Navigating Leadership Styles and Public Service with Audrey Moran

[00:00:01] Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike's on Mic, a conversation about politics, government, and Jacksonville with 50-year opinion leaders Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, and award-winning broadcaster and longtime political observer, Mike Miller.

[00:00:17] Welcome to another episode of Mike's on Mic. I'm Mike Miller. Mike Hightower is with me in studio. Mike Tolbert's at his remote studio, and we're delighted to have you with us today, of course, brought to us by our friends at the Jacksonville History Center, where, of course, Dr. Alan Dukes,

[00:00:31] Bliss has been so supportive of us, and we want to thank the many donors who keep this program going and keep the lights on and the cameras rolling.

[00:00:38] Deciding how to introduce today's guest was really very difficult because there was so much to say about her, and to get it all in would actually take an entire podcast on itself.

[00:00:48] But then I thought that everyone already knows Audrey Moran. After all, she's been making a difference in Jacksonville now for 40 years since she's lived here,

[00:00:55] and that's why she received recently the Times Union's Eve Lifetime Achievement Award, named from Annalta Mama Williams,

[00:01:03] and most recently received the Leadership Jacksonville Frederick Schultz Award for Lifetime Achievement.

[00:01:09] An attorney and currently a judge ought to be ran the Salzbacher Center and was president of Baptist Health Foundation.

[00:01:15] She chaired the Dolores Barr Weaver Policy Center and is the past chair of the Jack's Chamber and the Downtown Development Authority.

[00:01:22] She was on the board of the DuPont Fund and has been a top aide to two mayors.

[00:01:26] The list goes on and on, and I have to throw this one thing in, which came to be by memory earlier this morning, Audrey.

[00:01:34] We're very fortunate that Audrey went into the law practice after she graduated first from Syracuse and then from Duke, I believe it was,

[00:01:42] where you got your degree for law.

[00:01:44] But what you may not know is that we could have seen Audrey Moran on one of our television stations doing weather if she had followed that career.

[00:01:55] That's right. I forgot about that. The weather. Audrey, the weather girl.

[00:01:58] Working for a fellow colleague of ours named George Banks at the time, I believe, when you guys were together.

[00:02:04] Isn't that right, Audrey? Am I memory correct?

[00:02:06] You are remembering it very well. George Banks was dating a sorority sister of mine, robbing the cradle, so to speak.

[00:02:17] And he was also the producer at the local television station in Syracuse, New York.

[00:02:22] And I ended up being a finalist for the weather girl job. He picked the other girl.

[00:02:27] Audrey Moran, your weather bunny. I could see it in headlines now.

[00:02:31] So we're delighted to have you with us, though, Audrey. Thank you so very much.

[00:02:35] And Mr. Height, or Mr. Tolbert, why don't you go ahead and kick it off for us?

[00:02:39] Glad to do so. And Audrey, thank you for being with us today. It really means a lot to the three of us.

[00:02:44] Before we get into those wonderful remarks that you've made when you received the Leadership Jacksonville Lifetime Achievement Award,

[00:02:52] share with us who has inspired you in your life and why.

[00:02:56] That's easy because the person who has inspired me most is Ed Austin.

[00:03:03] That's a name that's familiar to people of our generation, may not be as familiar to people of younger generations,

[00:03:09] but he was a true change agent for Jacksonville.

[00:03:13] He was general counsel for the city. He was state attorney.

[00:03:19] He was the elected public defender and then went on to become mayor.

[00:03:24] And I had a chance to work with him in two of his roles.

[00:03:28] One, as an assistant state attorney when he was the state attorney.

[00:03:31] And then when he was elected mayor, he asked me to come over to the mayor's office with him.

[00:03:35] To say he was a mentor and inspiration is simply an understatement

[00:03:39] because I've never known a person so committed to what is right,

[00:03:44] so committed to servant leadership, and so committed to this city.

[00:03:49] And watching him lead was a master class in how to be a leader.

[00:03:55] And I think about him every day. Our city misses him.

[00:03:59] And I'm not the only person who feels this way.

[00:04:02] I know there are scores of young people and older people like myself who count Ed Austin as an inspiration.

[00:04:09] Yeah, thank you for that.

[00:04:10] But, Audrey, as a disclaimer, when Ed was running for mayor, and Audrey, of course, was part of that campaign,

[00:04:17] Mike and I, Halbert, had a chance to work with that.

[00:04:20] And Audrey would remember this.

[00:04:22] There were a lot of things going on in that campaign, if you remember correctly, Audrey.

[00:04:26] And Ed just had this thing that I share with the emerging leaders was when he said,

[00:04:32] you're never wrong if you do the right thing for the right reason.

[00:04:35] And that was 1991, and I've never forgotten it.

[00:04:38] And I know that was one of the things I've heard you repeat time after time.

[00:04:42] Absolutely. He has so many famous quotes and inspirational sayings, but they came from his heart.

[00:04:49] They came from the fact that he truly believed in servant leadership.

[00:04:53] And so that authenticity, that integrity, wow, incredibly inspiring.

[00:04:59] Well, a couple things, Audrey.

[00:05:01] One, we're all so happy.

[00:05:04] Thanks for being here. We appreciate it.

[00:05:06] One of the things that wasn't mentioned by Mr. Miller here was that you were a founding member of a group called One Jacks,

[00:05:14] which was instrumental in stopping JEA and preventing the flawed giveaway of Lot J by the former administration.

[00:05:22] By disclaimer, poor Audrey, Mike Talbert and I were again with Audrey on that group.

[00:05:30] And thinking back, Audrey, as a founding member on that first time when you and I and Talbert and David Miller, Mike Ward got together,

[00:05:39] we came up with the four pillars.

[00:05:41] And if I remember them correctly, which I want to come back to why I'm asking you this,

[00:05:45] and you were in that room having that discussion.

[00:05:47] If I remember, it was integrity, transparency, accountability, and local government.

[00:05:54] Audrey, with all the things you had on your plate and all the things that you were helping Mike and I and the team with,

[00:06:01] what was your motivation for engaging us?

[00:06:03] And now four years later, how do you look back on that group, but what you did and why we did it?

[00:06:10] How do you view that?

[00:06:11] It's certainly not a me thing.

[00:06:13] It's a we thing, because it was a group of us that really decided that the JEA sale was corrupt.

[00:06:20] And we weren't going to stand for that kind of corruption in our city.

[00:06:23] And we really believed that if people knew the truth, they would speak up and speak out with us.

[00:06:28] And it worked.

[00:06:29] There was a lot of strategy behind what we did.

[00:06:35] But there was also this deep belief that when citizens have the knowledge they need about what's truly happening,

[00:06:42] they will activate and they will speak out and they will stand up for what is right.

[00:06:48] And that's what happened in Jacksonville.

[00:06:49] It was interesting because it was a little bit of David versus Goliath.

[00:06:55] It was just a small group of us trying to say that we've got to stop this.

[00:07:00] But it worked.

[00:07:02] And it really gave me so much hope in the power of civic activism.

[00:07:09] It's easy to say, oh, I can't make a difference.

[00:07:12] Oh, what I do doesn't really matter.

[00:07:14] What we did and what all the people who joined with us did really mattered.

[00:07:19] And I was talking with somebody the other day.

[00:07:21] One of the things that I think we did that was really smart is we lifted up our elected officials who were speaking out against the JEA sale.

[00:07:31] And lots of times it can be very lonely when you're an elected official and you're trying to have the courage to speak up and speak out against powerful people.

[00:07:39] But it can feel very lonely.

[00:07:41] And we decided we were going to bolster that, that we were going to say, hey, we're right with you.

[00:07:46] We've got your back.

[00:07:48] Go, go and applaud these people and say bravo.

[00:07:51] And that worked too.

[00:07:53] And the elected officials that did have the guts to speak up and speak out really appreciated the fact that our jacks had their back.

[00:08:01] And there's a real lesson in that for issues in the future that our city will face.

[00:08:06] And there will be issues that we face where it's going to require civic activism.

[00:08:11] Applaud your elected officials when they do the right thing.

[00:08:14] Yes.

[00:08:14] Applaud your elected officials when they have the courage to go against the grain because it's hard to do.

[00:08:21] Yeah.

[00:08:21] As a follow-up that we talked about the JEA, but also the flawed approach of Lot J.

[00:08:27] On that point, I can remember when we got reengaged.

[00:08:31] And one of the first things that you said just on your one point there is remember to that point when you and Talbert and David and all those were talking, you said let's engage.

[00:08:43] And it became the magnificent seven on the city council because of what we had done on the JEA.

[00:08:49] We were able to encourage them to do it just to your point.

[00:08:54] And I think what you just said needs to be heard by all members of our community, but especially our city council folks.

[00:09:01] They need to know that.

[00:09:03] It's their, as you said so many times, it's their accountability and responsibility as what you call public servants to do the right thing for the right reason, as Ed Austin said.

[00:09:14] Absolutely.

[00:09:14] What's interesting is the juxtaposition between the work our Jax did on JEA and the sale of JEA.

[00:09:21] That was an attack on, that was fighting corruption.

[00:09:24] It's plain and simple, fighting corruption.

[00:09:26] The Lot J deal was a little different because we needed to change the conversation.

[00:09:33] We needed to say, let's dream big as a city.

[00:09:36] There's nothing wrong with that.

[00:09:37] Let's dream big, but let's make sure we do our due diligence.

[00:09:41] That was simply about making sure we didn't rush into something that was going to be an enormous investment.

[00:09:47] And that due diligence was important.

[00:09:50] So Lot J was a little different in that we were saying, slow down.

[00:09:53] Let's take a really hard look at this.

[00:09:56] Let's make sure we get the best deal for the taxpayers.

[00:09:59] But let's still dream big.

[00:10:01] And Lot J is going to come back.

[00:10:02] Yeah.

[00:10:03] And I hope when it comes back as a deal that is well-vetted, thought out, and is a good investment for taxpayers.

[00:10:11] We'll see.

[00:10:12] In many ways, Audrey, your life has really been defined by the community service that you've provided.

[00:10:18] Where did that come from?

[00:10:19] Who was your inspiration for that?

[00:10:21] That would be my parents.

[00:10:22] When we were growing up, my father was a pioneer gerontologist.

[00:10:26] He set up programs for the elderly all around the United States, and that moved us across the United States many times.

[00:10:32] My mom was an operating room nurse.

[00:10:35] And they were very committed to their communities and very committed to instilling a sense of volunteerism in their children.

[00:10:43] And the idea that it was not only something that was a good idea to do, it was we had a responsibility to give back.

[00:10:50] And I really credit my parents for that.

[00:10:52] I watched them do it.

[00:10:53] They lived those words.

[00:10:54] They weren't just platitudes they told us.

[00:10:58] They lived it.

[00:10:58] After working hard all week, they would volunteer on the weekends.

[00:11:01] They would bring us along to be part of that.

[00:11:04] And you quickly learn when you volunteer.

[00:11:07] And I've never met a person who disagrees with this.

[00:11:09] You get more out of it than you give.

[00:11:12] And the feeling that comes from helping another person, there's nothing like it.

[00:11:16] I credit my parents.

[00:11:18] Have you and John instilled that into the kids?

[00:11:20] I sure hope so.

[00:11:22] I sure hope so.

[00:11:23] We still serve at Saltzbacher, usually on Easter and sometimes other holidays as well.

[00:11:29] Yeah.

[00:11:30] Their commitment to their communities is growing.

[00:11:32] It's something that I really love watching.

[00:11:34] Good, good.

[00:11:34] Thank you.

[00:11:35] That's great.

[00:11:36] Audrey, I want to change the subject and go back to where we started.

[00:11:39] And that is you receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from Leadership Jacksonville recently.

[00:11:44] And I want to talk about, ask about your remarks you made to that group there that day.

[00:11:50] You talked about we must lead with love.

[00:11:53] Can we show the video of that?

[00:11:56] Coming back in three, two, one, go.

[00:12:01] You talked about how to best lead.

[00:12:04] Would you expand on what you said that day and tell us, you know, we live in a contentious time, as I think you pointed out.

[00:12:11] It's raw right there.

[00:12:14] And we still do have some people who lead with love.

[00:12:18] But why is that so important?

[00:12:20] Why does that really matter to you?

[00:12:23] Yeah, I think I was thinking about the times that we're living in as I was preparing to give my talk.

[00:12:29] And sometimes it doesn't feel like there's a lot of love out there.

[00:12:33] And boy, oh boy, do we need it.

[00:12:35] We all need it.

[00:12:36] It doesn't matter if you're Democrat or Republican, left or right, conservative or liberal.

[00:12:42] Everyone needs to be treated with love and respect.

[00:12:46] Respect doesn't mean we always have to agree with each other.

[00:12:49] It doesn't mean we always have to have the exact same viewpoint.

[00:12:53] But it does mean we need to have mutual respect and kindness in order to move things forward.

[00:13:01] I feel like some of the stalemates we've reached in government, both at the local, state and national level, come from not hearing each other.

[00:13:10] Yeah.

[00:13:10] Come from refusing to listen to each other, from presuming we already know what someone's going to say.

[00:13:17] And when we lead with love, we take a deep breath.

[00:13:21] We pause.

[00:13:22] We give the other side a chance to talk.

[00:13:25] We try to listen.

[00:13:26] And we try to find common ground.

[00:13:29] And the ability to find common ground is clearly the key to a successful community in my book.

[00:13:36] Because you're never going to have everyone agree on everything.

[00:13:39] But there should be an ability to find common ground.

[00:13:43] And leading with love is a requirement for that.

[00:13:49] Totally agree.

[00:13:50] How do we find more people like you?

[00:13:54] I think there's lots of people like me out there.

[00:13:56] I really do.

[00:13:57] And what we have to do is encourage them to run for office, right?

[00:14:02] There's lots of people who wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and say,

[00:14:06] I would be a great mayor or I would be a great city council person.

[00:14:10] Maybe they would or maybe they wouldn't.

[00:14:12] But we all know people who would be a great mayor or a great city council person.

[00:14:17] And we need to encourage those people to lead.

[00:14:21] We need to tell them we'll have their back.

[00:14:23] We need to tell them we'll help them with their campaign.

[00:14:25] And then we need to support them when they get into office.

[00:14:28] That's how we're going to get leaders that lead with love.

[00:14:31] That's how we're going to make sure that we have leaders that are going to try to find common ground.

[00:14:36] The common ground piece, especially on the local level, is so critical.

[00:14:41] I've thought for a long time that we really need to stop having partisan local people.

[00:14:47] Elections.

[00:14:48] I think an old Mike Hightower saying is potholes don't have a party, right?

[00:14:54] And so on the local level, not having nonpartisan elections, I think, would go a long way to building bridges and finding common ground.

[00:15:03] The other thing we learned on one of the chamber trips, and this was the trip to Oklahoma City,

[00:15:09] was those mayors said, listen, we set a plan and we continue it.

[00:15:14] Even when mayors switch, the strategic plan for the city remains the same because our elections are nonpartisan.

[00:15:22] We don't throw out strategic plans just because someone else was mayor when it was put into place.

[00:15:27] We know it's the people's plan.

[00:15:29] And so if we want to make headway on it, we have to have consistency.

[00:15:33] And nonpartisan elections led to that consistency.

[00:15:36] So, boy, I tell you what, before I die, I'd love to see that happen in Jacksonville.

[00:15:41] I think it'd be great for our city.

[00:15:43] Absolutely.

[00:15:44] You talked about, one, leading with love, to talk about the compassion that you just talked about,

[00:15:50] but the part of coming together.

[00:15:52] Let's go back to 2011.

[00:15:55] 2011, all of us watched from the sidelines your run for mayor.

[00:15:59] We know your loss was difficult.

[00:16:01] It was a loss for so many of us, particularly as you now just so beautifully stated what good public servants should do

[00:16:11] and what their platform should do.

[00:16:14] Looking back 13 years, given everything that you've done, all the people that you've helped,

[00:16:22] how do you have regrets?

[00:16:25] And to the people who are watching this that sort of look up to you,

[00:16:28] what is your message for somebody who went into the arena, as Teddy Roosevelt said?

[00:16:34] Took the punches, took gut punches.

[00:16:37] And yet, in the 13 years from there, look at all that you have done.

[00:16:42] Share that.

[00:16:43] Share with us, if you don't mind, how that was and how you picked yourself up

[00:16:48] and have become the leader and the inspiration you are today.

[00:16:52] How'd you do that?

[00:16:53] With the love and support of my family and my friends and my colleagues at work,

[00:16:59] I was just surrounded by people who loved and cared about me, and I was never alone.

[00:17:05] So that's how you do anything, right, is with the love and support of people who care about you.

[00:17:10] I'm happy to report that I am so happy that I ran for mayor.

[00:17:15] I hated that I lost.

[00:17:17] Losing is terrible, and anyone who tells you that it's not is not telling you the truth.

[00:17:23] But it is livable.

[00:17:25] You do survive it.

[00:17:27] And when I started the race for mayor, I made a promise to myself that I was going to run a race that I'd be proud of.

[00:17:34] And that if I could do that, that I wouldn't have any regrets.

[00:17:39] And I'm happy to report that I did run a race that I was proud of.

[00:17:43] Not a perfect race, but a race that I was proud of.

[00:17:47] And I'm glad I did it.

[00:17:48] I met people from all over the city that I never would have met otherwise.

[00:17:51] I got to understand issues facing the city that I didn't fully understand before.

[00:17:57] And you use the word platform-like, and running for mayor for 20 months flat out, you build a platform, and you have a pulpit.

[00:18:07] And you can either decide to abandon that pulpit and go home and pull the covers up over your head and not venture out ever again.

[00:18:14] And there's some allure to that after a loss.

[00:18:18] Or you could say, I'm going to use this platform that I've built, and I'm going to try to do things that are good for our city.

[00:18:25] And so that's what I did with the help of many people.

[00:18:28] And the fact that I had spent a million dollars and people knew my name, that came with some credibility.

[00:18:36] And if you have some credibility, I think you've got an obligation to use it for good.

[00:18:41] And hopefully I've had a good chance to do that.

[00:18:42] Let me just, on two points, and I don't want to belabor this, but just picking up on this is just perfect.

[00:18:47] After that, talking about you picked yourself and you went forward, the two things that you have done for our community.

[00:18:54] One, you led this community and the business community for the human rights ordinance.

[00:19:00] And we were, what, one of 100 cities that had not done it?

[00:19:04] And it was through your leadership, tenacity.

[00:19:06] And let me tell you, for those who may not know Audrey, that is one tough lady.

[00:19:11] And I was going to use another word, but I'll just leave it at that.

[00:19:15] It brought people to you.

[00:19:16] But the other thing that Mike Tolbert and I have talked about and watched you is taking on our city council with the referendum and the school board.

[00:19:26] You just wouldn't, can you really quickly just talk about courage and taking on Goliath?

[00:19:33] You are on the point of both those things, Audrey.

[00:19:37] So let's talk about the school board and the tax referendum first.

[00:19:41] That was really, I was part of a legal team that was led by Hank Cox.

[00:19:46] Scott Cairns was on that.

[00:19:47] And when I saw Hank was getting involved in that issue, I called him up and I said, I want in.

[00:19:52] Let me in.

[00:19:53] Come on.

[00:19:54] I still have my law license.

[00:19:56] Let me in.

[00:19:56] I had just left my position at Baptist Health and this was a chance to get into the arena.

[00:20:02] And it was a fight worth fighting.

[00:20:05] And boy, it's good to be on the side of right because as people who lived in Jacksonville back then will remember, the city's position was shall meant may.

[00:20:15] The word shall really meant may.

[00:20:18] And they didn't have to put it on the school, on the ballot, on the referendum.

[00:20:21] We felt very strong in our legal argument that shall didn't mean may, that shall meant shall, took it to court.

[00:20:28] And I can remember Judge Wilkerson just being incredulous that anyone could argue that shall meant nay.

[00:20:36] And once we had the judge on our side, it was quick to resolve itself.

[00:20:41] The tax referendum was placed on the ballot and we were able to pass a sales tax to improve our public schools, which were in desperate need of funding.

[00:20:52] And so that's when being a lawyer is really fun.

[00:20:55] And I enjoyed that work very much on the human rights ordinance.

[00:21:00] Yeah, on the human rights ordinance.

[00:21:01] So that was, again, getting to use my platform.

[00:21:04] I decided that was what I was going to focus on as chair of the chamber because equality is good for business.

[00:21:11] Equality is good for the community.

[00:21:13] And I thought it was a sweet spot for the chamber.

[00:21:16] And a lot of good folks like yourself, Mike and others joined in, lobbied city council, attended all kinds of meetings.

[00:21:24] We didn't win the first go-round, but we won the next go-round.

[00:21:28] And that has changed our city forever.

[00:21:31] People don't even question the fact that we have a human rights ordinance now.

[00:21:35] Of course we do.

[00:21:36] People feel like we've had it forever.

[00:21:38] We haven't.

[00:21:39] But it is something that was worth fighting for.

[00:21:42] Again, having the opportunity to use a platform that was offered to me to help push that through was a lot of work.

[00:21:50] But I must also say it was a lot of fun.

[00:21:53] Thank you.

[00:21:54] What a neat way to take from a platform, a loss, and then turn around two things that changed our city for generations to come.

[00:22:05] Thanks.

[00:22:06] You served as top aides, of course, to Mayor Austin as well as John Delaney.

[00:22:11] In fact, again, transparency.

[00:22:12] This is how Audrey and I met 13 years ago, as a matter of fact, because I had just started at the JEDC working for Mike Weinstein.

[00:22:20] And when Weinstein went to take over the Super Bowl, they needed a babysitter.

[00:22:24] So Audrey came over to take over the JEDC, but only for a very short time.

[00:22:30] We were only there for a couple of months before all of a sudden John calls, Delaney calls, and says to Audrey,

[00:22:36] Audrey, I just lost my chief of staff.

[00:22:38] Would you come over?

[00:22:40] And this fine lady did the finest thing that changed my life, basically, to be honest with you.

[00:22:46] And that is, I'll be happy to, but I'm bringing Mike Miller with me.

[00:22:49] And then I was able to go with her over to the mayor's office to be the liaison to city council.

[00:22:55] So I'm forever grateful for that, Audrey, because you paved the way for me,

[00:22:59] and there's not a better way I could have gone from broadcasting into public service than with your guidance and your mentorship.

[00:23:06] So I appreciate that very much.

[00:23:08] You were the right person for the job.

[00:23:10] I was just so happy you said yes.

[00:23:12] Thank you.

[00:23:13] Thank you very much.

[00:23:13] The Audrey Moran list just grows and grows.

[00:23:16] Yeah, it does.

[00:23:16] There is no end to it.

[00:23:18] Hopefully there never will be.

[00:23:19] No.

[00:23:19] Tell us what it was like, though, for working with those two guys and how they differed.

[00:23:24] I know they were good friends.

[00:23:26] I know they worked together as well before both of them were mayor.

[00:23:29] But tell us how the city hall was different between Ed and John.

[00:23:34] I'm going to be listening to you.

[00:23:36] So will John.

[00:23:38] She's more afraid of Ed than John.

[00:23:41] There's a lot of similarities, right?

[00:23:43] Both people of incredible integrity, high ethics, a core of servant leadership.

[00:23:48] So a lot of similarities between the two.

[00:23:51] But it was different.

[00:23:52] I will tell you that Ed never shot away from a fight.

[00:23:56] He actually enjoyed a good fight and savored it a little bit.

[00:24:01] It would sometimes encourage it along a little bit.

[00:24:04] And that was fun.

[00:24:05] And if you were in a fight, he always had your back.

[00:24:08] There was no question.

[00:24:09] If you were in a fight, he had your back.

[00:24:12] But Ed never shot away from a fight.

[00:24:14] Didn't.

[00:24:14] Was not much of a mediator.

[00:24:16] He would make a stand and stick to it.

[00:24:19] And so that was his leadership style in that regard.

[00:24:22] John, on the other hand, lives by the motto of keep your enemy, your friends close and

[00:24:26] your enemies closer.

[00:24:27] And he was always looking for ways to mediate conflict.

[00:24:31] And many times that was the right call.

[00:24:34] But I'll tell you a funny story I was thinking about the other day.

[00:24:37] He and I were in his car driving to some event.

[00:24:40] I'm his chief of staff.

[00:24:41] He's the mayor.

[00:24:42] And I am just venting because there had been some big blow up with the city council.

[00:24:48] Somebody hadn't voted the way they promised us to.

[00:24:50] And I was just on fire.

[00:24:53] And I was laying out what we needed to do, how we needed to go ahead and get retribution

[00:24:57] on this.

[00:24:58] Not exactly leading with love, but this is what I was laying out.

[00:25:03] Tough love.

[00:25:04] Tough love.

[00:25:04] What we needed to do.

[00:25:06] And John, listen to me.

[00:25:07] We've got to take action.

[00:25:08] We've got to show them who's boss.

[00:25:11] And John listened and looked over and nodded me and said, Audrey, I just don't think that's

[00:25:17] the way to go.

[00:25:17] I think we need to work it out with him.

[00:25:20] And I looked at him and I had a big sigh.

[00:25:23] And I said, John, I got to tell you, it is incredibly difficult working for Jesus.

[00:25:36] I hope I wasn't.

[00:25:39] Some bosses might not have laughed, but he laughed.

[00:25:42] I hope I wasn't the reason there was the mix up in city council.

[00:25:45] I was your liaison to the city council.

[00:25:48] That wasn't my fault, was it?

[00:25:49] I hope not.

[00:25:50] I don't think so.

[00:25:51] There's got to be a follow-up question.

[00:25:53] What did he say, knowing since both of you are such great Catholics, what was the response

[00:25:59] to that?

[00:26:00] Amen.

[00:26:01] He actually pulled over to the side of the road.

[00:26:03] He was laughing so hard.

[00:26:05] Yeah.

[00:26:06] Audrey, you're one of the few people that could get away with that with John Delaney.

[00:26:10] Probably so.

[00:26:11] Probably so.

[00:26:11] Yeah.

[00:26:12] I don't know how to follow this.

[00:26:17] I, too, want to reach back into the bag of nostalgia and recall the first time I met you in 1991

[00:26:24] in the beginning of the Ed Austin campaign.

[00:26:28] And Ed had made you his chief scheduler, which in those days, and I guess probably to this day,

[00:26:35] I always thought was a very often overlooked job.

[00:26:39] And I recall that it bothered me that you were gone a lot, that you left the campaign to go take care of your kids

[00:26:48] and go do stuff with your kids.

[00:26:51] And that used to get under my crawl.

[00:26:53] And I think we may have had words about it, I'm sure, at some point.

[00:26:56] We did.

[00:26:56] We did.

[00:26:57] Gosh, I find that difficult to talk, Talbert, would you have words?

[00:27:04] In looking at, in reading about your speech to Leadership Jacksonville, I saw that your son was in a video.

[00:27:12] And one of the things he remarked was, the children didn't even know you had a job out of the house.

[00:27:20] You were present so much in their lives.

[00:27:22] Tell us about family.

[00:27:25] What's the value of family to you?

[00:27:28] Why are you like that?

[00:27:30] The Moran clan.

[00:27:31] The Moran clan.

[00:27:33] Yeah, there's nothing more important.

[00:27:35] I have four wonderful children.

[00:27:37] They're grown, two grandchildren.

[00:27:39] My husband and I have been partners now for 44 years.

[00:27:42] I'm the luckiest person I know when it comes to family.

[00:27:45] And that takes work.

[00:27:47] It doesn't happen by accident.

[00:27:49] I had a very, my husband, very hands-on father.

[00:27:52] That allowed me to have a career as well.

[00:27:55] And I just am so grateful every single day for the family that I have.

[00:28:00] The ability to have a family and work also comes from who your boss is, right?

[00:28:05] And so you all have asked me about Ed Austin and John Delaney.

[00:28:09] And they were very clear to me when I worked for both of them that family first.

[00:28:14] And if you've got a family commitment, go ahead and make sure you follow through on that.

[00:28:20] Now, that might mean staying up really late at night to get your work done or coming in early the next morning or coming in on a Saturday or a Sunday or both.

[00:28:27] But if you need to be at that soccer game, go to it.

[00:28:30] If it's your turn to work the snack bar at the baseball game, follow through on that commitment.

[00:28:36] And their support in that, their support in working and having a family is the reason I could do it.

[00:28:43] And I can remember I got that question when I was running for mayor.

[00:28:46] How do you balance work and family and how do you do that?

[00:28:50] And I can remember texting John and Ed, and that's when Ed was still alive, and saying,

[00:28:59] I don't know that I've ever told you thank you for the ability to let me be a mom and have a wonderful career.

[00:29:05] Because it was support that allowed me to do that.

[00:29:09] That's great.

[00:29:10] That's beautiful.

[00:29:11] We could go on forever, but time is getting short, I'm afraid.

[00:29:13] And this would have to be our final question, Audrey.

[00:29:16] Hightower is in his Emerging Leaders group.

[00:29:19] You've spoken there a number of times.

[00:29:21] Seven times.

[00:29:23] Unfortunately, he will not let me in to watch what goes on there, though I've begged him time and time again every time they meet.

[00:29:30] But what's your advice, and what did you tell the emerging leaders as far as if they wish to follow into your footsteps

[00:29:37] and become real servant and community leaders like yourself?

[00:29:40] What advice would you give them in order to start that path, if you will?

[00:29:44] Well, they've already started on that path if they've made the Hightower Fellows,

[00:29:48] because you have to have some record already of some leadership in the community or some difference-making in the community.

[00:29:56] And so they're on that path already.

[00:29:57] So their bent is that way, which is great.

[00:30:00] But what I usually say is when opportunities present themselves, say yes if you can.

[00:30:08] If it's immoral, illegal, or unethical, say no.

[00:30:12] But if it's not one of those three things, say yes, because you never know where an opportunity is going to lead.

[00:30:19] Doors have opened for me that I never dreamt I would be on the journey that it set me on.

[00:30:25] And being able to have the courage to say yes, being able to have the openness to say yes to opportunities,

[00:30:31] is a good thing, whether it is in your volunteer life, your community life, your work life, your home life.

[00:30:38] Say yes.

[00:30:39] Can I just add one thing real quick?

[00:30:41] It goes back to family.

[00:30:42] No.

[00:30:43] After.

[00:30:44] We talked about Jack.

[00:30:45] For all of us are parents.

[00:30:47] Jack was in class seven of the emerging leaders.

[00:30:52] And I have to tell all you dads, Jack introduced his mom at his class when she was a speaker.

[00:31:03] And I will tell you, as a parent, it was the one thing you would want your child to do.

[00:31:08] Just real quick, how was it having your child introduce you to this?

[00:31:15] It was the most beautiful thing I ever – if you remember, I said nothing.

[00:31:19] It was with a few times I said nothing.

[00:31:21] You're kidding.

[00:31:22] Honest to God, I even said, I can't go there.

[00:31:25] Scott's heart go down.

[00:31:26] Were you pleased when you were doing the production?

[00:31:29] What was that like?

[00:31:32] It was so overwhelming to have your child speak from their heart about their thoughts

[00:31:38] about you as a parent, as a mother, as a leader.

[00:31:41] It was overwhelming and it was incredibly beautiful.

[00:31:45] Thank you.

[00:31:46] Very good.

[00:31:46] Thank you again, Audrey, so very much for being here.

[00:31:49] Thank you for everything you've done.

[00:31:49] Great to be with you all.

[00:31:51] Thank you.

[00:31:51] Thank you for your friendship.

[00:31:53] Yes.

[00:31:54] And mentorship.

[00:31:55] In my case, thank you.

[00:31:56] That's going to do it for this episode of Mike's on Mike.

[00:31:59] And thank you all for joining us.

[00:32:00] And once again, our thanks to the Jacksonville History Center for their sponsorship of our

[00:32:04] program and to the donors who keep us going.

[00:32:07] Next week, all the news organizations are looking back at 2024.

[00:32:12] What was good?

[00:32:12] What was bad?

[00:32:13] What was this?

[00:32:14] What was that?

[00:32:14] Next week, we're going to look ahead to 2025 and talk a little bit about what our observations

[00:32:20] and our perceptions and our insights are for the coming year.

[00:32:24] We hope you'll join us.

[00:32:25] Thanks again for joining us and you take care, everybody.

[00:32:27] Have a great holiday and a happy and healthy new year.

[00:32:32] Thank you all.

[00:32:32] Mike's on Mike with Mike Tolbert, Mike Hightower, and Mike Miller can be found on your favorite

[00:32:38] podcasting platform, Facebook and YouTube.

[00:32:41] Visit the website at Mike's on Mike dot com.

[00:32:44] Join us next time for more conversation with Mike's on Mike.

[00:32:51] Mike.