A Working Man’s Wisdom: Dr. Mark L. Teague on Grit, Growth, and Getting It Done

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:00:59

My guest today is Mark L. Teague, PhD. He is the author of A Working Man's Guide.

Through his distinguished career, Dr. Teague has held leadership positions at major financial institutions such as Toyota Financial Services, Metras Companies, Sears Credit.

His innovative strategies and decision science applications have led to significant business success, including over 300 million in shareholder value, 3.5 billion in accounts receivable growth, and 850 million in credit loss reductions.

Dr. Teague's exceptional problem solving skills and creative creativity have earned him numerous accolades, including the Business Partner of the Year award from Sears Credit. He holds a B.S. from West Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. Both achieved with summa cum laude honors.

Dr. Teague lives with his family in Texas. We welcome him to the podcast. Well, Mark, welcome to the podcast. How you doing today?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:02:05

All good. Keith, man, it's a pleasure to be with you.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:02:07

Looking forward to it. It should be a fun conversation. I think we'll have a great conversation.

I'm looking forward to you sharing and making my guests smarter than they were when they listened to the first time.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:02:18

Well, we hope to add value to your audience, that's for sure.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:02:21

That's great. So let's start out with my favorite question. Mark. What's the best piece of advice you ever received?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:02:28

Well, you know, I have to go back to my parents. I have to credit them. They raised me well. They taught me all the the basic character traits that I needed. And they focused on three things.

Work hard, be honest, and be respectful. Those three things carried a lot of weight, taught us a lot of values. But those were the top three.

They taught those with consequence by chose to violate those. I felt it so. And I thank them. I thank God for them every day. That has made a world of difference. Those three ideas have shaped me more than anything.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:03:03

I love that I will ignore the fact that you're a Texan. I'm from Louisiana. So you were always our neighbors to the west?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:03:10

Yeah, you bet.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:03:13

But I always, I'm curious about, you know, people like yourself, Mark. Who are some people who served as a mentor or an inspiration on your journey?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:03:22

Sure. Well, first it would be my parents, no doubt about it. Next would be my wife. She's my rock and my partner and we do everything together.

We've been married almost 40 years now. We'll celebrate our 40th anniversary next go. And those, those folks have meant the most to me. Career advice.

I want to give a nod to my major advisor in at Oklahoma State University. He sent me down a particular path and, and it paid huge dividends. He, he guided me on how to structure my research and it was very, very helpful.

I give, give credit to him.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:03:59

I love that. How did a guy from Texas end up going to Oklahoma state for his PhD?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:04:05

Yeah, that's a great question. Well, I am homegrown. I grew up, up in the Texas Panhandle. Farm and ranch background, very traditional American.

I got my bachelor's degree at West Texas State University in Canyon, Texas. Then came time. Listen, I decided we were for almost five years into marriage, four and a half years, decided to change our livelihood.

So we started looking around, looked at all kinds of options. I got in touch with my major advisor at WT and we started looking at the land grant schools. My, I was looking at agricultural economics.

So the land grant schools are your best feature for those. So it came down to Oklahoma State, Cornell University or Texas A and M and went with Oklahoma State. It was not that far from home. We could still.

We had two kids at the time, two grandkids with the family around. So that was about a seven hour drive. We could manage that. And so off to Stillwater we went and it was a tremendous experience, had such a good time.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:05:07

That's amazing. So tell us about what inspired you to write A Working Man's Guide and who did you write it for?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:05:14

Sure. Well those two things came together, the audience and the inspiration. And it was absolutely shaped by our experience, my wife and I through life.

It came from the combination of that start in life, old school American. I mean very traditional farm and ranch values. You know incentives are very simple there. If you don't work, you don't eat. It's very clear.

There's no ambiguity about what you're trying to work for. It's your own survival, your own livelihood.

So we grew up in that met or living there for several years and then when we made a change, went to graduate school. I earned a doctorate in agricultural economics and then we joined industry, the banking and finance industry.

So I dropped the ag piece and kept the the economics piece. Built out about a 30 year career in that space. And I'll tell you what shaped me deeply was I realized early on I got into the management area.

I started with an entry level job doing decision science at American Express in Phoenix, Arizona. That was straight out of grad school.

I was working with teams and I started managing teams and I worked my way through middle and upper management and it became clear if I was going to get anything done within a team environment, I had to reach back to the Old fashioned values. I had to reach back to the things of yesteryear, the old time honored principles. And I had to apply that in a modern setting.

So what became clear in the corporate world is that, you know, I grew up with straightforward incentives. You don't work, you don't eat. Well, it's anything but that in today's workplace. There's nothing clear, everything is ambiguous, ambiguous.

There's all kinds of incentives and motivations and many of them at cross purposes with each other. So forming a team was a major challenge. But it was clear that's what I had to do.

So I fell back on those time honor principles that I knew to be true. And I figured out ways to apply those in this modern world. And that's the book, that is the basis for the book, that's the entire idea behind it.

And so I write it for the working class and I write it in voice to the man. But actually the target audience, the true beneficiary, is the lady. That's who will benefit the most. It's time for men to step up.

We need to step up and do our jobs. And if we do that, who benefits the most? Ladies. Yeah, ladies do. And kids. Ladies and children. And that's what we need to do.

So that's the motivation, that was the life shaping force behind it. And that's the audience, the working class. And I might add, when we talk about the working class, don't use income.

That's not relevant, use a literal definition. The working class is the class that is working. That's what matters.

Because the truth is, if whether or not you have a lot and you're trying to maintain it, or you have a little and you're trying to grow, that the principles underlying it are the same and that's what we need to focus on it. That's, that is what brings us together, that unites us. When we focus on income, that's just an exercise in class division, right? Class warfare.

We're just pitting people against each other. But the things that work, the things that produce wealth, that's the same for everyone. It works across, across the grade.

So working class means those that are working. That's who I'm after, that's who I want to talk to, it'll mean something to them.

And the book was formed in the pressure, the crucible of the workplace. Find old fashioned values, apply them in this modern world. It works really, really well.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:09:00

So there are a lot of leadership and business books out there. How is yours different from what's on the market.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:09:08

Well, mine works. Every single, every single idea in this book is tested, personally tested, tried and applied. It's.

I'm the one that devised it, I applied it, I tested it. There's nothing theoretical hypothetical about it. This is not feel good nonsense. It works in a pressure packed environment, in real world situations.

You're trying to produce success for yourself and your family. This is, this is a book for you.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:09:38

So I love to ask this question, especially with books like this. Chapter one is the principles of success. You've just kind of defined for us maybe a different way of looking at the working class.

How do you define success in chapter one of your book? Because everybody thinks success is differently.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:09:57

Yes. Well, I like to say it like this. The way I've lived. The most important question to me is I want that last conversation to go well.

That's the one where I'm standing in front of my maker and he's asking me, what did you do with what I gave you? I gave you time, I gave you resources, I gave you abilities, I gave you talents, I gave you opportunities, I gave, I gave you situations around you.

What did you do with that? I want that conversation to go well and that's been the driving force for me. And I can tell you it makes a huge difference.

You restructure your entire value system, you restructure your priorities. That's what I would think about. I want that last conversation to go well. That's the one that means the most to me and that's how I define success.

If that last conversation goes well, then, and I've done my best, all I can do in this life is do my best, do the best that I can. That's a very good life. Very good things will happen. The rest is a matter of confidence, a matter of faith, a matter of hope, a matter of optimism.

But if you set your sight on, I want things to end well. I'm going to do my very best to bring that about. You'll have a good life. Absolutely you will. I'm very confident in that statement.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:11:18

So I also have a book just came out too. And my book is also looking at change from a faith perspective.

I love that chapter two of your book talks about matters of faith and talks a lot about God and character. So tell us a little bit about. Because it seems to me like chapter two is a meat and potatoes of your book.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:11:35

Yes, well, chapter one is. It lays out the press, the principle of accept life for what it is. It's a series of problems coming here.

We have such A sense of entitlement these days. It's like if a problem comes my way, it's somebody else's fault. I should not be hassled this way. It's an inconvenience. I'm above this.

That is beneath me. Well, that's nonsense. You're a child. If you think that way, you are not an adult. You are of child status and life is going to bury you.

If you try to take that mentality into life, you're going to get run over, chewed up and spit out. So accept life for what it is. It's a series of problems. Well, the very first thing you face is you need a bedrock.

You need a North Star, you need a guidepost. What is that? You need to think very carefully about that and decide what it is. Some would say it's me. I'm my own guidepost.

Well, I respect that, but I, I found that quite inadequate. I found that that's not up to the task because I'm flawed. Nobody knows my flaws better than I do. I know them quite well.

That just won't get the job done. There's got to be something bigger than that, something bigger than yourself. So what is it? Everyone needs to face that?

Well, I put that in the context of faith. My North Star is the God of the Hebrews, the Almighty, in the scriptures. I choose that. I, I found that to be very reliable, very sound.

You could build your life on that. It's truth that is eternal. You want to look at things that were true before you got here and that will be true after you're gone.

Those are the things that are eternal. You can build your life on those things. You're going to have to choose one, though. Nobody is free from that. You have to choose a North Star.

Here's the truth about the business world, economics. There's only one value inherent to business economics and that's game. I'm in it for game.

Well, you need more than that if you want anything resembling, remotely resembling a civilized outcome. The players bring those. You bring those values to the game. You bring them to the exercise. That's where your North Star comes in. What is it?

What are you looking to. That's a fundamental question that you have to face. So that's why chapter two is structured the way it is. First, what is life?

It's a series of problems. Here are basic tactics here basic strategies to solve those basic techniques. Now, what's the first question you face?

It's the question that every single human faces. Does God exist? Where'd this universe come from. Look at the human heart, the human conscious, the human soul. Is that an accident?

I dare say it is not an accident. It is by design, right? Therefore there is a designer. Look at this universe. You want to call that an accident?

I mean, I'll say to my atheist friends, there is a chance that it just happened to pop up. But man, if it's an accident, it is one heck of an accident.

I mean, seriously, look, look at all the complexity and that's what science is bringing us. Just loads and loads and volumes and layers of complexity everywhere you turn. This is a very complex, wondrous universe that we live in.

Do you think that's an accident? I say no way. There's no way it's an accident. Then look at the human heart, if you can get over that. The physical nature of this universe.

Now look at the human soul. Is that an accident? Impossible. Impossible. How would we know about love? How would we know about faith, hope, nobility?

If we were shaped by nothing but blind, random forces bent only upon survival, this vast area of goodness that we access called the intangibles, it would not exist. There would be no place for it. We would have no inkling of anything around nobility and honor and courage and altruism.

There would be no place for it. Only savagery. Only savagery and brutality to survive. That's it. Nothing else would be in place.

So those two testimonies, those two pillars of witness, the universe itself, the wondrous creation and the human soul, the human conscious, that says to me, everyone faces that choice, that says design. Therefore there is a designer. You start with that. So that's chapter two. We go with that.

And that becomes your bedrock, that becomes your foundation, that is your North Star. Then you build from there.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:16:21

So you have two models in chapter two. I want to kind of, you just touch on a little bit, the sovereignty model and the stewardship model.

Because one of the roles that I have in my current position is teaching stewardship. So I'm always curious to learn what people say about that. But tell us about the sovereignty model first and then the stewardship model.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:16:41

Yes, sir, great question. The. Well, that's. This is one of those dividing line issues. You know, the first one is, do you accept the fact that life is a series of problems?

That's a dividing line issue that separates wheat from chat, men from boys. Right there. This one, this mindset separates people into categories as well. Being mature versus being very childless and self centered.

In the sovereignty model. And it's very popular, by the way. It's the one we prefer. It's as I say in the book, it.

If you could pick a poem that describes the Western mentality, it would be Invictus by Hindley. It just that one phrase. I am the captain of my soul. We truly want to believe that. But just do a little exercise.

I mean, take a piece of paper to pen, write down the things that you actually control. I mean, 100% that you can guarantee. And that's a short list.

When you, when you, you don't understand the fact that I can't guarantee my next breath, you and I may not actually end this podcast. We can't guarantee that. I don't know that I'll make the supper table tonight or get up in the morning. I don't know that I can't control that.

I can't guarantee that. Well, I don't control much, but what I do control is right in this moment. What I say and what I do, my words and my actions, I control that.

And if I understand the stewardship model, that's enough. That's all I need. I am given that sovereignty, the sovereignty of her steward. I control what I say and what I do right now.

Well, in the sovereignty model, I think I control all kinds of things. I control all these things around me. I can control what other people say and do. I can control events. I can control outcomes.

Now, you're just kidding yourself. You don't control any of that. If you put that aside. There's an arrogance that comes to that, and it shows up in how you make decisions.

And here's the key thing, Keith. When you understand the stewardship model, which means I don't control much, I just control me right now. Well, now I'm going to be a steward.

I'm going to take care of resources. And there's a difference in decision making. And it's this. If you're in the sovereignty mindset, you start with preference.

I decide what my preference is, and I'm going to drive that through all the way to the end. If you go with the stewardship mindset, I start with facts. What are the facts? I gather the facts. I have a reference, a reverence for those facts.

I honor the facts. I sort through those. I go with facts, first principles second. Second preference is last. Preference always comes to bear.

But it's after I've gathered the facts, after I've sorted through the relevant principles, and then I come down to a decision in the end, and I'll apply my preference at that point, but only after I respectfully honor the facts and the principles at play. Well, in that sovereignty mindset, I just. I arrange facts to suit myself. I pick the ones I like, set aside the ones I don't.

I'll choose a principle if it's handy. If not, I'll just do what I want anyway. You're starting with preference, and you're driving through to the end based on preference.

That's the sovereignty mindset. If you do that, you're a fool. You're going to fail. You're going to abuse the people around you. You're not going to honor the facts.

In anc, Facts unite us. They bring us together. Facts are true for all of us. Facts are true for you. They're true for me. They're true for everyone. Those are facts.

Facts are from the Almighty. That's truth. Okay, so we accept that first, then principle, then preference. Then we have a decision.

In the sovereignty mindset, I start with preference, and I'm going to filter my way through all the rest, which I treat as noise, and I'm going to drive through that decision. It affects your decision, decision making profoundly. You're far better served if you go with a stewardship mindset and ditch the sovereignty mindset.

But the sovereignty mindset, that's the one we like the best. No question. And I have to be critical of the American church. You know, if we could choose the gospel that we like, it's the prosperity gospel.

Oh, what is that if it's not a sovereignty mindset? I'm in control. I'm in charge. I determine outcomes. It's a bunch of nonsense. It go with the stewardship model. That's the true gospel.

That's the truth itself. Go with that mindset, you're far better served.

Your wife will be happier, you'll be happier, you'll have more friends, you'll have a better existence.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:21:21

I love that. So you jump from that. And I love how those two models lead into chapter three, which is about.

Now you've talked about, you know, what's going to define you and your faith, but now you talk about relationships in chapters three and four. And so kind of dig into kind of what you're aiming for as you guide the men's guide to values and success in life with chapters three and four.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:21:48

Yeah, sure. Well, the spine, the theme of the book was start with the most important idea, which is solving problems.

You have to be skilled at that or life is just going to bury you. That's. That's the initial dividing line there. Do you accept life for what it is here are basic skills to approach that.

Now I just apply that, that idea, those techniques to all the major areas that you will face in life. Every single big area that a working family will face. I address it chapter by chapter. So chapter two is about faith.

Matters of divine God's existence. Tackle that. Chapter three, Marriage. Chapter four, Intimacy in marriage. The relationship part of marriage, the relational side of it.

Chapter five, raising kids. Chapter six, Career. Chapter seven, Public policy.

I just drive through those things and basically apply chapter one to each of those main areas and show how it works, how you apply that idea and make yourself a problem solver in all things local, all things public, all things around you. And that's the idea of the book.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:23:00

That's awesome. So how's your book being received?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:23:03

You know, quite good. I'm well pleased with the feedback is as touched me.

I'm very appreciative it that feedback that I get and here's what I'd hoped when I went into the book is that folks would, they'd be setting in life. They something is going wrong or has just gone wrong.

Maybe they're just through a divorce, they're in the middle of one, they just got laid off, things have gone wrong in their career. You know I could, when I was starting to write it, I envisioned, you know, a middle aged man, 40, early 50s, just lost his job.

He's wondering what am I going to do about skills, income, am I fit for today's marketplace. Someone who just lost a spouse in terms of divorce, got a couple of kids to raise serious problems, things that are weighing on their mind.

What I wanted to write the book was somebody in that circumstance could pick up the book and leave it with a smile, leave it with confidence, leave it with a heart full of hope, a mind full of ideas. I now have some skills, I have techniques, I have methods and means of working through difficulty in life. I now have a foundation.

I've got something to stand on, I've got something to attack problems with. That was my goal when I went into it and I get regular feedback that folks have found that to be true. That means the world to me.

It's very encouraging.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:24:31

You know I always like Amazon reviews because you some most of them are pretty positive and you got really good reviews on Amazon. I love this one. It says it is a thoughtful, pragmatic and applicable book.

So we encourage people to take it and look at the and say I love the fact that it's a data based and a heartfelt approach. So now you've Got this done. Is there what's on horizon for you next?

Is there another book in the works there like A Working Man's Guide to a Working Woman's Guy? What's next for you?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:25:01

Yes, I have a series in mind. I have three more laid out that I would like to write and I'll be getting to that right now. I'm consumed with follow up on the first one.

I have three initiatives that I want to achieve based upon the writing, starting with this book and then follow on material to come.

And that is I want to be engaged in education that starts with the book and in podcasts like this, everything built around it, education and then public policy. Very interested in that. I have a series on Facebook, one on the national debt, just finished one on the Federal Reserve.

Following up on the Federal Reserve. I hope we can get some reform at that level. That institution needs to do its job. Those guys are an embarrassment.

re commissioned to do back in: 1913

And they're all playing games. It's an embarrassment. So hopefully we can get some change there. I would love to see that happen. And then there will be further public policies.

The main thing though is the national debt. That is the single largest threat to the American citizen. The, the national debt. It's bigger than China, bigger than Russia, bigger than Jihad.

That item threatens each and every one of us every day. We need to get that under control. Hopefully we can get that done. And the third item is scholarship.

I would love to be in the business of helping people get skills. I would love to start in the trades. I think that's the most important these days. And build out from there.

But those three efforts, education, public policy, and scholarship, I'm pursuing that. I'm already heavily involved in the first two. I'll add the third maybe a year. And I've got three more books laid out to. To add to that.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:26:58

All right, that's amazing. So I guess start something new on season six. And that is.

We asked the guest to pick a number between 1 and 4 for a surprise question that was not sent to you ahead of time. So pick a number.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:27:10

3.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:27:11

3.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:27:11

3.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:27:13

Question number three says, oh, what weird food combinations do you really enjoy?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:27:21

Okay, well, my southwest, you'll appreciate this. In Louisiana, my southwest, nature comes out. I love queso. I put it on most everything. Queso con carne is my favorite.

And it's hard to name a food that I won't put that on. Probably pancakes wouldn't do that. Waffles, probably not.

About everything else is a fair game and most any northerner would consider that to be ridiculous. But coming from Texas, I do like it.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:27:51

That is great. So I'm curious, Mark, as you think about the impact you're having and the work that you're doing, what do you want your legacy to be?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:28:00

That's a great question. In fact, the book is the. The idea of legacy streams through it start to finish, finish. And we are leaving one whether we like it or not.

And legacy is just simply. It's what you leave behind. It's what follows you. And I want to be known first and foremost as an honest man. I told the truth.

I told represented things the way I saw them, what I understood to be true. And that is the most important thing to me. I was known as an honest man.

So I hope that comes out in that last conversation when I stand before my maker. I hope he could say, I want him. I want to hear, well done now, good and faithful servant. That's what I'm striving for. And I'll know I was honest.

I'll know I was a good steward. I know I handled things well that he gave me. That's. I strive for that.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:28:49

It's amazing. So as we wrap up this great conversation, what key takeaways do you want to leave with the audience today?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:28:58

Well, I would say the two things that I want to say in my repetition because they are very important. Do you accept what life is? Get out of your fantasy world, strip yourself of the bubble wrap and understand life is a series of problems.

They're coming your way whether you like it or not. You do get to choose how you respond. So get skills. Get skills. Be a problem solver. You'll have a good life.

If you're not a problem solver, if you're a whiner, a complainer, you're looking to blame somebody else. Life is going to roll right over you. So make that choice carefully. And next, you must have a foundation. What is it? Think carefully about that.

What is your North Star? What is your guidepost? What foundation do you stand on? If it's yourself, well, good luck. That's all I could say, good luck.

It's not going to be enough. Hopefully you'll learn that along the way. But choose carefully what your foundation is, what you stand on.

Those are the two things I would say that are most important.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:29:59

Awesome. Where can listeners find a Working Man's Guide and connect with you on social media?

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:30:05

Thank you, sir. Well, here's a book, Working Man's Guide. One of the first places would be the website and it is the title. Just drop the apostrophe.

Keep the A Workingman's Guide dot com. It'll take you right to. You can purchase right off the website. Facebook. I have two sites there. Profile/ Dr. Mark L. Teague, My name is.

And Profile slash A Working Man's God. Either one will get you full. I've got several video series out there that I think will be beneficial. Instagram is good as well.

That's/Doctor Mark LT LinkedIn, slash in/Doctor Mark LT. So that that should get you well versed.

Rev. Dr. Keith Haney: 00:30:45

Well, Mark, thanks so much for this amazing conversation and blessings on the work you do and hopefully people pick up this book and walk through it and and discover their true north and discover how we solve problems. Because problems will come as you made you make a point of.

Dr. Mark L. Teague: 00:30:59

Yes, sir. Thank you, Keith. It's a pleasure to be with you.