Ep. 1603 – The Good News with Angie Austin – JIM STOVALL, GOAL SETTING / Dr. Klane K. White – Children’s Hosp CO-UNDERSTANDING THE MOST COMMON FORM OF DWARFISM & HAVING A PASSION FOR YOUR WORK
In this informative episode, special guest Dr. Clayne White from the Children’s Hospital of Colorado sheds light on achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. Dr. White elucidates the medical and lifestyle implications of this genetic condition and stresses the importance of having a dedicated team of specialists for optimal care. Follow along as Angie Austin navigates through the lesser-known challenges and triumphs of individuals with achondroplasia, offering listeners a deeper understanding of this condition and the expertise required for effective management.
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hello there, it’s Angie Austin and Jim Stovall. We’re talking about his winner’s wisdom column for the week. Hey, Jim. Hey, it is great to be with you. So I didn’t say what it is because I’ve never used the word illusory.
SPEAKER 02 :
Illusory superiority is what we’re talking about. Basically, the illusion of being superior. And I always tell the kids at the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship, university students, I tell them the surest way to not learn anything is to assume you already know everything. And, you know, people have a tendency to think they know more than they know. For example, drivers here in America, 93% of drivers think they’re above average.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
They’re not. Right. 90% of college students think they’re in the upper half of their class, and they’re not. And the first thing you’ve got to do before you begin anything is get an accurate picture of where you are. If you want to get out of debt and build wealth, you need to know exactly how far debt you’re in. Or if you want to lose weight or gain muscle, you’ve got to know the exact numbers and what fitness level you want to be at. And all the numbers, you’ve got to know your numbers, and that’s the only way we have to keep score. And, you know, the thing you measure is the thing that always moves. And so you’ve got to be honest with yourself. It goes back to what I always call Stovall’s 11th Commandment, thou shalt not kid thyself. I mean, if you’re in the lower 10% of something, let’s just figure it out, and that’s where you start. But at least you begin with an accurate assessment of where you are, and you can begin from there. I am a huge fan of Jack Welch. He was the former CEO and just an amazing, amazing guy. And he started every meeting with the question, where are we? Not where do we wish we are? Where do we hope we could be? No, no. What is the exact circumstance? What are we dealing with here? And, you know, most problems defined are the beginning of a problem solved. And if you can get a definition or a snapshot of where you are, then you can start everything. But without that, you know, you’re just kidding yourself.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I think he made me a lot of money, Jack, because he I worked for NBC when GE owned NBC. I can’t remember if we got like some kind of a bonus if we bought GE stock or I know we had company matching, but and people were like, you know, don’t invest too heavily in one stock. But I was like, well, I work for them, and I know how it’s run, and I’m kind of investing in myself by investing in my company, which I know most people disagree with. But it did extremely well in the early 2000s and the late 90s, whenever I invested in it. So I feel like Jack Welch made me a lot of money when they owned NBC. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and he had one of those contracts where, like Lee Iacocca had, where you work for a dollar a year and a percentage of growth in profits. So that when Jack started making literally tens of millions of dollars or hundreds of millions of dollars a year… Nobody could say anything because, you know, hey, I worked for a dollar a year and a percentage of money you didn’t have. So, I mean, this is all just a part of what I added to the buy here. I love that. So, yeah, it really helps a lot. But, you know, it’s always great to know where you are and where you’re going. And, you know, you can’t set a goal. You can’t have an objective. You can’t do anything if you don’t know where you are.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, in your article, you talked about at Stanford, 90% of the students thought they were ranked in the upper half of the class. Someone close to me recently showed me 300 and something, they’re ranked out of 688. And then they said to me, I’m above average. I was like, well…
SPEAKER 04 :
I think it’s pretty much average, but sure, if you want to view it that way, like maybe by 10 people or something, you’re above average.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right, right, right. I mean, I remember during the Cold War, I was an Olympic athlete, and so we would get these… these communiques that came out of Russia, because we were always competing against the Soviet bloc. And they would do things like, you know, there was a trial, and America was first, and Russia was second. But their press release would say, in a global competition, the Soviet athletes placed second globally and are looking to move into first place, while the Americans were next to last. Well, in a two
SPEAKER 03 :
team qualifier yeah we were first which is kind of next to last and they came in second with you know and uh so it’s just a you know it’s harry truman said there are lies and statistics it just depends on how you want to spin that thing you know and you talk about how it’s important to have a positive self image but you know not to be overly in fact that’s so funny that you um talk about that because over the weekend my husband had notes for the kids and so it was kind of a lecture but it’s more about like you know with one of them well they both want to play in college one already has a scholarship and he’s like it’s a job now like you have a responsibility to your school that’s paying you all this money basically that this is your job through you know college and so um he talked about you know uh just you know proper diet in other words like You’re not going to eat three bowls of chips while we’re waiting for our tacos to arrive at the restaurant. Just being responsible with how you eat as an athlete, more protein and less junk food. Anyway, to make a long story short, he said, I don’t want you over-inflating yourselves. I don’t want to hear you saying like, oh, that person’s trash or I’m so much better than that person. He’s like, you know, to one of our daughters, he said, you might be the best shooter on the team, but are you the best at defense? And are you a hustler? Are you crashing the boards trying to get a rebound? Are you trying to find a lane and drive into the basket? He’s like, you cannot rely on the one thing that you’re really good at and say, I’m the best player because there’s lots of different facets to the game and maybe you’re the best at one, but what about the other five? So, you know, stop telling me.
SPEAKER 02 :
Great point.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and stop saying other kids are trash.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, tremendous lesson your husband’s teaching the kids because… You know, we can all find a day, on our best day, one snapshot where, you know, you did well. I mean, there’s this thing. I have a friend who I met through his book, and then we’ve done a couple of interviews and projects together, named Chuck Wepner. He’s the guy that fought Muhammad Ali. Oh, yeah, you told me about him. But at one point in the fight, and nobody’s quite sure… Either he tripped Muhammad Ali, stepped on his foot, or he actually hit him. Nobody’s sure. But Muhammad Ali fell, and Chuck was standing there. Well, they took a photo of it, and that appears on all of Chuck’s logos and everything. Him standing there, Muhammad Ali’s laying on the ground. Now, what you don’t know is he got up and three minutes later knocked him unconscious, and the fight, game’s over. Right. But, you know, if you want to judge your whole life by that, By that snapshot, man, you know, and I told Chuck, I mean, you may as well go with it. Not too many people got him on the ground no matter what. So, yeah, it’s great. But let’s not kid ourselves here, you know. And so I and, you know, your husband’s lessons are so powerful because, as Gandhi said, everyone’s my superior in that I can learn something from them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
What you’re good at, there’s something you’re not good at. And, you know, you always need to be improving. You always need to be growing. And, you know, we have a tendency to do that. And, you know, you worked in television, as do I, and, you know, these ratings come out. And everybody’s always number one in something. Every network, every – you know, you may be number one in left-handed women Eskimos watching overnight or something. I don’t know what it is. But they always have some demographic where, yeah, we’re number one in this. And – You know, it just doesn’t give you a good, accurate picture of where you are. And nothing gets started until you get a clear understanding of where you are.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love, too, that they would – like you said, they’d find a demographic where they did well and they’re number one. But I also loved growth. And Mark, my husband, used to always laugh because he was a director and he’s like – yeah if you only had four people watching now you have eight yes you had huge growth you know like if you have this tiny percentage and then you grow a little it seems like you have astronomical numbers because you can say grew 50 percent in our audience you know overnight or whatever and it’s like okay if people saw the true numbers they wouldn’t be as impressed as hearing you know we’ve gone up by 50 percent you know but it sounds so impressive but um Yeah, I also was looking at what you said about people’s financial plans, you know, and where they think they are. The drivers is funny because there’s so many bad drivers. I was just thinking this weekend I was driving downtown and I drove once with one of my friends. co-anchors um downtown really bright woman did really well in her career blah blah blah the worst driver i have ever driven with in my entire life like at every moment i thought i was putting my life in my hands and i’m like how have you survived in the world with these driving skills i mean literally like we’re you know we’re going to work like 2 45 3 in the morning and we were working downtown for a while that’s why we commuted together we were doing like you know live news on the streets or something like that we’d set a setup and everything was really fun anyway so She ran a couple of lights and then she went the wrong way down a one-way street. And I’m just like, how are you like alive? How do you function in the world with these horrible skills? Like you’re a bright woman. This is like driving with a third grader. It was unbelievable to me that she could function in society.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. And I noticed that when we make movies. the production company will generally get a permanent driver for the a-list actors yeah and i said what did they ask for this no no we do that and i said why why do we do that and he said these people don’t know how to drive a lot of them have their own drivers back in california and they’re here and they don’t know how to drive and they’re going to get they’re going to get somebody killed and um you know and then i remember writing with one of them and um You know, there was like, I mean, we go to get on an expressway and here comes a truck and she jumps out in front of it. We nearly got killed. I said, what are you doing? She said, well, this car won’t go. We had a rental car, and I said, what kind of car do you have in California? Well, a Maserati. Well, yeah, you could have done that in a Maserati. Don’t try that in a Chevrolet. We’re going to die here. We’re going to die.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, my gosh. That is so funny. Oh, with my husband saying, don’t over-inflate yourself. Stop. I want you to have self-confidence. We teach that so much with all of these participation awards. My husband was still in coaching for… soccer or something and this one father got very upset that his kid didn’t get the award that week and my husband said well i’m filling in i gave it to the kid who hustled the most you know blah blah and the guy said was my kid’s turn because he hasn’t gotten it yet and my husband’s like well i’m hey i’m just volunteering here i’m just helping out as a dad the guy was very angry with my husband that His son didn’t get the award that week. And I feel like we’re teaching people to have an artificially inflated belief in themselves or, you know, ego, you know, the delusions of grandeur. And my husband over the weekend said, well, why does so-and-so think she’s so great? And she’s clearly not. I said, Mark, it’s delusions of grandeur. I go, it’s delusions. Do you get the word delusions? Like she doesn’t, she isn’t truly the best at whatever she is. She has delusions of grandeur. And it wasn’t about our kids, but just someone that we were like, wow, she thinks so highly of herself. Where does she get this? You know, and it’s really just we’re teaching. It’s a whole society of kids that are meant to believe that they truly are the winner that week because they just showed up.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. And we always need to be finding someone better. I just finished writing a sequel to a John Steinbeck novel called which I had to go back and read everything he wrote and the letters he wrote throughout his life that are in the archives. And, you know, writing something, continuing something John Steinbeck wrote will give me things to aspire to for the rest of my life if I live to be 200 years old. Because, I mean, you know, that’s the standard as far as I’m concerned, you know, whether it’s him or F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway or whoever. I mean, just to look at people that are that great And, you know, and aspire to do something that is worthy of that, I think. And so, yeah, you always want to be comparing yourself to the best people or your best self. But be honest about who you are and where you are. Not a thing in the world wrong with that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I sure appreciate you. And, by the way, my husband paid my kids to listen to it. They got $20 each. I’m like, that really got them to listen to the lecture. I’ll tell you that much. With notes. JimStoval.com. Thank you, friend. Thank you.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Hey there, friend, Angie Austin and Jim Stovall. You know, I’m really impressed with how Jim kind of like Stovall sets up his his year and how he sets up his goals. And it’s not just the beginning of the year. It’s all year long. And you kind of have like a filing system, Jim, that I find very interesting. And you’ve achieved so many goals, writing over 60 books and having your own network and working on your ninth movie that and the Stovall Center for Entrepreneurship now where you help out as well. at your alma mater, Oral Roberts University. Do I have that right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
So tell us how you do this.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I think goals are the key to all success. But it took me throughout my entire adult life till last year, I figured out goals don’t have to be the top thing you’re aspiring to. Last year, I set a goal to write two books, and I wrote six. And So now I look at goals as this is where I would like to be or more. I don’t want to be less than that, though. And I think every goal, first and foremost, Angie, it’s got to be your goal. You can’t do something because your spouse wants you to or your kids think you should or somebody on TV said you ought to. It’s got to matter to you. Whatever the goal is, you cannot reach someone else’s goal. Secondly, it’s got to be reasonable and realistic. you know, I mean, Angie, I love you, but you’re a small person. If you tell me, Jim, I want to, at this stage of my life, make it in the WNBA, probably not happening. You know, let’s find a goal, you know, that is realistic for you. And then you’ve got to set it up, break it down into bite-sized pieces. You know, if you have a goal for the whole year, Then there needs to be a goal for the month, a goal for the week, and then that translates into an activity for today. You’ve got to know what you’re doing today. So every day you’re either succeeding or failing on your goal. You know beyond a shadow of a doubt what to do today to get there. And I always tell people that’s the difference between teachers and coaches. Teachers give you principles. Coaches give you absolute instructions. So a teacher tells you, you know overall what you’re going to do but the coach tells you why you’re doing this right now today and let’s break this down so every day you know when it’s all said and done and your your head hits the pillow you know i’m either one day closer or one day farther from my goal yeah and i i love i love how you don’t slack off on your goals like how did you become so driven to not you know slack off on things Well, I have a passion for my goals because they’re my goals. I mean, there are other people that have certain goals for certain things. I could care less. I mean, you know, I met a guy last year. His goal is to go to a baseball game at every major league stadium this year. Okay, you know, he’ll be on the road a lot. You know, that’s fine. That’s his goal. If you gave me that, I wouldn’t do it. I mean, I don’t want to go do that. I’ll catch a lot of those games on the satellite, but I don’t want to go there and do that. That’s not my goal. But that’s wonderful. It’s his goal. And, you know, everybody’s got to have a goal that matters to them. And then you’re willing to push harder and farther, you know. And, you know, I used to work with a guy at the New York Stock Exchange who could never get to work on time, could never get his work done. He was always behind. But then he and I agreed we’re going to go fishing on Saturday. And we were going to meet at 5. Well, at 4.30, he’s in my driveway. Can’t wait to go. And I thought, this is amazing. Well, that’s the difference between someone else’s goal and his passion.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like that. Well, I’ve just always been impressed by how you’re able to keep goals. And, you know, I’ve told you a million times I’m in a little bit different, I think, era in my career than you are at this point where I’m not as goal-oriented as you are. But I certainly admire all that you do. If you want to find Jim, jimstovall.com, one of his 60 books, or read more about his story. Thank you, Fred. Thank you. It’s always fun to have Jim on the show and find out about how he sets his goals because he is so successful and I just admire all he does. You know, I get to interview so many successful people and I love to find out about their passion for the work they do. So let’s do it again. Joining us today is Dr. Clayne White. Dr. White is with Children’s Hospital of Colorado, which I know that one well. Dr. White is the Rose Brown Endowed Chair of Pediatric Orthopedics at Children’s Hospital. And today we’re going to learn more about the most common form of dwarfism, which impacts nearly 50,000 Americans. So hopefully after the interview, we will have a better understanding of achondroplasia, which is the most common form of dwarfism, and find out how Dr. White got involved in this area of expertise. Welcome, Dr. White.
SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome. Thank you. Good morning.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. So, hey, morning. So I have to think I’ve been doing news for 30 years, you know, the major networks all around the country on TV and radio. And I am familiar a little bit with dwarfism, but I didn’t even know the proper name for it. So I can imagine that the majority of, you know, people don’t understand dwarfism. that it’s not just being short per se. So there’s a lot of other impacts. There’s skeletal things to consider. Can you just kind of give us the lowdown on what is achondroplasia and how does it, in fact, impact a person’s life just beyond height?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, so achondroplasia, as you’ve already noted, is the most common form of dwarfism. It’s a short-limbed form of dwarfism. And it results from a change in one of the genes that mediates the growth of our arms and legs and, to a lesser extent, our spine. And so this genetic difference results in individuals growing to an average stature of about 4 feet 4 inches in men and just over 4 feet for women. So they are shorter than average, but for the most part live happy and productive lives. But because their arms and legs tend to be a little shorter, they often have to rely on adaptive equipment for activities such as driving, shopping, and other forms of self-care.
SPEAKER 03 :
you know i um my husband’s six foot six and obviously my kids are all tall and i’m like 4 11. so when you talk about adaptive things like even to get to the bottom of the washer i have to use a little grabber you know what i mean like because i’m just not as tall as they are so they’re constantly helping me get things change light bulbs reach out you know on top of things and i’m almost five like right around five feet so i can imagine that take another foot off me for the average woman then you’re really going to need to reach countertops, to reach your dishes, to, like me, get things out of the washing machine, the clothes. So what are some of the misconceptions of living with achondroplasia?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I mean, and maybe you’ll appreciate this a little bit to someone who’s a little bit on the shorter side. You’re not disabled because you’re short. You just have to make a combination.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
And so I think… The misconception is that just simply being short-statured is a significant disability, which it really isn’t. It’s the medical associations with achondroplasia that cause some of the problems that these individuals have to deal with.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, when you talk about some of the problems, I’m not familiar with the health complications. Are there health complications that are typically associated with it?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, there certainly are some unique health considerations for individuals with achondroplasia. So as infants, they can develop life-threatening spinal cord compression, which results in an increased incidence of sudden infant death syndrome. It’s as high as 7% in children with achondroplasia. Oh, my goodness. As they get older, they have other issues. I’m a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, so I have to deal with bowing of their legs and some spine differences. But they also can have ear infections and other issues. ENT-related problems. As they become adults, the real issue is around narrowing of their spinal canal, which can result in pinching of the nerves that leave the spine. And if this is left untreated, results in weakness and disability and often pain.
SPEAKER 03 :
But can be treated so that they don’t end up in that situation.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. So the treatment at this point is surgery. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, if a parent, caregiver, I mean, is there anything that they should know or consider if they have a child diagnosed with achondroplasia?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I mean, I think given certainly the issues with infancy and the significant health issues there, it’s imperative that these families establish care with someone who has some expertise in this condition. And not really someone, but a team of individuals, because it really does take a team to optimize their care. It’s really important that those team members reassure these families that while their child might be shorter than other children their age, that they can and will live a happy and active childhood. So yeah, those are the two most important issues that I see.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, in terms of your area of expertise, I was reading up on you a little bit. I am based in Denver, so I’m familiar with your hospital and I’ve done a couple of studies there, obviously not in your area of expertise, but been involved in studies on campus. There is such a great facility. It’s just massive. I know you worked in Seattle before. What gave you, you know, I always like to talk to people about like their passion for what they do. What got you interested in this area of medicine?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s a long and winding road, but, um, Really, ultimately, I had a daughter who had a skeletal difference, not achondroplasia, and I realized that really there weren’t a lot of experts in the area, and I knew I wanted to make a difference in terms of academic, you know, and knowledge, academic growth, knowledge growth, and it kind of pulled me to that area. And quite frankly, I just loved pediatrics, and it was a really great fit for me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. I always wonder how people choose, you know, their area of expertise, because like you said, at winding road, like, you know, with your daughter, you know, you can be a general practitioner, but if you’re someone like you, that there aren’t a lot of you in the world, people come to you when they have these issues and they need an expert. And I know that you’re a vice chair of orthopedics. Does that mean you also get to be involved in teaching? I understand you’re a professor. So do you get to work with other students?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so we are affiliated at Children’s Hospital Colorado with the University of Colorado. All of the physicians on staff there are faculty for the most part at the University of Colorado. So we have trainees. I will be honest, for us it’s fewer medical students, but we have residents and we have fellows who are specializing in orthopedics and then further in pediatric orthopedics.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I was kind of blown away. And again, just at the facility, but a different area. I was doing some kind of a study on preventing diabetes. And so I’m in this room and I’m doing like I was in the capsule where you’re in there for 24 hours and you stick your arm through a hole and they draw your blood and innovate. I couldn’t believe like how many people were like doing this study on me, right? So there’s like a PhD. There were two doctors. There are a couple of different nurses and obviously someone that was overseeing my diet because they give you a certain amount of food. And then every day you exercise for five minutes, for 10 minutes at a time. And I was like, oh my gosh, like where on earth would you get this many experts? Like I had my own team, like you’re talking about. And so you can see what a benefit it would be to a child and to parents to have a a team working with them of experts at that facility to figure out the right path forward for their child with achondroplasia. I mean, what a gift.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I very much rely on the team. I’m one member of the team. I work with special care pediatricians. I work with geneticists. I work with rehabilitation medicine specialists and the physical therapists. We have audiologists in our clinic. So it’s quite – it’s actually a really unique setup. There are very few centers in the country. We’re lucky here in Colorado to have such a robust team.
SPEAKER 03 :
So if you had, like, an issue, you would just, like, I’m not sure about this or I’ve never quite seen this. You can talk to the audiologist or, you know, another guy, another physician. Like, you can kind of just lean on them if you’re trying to, you know, problem solve.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, yeah. I mean, so, you know, we’re definitely a world-class – center in terms of pediatric health care. And there are experts in any field that you really need to know about, which is one of the primary reasons I decided to come to Colorado.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, my son, when he had surgery there, when we walked in, I was like, oh my gosh, it’s like the Ritz-Carlton of children’s hospitals in terms of like they have everything.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, Doc, where do we go to get more information?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, certainly you can go to Children’s Colorado. Our website has a robust educational website. a series of materials. Alternatively, patients can go to Little People of America at LPA online. And another great resource is risinglove.com, which is provided by our friends at Biomarin.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you so much, Dr. Clayne White. I learned a lot today. Thank you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
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