviously michael you have me in the two

Speaker 4 who's your three vince carter

Speaker 4 yeah

Speaker 2 yeah

Speaker 2 tyler hansborough yeah

Speaker 2 mo versus mo versus um

Speaker 2 uh

Speaker 2 Jawan Howard.

Speaker 2 Jawan Howard versus Big Grits, Eric Montrose. I'll give.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 I'll give you one matchup, but they did it in the championship game and we walked away. Well,

Speaker 4 another thing, though,

Speaker 4 I never saw Coach Howard play when I was. I mean,

Speaker 4 I was super young.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I mean, I was born in 94. So

Speaker 2 that five was the senior year. Yeah.
That was the senior year at Michigan. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Okay. Or junior year at Michigan, my bad.
Okay.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I do think we won. I do think you guys struggle scoring with us because you know we're a fast-paced up and down the court team.
Yeah, we got Jordan and Vince catching Alley Oops all day.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Tyler Harrensbro in the second half is just gonna say, Give me the ball and dominate. And yeah, Eric Montrose is sending everything back to half court, blocking every shot.

Speaker 4 Okay, okay, okay. Well, you know what?

Speaker 4 Maybe we'll uh

Speaker 4 okay, how about this though? How about this though?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 4 post-2010.

Speaker 2 Ooh.

Speaker 2 Ooh.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 See, because all the good guys that I know are like, like

Speaker 2 Trey,

Speaker 4 Tim, Karis.

Speaker 2 And the game changed, right? There's not really a five post-2010.

Speaker 2 Not like when I grew up in the 80s and 90s, where you had a dominant center that just got in the block and stayed there. Like now, center is a point guard almost.

Speaker 4 Yeah, well, not yeah. Well, now if you're, if you're, if you're, if you're 6'10 plus and you can't shoot a three, you're probably not going to play.

Speaker 2 Right. Exactly.
It's crazy. Exactly.
Yeah. We got to come back to post 2010 because, you know, I do have some, I'm still going to win the point guard game, though.
Cause,

Speaker 2 you know, point guards, that's what we do. Roy Williams was that guy with the point guard.
So,

Speaker 2 but you probably got me in some other spots. You probably got me in some other spots.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah, for sure. For sure.
Well, hey, yeah, appreciate you having me on, man.

Speaker 4 Great to spend some time with you. Enjoy the conversation.

Speaker 2 Absolutely, man.

Speaker 4 I look forward to seeing it whenever it's published or released.

Speaker 2 Oh, for sure. And we're going to get some one-on-one time too, man.
I've got some events coming up. I'm going to get with Rose.

Speaker 2 over at Players for Good and probably get you to speak at at least one of my events this fall. So

Speaker 2 definitely going to do that. If you could leave the listeners and viewers with one thing, man, what would that be?

Speaker 2 Um,

Speaker 4 part of it honoring my dad's legacy for me, right?

Speaker 4 Um, do the common things in an uncommon way and try to lead people in places a little better than you found them, wherever we go.

Speaker 2 I love it, man. I love it.
Where can people follow and find you?

Speaker 4 So, I'm on LinkedIn, um, just Austin Hatch. I'm,

Speaker 2 um,

Speaker 4 I can send you my contact info or you can, anybody can email me, austin at Austin-Hatch.com is my email.

Speaker 4 Would love to hear from anybody. Would love to

Speaker 4 love an opportunity to share my story and message about grit and thriving in the midst of adversity.

Speaker 4 And if there's anything else that I can do to serve or contribute in any way, don't hesitate to reach out.

Speaker 2 You got it. Austin, brother, I appreciate you spending some time with me today.
Honored to talk with you and hear more about you, man. Like, so very touching.

Speaker 2 Just honored that you spend some time with me today, brother.

Speaker 4 No, I appreciate you having me, man. Thanks.
Thanks for the time. Look forward to staying in touch.
I would love an opportunity to collaborate sometime in the future.

Speaker 2 You got it. And for all the viewers and listeners, remember, you're because is your superpower.
Go unleash it.

Speaker 1 Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged. If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next.
Be sure to subscribe, rate, and share this with someone who needs it.

Speaker 1 And most of all, make a plan and take action because the next level is already waiting for you. Have a question or insight to share? Send us an email to hello at mickunplugged.com.

Speaker 1 Until next time, ask yourself how you can step up.

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