Shownotes
This episode highlights challenges like the aging workforce, transient populations, and lack of child care workers in Midland County. What innovative solutions can communities implement to address similar workforce issues?
Kenneth Wilson welcomes Bridgette Gransden, the County Administrator for Midland County, Michigan. They discuss Dow's significant Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, including a summit featuring Magic Johnson, and reflect on Bridgette's illustrious career in local government.
They explore the challenges and triumphs of public service, the vital role of positive leadership, and the strategies for managing relationships effectively. Plus, get ready for some personal anecdotes, light-hearted humor, and a lightning round of fun questions.
Also find out how Bridgette and Kenneth turned personal growth and shifting priorities into powerful public service careers.
Key Moments
00:00 Discovered passion for local government career.
10:09 "I prioritized high-paying careers for material gain."
16:08 Encouraging self-reflection through questioning for solutions.
19:28 Housing challenges hinder recruitment and community success.
23:20 Repairing dams with $140M aid, legal concerns.
29:34 Reflection and vulnerability are essential in leadership.
34:55 Struggling well to enhance well-being through positivity.
41:14 Be curious, not judgmental; ask questions instead.
46:53 Bought sweatshirt, spa massage, overpriced gift shop.
52:30 Creating a psychologically safe environment for feedback.
55:35 Boring county administrator stereotype challenges true personality.
Top Takeaways
1. DEI Efforts at Dow: Bridgette shares the impactful initiatives of Dow's SOAR program, including hosting a DEI summit with Magic Johnson as the keynote speaker.
2. Educational Journeys & Public Service: Kenneth and Bridgette reflect on their academic paths and evolving career motivations—from Kenneth's shift from sciences to public affairs and law, to Bridgette’s transition from seeking financial gain to finding passion in local government.
3. Leadership Challenges: Bridgette candidly discusses the complexities of her role, emphasizing relationship management, handling criticism, and the importance of proactive communication.
4. Community Challenges & Strategic Planning: Explore Midland County's strategic efforts in addressing housing shortages, workforce aging, and transient populations. Discover the county’s community vision: "Together, forward, Bold, Midland County: An inclusive community where everyone thrives.”
5. Personal Insights & Humorous Moments: Gain insight into Kenneth's love for "2 and a Half Men," chicken wings, and red velvet cake. Enjoy a humorous debate on whether vegetarians should eat animal crackers.
6. Resilience & Well-being: Bridgette shares her well-being philosophy of "struggling well and functioning effectively," utilizing positivity and character strengths. Discover the Midland Well-being Coalition's initiatives to integrate well-being into community culture.
7. Handling Crises: Learn about Midland County's response to the 2020 dam failures and the county’s continuous efforts to rebuild and manage the dams with the Four Lakes Task Force.
talkofthecounty@franklincountyohio.gov
Copyright 2025 Franklin County Board of Commissioners
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Transcripts
We are here for the 4th, episode of Talk of the County live at NACO, the National Association of Counties annual meeting in Hillsborough County, Florida. And I'm here with a colleague of mine who has a lot of personality. I've learned as we've talked as members of the National Association of County Administrators, Bridgette Gransden of Midland County, Michigan, the home of Dow Chemical. Yeah. That's gotta be kind of a a thing with having a chemical plant being a is that the largest employer before Well kick your thing?
Bridgette Gransden [:You know what? That it well, first off, thanks for having me, Ken, on your podcast. I would say that Dow used to be the largest employer. So they gosh, I think it's probably been 6 or 7 years ago now. They had a merger with DuPont and then they split that comp the the the large company into 3. So the out of that came Corteva, which was the ag division, the agricultural division of Dow and DuPont. And then, DuPont came a separate DuPont came out of that and then Dow, what we would call heritage Dow. So it's not we don't the company full company name isn't Dow Chemical anymore. It's just Dow.
Bridgette Gransden [:Dow. But with that split, the largest employer in the community actually became the health system. So our nonprofit hospital is actually the largest employer in the county now.
Kenneth Wilson [:That's the case in many communities. Health care
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Health care takes up a whole lot of real estate. And you think, people would be in better shape health wise with You to take into account the number of health care facilities.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. Well, I mean, that being said, Dow certainly and the other companies still play a huge part in investing back into the Midland community. We just recently hosted, I wanna say, the 4th or 5th anniversary of the what's called the Dow Championship, which is an LPGA tournament. It was very well attended, and we had a a great time.
Kenneth Wilson [:So give me, some background on how did you become to be county administrator. County administrator is not the thing you say that you wanna be when you're 6 years old. Even though I met a young man that came to shadow me, he was a a teen when he said he learned he wanted to be a county administrator. And it was the weirdest thing. I'm like, you wanted to be a what? How did you even know what a county administrator did? And he shadowed me and he, he, you know, acted like I was a rock star.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, that's awesome. You are a rock star. Oh. It's good to hey, it's good to be, the the, you know, Superman role model in someone's life. So that's awesome. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:I'm
Bridgette Gransden [:so cool. You know, I would say I didn't necessarily wanna be that when I was a young person. I've always been when I was 6, I probably wanted to be a veterinarian. But don't all young girls wanna help animals? I went to school for accounting. Trained, formally trained accountant. Went into public accounting. When I was in public accounting, I did mostly audits of local governments, nonprofits, school districts. So I really liked governmental accounting and for any accountants that are listening.
Bridgette Gransden [:I mean, it's very different than regular corporate accounting. Right?
Kenneth Wilson [:Right.
Bridgette Gransden [:So I loved that, and I loved auditing because I like puzzles. I love to solve puzzles, and I felt like that's what auditing was. But about 3 years into it, I knew I was gonna wanna do something else, and the finance director's position opened at Midland County, which was right in my back backyard pretty much. My public accounting gig was in another county. I had to drive a little bit. So I applied and, I didn't get it. I got a rejection letter. And, a week later 2 weeks later, I got a call from the administrator and he said, well, the person we offered the position to wasn't interested really.
Bridgette Gransden [:She just wanted to use it for leverage and Faith. Yeah. And so at 25, I was finance director for Midland County and supervising 6 people. And for all intents and purposes, that position in Midland County is like the deputy administrative controller. So I did that for 15 years. I wasn't sure I really even wanted to do this job. I put my hat in the ring and and they offered me the job. I gotta tell you, I was really unsure of myself the first few months.
Bridgette Gransden [:And about 7 months into the position, I was at a meeting where I felt like if it hadn't been for the connections and the negotiating that I did with the people in the room, the end result for the project wouldn't happen. And I walked back to the office and I said to one of my department heads, hey, you know, when we talked about, you know, a few months back, I wasn't sure about this role. And he said, yep. I said, I'm meant to be here. I've I found this is my passion. This is what I wanna do. And when I talk to people in the college kids, at my alma mater, I say, if someone had ever told me that I would find my career and passion in local government, accounting or local government, I would have told them they were crazy. And and where is and where is your alma mater? In Midland, Northwood University.
Bridgette Gransden [:Crazy.
Kenneth Wilson [:And and where is and where is your alma mater?
Bridgette Gransden [:In Midland, Northwood University. Northwood University. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:They they have a pretty decent basketball program, don't they?
Bridgette Gransden [:They do. Yep. They do. And they have an amazing auto show every year. So if you ever wanna take a little drive.
Kenneth Wilson [:I love cars. Don't say auto show.
Bridgette Gransden [:It is the big it's one of the biggest auto shows.
Kenneth Wilson [:I love cars, trucks, SUVs.
Bridgette Gransden [:Even better is
Kenneth Wilson [:Rims. I like everything about a car.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, even better, it's always in the fall and campus is beautiful in the fall. So I will make sure to send you all that information so you can who else should
Kenneth Wilson [:I send it to? Native.
Bridgette Gransden [:Should I send it to Chris so she and these ladies can encourage you to come up? Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:I need to I need to I need to need to check that out because I'm I'm definitely a car guy. Yeah. I love car. Native? I'm a Michigan native. Where from? Muskegon.
Bridgette Gransden [:Alright. It's a nice area.
Kenneth Wilson [:Looked at looked at Lake Michigan too many times in my life. I've I I need I got I pay money and travel places to see water in different places and don't go back to my hometown to look at Lake Michigan.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. We got fresh water, buddy.
Kenneth Wilson [:You know, be people, like, dig that, you know, the beach and
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Great parks. I didn't I didn't have an appreciation for it. I guess I took it all for granted.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Well, you know, it's like anything
Kenneth Wilson [:state after leaving there.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, yeah. Michigan state. Okay. Yeah. Great school. Great school.
Kenneth Wilson [:So Spartan's Wheel podcast, Spartan's Wheel. It's
Bridgette Gransden [:so funny you say that because, at the LPGA, the Dow Championship, Dow incorporates, what is called their SOAR program. It's really their DEI program into the event and they host, a DEI summit and their keynote speaker was Magic Johnson.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. Oh, he Way, way, way, way, way
Bridgette Gransden [:He is good.
Kenneth Wilson [:Way, way, way, way, way back, I was in a minority apprenticeship program with Michigan State, and it was a a program where you reported, a couple months before the falls.
Bridgette Gransden [:Okay. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Term so they were quarters then.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:And, Dow was a big recruiter. Oh, yeah. Dow was, they had numerous people speaking to us about, you know, going into the particular majors
Bridgette Gransden [:Mhmm.
Kenneth Wilson [:And upon graduation And what was your name? Coming to work for Dow. American Public Affairs Okay. With an emphasis of Metropolitan Studies. I started off, in that program because I was recruited into it. Nice. And they Nice. And I was, into the sciences. So Mhmm.
Kenneth Wilson [:Mhmm. Ultimately, I went into James Madison and was in
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:You know, into the whole pre law track and got accepted to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern and thought I was gonna be the next power attorney, and, you know, be in the courtroom dressed to the nines and litigating.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:But, I had a adviser who said, you should get a master's first and then get your JD. And that's the rest of the story. Didn't got tired of backpacks and after I finished my master's at Ohio University, I'm like You're done. I'm done. I'm I'm done. So I got an incomplete. They're gonna put an incomplete on my obituary that I didn't get that, law degree.
Bridgette Gransden [:Only if you keep telling people.
Kenneth Wilson [:I I'm I'm transparent like that.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Here's the thing I find. Like, you know, when I say to those college kids, if someone had told me that I was gonna be finding my passion and really making a difference in in local government, I would have told them they were crazy because when I was I mean, our our values and priorities change. Right? What we want changes. Like I would have said, oh, no. I'm gonna move to New York. I'm gonna make a bunch of money. And
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. You changed majors a lot. I
Bridgette Gransden [:didn't have value besides that.
Kenneth Wilson [:I was a shallow young man though. Well, you're you're normal. I was shallow. I was a very talk to the county listeners. I confess, I was a shallow young man in the fact that I wanted whatever major that would compensate well is what I was seeking. Yeah. I was like, doctor, lawyer, which which door I picked? Door number 1 or door number 2? Because I wanna have nice things. And and it was kinda like parental to, like, if we're gonna pay for your education, you need to get a job that pays some.
Kenneth Wilson [:You need a major that pays some. So that limited, you know, what I could come home and say I was gonna do. And I just slid into James Madison because I could slide in there and get a degree in, American Public Affairs and Metropolitan Studies and have business as my cognizant because I said I said Do
Bridgette Gransden [:you do you do
Kenneth Wilson [:you do you do that right? A high percentage of their graduates actually go on to law school
Bridgette Gransden [:Mhmm.
Kenneth Wilson [:Or they go into, the public, the public service or they go in, you know, all of these different fields. Yeah. So that got me under the wire to not have, you know, folks saying, you you did you're gonna be end up to having a job that don't do nothing. So I was shallow. I was like, the last thing I want is a little house with a picket fence. You know, I want big things. So
Bridgette Gransden [:So were you a good student?
Kenneth Wilson [:Yes. Because I I was good enough.
Bridgette Gransden [:I was a great student.
Kenneth Wilson [:I was good enough because I was good enough because I was not gonna be that kid that people whisper about. Yeah. They went out. They ain't make it. They flunked on out. Now they now they back at home. That was not gonna be that kid. That was my motivation that, no, I was not gonna be the kid that show back up and had a had a had a lady in the church.
Bridgette Gransden [:You know, he's
Kenneth Wilson [:locked out. Right?
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, look He probably
Kenneth Wilson [:was partying too much. That was not gonna be it.
Bridgette Gransden [:You were not the only shallow student. I was a fabulous student. I graduated valedictorian in my college class. If I could've made any money being a student the rest of my life, I would have. I needed to make money. I wanted to make money, and I But I And I loved school. Like we wanna do the things we're good at, right, and that we're but I knew that couldn't happen. So, dude, you're not the only one.
Kenneth Wilson [:You know, me with the not now, you know, all of these years in public service and and and and just wanting to help.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yes.
Kenneth Wilson [:Want to elevate people, want to, you know, talk about equity, talking about everybody having that opportunity to do well and fit. I grew into this person from that very shallow individual that was only focused on Kenneth Wilson's future prosperity at that time.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, it has a different kind
Kenneth Wilson [:of pay. Involved.
Bridgette Gransden [:That's all. It's just a different kind of pay day.
Kenneth Wilson [:So I'm proud of myself. Yeah. You should be. Involved.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. You should be. That's great.
Kenneth Wilson [:I'm humble. I I also wake up and say that to myself each day too.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Well, you know, we as part of our job, right, in in local government is really trying to take a look at what we're doing in a community not just to improve quality of life, but how are we taking care of? How can we take care of? How can we lift up those folks who can't do that for themselves right now until they can?
Kenneth Wilson [:It yeah. And if I wasn't humble in our jobs Yeah. You would the kind of things that'll happen to you
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Will humble you. Mhmm.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to be in these roles without a target on your back for real long. So if you can manage it, then you're doing something right. You
Kenneth Wilson [:dealt with days when, you know, going through this process and the things you the diversity, you was like, I feel like I was 6 foot walking in the door. Now I'm 61 and my shoe size dropped 2 sizes.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Yeah. Just from It's humbling.
Kenneth Wilson [:The drama.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Well Other people's drama, you
Bridgette Gransden [:know. Well
Kenneth Wilson [:The drama manager.
Bridgette Gransden [:That is what you are.
Kenneth Wilson [:We do a lot of that.
Bridgette Gransden [:You're that and really success and I always say success in this job is about a couple things. And I tell my kids that all the time and young people that success is really about 50% skill and knowledge and the other 50% is all relationships and how you manage them.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. I don't know if it's if if it's age and my nerves have been numb, but I can multitask in my head multiple problems at the same time and I get queasy. Well, I used to get queasy and, like, you know,
Bridgette Gransden [:this one Catch up at night.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. Mhmm.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Well, you know, the minute you can start mastering how to tell the right story because it's really all it is. Right? You were you see your diplomacy skills were already honed. You started this by saying, your colleague with a lot of personality, that was a beautifully diplomatic way to say that I'm sort of extra. And you know what? Thank you. Thank you. But it is about storytelling. Right? Right.
Bridgette Gransden [:Because you have to make you know, you have to be able to engage your elected commissioners and elected officials in a way that if they wanna kinda run off the range a little bit and do their own thing that, you know, you can say, well, this is what I wanna do, but and here would be the result. You know, this is what you wanna do. How do you think that looks when it's over? Because if you position it that way, I'm not telling a commissioner
Kenneth Wilson [:What to do.
Bridgette Gransden [:Hey, this is what it's gonna look like when we go down this path with your terrible idea. This is this is what if we do your if we do this plan, how do you think that looks? And and really, I'm being facetious, but I'm not.
Kenneth Wilson [:No. You you you're giving us a real life example about you, ma'am.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, because if I turn it around and look, I have actually a great board. I don't have to do that very often. In 30 years, I've had to do it on occasion, but not not right now. But if you what did I just do? I turned it around so that person has to actually start the thought process of what their plan or idea looks like when implementation is through. Because the minute that because I didn't give them the answer. What does that look like when we do what you wanna do? Have you thought about and if they start to answer, then we can start doing a little bit more questioning and it still gets them thinking. But if they don't answer, that's an answer. Right? If they can't come up with an answer, that's an answer.
Kenneth Wilson [:That's an answer. So the only is there anything that keep you up at night as a county administrator for, Midland County, Michigan? Is there do you have growth issues? Do you have concerns? Or do you have age and demographics? What what what is
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, yes. All the above. So, our employee base is fairly tenured, right? So, I mean, I've been there 30 years. So I can, as you can imagine, there's there have been a lot of and I've been in this role 15. So there have been a lot of my department heads that have retired before me that I've had to, you know, recruit and fill those positions. And the workforce is just becoming more transient. Right? So when you have global companies in your backyard, you end up with a little bit more transient population.
Kenneth Wilson [:Went home and didn't wanna come back.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. That happened too.
Kenneth Wilson [:They're just like, I'm not going back anymore.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. But, you know, we have one of the biggest issues and we've talked a little bit a little bit about it today and the topics we had in our idea exchange for the county administrators in at the conference here. And childcare is 1. We have a lot of we have plenty of licensed childcare facilities, but we don't have anybody who we don't have enough people to work in them. So they could take more you more small humans into the into their care, but we don't have enough workers. And And
Kenneth Wilson [:then we then the system doesn't pay them enough
Bridgette Gransden [:Right.
Kenneth Wilson [:For what the value of the work they do.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. And so and there are just fewer people in the workforce that wanna work. Right? And then the other one of the other biggest issues is housing. We just do not have enough housing stock in Midland County. So the population of Midland is just under 85,000 of the whole county. The city of Midland is the largest local government inside the county, and it is about half of that, the population. Okay? So the other local units of government are 16 townships, 1 village, and another small city. So that makes up the balance of the other 40 some thousand people.
Bridgette Gransden [:The in last month, at any given time, the maximum amount of homes available for purchase in Midland County was just under a 100.
Kenneth Wilson [:That's a tight market?
Bridgette Gransden [:It is. That's very tight. So when you have global companies and, you know, large employers, whether they're a non profit hospital who's trying to recruit doctors, and a low local government who's trying to recruit professional positions and corporations that are trying to recruit, it's difficult to bring people in and say, hey. Come live here if and come work for us, if they can't find a place to live. So that is one of the things that, you know, as a group, as a group of community leaders, we have a a body we call community success panel, which is made up of business, agriculture, nonprofit, local government. And we have set community, strategy around a lot of these, key performance, key key focus areas that we think will impact or can impact for a for the long term sustainability and for our community and also impact the ability of our residents to thrive, which is our community vision statement that we established about 10 years ago now, back in 2014. We had a community, strategic planning session for lack of a better better description. And, we came up with, community vision statement, which is together, forward, bold, Midland County, an inclusive community where everyone thrives.
Bridgette Gransden [:So that is kind of what we use as a basis for a lot of the things that we look at, implementing as far as new programming or, areas that we really wanna try as an as a group of invested individuals and organizations. How do we make an impact and move the bar in those areas?
Kenneth Wilson [:That's a good that's a great thing. Yeah. Whether you like salty snacks or sugary sweets. Right? That is all good. Right. Like, I wanna I wanna go to Midland. Yeah. Midland is
Bridgette Gransden [:As far as the other thing that keeps me up at night, which is more tangible, which is related just to county government, is back in 2020, about 3 months into a global pandemic, we had a historic flood and 2 dams failed. So, as public information officer, I was doing a lot of press conferences, because we actually, in less than 24 hours, had to evacuate about 11,000 people. From Wixom Lake, which is just at the edge of Gladwin County, which is just north of us Mhmm. And borders Midland, 2.9 trillion gallons of water emptied out of Wixom Wixom Lake through the Tittabawassee River into downstream to Sanford Lake when the Edenville dam broke on Wixom and then proceeded to come down and breach Sanford Dam, and Sanford Dam is in Midland County.
Kenneth Wilson [:Wow.
Bridgette Gransden [:So the whole village of Sanford was really wiped out. And, to the credit of our first responders and our emergency management crew and everybody that was in the EOC, nobody was hurt. Nobody died.
Kenneth Wilson [:So you had you in real life, you experienced what emergency management is planned for. Yes. And they have exercises.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yes. And we actually this
Kenneth Wilson [:major dam breaks.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, on the dams are were privately owned. And we actually exercised this scenario the previous September. And, there there's a long history with this property with the dam owner who has now filed bankruptcy. But we really and we were in the process of starting to purchase the dams.
Kenneth Wilson [:I don't make money off a dam.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, you don't. That's why when bank that's
Kenneth Wilson [:for that. You can't make money off of a dam on owning a dam.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Well, you can if they're you can if they're, power generating dams. Okay.
Kenneth Wilson [:Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:2 out of the 4 in the in the whole system were the 2 that broke. But we were in the process of taking trying to purchase those and take ownership of those just for the benefit of the residents. Right? So that we wouldn't have to worry about what happened with a private owner. Yeah. And now we have, Midland and Clavin County counties have we work we have a contract together with a nonprofit called 4 Lakes Task Force. They are what we call our designated authority, and and we have been working with them to basically establish a special assessment district that helps pay for the operation and maintenance of the dam and the repairs. We have lobbied the state of Michigan government and the federal government for, I would say, total about a $140,000,000 to help with the repairs. There's been some legal concerns.
Bridgette Gransden [:Some of the property owners are unhappy about having to pay an assessment. But at this point, you know, I'm I'm really I mean, I wanna stick around to see those dams rebuilt. Right?
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. It's important. I'm a free market person, but there are certain assets that I I think belong in the public hand. Yeah. And a dam would meet that class.
Bridgette Gransden [:There's a lot of infrastructure, like, you know, these dams were a 100 years old. And they're I mean, we could let the water just go back to the run of the river, Ken, but that costs money too. So the environmental departments in the state at the state of Michigan won't let us just leave the structures that were left after the dam. You actually have to decommission a dam and take it all out. It cost almost as much as rebuilding it.
Kenneth Wilson [:Wow. Wow. Wow.
Bridgette Gransden [:And those lakes actually bring a lot of economic development, to the community. People come whether they I mean, we have one of our county parks is on the lake too. So that that is a nice, when it when there was COVID and you couldn't go inside anywhere and do anything and we told people to get out to the parks, it really was the worst timing. I think in one of the press conferences, I said we have the benefit of managing 2 emergencies at one time, COVID and this.
Kenneth Wilson [:And the food
Bridgette Gransden [:And if you can think through if you've ever had to manage an emergency in your community, think about the challenges with congregate sheltering and, like, in in a global pandemic, we're not supposed to put anybody next to each other. So we had to find places for people to stay. And we actually were squeezed into the emergency operations center and had extra people around. There was we had so many volunteer groups come into the community too. And that was early on in COVID. We actually had the Michigan National Guard come up at the about 3 weeks later and do testing for people in the community. And we didn't have, I think, maybe 3 cases of COVID. Wow.
Bridgette Gransden [:So and with all the reporting because you had to do other and the health department does report to me. So I was managing that along with the, the dam failures. Those are I
Kenneth Wilson [:was You wear multiple you wear multiple hats.
Bridgette Gransden [:I think I live I
Kenneth Wilson [:think I operated. You're the public information officer. You're the you're the health commissioner. The health department reporting to you.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Right. And emergency management.
Kenneth Wilson [:And emergency management.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Along with the about 13 other departments that are direct reports to me. But I gotta tell you, I think I lived on adrenaline for quite a while. I mean, you just don't come down on adrenaline. You do what you need to do.
Kenneth Wilson [:You just walk through the hallways of the Midland County Administrative Building feeling like you have a s on your chest. You say, like, I gotta I gotta have this confidence and swagger to do all these jobs, wear all these hats. Uh-huh. All the employees looking to you at all times for leadership.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:And you're looking to say, who do I vent to? Who do whom do I get, you know, the time and abilities to be able to talk to or even to have a mentor who
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, yeah. I have I have several. Actually, one of my
Kenneth Wilson [:Talk on that a minute.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. One of my one of my favorite mentors is the guy by the name of Terry Moore. He actually was the CEO and president of the health system in Midland. And he is I mean, he's, you know, no nonsense. He's direct and and he's supportive. And he's outside of local government. Right? So I can have a conversation very confidentially and not worry about anything, you know, being communicated back to somebody that it shouldn't. Mhmm.
Bridgette Gransden [:So I would say, you know, have you gone through the NACO Leadership Academy? I have not. Okay.
Kenneth Wilson [:I'm part of it though.
Bridgette Gransden [:Okay. So I
Kenneth Wilson [:just see my face in there. Let's say unless they cut me out.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, so when I went through, one of the things now I had already done this, but it was really important to have I loved having it reinforced that it was the right thing to do and that is having my own personal board of directors. Mhmm. Right? That group of people that were my colleagues, peers that or mentor and or mentors that I could go to and just bounce stuff off. Right. Because at some point, if you don't do that, you won't you won't come in the next day. Right? Right. And I know that I need to avoid that. So I do a a a lot of, debriefing with people.
Bridgette Gransden [:I used to journal a little bit. I don't do as much of that anymore because it takes a little more time. And that's something that's a commodity I don't have much of. Right? So I do very much try and, like, quickly when something happens that I feel the need to really get off my chest, I reach out to those folks right away. Because if I let it sit with me too long, then it eats at me. That anxiety, that stuff that starts to keep you up at night. And not necessarily because it may have an impact on the community. It might just be me personally.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right? Something that I was really that I may have misinterpreted. Like like, did I read that wrong? Did they just say this? Did I did I miss the message? Like, should I have done something different? I think those are the things that are the hardest for most people to get by because it's easy, you know, that deflecting, it's easy to or avoidance. I help I'll help you all day, Ken. Let's talk about your problems. If I don't I don't wanna talk about mine because that takes a little bit more internal reflection and and sometimes I don't really wanna hear what I have to tell myself. Right? But the other thing that I do besides talking to those folks is I am very vulnerable with my team. So I used to say that I have put on probably a 1,000 Oscar worthy performances in my career, and I'm still doing that when I need to. There are some days, you know, because when you walk in the door from the office, you can't always easily leave the things that have happened whether it's at home, friends, you know, health issues.
Bridgette Gransden [:It's hard to leave all that stuff. You can't just flip a switch and expect all those things to be off your brain. Some people are better at, you know, putting up that veil and managing that performance and and I'm pretty actually, I'm very
Kenneth Wilson [:good at it. In a box when they go to work. That
Bridgette Gransden [:compartmentalizing And
Kenneth Wilson [:put it in a box. Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:I'm very good at it. But this is what I did find I realized probably about 6 years ago. It is not good for me and it's certainly not good for my team for me to do that because they need to know that it's okay to not be okay. And if I can't if I say that to them, it's just words if I can't model it too. And there are times where I say, you know, look, I know we have this meeting, but I've got kind of a lot going on in a lot of my brain right now. So if I seem distracted, it please, it's not you. Just pull me back. And there have been other times where I've said when someone needs to meet me you know what? I I just can't.
Bridgette Gransden [:I'm really, kind of, struggling today. But it took a lot for me, for someone who's been very successful
Kenneth Wilson [:That's a lot.
Bridgette Gransden [:In a huge role. It took a lot for me to be able to get to that point. Right? But it it because I used to think that it would show weakness. It doesn't. It shows wisdom.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. It's a special type of courage because
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:You don't wanna let people know that you don't have it all under control.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. And but it's it's it's silly to think that we always have everything under control. Right? And it's a it's a great
Kenneth Wilson [:That's what our performance review would suggest that we should in order to be successful, have everything under control
Bridgette Gransden [:Right.
Kenneth Wilson [:At all times.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. Which has also been a huge benefit for me as I know I talked a little bit in our in some of our other meetings about the Midland Well-being Coalition, the Midland Area Well-being Coalition. So back in 2018, there were about 40 of us in the community that had 6 months worth of training to be certified in applied positive psychology, which really focused on well-being techniques and, things that we use the PERMA model, which has different pillars, positivity engagement relationships, meaning activity and health. Areas of our lives that we can focus on and really try to hone to to feel better and to help us thrive. Mhmm. Because if you woke up in the morning and said, how am I how am I doing today on a scale of 1 to 10? And if you if your answer was, I think I'm a 7 or 8 almost every day. If you woke up and and did that same exercise and, you know, I'm just a 3 or 4 today. Like, why? And what can you do? 3 or 4.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. How do you get back to that? So learning these techniques and and sharing them with others so that well-being really becomes part of the culture, not in our organizations, but also in the community was really important to us. Because we know everybody is not okay all the time.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. That's a that's a great question to to ponder because one school of thought would be, if I wake up and I'm a 3 or a 4 or lower, I should call off and not go in. Mhmm. But if you got the support around you Right. You're a 3 or 4, you go in and you're in a supportive environment.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right.
Kenneth Wilson [:Maybe within by lunchtime, you feel like, oh, more it's more like I'm at a 7.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. And it could be just something transitional that day. You may have something going on in your life, like if you have a family member who's been sick or in the hospital or is struggling with something and it's impacting you, you know, how what can I do to help get myself through this day too? And having that support network is good, but understanding also what you can do for you, Right? Because you're the only thing you can control.
Kenneth Wilson [:Because a lot
Bridgette Gransden [:of people helpful.
Kenneth Wilson [:Mhmm. A lot of people just stay at home and they use, they use a lot of their, leave when they don't feel like being around
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Other people and they and they're dealing with things and they don't they spend their time just off but not healing at all.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. And while not figuring out a way to make it make it a little bit better. So we say, you know, our definition of well-being in Midland for the Well-being Coalition is, struggling well and functioning effectively. Right? So how can we figure out ways to get through the storm and sometime and just bouncing back. Right? How do we struggle well? How do we help people struggle well? Not that they're going to be it's gonna be ideal and not we can't take your struggles away, but when you have them, how do we get you? How do you get through them and still be okay and maybe even better on the other side? So those tools, I think, are really important. It's all a lot of the positive psychology and well-being work we do is, based in positivity and character strengths. So if you've ever if you're curious about surveys, you could go on to, viadotorg, which is values in action, and there is a character strength survey. So and there's actually one for, I think, youth too from 12 to 18 and then there's one for adults.
Kenneth Wilson [:Okay.
Bridgette Gransden [:But the the premise is and there's a lot of science behind this and we're a science based town in Midland, so we can't do stuff that's just all fluff, man. We gotta it's gotta some science space to it or we're gonna get turn you know, everyone's gonna snub their noses at us with all the PhDs we got in the community. But the character strengths, there are 24 character strengths that have been tested that everybody has. But your top 5 are what we would can call your your key strengths or your signature strengths, and those are the things that give you energy. So if your so they're your keys, your top strengths, your middle strengths, and your bottom strengths. So those bottom strengths and it's about learning a new language and I'm like the I'm like the queen of reframing. So I can try and turn anything into something positive. Right? And so when I did a lot of this training even for my department heads, my health director would say, well, you know, these are my weaknesses.
Bridgette Gransden [:I'm like, Fred, we don't use that word. These are your lower strengths, lesser strengths. Is that the strength? Right. So when when I did I first did that test with my with the class of 40 28 We
Kenneth Wilson [:don't say weaknesses, folks. We say that's a strength.
Bridgette Gransden [:You know why? Because the minute you start talking negative and weaknesses in here, Ken, that's what your body is saying and that's what you're thinking about. So you need to reframe things into positive ways. So I'd love for you to take it and tell me and be after you take the the survey, don't tell me what your results are and I'm gonna try and I haven't I haven't known you too long, but I'm gonna try and guess what your top five are.
Kenneth Wilson [:Okay.
Bridgette Gransden [:I'll let you know. My and you don't know what the 24 are but I'll tell you what my top 5 are. Okay. Kindness, humor, curiosity, hope and love. And I was super upset.
Kenneth Wilson [:You nailed it. That's a Hallmark card.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, you wanna know what? I used to joke that I should have part ownership in Hallmark cards because I actually still send snail mail all the time. I send cards everywhere. Everybody in the building knows if they need a card for something, where are they coming?
Kenneth Wilson [:You got it.
Bridgette Gransden [:I have red rope files full of cards. I can't get out of a damn store without buying a a card.
Kenneth Wilson [:You like Walgreens.
Bridgette Gransden [:I am. And that's my favorite convenience store. When I travel, the first thing I do is locate what, Ken.
Kenneth Wilson [:Walgreens. I was
Bridgette Gransden [:just on the corner of Happy and Healthy. Come on now. You thought I was joking.
Kenneth Wilson [:Oh, god. Yeah. You you own the you own the club. You you got a membership. So here's the
Bridgette Gransden [:thing. When I first took that survey, I was so stressed out about the results because leadership was not in my top five. I was like, oh my god, don't anybody tell the board. Right? That leadership is not in my top five and our instructor who's
Kenneth Wilson [:Oh, boy. Your board be like, she's soft. My She's fluffy. Okay. She's fluffy. Hey. She's sharing my tissue soft.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, I'm glad that I'm glad you just said that because you know what our instructor said to me is like, b, it's okay because your top 5 signature signature strengths are how you lead. You lead with kindness, humor, curiosity. You ask questions. You wanna know things and hope. You have hope for everybody and you you show love to people. Right? And I thought, oh, I'm good. I feel a lot better about that.
Kenneth Wilson [:Compassion and motivation can go together. Compassion and motivation can go together.
Bridgette Gransden [:And, you know, we heard a lot today in in our meeting about retaining and recruiting employees. People wanna know that they're cared about and that they're valued.
Kenneth Wilson [:We all need something different. Yeah. One small thing that I do that I've had employees come up to me, it would with the biggest smile on their faces, in our payroll system, when they log in and it's their birthday, they get a message from me.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, that's awesome.
Kenneth Wilson [:Tell them happy birthday.
Bridgette Gransden [:Those things mean a lot. When's your birthday?
Kenneth Wilson [:May 14th.
Bridgette Gransden [:May 14th.
Kenneth Wilson [:Can't tell you the year though.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, well, mine's July 23rd. Coming up. And I'll tell you the year. 69. I'm a be 55. I'm grateful for every birthday. The older I get, every birthday becomes a landmark birthday.
Kenneth Wilson [:I'm older than that by a little bit. Just a little bit. 68.
Bridgette Gransden [:I would have said that or maybe it just
Kenneth Wilson [:And that was like, you know, that's just like that's like a turbulent time to have been born.
Bridgette Gransden [:Mhmm. Right.
Kenneth Wilson [:The world I mean, you United States was on fire essentially.
Bridgette Gransden [:My dad had just got back from Vietnam, married my mother in September. She got pregnant in October, next July, there I was. And I have checked those certificates just to make sure that the dates are accurate.
Kenneth Wilson [:So it's, that is comp compassionate leadership. I strive to be a servant leader, not just trying to, you know, dictate but lead through example.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:And and get everybody to understand the why.
Bridgette Gransden [:Absolutely. I ask people that question all the time. What is your why? And that's the curiosity piece too. Right? You know, when I said earlier in in our meeting, like, one of my favorite quotes that and it's actually been very, very helpful advice for me to implement the Walt Whitman quote, be curious not judgmental. Because the minute I rush to judgment instead of asking a question, you know, if someone comes in my office and they're railing at me about something, chances are 98% is not it doesn't have anything to do with me. Right? Like, what just happened to them? Who were they talking to? What happened this morning? Did their kids get off to school okay? I mean, all of these things build in us. Right? And if we and if we don't know how to manage it or communicate it very well and most of the time when you're in the middle of something really emotional, we just don't. So to have someone really take some time and ask instead of rushing to judgment, it doesn't mean I don't always.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right? I'm human. But it has helped me. I think I've been a better leader because of it.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. I I love people that take a, if not me, who attitude. I just love those type of people.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. Well, you I mean, you know, when you think about that context, you you could encourage your whole team to think like that. Right? If it's not them helping the constituents or the public, if it's not them helping a coworker, if it's not them, you know, helping someone that they see struggling getting a carton at the grocery store, then who else is gonna
Kenneth Wilson [:do that? If I could do that, Franklin County probably named a building after me. If I get 67100 people saying, if not, me who? We would be going we'd be going somewhere.
Bridgette Gransden [:I get it. They have a
Kenneth Wilson [:parade for me and everything. I have all these people smiling and behind me and I could be in the back of a Corvette just waving.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, I just wanna ask this question. Why can't you get them? Why can't you could send out an email every Monday. Here's your thought for the week, if not me, then who?
Kenneth Wilson [:I give quotes. I don't know how about them quotes go. I have everybody do every Wednesday.
Bridgette Gransden [:It could put it could be your tagline on your signature on your email.
Kenneth Wilson [:If not
Bridgette Gransden [:me who? Yeah. Love
Kenneth Wilson [:I love If Not Me Who.
Bridgette Gransden [:Right.
Kenneth Wilson [:They just wanna do stuff, you know. They just wanna do stuff. They just wanna do extra. Now, I want you to think before you do it. Yeah. Run it by me. Get a cosign. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:I don't want you just making up stuff or just going off doing stuff.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:That gets you in trouble too.
Bridgette Gransden [:Well, it gets you in trouble too. Right? So you can't protect them if you don't know. I don't wanna be
Kenneth Wilson [:surprised. Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. I'm gonna be very supportive 99% of the time, but don't surprise me.
Kenneth Wilson [:Let me know what you did. Yeah. Yeah. I want surprises. I I know we connected in that way.
Bridgette Gransden [:Last thing I wanted is a commissioner calling me and this call me about something that I don't know anything about.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:Because then I'm probably gonna be a whole lot less curious and a lot judgmental when I make a phone call.
Kenneth Wilson [:The world of an administrator is messed up when you got a bunch of people just running off doing stuff.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Because the first person you're gonna hear from, if some show up in the newspaper or some some important constituent is upset Yeah. You're gonna get a text. What did they why did they do that? I don't know. I talking talk to them today. I don't know why they did it.
Bridgette Gransden [:And that's the and that's the worst thing that we can say too is I don't know. Right? Because then it makes us look like we don't know what we're doing. Yeah. Even though you, you know, you don't know what you don't know.
Kenneth Wilson [:You can't watch everybody. Yeah. You can't watch everybody. Yeah. You don't know what you don't
Bridgette Gransden [:know. Right.
Kenneth Wilson [:But in our world, when somebody goes off and do some, it's like the first question is why you didn't know what they were about
Bridgette Gransden [:to do. Right. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:And then that makes us overcorrect and send out a memo to everybody saying, don't breathe without letting me know what you We we overcorrect and say, do not breathe without me. Let me know what you're doing.
Bridgette Gransden [:I started I started doing check-in questions at the beginning of my staff meeting too that have nothing to do with work. Just to get a just to you know, sometimes people are edgy in a meeting and you don't know why. So it sort of just puts everybody on a level playing field and gives them a chance to decompress a little bit before we actually start going through reports and then
Kenneth Wilson [:What do you do with the employee that's like that every day? They walk at every meeting edgy. They like stuck in edgy mode. What how
Bridgette Gransden [:Okay. So this
Kenneth Wilson [:is how does Bridget deal with that that Susan or
Bridgette Gransden [:You wanna know what I this is what I quit doing. This is what I quit doing. How hey, Ken. How are you doing today? I don't ask that anymore because you always have the same 2 or 3 people that say, oh, it's another day. I'm alright or I gotta be here or, oh, it's Monday. Okay. I didn't ask you what day of the week it was. I asked you how you were doing.
Bridgette Gransden [:So this is what I and I so now I don't give him a chance to say that. I meet you in the hallway. Ken, hi. Hey. Hey. What's good today, buddy? Tell me something good.
Kenneth Wilson [:Nothing. Nothing good today.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, come on. Well, I'm not letting that slide. So I I had
Kenneth Wilson [:a long night. My my son didn't go to bed. And, the dog was, barking.
Bridgette Gransden [:And you still got up on time and made it to work on time? Good good on you, buddy.
Kenneth Wilson [:No. Actually, I was 30 minutes late. And some employers would tell you. Actually, I just got here.
Bridgette Gransden [:And then what and then you know what I'd say? I am so grateful you're here and your coworkers will be too. Thanks for coming. I'm telling you, queen of reframing.
Kenneth Wilson [:He just just kill all that negativity they bring in.
Bridgette Gransden [:I bought myself a sweatshirt at the last ICMA local government reimagined I went to in Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. And I went to this little spa. I would run-in a car, I went to this little spa, scheduled myself a massage and they had this great little gift shop and everything in it was, like, triple overpriced, and I still bought something because it spoke to me. So, I mean, is your wife having I love it, like it, love it, gotta have it scale?
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Okay. Well, this was on the gotta have it scale. Yeah. It's a sweatshirt and on the front it says spiritual gangster. And on the back, in a repeating hollow square are these words, eternal optimist, eternal optimist, eternal optimist. That's my favorite sweatshirt.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. That's that's the kryptonite to a hater.
Bridgette Gransden [:It is. It is. I'm not gonna let you walk away with the last negative word. I am gonna hate you.
Kenneth Wilson [:That's the kryptonite to a hater. I mean, there are some people that treat their job like it's school, like we got a like it's a truancy law or something. They they can't drop out.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:They can't find another job. I was like, you ain't got to be Right. Write you a I can write you a letter of recommendation too
Bridgette Gransden [:when I There are other options.
Kenneth Wilson [:Set all aside. That's when I become an optimist. I Right. I'll I'll put it I'll put away many things I may have thought about you and write you the glossiest letter for you to go on and seek happiness, to pursue the happiness.
Bridgette Gransden [:That's right.
Kenneth Wilson [:Well, I Just like the movie.
Bridgette Gransden [:I did I have I have annoyed a few people when I, you know, most everybody is TGIF. Thank God it's Friday. I'm like, TGIM. Thank God it's Monday. I got another week to try and do this stuff.
Kenneth Wilson [:No. That don't work for people. They be they be like, darn Monday.
Bridgette Gransden [:Everybody is buying drinking my Kool Aid.
Kenneth Wilson [:Man, they want they want Monday and like, that ain't that's not good, You know? Well The worst thing in the world you can do to some people is tell them they can't have their birthday off.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Well
Kenneth Wilson [:Now that's one. That's you wanna have you wanna make some enemies. Well, I somebody's birthday and all. You know,
Bridgette Gransden [:I have all I've always been very flexible with as much as I can be with my team and and even when I was finance director. And I actually had the HR director say to me one time, you're just too forgiving or too flexible. And I'm like, you know, I give people a lot of grace because someday I'm going to need it and I would like to think that people will remember it. Because we not none of us go through life without needing a little extra grace and flexibility. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Everybody So the extra something
Bridgette Gransden [:that The person I don't give them the grace to that I need to more often is myself and we beat ourselves up a lot in these positions. So that is something I I am working on a little bit. And I did, like, in the last 6 months. I don't sleep well. This at my age, we'll just leave that out there. Ladies will understand what I mean. I do not sleep well. So it is very difficult for me to get up in the morning and be anywhere by 8 o'clock.
Bridgette Gransden [:I have quit scheduling. If it's my meeting to schedule, I do not schedule any meetings before 9. 10, if you want me at my best. I don't show up at the office normally until 9 o'clock. And now I'm there until between at least 6:30, 7:30 sometimes here at night. But, you know, meeting people where they are is really important. And if we can do that in a way that doesn't hamper what programs and services we offer to the residents. You know, I'm all for that because everybody you know, my internal clock is a little different than everybody else's right now.
Bridgette Gransden [:I'm hoping someday it's gonna go back. But No. I don't know when It
Kenneth Wilson [:won't go back. No. It won't go back. It once you once you get locked in, that's
Bridgette Gransden [:It is what it is.
Kenneth Wilson [:It is what it is.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. I don't know. I'm kinda screaming before meetings sometime because they're at 9 AM.
Kenneth Wilson [:You might just get up, start getting up earlier and earlier after not sleeping well.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. That might be
Kenneth Wilson [:because you got, you know, I think it's like having a lot on your mind.
Bridgette Gransden [:It is.
Kenneth Wilson [:One of the things that I attempt to do is be self aware.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Self reflection is a hard thing for people. It's important.
Kenneth Wilson [:I try to be consciously asking myself, look at yourself. I used to I misplaced it. I don't know how. But I I I mentioned it to people anyway and they so being critical of me. I'm like, I'm my hardest critic. I keep a mirror in my desk and I pull it out and look at myself.
Bridgette Gransden [:I have one on my desk but it's just to fix my hair post
Kenneth Wilson [:of the time.
Bridgette Gransden [:You could use yours to fix your hair.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. You know, I I keep I keep a I I kept that mirror. Just look at my my wife would say it's because you like taking selfies of yourself and you like looking at yourself anyway. But I say it's for me to look at being self aware.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Self reflection. That's a great thing. It is. And if you
Kenneth Wilson [:know yourself, you as a leader, if you don't know yourself and you don't try to see where you may irritate other people, you can find yourself starting off with 20 people running down the field when you say Let's go. Towards the goal line. Turning around, you done ran the whole sprint. You look back. They are looking at you. Right. They are looking at you. They said I quite quit 2 weeks ago.
Kenneth Wilson [:You just didn't know it. Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:You was
Kenneth Wilson [:too busy being yourself. You didn't
Bridgette Gransden [:know it. That that's really, you know, that's really an astute observation because and it's hard because when you don't if you have not been able as a as a leader to create that psychologically safe environment for people to come to you and say, you seem off your game or I know you probably didn't mean it this way but this is what I've this is how I felt when you said x, y, or z. And I've had, you know, a handful of moments when department heads have come and said, you know, I I don't think you meant it because I don't think you're malicious or intentionally trying to hurt somebody but here's what and I'm so grateful when they do that because I didn't realize that. And if like anything else, you know, I'm not a mind reader and my sense of see, I always
Kenneth Wilson [:You don't play 1 on TV?
Bridgette Gransden [:And I have not stayed at a Holiday Inn Express either recently. So I can't do that. But I will tell you that there are I, you know, I joke because my top two character strengths is humor because I think I'm funny even if nobody else does.
Kenneth Wilson [:No. You're funny. You're funny.
Bridgette Gransden [:Thank you.
Kenneth Wilson [:I I think I'm funny sometimes.
Bridgette Gransden [:Used to call it sarcasm. I said it's wit mother and it's from dad. It's it's from my father. It's not sarcasm. It's wit. I also have a horrible potty mouth. I I've only sworn once I think in this podcast. I'm very proud of myself.
Bridgette Gransden [:These are things I've owned the older I've gotten, and it's these are sentences.
Kenneth Wilson [:You don't have to clean his vocabulary. It would be good to
Bridgette Gransden [:Right. Well, you know what? I I own it, but I also rationalize it. I was raised by a marine who also worked in the foundry in Saginaw for General Motors. Okay? Yes. I mean, look. Yeah. I was around a lot of that.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah.
Bridgette Gransden [:But some people that's one of the things I do to decompress is cuss. Cuss it. Like some people swear. Some people smoke. Some people cry. I swear.
Kenneth Wilson [:Cussing is a stress reliever.
Bridgette Gransden [:I will tell you as a female
Kenneth Wilson [:It's better on your organs.
Bridgette Gransden [:I will tell you as a female, if there's some way I wanna get somebody's attention that I don't think is paying attention in a conversation, drop an f bomb.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. That'll get their attention. That'll get that'll get their attention.
Bridgette Gransden [:And it just makes me more human.
Kenneth Wilson [:Then they're gonna write they they but you do that too much. They're gonna be they're gonna be sending emails to your commissioners. She cussed me out for no reason whatsoever.
Bridgette Gransden [:Actually, it was funny because my health department director started keeping he started timing. Like, how how soon into my monthly staff meeting is is does she drop an f bomb? And the one I had Wednesday, I went over an hour. I was so proud of myself.
Kenneth Wilson [:Did I cussed for 1 hour? One hour of,
Bridgette Gransden [:I may have cussed. I don't think you did, but I did not have an f bomb.
Kenneth Wilson [:You provided 1 hour of direction and dialogue
Bridgette Gransden [:Without without cussed. Out in 1 hour. When the when my kids were small, I never ever swore at home. So I swore a lot at work. I'm like, I gotta get it out somewhere.
Kenneth Wilson [:See You
Bridgette Gransden [:know, people who swear are honest and bright. You know Look it up. There's been a study.
Kenneth Wilson [:You when you, you know, when you read when you read you read you you read my bio, you read your bio, you see our pay, face on the website Mhmm. You wouldn't even know the people who we are. You'd be like you just think, what is a county administrator? That's probably the bornest per that's for Bridget is probably the bornest person ever to be around.
Bridgette Gransden [:It's an exciting job. There's a lot of chaos. I manage chaos all the time. Yeah. That's Nothing's not worrying. Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. People don't and that's why I conceived talk of the county.
Bridgette Gransden [:That's why I would just that's why I do biscuits with Bridget.
Kenneth Wilson [:Okay. I
Bridgette Gransden [:provide cookies though, Ken.
Kenneth Wilson [:Let's talk about the cookies. Are there any kind of cookies you get on the airplane? Are they
Bridgette Gransden [:They're shortbread. They're like English biscuits. So in England
Kenneth Wilson [:You give them some tea with the cook well, do you get some tea with biscuits and bread?
Bridgette Gransden [:Tea if they wanted. But most of the time, I just have this nice little pink box with my logo, biscuits with Bridget.
Kenneth Wilson [:You got a logo? Yes.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh. You better check out my Facebook page. It's county Facebook page.
Kenneth Wilson [:I'm slipping. I need a logo.
Bridgette Gransden [:You know what I don't have yet? A t shirt. I need a t shirt with my logo on it. Biscuits with Bridget.
Kenneth Wilson [:I'm done. I am totally done. You got a logo.
Bridgette Gransden [:I'm I'm starting to do like lightning round questions at the end of my Biscuits with Bridgette. I got a couple for you. Like, I can ask you. Right?
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. Because we're rounding out.
Bridgette Gransden [:Alright. Let me see. What is the most recent TV show you binged watched?
Kenneth Wilson [:The TV show? I was gonna say Sanford and Son.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh my gosh. You know what's funny about that? So I so did you watch it on Peacock?
Kenneth Wilson [:I see. Yeah. It was on some of them. I just like, Fred g Sanford's funny.
Bridgette Gransden [:He is funny.
Kenneth Wilson [:You big dummy.
Bridgette Gransden [:He is funny. He is hilarious. That lump coming. He is funny. I watch to this day since I my I blame my mother for this. Days of our lives every day, and I can only watch it on the Peacock app. And so when I'm done with the day's episode, the app, all that artificial intelligence in there, kicks up something new.
Kenneth Wilson [:Feel like and I'm glad to Bridgette, I'm a provide you with bonus content to your lightning round question. I feel as though I binge watch 2 and a Half Men. And you wanna know why? Why? It's because my wife plays it every single night. TV land logo, I know. I just see it in the corner.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:And I'm watching 2 and a Half Men every night literally before I become unconscious.
Bridgette Gransden [:So you get a bonus. Yes. You get a bonus binge every day. Thanks to her.
Kenneth Wilson [:So I I I watched the the little the little what was he started off as a little boy to Yep. Yep. Being almost 18 on there.
Bridgette Gransden [:Mhmm.
Kenneth Wilson [:And then I think I watched it till Ashton Kushner came into the scene.
Bridgette Gransden [:It wasn't as good after that. It just wasn't. Sorry. Now you're getting my editorial commentary. Okay. Here's the next lightning round question. If you could travel anywhere that you haven't been yet, where would it
Kenneth Wilson [:be? Barcelona.
Bridgette Gransden [:And why?
Kenneth Wilson [:Because I, first, I was, when the when the dream team back in the day Mhmm. When it was the original dream team with Jordan and Barkley and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, The Olympics was in Barcelona.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yep. I just heard the story from Magic.
Kenneth Wilson [:And they were on you know, I was kinda watching them, chronicling Mhmm. Them while they were in Barcelona at the practice. I'm like, oh, here. Look like that. Spain. I don't like
Bridgette Gransden [:that. Yeah. Because
Kenneth Wilson [:I don't wanna travel everywhere. Yeah. My passport, I don't wanna go everywhere. So Some places don't even sound attractive that people
Bridgette Gransden [:go to. Right. Isn't that funny how that one memory triggered that that dream for you and you wanna make that happen sometime? And I said that, like, I just heard that from Magic, like, we're buddies. No. He shared that story. Somebody asked him a question at the presentation he was doing at the Dow Championship LPGA. Okay. What's your favorite food?
Kenneth Wilson [:Chicken wings.
Bridgette Gransden [:Mhmm. What's your favorite dessert?
Kenneth Wilson [:I don't like sweets.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, gosh. But if I do I thought we were friends.
Kenneth Wilson [:If I do have, red velvet cake.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, okay. Red velvet cake. Mhmm. Alright. What is I know you already talked about seeing a lot of Lake Michigan. What is your favorite childhood memory?
Kenneth Wilson [:That is a good one. Probably, it will it would be I would have been getting something. I don't know how to be. Christmas. When I got my first car.
Bridgette Gransden [:Oh, yeah. Okay.
Kenneth Wilson [:When I got my first really nice car.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. Right. What was
Kenneth Wilson [:it? Mustang 5 point o. Oh, sweet.
Bridgette Gransden [:Uh-huh. What color? Blue.
Kenneth Wilson [:Oh. And anybody that know me, I wear a lot of blue. I got a blue got a blue wheel going on. Matter of fact.
Bridgette Gransden [:That's awesome. Okay. I know we're wrapping up. I'll make this the last question. Now think this through. Is it wrong for a vegetarian to eat animal crackers?
Kenneth Wilson [:I was I say yes, but due to this for the spirit of it all. You should not eat anything with a face even if
Bridgette Gransden [:it's a
Kenneth Wilson [:piece of cookie.
Bridgette Gransden [:I love that. That's so funny. So when I just did
Kenneth Wilson [:Go ahead.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yes, you're right. I did when I did biscuits with Bridgette with the our minor league baseball team, our mascot is a Loon. Lou e Loon and I asked him that same question and he looked like this, he went with his wings, he looked like this and went, it's wrong. Just like that, I can't do it. It's just that I roll. I think the jury might be out, but I'm with you.
Kenneth Wilson [:You shouldn't eat animal crackers if you're a vegetarian. Because the whole foundation of being a vegetarian
Bridgette Gransden [:is that There's no animal crackers.
Kenneth Wilson [:I don't eat anything with a face or that swims. Whole basis of it all. Thanks for having me. We've had a I've had a great time with you just just kicking it this. Yeah. No one I think it's gonna be a a very entertaining episode for somebody. Well Then, you know, we Make
Bridgette Gransden [:sure I get the link. I'll laugh
Kenneth Wilson [:And, I think that the the National Association of County Administrators, is an organization that has room for a lot of growth, and we need to promote ourselves more
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah.
Kenneth Wilson [:Because we, impact the lives of millions and millions of people across the country
Bridgette Gransden [:in the
Kenneth Wilson [:work we do.
Bridgette Gransden [:Yeah. And each other. The networking is really critical for us to be able to do our jobs the right way.
Kenneth Wilson [:Yeah. We do different events like Ideal Exchange, etcetera. So we are wrapping up, this podcast live from Hillsborough County, Florida. It's about a 100 degrees outside with the humidity, but we are in the comfort of air conditioning. And I'm not planning on going outside anytime soon. I went I'm in a we're in a lot of meeting rooms and that's a good thing as warm as it is. So I just wanna thank you again, Bridgette, and I I wish the best for Midland County, Michigan. Thank you.
Kenneth Wilson [:And we are wrapping this up. And how I always end each episode is with these words, do you because no one else has time to.
