David Novak 0:03 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple that you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Now, today's guest is Jim Nance, an Emmy Award winning sports commentator, and in my opinion, the number one sports commentator in the world. He's the voice of the NFL on CBS, the NCAA, March Madness, and golf, and in particular, the masters. As you well know, Jim is an incredible storyteller and communicator. He's able to pull stories and stats seemingly from nowhere that really captured the moment. How does he do it? I have to tell you, I've been wondering that for years, what you may not realize is just how much work he puts into the preparation of every broadcast. Regardless of how much time you spend in front of the camera. Showing up prepared is a quality of all great leaders. And I'll tell you, Jim is an exceptional leader who's at the top of his game. I think you're going to learn a lot from Jim and be inspired by how he goes about his work. Here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Jim Nance.

Jim, it's absolutely a real thrill and honor to have you on the show.

Jim Nantz 1:39 

David, thank you, friend, we go back a long way. And I've loved listening to your podcast, never imagining that one day I would actually be on the receiving end of this. So I consider this a thrill. We're recording

David Novak 1:51 

this gym in advance of March Madness. But I know for a fact that you have a very demanding schedule the first few months of the year. Walk us through your schedule starting with the NFL playoffs through the Masters because I think it'll blow people away. Well, we

Jim Nantz 2:07 

have about 100 day stretch where I have the confluence of three different sports that are my primary responsibilities the NFL on CBS with Tony Romo, college basketball with Grant Hill and Bill Raftery and of course, the masters the PGA Championship and a whole lot more. But in the first 100 days of the year, we go through the NFL playoffs, and this year, as everyone knows, maybe the most exciting script written drama The league has ever seen. Our crew just happened to be the beneficiaries of three great games. San Francisco and Dallas came down to the last play Dak Prescott, trying to get every last Jordy could the setup one last play and time ran out. So it was down to the last second. And then maybe the best game that I've ever been an eyewitness to Buffalo at Kansas City in the division around 25 points scored in the last minute and 54 seconds of regulation before the Chiefs won and overtime, and then the AFC title game with Cincinnati coming back from 18 down matching the BIGGEST COMEBACK in championship game history and winning at arrowhead. So it was a whirlwind. Now, I will tell you what was interesting during this time, our golf season began the weekend of the AFC Championship game. So when I was in Kansas City preparing for Cincinnati and KC Torrey Pines was up on our air the Farmers Insurance open. I wanted to be a part of that. So I ended up calling the third and fourth rounds from the stadium in Kansas City, the golf from San Diego and Torrey Pines. And it was a nice little weekend blend. different sports, and I love it. March Madness is getting underway. I've got 15 games to call in 23 days, including the final for the championship. And then and then the heavenly gates open. Magnolia Lane awaits at the back end of this in a tradition unlike any other David the man. Yes. It's all a gift, it's a blessing. That's what it is.

David Novak 4:06 

Hey, you know, you gotta really love what you do. I mean, you know, come on, you don't have enough passion for this force that you get to broadcast. You know, you do an incredible amount of preparation leading up to every broadcast. And I'd like to just give our listeners a sense of what that process is like, because every leader has to get ready. Let's use the Chiefs vs Bill's playoff game. For example. How do you get ready for a game like that?

Jim Nantz 4:31 

Your week really is nothing but research and reading and talking on the phone to as many people as you can behind the scenes. Now both of those teams I'm very familiar with, but it's a new chapter. So you start over I build these football boards, spotting boards, and I'm taking notes on a legal pad. And at the end of the week, I transferred from that legal pad over to my spotting board. The really really sweet stuff that you For the things that I want to try to get on the air if we can if the game takes us there, it listen, none of this is heavy lifting. No one should be feeling sorry for me. I love the process. But it's the process that makes you really able to do a game of that stature with that had 50 something million people watching that spawning board that I just referenced, because you pick the game, Buffalo and Kansas City, the game has been again regarded by many as arguably the best football game of all time. So the day after the game, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton reached out to me and they were putting a display together, they had things from Patrick mahomes, uniform as gloves helmet, they had things from Josh Allen, and they asked me if I would contribute my spotting board. So right now, as of last week, it's on display in Canton, all my notes there behind the glass case, I've never been asked to do that before. But that is the most direct thing that you can see physically, as far as your research. The rest is up here in the head. You compartmentalize all of these things in your head, and you're ready. Depending on where the game takes you with some unknown guy makes a play a pivotal play in the game, I'm ready to tell his story.

David Novak 6:07 

That had to be tough for you to give up that spotting board the captain, I know that's a big honor. But you know, as I understand it, you'd never throw away that spot anymore. I was gonna ask you do you stack those things up in the basement or what I do

Jim Nantz 6:19 

and good for you for actually digging to find that out? That's a testament to your great research, which I hear on every single one of your podcasts, David, about the subjects you're interviewing, but yes, I've kept every one I've ever had. That's the only one that has ever left my possession. Now I have been tempted through the years to send as a goodwill gesture and I don't I wouldn't know why anyone might want to but for example, I had Peyton's last game, which was Super Bowl 50. When he went out as a champion in 2016. I have that board and I had the chance to call dozens upon dozens of Peyton's games in his career. And I thought, you know, one day maybe Peyton would want that. I don't know why, but maybe he would want it. I've never broached that subject. But I have them all except buffalo at Kansas City. And they're tucked away in my home in Pebble Beach. And I have all stacked by year it fills up now pretty good sized room because these these boards are whether rather large I don't have one here I thought I had one behind me. But the other the large are scored, I can fold them over. And you know, we're talking over 500 strong now. So I'm gonna hold on to some days, I guess for a future generation of Nancy's it'll be a great Firestarter. You know, pop one in and remember granddad and you know, family fireplace started as they look at New England and Indianapolis, okay, throw that one in, start the fire.

David Novak 7:43 

Now, I understand as part of your preparation, you mentioned you do a lot of reading in so you can really show up prepared something like 300 to 500 pages a day articles from the local newspapers, whatever you can get your hands on. First of all, is that true? Okay. 300 To 500 pages a day? And if so, how do you log in also, you can pull from it and use it on air.

Jim Nantz 8:07 

I do take notes. And that number is a pretty good realistic case for football season, I get the clips from every home market in the league. So you know, you got 32 teams in the league. And I read what's being said in every one of those NFL cities plus all the national material every day. Thankfully, we've got a great crew back in New York that puts all this together and they send it to me and I Dropbox it and I just scan through it scan through it. The other thing that really has served me well is I have a good memory. I don't know how it came about. But my memory with names and numbers and things like that. And stories has served me well. Because when you're in a pinch and you're on live television, you don't have time to look things up, David, you might find something on your spotting board. But by and large, you're going to rely on your instincts and your memory, golf for example, golf, I don't have really much in front of me at all. When I'm calling a golf tournament. I like to say I'm calling golf from right here from my heart because in my head, I have all the background material pretty much memorized through the years. It's not as transient of sport as these other ones. So the golfers, especially those that have been around, you know, for five plus years, I know them all their families, their wife's name their kids, where they go to school, where they live, what their likes dislike we travel in the same circles for staying the same hotels. Yeah, it's just that's an easy one to do. It's less prep football was a grind. The NCAA Tournament is a grind because it's a short window. And here you're learning a lot of teams for the first time.

David Novak 9:36 

Yeah, I wanted to ask you that because I think from a broadcast perspective, March Madness has to be a beast. And you mentioned you're calling something like 15 games and 23 days how do you make sure you're ready for each of those games on and that's a lot of numbers lots of names. I mean, is it spotting boards again or is it just you know, how do you do it is spotting

Jim Nantz 9:55 

boards honestly it in there? I never feel easy. I'm a guy that if I'm not prepared aired. I don't feel right. I feel off. I feel anxious. Now, obviously versus football, you're talking about smaller rosters you're talking about, maybe 14 guys are on the roster, probably they're gonna go eight to nine players deep. But that first week of the tournament, David, I'll go to a site, let's say Greenville, South Carolina, a site this year, there will be eight teams sent to Greenville if that's where my crew goes, that is now a matchup of four games in one day on a Friday afternoon doubleheader and an evening doubleheader. We're calling games from noon until midnight on the network. And in a lot of cases, you're getting to know teams. For the first time, you don't even know quite the school history. I love that first week of the tournament, being able to be a voice for the little guy, and all likelihood they're one and done. Now we know that's not always the case with the craziness of March Madness, which makes it so special. You never know when someone's going to jump up and defeat one of the giants. But I've always felt like it's important that we tell their story. And I love being introduced to new schools, wherever they may come from once small conferences they come from, I am ready with them. And I kind of start that week by going with the guys that we don't know, the Dukes the Kentucky's the Kansas is I will catch up with them more and do that next layer of depth of research in the next round when we get down to 32 teams. But that first game, I'm going to represent Radford and Delaware State and Mercer in Lehigh, I want to make sure that we not only know the roster, but we know the history of the school, their famous alumni, what the school is famous for. I love being able to kind of research and find out that kind of information.

David Novak 11:43 

You know, it's really interesting to me, because you've been at this a long time. And you know so much you could probably wing it, you know, make life a little easier on yourself delegate the majority of the load to your team. But this is something you don't do you take personal accountability for getting prepared. What is it in you that really makes that happen? Jim,

Jim Nantz 12:03 

I learned that number one, every show is your most important show you never take anything for granted, if you're going into a week where it's going to be a golf tournament without a lot of stars. And you pretty much guessed that the ratings going to be low miniscule or take a basketball game that involves maybe against some teams that were not familiar with. I feel like out of respect to your audience in respect to the subjects that you're covering, you have to do the full detailed research. I'm only I'm wired that way I do see young broadcasters today they get the spotting boards I've referenced a few times they get them done on a computer by an outside source, they come back with a really neat, they're all perfectly placed where they need to be it's got their name, their hometown, their high school, their height, their weight, maybe one or two nuggets. And that's the way they do it. I would say that maybe 90% of the industry is that way today, I was taught to do it by hand, and no one else was going to do it. But me really what it does is it commits to memory. It's the old saying you write something down, you're going to remember it a lot better. And I think that's true. I mean, I go into so much little minutia in detail, a little color coded, you know, this represents stats, this represents height, this represents hometown, it's a beautiful tapestry of a lot of different colors looks like a watercolor painting and the end, but it works for me. And it gives me again, that depth of knowledge is the only way I know how to go about it. I feel like the broadcaster's of my youth, David, they were that way. That's how they prepared and I'm trained the same way.

David Novak 13:43 

You know, Jim, you've called some of the biggest moments in sports. But I'd imagine things don't always go as planned. Tell us about a broadcast that didn't go as well as you would have liked it to go for you. And how did you handle it? You know,

Jim Nantz 13:57 

with that question, I could pretty much go to any single broadcast the next day and sit down, do a debriefing and say, I could have been better here. There. There there. I wish I had a phrase this differently. I wish I was a quicker getting getting the ball over to if you will, figuratively to grant and Bill. I wish I would have set up my teammate. I mean, it's, listen, it's a three hour broadcast, in some cases, four or five hours in somebody's golf shows. And in four or five hours, we all say things that we wish we could actually deliver with more precision, be a little bit more lyrical. I know there is a trait in here that a lot of the folks I hear on your podcast talk about battling perfection, battling, just that internal warfare where you just won't accept anything but let her perfect. You know, it's kind of a hard thing to change. I like to be able to dial it back and be a little bit more freewheeling about it and just walk in and be more. It's not extemporaneous. Everything you do is extemporaneous. It's not scripted. You are a reactionary person in our industry, we observe, we tell people what we see. And then we layer it with stories. That's just the way I think old school should be new school. I really think that you're cutting corners. And it's going to cost in the end if you don't do it yourself.

David Novak 15:17 

When I've given speeches, Jim, I tried to be perfect. You mentioned that Word Perfect. And I've actually heard myself stumble. Do you ever hear that in yourself? And if so, what's your view on wanting to be perfect?

Jim Nantz 15:30 

I can remember early in my career, I was abroad to CBS in 1985 to host our college football Studio Show. And I would go into the show hoping I never stumbled over a word once. So to me that time, the perfect show was to be almost robotic, but perfect. It is. So no one could ridicule or make fun or think I'm nervous. You know, you're trying to hide you're trying to put up this, this suit of armor like you've got it all under control, you're confident and all that. But inside of you, there are butterflies, there's anxiety, there's a lot of little Gremlins, there's doubt there's all these things that you you try to conquer, but I've learned through time to accept. Okay, I stumbled over word. Let's keep going. Because I believe it falls under the heading of being conversational. Take our podcast here. We've been on for about 15 minutes. If I had a chance, David, and I could go back and just record letter perfect. What I've responded to, I probably would do every single one of my responses over right now. But I'm being conversational. So I have to accept it and move on. So I don't I don't get hung up on as much as I used to. There was an old broadcaster you very few remember him Unfortunately, his name was when Elliot and he was the host of the CBS Radio Network and sports central USA. I was a stringer for him when I was in college. And I sent him some of my shows one time he said you're too perfect. Oh, thank you. Thank you. No, no, he's not good. It's not good. So what do you mean? He said, You need to make some mistakes, then people are gonna think you're real. He said in my shows I actually script he's doing a radio sports guests would go for like three and a half minutes. He scripts in his bubbles. I said, How do you do? Today in baseball, the Cincinnati Reds, they Oh, hold on, there wasn't the reds, it was the Indians they came from by he would script that out. He said it would make the listener pay a little closer attention. So I've never forgotten that I still try to be close to perfect, especially when it comes to facts and storytelling. But as far as delivery, you talked about your speech, mate. I think we got to cut ourselves a little bit of slack. We're trying to be natural, trying to be ourselves. And sometimes that's going to mean there'll be a few bubbles in the road.

David Novak 17:52 

Is there ever been a critic or a review that hurt you to the bone? You know, you're you're public, you're out there a lot, you know, as it ever happened to you, Jim,

Jim Nantz 18:02 

every week, David, I mean, it's life in the big leagues, as they say it's particularly the sports universe where you have people who are watching, or watching because they're passionate, they're passionate about the game or the event that you're watching, or the subjects that you're covering. Now you take the NFL, I can do a game and I guarantee half the audience thinks you hate their team. The other half thinks you hate their team. That's one thing to deal with. And you get a lot of mail to get a ton of mail on things like that, where people think you're being one sided, which I'm not I truly don't care who wins. I want competitiveness, I want drama at the end. And I want to have a chance to be a part of the tapestry of a great broadcast. That's what I'm in for. But you know, I had one recently that I thought was misunderstood. Now I'm not a social media follower. I know that is unusual these days. But I feel like I've got enough sources of information and lines of communication, that it's hard enough to keep up with life as it is just on that front. But I interviewed tiger in Los Angeles. He has never been more gracious. And he was supposed to be with us for 15 minutes. And I know him well. I've interviewed Tiger many, many times going back 30 years to the LA open in 1992. I would say we have a fantastic relationship. So he was in the booth. Nick was sitting next to me. And he knew we were going to be asking him about his return date. Everyone wants to know, When is he coming back? fair game, he knows that. So it's not going to be a great surprise when that that is discussed. So I felt like I'm gonna get that out of the way early because only got 15 minutes and we're still going to be cutting around watching the leaders playing the tournament not gonna ignore the tournament. So I asked him about how he's feeling how he's playing. And he got back to how hard he's working at it, but it's hard for him to walk a golf course. So I said is there chance we'll see you at Augusta this year? He said I will be at Augusta. I'll be there Tuesday. It He made some allusion to he's going to be at the par three on Wednesday. So I said, you're playing in the park three and Tiger because we're friends. And this was a friendly chat, said Jimmy slow down turbo, you know, as a friend would say to another friend, there was zero animosity between the two of us and I tapped him on the leg. And we laughed it off. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know yet. So it was a very sweet moment. And on we went through the rest of the interview, he actually stayed for almost 50 minutes was supposed to stay for 15 minutes, he had so much fun. We love being up there with him. Some of the things we got into really some deep stuff, including his 2019 comeback that I documented as the return to glory, he actually said on the air, how much he appreciated that line that had helped make that moment even more memorable and historic, which I thought was very nice thing for Tiger to say. Anyway, it was 50 minutes, he walked out of the booth. I heard from his camp, that it was his favorite interview. He's been a part of his mind too. But you know, social media today and the written media today, we'll take that one little isolated, hold on Jimmy slow down turbo, and write it, you know, written out doesn't quite have the same effect as two guys that are sitting there having a friendly conversation. And all of a sudden, if you didn't see it, and you read that, you would think like, there was animosity here that I was antagonistic, or that was pestering him. And that's couldn't be further from the truth. Listen, critics are a part of the game, if you can't accept the fact there gonna be people out there a critical view, you've got to find new profession, because it goes with being a high profile person, if you're gonna be successful, you're gonna have people that are not quite see it the way that you see it. And you get calloused by it, you learn how to move on and accept it. And I've got a 37 year history of being very public and, and learning how to deal with it. It's easier for me now than it was early in my career. I will tell you when you get to be when you turn 60. You figure you know what, my instincts are pretty good. I'm not being overconfident. I'm certainly never going to be arrogant or think that I know it all. But I think in terms of how you handle that, I think it's a lot easier to kind of hear someone else's opinion and move on.

David Novak 22:18 

Yeah, it takes you a while to get that tough skin done a Jim

Jim Nantz 22:21 

no question. No, you're you're, you're fragile when you're young. And I think when you're young, you really fear that this criticism could in the dream, it could be damaging enough, you blow these things up in your head to be more than they are and you're fighting for survival. Now when you're on it for 30 something years, but we've been through a lot of that, trust me, I've had a lot of things that people didn't view in a positive light. And sometimes they're right. And sometimes I didn't do it right. And I'm dealing in live television, all I can say is I'm trying my best. I've researched it. I'm not trying to make anybody look bad. I will say that I've never really been out to try to scoop somebody or put somebody in a negative light. I'm a storyteller. I'm looking for positive things in people. The sometimes the the word media is a and I don't even consider as as someone who's documenting sporting events the CBS has relationships with it buys the rights to these golf events in the NFL, to create these partnerships. I feel like I'm a storyteller. I'm not out to try to scoop anyone or embarrass anyone. I think people that know me, the athletes, they know I'm there to really to tell their story, what's in their heart and what's in their head.

David Novak 23:31 

Yeah, you do a great job of it, too. I love it, you know, but you know, you're also very focused on improving you know, here you are, you're 62 years old, but you're relentless and getting better. Do you watch game film of your own performances? Jam? Or do you actually have someone else doing it for you to give you some feedback? You know, how do you critically analyze, you know how you can up your game.

Jim Nantz 23:52 

First of all, don't let anybody do anything for me. When it comes to my job. It's my responsibility. So no one's going to do my research for me. I had people that assist me, one in particular Tom Spencer, who's with me on golf and football and has been for 30 years. I call him my editorial consultant. And we'll sit down before shows and we'll get in depth about storylines and things that we want to make sure we hit on. But watching my own work, I found out a long time ago, if I was to pop a tape in the day after I just finished, let's say calling the Super Bowl, I would cringe and I would hate everything that left my lips. Because again, I'm sounding OCD and hyper perfection here. But I would look at it when it's fresh, how I could have done it better. So I give it time. I let it sit. I open up the bottle, and I let it breathe. And I'll go back two or three months. I'm right now pop it in this week, a few football games from between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'll have them on in the background. And I'll be able to hear it because there's been so many shows since then. Like I'm hearing it for the first time. And it sounds better to me. When I hear it immediately after the show. It doesn't sound so good.

David Novak 25:08 

That's interesting. You know, I understand that the great Jim McKay advise you to imagine you're talking to one person at the other end. What's the best advice you can get the leaders about being a more engaging communicator?

Jim Nantz 25:23 

What Jim McKay, Mr. Why rule the sports Mr. Olympics, what he's really trying to tell me was to look into that lens that gives you know, feedback in return, you're looking at a camera lens, a dark hole. If you really wanted to get specific about it, you would say to yourself, on the other side of that lives, there are millions and millions of people who are watching you, but you can't see him. I think what he was trying to get me to do was to be able to talk to that lens as if I was talking to someone as we are conversing right now. And I always thought this Why is one of my all time favorites is because he was so conversational. He sounded like the guy next door. He did not sound scripted. He told me that, by the way, when I was just out of college, and was a few years before I was hired at CBS, and I never really fully grasped what he was saying. Until one day I did figure out who I was talking to when I looked in that lens. And that was my father. My father, you know, this David had a long 13 year battle with Alzheimer's. I wrote a book about my dad called always by my side, fantastic book. Thank you, David. I remember you wrote me about it. And that meant a lot to me. So it came out in 2008. And ended up being under the sports category, which I didn't really consider to be a sports book. But it was a number one sports book of overweight and had a nice life on the New York Times bestseller list. And all those things that I never really wrote it for. I wrote it for more of a cathartic reason. And to be able to put on paper, my love for my dad and have a voice for my dad, as he was failing by by the day. And inside the book. I did tell the story about one day I was leaving his bedside. And I just randomly said, Hey, Dad, because he still had enough synapses that were firing and able to put enough cogent thoughts together. I thought maybe he could remember this. I said, I'm going up from here to Minneapolis, calling an event Hazel teen. And when I look into that lens on Saturday, I'm going to say hello friends. That's for you. That's my little secret coded message that I'm thinking of you at that very moment. Of course, that's going to be followed by Hello friends. Jim Nance here is Jimmy Nance my whole life still am for my family and longtime friends because my dad was Jim. I just thought when I went into the business, I thought I needed to sound a little more mature than I was, you know, I was young I wanted didn't want to be Jimmy NAS sound too young. So I took on his name. And so I said, I'll look into that camera. And I'll be thinking of you that minute I say that. I said it that day. And that night, a friend of mine called say I heard you say hello friends. What was that about? And I told him the backstory said, You should do that tomorrow, you should do that every day. Alas every day since Now we're talking 20 years when I look into that lens. And there are those first tee jitters David. You know, it doesn't matter how much golf you play. When you get on the first team, you got three people maybe you haven't played with, you want to kind of show your stuff. And there's that feeling like let me get this thing started. And then you fall into the rhythm and comfort of a of a round. I always feel that anxiousness before I get warmed up. So when I look in the lens today, and I say Hello friends, and you see it, just know that I've trained myself to look in that lens. In that moment, I channeled my late father. And I think of him It makes me smile. And I feel comfortable. And that's what Jim McKay I think was trying to tell me.

David Novak 28:50 

I have to tell you, that's one of the most moving stories that is so touching. And it is so powerful. You know, I've heard you say about the broadcast itself. It's not about me. In here you are you've won every award in the world broadcaster of the year five times Emmy Award winner, all this kind of stuff. How do you keep your ego in check, Jim, how do you subjugate your ego and keep that mindset?

Jim Nantz 29:17 

Well, I'm a little honestly to this day, I'm honored that people recognize me. And that goes up a little bit with each year that you do it in the bigger events that you do. And now I've adapted the people stopping you and saying hello. And that's always a friendly conversation. No one's confrontational. But I'm a little uncomfortable with that kind of a claim in that kind of attention. That's another reason why I've never gone on social media. Now I'm not trying to say everybody that goes on social media is trying to do something to promote themselves. But I do feel like in many cases, I see people hey, would you do this for my Instagram? Or you know, I'm putting a video together and it smacks sometimes of self promotion. I don't want any attention. I really could care. So if they ever put us on camera except I do like to bill say hello to my dad, every show, but it's I hear broadcasters today sometimes fighting for I need more time I need more time. I don't want any more time. I'm not asking for anything. You know, early in my career. I would I guess you could call it was an understudy to Pat Summerall. He was at 18. And I'm talking back in the 80s into the 90s. At the start of the 90s, I was out at 15 on our golf coverage. I could not believe the good fortune I had being on Frank truckin Ian's golf team, and being able to go out to dinner every night with Frank and Pat Summerall and Ken venturi. I was thrilled. And as I got more developed, and occasionally I would fill in for Pat, because he might have a preseason football conflict or something. People would come over and they say, you know, You're the heir apparent to Pat. I was like, No, don't say that. You know, I, I was almost embarrassed. I didn't want, Pat Look at me, like I was out for his job. I wasn't. And one day, Pat came to me. This is probably eight, nine years of the relationship. You know, he was a minimalist. He said, You know, one day, you're going to be sitting in that hour at 18. That's good. Tonight on CBS said, Pat, I just want you to know one thing. I hope it's 20 3040 years from now. It's so helped me. I am so honored to be in the role that I am right now. And to be your teammate, I want you to ever think that I'm in a rush to get there have enough, I guess, belief in myself that one day, maybe I'll get that chance that I don't that's okay, too. Everybody's in a hurry. Today, David. Back since I was 26 years old at the network. I was being given opportunity I had to perform, but it was never asking for it. I can promise you, I was never campaigning for it. I was just thrilled to be a part of the team. Sometimes broadcasting is not considered a team sport. But I think the magic for me and my business is being a part of a team. And when I'm with Romo, I consider us one. It's not like Tony had a good day Jim had a bad day or Jim had a good day. Tony had a bad day were one. I don't know how many broadcasters think about that. When they think of I've got to do this. I got to worry about my role, he can figure out what he's got to do. For me, the real joy in this business has been being a part of a team.

David Novak 32:24 

And you, Jim, you you have incredible teammates, no question about it. You've had the opportunity to partner with talent like Sir Nick Faldo and the golf side and you just mentioned Tony Romo with the NFL. How did you build chemistry with Sir Nick, and what makes him tick? You know, because every leader has to build chemistry, and every leader has to figure out how to get how their what really makes their teammates go talk about Nick and how you went about that process.

Jim Nantz 32:52 

I feel like my primary role other than serving the audience with the storytelling and background on the subjects, which is paramount is to make sure that the analyst sitting next to me is comfortable, and given the best opportunity to shine. Because I'm kind of their setup, man, if you will, and the point guard, you're not just going to randomly bring us on the air. That's my job, and when they're going to speak oftentimes is going to be off of me a cue from me. So it's all a case by case basis. But for Nick, we almost went to college together. He was at the University of Houston two years ahead of me on the golf team. He lasted one semester he won actually won a college or as part of a team event that won the Southwest Conference, Autumn championship. And after six months, he left 18 months later, I was at the University of Houston. So now I'm out on the tour. This is during a time when Nick's winning six majors, I would see him I didn't have a real tight relationship with him. When he was a player, and I was a little intimidated. I'm not going to kid me. He's Nick Falco. He's not sir yet. Okay, but he's Aldo. And I will go up to him on the range. And sometimes I always use the University of Houston to be my kind of way in. I'd say Hey, Nick. Yeah. Hey, I talked the other day to Tom Lemoore. And Terry Snodgrass. Yeah, the guy said to Tahoe, you know, I was trying to find some common ground. But you know, when Nick was a player, he kept to himself. I think everybody knows that he was focused. So if I was going to catch him on the range and try to get five minutes with them and glean a few nuggets, it was hard work because Nick really didn't want anybody to be talking to him at that time. So my access to him was highly, highly limited. So I barely knew him. And in 1993, I'm calling the Final Four in New Orleans. happened to be the final for Chris Webber called timeout. missions there. You were there. Yeah. Yeah, Kentucky was in that final four, which will match burn and Rick. Well in between the games on Saturday. You were there that day. One of our executives comes over game one is over getting ready for game two. And he says, What are you supposed to leave tickets for Nick Faldo at the press gate. What? Yeah, Nick Faldo and his caddy and his teacher are sitting outside the press gate and they said that you left them three tickets, and press people there the security of knowing about it. I said, this has got to be some sort of prank. Now I knew that the golf tournament was in New Orleans, the same weekend as the Final Four. I said, Did you go check and see if it's Nick? He said, I did. It's Nick foul, though. What do you want me to do? I said, Well, can you get him in? He said, I can get him in if you want. And I said he is a major champion and whatnot. Let him come in. So Nick Falco snuck in to the final for using my name. I didn't even know if he knew my name, to be honest. So I saw the next week at the Masters. And I walked up and, you know, he kind of said, Thank you. It wasn't overly like what we had to do to jump through hoops to get him into the Superdome took a lot. He said, Yeah, man, we had a good time. He said, I didn't know what else to do. I wanted to see the games. And I said, Nick, one of these days, you're going to be coming down the 72nd hole of an Open Championship. I just want you to remember this. This is kind of a similar thing to what I just did. I'm in the heat of a battle at the final for broadcasting wise, it's a big day for us. You're going to have a Marshall come up to you on the 18th Tee, you need part a win. And that Marshall is going to tell you Jim Nance is wondering where his tickets are. Okay, and I expect you to take care of me just like I did last week for you in New Orleans. So relationship, that little one I had on him because I got him in. But you know, Nick behind the scenes, you now kind of know who he is because he's way out going much more so than he was as a player. He's got a great sense of humor, and charm, and I've loved sitting next to him all these years is coming up on 15 years.

David Novak 36:59 

Yeah, you guys do a great job together. And you and Tony Romo. I mean, it's quite a tandem there. You know, what makes it Tony Romo tick, and how do you help him achieve his greatness through the broadcast?

Jim Nantz 37:11 

Well, Tony, we have a common bond and that's a love of golf. And it was the love of golf that created a friendship that existed long before CBS has arranged marriage for us in the booth. So when Tony was early in his career, and he wasn't even a starter at the cowboys and undrafted player, I would see him around that cowboy practices when I was assigned to Dallas game. Now he becomes the starter. So I would come through these production meetings. And all he wanted to talk to me about was golf. So one time I said to him, Hey, I'm going to be in Dallas, you know, for the Byron Nelson and the colonial tournaments. If you ever want to come out, I mean, get you a pass you can set up in the booth. You don't have to say anything. It just set off to the side. So a friendship was struck. And you know, we enjoy getting together for dinner when we had the chance whether it be in Dallas or he was playing out at the AT and T at Pebble Beach. And then lo and behold CBS team this in in 2017, we did a lot of prep for a rookie going into the broadcast booth. We spent the summer of 17, doing practice work, calling practice games, three of them were on site, five of them, I would say we're off of a monitor in a studio in New York or in Dallas, wherever it might be. It was a busy summer. But you know, David, I knew him well enough to know, before CBS even hired him. There was a charisma and an energy and technically an ability to see the field and break it down like I had never heard before. And I've loved our five years together. I mean, we've just had a ball. It's been every week, you go into some NFL city, the cities are alive because the big games coming on. We enjoy dinners at night, and are never in a rush to work through it and get back to our rooms. You know, we'll talk about the game we'll talk about our lives or our families or close. Our kids are weirdly almost the same age. He has three young ones. I have three two of whom are similar age to Tony's kids. So I love the guy. I think he's an exceptional broadcaster and a great man.

David Novak 39:15 

You know, you mentioned Tiger Woods a little earlier. And you talked about your 2019 call, you know return to glory. You know, you had a great call when he won the Masters in 1997. Do you remember what you said?

Jim Nantz 39:29 

There it is a win for the ages five times a week by people that asked me to write that on a piece of paper.

David Novak 39:40 

I got asked you know are you writing these lines in advance your question? How do you come up with this stuff that

Jim Nantz 39:45 

one was preset as it should have been? The return to glory came to me just seconds before he hauled out to complete, I think the greatest comeback that the sports ever seen, but in 1997 He had an Nine shot lead David going into Sunday, see had some time to think about it, I felt like I would not be doing my job unless I was prepared for that moment. Now, most of these calls that you get at the end of a championship, or the end of a golf tournament, they're best when they're organic, and they just come to you. But sometimes, on those rare occasions, you get something in your lap like Tiger about to break the 72 hole scoring record, the largest margin of victory, the youngest to ever win the Masters areas with a victory that's got massive social significance that go way beyond the parameters of the sport. So on Saturday night, in August, I'm writing my column this month and Golf Digest touches on this, I felt pressure, not about the show, but about how I was going to frame that moment. Best thing you can do is, say something succinct and get out of the way and let the moment breathe, like we did for return to glory. After we said that, it was about two and a half minutes before there was never word spoken on the air. The scene took care of itself. But you got a nine shot lead. I put it like this if you're a writer, and there were hundreds of writers that came in from around the world journalists. I would like to think on Saturday night, April the 12th 1997 on the eve of tigers victory, that they didn't just go out and have a great dinner, hit the bar and have a high time of it. I would like to think somebody's paid their expenses to fly all the way to Augusta put them up for a week, I would think they would be working on their lead. In the written world. The lead in some respects is everything. I would like to think they're all their minds. Were thinking about the lead. How are we going to open up this story? For me, I was worried about the back end of the story, that narrative over that putt David is going to be played till the end of time. I knew it's going to outlive us all times. infinity. So I thought what are you gonna say he's gonna win? Do you say there's your champion? Tiger Woods takes the Masters it has got to be something that in that compact, succinct sentence. It's got something to it has to be tied to frame it the way it was. And ultimately, I hit on a win for the ages. And I thought that's what it goes when they play it. 200 years from now they're gonna say, I don't know who that guy was. But here we are tonight. He's right. It was a win for the ages. I felt figuratively that night sitting in my rented house in Westlake in Augusta. I felt figuratively the Pat Summerall was right here over my shoulder. I felt Jim McCain and Jack Whittaker and Dick Enberg and Chris Schenkel, and all these brilliant voices of my youth who all took a personal interest in my career. They were all alive at this time. And I knew they all would be watching. And I thought every one of them are going to be watching wondering, let's see how this kid handles this moment. We We've invested our time in trying to help Jimmy along we have our fingerprints on his career. Let's see how he handles this. I felt pressure, not just because the moment was so big, but more primarily because I knew my heroes were watching. So now the moment comes, he knocks an end. And I said, a win for the ages. And that'll be the most important short sentence of my career.

David Novak 43:25 

I would think so. But you never know what's next job, as you well know. And you mentioned, is there moments when you need to be silent? And when did you learn that less is more.

Jim Nantz 43:36 

You know, our friends, we're friends, and we have the same friends, David. And I noticed when we all communicate to one another on email, those are very short interchanges. They're not long. I've learned to edit myself that everybody's busy. And let's move on. I'm talking in all lines of communication. But in broadcasting, I get back to this man, Frank truckin. And who is regarded as the father of golf television was a mentor to me with brought a produced and directed the first 38 masters that were ever shown on television. And he always made his points with an iron fist. That silence is a sword. It's a weapon. And do not on my shows. Do not tell me what I can see. That guy misses the pot. And you tell me Oh, we missed it. You know what, I'm gonna leave this truck and I'm gonna walk out to your tower and I'm gonna pick you up. I'm gonna throw you out of the tower. Don't ever say that on my air. So that was a little bit of the condensed and cleaner version of the speech that I got in 1986 before my first master's, well what happens in Jack Nicklaus ends up winning this his six green jacket in my masters debut that day on Sunday, that was an April 13 When I always like even have this stuff cataloged in my head what day certain historic moments happened there, Tigers was in 97 was April 13, just like Jack was in 86. And that's Sunday, we didn't have the access to like pin sheets and things like that that we have today. But anyway, I still like to do this. I've walked out that was on the 16th hole, I walked out to see where the hole was located. And I saw it was out on the left side kind of two thirds of the way back. And I don't know enough about golf to know that's a very accessible spot where a lot of action can happen. And I walked back into Mr. truckin Ian's office. And I said, I would love to have a word with you. I'm just kind of embarrassed and wanting to hear this. So he says, what is his son? And I said, I've always just had a 16, sir. And I saw where the holes located today. And if there's gonna be a lot of action there. Yes. What do you want? And I said, Well, what would I say if if someone knocked it in for a hole in one? Are you serious? I said, Yeah, you would say nothing. If you tried to say something over my pictures you're never going to do this tournament again, is a visual medium son. Now get the hell out of my office and get down to 16. And don't be late for rehearsal. Said Yes sir. And i MAN i took off running down to 16 what happens Jack Nicklaus almost knocks it in. You remember the shot, tee shot. It really was awful. I say nothing. I mean, I'm almost fell out of the tower. I didn't need Frank to push me I'd said nothing. And now Jack's walking along water's edge. Frank never. He was a graduate of Penn study drama there had a great sense of drama. He never cut to anybody else. He followed Jack all the way around the pond, and then finally cut away and then returned as Jack was standing over the putt that had settled three feet below the cup. And I said something very succinct, like Nicholas for the tie. Boom, he knocked it in. And I said the bear has come out of hibernation. And Jack was branded in the air as he was stampeding to 17. I felt pretty good about it. And then part of this little psychology we're dealing with here, David, as time went on, of course, he goes on the winning, I'm still sitting in the tower. I'm thinking, Where did I come up with that line? A bear has come out of where I came up with it. Somebody else said it on the show. I'll bet you anything I just repeated parroted something else that had been said on the show. So a beat myself up for the next hour thinking you know, I'm never going to get back here again. That was so stupid. Why would you say where did that? How did that drop into your brain? And I went back to the compound. And I saw Frank, and he walked up to me and gave me a hug. He knew he had just produced and directed one of the historic moments in the game. And he said he did a great job, kid. And I said, Well, I'm really sorry about the one line sir. And he said, What's that? I said the parents come out of hibernation. Why are you sorry about that? I said because I My hunch is somebody else had said it. He said only you only.

David Novak 48:00 

That's a great story.

Now I understand you always wanted to be a broadcaster. And not only that, Jim, a broadcaster for CBS through when did that dream originates?

Jim Nantz 48:18 

It originated around 1970 I, I loved the masters. Okay, that was the thing that touched me the most. And again, I would hear these voices. And I just was transfixed by the stories they could tell and how worldly they sounded. The view that they had, with knowing the backgrounds of the subjects were traveling from all over the globe to compete there. There was an area edition about them that I thought man, I would love to be able to travel the world and talk about these, these subjects in these cultures and have such a grasp of it. That was the hook for me. And of course, framed against these words against the beautiful landscape that is Augusta, the most magnificent Canvas there is and I thought oh my gosh, that is just amazing. Of course I was aware too that CBS had the NFL, which became the NFC right around that time at 70 was the merger year for the NFL and the AFL. But I love the way they presented the NFL. So I thought, Man, that's what I want to do with my life. I want to be one of those voices. It had nothing to do with wanting to be on television. I wanted to travel the world. I've had a curious mind. I still do I want to know about people. And that was the hook.

David Novak 49:32 

How did you get your start in broadcasting? I hear it started with what some would describe to be a cold call.

Jim Nantz 49:39 

I went to the University of Houston as a walk on on the golf team. Now this is a decorated golf program. Particularly at that time David ended up having 16 national championships at Houston and 30 years people talking about Wake Forest and Oklahoma State as they should. Houston won 16 out of 30. So the coach Dave Williams Who was a profound influence on my life? Love. The man has been gone for a quarter of a century now. But he saw my ambition. He saw gold minded person, he told me this. And he saw a guy that had just a modicum of talent and golf, but it was good enough for him to figure out like a chess board, he was going to put me in the room with his three incoming freshmen on scholarship, I would be a good influence. I'm a motivated guy, I'm gonna go to class, I'm gonna help lead them. I know this was all about leading at that time. So it was no accident that the worst player of our seven freshmen was in the room with the three decorator ones. And really the only reason I'm on the team is because he found a way for me to try to be a positive influence on Fred couples, Blaine McAllister, and John horhn. Now might I add, they're all great guys. They didn't need a whole lot of leadership. But were the best of friends to this day. We were out at the Houston open. Did you ever know Donald Meyer? Right? No, of them? Yeah. Yeah. You know, Don was at least gone now. But he was a legendary ABC and eventually NBC, producer, executive producer. And I knew the names on the credits. So they rolled the credits, and I've memorized them all. So I knew who all the big people were. That's why I knew who Frank triclinium was long before I met him, but we were at the Houston open. There's the NBC compound off to the right. And I say, Hey, guys, there's NBC. And one of the guys piped up and said, you know, go over and ask him for a job. So yeah, you're right, the the bravado of a 19 year old. So I walked over to the security guard with my buddies, and I said, Hey, is Donald Meyer here? And the guy said, Yes, he is. I said, I'd like to have a word with him. Tell him Jimmy out here waiting for him. It goes kidnapped and said, Yeah, I'll be right back. So as he walks away, my guys are like, Wow, that's awesome. Who stopped all Meyer? I said, he called guys. He's the big wig over there at NBC. He's gonna be producing the event this week. How did you know that? Come on, guys. I know these things. You know, next thing, you know, here comes the security guard. There's a guy walking with him. And it dawned on me for the first time. I don't know what he looks like. walks over, and he says Jim Nance here and I said, Yes, sir. Mr. Omar, how are you? These are my buddies. I introduced the other three guys. He said, How can I help you? And I said, Well, I'm on the university, Houston golf team studying communications. And I want to be in this business one day, and I'd love to work for you this weekend. What did you have in mind? Well, one of the guys shot out to him, he wants to be an announcer put them on the air. And he kind of gave him when it was like, Okay, we have all the announcers we need is there anything else you'd like to do? So I would do anything? He said, Well, you can see our compounds out here at 17 and our parking, for our analysis all the way to the clubhouse. So we've got a shuttle going back and forth the golf cart shuttle, and I need a driver. So when Don Crickey and John Brody and Tao Fenster wall, Carol man and all these announcers show up, would you mind picking them up, bring it back to the compound, we'll find something else for you to do when we're on the air. I thought, you know, if I can't be on the air this weekend, this might be the next great job. So of course, I did it. I did it for free. I loved every minute of it. And I went up every day and thank them, thank them, looked him in the eye and told him how much it meant to because it did. I wasn't just playing up to him. And he said you don't want young man or something about you. I want you to come next week. We're going to be at the Byron Nelson of the Preston trail. They used to play the president trail so I can you make it and I said at my last final on Friday at 11. Is it okay? If I drive up? I'll be there by four. He said you get there by four. I got a job for you. They not pay you. So the next week I drove to Dallas, I got paid $20 a day, including Friday to pay me 20 bucks for Friday, I thought I was rich. And from there, I called all these Houston radio stations, telling them that hey, I'm up here covering the Byron Nelson. You guys need any radio reports. And a couple of stations took me up on and I went on the air back and Euston doing golf updates from the Byron Nelson.

David Novak 53:58 

Man, you know how to be proactive? I just wrote a book called take charge of you that's take a judge uh, you're exactly

Jim Nantz 54:03 

right. You gotta you gotta find ways, creative ways to create, you know, take charge and make your own breaks.

David Novak 54:10 

You know, you're paid $20 for that day and broadcasting you know, what advice can you give to others on how they should view money as you're building your career?

Jim Nantz 54:19 

Money is never going to be the thing that you should ultimately make your career decisions based on. I know, I haven't. I've had, again, you set it. I'm 62 years old. So there are certain stages on the path where I got entertained by ABC to host Good Morning America. So back in the 90s, after Charlie Gibson was retiring, and I thought wow, Roone Arledge is the head of ABC News. And that it's hard to say no to ruin our luxury and he built that empire over at ABC. So I thought about it a lot is particularly when I came back from covering the world Alpine championships in Sestriere, Italy, and Mr. owners have been calling me like every other A night over in Italy saying, hey, when you come back, I want to have lunch with you. I want to talk about you and GMA and I said, Well, I was trying to kind of hold them off a little bit. And I said, Well, I'm going to be home from Italy. I've been here for three weeks. I've got our last race on Sunday, and I'm flying in Monday, but hey, I'm only going to be home for a day so it's not going to work. You'll only be home for a day I said, Yeah, I'm coming in changing my my luggage out and I'm flying to LA for the LA open the next day says no time for just can you find an hour I said, you know, it's kind of hard to say no, but can I do it the next week? He said, What time you fly in LA and I said at 12 noon, but um, you know, just just in from Italy after three weeks. Okay, well, we'll figure something out. I fly back from Italy. Go home, switch out the luggage. I go to JFK. I go to take my seat. And the seat next to me was Roone Arledge. Oh, wow. It booked a ticket. Somehow. I was whatever. Let's say I'll just make up a number here. I'm in for a I've worked with a guy sitting in for B. It's ruined arledge and for six country into the headwinds. I got the full recruitment pitch, which was an honor, but I had to say no, it would have meant a lot more money to me, it wasn't in my heart. You got to lead with the heart. That's the bottom line is a long way of me saying this. Money is not what's gonna make you happy was in your heart, what those dreams are, what it takes. And listen, I've been fortunate. I've had a long career. And we all get paid handsomely in this industry, particularly with longevity and all that. But there have been two or three other things like that CBS wanted me to go host their morning show years ago would have been a financial windfall for me. But you know what, I would have been miserable. That wasn't what I grew up. That wasn't the childhood dream. I want to be covering the greatest championships of American sport. I didn't want to get in there and get in the weeds and be covering news. I'm especially glad now. I didn't. I didn't let that influence me one iota. I wouldn't want to be in that realm. Right now. I like telling good stories.

David Novak 56:58 

You are a self described storyteller. And yeah, I love that. And storytelling is a big buzzword and leadership today. You know, everybody says, You need to tell stories. And obviously, that makes so much sense in the broadcasting world. How have you honed your storytelling capability? And what tips can you give leaders on how to tell stories even more effectively,

Jim Nantz 57:21 

I think they have to have a heartbeat, for the story to really have a hook for people that's going to get their attention. I know this. Early in my career. I tell young people today when I there's so many that aspire to want to get into this industry, and I root for them all. And I try to reach back out and I do reach out to every one that reaches out to me, just as Jimmy K did early in my life before I ever got to meet him in person. He wrote me back to write letters. But I believe that you got to listen to the people that you're riveted by. Because there's a message that this somehow connects with you. And whether it's a teacher, whether it's a pastor or a rabbi, and you're sitting on a Sunday, and you're listening to a homily, listen, the way they structure a story, the great ones kind of set you up early. And then they get into all the background. And that all leads to the payoff at the end. Listen to the way that classical way of storytelling has that beginning, middle, and an end. Sports is moving so fast so quickly. You seldom have the chance to go three sentences down the road, take golf, you're cutting around, you're cutting, how can you tell people about walking? Neiman, how do you have the time, because the producer might need to go let's go back over to 12. Right when you're trying to describe what he's doing at 10 and football, similarly, you've got a play, you got about 20 seconds in between plays, oftentimes might be a replay, which is not the time to tell story. So you'll learn how to tell them succinctly. Listen, listen to the great orators of your life. That's what I've always done. Take our friend, Sam reefs. I saw him back in February at Pebble Beach, deliver a eulogy at a service for Dick Ferris. I mean, it was biblical. And he was obviously prepared like he is for everything else in his life. And boy, does he give out a lot of great advice. But to hear him stitch together a story of his life with Dick and who Dick was and then have a payoff at the end. I wrote him and told him I said he was a giant in the cotton industry.

David Novak 59:41 

He was the king of cotton for sure.

Jim Nantz 59:44 

I said what you did for cotton was a loss in another realm. You could have been the second coming of Billy Graham in America, because it was that good and that impactful. And I just sat back and listened. It's never too late to learn from others and just listening A very powerful, powerful instrument.

David Novak 1:00:02 

You know, Jim, the job of the leader is to cast a vision for what's possible and and in that a lot of people say dream big. But you say dream hard. What do you mean by that?

Jim Nantz 1:00:13 

I only take that as a personal experience that I obsessed so much about what I wanted to do Sure, I was dreaming big. I want to work for CBS. That'd be that's here I am all these years later. And I'm so grateful that you have been given the opportunity to live the life that I wanted to since I was 11 years old. And what I mean by that is test really, truly give it your all. You can dream big. But if you dream hard, you got to put some work into it. You got to dream. And that's accompanied by efforting, to make things happen to see that vision and dream come true. John Wooden one time said, you know, the legendary, those who wouldn't know for some reason John Wooden was the greatest college basketball coach, John Wooden, had a line that a lot of the players that you see athletes you see today, and then he took it a step further, he made it attainable to just people. A lot of people have passion, but they don't have the talent, either natural or developed effort to beat. So they have the passion, but they don't have the talent. Or he sees people that have the talent. But somehow they don't have the passion. That's on the same scale. He says, Now, when you find someone, this got passion, and talent, that's the guy I want play in for me, when you have those two intersecting. Now, that's somebody that has a chance to do great things. So that's what I look for people today, I look for the confluence of passion and talent. And again, talent doesn't necessarily mean it was just handed to you, in most cases is something that you've developed an effort it

David Novak 1:01:54 

can when you look back at your childhood, was there a story about your upbringing that really shaped the kind of leader that you've become today?

Jim Nantz 1:02:01 

Well, I think it would be looking up at my parents. My driver, for me always was out of love and respect. For my mom and dad. I wanted to make them proud. Because they were the center of my universe. And I my mom's still going strong at 90. My dad's been gone. Now for 14 years, my dad worked really hard, went to Guilford College, his first in his family to kind of go out and explore the world and take chances, moved his young family away from the comfort of the Charlotte area down to New Orleans, out to the Bay Area, all with promotions in the business world along the way, eventually to the New York area. And he just was a man of integrity. So what was I shaped by? I wanted to make my parents proud. And I wanted to and still do want to be just like my dad. I want people to think of me the way that I think of my dad. And that's as simple as it gets.

David Novak 1:03:07 

You know, Jimmy, you have the Nance National Alzheimer's Center at Methodist Hospital in Houston. What are you most excited about? When it comes to the work you're doing today to fight Alzheimer's disease

Jim Nantz 1:03:20 

when we developed the Nance National Alzheimer's center, that wasn't just like, throw a name on it, step aside. That's not the way I do things. In a way, this is like running a business. I'm not the day to day CEO but my family name is on it is named for my dad as my dad's name when we talk about the Nan's National Alzheimer's center. So I knew after a row, always by my side there, I had to do something more with the platform that I have than just showing up traveling week to week to all these wonderful sporting events, I had a chance to be a voice the book really gave me the feedback on that. So many people could relate to what I talked about a family coping with the patriarch of the family suffering and how do you keep your loved one's dignity intact? And how do you bring relief to your mom and your sister, whose very lives have been hijacked by trying to care for dad. And it's a complicated thing I know there are people that are listening can totally relate to this. And ultimately, I realized that we need to do something, I gotta go out and figure out a way to put a team together and give the funds that are necessary to create a place that can make a difference. If it can't be the best. This is kind of the my mantra particularly as I get older, you can't be the best. I don't want to get involved, to have a chance to win. That's what I'm about I want to win. Whether it's in the apparel industry, whether it's in wine and spirits, whether it's in trying to create a way to defeat Alzheimer's, I want to win this point in my life. It's not about money. It's about winning, doing the things that you can make an impact on in your Life. So there's a great team of people at Houston Methodist Hospital, I had familiarity with them going back a long way. And my father was treated there. And I said, What can we do to bring the greatest Alzheimer's Research Institute, to Houston and maybe to the world? I know, it's an aggressive mission statement. But otherwise, why get involved. So that's what we did. We opened up on January 19 2011, we seeded it continue to see that continue to fundraise gone all over the country, speaking on behalf of the cause, trying to get people to understand the fight. But beyond that, to get people to come down to Houston and see that we're cutting edge. And we're on the front lines, sometimes collaborating with other top places around the world, we've hosted the world's gathering of Alzheimer's researchers, then this was created out of thin air and now the team of scientists, doctors, all these neurologists. I mean, it's a big, big complex. Now inside of the Houston Methodist Hospital, we're directly across the street from MD Anderson Cancer Center, which is magnificent. And what they've done the cancer we're trying to do over here with Alzheimer's, and we are currently have nine trials going on. You can't advance it unless you take chances and try to find the next great thing. But I've said this, knowing your research, you've probably read where I said this. My goal away from being the best husband and father I can be is before I take my last breath, I want to know that my team down in Houston was a part of a group that defeated the opponent that defeated my dad. That's the win I want above all,

David Novak 1:06:36 

I want that so much for your pal, I really do. You know, and I just loved the emotional story you told of their origin of Hello friends. And you say that now to start every broadcast, including the Masters, but there is another line that you're asked to say often at the Masters. Let's hear it from the voice of the great gymnasts and tell us how it was originated.

Jim Nantz 1:06:58 

A tradition unlike any other would that be Edie? That's it You got it. It's so funny. I actually love saying it and I love being associated with it. Reality is that was a collaboration I give really I give the credit to a producer who's long gone now from CBS named Doug tui. And in 1986, before my first masters, Frank had this idea they're going to run these masters promos leading up to Augusta during the NCAA Tournament, said we ought to put the kid on camera so he just doesn't drop out of thin air into our masters telecasts. Let him stand in front of 16 and talk about some historical event there. I flew down to Augusta thrilled I've worked a little bit on the west coast for the crew. And Frank said, hey, the camera crew for the shoot has a flight delay. And we have about three and a half hours to kill. And I said well, that's fine. I may I'll just walk around and see the Pisces No, you can't do that. This is a Gaza. So okay, I get that. He says, but you can play it. I said how can I play it? I'm in a jacket and tie. He says go with at a shop. He knew a member that was there that had only three in his group and says go pick out a shirt. Tell him your shoe size. We'll get you some clubs. Five minutes after he told me this. I'm you know, I'm swinging away on number one. And I was 26 years old. I got down the amen corner and I poured 1011 and 12 and I was in the fairway at 13. And here comes Frank in a golf cart. And he says, Get in there here. And as Absolutely. Of course, I was not going to talk back to Frank under any conditions. But I did say, Man oh man, I wish I could finish this round and I was on my way to a decent score. Nothing great. But that was it. I came in and we went through the scripts and and Mr. Toohey had cobbled together the copy and I give him credit for putting in my hands a tradition unlike any other the Masters on CBS. And I guess because I've repeated it so many times that people through the years the relate that line to me. I've set it for 36 years. And it's an honor,

David Novak 1:09:09 

you're so quick gem to give other people credit, you know, why is sharing credit so important to you? You've done that a few times already. In this conversation we've had, I'd like to counter what

Jim Nantz 1:09:19 

most people try to do today, most people will push people aside and trip over one another to try to get credit. And I find that the real shining lights in my life are the people that are looking for credit the least. The last thing they're trying to do is tell you how they did something that was remarkable even though it is remarkable. I'm not saying I've done anything remarkable, but the people I know who I really look up to are truly in their heart. They're humble. And they realize that all these things happen thanks to teamwork and others.

David Novak 1:09:52 

Well, you've done so many things that are remarkable and one of them is that you do call the Masters every year and you know we talked a little bit about your spotting Boards earlier and all the preparation you have to do for the NFL games in the Final Four. But the Masters is a bit different for you. Isn't the gym talk about the preparation there?

Jim Nantz 1:10:10 

I feel like I'm preparing for the Masters every day of the year. Not that I have a spotting board or anything like that I'm always fully aware of how many days it is until I'll be on the grounds at Augusta. That's the dream for me. And I don't mean to diminish anything else. Listen, I've been a part of eight Super Bowl broadcasts now. And 36 Final Fours and championship games. But being at the Masters again, was that one thing that biggest tug of all for me, I wouldn't trade anything for being at Augusta. Now how do I prepare? The reality is that week, I'm coming in off of the NCAA tournament. I'm a little fatigued. I'm not trying to create any pity here. But you're coming off the championship game on Monday night, the Final Four. On Saturday. There's a lot of events that are on the fringes of the final four this year in New Orleans. And listen, there's something about the magic of Augusta. As soon as I land in Augusta, I feel like I've gotten a vitamin B 12 shot I feel full of energy, excitement. My heart is just swelling with pride. And it's a blur. It is a blur, but I try to talk to as many players as I can David, during the week, start to get some fresh information from him. You know what happens though, they've all been watching the NCAA tournament. And they want to talk to me about the championship game. And I want to talk to them about the masters. So I want to get the train on the tracks. Because the The paradox is when I'm in New Orleans, and I'm talking to coaches, and some of the players and a lot of other people that are attending the Final Four, all they want to talk to me about is hey, you're going from here to the masters. Wow. Yeah, but I'm here to talk to you right now about the basketball. So it's always upside down a little bit. But when I hear that sweet Augusta melody, the Augusta theme, I can't explain it. I feel like my mind opens up my heart does, of course, but my mind opens up to all kinds of just feel it is that does that make any sense that music

David Novak 1:12:08 

brings it out of out of all of us. And then you hear your voice and it's like, Hey, man, here comes another year, here comes another spring, here comes another summer on the way you know, you get to get out the clubs you get to start playing. I mean, it's fantastic, you know. But as I understand a gym, you don't really use notes. When you call the masters. It's pretty much by heart.

Jim Nantz 1:12:28 

It's I tried to lead with my heart. The coach Kay wrote a book called lady with the heart a few years ago. So I don't mean to steal his line. But it was beautiful story and capsulate his life. But I really think there's a lot of truth. And I can relate that to my world. Everything I ever do. I've tried to feel like it's emanating from there. So yeah, Augusta, I feel it, I can't explain it. I try to tell this sometimes to sports writers recovery me a lot of Mark golf fans and they don't understand that there is something about the look, the feel the sound with that melody. And when I all those come together, I feel like it just all of a sudden, the words start just creating themselves in a way.

David Novak 1:13:11 

And you're it seems so grateful to be able to do this. And to cover these events, you know, how important is gratitude and the role that it plays in your leadership? Well, gratitude

Jim Nantz 1:13:20 

is a one of the basic, most important tenants of life, I believe, and you know, it's not going to spin off too far from here. But it has a lot to do with faith. And my heart is filled with gratitude. You know, we're sitting here, and it's before noon, my time. And I can promise you this morning before I got out of bed, I once again gave my thanks to a lot of different things in my life, including, including as I do every day to have the opportunity to be living out the dream was CBS that I wanted to have as a young boy, it doesn't I don't miss a day. So my I'm filled with gratitude. But the gratitude extends way beyond just being given this blessing of the career. I want it but it drives me it doesn't just drive me It directs me it takes me to, I think the right place in my life. And you can never go wrong with that. You know, I asked him an interview I talked about the other day. I just I've heard him talk a few times about the accident, and how fortunate he felt to not lose a limb. So I asked him just about the gratitude. I use that word gratitude, but bigger than that, you know, the just the fact that he survived it. I mean, there could have been a horrific consequences. And I think the words important and he answered it really beautifully. But it it follows me every single day of my life. It's one of the best sweetest moments that I have every day is to sit back and reflect and have that prayerful introspection at its core. That is gratitude. You know,

David Novak 1:14:51 

I can't tell you how grateful I am Jim for the time that you're giving me here and I want to take a little bit more of it with a quick lightning round of questions. So Here we go. You're ready for this big guy.

Jim Nantz 1:15:01 

Well, here's my question just so I know the rules. What is when you say lightning round? You put a timer on it. I'm going to pull up my timer right here. How long do you want my answers to be?

David Novak 1:15:10 

10 seconds. 10 seconds per the best broadcasts you've ever been a part of?

Jim Nantz 1:15:15 

It would have to be at the Masters I would say 9704 Phil 2019 Tiger the return to glory.

David Novak 1:15:24 

Who is your broadcasting hero?

Jim Nantz 1:15:27 

10 seconds to tell you McKay Whitaker Somerville in Berg Gaudi Shankle Jackson. Oh, open forgotten anybody else. Al Michaels. Now, what a great friend,

David Novak 1:15:38 

your favorite sports call that you didn't make.

Jim Nantz 1:15:42 

When I got to clarify this question for hit my stopwatch that will this be an event that I wish I would have had a chance to call now this

David Novak 1:15:48 

is it's so it's a call that some a favorite sports call that someone that you wish you would have made but someone else made it.

Jim Nantz 1:15:55 

I don't, I don't wish for that. I don't desire anything that I didn't get a chance to do because I've had more than abundance of my fair share. So I don't desire anything.

David Novak 1:16:07 

The single best advice you've ever received,

Jim Nantz 1:16:10 

be kind to others. Do things with integrity. Listen, and be grateful.

David Novak 1:16:17 

Your biggest pet peeve.

Jim Nantz 1:16:19 

People who are late. I have zero tolerance of that. You know, everybody's time is important. And your time is not important than mine.

David Novak 1:16:28 

Your favorite sandwich at the Masters.

Jim Nantz 1:16:33 

It's the egg salad. But man because of it, David, I walk out of there plus five pounds at the end of the week.

David Novak 1:16:40 

Now you've said that you could win masters Jeopardy, but who's the one person that could compete with you?

Jim Nantz 1:16:48 

Wow. That's a good one. My buddy Tom Spencer. I told you he's my editorial consultant. He's right there. We play that in a way every single week.

David Novak 1:17:00 

You have a replica at your home at Pebble Beach of one of the most iconic holes in golf in your backyard. It's the par three, seven, that Pebble Beach, who has the most wholesome ones? Well, I

Jim Nantz 1:17:11 

listen. I hit hundreds of balls there during the year. So I made a few but my name does not go on the rock of fame. The official rocker theme winner of that would be Brandt Snedeker with two. Okay, and how many of you had gotta realize it's six years. So this is embarrassing. I make a song I can really play but I probably I had a dumb luck. I probably knocked it in about 20 times.

David Novak 1:17:31 

That's good. You know, you're the world's top commentator. We're off the lightning round now. But you're the world's top commentator and sports you've seen and call some of the greatest sports moments in history. What's still on your list of things to accomplish?

Jim Nantz 1:17:43 

You're talking about just professionally. Yeah, it's not longevity, for me. And that is the Masters is going to have to fit into that. I want my last show ever to be a Masters in 2036. Now we can perhaps extend this when we get closer. But the 20 pastors, God Willing is that hopefully somebody will still want me to be there will be the 100th playing of the Masters tournament. I want to be there for that Jack Whittaker actually told me this. And Mr. Whitaker and Ken venturi were presenting me an award as bizarre as that sounds. They were my presenters in an award at Belur Country Club a few years back, and I got up and talked about my career goal was to be able to say that I broadcast 50 Masters. And I told everybody that since the tournament ends on the second Sunday in April every year, I am here tonight to announce my retirement is coming April the eighth 2035. And I manage. Well, that night, we were debriefing and having a nightcap and Mr. Whitaker said, I heard what you said up there about the 50 Masters, as I was really honored it had resonated with him. And he said, You do realize you need to do 51 You need to reevaluate. I said, Why? Because if you do the math on it, you're 51st will be the 100 Playing in the masters. He said, You need to be there. And this is a very sweet thing. But he says, and I think for golf in Augusta, you need to be there too. Which that's highly debatable. But for me, personally, since he gave me the game plan 51 Masters, that would be really, really sweet.

David Novak 1:19:27 

That would be swayed. I want to hear it. Believe me, believe me. What's one piece of advice you'd give to anyone who wants to improve as a leader?

Jim Nantz 1:19:38 

Well, I think you always have to try to improve at what you're doing. You can't stall. You can't be the same. You have to. I think we all have to not reinvent the complete package of who we are. But I think we have to find ways to be better educated, better listeners better friends. You know, I think we're all a work in progress. I don't want to just stop and say I've got it all. That seems a little bit to me arrogant to begin with. If you think that you can't improve who you are, you can't do something better so far be it for me to be dispensing advice to a lot of successful people. But that's kind of the way I wake up every day, I'm trying to find new ways to do my football broadcasts better to be a better golf anchor to be better during the NCAA Tournament setup, my teammates. But more importantly than all of that is to be a better father and husband to my family. This past year, we moved to Nashville, and we're keeping our home in Pebble Beach. And people say, Oh, why? How could you leave pebble Well, I'm not leaving pebble, we're still get three months a year out of that. That's was my dream place. And it always will be. But we came upon this beautiful city, the friendliest city in the world, people have been wonderful, a loving embrace. And the impetus for this was one thing, time, time is the greatest and really only currency that matters 47 weeks a year, probably 40 of them traversing the country. And those are hours upon hours on a plane away from my family, I needed to find something centrally located, where was a community where I felt, we had a place in it. And we found it here in this great city of Nashville. And you know what, in the end, I'm going to have 60 days a year with my family that I didn't have I improved in the last year by taking a risk. When I was very comfortable, where I was, what I was losing out in the thing that I needed the most. That was time, the time thing is going to be forever to everyone. The most important thing and making the most of that time.

David Novak 1:21:45 

And Nashville is a cool city to utilize the great people. They're fun things to be I love country music. So you're in the heaven as far as I'm concerned. You know, Jim want to wrap this up. And I want to do this by paying tribute on a couple of fronts. Okay, number one, you got the Jim Nance award that goes to the top collegiate announcer of the year. And you know, you're paying it back by really developing young talent and helping the next Jim Nance come along. So I really, really love what you're doing there. I love what you've done with the Alzheimer's in honor of your father. And I want to tell everybody this quote, because I picked this up from you, which is a quote from Jim it says, I don't long for anything. I'm grateful for everything. And you walk the talk on gratitude. You walk the talk on giving people respect by remembering their names. I remember I met you one time and seven years later, you saw me in a hall in Willowbrook Kentucky, you're in there for a PGA tournament. And you said, Hi, David, how are you? And I said, How in the world does he do this, but you know, you remember people's names. You treat people with respect. You're one heck of a guy and I can't thank you enough for taking the time to spend so much time with me. This went longer than what mine usually do. But people are just gonna have to listen a little bit longer. Because it's so much fun. It's so much fun to learn from an icon.

Jim Nantz 1:23:10 

I am so honored. I've been thinking about this for for the days leading up to it. Because I all your guests are fantastic. So I wanted to belong in the pantheon of podcast guests. For you, David, because this is the best one. This is the best podcast of all because I learned something every single time I listened. But I'm so glad that you had that in your hip pocket five minutes ago in our lightning round. You asked me for what one event I wanted to do. And I actually gave you the same answer that you just quoted. And that was I don't desire anything. That's true. I don't loan for anything. And I am grateful for everything, including your friendship. So thank you.

David Novak 1:23:57 

Well, that was a real thrill for me to be able to interview one of the people that I admire most, certainly in the world of broadcasting, but clearly as a person as well. And, you know, Jim is obviously very good at his job. And my guess is that you're pretty good at your job. I imagine you've been at it for a long time, and you could probably wing it. And on days when you have a full plate it's probably tempting to take shortcuts. But that's not the example that Jim Nance has given us. Even with all of his experience logging 1000s of hours on live television, he puts in the work and make sure he's prepared for every single broadcast. So here's what I want you to do this week, open up your calendar and look for the biggest meeting you've got coming up. And here's where you have a decision to make. Will you simply show up and do it on the fly? Or will you put in the time to prepare and bring your best I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna bring your Best. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders show up prepared. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in. While I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be. I'll see you next week.