Episode Overview:

In this episode of the Staffing Buzz Network, host Bob Pettke sits down with former NFL tight end Desmond Clark to preview Clark’s upcoming keynote at the Midwest Staffing Conference. Clark, who played for the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, and Chicago Bears (ranking third all-time in receptions for the Bears with 242), reflects on the moment in September 2011 when retirement left him staring into a “big void” without a clear plan.

He walks Bob through his winding post-football journey in real estate, medical device sales, several stints in financial advising, the writing of his book Principles of Winning, and the pandemic-era pivot that ultimately led him, with the help of a mentor at Drive Depot, to found Bear Down Logistics in October 2021. The conversation also nods to the 20-year anniversary of Super Bowl XLI, where Clark caught six passes for 64 yards against the Colts, a moment he still calls one of the highlights of his career.

The heart of the episode, however, is a preview of Clark’s keynote, “No Space In Between,” built around the theme of dream, dare, do. Clark explains that the talk grew out of the most defining test of his life: a promise he made to his newborn son to always protect him, and the harrowing journey he later took to Africa to bring his son home after receiving a text on January 25, 2022, asking, “Dad, can you please find a way to bring me back home?”

Clark frames the story as a challenge to his audience: whether there is a space between what people say they want and what they are actually willing to do to get it, and emphasizes that keeping promises to yourself is the foundation of real self-esteem and belief.

Listen to the Episode:

Episode Transcript:

Bob Pettke: Coming to you from the Ultra Staff Studios in Chicago. Welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network with your host Bob Pettke. Hello everybody and welcome back to another fantastic, exciting edition of the Staffing Buzz Network. I am Bob Pettke. I’m your host of the Staffing Buzz Network. That is part of one of my day jobs. My other day job is I am the Chief Sales Officer here for a company called Automated Business Designs, right over here on my shoulder companies called Automated Business Designs.

Our software is called Ultra-Staff EDGE, and this is our podcast and, we offer that full service front office ATS CRM solution. And we’re excited because we’re gonna be at the Midwest Staffing Conference on April 22nd and 23rd in Oakbrook, Illinois at the Drury Lane Theater. And it’s a really, it’s a tremendous conference that the Illinois search and staffing Association.

Puts together and [00:01:00] they do it in collaboration with Michigan and with Wisconsin. And so it’s a chance for people to come together for about two days and hear some very inspirational messages. Get a chance to meet with some potential partners for you in the staffing industry and staffing realm.

So there’s gonna be a lot of people that you’re gonna want to go ahead. Inter mix with, intermingle with and talk to them. And we’re gonna talk more about that here as we conclude. But really, today’s episode again it’s that time of year where we do this. We’re gonna bring on our keynote speaker at the conference.

And I’m excited to announce this guy, he’s gonna pop in here on the screen here. But we’re gonna go ahead and just kind of. Let ’em sit back and nod at all the things that I say about ’em. But hey, at the Midwest Staffing Conference, remember, it’s a highly anticipated two-day event. There’s gonna be a lot of professionals here.

This is gonna be a chance for owners, managers, staffing recruiters and salespeople, executive leaders HR people. We’re all gonna come together. If you wanna register, you can go to, www.issaworks.net. [00:02:00] That’s www.issaworks.net. But again, my guys here, his name is Desmond Clark and as a Chicago Bear fan I’m glad to bring him here. I’m gonna talk to you a little bit about him before we really have him open up his mouth. So sit back, relax, be cool. And so Desmond Clark again. What’s nice about Desmond is, you know, he’s not all about football, right? You know, football lasts only for so long. And one of the things that Desmond has done along the way is he’s built a strong reputation as a former NFL player.

He played with the Denver Broncos, the Miami Dolphins, and the Chicago Bears, and Desmond has taken his skills. His leadership skills from the field. And he’s applied them since he’s retired in 2011. He is a speaker, a coach, an author, and he’s definitely an entrepreneur. Since retiring from football, Desmond has blazed an impressive path as a financial advisor, an inspirational speaker, and a founder, president, and CEO of Bear Down Logistics. How am I doing so [00:03:00] far?

Desmond Clark: I think you’re hitting all of the highlights, all of the bullet points there. You’re doing a

Bob Pettke: good job. Still me. Still me. Thanks Desmond. Yeah, so you know, he’s also appeared on ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, CNN, WGN, ESPN, other networks, TV and radio stations. And is a thought leader, author, speaker, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and coach.

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for, helping me introduce to you, and again, we got a silent round of applause for everybody who’s listening right now. He’s gonna be our opening keynote speaker. He’s number 88 in your Bears program, number one in your hearts. Desmond Clark, welcome officially to the Staffing Buzz Network.

Desmond Clark: I appreciate it, man. I did about 20 texts to make sure that you check off everything, and I think you hit ’em all. And Paula added one or two.

Bob Pettke: Appreciate that. That’s good news, man. We do it right or we don’t do it at all, which is kind of a model I think that you have about how you go about your business.

You know, we’re excited to have you here. I think a lot of people are anticipating your message. And, you know, your keynote is gonna be on April 22nd. I [00:04:00] talked about the conference being on April 22, 23. You’re gonna be our April 22nd speaker right there, you know, towards the beginning of that. And it’s titled No Space in Between. And with no space in between.

You’re gonna deliver a message, from what I understand, a powerful real life message about what it truly takes to turn dreams into outcomes. It’s gonna be inspiring. It’s gonna be talk about your harrowing journey to Africa to rescue your son. Wow. I gotta see what that’s about.

Desmond Clark: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: You know, and one of the things that I’m hearing right now, Desmond, is that you’re gonna continue to challenge audiences to confront the defining question.

Is there a space between what you say you want and what you’re willing to do to get it. So again, number 88 in your program. Number one in your hearts, Desmond welcome. Welcome again to the Staffing Buzz Network. So your football started, you were drafted by the Broncos in the sixth round of 99. Played for the Dolphins and the bears.

[00:05:00] For Bears, fans that are listening, remember, we’re right here in the Midwest. You are number three all time on receptions for the Bears with 242 receptions with Mike Ditka and the ever emerging right now Guy tight End Cole there. And then hey, Desmond, trivia question for you about you. Are you ready?

Desmond Clark: I’m ready.

Bob Pettke: Tomorrow is a 20 year anniversary of what event? Oh,

Desmond Clark: The 20 year anniversary. Come on, man. Seriously.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. I gotta see if you’re on your toes, man. Sounds like you are.

Desmond Clark: You’re man. You never forget those dates of us playing the Super Bowl

Bob Pettke: 20 years ago. Yeah, we are recording this on February 3rd and on February 4th, 2007 Desmond Clark aligned up against the Indianapolis Colts as a tight end. Hey, you had a nice game. You had six receptions for 64 yards. Started out great. It wasn’t the outcome that we had, but us Bear fans are still clinging to that memory and, you know, one more thing, I want to go about it here and kind of give you a [00:06:00] chance to take the words outta my mouth, ’cause I’ve been going on and on here for the last few minutes. So you retired from football in September of 2011. And now based on what we’ve learned so far in this podcast is, you know, you’re a business owner, you’re a keynote speaker, you’re an entrepreneur. So September you hang up the cleats and then everything was ready to go. What? October 11th? October, 2011.

Desmond Clark: Nah, it was ready to go September, 2011. I already had it all written out, had it all planned. You know, I had thought about my life after football, and man, I had the perfect plan put together. But we all know that’s a lot, right, Bob? I didn’t know what I was gonna do once I got done playing football when I hung up that phone and the Chicago Bears told me that it wasn’t gonna bring me back, you know, it was this big void.

Okay, what am I gonna do now? That’s where it all started off, but, you know. You look 14, 15 years later and we’ve made some progress.

Bob Pettke: Yeah. Take us a little bit through that journey, right? Because, you know, all of a sudden you’re at this [00:07:00] crossroads and, you know, one of the things that I’ve experienced, even when I’ve done hiring, you know, I have found.

That athletes, collegiate athletes, professional athletes, they often make a very good hire because they need to be part of a team, but they also have to have that individual accolade and performance that’s measured. Talk a little bit about the journey that got you to where you are here today, and if you if you remember after all that, also talk a little bit about how your experience.

Up until that point on this September, 2011 enabled you to get to where you are today.

Desmond Clark: Yeah, so when I first started trying to find what was going to be, you know, the next chapter, you know, it was a lot of bumps in the road, but the one thing that I always had was belief in myself that I can do just about anything that I want to do.

If I dedicate myself to it. And my wife used to tell me, because I went through first I, I went [00:08:00] to real estate and then I started doing well in real estate. I was like, ah, I don’t wanna do that anymore. Then me and a guy, we developed a medical device sales company and as soon as that started to turn a little bit, ah, I don’t wanna do that no more.

And then I went into financial advising. I was doing pretty well at one company, Wayne Messer and Associates. We all know Wayne Messer in

Bob Pettke: Yeah,

Desmond Clark: in Chicago. And then they had to switch up the way that they did business, so I had to find another place to go. I went and I was recruited by Mass Mutual and things were going well there.

And then the guy who brought me there, he went to go be the CEO of Mass Mutual, great Lakes. And so I took another position where I was selling insurance for a smaller insurance firm. And then 2019 I was like, ah, I don’t wanna do that anymore.

Desmond Clark: I started writing my book, principles of Winning, and I really started to focus on what leadership looked like because I had a lot of it in my life.

And in 2020 I said, Hey, I’m gonna go out and be the best speaker about leadership. I want everybody to understand that they have greatness within them. And then the pandemic happened.

Bob Pettke: Yeah, it did,

Desmond Clark: and it knocked everything. I, hey, everything was up in air again. And then in 2021, as I’m looking for something to do, I gotta buy my Brian Rice at Dre Depot.

Say he was a fan. He say like everything I was doing on LinkedIn and say, have you ever thought about logistics? Have you ever thought about coming in and helping somebody build a company in logistics? And that’s when I learned about SI had no clue what logistics was all about. That was 2021, October of 2021.

I told him, Hey, I don’t necessarily want to come work with you, but as long as I don’t get in your lane, would you help me build my own company? And so that was the start of Bear Down Logistics in October of 2021. And then we went into our full-time operations in 2022. And you know, about four years later, here we are, we’re still going.

And as that sign says right [00:10:00] there. Our pursuit is to be the top 1%, and once we get there, maintain that top 1% level.

Bob Pettke: Oh, that’s excellent. Yeah, no, I you said some things and I hit on it and it’s not often that I can talk to somebody pretty quick and say, Hey, like, mindedness, like, you know, when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

And although you might not have had a plan out of the gate, you know, I think that somewhere along the way between. You know, the time that you realized you were destined to be a professional football player to the time that you became who you are. I mean, you had to go ahead and set a plan. You had to go ahead and put it down.

You had to put it together, and you had a, you had to put an action plan within the plan. I think that, you know, it’s awesome that you’ve been able to kind of market yourself. I love the story about how, you know, when you actually sit down and write a book it’s that time for self-reflection too, right?

And then all of a sudden it really kind of, what do we write about? We write about the things that we know more than anything. And so when you put yourself in that space in place where you can go ahead and not only write about it and share those leadership messages, but then you can draw [00:11:00] upon those experiences, you’re in a great spot.

Desmond Clark: Absolutely.

Bob Pettke: We’ll go back to football for a second and I’m gonna ask you, you know, so at what point were you like, Hey man, I know I’m gonna play pro football. Where were, was that sometime in college or did you never really know until you got there?

Desmond Clark: No, it was after my junior year in college. I knew I had a chance to make it to the next level.

I actually petitioned the NFL after my junior year to see where my draft status would be if I would have left that year. I actually led a c and receptions that year at 72 receptions. So obviously at that point I was like, okay, if I’m the receiver in the a c. There has to be some opportunity. I wasn’t thinking about leaving.

I just wanted to know where it would land if I did. And so that gave me the it gave me the knowledge that if I would’ve left, they say I probably would’ve been a fifth round draft pick that year. Right.

Bob Pettke: Okay.

Desmond Clark: So now I went into my senior year knowing that was. Not a possibility, but that was my future.

If I just kept on that right track which I was going [00:12:00] on, stayed healthy, that after my senior year I would be I would have that opportunity to play in the NFL. So my junior year was the first year that I really started thinking about it, and that’s when it was ultimately confirmed that, hey that’s where you end up.

If everything keeps going as it is.

Bob Pettke: Got it. So at any point during that time, now you’re on a team, right? You were, you was John Elway throwing the ball to you when you were in Denver? I forget at the time.

Desmond Clark: No. John Elway they drafted me the year after the two championships. I should have been a year older.

Bob Pettke: Ah, okay. Got it. I didn’t know I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask you what, you know, I wasn’t gonna ask you what it’s like to play with him. I was gonna ask what would he say to play with you?

Desmond Clark: Yeah, exactly. You know how to ask the right questions. Yeah. I’m like the most interesting man alive.

Bob Pettke: We all are our own Interesting man.

Absolutely. You know, so you get to this point now and you go through your career and you get to this spot and you do some different things and you know, you’re fortunate enough to have that experience behind you. And then you write that first book and then you [00:13:00] know, now you’re in this spot here today, many years later, right?

’cause life goes on and you’re going to deliver a message called no Space. Between and really, you know, the sub, the subset of that is gonna be dream dare and do without giving it all away, talk about your message.

Desmond Clark: So just starting with the dream. Dare and do one of the things when I heard that, you know, the whole dream part and I like how it goes from dream to dare, because we dream all the time and dreams are good.

But it’s just a dream. Now, will you dare yourself to actually go and live your dream, which is the do part, right? So when I heard what this conference was actually focused on, it made me reflect on my no space between keynote, because I had. [00:14:00] And I wanna say the opportunity, but I was kind of forced into this, to this moment where I had to put everything that I had talked about, right, what I told everybody else about action and belief and building, building friendships that become powerful relationships and the process of greatness.

Executing the details and excellence consistently over time, and really being focused. Not just on the outcome, but the process of how to get to that outcome. But in a real life situation where it was, Hey, when my son was born, I promised him before he even knew me, that I will always be a great dad for him.

I’ll always be there to protect him. He was taken away from me and he was taken [00:15:00] over to another con continent. And when I learned about it, you know, it ripped my heart out. But then as I got a chance to speak to him a couple times, he text me January 25th 2022. Never forget the date, and he said, dad, can you please find a way to bring me back home?

What do you do with that? But I made a promise. I made Bob, I made a promise to myself and to him, right? And as a human, the best thing that you can ever do in life is keep your promises to yourself. That builds so much motivation. I. What’s the term I’m looking for? Just self-esteem is what I’m looking for.

If you do what you say that you’re gonna do on a consistent basis, not what you tell everybody else, that you’re gonna do what you [00:16:00] say that you’re gonna do, that builds up so much self-esteem and belief in yourself, and that’s the most important thing. And so this was the greatest challenge of my life. I promised him he didn’t know I promised him, but I knew that I promised him.

So was I gonna leave space in between what I had promised myself that I will always be, or I was I not going to live out all the words that I told hun, like thousands of people

Bob Pettke: Sure.

Desmond Clark: In the words that I told myself and told my son.

Bob Pettke: I’m sure there’s a lot to this story, so I would anticipate that people are attending are gonna, there’s a lot of gaps that need to be filled in.

Mr. Desmond Clark. I’m hoping that people are gonna get a chance to not only hear that story ’cause it was a mission, right? You ended up, it sounds like you were on some type of mission here to fulfill that promise that you made to your child, maybe even when he was in the womb. I don’t know when you made that [00:17:00] promise, but

Desmond Clark: He was

Bob Pettke: the dad about

Desmond Clark: two months old.

He was

Bob Pettke: about

Desmond Clark: two months old when I made him that promise.

Bob Pettke: That’s amazing. And so yeah, maybe after we get off this podcast, you can fill me in, but we’re not gonna say anything right now so people can come in who are tuning in, they gotta hear Mr. Desmond Clark and hear what his message is. Let’s talk about a little bit more about that.

And, you know, so you’ve had people that have probably heard of this message, maybe a variation thereof. I’m sure you get feedback, right? You get feedback from your audience. What are, this is your chance. It’s kinda like your commercial, right? What do people say? You know?

Desmond Clark: Yeah.

Bob Pettke: After they’ve attended.

Yeah.

Desmond Clark: So I haven’t, I think I’ve presented this one twice.

Bob Pettke: Okay.

Desmond Clark: Because it is deep personal, but the thing about me as a speaker is that. Anybody can come in and motivate you. Rah, let’s go. But I feel like that’ll die out in 48, 72 hours. [00:18:00] What I wanna leave people with is with a visual that’s in them now.

They can’t forget it. Right? They’ll never forget it. And then, because they won’t forget that, that visual that I’m gonna give them. They’ll never forget the one or two or three points that stuck with them as they were listening to that. And what I try to do is make those 1, 2, 3 points that’s gonna stick with you for the rest of your life.

Hopefully you’ll use those to realize the greatness within yourself and become even a more of a even better. Version of yourself than you were sitting in the seat at that time. That’s a goal that I try to bring to any type of speaking event that I’m at.

Bob Pettke: Are you gonna have a book there for people to [00:19:00] get?

Desmond Clark: Yeah. I wish I wish I, I would have the greatest catch. Already done. The greatest catch is this story. That I’m gonna tell in, in, in detail, but that book won’t be done yet. I gotta take some time off here over the next couple months to go somewhere and sit where I’m not bothered and really dig deep.

I got most of it outlined and kind of done, but there’s still a lot of work to do in that. But I will have principles of winning there.

Bob Pettke: Great. And I think people are gonna have a chance to maybe sit down with you for a minute, maybe get a signature from you and all that too.

Desmond Clark: Yeah, so it couple things.

Like my birthday is April 20th. Okay. And so I’m gonna be at the happy hour later on that day so we can celebrate my birthday at the happy hour. Also, while I’m signing books and doing all that stuff, I, I wanna celebrate with the crowd and extend my birthday all the way to the 22nd with everybody who’s gonna be at the ISSA [00:20:00] conference, or is it the Midwest Staffing Conference?

Bob Pettke: Well, it’s the Midwest Staffing Conference. You got it. Right. And

Desmond Clark: yeah.

Bob Pettke: ISSA is really the pro, the premier organizer, in addition to some people that Illinois, Michigan Wisconsin. But no, Midwest Staffing Conference is where it at. So you’re good, man. You’re good. I got another question for you.

When you coming outta retirement.

Desmond Clark: A retirement of what? Of football?

Bob Pettke: Yes, sir.

Desmond Clark: There, there is no coming out party ever happening unless we talking about fantasy football. Yeah, I, yeah, I could fantasize all day about what I used to do, but in reality I know I can’t do it anymore. And that’s a young man’s game.

Bob Pettke: Well, I got two questions for you, really, and I, and hopefully I’m not giving too much away. I’m gonna ask you for a professional highlight from your playing days and then a per a personal highlight that you’d like to share with the audience. As we conclude here today,

Desmond Clark: professional highlight [00:21:00] had to be coming outta that tunnel in the super for the Super Bowl.

Bob Pettke: I bet

Desmond Clark: you know, as a kid. That’s something that you dream about, right? You watch the Super Bowl every year and you watch your favorite players. And then I had to realize like, Hey, this, I’m, when they said, Hey, the NFC Champion Chicago Bears, and we all took the field, I had to take five or 10 seconds just to be still and bring that and let it soak in.

I’m in the Super Bowl.

Bob Pettke: Yeah.

Desmond Clark: Right. And I got my family in the stands and like, this is a moment, this is a moment. And so I had taken in that was if not the top moment of my sports career. Definitely. One of them. And personally I’m gonna go with something more, more recent and I’ve been talking about it a lot.

Just when I, you know, founding bare down logistics and being able to grow this company to where [00:22:00] it’s at now with no, you know, knowledge base coming into it. But my, my, my oldest or my most senior broker last year, two things he told me, he said, Desmond me and my wife were about to buy a house. And I was like, congratulations, man.

That’s like. Really big time. And then a few months later he said, Hey, Desmond, me and my wife we’re about to start a family and have a kid. I asked him this question right here. I said, how do you feel financially? He is like, man, we feel very good. We feel very stable.

Bob Pettke: Wonderful.

Desmond Clark: And it clicked at that moment, that’s.

That’s why I like doing what I do because this platform, I’m gonna call it Bear Down, gives people the opportunity to live the life that they see for themself. And that’s, man that’s a great, that’s a great moment for me to have them tell me that, [00:23:00]

Bob Pettke: you know, Desmond. In life, it seems like we create these ripple effects, good, bad, or otherwise.

And you know, you dropped a couple of stones in here deliberately, and your ripple effect is that story about this man with this guy getting a house and a family. What a tremendous blessing that is. And I would imagine. That’s, I could see why that is a a pivotal key moment in your personal side.

And again, that Super Bowl thing, man, that, that goes down forever. That you know that Sunday afternoon, the whole world was watching brother, everybody was looking, you know, and they, you know, they threw the ball. And you’re in the stat book, man. You got you. People forever are gonna be able to look and see that.

It’s nice to see that you’ve made your mark. Let me ask you one last one. I didn’t plan on this, but. What’s it like to be on the other side of some of these dreams that you had?

Desmond Clark: Man it’s good. And just recently, December, it was December 29th, I went down to my storage and I started clearing out my storage.

And 14 years I had this stuff in [00:24:00] storage since 2011, so 15 years almost. And I started pulling out stuff. Old newspaper articles and reading through stuff, and Bob, I’m not, man, I’m not man enough to say it brought tears to my eyes to go back and look at some of that stuff and just reminisce about the good times, man, it, but it feels good now to be where I’m at in life.

But I know those times they help shape the person who I am today. So I can enjoy where I’m at today.

Bob Pettke: Yeah, there it is. Desmond Clark Dream Dare. Do you know he, he’s practiced what he’s preached. He’s been on the other side of some of these dreams that he is had. I’m sure he is got some more that he wants to get on the other side of.

Come and listen to him at the Midwest Staffing Conference April 22nd and. Together. Maybe he can help you identify some things [00:25:00] and maybe you’ll be able to walk away better equipped to get on some of the, get on the other side of your dreams as well. Desmond, it’s been a pleasure of having you. I look forward to spending some time with you when you’re here in Oakbrook.

And thanks for being on the Staffing Buzz Network.

Desmond Clark: I appreciate you having me on, Bob.

Bob Pettke: Absolutely. Thanks man. I’m a fan. I was a fan of him for years and then. What a what a privilege and a pleasure for a Chicago Bear fan to be able to spend some quality time and hear his message and see that you know, there is so much more to Desmond than what was, you know, between the goalposts, right?

A man who had a dream he put it to work. He’s accomplished it, and just a great opportunity to sit down with him. I’m telling you, if you’re not registered for this conference I’m gonna recommend you go ahead and get yourself registered. I mean, this is gonna be, again it’s a, it’s an opportunity for you highly coveted tickets. People always look forward to coming to this [00:26:00] every year. This is probably one of the biggest and best events that’s out there. Again, April 22nd. April 23rd. The website is www.issaworks.net. Come on in, meet with him, meet with some of the other folks. This is the first of many podcasts we’re gonna do with some guests that are coming on and, see for yourself what you can take away from this. And you’ll be better equipped that when you leave than when you walked in the door. So again, my name is Bob Pettke, host of the Staffing Buzz Network, chief Sales Officer here at Automated Business Designs. I will be there we will have a team of folks that’ll be there, come by and see us as well.

But with that said, until our next podcast where we’ll likely feature another person that’s gonna be speaking at the Midwest Staffing Conference, April 22nd, 23rd. I am Bob Pettke signing off. So thanks everybody, and we’ll see you soon.