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And Mr. Koloff once again made his feelings very, very apparent. It's been a long time, but the waiting is over. That's a bad man. No, that's a bad man.
No, that's a bad man. It's time to man up with Satan's nightmare, Natia Koloff. Back today with someone special. I've known this man. I would call him a young man, but he's not as young as when I first met him.
But Patrick Taylor, welcome to It's Time to Man Up. Wow, great to be here with you, Nikita. But yeah, I appreciate those words there. And you're correct. It's not like we were back in the early 90s.
It's not. Gosh, and we've known each other that long, right? Like maybe around the mid-90s, would you say? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I was back around the Eblin Foundation days and got to know you.
Yeah, it was about the mid-90s. That's right.
So, well, and truth be known, you're still a young man in my eyes, even though the years have passed. Yeah. Anyway, well, let's go back.
So let's go back just a little reminisce here for a moment back to those golf outings, charity fundraisers, et cetera. And I know we were talking, you were, I think, in the car yesterday with a favorite friend of ours, Bill Murdoch. And you guys were tooling around and we're reminiscing a little bit back to. Back to the days of when did you first meet Bill? Like back in your schooling days?
When did you first meet him? Yeah, that's a great question. It's a little more involved than that.
So, you know, my parents had eight children, so I'm one of eight. I'm number seven. Number seven out of eight. Wow. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. So I'm not quite the baby, but close to it.
Okay. My oldest brother's in his, you know, in his 70s.
So he's about 16, 17 years older than me. And Bill Murdoch went to school with two of my brothers. And so I knew him from childhood. Not close, but knew him. But we really got to know each other when he became a teacher himself.
Mm-hmm. uh at my middle school and high school that I attended. And so he uh was a math teacher uh to me as well as a a soccer coach and uh you know a close friend, all in the same breath.
So s Bill wait, hang on. Bill Murdoch coached soccer? Yes, believe it or not. He never played it. He was really a wrestling coach.
Right. And he was doing that. And quite honestly, back then in the mid-80s, especially in western North Carolina, soccer was still evolving as a sport. You know, and he volunteered to coach the inaugural soccer teams, both at the high school level and middle school level back then.
Okay, I'm just trying to picture that in my brain here, just get a visual of that. And I hope when he listens to this interview, he gets a good hearty laugh. Because, Bill, I cannot picture you as a soccer coach just for the record.
So, however, he was busting your chops saying, Well, he was talking about what a great athlete you were, but however, that he could still take you on the wrestling mat. That's probably true. I was never a wrestler, even though he tried to get me to come out and wrestle all the way from middle school. Always would tell me, you know, being a little taller like you are and long, he goes, you'd make a good wrestler. I'm not sure about that, but I was really, you know, a basketball player at heart.
Really, probably better at soccer. I went to college on scholarships for both of those, but But uh yeah, I I played most uh sports, baseball, track. etc. The one sport I did not participate in was wrestling, even though now I look back at it, it would have been a great sport to build character and discipl discipline for sure. Yeah, I mean you you yeah, I think uh I'm thinking what he saw was uh the the leverage I guess you you would have had being uh that's what he alluded to, yeah.
Yeah, I could see that. I can see that.
So uh so you guys go all the way back to well, schooling, but even even as you said with with with your brother.
So what so one of eight children, that's amazing. And that and so for our listeners, you grew up where? I grew up in Western North Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. Beautiful town. I believe so.
Yeah, I love it. I love the mountains. Yeah, Asheville is beautiful. Of course, I can't even count how many times I've either been to it or through it. I mean, in the last 40 years, yeah, I just, I couldn't even fathom how many times.
Of course, staying with Bill and his lovely bride, Robin, many, many times, hosting me there at their home. And then, of course, the golf tournaments. And, you know, you were intricately involved. Bill is working with nonprofits and fundraising and sewing into Western North Carolina there, especially now with the tragedies that have happened, the flooding and all the different things that have happened. But before we get there, let's go back to those early days out at the golf course.
What was your role there just volunteering, or what was your role there with the golf tournaments? Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, having played. Sports, you know, I had a lot of connections with individuals that were involved in that, mostly referees and coaches and so forth. And I also worked in Summers at a real estate company as a sort of the gopher, if you will, but got to know a lot of business people then as well.
And so the connection comes is that You know, Bill later in life, we ran into each other after I was out of high school. He was actually at that time looking for a job himself. I introduced him to one of the realtor owners that I worked for. He came on board in the marketing department there. And he had a real, I would say, affinity for the cystic fibrosis foundation just because of, you know, individuals close to him in his life at that time, you know, had that.
And so we just sort of one day at lunch between him, myself, of course, me only being 19, 20 years old. I was more of a participant more than a contributor, but really wanted to raise some money for the Cis Fibrosis Foundation and did a golf tournament with all these business individuals. And out of that, just to sort of give you the reader's digest version, out of that was born Eblin Charities in Western North Carolina.
So, believe it or not, I was actually one of the founding members at age 19 of about six businessmen, including Bill, that sort of launched that. I got that off the ground. And that's how me and Bill, you know, stayed connected. And I did more volunteering, to your point, at that age than anything, and then later stepped on the board when I was in, you know, a little bit later in my 20s. I got you.
Yeah, which is pretty amazing as well. And we'll get to this because as great an athlete as you were and probably still are, you're no slouch when it comes to the marketplace, when it comes to the business community as well. Rising all the way up to CEO and president, president of companies, and again, on a board of directors of companies.
Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself here. And so, so, yeah, and I know I played in, I participated, gosh, I don't know, 20 plus of those tournaments over the years. And, of course, many of those: Brad Johnson, Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coach John Gruden, a good friend of. Ours is always one of the. I always get confused.
Is he a host? Is he a what kind? What's his title? Like, Patrick? Yeah, that's a great question.
I think he is multifaceted, and it just depends on the day and what he wants to be and what position he's in. He's a pretty dynamic guy. Yeah, well, that for sure. And I mean, because not only, you know, not only did he win a Super Bowl, you know, playing quarterback for the Bucs. Oh, you're talking about Brad, not Gruden, but yeah, Brad, amazing athlete.
Yeah. Yeah, well, and Gruden has been an amazing coach, but yeah, yeah, I'm talking about specifically Brad and his athletic prowness as well. Having played with him a number of times. In fact, I was partnered up with him, and Daryl's last name always slips. They won the World Series with the Yankees as a pitcher, who am I talking about?
Oh, that's right. Yeah, I know who you're talking about. Mind evades me too. I know, I know. I'm like, what's it?
Gosh, people always ask me about my Holmes, Darren Holmes, Darren Holmes. Yeah, yeah, Darren Holmes, Darren Holmes, Darren Holmes.
So Darren, who won a ring, a World Series ring with the Yankees as a pitcher. Brad, who won a Super Bowl, right? And then I come along, you know, with the recognition of a few belts along the way. Hey, quick, funny story.
So when Brad's sons were little, you know, they were wrestling fans then, and maybe still are, but they heard that the pro wrestler, Nikita Goloff, was playing with their dad. And Brad later would tell me, he goes, every year we had that tournament, they cut me and go, Dad. Is Nikita Koloff going to be at the tournament again? He's like, Why? Because, Dad, we're world champion wrestling.
He's like, Well, hello, Super Bowl. What am I? Chopped liver? I mean, come on. Exactly.
He said, I would crack up every time they would ask me. But Anyway, but yeah, and Brad is so charitable, and those tournaments over the years, I mean. One of the things that impresses me the most and why I've supported Bill and even now Beyond All Borders is existing nonprofit currently is because of the How would I say this? The difference between There's and some of the others, I'll just say, when it comes to administrative costs and all that, is the amount of money collected that actually goes back into the community. And you probably bet know better than anyone else.
At one point, wasn't it like made they operated on like 3% of the money, like 97% of the money, I think, went back to the community. And right now, with Beyond All Borders. That was in the Eblin charity days. Right, right. As things mature and grow, right, sometimes those things can expand.
And so, in Bill's watch as the director, it never exceeded that. Yeah, never exceeded 3%.
So 97% went back into the community to the people, to where it actually was being raised for, right? That's correct. And I think Beyond All Borders, currently, if I'm not mistaken, you may know better. 100% of the monies collected, right, all goes back into Western North Carolina. That's correct.
And I'm very blessed and privileged to have been one of the founding members there as well and sit on the board. And it is 100%. And we ensure that. And that's our specific goal is to make sure that dollars that come in go 100% out and it gets to the point of impact with little to no red tape. What do you do with your spare change?
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That's T-R-A-N-O-N-T.com slash Koloff to learn more. And uh, you off you don't off the top of your head, uh Know the website for Beyond All Borders, do you?
Well, we don't really have a website. We're on Facebook to Beyond All Borders.
So, once again, just trying to keep calls low and really we're out in the community. As we talked a little bit ago, just our connections with the business folks in Western North Carolina, we have a number that sort of sit on the board, and it's really how we as business individuals support our community and do that in a fashion where we're out in it. We're just not sitting in a boardroom. I mean, we rarely do that. We're actually in the trenches, shoulder to shoulder, and walking a mile in people's shoes and making sure that those resources get to where they need.
Well, and for the listeners out there, if there was ever a charity you were looking for contributing to, as you're hearing Patrick and I talk about Beyond All Borders, let me just tell you, personally, in my opinion. My opinion, you're not going to find a better charity to contribute to and to make a marked difference. And over the years, you guys have raised, I mean, just millions and millions of dollars that went back into the care. And the stories are endless as well, from putting a roof on a house to getting somebody's electric bill paid to helping transport somebody to Duke Hospital, you know, all the way from Western North Carolina or whatever. I mean, it's endless.
The stories are endless. And so pretty amazing what you guys are doing there. And of course, you know, that's just kind of your, well, before I dive into your full-time, what I call your full-time gig, that's just something you just do for fun is volunteer your time on these boards. But so you grew up, let me go back to the family for just a moment. You grew up in a family of eight.
You're number seven out of eight. You have a family of your own. Yeah? I do. I do.
I have a a wife of almost uh getting close to thirty years and a daughter that is uh twenty five years old and a Nick U nurse at Dell Children's Medical in Austin, Texas. And Son that's 21, and he's a senior at Baylor University. Baylor, there's a good Baptist university right there. It is. Did you grow up Baptist?
Did you grow up Baptist, Patrick? You know, that's an interesting question. I want to hear the answer. Wow. But, no, I actually grew up attending Catholic school.
Okay. Okay. But it was Episcopayan. Yep. Which are sort of kissing cousins there.
But quite honestly, I really transitioned to. You know, Baptists, uh gosh, uh Yeah. 34, 35, 36 years ago.
Okay. So, uh, so I yeah, I attend uh a Baptist church.
Okay, well, I was just curious, and and for me, for me, the label isn't what's important to me, whether you're Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, of course, what, whatever, you know, I at the end of the day, and I've been in 29 different denominations that I've preached in. Wow, 29 different ones, that's amazing, yeah.
Well, and it's just the Lord, but I, you know, and I've always said many, many times, I don't care what your marquee says out there, it you know, on the outside, is Jesus on the inside? You know, have you have you surrendered your heart and your life to Him? And if you have, then let's put some of the smaller things aside and just focus on the larger task at hand, goal at hand, and that's to overpopulate heaven, right?
So. Right. Right, no, no, no, totally agree. When did your faith become important to you? Wow.
So once again, being one of eight children, my oldest, second oldest brother that went to school also with Bill, but he was a soccer player himself. Really sometimes get credit for really starting up the high school programs in western North Carolina back when he was in high school. Because there weren't any. But my point being is that he went on to play semi-professional and then became a coach himself. And then he would also work camps in the summer.
And so one of those was at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, right there at the University or College. And he took me one year, and so I was 10 years old. I was at the Citadel, and there was a particular counselor that every night, Kids, these age ranges went all the way from down in second grade all the way up through high school.
So we had a large, diverse group of age and so forth and where people were from. But would offer up to congregate inside one of the dorms or in the common ground and really talk about Christ and salvation. It really spoke to me and I gave my uh life to Christ. I'm going to get emotional when I was 10 years old. And that just made a huge difference in my life, Nikita.
And uh you know, I haven't been the same uh ever since. It's amazing, right? When, you know, I wasn't as young as you, it took me 34 years to figure it out. But and I'm so grateful that at the age of 34, I figured out that life just isn't the same without a relationship with Jesus. I agree.
And so that's pretty amazing. And Patrick, it's okay to get emotional. I know that. I've gotten emotional on these shows before. Jesus and Lord God, you know.
Yeah, absolutely. And, well, and so.
So Does does your faith play a role in the marketplace? Absolutely. I mean, I think, you know, first and foremost, you know, being one of eight, sort of, had to figure out my way through school and did that at night and got two engineering degrees and worked my way up from working on an industrial manufacturing floor. But really, what made the difference is having good coaches or in the workplace, but teachers and mentors that really saw something in me that I didn't and gave me opportunities and really gave me an MBA in real life. And along that journey, a lot of times I learned from individuals of what not to do just as much as what to do.
And a lot of times, that came down to certain behaviors and characteristics. And what I learned along the way is that We all should be servants. If you're in a leadership role, we all should be servants. But You know, I I really you know have taken on those leadership positions, especially in the CEO seat, with that sort of lens, is that do it from a Christian perspective. And, you know, a lot of people may get confused as that, you know, being a CEO and how do you drive accountability and high-performing teams and so forth and do that as a Christian.
And, you know, it's easier than what you think, right? And first and foremost is, you know, you don't have to necessarily go out and just, you know, speak the words. People are going to judge you on what I call the say-do ratio. I mean, we can say everything that we want, but are we going to walk the talk? Right.
And I always ask people to judge me on, you know, my actions, not necessarily my words. And so I always say it's the say-do ratio. And more times than not, when people see that and they watch your mannerisms and your behaviors, they see something different in you because you are Christian. And then they get curious about it. And then when the question is asked, it's a totally different conversation with people around my salvation and what drives me and motivates me to be in the position and help others do and be their best every day.
And it sort of takes a life of its own, if you will.
Well, that's pretty amazing. And I was, I recently did a corporate talk at Coca-Cola Bottling in Charlotte, and I had no idea, Patrick. I walked in, and on the wall, you walk in, I mean, bright red and black and white. Our purpose. To honor God in all we do.
To serve others, to pursue excellence, and to grow profitability. And I was like, Wow. You don't see that every day. Yeah, you don't see that every day.
Well, all right.
So, in our few remaining minutes here, you know, on that note, you know, I mentioned that as great as an athlete, you're no slouch in the marketplace.
Now, I knew you were smart, Patrick. I didn't know you were smart enough to have two engineering degrees for the record. Yeah, electronics engineering and industrial manufacturing. Man, that's pretty impressive. I got two engineering son-in-laws.
That's good. Yeah, I know. Smart guys. They marry my daughters. I'm just saying.
Shout out to Matt and Brandon. But one's a civil engineer, the other's a mechanical engineer. And, you know, just your bio reads like, I mean, I don't, I can't even, I can't even wrap my head around all of it, but I want to say this part of it, though. An accomplished executive in the global industrial and technology sectors. And what would you say?
What was one of your just. Briefly, one of your greatest accomplishments out there in the marketplace, whether as a CEO. What would you say? You know, that's a great question. And I was asked this not too long ago.
And, you know, I'll be honest with you, it comes down to two things. It's really to see how other people that I have invested in, because I saw something in them that they did, just like somebody did in me, and help them sort of understand what that looks like and what could be, and sort of how to get the sets of experiences and so forth that they need. to grow to be in the seat that I was in, right? And so that's one, but I think the one that really I would say I'm proud of globally is running industrial, diversified industrial manufacturing companies. And I've lived in Germany and Czech Republic doing that.
And then my most recent stint as CEO, we were global in nature anyway. And so I mean I was in China, South Korea, and you you can name it, but is really You know, one, getting to know people and understand, you know, why they're there at work, understand what drives them to work every day, to put food on the table, to put a kid through school, or you know, a single parent or whatever, but to really engage them and understand what motivates them, and then overarching really where this goes, Nikita, is that really the lift in employee engagement and morale.
So we measure that very specifically.
So these last two companies, when I inherited them, you know, on a scale of zero to 100 on employee engagement, you know, they both were in the mid to low 40s. We were able to lift that into the high 80s, which is top quartile for industrial manufacturing. It's really close to the very top. But more importantly, is that we had, you know, 100%, I mean, 98% participation globally, no matter if that was in China, Europe, or whatever else, in the surveys and processes. And you could actually see that people knew that you were looking out for their best interest, helping them to do and be their best every day, and it made a difference for them.
And so to me, that's sort of what I like to hang my hat on.
Well, and uh kudos to you. I mean I uh again uh You know, just uh in the time that we've Known each other over the years and/or run into each other and see each other. You know, it's always seems like where Bill's just informing me, you know, what you're doing or where you're at. And I'm like, that's amazing. And what an incredible experience for your family, too, to right or to have some experience overseas and just, you know, see other parts of the world.
And, of course, you've taken companies and not only what you said, employee engagement, but even profitability, as I just mentioned, just in the brief little title: the profitability of taking companies that were maybe on the fringe of collapsing, so to speak. And you've come in and helped to turn those companies around, which, again, is just a tribute to. Really, just how accomplished you have become. And currently, we just got about a minute or two left here. Currently, you're in the process of working with a private equity company, maybe taking on a new project.
Is that correct? That's correct. Yeah, that's correct. As a matter of fact, right before you called me, I was on the phone with them, and we were just finalizing the details.
So it's not official yet, but it would be the CEO of a company called Lair Zero.
Okay. And that really serves the data center space. It's in a technology sector, and I'd be partnering with Advent International, which is a private equity firm, helping to run that business. That's amazing, isn't it? I'm sorry.
I was going to say as well as partnering with a great Chairwoman, Annette Clayton, that was an executive that came out of GM. She, you know, ran parts of Dell computers and then most recently was the CEO of Schneider Electric U.S. I'm excited to be partnering with her. Are those public or private companies? This is a private company.
Man, I thought I was going to get some insider trading here. Because I know if you're going to be involved in it, it's going to boom. I'll be like, oh man, I was going to go buy some stock. I'm just saying. You're being generous.
But yeah, no, I'm excited about the opportunity.
Well, kudos to you again. That's amazing, Patrick. You've had an amazing journey so far. And I know you got a long way to go because, as I said, you are a young man. You are still a young man.
And can't wait to see what else. Let me say that. What else you accomplish here in the future? And so I appreciate you, really appreciate you being on the show today, too.
Well, I tell you, I really appreciate you asking me and having me, and I also want to. thank you for being a friend, but more importantly, an example Of what a Christian is. Oh, I appreciate it. That's it, right? We just try to not just talk the talk, but really walk the walk, right?
And that's when you said it earlier about people seeing a difference in you and then maybe not even knowing what that is, but then being drawn to you. And then you've got the opportunity perhaps to share a little bit of your testimony or a little bit of your story or your faith and your love for the Lord Jesus, right?
So, well, I agree. Patrick Taylor, a man well accomplished, and jog that name to memory, log that name to memory because you're going to hear more out of him in the future. And I just appreciate you. I appreciate you too, Nikita. All right.
Thanks again for tuning in to another It's Time to Man Up. And hey, help spread the word. Tell your friends, download, subscribe, get out there on the podcast as well as the radio show itself. And until next time. Go out and have a God-filled and live a God-blessed day.
Yeah. The Manup Shul is honored to have Dr. Johnny Gayton as one of our longest-running supportive sponsors. Dr. Gayton is regarded as one of the world's leading elite eye surgeons.
He is motivated by his faith in doing all things heartily as unto the Lord. His desire to do his best has contributed to success in his eye care practice, performing over 70,000 eye surgeries. In addition, he's a world-renowned speaker, writer, and author. Go to iAssociates.com for more information. If you are a business owner and would like to advertise your company or product on the Man Up Show and or Q ⁇ A with Koloff, contact me directly, Nakita Koloff at Koloff.net.
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