March 15, 2024 ā¢ 51 mins
On today's episode, Pete interviews Dr. Gary Montoute, an IT leader with more than 25 years of team-building success in professional services, global outsourcing, hospitality, and healthcare.
Dr. G'sĀ leadership expertise has transcended from the corporations he has served through many years as a soccer coach and a 40-year veteran in the martial arts arena. He is the co-founder of LeMontoute Group, where he coaches tenured leaders as well as the up-and-coming to become impactful and unforgettable trailblazers wherever they are planted.
Pete and Gary dive into the generational, societal, and parenting shifts that impact today's young adults. They share personal experiences and make recommendations for aspiring professionals to follow for success in life and business. From start to finish, this lively discussion is as entertaining as it is educational!
Additional Resources:
- Must-Read Leadership Books of the Decade
- Characteristics and Qualities Every Good Leader Should Possess
- How to Be a Leader in the Workplace
- Tips for Becoming a Manager For The First Time
š§ WANT TO LEARN MORE? Be sure to subscribe and check out https://zengig.com/
š FOLLOW PETE NEWSOME ONLINE:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewsome/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVz9rkGUXi2jDcgN3XkOHsA
š FOLLOW DR. GARY MONTOUTE ONLINE:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drgarymontoute/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pete Newsome (00:03):
You're listening to the Finding Zen Career
podcast.
I'm Pete Newsome, and my guesttoday is Dr Gary Montu, who has
more than 25 years of experienceleading teams in the technology
space.
I was excited to have him ontoday for many reasons, but one
in particular is because he'sknown for hiring inexperienced
professionals and mentoring theminto becoming leaders.
It's a rare thing in today'sspace and something that I think
(00:25):
is really important for ourlisteners, so I had a lot of
funds during this conversationand I think you'll have a lot of
fun listening to it too.
Dr Gary Montu, thanks so muchfor joining me today.
How are you today?
Dr. Gary Montoute (00:36):
I'm doing great Pete.
How are you doing?
Pete Newsome (00:38):
I'm doing wonderful on this Friday
afternoon.
It's a pleasure to do this.
We've been talking about it for, I think, over a year now.
Dr. Gary Montoute (00:46):
Yes, over a year.
But you know what All goodthings come to those who wait
right.
And, like you said, my ayes mayhave been ringing a couple of
weeks ago and we're just talkingabout stuff like that.
So glad we have the opportunityto connect today.
This is awesome.
Pete Newsome (01:00):
Well, thank you for making the time, and before
we get too much into talkingabout leadership, which is going
to be the bulk of our topictoday, I have to ask about the
guitars in the background.
Do you play?
Dr. Gary Montoute (01:13):
So on this side there's a bass, electric
guitar and acoustic guitar and Itried my hand.
All my kids are musicians right, and I tried my hand at it when
I was seven, then started againuntil in my fifties.
It's based on learning them.
I'm actually taking formallessons on Monday nights to
(01:33):
learn them.
I grabbed that bass guitar andI just switched it up and I
tried to be more creative andthen I come back at that thing.
That was probably a stumbling.
So there are two bass guitarprobably about five months I've
been practicing.
One day I will open my garageand play in this trip in
neighbors.
Pete Newsome (01:51):
We'll give you a little more time and then I'll
have you come back and then youcan put on a show for us, maybe
in the next episode.
Dr. Gary Montoute (01:58):
I'll put you on the spot, I'll put it back
down from that challenge.
It gives me the zeal to goahead and try to get better.
Thank, you.
Pete Newsome (02:05):
There you go.
Well, let's talk about more ofyour background, because you're
a lifelong student, it soundslike.
So start from go back in timeand tell me how you got to where
you are today.
Dr. Gary Montoute (02:17):
I like what you said a lifelong student.
I have a martial arts teacherthat always said he's an
excellent beginner.
Pete Newsome (02:24):
Right.
Dr. Gary Montoute (02:25):
Okay, I like that and I hold true to that.
So I grew up in the island ofTrinidad, right in the Caribbean
, but I was born in New Jerseyand my background has been I
wanted to be a doctorgynecologist to be more specific
and I got into biology andrealized that dissections were
not for me.
So I moved more into theengineering business field and
(02:48):
so I lead a leader team onhealthcare industry.
But I've had a lot of jobseither in FinTech.
I've managed teams inPhilippines, india, countries
I've had the APEC region and melots of that and so the one
thing I've found is that themore you meet people you realize
, the more you really, andcountries, the more you don't
(03:10):
know.
I embarked and, going back inthe school, got my master's
recently.
Last year I got my doctorate inhealthcare administration and
that's the field I'm in, and soI did become a doctor one way or
another, right, and so I lovethe interaction with those teams
and those are professionals andit's all about community.
For me, it's all about makingthat difference and
(03:31):
representation right At theheart, right.
Sometimes you don't know whatyou can be if you don't see
anyone that looks like you orspeaks like you.
So I really appreciate that interms of being one to step forth
for education, step forth inthe healthcare field, and that
brings.
That speaks a lot of volumes.
More so, Absolutely.
Pete Newsome (03:52):
Action goes a lot longer, farther than talk.
We know that right.
Absolutely, yes.
How did you have time for this?
You're a father, you're.
You know, you're.
I know how busy you are in yourleadership role at work.
Where did you find the time?
Dr. Gary Montoute (04:07):
So you made the time right.
So, just like, just like instudies, I've got times where
things would use Sunday night1159.
And you have to like, likeyourself, to do this program.
We had to inform our team, ourloved ones.
Okay, I need this time, becauseif I can't get my time to play
basic, I can't get my time to gotake my walks.
How can I bring my whole selfto you, whether at family?
(04:32):
So you have to make that time,because one thing that COVID
taught us is to take time foryourself.
Right, stay home more.
Mental health was not somethingyou didn't speak about anymore.
A lot of things came to theforefront and realized we had to
take that time.
So for me, it's about balance.
I've been in martial arts allmy life since age eight and so
(04:54):
I've always found time to, andeven when I coached the soccer,
I've always found time to planto.
It gives me joy.
It gives me joy, it gives methat balance and whatnot.
And some people will say theydon't have time, but then yet
they start my Starbucks everyday, or sometimes they're
(05:15):
watching Netflix all the time,and if you take out those things
, you'll find a lot of time inthe day to do it right.
So it's about balance, but mostof what I think, too, for work,
it's about developing your benchstrength right, giving people
the opportunity and we met andtalked about this on one of your
associates people theopportunity to exceed and to
give them to excel.
(05:35):
Give them the opportunity tosee what they can or cannot do,
and not for them to fail and hitthe ground, but for them to
fail and used to be rightalongside them to encourage them
to keep going.
That's what I do with my kids.
That's what I do with all mystudents, all my soccer players,
right After a bad game, youdon't bash them, you know you.
You call them what didn't gowell, but then you encourage
(05:57):
them to come back right.
Yes, you know the kids, you,but you want to be open, you
want to be honest with them, andthose things give me the energy
to move forward.
That's how I look at my team.
Pete Newsome (06:07):
Well there's.
There's so many similarities.
You can draw that betweenparenting and coaching and
applying at work, and I, asyou're, as you're speaking.
It reminds me of a story I mayhave shared with you previously
when I coached basketball so youcoached soccer.
Basketball was my thing withwith my three boys, and after
the I'd gone through it with myoldest I.
(06:29):
I was a lot wiser.
I learned a lot through thatexperience, and when young kids
play basketball, they don'treally hold them to the rules.
They let them run with the ball.
You know, travel and doubledribble and things that once you
get to an older age, you'll,you'll.
The referee will blow thewhistle and and, of course, to
penalty.
Well, I decided that I was goingto adhere to to the rules right
(06:51):
from the start with mykindergartners and and I quickly
realized by letting the kidsknow that this is where the bar
was.
It was high.
I was going to place it higherthan than even the referee was
going to place it.
At that point they could riseto the challenge, and so parents
would come up to me and say whyare you being so strict?
I'd go to the referee beforethe game and say I want you to
(07:13):
call everything, if my, if myplayer travels, or double
dribbles.
You blow the whistle every time.
No breaks.
Well, by the time my guys werein third grade, they looked like
the Harlem Globetrotters outthere compared to the other team
and it's always stuck with me.
I mean, I kind of backed intothat.
It was no great foresight on mypart, but I realized that
(07:33):
people rise to the occasion andyou give them that opportunity.
But if you keep the bar low,well, there's nothing to rise to
.
So, as you're talking, I thinkmartial arts, which I you know,
it's something in my life I'venever done, but I have a feeling
the lessons from martial artsare so applicable to success in
life.
Dr. Gary Montoute (07:51):
Quickly.
So when I look at my so again,I've been doing it since age
eight and I've I've taught indifferent parts of the world
right, I thought of a team go todifferent parts, compete.
I've taught in Australiaalongside my teacher and
seminars and stuff like thatPeople who didn't practice the
same art but they recognize whatwe're about.
And just to back up a littlebit.
(08:12):
So when I had a dojo over inTampa, kids started from age
three or four and and and theirtheir job was to sit down and
shut up and I'll say just likethat to anyone and cross your
legs, because when they go backto school, that's what I want
them to do.
Right, well, did we have fun?
Absolutely, we had a lot of fun, a lot of tours.
(08:33):
Some of our trips was to godown to Tampa airport, go on to
the Monorails.
They never done that before.
You know.
We split up into teams just sothey could understand college.
You know where Armstrong is,where different things are to
learn.
But the biggest thing in theschool was how you put your
shoes.
When you took your shoes off,you didn't just kick it off.
(08:54):
Your shoes had a place.
If you were white belt, theywent here.
If you were purple belt, theywent here.
If you were black belt, theywent here.
So from a very, very early age,do you know?
Every Friday, my kids fiveyears and up would fight to see
who could go ensure that all theshoes will line up for their
sensei Right.
(09:15):
And so today, today, I help outa friend of mine here over in
St Cloud, and that's a you knowsome.
I I say I joke, but I'm serious, right, I said I will not come
on the floor and teach if theseshoes are not fixed.
And so they know, every timethey go, do that.
But to you, from early, set thebar, and I can tell you right
now the school is doing really,really well, even better because
(09:37):
they really really have that.
It teaches the same way.
He grew up in that sameenvironment of discipline.
We will have fun, we will smile, we will celebrate big.
But this is a sport, this isthe way of life for some, and so
let's, let's do that.
So it's very, very same thingwith work, Set the expectation,
how you going to dress and work,how you going to show up at
work.
Eight is eight.
(09:58):
Eight o'clock is eight o'clock,right, nine o'clock is nine
o'clock.
Your project's being due now,at a particular timeframe.
You're at a negotiate upfront,not when it's running late, so
those expectations have to beset.
Pete Newsome (10:11):
Discipline, right.
I mean, you said it.
That's the word that I thinkyou could apply again to so many
aspects of life.
Why do you think that's so hardto come by today?
What has changed?
If you look throughout successand human history, there's
always discipline tied to it.
Consistency, right anddiscipline.
(10:32):
I think it's lacking today.
I think that's a struggle for alot of young people and maybe
society as a whole right now.
Why do you I mean, do you agreewith that?
And if so, why do you thinkthat is?
Dr. Gary Montoute (10:46):
There's a change, I think.
You know, just keeping it very,very open and honest.
When we look at the workforce acouple of decades ago, right,
the folks that we reported towere mostly male, right, and
their heritage or their thefolks before them, were probably
military type folks.
Right, I wasn't allowed toreally be in the workforce as
(11:09):
much as they should have been orcould have been at that time,
and so the structure was one oflack of nurturing, one of like
you do this, don't ask anyquestions, type of thing.
So now, I think, with thediverse workforce that we have
and I'm happy to see that wehave to be able to account for
all different types ofunderstandings we have to be
(11:31):
able to account for differentways of doing things.
It's not that necessarily oneis absolutely better than the
other, because you know Applewill say that those work for
Microsoft or Google.
Different type of entity.
Right, there's discipline ofthings getting done, but they
get to the end game differently,right?
So is it?
Has it changed?
(11:51):
Yes, it's allowed, because wedon't all look alike, we don't
all speak the same way, we don'tall understand the same way,
and so we have a lot ofstrengths now, various strengths
in the workforce and we justhave to be able to understand
that middle ground right.
Before we didn't spend all thetime doing that.
(12:11):
So it's like your dad said getup and do this.
You got up and do.
You never talk back, whateverit is.
Now there's the opportunity andI can tell you from my
perspective the Apple 21 yearold at home who was at another
college doing psychology, nowhe's another college doing
recording arts.
I had to get on up my waybecause I was like, no, you're
going to get this degree, makethis money this way.
(12:33):
And I have to stop.
Where is the creativity right?
And when I step back, heblossomed even more right.
So I think I'm just have tounderstand how to reframe that
discipline right With thedifferent types of demographics
or different types ofgenerations we have in the
workforce, right?
Pete Newsome (12:54):
Well, you mentioned something that I think
is a big cause or a basis forthe change which is parenting,
and I heard a quote last weekand I think it is so fitting.
People say, well, kids today,right, kids today, and I think
every generation always has saidthat right, but the quote was
paraphrasing.
(13:14):
It was something effective.
Kids haven't changed, parentshave changed, and I know that to
be very true and I'm guilty ofthat as well.
Where you said it, I didn't.
Not only did I not talk back,no one wanted my opinion right
when I was growing up, it was,you know, be seen, not heard was
(13:34):
commonplace with kids to acertain age.
And I'm not sure if you knowwho Gary Vaynerchuk is.
If you've, he's a he's got a bigsocial media following
marketing guy but, he's donevery well for himself, and one
of the things that he often saysis I didn't open my mouth until
I was in my mid 30s.
I didn't share my opinionbecause I was, I didn't, I still
(13:57):
needed to learn, I didn't haveexpertise, and so he was raised
kind of of that same way.
And now parents, I think, givekids more of a voice early on
and say make your own decisionsright, tell your, it's your
story, you write it as you seefit, and I think that's a.
I think I think kids need morediscipline than we've been
(14:21):
giving them.
Do you think I'm crazy for thatthought or do you think it's?
Dr. Gary Montoute (14:24):
crazy.
I don't think you're crazy.
I think I think everyone needstheir voice right, and so we may
have we will probably raisewith that that that iron hand,
iron fist approach and and I'msure I can tell you for me, I
struggled later on in my 30s and40s with relationships at home
(14:46):
and stuff like that because theability to give people your
voice right.
You weren't taught how to dothat, I had to learn how to do
that, and so I believe so muchin that everyone has their voice
Now.
But there's consequences, right.
If you are raising your childto say whatever they say,
whatever they say, thinkingthere's absolutely no
consequences in the house andthey want to go work with
(15:08):
someone else, that's not goingto fly very far.
We know that.
So I think you have to alsohave that narrative that says
you can have your own voiceabsolutely.
Please understand that,depending who you want to work
for, if you don't want to workfor yourself, that you they're
boundaries.
They're still boundaries inthis house you can just go.
You're not going to allow afive year old kid to go cook a
meal over a hot stove.
(15:29):
You're not going to do that.
There's boundaries, right.
But you do want them to tellthem that.
Tell the parent I'm going tohaving a bad day.
If they've been abused inschool or whatever it is, you do
want them to have that voice,right?
Some families unfortunatelyvary things.
They don't talk about things,so you never know, until it
happens in someone's 40s, lateron in life 50s, that this
(15:50):
happened when they were a child,right, because they were never
given that opportunity to speakabout.
And so you find a lot of thingscoming to fruition now, coming
up in the open.
Pete Newsome (16:00):
Well, yeah, mental health was something no one
ever talked about and now it is.
People are very comfortable,it's open and that's been a very
positive change.
And I think the pendulum swingin businesses, in society, and
when it goes from one extreme tothe other, it tends to go too
far, and I think that's whathappened for a time, with
(16:23):
parenting helicopter parentswanting to give their kids a
different experience than theyhad and being too overbearing,
too protective.
But I see it coming back to themiddle right now.
I think kids who are maybeunder 10, under 15 right now are
getting a different experienceof that gen alpha if is what
(16:44):
they're, I think, calling thatgeneration.
That's different than themillennial generation got.
So I think the trend is in thatextreme of kids, you do whatever
you want, right?
You're in charge, you make yourown decisions, Went too far and
now it's coming back to center,which is, I think, going to
benefit them as a whole, BecauseI do think about it a lot as a
(17:07):
father of four, as an employerof young people, as, of course,
thinking of Zengegg and whatyoung professionals and students
need.
Disciplines, a big component ofthat, and sometimes you have to
learn that the world is hard.
I mean it's not to find out.
The world's a tough place.
It's not great when you're 22.
Dr. Gary Montoute (17:30):
It's better to find out in a younger age.
Pete Newsome (17:32):
I think that's where I'm coming from with this.
Dr. Gary Montoute (17:34):
Yeah, and again, I think it's a very valid
observation and stuff like that, especially being a father
myself.
One is 28, one is 21.
And you see that when they getinto the workplace there might
be challenges and stuff.
I think we own that disciplineat home, right, First and
(17:54):
foremost right.
But then again, the structuremay not be set up at home to
provide that discipline right.
You might have a single parentthat doesn't have that time with
the kids but they try to putfood on the table, they try to
keep their lights on.
You may have two workingparents in the house.
You might see eye to eye andthings.
I mean, I might have adifferent set of terms of how
(18:17):
I'm disciplining a child andthings like that.
But at the end of the day is, Ithink, parenting at home, how
you structure that is important.
It lies in the parents'shoulders.
How do you want to do it?
Now, when they want to come intothe workforce and they find
those challenges and stuff likethat, they can still go back
home to the parents and say youknow what, Mom, Dad, you rob me,
(18:39):
you lie to me or whatever it is, again, because they can say
what they want to say, right,and then that parent has to be
accountable as to why they chosethat route.
Right, I can tell you how Iraised my 28-year-old and my
21-year-old, who's very, verysimilar, but because he's stayed
home with me now, duringcollege, it's very, very
(19:00):
different.
Like sometimes I tell my mom Isaid, you know, if he wasn't the
one I would not do it, I wouldnot know what he's doing.
But you're going to be beingcalled.
I went away for college.
Nobody knew what I was doing,and so now you're seeing things.
You're seeing how they get up,how they just get off the bed
through their clothes and go toschool.
You know what I mean.
And you might say, hey, go takea shower or whatever it is, but
(19:21):
you know what happened incollege right.
Pete Newsome (19:23):
Right, Right.
That's a different.
You get the close-up, front-rowview experience.
Dr. Gary Montoute (19:28):
You get a close-up, front-row view of
yourself, because that's littleyou and I running around
basically.
Pete Newsome (19:35):
I think every parent has in common that they
want more for their kids andthey want them to be the best
version of themselves, and Ifound that it manifests in an
interesting way there.
You say repeat things that youliked as you were raised and try
to avoid things you didn't like, and how that manifests is
(19:57):
fascinating to me.
I mean, that's a wholedifferent topic.
We could talk about it for days, but I wanted to bring it back
to the work environment a littlebit.
And you were just getting there.
You've navigated, you'renavigating and have navigated
what I consider to be aminefield in a corporate setting
.
It takes a special specialtrait, special skill to do one
(20:20):
that I haven't done.
I then start my business 18years ago, so I haven't
navigated that.
So what advice do you have foryoung professionals today to
Navigate success in thecorporate world?
Dr. Gary Montoute (20:34):
They have to understand the equity of,
explore the equity of, theequity of experience, right?
So folks coming in first timeinto the, into the workforce
it's more multi-generationalthan ever, do you?
They're coming in with a lotmore theoretical knowledge,
right?
They may have spent time onticked up Instagram just being
(20:57):
bombarded with Information,right?
You and I had in psychopediaremember that back in the day
and we had the library, so wehad a go-do.
We didn't have that access.
Our access was our parent inthe home.
If we got chance to talk tothem or what we learned outside,
we went to play.
Pete Newsome (21:14):
Which is fascinating to think that are.
The encyclopedia I referred towas the one that my brother,
who's seven years older, had hadto refer to.
Imagine that there was noupdated information Minimum of
seven years, and it was probablymore like 10 to 12 by the time
I got to it.
That's almost hard to believethat that's the way we operated
(21:35):
not too long ago, but it's crazy.
Dr. Gary Montoute (21:39):
So they have more theoretical knowledge
coming in on a lot of things.
Like you know, they go to zengate, for example.
This is what this is, that code, this is a structure to go to,
you know, glass door, differentthings I have.
This is what it looks like,right, this is.
But they don't know thatthere's something missing
Experience, right, yes,experience.
Where's that experience?
Experience is in the personyou're gonna go report into.
(22:01):
Right back in our day he comeinto the workforce.
The person had less Education,potentially.
Right, I may be a high schooldiploma, but they had a ton of
experience.
They can teach you a lot ofthings about having a read a
manual because of trial anderror.
So the person's coming into theworkforce, they need to
understand one thing and I willsupport that.
They have.
They have.
(22:21):
They may not be experienced,but they have some equity
involved right now.
Talk about in a little bit.
They have the theory.
So now they have to really beopen, like a parachute.
Parachute only works when fullyopen, right, so you have to be
willing to learn some things asa, as a young professional
coming into your environment.
Now you might say where do Iget the experience from
(22:41):
transferable skills.
All right, did you do anyvolunteering as a youth?
Did you have chores?
And I really teach this do youhave chore?
Do you have chores as a youthto Feed the animals, to take out
the garbage in certain days?
You have to understand thatthose things are repetitive,
those things are transferableskills and your consistency
(23:03):
Falling instructions because youcan say no sometimes.
I didn't take it all the timeand there were consequences by a
loon and I made Charles moreconsistent.
An employer could look at thatand be like you know what?
I could probably start thisperson at this level that they
seem like the back on was right.
You know, in terms of thediscipline you're exposed to,
even being on a sports team,right, you may never have had a
(23:25):
job in your life, but if you'vebeen on a sports there the
basketball team every person onthat field has a specific
position, talent and andresponsibility, and so People
going into work force that havebeen on teams need to be able to
leverage that right.
Yes, you are my boss, you're mycoach, you're my peer, you're
(23:47):
my teammate.
Different things like that yousitting on the bench, you're
somebody I could probably mentoror bring up.
So, transfer equity oftransferable skills.
I think it's important tounderstand that.
Don't just look at a job record.
They are not qualified enough.
Think about what you think outof the box.
Pete Newsome (24:02):
Don't look at a job about what you've done and
how you can connect and, I think, know what your value is To the
organization and the team.
And I just had thisconversation a couple of months
ago with my youngest, who wastrying out for his high school
basketball team, and there werebig numbers right.
Making a high school basketballteam today is not, it is not a
given.
There's 30 kids trying out for12 spots or whatever it is.
(24:26):
And I said you have to knowyour value.
And if you look around and youcan't figure out what your value
is, that's a problem, becauseif you don't know what your
value is, the coach certainlyisn't going to know what your
value is.
So you figure out what role youcan have and then make sure
that you're able to apply it.
And it was a conversation justsort of happened on the fly and
(24:47):
I've realized, wow, that thatreally does.
That's a.
That's something to know inlife too, because we're in a an
environment right now.
If you spend time on LinkedIn,like I do, you see how many
people are having the difficulttime finding a job.
Now the Department of Laborputs out numbers that indicate
that the job market is is good,unemployment is low.
(25:11):
Yeah, we see that.
But the the story on LinkedInis is something different, and
it's.
It comes down in a lot of casesto supply and demand.
And that's where, again, youhave to know what your value is
in the market and if, and bewilling to change.
And that's a hard thing, allright.
And that's where you, forsomeone young, to start off with
(25:35):
that mindset I think isnecessary, because when you're
my age, your age, that's a hardthing to.
To wake up one day and say Idon't know what my value is,
yeah, and to have to figure itout, yeah.
Dr. Gary Montoute (25:48):
I know your value right.
I equate that to knowing yourposition on the team, right.
That's what's the value youwant to bring to the
organization.
I, I pride myself and I'm a big.
I'm not a gamer like my, likemy, like my son, but I love to
use game, exponential things inthe, in the, in the workforce
right to to make sure my teamscould connect and good.
(26:10):
It's not always about the workand technical IT stuff, but we
could play this game andunderstand strategy, understand
how to leverage someone elseright so, and bring up people's
values and skill sets.
The one thing you you mentionedthere in terms of Value as well,
is, if you don't know, thenthat's why it's important right
(26:33):
Understanding folks that canhelp you understand, maybe
Discover your value, discoveryour potential and unleash it.
And and you know what you expectto like, you know the labor
standards and what's beingreported.
Sometimes there's a pride thingI've been unemployed at least
twice in my life or one layoffin different things like that,
(26:53):
and because I had a family atthe time, you know it was, you
know went to the unemploymentoffice and and that gets
reported.
But a lot of times, people whoare putting things out there,
I've found out that they'reunemployed, they're not
reporting it.
Right, they're not reporting itbecause they're hoping to pick
something up quickly or they mayhave gotten a severance or
whatever it is.
(27:13):
So they they'll lean on thatfor some time.
It's not reported.
They land on their feet again.
And so I think that's from myyear of doing research and stuff
in education we find thatthat's happened, right, there's
people not reporting information.
Well, now you're putting it ontime at all.
So then you have those, thatskewing of data, and so I don't
(27:34):
know if you you're familiar withthat as well.
Pete Newsome (27:36):
I am, and I've, and I've as I've, paid closer
attention to that data thatcomes out from Bureau of Labor
statistics.
They revise it often.
I don't know if you've beenfollowing that a little trick
that they do.
They'll come out and sayNovember numbers were great for
the job market.
And then when they put outDecember numbers, they'll at the
(27:57):
very bottom of thatannouncement They'll be a little
revision that says well, weexact, yeah, we were off by a
hundred thousand jobs, and noone reports on that.
You don't see that in the newsanywhere.
So I just saw a graphic abouttwo weeks ago that showed how
often that happened last yearand it was essentially every
month.
They overstated the numbers andthen retracted it.
(28:19):
So thank you and I are on thesame page there.
The market is not as good asthe media.
It tends to report that it isso for young folks right now who
are coming out, what challengesdo they have that didn't exist
not too long ago?
The world has changed a lotsince COVID.
We know that it's changingrapidly as we speak.
Nope, you can't look at anencyclopedia ten years ago or
(28:40):
the world's unrecognizable right.
What challenges exist todaythat didn't exist not too long
ago?
Dr. Gary Montoute (28:46):
The challenges that existed, that
existed today, that didn't havethat long ago, is the diversity
of the workforce.
Right, I say I say I say achallenge, because sometimes,
depending where you live, whereyou grew up, whatever your
household, you you may not havebeen exposed to a lot of
diversity.
So now there's a lot more womenin leadership, which is a good
(29:06):
thing.
You know, back then the womenwere not empowered as much to
Climb the corporate ladder.
If you were a woman trying toclimb the corporate ladder
Several decades ago, you want toconsider the trail of laser.
You were someone going againstthe grain right Right now.
(29:26):
So those coming into theworkforce, you have that on
which.
The good thing that you havethat Experience now to see that,
which means that people managetheir lead differently, right,
some people trying to provethemselves, others are just
trying to not, you know, not tostand out and be ridiculed.
So I'm kind of speaking fromthat, but not from perspective.
So the there's more partnershipGoing in, there's more
(29:50):
opportunity to you feel.
Talk to someone who looks likeyou were working in the industry
and say you know what?
How did you make it?
How did you break that glassceiling?
But those were not theconversations decades ago, pete,
it was just a matter of youwork hard.
You're gonna get waiting to be.
That could be 20, 30 years downthe road.
Then you finally get thatpromotion because that person is
(30:10):
either to retire or they died.
That's you know, and youthought that was the only
company you could work for,right?
You know that you could go workfor the competitor, because
then everybody looks down at you.
All you try to just put food onyour table, all you try to just
to have a better opportunityfor your environment.
So those are some of thechallenges I think that folks
would see now or that we mightsee now, right.
(30:33):
So on the other side, we'reseeing the younger generation
coming in.
They may seem a little bit moreentitled.
They have no, but have all thiseducation right, because they
did certificate, googlecertificate.
I'll do after Google certificateyou know getting all these
accolades and okay, I have allthese things give me the highest
paying job to someone who'sbeen there for 40 years.
(30:55):
You know maybe one degree andthey feel out in time and I
think we have to understand whythat is and we have to explain
you know how, how you, how youcan leverage that theoretical
knowledge they have and how youcan set the Set things straight
for them.
Because I can tell you someoneat the age of 2021, if they
(31:17):
graduate from college, you'rebetting on the degree to have
and they go to work for Googlethey could land a six-figure
game really easy, so slowly.
I think it's six-figure gameand there's nothing wrong with
that, because that's why we haveso many phones and so many
computers now, because of thatthat knowledge there.
Right, even have the experience, but they have that, that
knowledge there.
So that's, those are thechallenges that we face on both
(31:40):
sides.
We have to understand how tocome to the middle on that.
Pete Newsome (31:44):
That's great.
I know we're not supposed totalk too much about gender
differences, but I will tell youthat the most organized,
discipline, productive person,business partners and Folks I've
worked with in my career areare working mothers, because
they have no time for games,they have no time for their most
efficient you know group thatI've ever worked with and I will
(32:07):
.
I don't mind saying that onrecord and I'll defend it and I
can name names Because they haveto be and and so I think, yeah,
when you, when you look at youknow a lot of what happens today
.
Those people with fewer choiceshave to have to be better in
many cases, right, and I thinkthere's almost so many choices
(32:28):
for young people today, and theysee, they see the whole world,
right, where our, our view waslimited to what we could see
with our own eyes and you'd see,you know, on TV, right, but
that was, that was different.
This is constant.
So in social media, and so Ithink there's a feeling of
pressure.
It may not manifest the rightway, but a feeling of I feel
(32:52):
pressure to achieve, to end upat a high level.
I feel pressure to end up atthe top of the mountain, to get
there.
Well, you gotta be climate andit takes time.
And that's one of the messagesthat I try to deliver to my kids
to it was in gig audience whichis you have a, you have a forty
(33:13):
year career.
If you look at it that way, youhave a longer runway.
So when you're in your earlytwenties, feel pressure to Act,
don't feel pressure to arrive,and and you know, I think they
all want to arrive my kids do.
My twenty two year old, who wetalked about, you talk about
your twenty one year old.
He feels he doesn't knowexactly what he wants to do,
(33:37):
exactly where he wants to end up.
Right, and I'm like, listen,even people who think they do it
that age don't really know youhave plenty of time to figure it
out and that that that issomething that I think, that
pressure I wish we could helprelieve From them, but not
confuse it with effort, right,because you still need to be
working to find it.
Dr. Gary Montoute (33:58):
You find out what you're calling us I think
the great thing about the childis that he's expressing that to
you Right to your point.
Early on we couldn't expressthat, you know, we didn't feel
opening up to express that toour parents, that you know what?
I don't know what I want to do.
I don't think I'm gonna besuccessful.
I'm suffering in math right now.
I don't know if I could ever bea scientist, for whatever it is
(34:20):
.
You know, my, my daughter is ascientist at Boston University
and you know, if you, if I goback in time to what was the
number one subject, it wouldhave been math, was good all
around, but it would have beenwriting and may have been
oratory, different things likethat, and she carries us up
really well.
But you know, I think theopportunity to express how you
(34:43):
feel and so my son is sad, youknow, does nobody wants to do,
and that's okay, right, is only21 years old or my mom and say,
hey, you know, talk to yournephew, he's out of college
right now.
I'm like that's okay.
I didn't get my first degreeuntil I was in my 30s.
I, you know, I started, Istopped and then I went back and
(35:04):
now unfortunately well,fortunately I didn't stop again.
I went on three degrees later.
But.
But sometimes they go tocollege we force them to do
those things so quickly andthey're not ready.
They're not ready.
My, my son, had experience inhis psychology class and he's a
very creative writer and becausehe struggled to stay within
(35:24):
that prompt and within thatconfine great writing when I
read it there was a you know,you had to make a decision.
Okay, this is not for me rightnow, let me go do this.
And so I think we have to havethat voice to express.
And Mentorship is good.
Coaches are good mentors, Ithink, to kind of like help them
along the way.
And it shows the panda on beingable to speak To those and in
(35:47):
yours apparently, don't be,don't be shy, don't be ashamed,
because you know they want tospeak to a coach instead of you.
We feel a little pride in it,but speaking of the talking
about it, and maybe that's agood mentor they'll come back
and say you know what littlejohnny is having this going on,
and I think that partnership isimportant.
Pete Newsome (36:05):
Absolutely.
I love that you said that and Iwant to ask about mentorship.
You mentioned finding a mentora couple of times as a young
professional.
How do you go about doing that?
Dr. Gary Montoute (36:16):
you.
I think if you, if you're young, professional and you are in
the workforce already and youcould, you can talk to your
employer about that.
Right, if you had been onsports teams, you can always go
back to the coach, even like youcoach, five year old, you know.
Imagine that one of youryounger guys, you coach came
back and said hey, coach pick,can you help you?
(36:36):
You would feel really greatabout it because there is a
discipline.
So I think they have to ask,right the thing about social
media right again.
That's so you know that they canjust attack me.
How do I get a mentor mentor?
Your mentor doesn't have to besomeone in your, in your field,
(36:58):
that you're working in yourindustry.
They can be cross cross,discipline, right.
It can be someone you look upto.
It can be your, your passing,your church, it could be your,
your, your moms, the mom of oneyear friends that you feel
comfortable with their mentors,and stuff like that.
So I think, being able to askand you don't ask them go, you
(37:19):
know and I hopefully your sitewould do that and speak about
those things as well how to getto mentor, you ask someone you
know for that and that's thebiggest thing, right to ask
someone, even even having theplatform to type it in, you need
a mentor and then maybe a chatVirtual robot comes up and says
here's a website and do thingslike that, because they will do
(37:41):
that.
Pete Newsome (37:41):
We did believe it or not.
We have.
We have an hr consultant who wework with a lot and I had
interviewed him about mentorship, and it is on the, it is on
zingig.
So that is the show notes,alright, alright, doctor, jim,
put you on the spot.
Let's talk about things toavoid in the, in the corporate
world.
What are some pitfalls?
Dr. Gary Montoute (38:04):
So in the environment, there's this thing
about religion, politics, right,your, your belief system.
Again, people are my believer.
I don't have to walk and by thebeat anybody on the head or
whatever it is.
If someone is ill, whatever isgoing on, I will openly say I'll
pray for you, stuff like that,and I'm comfortable with that.
(38:25):
But sometimes they have to beaware that certain things it's
not that it's taboo, but it cango in a different direction,
right?
And are you willing that youdon't know how that person's
gonna respond?
Right, and that force you torespond a certain way, and next
time it becomes an unsafe workenvironment not unsafe, it's not
what I'm looking for but itbecomes a work environment
(38:48):
that's not psychologically safe,right?
So I think those things right.
Also, what people look like, howthey dress differently.
We dress differently.
Some might throw on a jacket,some might just wear polos, and
so, being able to beunderstanding of how would you
feel if someone said that thingto you?
Would you be defensive?
(39:10):
Would it bother you when ithurts?
So kind of like, consider theother person before you open
your mouth, before you pen thatemail, consider that Some things
to avoid.
Like that you can have youropinion all.
As a leader and my team knowsthis I'm not a drinker, I'm not
a smoker and I believe from aleadership perspective there's
(39:30):
still.
If I wanna go to a sports thingwith my team or whatever, I'm
still a leader.
The camera is still on, so Ihave to camera myself a certain
way.
So, even though you might gowith your work team, the camera
is always on because whether youwear that badge out here or not
, you're still representing thatcompany.
I love people who don't talkabout that.
Pete Newsome (39:51):
Well, I'm on my own personal time.
Well, please understand.
Dr. Gary Montoute (39:54):
there's certain vision, there's certain
pillars in that company and that, come on, what happened in
Washington DC?
And all these people, all of asudden, years later, right
January 6th, starts showing upof doing this, doing that, doing
this or whatever it is.
And they were corporate CEOsand different, and so now they
represented their company.
(40:15):
They get cut.
They get cut right.
Pete Newsome (40:17):
Well, you said it right the camera is always on
and the rule for throughout ourcareer is anything you put in
writing, right, it stays forever.
Now it's anything you post onsocial media and, to your point,
anything you say in publicthere's a good chance someone's
recording it.
There's this guy who's onsocial media, does undercover
(40:40):
reporting and his whole shtickis that he tries to get people
from different companies or inpolitical positions.
They pretend that they're goingout on a date and they it's a.
I'm not a fan of this at alland then they get people to
speak and they record them andit's and apparently this is
legal to do and it's awful.
(41:00):
These people's lives are ruinedbecause they think they're
having a conversation withsomeone who's safe and who's
their friend, when the oppositeis true and seeing this and if
you, we could talk about it offcamera, I'll let you know who
this guy is and who does it andit's.
It's.
It's terrifying to think thatyou know young people today meet
(41:21):
on social media through datingapps, something you and I, you
know we missed out on on thatand you know, probably for good.
Thank goodness right that I did, because you don't know who
you're meeting.
You're meeting strangers andyou're sharing information with
them.
Like you said, you're out inpublic at an event with your
team and people get loose andI'm sure, like me, you have lots
(41:44):
of stories of people over theyears You've seen their career
blow up because they thoughtthey were safe and they were
drinking and it turns out whathappens in Vegas doesn't
necessarily stay in Vegas.
Dr. Gary Montoute (41:55):
And you know you don't go dating apps.
Since I'm recording, I didn'tmeet my wife through a dating
app.
Oh, you did, I don't.
I don't bless that this year.
This month will be five yearswe've been married, right?
Oh, I didn't know that.
Pete Newsome (42:09):
That terrifies me to think that I was so much
pressure.
I don't know how I would do it,but you did.
And I was just talking to mywife about it last night because
with our kids, right, that'sjust the world that they're in
and we were saying I was likehow would I, how do you navigate
that, how do you do, how do youdeal with it?
And it works.
That's awesome, congratulations.
I had no idea.
(42:29):
Clearly, I had no idea.
Dr. Gary Montoute (42:31):
There was some, trust me, there was some
false starts.
I just want to go app to app.
There was some false starts,but as well.
But you have to learn aboutyourself and whatnot and what
you would.
What are the non-negotiables?
Right?
But I think that's very, veryimportant Something you said.
I wanted to come back to that.
And with respect to the thingsthat you should avoid, right, if
(42:56):
you're going to go interview,if you're, please clean up your
social media.
Pete Newsome (43:03):
Yes.
Dr. Gary Montoute (43:04):
Clean up your , because nowadays it's not just
the resume.
You're going to find someonegoing to Facebook see what
you're involved with.
They're going to go to LinkedInsee if you are present there.
I think, especially if you'regoing to the professional
environment, you want to have agood profile there at the
professional sites, right?
Linkedin is not paying for usto say this, but I get out
(43:25):
benefited from there a lot goingto LinkedIn, and so you want to
clean up your presence, right,that's very, very important.
A lot of people talk about that.
You know you're not in college.
It's good to have all thesepictures of everything your food
and what you're drinking andstuff but when you're going now
to go work for Peter myself Idon't go look for people on them
(43:45):
, but trust me, my team might golook and say, hey, what did you
know?
Pete Newsome (43:52):
Yes, it happens.
It happens and the advice thatwe give to people in the job
market is make your accountsprivate.
Make your personal accountsprivate during that job search
process.
That's the real safe route.
But you're right, it happens.
Recruiters look, managers look,potential team members
(44:13):
definitely look when they seesomeone walking in for that
interview and they know who itis.
You'll know about their socialmedia very quickly and I think
at times, candidates believethat there's laws that protect
them from things like that.
That, just whether you thinkthey do or not, it happens and
(44:34):
that's we have to live in thereal world with these things and
that's the bias that we have tolive with.
Dr. Gary Montoute (44:41):
You may say you know what?
I'm not hiring this personbecause they didn't qualify.
But that person has some bias.
We all have some type of bias.
That's sometimes we're notwilling to admit it and because
you may have seen somethingsomewhere, it's like I don't
want that character to be around, whatever it is, because you
(45:02):
are biased by what you saw andthat you're well represented in
front of you.
So we have to put out and checkand sometimes I think the one
thing I like, pete, is I wishpeople did it more is if you
have a good set of leaders thatyou know outside of your area
but in the same same company.
I think when it comes tointerviewing someone at certain
(45:22):
levels, it's okay to havesomeone who is not in your
department come and get a read,get a culture read, because it's
not just about that team, it'sabout how they're going to work
with other teams and that'ssomething I was with a company
one time in FinTech when I wasin FinTech and I was blessed to
be part of.
I was in IT but I was sort ofby HR to go help source for the
(45:44):
new CIO.
So I was sent to.
I was not in HR, but I was sentto Vegas to source for the new
CIO at that time.
And again because transferableskills right, you know how will
they interact with at this level, at the end use level and user
operations level, and how?
I mean because I used to be apart of the whole interviewing
high level executive, c-level,c-suite folks, you know, trying
(46:08):
to help them be more, morerelatable to any and everyone.
Those were the things that youstarted to test for.
Pete Newsome (46:15):
So yeah, Perfect, love it.
Thank you All right, dr Chief.
Before I let you go, I want toget one more thing on the record
For young people today.
What do you recommend that theydo to be a leader at a young
age?
Dr. Gary Montoute (46:29):
I think volunteering is a great thing.
I think volunteering, you know,homeless shelters, volunteering
with food banks, food pantries,even in the hospital, right,
being able to go and volunteerbeing a sitter, sitting with
someone in the room, a volunteerto be a greeter those are good
things.
That they speak volumes, right.
(46:50):
It's not also about getting ofthat paycheck, right, it's about
getting that experience of howto deal with people.
One of the things I learnedfrom my son's school is like
there's a very introverted group, right, but they teach them and
they have me coming to talk tothem in the future about just go
to the grocery on behalf ofyour family, so you, and when
(47:13):
you get to the cashier, sayhello.
Simple as that.
You're teaching kids in their20s how to go to a cashier and
say hello, but you know there'sfast checkout, right, you don't
have to talk to anyone.
So that's what we gravitate.
But I say no, go to a cashierand learn to say hello.
So I think it's very importantthat they learn how to connect
(47:34):
by speaking outside of thetexting.
Volunteering will help that ina big way, right.
Even if you in your communitysee an elderly couple or
individual and their grass ortrash is not being picked up or
what's picked up.
You know, roll their player,their trash can to their garage
right and they really see themand say, hey, I did that for you
(47:55):
and this so you don't have tostreet.
Pete Newsome (47:56):
Just having those little connections right, those
connections are important, and Idon't think anyone can do those
things and not feel better as aresult.
Yeah, right, and maybeencouraging them to do that so
they'll improve.
But the satisfaction they'llget from those simple things and
I'm guilty if I'm busy, if I goto the grocery store at work
(48:17):
and I'm looking at my phone andhave other things in my mind,
sometimes I don't acknowledgethe cashier or the way I should,
to your point.
But when I have thoseinteractions I always feel good.
Right, you know it's when youconnect with another person it's
always positive, right, you getall these feels.
(48:38):
I love that.
I've never heard thatsuggestion before.
Dr. Gary Montoute (48:40):
Yeah, you go to a restaurant.
You know, forget about arestaurant.
They like fast food.
So you go to the drive-thru,you get your order.
How are you doing?
You just saw your ship?
Simple things like that.
My kids Rise.
My kids crazy like that.
Why you always talk to thecashier Because it matters.
Nobody asks how their day hasbeen.
And this is fast food and youknow it's a high stress
(49:02):
situation where that person getsthe wrong order.
And you're only like 16 yearsold and you've never dealt with
that type of conflict and peopleyour age will, like you know,
rip down the new age.
Come on, it's just a kid thatmade a mistake or something.
So sometimes you just have tobring it back and say, hey, you
know, how are you doing today?
Pete Newsome (49:23):
You know I love it .
You said it because it matters,right, that's it.
You don't need to define itfurther.
And when you think about thosejobs, you know the pay is not
great.
The pay is probably not evengood and they're on their feet
nonstop.
It never stops In theChick-fil-A's who I think of,
right.
Chick-fil-a's is so well knownfor how positive and engaging
(49:48):
it's an absolute pleasure tointeract with their employees
and I always think what adifficult job to stand up and
have to smile every singleminute that you're working Right
.
And here we are.
We get to sit on our butts andlike type away at our desk.
You know computer half the day.
We have it easy.
(50:08):
So to appreciate those peopleis what a wonderful thing.
I'm so glad you mentioned thatbecause my kids may not
appreciate that you mentionedthat, but I'm going to be
applying that to them from theperspective today.
Yes, Well, wonderful.
Dr Gary Montu, thank you somuch for your time today and all
the knowledge that you'veshared.
(50:28):
It's been an absolute pleasureand I hope that you'll come back
and play the guitar for us playthe bass.
Dr. Gary Montoute (50:34):
Absolutely Every couple of podcasts have
been on and the bass has come up, but I look at it as a
challenge and so when I go to myteacher, he's like you're
trying to get all these gigs andyou still don't know skills.
I'm like I'll get there, I'llget there, but I like that
challenge.
That's why, you know, educationis for me, right.
I went back to school to learnto see what I didn't know, to
close that gap, to be a greatrepresentation, to be just not
(50:58):
to my kids but to my community,right, so I can learn what you
know, what's what I don't know,and put that what I call the
expert seal of approval.
Pete Newsome (51:07):
So yeah, yes, well , thank you for your time.
It was a pleasure to speak withyou today and I'm going to hold
you to it.
Come back, and I look forwardto seeing the guitar in your
hand next time, absolutely Greatprogram.
Dr. Gary Montoute (51:17):
Thank you, pete.
Pete Newsome (51:18):
All right, everyone Thanks for listening.
Thank you.
You're listening to the Finding Zen Career
podcast.
I'm Pete Newsome, and my guesttoday is Dr Gary Montu, who has
more than 25 years of experienceleading teams in the technology
space.
I was excited to have him ontoday for many reasons, but one
in particular is because he'sknown for hiring inexperienced
professionals and mentoring theminto becoming leaders.
It's a rare thing in today'sspace and something that I think
(00:25):
is really important for ourlisteners, so I had a lot of
funds during this conversationand I think you'll have a lot of
fun listening to it too.
Dr Gary Montu, thanks so muchfor joining me today.
How are you today?
Dr. Gary Montoute (00:36):
I'm doing great Pete.
How are you doing?
Pete Newsome (00:38):
I'm doing wonderful on this Friday
afternoon.
It's a pleasure to do this.
We've been talking about it for, I think, over a year now.
Dr. Gary Montoute (00:46):
Yes, over a year.
But you know what All goodthings come to those who wait
right.
And, like you said, my ayes mayhave been ringing a couple of
weeks ago and we're just talkingabout stuff like that.
So glad we have the opportunityto connect today.
This is awesome.
Pete Newsome (01:00):
Well, thank you for making the time, and before
we get too much into talkingabout leadership, which is going
to be the bulk of our topictoday, I have to ask about the
guitars in the background.
Do you play?
Dr. Gary Montoute (01:13):
So on this side there's a bass, electric
guitar and acoustic guitar and Itried my hand.
All my kids are musicians right, and I tried my hand at it when
I was seven, then started againuntil in my fifties.
It's based on learning them.
I'm actually taking formallessons on Monday nights to
(01:33):
learn them.
I grabbed that bass guitar andI just switched it up and I
tried to be more creative andthen I come back at that thing.
That was probably a stumbling.
So there are two bass guitarprobably about five months I've
been practicing.
One day I will open my garageand play in this trip in
neighbors.
Pete Newsome (01:51):
We'll give you a little more time and then I'll
have you come back and then youcan put on a show for us, maybe
in the next episode.
Dr. Gary Montoute (01:58):
I'll put you on the spot, I'll put it back
down from that challenge.
It gives me the zeal to goahead and try to get better.
Thank, you.
Pete Newsome (02:05):
There you go.
Well, let's talk about more ofyour background, because you're
a lifelong student, it soundslike.
So start from go back in timeand tell me how you got to where
you are today.
Dr. Gary Montoute (02:17):
I like what you said a lifelong student.
I have a martial arts teacherthat always said he's an
excellent beginner.
Pete Newsome (02:24):
Right.
Dr. Gary Montoute (02:25):
Okay, I like that and I hold true to that.
So I grew up in the island ofTrinidad, right in the Caribbean
, but I was born in New Jerseyand my background has been I
wanted to be a doctorgynecologist to be more specific
and I got into biology andrealized that dissections were
not for me.
So I moved more into theengineering business field and
(02:48):
so I lead a leader team onhealthcare industry.
But I've had a lot of jobseither in FinTech.
I've managed teams inPhilippines, india, countries
I've had the APEC region and melots of that and so the one
thing I've found is that themore you meet people you realize
, the more you really, andcountries, the more you don't
(03:10):
know.
I embarked and, going back inthe school, got my master's
recently.
Last year I got my doctorate inhealthcare administration and
that's the field I'm in, and soI did become a doctor one way or
another, right, and so I lovethe interaction with those teams
and those are professionals andit's all about community.
For me, it's all about makingthat difference and
(03:31):
representation right At theheart, right.
Sometimes you don't know whatyou can be if you don't see
anyone that looks like you orspeaks like you.
So I really appreciate that interms of being one to step forth
for education, step forth inthe healthcare field, and that
brings.
That speaks a lot of volumes.
More so, Absolutely.
Pete Newsome (03:52):
Action goes a lot longer, farther than talk.
We know that right.
Absolutely, yes.
How did you have time for this?
You're a father, you're.
You know, you're.
I know how busy you are in yourleadership role at work.
Where did you find the time?
Dr. Gary Montoute (04:07):
So you made the time right.
So, just like, just like instudies, I've got times where
things would use Sunday night1159.
And you have to like, likeyourself, to do this program.
We had to inform our team, ourloved ones.
Okay, I need this time, becauseif I can't get my time to play
basic, I can't get my time to gotake my walks.
How can I bring my whole selfto you, whether at family?
(04:32):
So you have to make that time,because one thing that COVID
taught us is to take time foryourself.
Right, stay home more.
Mental health was not somethingyou didn't speak about anymore.
A lot of things came to theforefront and realized we had to
take that time.
So for me, it's about balance.
I've been in martial arts allmy life since age eight and so
(04:54):
I've always found time to, andeven when I coached the soccer,
I've always found time to planto.
It gives me joy.
It gives me joy, it gives methat balance and whatnot.
And some people will say theydon't have time, but then yet
they start my Starbucks everyday, or sometimes they're
(05:15):
watching Netflix all the time,and if you take out those things
, you'll find a lot of time inthe day to do it right.
So it's about balance, but mostof what I think, too, for work,
it's about developing your benchstrength right, giving people
the opportunity and we met andtalked about this on one of your
associates people theopportunity to exceed and to
give them to excel.
(05:35):
Give them the opportunity tosee what they can or cannot do,
and not for them to fail and hitthe ground, but for them to
fail and used to be rightalongside them to encourage them
to keep going.
That's what I do with my kids.
That's what I do with all mystudents, all my soccer players,
right After a bad game, youdon't bash them, you know you.
You call them what didn't gowell, but then you encourage
(05:57):
them to come back right.
Yes, you know the kids, you,but you want to be open, you
want to be honest with them, andthose things give me the energy
to move forward.
That's how I look at my team.
Pete Newsome (06:07):
Well there's.
There's so many similarities.
You can draw that betweenparenting and coaching and
applying at work, and I, asyou're, as you're speaking.
It reminds me of a story I mayhave shared with you previously
when I coached basketball so youcoached soccer.
Basketball was my thing withwith my three boys, and after
the I'd gone through it with myoldest I.
(06:29):
I was a lot wiser.
I learned a lot through thatexperience, and when young kids
play basketball, they don'treally hold them to the rules.
They let them run with the ball.
You know, travel and doubledribble and things that once you
get to an older age, you'll,you'll.
The referee will blow thewhistle and and, of course, to
penalty.
Well, I decided that I was goingto adhere to to the rules right
(06:51):
from the start with mykindergartners and and I quickly
realized by letting the kidsknow that this is where the bar
was.
It was high.
I was going to place it higherthan than even the referee was
going to place it.
At that point they could riseto the challenge, and so parents
would come up to me and say whyare you being so strict?
I'd go to the referee beforethe game and say I want you to
(07:13):
call everything, if my, if myplayer travels, or double
dribbles.
You blow the whistle every time.
No breaks.
Well, by the time my guys werein third grade, they looked like
the Harlem Globetrotters outthere compared to the other team
and it's always stuck with me.
I mean, I kind of backed intothat.
It was no great foresight on mypart, but I realized that
(07:33):
people rise to the occasion andyou give them that opportunity.
But if you keep the bar low,well, there's nothing to rise to
.
So, as you're talking, I thinkmartial arts, which I you know,
it's something in my life I'venever done, but I have a feeling
the lessons from martial artsare so applicable to success in
life.
Dr. Gary Montoute (07:51):
Quickly.
So when I look at my so again,I've been doing it since age
eight and I've I've taught indifferent parts of the world
right, I thought of a team go todifferent parts, compete.
I've taught in Australiaalongside my teacher and
seminars and stuff like thatPeople who didn't practice the
same art but they recognize whatwe're about.
And just to back up a littlebit.
(08:12):
So when I had a dojo over inTampa, kids started from age
three or four and and and theirtheir job was to sit down and
shut up and I'll say just likethat to anyone and cross your
legs, because when they go backto school, that's what I want
them to do.
Right, well, did we have fun?
Absolutely, we had a lot of fun, a lot of tours.
(08:33):
Some of our trips was to godown to Tampa airport, go on to
the Monorails.
They never done that before.
You know.
We split up into teams just sothey could understand college.
You know where Armstrong is,where different things are to
learn.
But the biggest thing in theschool was how you put your
shoes.
When you took your shoes off,you didn't just kick it off.
(08:54):
Your shoes had a place.
If you were white belt, theywent here.
If you were purple belt, theywent here.
If you were black belt, theywent here.
So from a very, very early age,do you know?
Every Friday, my kids fiveyears and up would fight to see
who could go ensure that all theshoes will line up for their
sensei Right.
(09:15):
And so today, today, I help outa friend of mine here over in
St Cloud, and that's a you knowsome.
I I say I joke, but I'm serious, right, I said I will not come
on the floor and teach if theseshoes are not fixed.
And so they know, every timethey go, do that.
But to you, from early, set thebar, and I can tell you right
now the school is doing really,really well, even better because
(09:37):
they really really have that.
It teaches the same way.
He grew up in that sameenvironment of discipline.
We will have fun, we will smile, we will celebrate big.
But this is a sport, this isthe way of life for some, and so
let's, let's do that.
So it's very, very same thingwith work, Set the expectation,
how you going to dress and work,how you going to show up at
work.
Eight is eight.
(09:58):
Eight o'clock is eight o'clock,right, nine o'clock is nine
o'clock.
Your project's being due now,at a particular timeframe.
You're at a negotiate upfront,not when it's running late, so
those expectations have to beset.
Pete Newsome (10:11):
Discipline, right.
I mean, you said it.
That's the word that I thinkyou could apply again to so many
aspects of life.
Why do you think that's so hardto come by today?
What has changed?
If you look throughout successand human history, there's
always discipline tied to it.
Consistency, right anddiscipline.
(10:32):
I think it's lacking today.
I think that's a struggle for alot of young people and maybe
society as a whole right now.
Why do you I mean, do you agreewith that?
And if so, why do you thinkthat is?
Dr. Gary Montoute (10:46):
There's a change, I think.
You know, just keeping it very,very open and honest.
When we look at the workforce acouple of decades ago, right,
the folks that we reported towere mostly male, right, and
their heritage or their thefolks before them, were probably
military type folks.
Right, I wasn't allowed toreally be in the workforce as
(11:09):
much as they should have been orcould have been at that time,
and so the structure was one oflack of nurturing, one of like
you do this, don't ask anyquestions, type of thing.
So now, I think, with thediverse workforce that we have
and I'm happy to see that wehave to be able to account for
all different types ofunderstandings we have to be
(11:31):
able to account for differentways of doing things.
It's not that necessarily oneis absolutely better than the
other, because you know Applewill say that those work for
Microsoft or Google.
Different type of entity.
Right, there's discipline ofthings getting done, but they
get to the end game differently,right?
So is it?
Has it changed?
(11:51):
Yes, it's allowed, because wedon't all look alike, we don't
all speak the same way, we don'tall understand the same way,
and so we have a lot ofstrengths now, various strengths
in the workforce and we justhave to be able to understand
that middle ground right.
Before we didn't spend all thetime doing that.
(12:11):
So it's like your dad said getup and do this.
You got up and do.
You never talk back, whateverit is.
Now there's the opportunity andI can tell you from my
perspective the Apple 21 yearold at home who was at another
college doing psychology, nowhe's another college doing
recording arts.
I had to get on up my waybecause I was like, no, you're
going to get this degree, makethis money this way.
(12:33):
And I have to stop.
Where is the creativity right?
And when I step back, heblossomed even more right.
So I think I'm just have tounderstand how to reframe that
discipline right With thedifferent types of demographics
or different types ofgenerations we have in the
workforce, right?
Pete Newsome (12:54):
Well, you mentioned something that I think
is a big cause or a basis forthe change which is parenting,
and I heard a quote last weekand I think it is so fitting.
People say, well, kids today,right, kids today, and I think
every generation always has saidthat right, but the quote was
paraphrasing.
(13:14):
It was something effective.
Kids haven't changed, parentshave changed, and I know that to
be very true and I'm guilty ofthat as well.
Where you said it, I didn't.
Not only did I not talk back,no one wanted my opinion right
when I was growing up, it was,you know, be seen, not heard was
(13:34):
commonplace with kids to acertain age.
And I'm not sure if you knowwho Gary Vaynerchuk is.
If you've, he's a he's got a bigsocial media following
marketing guy but, he's donevery well for himself, and one
of the things that he often saysis I didn't open my mouth until
I was in my mid 30s.
I didn't share my opinionbecause I was, I didn't, I still
(13:57):
needed to learn, I didn't haveexpertise, and so he was raised
kind of of that same way.
And now parents, I think, givekids more of a voice early on
and say make your own decisionsright, tell your, it's your
story, you write it as you seefit, and I think that's a.
I think I think kids need morediscipline than we've been
(14:21):
giving them.
Do you think I'm crazy for thatthought or do you think it's?
Dr. Gary Montoute (14:24):
crazy.
I don't think you're crazy.
I think I think everyone needstheir voice right, and so we may
have we will probably raisewith that that that iron hand,
iron fist approach and and I'msure I can tell you for me, I
struggled later on in my 30s and40s with relationships at home
(14:46):
and stuff like that because theability to give people your
voice right.
You weren't taught how to dothat, I had to learn how to do
that, and so I believe so muchin that everyone has their voice
Now.
But there's consequences, right.
If you are raising your childto say whatever they say,
whatever they say, thinkingthere's absolutely no
consequences in the house andthey want to go work with
(15:08):
someone else, that's not goingto fly very far.
We know that.
So I think you have to alsohave that narrative that says
you can have your own voiceabsolutely.
Please understand that,depending who you want to work
for, if you don't want to workfor yourself, that you they're
boundaries.
They're still boundaries inthis house you can just go.
You're not going to allow afive year old kid to go cook a
meal over a hot stove.
(15:29):
You're not going to do that.
There's boundaries, right.
But you do want them to tellthem that.
Tell the parent I'm going tohaving a bad day.
If they've been abused inschool or whatever it is, you do
want them to have that voice,right?
Some families unfortunatelyvary things.
They don't talk about things,so you never know, until it
happens in someone's 40s, lateron in life 50s, that this
(15:50):
happened when they were a child,right, because they were never
given that opportunity to speakabout.
And so you find a lot of thingscoming to fruition now, coming
up in the open.
Pete Newsome (16:00):
Well, yeah, mental health was something no one
ever talked about and now it is.
People are very comfortable,it's open and that's been a very
positive change.
And I think the pendulum swingin businesses, in society, and
when it goes from one extreme tothe other, it tends to go too
far, and I think that's whathappened for a time, with
(16:23):
parenting helicopter parentswanting to give their kids a
different experience than theyhad and being too overbearing,
too protective.
But I see it coming back to themiddle right now.
I think kids who are maybeunder 10, under 15 right now are
getting a different experienceof that gen alpha if is what
(16:44):
they're, I think, calling thatgeneration.
That's different than themillennial generation got.
So I think the trend is in thatextreme of kids, you do whatever
you want, right?
You're in charge, you make yourown decisions, Went too far and
now it's coming back to center,which is, I think, going to
benefit them as a whole, BecauseI do think about it a lot as a
(17:07):
father of four, as an employerof young people, as, of course,
thinking of Zengegg and whatyoung professionals and students
need.
Disciplines, a big component ofthat, and sometimes you have to
learn that the world is hard.
I mean it's not to find out.
The world's a tough place.
It's not great when you're 22.
Dr. Gary Montoute (17:30):
It's better to find out in a younger age.
Pete Newsome (17:32):
I think that's where I'm coming from with this.
Dr. Gary Montoute (17:34):
Yeah, and again, I think it's a very valid
observation and stuff like that, especially being a father
myself.
One is 28, one is 21.
And you see that when they getinto the workplace there might
be challenges and stuff.
I think we own that disciplineat home, right, First and
(17:54):
foremost right.
But then again, the structuremay not be set up at home to
provide that discipline right.
You might have a single parentthat doesn't have that time with
the kids but they try to putfood on the table, they try to
keep their lights on.
You may have two workingparents in the house.
You might see eye to eye andthings.
I mean, I might have adifferent set of terms of how
(18:17):
I'm disciplining a child andthings like that.
But at the end of the day is, Ithink, parenting at home, how
you structure that is important.
It lies in the parents'shoulders.
How do you want to do it?
Now, when they want to come intothe workforce and they find
those challenges and stuff likethat, they can still go back
home to the parents and say youknow what, Mom, Dad, you rob me,
(18:39):
you lie to me or whatever it is, again, because they can say
what they want to say, right,and then that parent has to be
accountable as to why they chosethat route.
Right, I can tell you how Iraised my 28-year-old and my
21-year-old, who's very, verysimilar, but because he's stayed
home with me now, duringcollege, it's very, very
(19:00):
different.
Like sometimes I tell my mom Isaid, you know, if he wasn't the
one I would not do it, I wouldnot know what he's doing.
But you're going to be beingcalled.
I went away for college.
Nobody knew what I was doing,and so now you're seeing things.
You're seeing how they get up,how they just get off the bed
through their clothes and go toschool.
You know what I mean.
And you might say, hey, go takea shower or whatever it is, but
(19:21):
you know what happened incollege right.
Pete Newsome (19:23):
Right, Right.
That's a different.
You get the close-up, front-rowview experience.
Dr. Gary Montoute (19:28):
You get a close-up, front-row view of
yourself, because that's littleyou and I running around
basically.
Pete Newsome (19:35):
I think every parent has in common that they
want more for their kids andthey want them to be the best
version of themselves, and Ifound that it manifests in an
interesting way there.
You say repeat things that youliked as you were raised and try
to avoid things you didn't like, and how that manifests is
(19:57):
fascinating to me.
I mean, that's a wholedifferent topic.
We could talk about it for days, but I wanted to bring it back
to the work environment a littlebit.
And you were just getting there.
You've navigated, you'renavigating and have navigated
what I consider to be aminefield in a corporate setting
.
It takes a special specialtrait, special skill to do one
(20:20):
that I haven't done.
I then start my business 18years ago, so I haven't
navigated that.
So what advice do you have foryoung professionals today to
Navigate success in thecorporate world?
Dr. Gary Montoute (20:34):
They have to understand the equity of,
explore the equity of, theequity of experience, right?
So folks coming in first timeinto the, into the workforce
it's more multi-generationalthan ever, do you?
They're coming in with a lotmore theoretical knowledge,
right?
They may have spent time onticked up Instagram just being
(20:57):
bombarded with Information,right?
You and I had in psychopediaremember that back in the day
and we had the library, so wehad a go-do.
We didn't have that access.
Our access was our parent inthe home.
If we got chance to talk tothem or what we learned outside,
we went to play.
Pete Newsome (21:14):
Which is fascinating to think that are.
The encyclopedia I referred towas the one that my brother,
who's seven years older, had hadto refer to.
Imagine that there was noupdated information Minimum of
seven years, and it was probablymore like 10 to 12 by the time
I got to it.
That's almost hard to believethat that's the way we operated
(21:35):
not too long ago, but it's crazy.
Dr. Gary Montoute (21:39):
So they have more theoretical knowledge
coming in on a lot of things.
Like you know, they go to zengate, for example.
This is what this is, that code, this is a structure to go to,
you know, glass door, differentthings I have.
This is what it looks like,right, this is.
But they don't know thatthere's something missing
Experience, right, yes,experience.
Where's that experience?
Experience is in the personyou're gonna go report into.
(22:01):
Right back in our day he comeinto the workforce.
The person had less Education,potentially.
Right, I may be a high schooldiploma, but they had a ton of
experience.
They can teach you a lot ofthings about having a read a
manual because of trial anderror.
So the person's coming into theworkforce, they need to
understand one thing and I willsupport that.
They have.
They have.
(22:21):
They may not be experienced,but they have some equity
involved right now.
Talk about in a little bit.
They have the theory.
So now they have to really beopen, like a parachute.
Parachute only works when fullyopen, right, so you have to be
willing to learn some things asa, as a young professional
coming into your environment.
Now you might say where do Iget the experience from
(22:41):
transferable skills.
All right, did you do anyvolunteering as a youth?
Did you have chores?
And I really teach this do youhave chore?
Do you have chores as a youthto Feed the animals, to take out
the garbage in certain days?
You have to understand thatthose things are repetitive,
those things are transferableskills and your consistency
(23:03):
Falling instructions because youcan say no sometimes.
I didn't take it all the timeand there were consequences by a
loon and I made Charles moreconsistent.
An employer could look at thatand be like you know what?
I could probably start thisperson at this level that they
seem like the back on was right.
You know, in terms of thediscipline you're exposed to,
even being on a sports team,right, you may never have had a
(23:25):
job in your life, but if you'vebeen on a sports there the
basketball team every person onthat field has a specific
position, talent and andresponsibility, and so People
going into work force that havebeen on teams need to be able to
leverage that right.
Yes, you are my boss, you're mycoach, you're my peer, you're
(23:47):
my teammate.
Different things like that yousitting on the bench, you're
somebody I could probably mentoror bring up.
So, transfer equity oftransferable skills.
I think it's important tounderstand that.
Don't just look at a job record.
They are not qualified enough.
Think about what you think outof the box.
Pete Newsome (24:02):
Don't look at a job about what you've done and
how you can connect and, I think, know what your value is To the
organization and the team.
And I just had thisconversation a couple of months
ago with my youngest, who wastrying out for his high school
basketball team, and there werebig numbers right.
Making a high school basketballteam today is not, it is not a
given.
There's 30 kids trying out for12 spots or whatever it is.
(24:26):
And I said you have to knowyour value.
And if you look around and youcan't figure out what your value
is, that's a problem, becauseif you don't know what your
value is, the coach certainlyisn't going to know what your
value is.
So you figure out what role youcan have and then make sure
that you're able to apply it.
And it was a conversation justsort of happened on the fly and
(24:47):
I've realized, wow, that thatreally does.
That's a.
That's something to know inlife too, because we're in a an
environment right now.
If you spend time on LinkedIn,like I do, you see how many
people are having the difficulttime finding a job.
Now the Department of Laborputs out numbers that indicate
that the job market is is good,unemployment is low.
(25:11):
Yeah, we see that.
But the the story on LinkedInis is something different, and
it's.
It comes down in a lot of casesto supply and demand.
And that's where, again, youhave to know what your value is
in the market and if, and bewilling to change.
And that's a hard thing, allright.
And that's where you, forsomeone young, to start off with
(25:35):
that mindset I think isnecessary, because when you're
my age, your age, that's a hardthing to.
To wake up one day and say Idon't know what my value is,
yeah, and to have to figure itout, yeah.
Dr. Gary Montoute (25:48):
I know your value right.
I equate that to knowing yourposition on the team, right.
That's what's the value youwant to bring to the
organization.
I, I pride myself and I'm a big.
I'm not a gamer like my, likemy, like my son, but I love to
use game, exponential things inthe, in the, in the workforce
right to to make sure my teamscould connect and good.
(26:10):
It's not always about the workand technical IT stuff, but we
could play this game andunderstand strategy, understand
how to leverage someone elseright so, and bring up people's
values and skill sets.
The one thing you you mentionedthere in terms of Value as well,
is, if you don't know, thenthat's why it's important right
(26:33):
Understanding folks that canhelp you understand, maybe
Discover your value, discoveryour potential and unleash it.
And and you know what you expectto like, you know the labor
standards and what's beingreported.
Sometimes there's a pride thingI've been unemployed at least
twice in my life or one layoffin different things like that,
(26:53):
and because I had a family atthe time, you know it was, you
know went to the unemploymentoffice and and that gets
reported.
But a lot of times, people whoare putting things out there,
I've found out that they'reunemployed, they're not
reporting it.
Right, they're not reporting itbecause they're hoping to pick
something up quickly or they mayhave gotten a severance or
whatever it is.
(27:13):
So they they'll lean on thatfor some time.
It's not reported.
They land on their feet again.
And so I think that's from myyear of doing research and stuff
in education we find thatthat's happened, right, there's
people not reporting information.
Well, now you're putting it ontime at all.
So then you have those, thatskewing of data, and so I don't
(27:34):
know if you you're familiar withthat as well.
Pete Newsome (27:36):
I am, and I've, and I've as I've, paid closer
attention to that data thatcomes out from Bureau of Labor
statistics.
They revise it often.
I don't know if you've beenfollowing that a little trick
that they do.
They'll come out and sayNovember numbers were great for
the job market.
And then when they put outDecember numbers, they'll at the
(27:57):
very bottom of thatannouncement They'll be a little
revision that says well, weexact, yeah, we were off by a
hundred thousand jobs, and noone reports on that.
You don't see that in the newsanywhere.
So I just saw a graphic abouttwo weeks ago that showed how
often that happened last yearand it was essentially every
month.
They overstated the numbers andthen retracted it.
(28:19):
So thank you and I are on thesame page there.
The market is not as good asthe media.
It tends to report that it isso for young folks right now who
are coming out, what challengesdo they have that didn't exist
not too long ago?
The world has changed a lotsince COVID.
We know that it's changingrapidly as we speak.
Nope, you can't look at anencyclopedia ten years ago or
(28:40):
the world's unrecognizable right.
What challenges exist todaythat didn't exist not too long
ago?
Dr. Gary Montoute (28:46):
The challenges that existed, that
existed today, that didn't havethat long ago, is the diversity
of the workforce.
Right, I say I say I say achallenge, because sometimes,
depending where you live, whereyou grew up, whatever your
household, you you may not havebeen exposed to a lot of
diversity.
So now there's a lot more womenin leadership, which is a good
(29:06):
thing.
You know, back then the womenwere not empowered as much to
Climb the corporate ladder.
If you were a woman trying toclimb the corporate ladder
Several decades ago, you want toconsider the trail of laser.
You were someone going againstthe grain right Right now.
(29:26):
So those coming into theworkforce, you have that on
which.
The good thing that you havethat Experience now to see that,
which means that people managetheir lead differently, right,
some people trying to provethemselves, others are just
trying to not, you know, not tostand out and be ridiculed.
So I'm kind of speaking fromthat, but not from perspective.
So the there's more partnershipGoing in, there's more
(29:50):
opportunity to you feel.
Talk to someone who looks likeyou were working in the industry
and say you know what?
How did you make it?
How did you break that glassceiling?
But those were not theconversations decades ago, pete,
it was just a matter of youwork hard.
You're gonna get waiting to be.
That could be 20, 30 years downthe road.
Then you finally get thatpromotion because that person is
(30:10):
either to retire or they died.
That's you know, and youthought that was the only
company you could work for,right?
You know that you could go workfor the competitor, because
then everybody looks down at you.
All you try to just put food onyour table, all you try to just
to have a better opportunityfor your environment.
So those are some of thechallenges I think that folks
would see now or that we mightsee now, right.
(30:33):
So on the other side, we'reseeing the younger generation
coming in.
They may seem a little bit moreentitled.
They have no, but have all thiseducation right, because they
did certificate, googlecertificate.
I'll do after Google certificateyou know getting all these
accolades and okay, I have allthese things give me the highest
paying job to someone who'sbeen there for 40 years.
(30:55):
You know maybe one degree andthey feel out in time and I
think we have to understand whythat is and we have to explain
you know how, how you, how youcan leverage that theoretical
knowledge they have and how youcan set the Set things straight
for them.
Because I can tell you someoneat the age of 2021, if they
(31:17):
graduate from college, you'rebetting on the degree to have
and they go to work for Googlethey could land a six-figure
game really easy, so slowly.
I think it's six-figure gameand there's nothing wrong with
that, because that's why we haveso many phones and so many
computers now, because of thatthat knowledge there.
Right, even have the experience, but they have that, that
knowledge there.
So that's, those are thechallenges that we face on both
(31:40):
sides.
We have to understand how tocome to the middle on that.
Pete Newsome (31:44):
That's great.
I know we're not supposed totalk too much about gender
differences, but I will tell youthat the most organized,
discipline, productive person,business partners and Folks I've
worked with in my career areare working mothers, because
they have no time for games,they have no time for their most
efficient you know group thatI've ever worked with and I will
(32:07):
.
I don't mind saying that onrecord and I'll defend it and I
can name names Because they haveto be and and so I think, yeah,
when you, when you look at youknow a lot of what happens today
.
Those people with fewer choiceshave to have to be better in
many cases, right, and I thinkthere's almost so many choices
(32:28):
for young people today, and theysee, they see the whole world,
right, where our, our view waslimited to what we could see
with our own eyes and you'd see,you know, on TV, right, but
that was, that was different.
This is constant.
So in social media, and so Ithink there's a feeling of
pressure.
It may not manifest the rightway, but a feeling of I feel
(32:52):
pressure to achieve, to end upat a high level.
I feel pressure to end up atthe top of the mountain, to get
there.
Well, you gotta be climate andit takes time.
And that's one of the messagesthat I try to deliver to my kids
to it was in gig audience whichis you have a, you have a forty
(33:13):
year career.
If you look at it that way, youhave a longer runway.
So when you're in your earlytwenties, feel pressure to Act,
don't feel pressure to arrive,and and you know, I think they
all want to arrive my kids do.
My twenty two year old, who wetalked about, you talk about
your twenty one year old.
He feels he doesn't knowexactly what he wants to do,
(33:37):
exactly where he wants to end up.
Right, and I'm like, listen,even people who think they do it
that age don't really know youhave plenty of time to figure it
out and that that that issomething that I think, that
pressure I wish we could helprelieve From them, but not
confuse it with effort, right,because you still need to be
working to find it.
Dr. Gary Montoute (33:58):
You find out what you're calling us I think
the great thing about the childis that he's expressing that to
you Right to your point.
Early on we couldn't expressthat, you know, we didn't feel
opening up to express that toour parents, that you know what?
I don't know what I want to do.
I don't think I'm gonna besuccessful.
I'm suffering in math right now.
I don't know if I could ever bea scientist, for whatever it is
(34:20):
.
You know, my, my daughter is ascientist at Boston University
and you know, if you, if I goback in time to what was the
number one subject, it wouldhave been math, was good all
around, but it would have beenwriting and may have been
oratory, different things likethat, and she carries us up
really well.
But you know, I think theopportunity to express how you
(34:43):
feel and so my son is sad, youknow, does nobody wants to do,
and that's okay, right, is only21 years old or my mom and say,
hey, you know, talk to yournephew, he's out of college
right now.
I'm like that's okay.
I didn't get my first degreeuntil I was in my 30s.
I, you know, I started, Istopped and then I went back and
(35:04):
now unfortunately well,fortunately I didn't stop again.
I went on three degrees later.
But.
But sometimes they go tocollege we force them to do
those things so quickly andthey're not ready.
They're not ready.
My, my son, had experience inhis psychology class and he's a
very creative writer and becausehe struggled to stay within
(35:24):
that prompt and within thatconfine great writing when I
read it there was a you know,you had to make a decision.
Okay, this is not for me rightnow, let me go do this.
And so I think we have to havethat voice to express.
And Mentorship is good.
Coaches are good mentors, Ithink, to kind of like help them
along the way.
And it shows the panda on beingable to speak To those and in
(35:47):
yours apparently, don't be,don't be shy, don't be ashamed,
because you know they want tospeak to a coach instead of you.
We feel a little pride in it,but speaking of the talking
about it, and maybe that's agood mentor they'll come back
and say you know what littlejohnny is having this going on,
and I think that partnership isimportant.
Pete Newsome (36:05):
Absolutely.
I love that you said that and Iwant to ask about mentorship.
You mentioned finding a mentora couple of times as a young
professional.
How do you go about doing that?
Dr. Gary Montoute (36:16):
you.
I think if you, if you're young, professional and you are in
the workforce already and youcould, you can talk to your
employer about that.
Right, if you had been onsports teams, you can always go
back to the coach, even like youcoach, five year old, you know.
Imagine that one of youryounger guys, you coach came
back and said hey, coach pick,can you help you?
(36:36):
You would feel really greatabout it because there is a
discipline.
So I think they have to ask,right the thing about social
media right again.
That's so you know that they canjust attack me.
How do I get a mentor mentor?
Your mentor doesn't have to besomeone in your, in your field,
(36:58):
that you're working in yourindustry.
They can be cross cross,discipline, right.
It can be someone you look upto.
It can be your, your passing,your church, it could be your,
your, your moms, the mom of oneyear friends that you feel
comfortable with their mentors,and stuff like that.
So I think, being able to askand you don't ask them go, you
(37:19):
know and I hopefully your sitewould do that and speak about
those things as well how to getto mentor, you ask someone you
know for that and that's thebiggest thing, right to ask
someone, even even having theplatform to type it in, you need
a mentor and then maybe a chatVirtual robot comes up and says
here's a website and do thingslike that, because they will do
(37:41):
that.
Pete Newsome (37:41):
We did believe it or not.
We have.
We have an hr consultant who wework with a lot and I had
interviewed him about mentorship, and it is on the, it is on
zingig.
So that is the show notes,alright, alright, doctor, jim,
put you on the spot.
Let's talk about things toavoid in the, in the corporate
world.
What are some pitfalls?
Dr. Gary Montoute (38:04):
So in the environment, there's this thing
about religion, politics, right,your, your belief system.
Again, people are my believer.
I don't have to walk and by thebeat anybody on the head or
whatever it is.
If someone is ill, whatever isgoing on, I will openly say I'll
pray for you, stuff like that,and I'm comfortable with that.
(38:25):
But sometimes they have to beaware that certain things it's
not that it's taboo, but it cango in a different direction,
right?
And are you willing that youdon't know how that person's
gonna respond?
Right, and that force you torespond a certain way, and next
time it becomes an unsafe workenvironment not unsafe, it's not
what I'm looking for but itbecomes a work environment
(38:48):
that's not psychologically safe,right?
So I think those things right.
Also, what people look like, howthey dress differently.
We dress differently.
Some might throw on a jacket,some might just wear polos, and
so, being able to beunderstanding of how would you
feel if someone said that thingto you?
Would you be defensive?
(39:10):
Would it bother you when ithurts?
So kind of like, consider theother person before you open
your mouth, before you pen thatemail, consider that Some things
to avoid.
Like that you can have youropinion all.
As a leader and my team knowsthis I'm not a drinker, I'm not
a smoker and I believe from aleadership perspective there's
(39:30):
still.
If I wanna go to a sports thingwith my team or whatever, I'm
still a leader.
The camera is still on, so Ihave to camera myself a certain
way.
So, even though you might gowith your work team, the camera
is always on because whether youwear that badge out here or not
, you're still representing thatcompany.
I love people who don't talkabout that.
Pete Newsome (39:51):
Well, I'm on my own personal time.
Well, please understand.
Dr. Gary Montoute (39:54):
there's certain vision, there's certain
pillars in that company and that, come on, what happened in
Washington DC?
And all these people, all of asudden, years later, right
January 6th, starts showing upof doing this, doing that, doing
this or whatever it is.
And they were corporate CEOsand different, and so now they
represented their company.
(40:15):
They get cut.
They get cut right.
Pete Newsome (40:17):
Well, you said it right the camera is always on
and the rule for throughout ourcareer is anything you put in
writing, right, it stays forever.
Now it's anything you post onsocial media and, to your point,
anything you say in publicthere's a good chance someone's
recording it.
There's this guy who's onsocial media, does undercover
(40:40):
reporting and his whole shtickis that he tries to get people
from different companies or inpolitical positions.
They pretend that they're goingout on a date and they it's a.
I'm not a fan of this at alland then they get people to
speak and they record them andit's and apparently this is
legal to do and it's awful.
(41:00):
These people's lives are ruinedbecause they think they're
having a conversation withsomeone who's safe and who's
their friend, when the oppositeis true and seeing this and if
you, we could talk about it offcamera, I'll let you know who
this guy is and who does it andit's.
It's.
It's terrifying to think thatyou know young people today meet
(41:21):
on social media through datingapps, something you and I, you
know we missed out on on thatand you know, probably for good.
Thank goodness right that I did, because you don't know who
you're meeting.
You're meeting strangers andyou're sharing information with
them.
Like you said, you're out inpublic at an event with your
team and people get loose andI'm sure, like me, you have lots
(41:44):
of stories of people over theyears You've seen their career
blow up because they thoughtthey were safe and they were
drinking and it turns out whathappens in Vegas doesn't
necessarily stay in Vegas.
Dr. Gary Montoute (41:55):
And you know you don't go dating apps.
Since I'm recording, I didn'tmeet my wife through a dating
app.
Oh, you did, I don't.
I don't bless that this year.
This month will be five yearswe've been married, right?
Oh, I didn't know that.
Pete Newsome (42:09):
That terrifies me to think that I was so much
pressure.
I don't know how I would do it,but you did.
And I was just talking to mywife about it last night because
with our kids, right, that'sjust the world that they're in
and we were saying I was likehow would I, how do you navigate
that, how do you do, how do youdeal with it?
And it works.
That's awesome, congratulations.
I had no idea.
(42:29):
Clearly, I had no idea.
Dr. Gary Montoute (42:31):
There was some, trust me, there was some
false starts.
I just want to go app to app.
There was some false starts,but as well.
But you have to learn aboutyourself and whatnot and what
you would.
What are the non-negotiables?
Right?
But I think that's very, veryimportant Something you said.
I wanted to come back to that.
And with respect to the thingsthat you should avoid, right, if
(42:56):
you're going to go interview,if you're, please clean up your
social media.
Pete Newsome (43:03):
Yes.
Dr. Gary Montoute (43:04):
Clean up your , because nowadays it's not just
the resume.
You're going to find someonegoing to Facebook see what
you're involved with.
They're going to go to LinkedInsee if you are present there.
I think, especially if you'regoing to the professional
environment, you want to have agood profile there at the
professional sites, right?
Linkedin is not paying for usto say this, but I get out
(43:25):
benefited from there a lot goingto LinkedIn, and so you want to
clean up your presence, right,that's very, very important.
A lot of people talk about that.
You know you're not in college.
It's good to have all thesepictures of everything your food
and what you're drinking andstuff but when you're going now
to go work for Peter myself Idon't go look for people on them
(43:45):
, but trust me, my team might golook and say, hey, what did you
know?
Pete Newsome (43:52):
Yes, it happens.
It happens and the advice thatwe give to people in the job
market is make your accountsprivate.
Make your personal accountsprivate during that job search
process.
That's the real safe route.
But you're right, it happens.
Recruiters look, managers look,potential team members
(44:13):
definitely look when they seesomeone walking in for that
interview and they know who itis.
You'll know about their socialmedia very quickly and I think
at times, candidates believethat there's laws that protect
them from things like that.
That, just whether you thinkthey do or not, it happens and
(44:34):
that's we have to live in thereal world with these things and
that's the bias that we have tolive with.
Dr. Gary Montoute (44:41):
You may say you know what?
I'm not hiring this personbecause they didn't qualify.
But that person has some bias.
We all have some type of bias.
That's sometimes we're notwilling to admit it and because
you may have seen somethingsomewhere, it's like I don't
want that character to be around, whatever it is, because you
(45:02):
are biased by what you saw andthat you're well represented in
front of you.
So we have to put out and checkand sometimes I think the one
thing I like, pete, is I wishpeople did it more is if you
have a good set of leaders thatyou know outside of your area
but in the same same company.
I think when it comes tointerviewing someone at certain
(45:22):
levels, it's okay to havesomeone who is not in your
department come and get a read,get a culture read, because it's
not just about that team, it'sabout how they're going to work
with other teams and that'ssomething I was with a company
one time in FinTech when I wasin FinTech and I was blessed to
be part of.
I was in IT but I was sort ofby HR to go help source for the
(45:44):
new CIO.
So I was sent to.
I was not in HR, but I was sentto Vegas to source for the new
CIO at that time.
And again because transferableskills right, you know how will
they interact with at this level, at the end use level and user
operations level, and how?
I mean because I used to be apart of the whole interviewing
high level executive, c-level,c-suite folks, you know, trying
(46:08):
to help them be more, morerelatable to any and everyone.
Those were the things that youstarted to test for.
Pete Newsome (46:15):
So yeah, Perfect, love it.
Thank you All right, dr Chief.
Before I let you go, I want toget one more thing on the record
For young people today.
What do you recommend that theydo to be a leader at a young
age?
Dr. Gary Montoute (46:29):
I think volunteering is a great thing.
I think volunteering, you know,homeless shelters, volunteering
with food banks, food pantries,even in the hospital, right,
being able to go and volunteerbeing a sitter, sitting with
someone in the room, a volunteerto be a greeter those are good
things.
That they speak volumes, right.
(46:50):
It's not also about getting ofthat paycheck, right, it's about
getting that experience of howto deal with people.
One of the things I learnedfrom my son's school is like
there's a very introverted group, right, but they teach them and
they have me coming to talk tothem in the future about just go
to the grocery on behalf ofyour family, so you, and when
(47:13):
you get to the cashier, sayhello.
Simple as that.
You're teaching kids in their20s how to go to a cashier and
say hello, but you know there'sfast checkout, right, you don't
have to talk to anyone.
So that's what we gravitate.
But I say no, go to a cashierand learn to say hello.
So I think it's very importantthat they learn how to connect
(47:34):
by speaking outside of thetexting.
Volunteering will help that ina big way, right.
Even if you in your communitysee an elderly couple or
individual and their grass ortrash is not being picked up or
what's picked up.
You know, roll their player,their trash can to their garage
right and they really see themand say, hey, I did that for you
(47:55):
and this so you don't have tostreet.
Pete Newsome (47:56):
Just having those little connections right, those
connections are important, and Idon't think anyone can do those
things and not feel better as aresult.
Yeah, right, and maybeencouraging them to do that so
they'll improve.
But the satisfaction they'llget from those simple things and
I'm guilty if I'm busy, if I goto the grocery store at work
(48:17):
and I'm looking at my phone andhave other things in my mind,
sometimes I don't acknowledgethe cashier or the way I should,
to your point.
But when I have thoseinteractions I always feel good.
Right, you know it's when youconnect with another person it's
always positive, right, you getall these feels.
(48:38):
I love that.
I've never heard thatsuggestion before.
Dr. Gary Montoute (48:40):
Yeah, you go to a restaurant.
You know, forget about arestaurant.
They like fast food.
So you go to the drive-thru,you get your order.
How are you doing?
You just saw your ship?
Simple things like that.
My kids Rise.
My kids crazy like that.
Why you always talk to thecashier Because it matters.
Nobody asks how their day hasbeen.
And this is fast food and youknow it's a high stress
(49:02):
situation where that person getsthe wrong order.
And you're only like 16 yearsold and you've never dealt with
that type of conflict and peopleyour age will, like you know,
rip down the new age.
Come on, it's just a kid thatmade a mistake or something.
So sometimes you just have tobring it back and say, hey, you
know, how are you doing today?
Pete Newsome (49:23):
You know I love it .
You said it because it matters,right, that's it.
You don't need to define itfurther.
And when you think about thosejobs, you know the pay is not
great.
The pay is probably not evengood and they're on their feet
nonstop.
It never stops In theChick-fil-A's who I think of,
right.
Chick-fil-a's is so well knownfor how positive and engaging
(49:48):
it's an absolute pleasure tointeract with their employees
and I always think what adifficult job to stand up and
have to smile every singleminute that you're working Right
.
And here we are.
We get to sit on our butts andlike type away at our desk.
You know computer half the day.
We have it easy.
(50:08):
So to appreciate those peopleis what a wonderful thing.
I'm so glad you mentioned thatbecause my kids may not
appreciate that you mentionedthat, but I'm going to be
applying that to them from theperspective today.
Yes, Well, wonderful.
Dr Gary Montu, thank you somuch for your time today and all
the knowledge that you'veshared.
(50:28):
It's been an absolute pleasureand I hope that you'll come back
and play the guitar for us playthe bass.
Dr. Gary Montoute (50:34):
Absolutely Every couple of podcasts have
been on and the bass has come up, but I look at it as a
challenge and so when I go to myteacher, he's like you're
trying to get all these gigs andyou still don't know skills.
I'm like I'll get there, I'llget there, but I like that
challenge.
That's why, you know, educationis for me, right.
I went back to school to learnto see what I didn't know, to
close that gap, to be a greatrepresentation, to be just not
(50:58):
to my kids but to my community,right, so I can learn what you
know, what's what I don't know,and put that what I call the
expert seal of approval.
Pete Newsome (51:07):
So yeah, yes, well , thank you for your time.
It was a pleasure to speak withyou today and I'm going to hold
you to it.
Come back, and I look forwardto seeing the guitar in your
hand next time, absolutely Greatprogram.
Dr. Gary Montoute (51:17):
Thank you, pete.
Pete Newsome (51:18):
All right, everyone Thanks for listening.
Thank you.
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