From the Navy to Leadership in Logistics: Jack Margeson’s Story

I would rather cut through the FUD, cut through kind of the mud
and find what’s our objective, what’s our goal, and umand work with a solid
team. Welcome to the Know Your Ship podcastpresented by E-Hub. I’m your host,
Frank Dolce.Do you pronounce your last name differently than I pronounced it?
Uh Margeson. Soft. Oh, with a soft G.Marge son. Marges son. Margeson. Yeah.
My mom is Margaret, soshe’s Marge Marge. No, she’s not. Yeah, it’s tough for
her. Ah, but you know, a long time to adjust toit. Well, I’m going to start
out talking about that. So,let me just welcome you to that. I’m going to
welcome Jack. We’re goingto get into your last name because the way that I
pronounced it. Yep. I think that a lot of people would woulddo it that way.
Mhm. Marggeston. Yeah. Marguson. Like a hard G. Marguson. It’s a soft G. I
like to keep people ontheir toes, so it’s a soft G on that end. I get
margarine a lot. And then um when I was in the Navy had acinjun senior chief
who couldn’t say it and just pronounced it mage. So he’s a mages. M.So I
responded Margus. Margusen. Margarine or mages. Yeah. He got something in
it.The soft G. Do you think that is reflective of your personality? Like the
soft G. Are you kind of like a soft guy?I’m kind of a soft G sometimes. I I
have been known to get uh in a little bit of trouble when the hard G comes
outthough, but um so a little bit of the balance, a little bit of striking
that. So, but I think any good leader has tohave a soft and a hard side on
that, too. So, I love the way you turn that you turnedthat right around. So,
Margeson Marges uh is that what what kind of name isMargeson? uh English. So
going back English and Scottish, everybody uh 100%of my family’s English
Scott on that end. So I’ve got Margeson, I’ve got Mccalpin on the other side
there.Uh but yeah, English name. Gotcha. And is that standard for for English
to have a soft G in thatcontext? No, my family’s been in the South for a long
time. Reading and spelling weren’t really the strong suit for a long time.So
it could have just been lost over the over the ages. I think the southern
United States. Yeah. Yeah.So, families all from lower South Carolina,
Savannah, Georgia, and Atlanta. So, it probably got changedalong the time
there. It’s probably Margusen. It’s probably the right way to say it. But at
this point, I’m too scared tocorrect my grandparents. So, I would stick with
Margen. No, no, no. Go with Marges. You know, Ihave a I have a last name
issue, too. That’s kind of That’s kind of funny. So, D O L C E.Yep. So, uh,
that’s an Italian name andthe pronunciation is Dolce. Mhm. If you’re from
Italy, but when mygrandparents came over, uh, they they wanted to be
Americans. And so, itwasn’t Dolce, it was Douli. Doulsece. Yeah. Yeah. So,
they Americanized it. And sogrowing up I was douli until I came to Utah and
some somehow there’s a longstory behind it but it trans it shifted to do to
dolce. So in Utah I’m Dolce andmost everywhere else that’s how I that’s what
I go by now it’s natural but when Igo back to California where I grew up I’m
still duly doulsece. Yeah you know it happens and um it kind ofreminds me of
the story of Lacroy. So there was an interview with the CEO of Lacroy a
couple years ago.Yeah. The water. The water. Yeah. And he said and interviewer
asked him, I’ve heard it Laqua. Lacroy. Lacroy. Uh pronounced inso many
different ways. That’s in the south, right? Lrokes. Yeah. And he said he
said, “How do youpronounce it?” And he said, “However makes
you want to buy it.” So that’s kind of You call me whatever you want to
call me. Let’s just keep theconversation. As long as you’re buying a six-pack
of Laqua. Laqua. What would you say?I say Lacroy. I grew up, my dad always
said Laqua. Um, got made fun of for being a little pretentious on that
endthere, too. So, uh, like you said, am I in California? Laqua. Laqua.Laqua
in Utah. Lacroy. Yeah, I think I think I’m going to go becauseI think it’s
even funnier now. I’m going to go with Laqua. I think it’s kind of making fun
of it.Yeah. Tar target. Yeah. Yeah. I like Tar instead of Targetsometimes.
Shouldn’t it be tarier? Marges. Marges. Tar t lequa lequa.Yeah. Add a little
janiqua to your waters.Well, in the in the wait, how far south are you? I
mean, are you talking like cinjun south? Cuz Laqua would fit,right? Yeah,
Laqua would fit. Cinjun south. You kind of need a passport to go there. I’m
from Atlanta, so a little bit of thecapital of the south, if you will. So,
some of my accent comes through, some of it doesn’t. Um, but so based in
Atlanta,Georgia. Been there. I’m one of the few natives left in Atlanta. feel
like a lot of the tech industry has moved in. It’sIt’s great. It’s been a
great city and but yeah, based out of Atlanta, Georgia. So, Lacroy kind of
that’s that’s wherestick to that fits. Yeah. Okay. Are you a history guy? Big
history buff. Well, I don’t know if people knowlike you go to the east coast.
Yep. And people think that’s, you know, American history is on the east
coast.That’s true. I mean when you when you travel on the east coast, we were
recently in Philadelphia, we wererecently in New York and all of the you know
the founding fathers and the youknow founding of the country happened in that
region but I think people underestimate the history of Atlanta inthe early
days of the country. Yeah, it’s uh you know it’s nice place to be in supply
chain. Atlanta’s alwaysbeen a um logistics hub. Actually changed its name.
Its originalname was Martha’sville. Then it went to Terminus. Don’t know why
we decided to change it. Much cooler name. Uh wish we stuck withTerminus. Uh
but went over to Atlanta, but you know, Atlanta kind of arrive or uh rose as
the major train and transithub. Um now it’s the interstate hub in the
southeast as well. So Atlanta’salways been a great city for supply chain for
logistics on that end. you got UPS, Coca-Cola, Delta out of there. So,um, but
as far as kind of the history of Georgia, history of the South, Atlanta’s
always played a pretty key role in itand it’s a it’s it’s been a cool place
to kind of grow up and and to be fromum, you know, watching it grow and
develop even further now. So, um, it’s a good place. So, really really happy
withit. I I don’t want to get too far along without telling people who you
represent.Sure. So, I think we may have skipped over that. We got down this
Laqua Laquapath, but with Depasco. Yep. Do you Okay. I I want to keep talking
about your background because I think that’sso interesting, but give us the
30,000 foot. What What is Depasco? What What do you guys do? Sure. So,
Depasco is supply chaintechnology provider. And so started around supply
chain execution, warehousemanagement, order management, integrations, omni
channel fulfillment. Also have a um application set in thesuite for supply
chain planning. So demand planning, inventory forecasting, and then supplier
purchasing andcollaboration. So really focus on direct consumer, middle
market. We support alot of 3PLs, retailers and brands um around our founding
our founder and CEOBill Gibson. Father founded a company called Manuggestics
in the ’90s. So he was kind of raised in that space. Umthey went on to sell
Manuggestics. He went uh you know back to the Wharton school and private
equity on that end.came back out as we saw the need for uh direct to consumer
fulfillment. You know, fulfillment in the past waswholesale distribution and
um as we saw the rise of omni channel, we saw the rise of e-commerce knew
thatthat kind of fulfillment was going to be a key piece. So cloudnative um
application, we were ahead of the curveon that end. Um, but yeah, if it’s
direct to consumer for the middle market, 3PL’s retailers or brands, fromthe
time an order is placed to the time we get into the shipment execution,
Deposco is really designed to handle everything in between.Yeah. Interesting.
Well, that’s an interesting story, too, of being ahead ahead of the curve in
lots of ways andand and being a little bit of a visionary, I guess, as the
market was as the market was changing.Yeah, very much so. um nice to work in
that position and being second generation and having been raised inManu as
well. Um has given a lot of good experience, good insights that have
beenreally really nice to work for and and and to kind of move through with
our CEO. So he’s got a great vision and it’sbeen nice to see it play out.
Yeah. And how long have you been with the company? Uh a little bit over eight
years. Soactually coming up on nine years now. So um it’s been a great run
watching the company grow and and being a part ofthat from the alliance’s
perspective. what is your what is your role? So I lead our global alliances
program. Sothat is partnerships, strategic partnerships and alliances in the
space. So um can kind of dive into that butthat can be anything from
resellers to technology partners to consulting andadvisory firms and more. So
um creating those relationships that ultimately lead to benefit for our end
client. We we hada chance to visit um just a little while ago and I I you
know I work on thepartnerships side here with e-hub and I think that’s an
interesting I think it’sa really interesting path to go down for the as we
continue down this uhconversation is the power of partnerships the how how
meaningful partnerships are especially in today’smarket like when you walk
into I mean I know we’ve been at trade shows together and you know when you
walk onto a tradeshow floor I don’t know how the consumer makes a decision
correct like there’s a thousand different thingsof the same thing and and
they all have some expertisemaybe shared expertise and differentiators and
all of the thingsand you know that that would be a nightmare for a consumer
to try and takeall of that in and make you know, a thoughtful decision and by
the way,still run their company. And so I think you have interesting thoughts
and we have interesting thoughts of the powerof partnership. So maybe we can
dig into that in a little bit. Love to. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. I think
that’s meaningful. Allright. Let’s get back to let’s get back to you and your
how you found yourselfin this role, your upbringing maybe. So you grew up in
Atlanta. Grew up in Atlanta. Do you do you as you look back acrosswere you
kind of in the city? Were you out? You were right in town. I was in the city.
I wasn’t in downtown. Nobody’s in downtown, but I was inYeah. It’s like being
in LA. Yeah. I live in LA. Well, you live around. Yeah. So, uh Atlanta
natives haveThere’s two types. There’s in the perimeter and outside of the
perimeter. Perimeter highway. So, I grew up in the perimeter for anybody in
Atlanta.Uh but yeah, grew up in Atlanta, um in Atlanta proper. Spent my
childhood there and um you know, as I kind of wentthrough um spent my time
there, big fan of kind of everything Atlanta. So, Braves, Falcons, Atlanta
United, I’veseen three Braves stadiums uh in my time, watched two of them get
demolished. But, you know, I had a greatrun um kind of there and then, you
know, as I kind of um came into myprofessional career, started in the
military, so decided to get out of Atlanta for a little bit there. Did you
have um military background inyour family? What was the why did you One
grandfather? Um, I went to college for a year, decided um, you know, I
waskind of aimless and and felt that um, decided I wanted to do a change. So,
Ijoined the Navy, did about four and a half years in the Navy. Uh, best thing
I’ve ever done on that end. So, um,about two and a half tours uh, through
that, deployed off aircraft carriers, had a phenomenal experience, came
backwith a little bit more self-discipline, um, finished school and started
working um, full-time there as well. So, um,yeah, as as my kind of career
developed, it went Navy and then when I got out, I was in school full-time at
night and Iwas director of operations over a multi-warehousing facility
there. So, um, got to see the ins and outs ofrunning an operation. Um, you
know, on that end, also got to see the experience of working withsomebody who
or working for somebody who doesn’t really want to invest in technology,
doesn’t see that as an advantage. So,after a couple years, Yeah. I want to
follow up about that because you’re in a technology business. So that I
thinkthat’s kind of an inflection point for you in your career, but I do have
a really important question to ask youabout your naval experience. Is is
there any accuracy in Top Gun or Maverick?Yes and no. Uh yes and no. So um
you were you were on aircraft carrier.It was. And Top Gun was filmed on the
USS Enterprise, which I did a tour on as well. How about that? Very,
veryaccurate. Um, they did both of those really well. I would say
surprisingly true to form.Really? Yeah. Surprisingly so. Okay. You’re going
to you’re going to lead me to lots of follow-up questions,but go ahead and
tell me why it’s true to form. Well, they filmed in real location. They
filmed on set. They went forauthenticity as they moved forward. Um, you know,
when you get into Maverick and stealing F-16s off of a flight line andand
running those, I can’t really speak to that as far as the actual, hey, thisis
hell. I think he did it. I think he could do it. Yeah. Yeah. With Tom Cruz,
nothing would surprise meon that end. Uh, but yeah, accurate, fun. They were
kind of the anthems of the Navy, too. Sosometimes the ship would play them a
little too much uh on the on the rotating TVs and it’s not really whatyou
want to see is work all day when you’re working anyways. Um but no, yeah,
surprisingly true to form.Is there any truth to the rumor that pilots are
very confident?Yes. Indiv individuals. Yeah. Yeah. Stick jockeyies. Um they
are that’s areal deal. Yeah. They are. and and you have to be I mean there’s
not really time for secondguessing yourself when you’re up there. But um
yeah, I mean pilots are the best thing to ever come to the world in apilot’s
opinion, but that’s kind of what you want there as well. Uh and look,
realistically, I worked on helicopters.I was an avionics tech, so I repaired
helicopters. I did that. If I was flying an F-18, if I was flying an F22,
I’dprobably be a little bit more confident. Oh, yeah. Did you ever get to
take a little joy ride in?I did. I didn’t go on a fighter jet. I launched and
recovered off the aircraft carriers on troop carriers though whichis pretty
fun. Um you know zero to a lot of miles an hour in a very short shortspan. U
but yeah pretty cool. Is that frightening or is that exhilarating?
Exhilarating. I’m sure it could befrightening. I mean we launched off the end
of a boat. Yeah. It was blast though.Okay. Let me I I’m We’ll get off the
nail thing. This is No, it doesn’t.When you when you when you’re launched
Mhm. How how what is the how high are you offthe ocean? Flight deck at any
points about 90 to 110 ft off the water. Okay. And is there enough momentum
thatyou just immediately take off or are you dropping at all? No, it’s not a
drop. It’s a steampowered catapult. And so they start with the engines
running at full and then you get rocketed 0 to 200 in a very shortamount of
time. And so when you take off in the troop carriers, you’re actually facing
backwards. You’re not facingforward so you don’t jolt back. Uh but yeah, you
have little hooks at the bottom for your feet and you have tolock in your
arms cuz otherwise your hands and feet will fly out and you’ll smack the
chair in front of you. And then landing is theOh yeah. Getting sucked back
into the chair. Yeah. How about that? How about the landing? Well, you’re
facing backwards.You don’t get to see anything. Correct. And you don’t get to
see anything on the takeoff either when you’re in the carriers. But, uh,
landingon an aircraft carrier is the most impressive thing in aviation inmy
opinion, those pilots who do it every day. You have to land at full speed in
case you miss that catch wire. You’vegot to be able to take back off. So, when
you stop, you’re stopping at full speed. And it’s uh it’s pretty amazingthing
to watch. And those pilots who do it every day, it’s it’s it’s unbelievable.
Wow. Yeah. Okay. So, four years. Yep.Tell me how that 4year experience has
influenced yourcareer, the way that you approach work and life. Um,
foundational, I would say. Um, oneof the most impactful times in my life, and
I I I think it’s impacted in a few different ways. um first and foremost
iskind of the mission orientation and the kind of desire and goal to work
with a team. Itformed a lot of my beliefs in leadership, a lot of my beliefs
of what a good leader is. I saw some of the bestleaders I ever had in the
military, some of the worst as well. Um so yeah, the the equal equally
powerful lessons, butum you know, the military does a really good job at
creating small strike groups, small teams, small cohesiveunits. um keeping
everybody onto that same goal, helping everybody understand their role in
that goal and what theirjob no matter how small or how large is in in moving
forward. Um but it also kind of eliminated a lotof the stuff and and you know
it um called out a lot of whatI didn’t want to be and didn’t want to deal
with a lot of the politics. Didn’twant to deal with a lot of the kind of back
and forth. I would rather cut through the FUD, cut through kind of themud and
find what’s our objective, what’s our goal and um and work with a solid team.
And I’m I’m really fortunateto have that uh you know at my company and and
and as I as I look like we’renot mandated to be an office. I drive over an
hour each way every day because I feel that kind of team cohesion andthat
that camaraderie on that end and I think it’s the most important thing. So
it’s lent really naturally into my rolein partnerships which you know we’ll
I’m sure we’ll get into further as well. Um yeah absolutelybut I think it’s
been transformational um in that sense there as well. Gotcha. Uh are there
any particularindividuals or leaders you dealt with during your time thatyou
have stayed in touch with or kept those lessons? And what what are whatare
some of those what are some of those things like the the reason I’m asking is
I you know there are some experiences that noteverybody gets a chance to
experience and there’s you know and then and then how do you transfer that
what you’vegained to to everybody else who hasn’t had that same opportunity.
I think the same thing occurs in athletics beingpart of a team at atmosphere
and athletics. I think the same thing occurs in in being part of a of a
militaryoutfit and the lessons that you learn, things that you have to go go
through and and so I’m really curious about, youknow, and I’m not saying any
other experience is invaluable. I think there’s just lessons that you learn thatpeople
don’t not everybody gets exposed to. So, I’m curious about how to transfer
all of that knowledge and allof those lessons and and incorporate it into a
team that doesn’t have that samebackground. Yeah. And I and I think
foundationally, it’s interesting. I I So, you ask a couple questions. One
ofthem, do I stay in touch? Absolutely. Um, so I have an old commanding
officer who I stay in touch with and then asupervisor who I stay in touch
with as well. Um, and then a couple of really good friends. But I think
military andteam sports, a lot of these situations put a group of individuals
together into a hard situation and help them kind ofreinfor them really
believe in the unified goal. And I think having aunified goal, a unified
mission is something that’s so important. Everybody wants an objective.
Everybody wants agreat goal to go after. I’m a big believer in that. and and
sometimes it’s about helping see what per you know whatrole on the team fits
best for that person and achieving that goal and moving through. Umbut I
would say you know kind of lessons going in and lessons coming out from that.
One of the things and I I I teacha course or not a course but I do a a
presentation for any new people comingon board at Pasco. It’s one of the key things
that I took away from um becausewhen I think about great leaders, the
military is extremely structured,you know, kind of your hierarchy. Um and in
those hierarchies, there areeven rules and regulations around not fratizing,
not having friends that are officers if you’re enlisted, not reallyspending
that time and and making sure you’re maintaining that professionalism. And
the leaders that I always found tobe the most impactful, those who had the
best loyalty from their teams, those who I I still keep in touch with took
thetime to spend with every individual regardless of their level, regardless
of their rank, help them understand that,help them grow. And I think a good
leader, you know, really helps todevelop trust. And they do it through a couple
of different things. Um, first is, you know, do you have the competencyto do
the job? First and foremost, do you have the competency to do that job?Do you
have the commitment to follow through? Like, are you willing to commit and
follow through on that?Um, do you have that kind of courage to be honest
aboutsetting realistic expectations, helping be transparent, but ultimately
it’s consistency. I think a good leader isvery, very clear about what the
expectations, what the goals are. They have the confidence and the belief
thatyou can meet those goals. They may hold you to a high standard and coach
you like an Olympian um on that end, butthey’re consistent throughout it. And
their mission is your success. Every individual’ssuccess is equal to the success
on the mission. The leaders who I saw who weren’t like that were the leaders
whowere clearly out for their next promotion. They were clearly out for their
next move. They saw this as a stopgap to where they really wanted to be. And
I think it it it’s it’s very clear. So I’m a big believer in trust
buildingwith your peers, with those below you, with those above you, and um
in kind of those tendencies of leadership, and Ithink it plays out in
everything I do for my professional life as well as my personal life. I try
to be there. I tryto be consistent. I try to be competent. Sometimes I’m not.
So in those areas,it’s about understanding that and helping to build your
team around that where my competencies are weak. how canI put somebody in to
help augment that and being self-aware of it. There’s so much crossover in a
lot ofthings you mentioned. One thing that stuck in my head is the difference
between a leader who is engaged with histeam for the benefit of the team
versus a leader who is engaged with ateam for the benefit of himself herself.
And it’s sowith experience maybe it’s so easy to see how that occurs and the
lack ofalignment between team and leader and the long-term damage it does to
thatorganization. I mean a a business, a military unit, a you know
whateverorganization no matter how small or big can be led or it could be
ruled. Both come to a same end goal but one ofthem leads to more efficacy in
that end. Um and I’m a big big believer that a leader’s primary
responsibility is toupskill the team and make themselves replaceable. the
right leader should be looking to to build their replacement tomake sure that
everybody is leveling up on that end because that’s what leads to mission
growth and and mission orientation in myopinion there. Th this may be an odd
example. I don’t I don’t know uh if youif you watch u series or anything but
there’s a series out right now that I just started watching uh with
JasonMamoa called Chief of War. Oh yeah. and some of the things that you’re
talking about right now in termsof leadership. It’s very interesting watching
or I mean it and by by the waythis is all based on actual events this chief
of war series. So you have a youknow the current individual who thinks he’s a
leader but leader forselfpromotion versus the leader who is upcominguh who is
based in the good of the wholeand you can see how they’re building up this
dichotomy and one obviously one’s going to win out and that’s just that Imean
it’s just I mean both of them can rule both of them can lead. Um, and it
itreally comes down to what kind of stamp do you want to leave and and what
do you think your responsibility is and do youowe those who work for you or
do you owe those who work with you or work above you? I’m a big believer in
servantleadership and that and I think yeah, military sports a lot of things
teach that really well. No doubt it’s a it’s it can be a diff itI mean we all
have we we allthink about ourselves. I mean we all have self-promotion in I
mean it’s hardnot to sure think about well how am I going to improve and how
am I going to exceedexceed expectations how am I going to climb the ladder so
that that can be a difficult thing to manage because we allwant to succeed
well as you move into leadership I mean your success is based on the advocacy
ofthose on your team and my advice to rising leaders would be to make your
teamas talented as invaluable as possible and that will lead to
self-promotion. Yeah, it does. Um, and I think leadersare chosen by their
peers. They’re not promoted by their superiors. And and I think there’s a
difference between aleader and a manager. There’s different, you know, and
this is what I encourage young like people starting their careerto be. You
can be a leader whether or not you’re a manager. Mhm. And that will lead to
your success asyou grow long term. Yeah. It it pays off. It’s really It’s
really interesting that you like it’s self-identifying. And thisis I’ve seen
this happen in the athletics world time and time and time again. You get into
a situation where uhyou you know you’re going through your training camp, you
know, with three three weeks of training camp, whatever, and you have a
couple guys who are battling for the position and you know,the coach is
saying, “Well, we’re going to name a starter. We’re going to name a
starter.” And the truth of the matter is the team has already
identifiedYeah. based on and it’s not necessarily just based on you know who
has the mosttalent. That’s obvious. That has to be a factor. Absolutely.
Talent. Yeah. Uh and and you you mentioned that aswell. Competency.
Competency. Absolutely. But there is within the team knowledgeof who they
want to follow. Mhm. based on how that person has perforperformed, acted,
engaged with everybody else. Yeah, there’s uh can to relate this backto a TV
show. If you watch Death Lasso, see their most talented player as the young
hottheadand he’s not the leader. Um watching his journey to becoming that
leader, I think is one that everybody should payattention to. Yeah,
absolutely. You can be the most talented person in the world, be the worst
leader that there’s ever been. Yeah. Oh, I love this. I don’t even knowif we
if I mean I just love this track we’re going down. I think this stuff is so
meaningful and rather than talkingabout yes all of the other things are
important like is do you have is your technology sound? Is your
platformsound? Do you are you solving problems for people and all of those
things are really important. No question about it.But I I love this. I mean,
it just aligns with my thoughts about aboutbusiness and how to run business
and relationships and why relationships matter. And I couldn’t agree more.
And I thinkthat’s what really gravitated me towards partnerships. Uh I
started in sales. Um did really really well. And as I movedthrough sales, I
think one of the things I saw is a lot of my success was based on the
relationships that I built andputting other people first and and really
thinking about that customer first on that end. Um because I think aleader
needs to see not only their teammates and their peers and those people not,
but anybody who they’re in service of, anybody they’re supporting.Mhm. Um is
being that. And so I kind of naturally gravitated toward partnerships,
finding those right groupsof people, finding those right teams together and
um andpulling that group together to put together a dedicated group of
individuals who’s going to support the customer’s growth. That becomes
themission. And and I think it’s it’s fascinating. And I think the tenants of
leaderships, whether somebody is aleader or not, apply out throughout every
day-to-day action. Um, and I’m a big believer that everybody is a leaderin
their own right, in their own responsibility, whether they’re, you know,
leading a small part or a large part. Um, and it plays really naturallyinto
the partnership side there as well. Yeah, absolutely. So is this something I
mean this your thoughts on leadershipand building teams is really
welldeveloped and and so I’m curious about is the are did you have
thesethoughts coming out of the Navy as you started to into your professional
careeror is it has have has this developed? It’s been an evolution. Yeah.
Yeah. It’s it’s definitely been anevolution and I’ve I’ve been fortunate to
have a number of leaders since the military that have taught memuch much
more. helped me refine my leadership style, helped show what good looks like
and sometimes what it doesn’tlook like and and giving those teachings and and
those lessons. But it’s also one that I try to study on my own time aswell.
So I think good leaders are constant students as well. Mh. And the best
people are those who knowthat their knowledge is limited and they want to
kind of keep seeking it and there there’s no plateau where you’veyou’ve
learned it all. So um you know I a leader years ago gave me the bookstart
with why by Simon SK a lot of his teachings I’ve taken very very seriously
radical cander um but Ithink continuing to read and continuing to hone and
refine that practice but umyou know I’ve had really good leaders as well at
Pasco which I’ve been very thankful for. So, you know, our CEO andthen I I’ve
been fortunate to to rise up at Depasco and I’ve risen under peopleand
parallel to people and um you know, they’ve helped me kind of as well. And I
think one of the things is I invite thatfeedback. I invite that criticism and
I I think really good leaders do that as well is asking for what can I do
better,how can I do that. Um so I think it’s a I I I think I had an idea of
leadership.Mhm. It wasn’t my goal. um it wasn’t something that I said,
“Hey, I want togo out and I want to be a manager. I want to be a
leader.” Um didn’t really know, but as I’ve progressed through my career
and I’vebeen given the privilege of being put into that position, it’s
something that I take seriously. And so continuing to read about that and
continuing toexplore and there’s it it can be, you know, here’s the formal
book list that you need to read through. Those areequally important, but I
also think it’s conversations like this of just exploring experience and
exploring andand learning from that, too. So, um I think my idea of
leadership changesevery day. Yeah. And I and I think a good leader should do
that, too. Just kind of tweak it a little bit.Yeah. There’s something and be
self-reflective. What have I done this year that I, you know, maybe
neededchange? And yeah, a good leader probably has a healthy amount of
self-awareness. Yeah. Little self-awareness, littledoubt, little regret. I
think that’s important because the moment that we think we have it all
figured out is the moment we stop being what we need to beto our teams. Yeah.
Yeah. You were telling me about an experience with a leader in an
organization that I thought was reallyinteresting. I wanted I want you to
tell me about that story and the lessons you learned in and how you took that
into uhthe future of your career. So, um and I’m assuming this is the air
conditioning story.Yeah. So, I had um like I said at the beginning, there’s
some of the some ofthe best lessons I’ve learned about leadership have come
from those that I didn’t want to emulate. And this is nota reflection on the
person, the individual. This was just kind of a bit of a different style, but
uh asmentioned, I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. When I got out of the Navy, I was
working in operations. Um now, I’m usedto heat. I enjoy it. I was working in
the Persian Gulf for a long time on a flight deck wearing a lot ofgear on top
of that. I grew up in the south. So that’s And that’s a like when we’re
talking about heat. Atlanta, Georgia. That’sit’s hot. Hot, humid. Yeah, it’s
toasty. Those those are Yeah, that’s real.Yeah, I was working in one of those
warehouses and the uh air conditioning broke. Leader decided not to replace
itthat month, but wait a little bit of time because it was the end of summer
and we’d be get a better deal uh if wewaited a few months. And working in a
warehouse in Atlanta and no heat. um orin no air conditioning. It it made me
reflect a little bit about w