[00:00:00] Matt McCoy:

If you could go back, what's one piece of advice you'd give your 18-year-old self?

[00:00:04] Barry Gordon:

That's an interesting question for me. I started young. I was doing business in high school. I was working probably 40 hours a week while I was in my 13th year of high school, buying and selling cattle and working in my father's livestock market.

[00:00:20] Barry Gordon:

Went to auction school when I was 17. I got married when I was 20.

One of the things I've often reflected back on was what a good idea I think it was, in hindsight, having children as young as we did.

I'm 66 now, and my kids are 40, 44, and 46, and we've got six grandchildren. And it's a lot easier to raise them when you're young parents than it is when you're older parents.

[00:00:43] Barry Gordon:

So I think that all went pretty interesting and pretty well. We have a pretty good life here, and it has been a pretty interesting experience in many, many ways.

I'm not sure what I'd change, really.

What I found out for sure is that when I was 17, graduating high school, I felt like I knew everything I needed to know.

And all my friends who went to university really were going to university mostly because they didn't know what they were up to and what they were going to do.

[00:01:12] Barry Gordon:

I felt like I did, but by the time I was 19 or 20, I wasn't so sure.

And I happened to be fortunate enough to get an education a different way. I got into politics as a kid, and it was a terrific learning experience for me in parallel with my work career.

And so, at the end of the day, I've become a lifelong learner, and that's been awesome.

[00:01:31] Barry Gordon:

But looking back on it, I'm not sure that a formal education path would have been a better path for me than the one I took anyway.