The fullback who became a quarterback in life's most important game - Connor Cardew

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What does it mean to be truly present for your children? 

For Connor Cardew, VP of Digital Prospectors and a former college fullback at Bryant University, the answer lies in five simple but powerful words passed down from his father: family, love, trust, respect, and responsibility.

Connor's journey through fatherhood beautifully illustrates how our own upbringing shapes the parents we become. Raised as the middle child between two brothers, Connor grew up with parents who prioritized involvement in every aspect of their children's lives – from coaching youth sports to creating memorable experiences like having the parents play soccer against the kids while dressed in costumes. These foundations now guide Connor and his wife, as they navigate parenthood with his three children.

The honest conversation explores one of modern parenting's greatest challenges – balancing career demands with family life. Connor candidly shares his evolution from missing bedtimes due to long work hours to finding a more flexible arrangement that allows him to be present for the moments that matter. His biggest ongoing work? Learning to leave professional frustrations at the door when entering family time, something many parents struggle with daily.

What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Connor's willingness to examine his own shortcomings. He acknowledges his work on patience and shares practical wisdom about letting go of rigid expectations when parenting young children. Rather than becoming frustrated when plans inevitably derail, he's learned to pivot and create meaningful moments within the chaos.

Connor's reflection reminds us that fatherhood isn't about perfection – it's about presence. Children don't care about your title or achievements; they simply want you there, engaged and available. By prioritizing relationships over schedules and connection over performance, we create the foundation for our most important legacy.

Have you found yourself struggling with patience in parenting or leaving work stress at the door? Connect with us to share your experiences and learn from other dads working to become better quarterbacks of their homes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show.
Hey everybody, it's CaseyJaycox with the quarterback dad
cast.
Welcome to season six, and Icould not be more excited to
have you join me for anotheryear of fantastic episodes and
conversations really unscriptedand raw and authentic

(00:24):
conversations with dads.
If you're new to this podcast,really it's simple.
It's a podcast where weinterview dads, we learn about
how they were raised, we learnabout the life lessons that were
important to them, we learnabout the values that are
important to them and really welearn about how we can work hard
to become a better quarterbackor leader of our home.
So let's sit back, relax andlisten to today's episode on the
Quarterback Dadcast.

(00:45):
Well, hey, everybody, it'sCasey Jaycox with the
Quarterback Dadcast.
We are in season six towardswe'll call it late Q3 of season
six, and our next guest is agentleman I met in my travels to
Boston when I went back to seethe talented Mark Agostinelli
and Chris Mader, two formerpodcast guests and then we were

(01:07):
playing golf where thisgentleman took me to the
woodshed and stole all the moneyin my wallet and just freaking
beat me like a rag doll.
But he's a really nice guy.
His name is Connor Cardew.
He's the vice president ofdigital prospectors.
I think I had that right.
He spent some time at Aerotechand Signature, where he also
knows a couple of former otherguests one and only Mark

(01:31):
Nussbaum and Brad Rosen.
But with all that said, that'snot why we're having Conor on.
We're having Conor on to learnabout Conor the dad and how he's
working hard to become theultimate quarterback or leader
of his household.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
So, without further ado, mr Cardew, welcome to the
Quarterback Dadcast.
Thank you for having me, sir.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
It was good to be your partner as well.
We had some fun and the highhandicap definitely paid off
that day.
Your best was against me, butyou definitely came and helped
me in the end not lose moremoney to Mark, but, joking aside
, hell of a day.
Thanks to Mater for having usout All right.
Connor, we always start outeach episode with gratitude, so
tell me, what are you mostgrateful for as a dad today?

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh gosh.
Well, I mean we're recordingthis a day after Father's Day,
so just getting to spend timewith the family and spend time
with the kids I'm lucky where Igot little ones so just enjoying
the carefree nature and I'mreally not having to care in the
world, just, you know, gettingto getting to spend some time
with them and have some funoutside.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
So Love it A lot to a lot.
We as adults can learn fromkids and how they live their
lives.
I was in, I was well before I,well before.
I tell my gratitude I was.
You made me think of a story Iwas getting.
Me and my son were gettingsmoothies yesterday in between,
like doing some chores.
And then before the what theopen and there was a girl

(02:51):
dancing in the smoothie shop andthen this other little girl,
her same age, she was startingto dancing and they just went up
a massive dance party.
They don't know each other butthey just like became best
friends, like stepbrothers.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Right, and I mean, why couldn't we just start doing
that?
You know what I'm grateful for.
Like you said, it's day afterfather's day Uh, my son's home
from college and I'm gratefulfor the time I got to spend with
him yesterday.
My daughter had hoop basketballweekend and so we did the
divide and conquer yesterday,and my son and I I got the

(03:23):
chainsaw.
We're talking about feelinglike an American man get out the
chainsaw and go to one town.
Oh, it was so fun, so I didthat.
We watched three cars.
We uh went and uh picked upsome dog food and then watched
the mariners sweepy theguardians and then we uh watched
some golf.
I watched freaking spawn dropthe 70 footer out of nowhere.

(03:44):
What?

Speaker 1 (03:45):
a putt that was unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
My son called it.
We can't talk baseball rightnow.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I'm upset with the Red Sox just dropping the bomb
on us.
Devers gone.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Feels like Mookie all over again.
So I'm glad we're talking this.
So, ironically, our SeattleMariners, my Seattle Mariners
and your boss Red Sox, areplaying tonight.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, Seattle.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
America, your Boston Red Sox are playing tonight.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, and I'm going to the game tomorrow night, oh
nice.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
So this is not a sports podcast, but I got to
hear about the trade.
What the hell Was it out of theleft field?

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Traded him for a ham sandwich and a used washing
machine.
It feels like I don't get it,man.
It's tough, that's for sure.
Was everybody surprised.
Yeah, I actually saw somethings online today people
videoing reactions and a bunchof dads thought that it was one
of those TikTok trends of likeyou know somebody famous dying

(04:35):
and it didn't happen.
And then you see all of themsee the ESPN notification and
they all lose it.
Um, it's.
I mean, it's been ugly sincespring training, but it's one of
the best bats in the league.
Like that's just, it's toughand to not know the plan behind
it.
I saw one of the guys theypicked up already got sent to
the minor.
So we'll see.

(04:56):
We've got some young talentcoming up, though, you know so
the next generation, hopefully,is here, so we'll see what they
do.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well, the timing of it didn't make a lot of sense
too, because you guys just sweptthe Yankees.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
So interesting.
Well, let's change the subject,because I don't want you losing
it and getting all sad, okay,well, bring me inside the Cardew
huddle and talk a little bitabout each member of the squad
and how you and your wife met?

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, absolutely so.
My wife and I have beentogether for about 12 years,
married for eight.
This July we actually met inthe wonderful world of staffing.
She was on kind of the HRapparel side of the house and
worked in the same office,different business units, and
you know, you know how staffingis.
Everybody hangs out togetherand one thing led to another and

(05:50):
she left shortly after that andshe's, you know, made an
unbelievable career for herselfin HR and the biotech space.
Here we're fortunate, obviously, being in the greater Boston
area, to have the Cambridge Hubright here.
But yeah, she's a rock star.
And rounding out the lineup isour three children.
So we've got Liliana, who willbe seven this summer, heading

(06:11):
into second grade.
She is, you know, almost seven.
What feels like going on 18.
There's a whole lot of sass andattitude, but she's awesome.
She plays just about everythingunder the sun Kind of joke.
She's like Icebox from LittleGiants.
She did cheerleading and sheplayed for me in flag football,
so it was a ton of fun we bothboth my wife and he loves to do,

(06:33):
but he's been big into flagfootball, soccer, t-ball and his
new love is WWE.
So we actually we went toMonday Night Raw this winter.

(06:55):
I'll send you a picture.
After Got him a luchador mask,the kids hooked, he loves it.
And then our little guy.
He's a wild card.
It's Bodie, he's two.
He is like the ultimatesideline sibling.
He is just out with uh,wherever big sis and big brother
have games, he's on thesideline with a snack in his
hand just running around.
You know having having some fun.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
So have we showed Charlie the main event.
Like back in the eighties, cagematch stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yet he hasn't not not all of them, like back in the
eighties, cage match stuff.
Yet he hasn't not not all ofthem.
But I made the unfortunatemistake of showing him Rikishi
Um and now he thinks hisfinishing move is the funniest
thing in the world.
But he's uh, he's got a bunchof the action figures and I'm
making sure that we get you know, stone cold the undertaker some

(07:51):
of the guys from the 90s intothe fold.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
You know I want 80s.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
I want Rick Flair.
Oh yeah, bring back Flair.
Rowdy Rowdy, piper Hulksterobviously I love that.
Yeah, I was showing him.
He told me one the other day.
He's like, oh yeah, signaturemoves the spear and I was like
Goldberg pioneered the spear.
He's like who's'm like youtube,let's go bud.
So he's loving it.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Well, speaking of football, I how did I forget to
give love to the bryant bulldogsin your introduction?
So we got to make sure we givelove to the bryant bulldogs.
And you are a former fullback,if my memory's correct.
I am a former fullback, that'scorrect.
Yeah, opening up holes,protecting a qb when we need to
pick up a little inside pressure.
Appreciate that the pullbackshould not be a dying position.
They should bring it back.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
They should.
I joke with people I'mvertically challenged.
I tell people I should be oversix feet, but when you lead with
your face in your hands for anumber of years the spine
compacts a little bit, but it'sfun, man.
I tell people we were anoffensive lineman with a
headstart and they'doccasionally throw us the
football to keep us happy.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
So Were you six, three in the program.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Okay, so you and your , your, your lovely bride, ben
Garrett, 12, married for eight.
You got three kids.
Obviously it's it's right inthe busyness of life.
I can remember those days Well.
Um, obviously it's it's rightin the busyness of life.
I can remember those days Well.
Um.
I always like, though,transition on Connor to um, to
what was life like growing upfor you and um talk about the

(09:14):
impact mom and dad had on you.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, um, growing up was incredible.
Um, I had just have twounbelievably supportive parents.
I'm middle of three boys.
We just had an unbelievablechildhood, grew up in what we
thought was a very boring townup on the seacoast of

(09:38):
Massachusetts, in Ipswich.
Now, looking back at it, I'mlike you're a fool.
People vacation here.
This place is unbelievable, um,but when you're you know, 14 to
18 years old, you're like thisis boring, there's nothing to do
.
Um, but you know, super closewith both my siblings, my
parents were both heavilyinvolved, whether it was

(09:59):
coaching or with school.
I mean, my dad and mom probablyran every youth sport in the
town for a number of years.
We're notorious for making fungames, whether it was, you know,
the T-ball and baseball parade,little league, changing that up
, getting involved with football, soccer, um, just great, great
memories of.
You know different practicesand you know, in soccer it was

(10:22):
in the fall.
So it was.
We'd always have a?
Um a practice where we playedagainst the parents, but they'd
all come in costume.
You know, in football, my dadwas a football guy growing up.
Uh, in northern new jersey.
He's gonna play in college andthen ended up playing rugby.
Um, complete psychopath move,but he brought rugby to football
.
So you know, if we were playingwell, we'd always have a

(10:43):
practice.
We had a a full on rugby match,but in in full pads, which was
an absolute riot, um, but it was, uh, it was a ton of fun.
You know, my parents were wererelatively strict and I was
laughing as I was kind ofthinking back on this of just at
the time.
It was embarrassing.
It's like, oh, my mom's goingto call here to make sure
someone's home and my kidsaren't there yet.

(11:03):
But I'm like, nah, this, thisactually makes sense.
This start, this is starting tocheck out.
They were, uh, they were justdoing their job, um, but you
know, it was great.
Academics were always very, veryimportant to both of them, but
we were, we were a sportshouseholds, um, played
everything under the sun, um,like I said, they were involved
in everything.
And then, when I was getting toend of middle school, we have a

(11:28):
really good um Catholicpreparatory school right down
the road from us and my olderbrother tested and got in and my
parents gave him the decisionhey, do you want to go?
Do you not want to go?
He didn't go, um, and afterthey got a taste of what the
school in town was.
They said, hey, you don't havea choice, you're going to go, at
least for a year.

(11:48):
But I knew I really wanted toplay football and wanted to play
at a high level.
And they're a powerhouse in thestate which?
Powerhouse in the state ofMassachusetts?
That's a very relative term,but in every sport I mean, they
literally just won the lacrossestate championship for the fifth
year in a row this past weekend.
Baseball does well, hockey,soccer, you name it, track, um.

(12:11):
So I ended up going there andmy little brother followed in my
footsteps and it was great.
It was, uh, you know, it wasreally, really cool.
Um, going in as a freshmandefinitely got, you know, very
wide eyed of oh, this is whatyou know, real, real football is
and settled in, ended up makingthe varsity and starting my
sophomore year and never lookedback and ended up being a, you

(12:33):
know, a captain three-yearstarter.
All you know, all the accoladesthat go along with it and, you
know, parlayed that into youknow, going to get to play in
college and small division onedouble A.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
So Very cool.
Tell me what mom and dad didfor work.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, so growing up until about third grade my mom
was home, so she had a career inBoston.
When they, you know, startedhaving kids, she ended up
staying home.
About third grade she startedto just help substitute teach at
the school and fell in lovewith it and they loved her.

(13:10):
So she started to get, insteadof a couple of days a week, she
would get a maternity leave andshe'd have a whole semester.
And after a couple of years ofthat the principal just came to
her and was like hey, you shouldgo get your master's.
Like why aren't you doing thisfull time?
Um, and she's still doing it.
She's got about one year left.
I think next year will be herlast year and then she'll she'll

(13:32):
finally ride off into thesunset, um, but she's done
everything from you know thesubstitute teaching to, uh, the
one-on-one special needs.
And now she's, you know, the PEphys ed teacher for one of the
elementary schools and isheavily, heavily involved with
the school at a high level aswell.
And just everything from youknow the fundraising to you know

(13:53):
the general day to day.
I mean when we were little itwas helping fundraise to build a
playground and I think she'sprobably done three or four
since then.
So it was really cool and mydad was always in sales.
He was in technology salesforever and then I want to say,
probably middle school, highschool I just remember him being

(14:15):
home and not really knowingthat he wasn't working and he
just was not happy at all andultimately decided I'm going to
go back to school.
Um, and ended up going back andgetting a uh like a film and
media production degree.
Um, and ended up starting hisown business.
He does sports photography nowand he's probably never been
happier, which is which isreally cool to see and, um, you

(14:38):
know, proud of him and andabsolutely love that he's
finally getting to do somethingthat he's passionate about.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
So he's been lucky with it too.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
He's, you know, went to Northeastern for it, got in
with, you know, a couple offolks that have shot for SI.
So he's gotten to go down and,you know, shoot down at
Tennessee's shot at Neyland.
He, you know, shot atBryant-Denny Stadium.
So he's, it's, he's pretty damngood.
I'm, I'm, I'm pretty impressedwith what he does.
So, yeah, it's cool to see.
Growing up probably didn'trealize it much about any

(15:08):
potential struggle or anythinglike that, but looking back on
it I'm like shit.
At one point you probably hadthree kids in college or a
combination of college and prepschool, and you were going back
to school and mom was asubstitute teacher.
Like how the hell did you guysdo this?
Because we never needed foranything, you never felt
anything.
They just did such a good jobof managing it.

(15:28):
It was impressive as hell.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
So did you ever ask him?

Speaker 1 (15:33):
I haven't.
I, you know, I was thinkingabout it when I was kind of
putting some thought into today.
I'm like I probably should havethat conversation with him at
some point.
Um, but it was homework he andI, he and I got uh, we got so
much windshield time with thecollege recruitment process so
it was uh, it was a ton of fun.
I mean, if he was working afull-time job, that probably

(15:54):
wouldn't have happened.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Um but.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
I don't even know how many thousands of miles we
logged just driving all overGod's creation in the Northeast,
going to little.
You know podunk colleges andyou know upstate New York and
Massachusetts and Connecticutand Rhode Island all over.
Um, it was special.
Definitely won't take that forgranted ever so no, that's

(16:17):
awesome man.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Um, you mentioned your brother, your siblings.
Those are brothers.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Yeah.
So my older brother, uh, uh,lives in Massachusetts.
Um, he is, uh, he is asoon-to-be dad, um, for the
first time.
So very excited for him.
Um, he and his wife bought inprobably about 45 minutes from
us a couple years back.
Um, he was a, you know, reallygood, you know, growing up track

(16:44):
and lacrosse, um, and then wentto college up in New Hampshire
and big snowboarder still is tothis day, um, and he is in
graphic design.
So he is a heck of a lot morecreative than I am.
Um, we're, we're wildlydifferent, but at the same time,
um, you know, we're we'rebrothers.
So there's just kind of thatyou pick up right where you left

(17:07):
off, type thing and definitelywish you got to see him more.
But with managing three kids,schedules and work and his work
and all that it's, it'sdefinitely tough.
And then my little brother isout in California.
So he played college footballas well.
But college football andcollege lacrosse was great at
both.
Didn't really know which one togive up and ended up doing a PG

(17:31):
year after high school Gotrecruited Division I for both
and didn't know what to do.
So he decided I'm going to goDivision III and play both.
So he went to Bowdoin up inMaine, nescac you know they're
essentially like little IvyLeague schools, so he's done
extremely well for himself.
Got into the constructionmanagement trade, um in project
management and all that.
Um started in Boston, wanted tomove to the West coast.

(17:56):
He said, hey, we don't havethat, but we have Miami.
And he's like all right,whatever.
So picked up and moved to Miamifor a couple of years and then
something out in Californiaopened up and took it and you
know he ended up leaving thatorganization after probably
close to a decade.
He's at a new place now but heis.
He's married with, you know,one one little one at home, baby

(18:17):
Sloan, and we get to see them acouple of times a year when
they come out and we try to makeit out there when we can, but
it's tough.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Wow, I love when people are slowed down to think
about impact of a mom and dad.
As you think about, like yourmom, you know, staying home and
going back to work and doing herthing, and then pops just
falling on his heart doing herthing and then pops just falling
his heart.
Um, what, what, what?

(18:48):
Tell me what would be likelessons that you have learned
that you maybe apply to your ownpersonal life, professional
life or dad life.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, I think you know, just looking at how
involved they were, um, like Iwant that, I absolutely.
It's like non-negotiable for me, Like it, that has to be
paramount.
Um, and it's cool, I mean,between my dad and his brothers.
It's funny.
I was talking to my uncle whenI, when my oldest, was only a

(19:15):
couple of years old and she wasjust getting into the age of
being able to do kind of likethe daddy and me, mommy and me
stuff, and he was like you'regoing to coach, right?
I was like, yeah, absolutely.
He's like well, you know, yougot to remember this.
But he's like we coach becausewe want to, but we also coach
because we need to take a spotaway from an a-hole.
You know, you don't want thecoach who's going to be out
there thinking that you know,the kid's going to the Olympics

(19:38):
and they're four or five yearsold.
So he's like you got to go teachhim you know how to do it the
right way and you got to teachhim to have fun and to be a good
teammate.
So you know my dad and hisbrothers are all very, very
similar with that.
So I think just you know,seeing how involved all of them
have been, whether it's shootingout of the city to get home for

(19:58):
a game or working from home ornot working, but you know making
it fun for the kids Like I haveso many stories to look back on
from.
You know, little league.
My dad would literally bring aphone and put it in the dugout
and when he would go to changepitchers he would make it like
he was making a call to thebullpen.
Um, so it's just like littlecheeky things like that, and it

(20:19):
was like gosh.
That was when I was probablylike 10 years old, that's so
good.
But just stuff like that.
Where?

Speaker 2 (20:25):
you're around and you're present.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
You're having fun.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
I don't think I've ever heard of that and I played
baseball growing up.
That would have been fantastic.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Yeah, so good, he's got a lot.
I mean, I've got a lot.
He broke his nose at soccerpractice one time my older
brother's soccer.
He was teaching the kids how todo diving headers and insisting
that they scream to give themmore oomph behind it.
And he decided to show themwhat to do and he dove right
into the goalpost, broke hisnose, fought everywhere.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
So he's an animal.
Wow, you mentioned he playedfootball.
What position did he play?

Speaker 1 (21:02):
He was a fullback and a linebacker.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
God, Apple didn't.
Far from the tree.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, I mean in high school I was offensive and
defensive line but, like wetalked about before, I'm
vertically challenged, so thatwasn't happening at the next
level.
I went down to Bryant for acamp and was going through all
the O&D line drills and I,frankly, was beating up on
pretty much everybody there andthe coach grabbed me.

(21:28):
He's like hey, you're great,but you're not big enough to
play division one offensive line.
Can you catch a football?
And I said, yeah, absolutely.
He's like you know bullshit.
I was like all right, well,what do you want me to do?
He's like go over with aquarterback.
They had me run 10 routes,caught 10 footballs, and he was
like all right, cool.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Sounds good to me.
That's pretty cool, yeah, asyou think about you know, you
got three boys, which I'm surethere's a lot of wrestling, a
lot of WWF moves.
Two boys, one girl, okay, sorry, Two boys one girl.
But I mean, like for yougrowing up oh yeah, yeah, that's
what I mean.
So like I'm sure that yourparents had to deal with a lot

(22:01):
of straight shenanigans.
Oh yeah, you know, um what.
What were like the core valuesthough that that that the Cardew
house said this is these arethe top.
You know three things that when, when people think about my
boys, this is what they think of.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah.
So my dad kind of had his ownlittle credo.
Then he was like, hey, it's thefive most important words to
live by, and he was like it'sfamily, love, trust, respect and
responsibility.
And that was hammered into usat a very, very, very young age.
You know, so it was lookingsomebody in the eye when you're
shaking their hand, firmhandshake, you know, hold the

(22:40):
door very much kind of the oldschool chivalry of you know.
Know doing the right thing evenwhen no one's looking, making
sure you're sitting at the frontof the class, you're being a
good teammate.
You know um, which came outwith the brothers, but there was
also you know the, thewrestling and fighting and
shenanigans behind the scenesand you know needing to pin the

(23:02):
little brother down until hecooled off and was not in psycho
mode anymore and all that funstuff.
But yeah, that was that wasdrilled into us at a young age
and you know whether it was outin the boat fishing, it was in
the classroom, it was, you know,on the practice fields that was
at the forefront, Like he was.
He was a lot of fun, but he wasalso very, very stern and the

(23:26):
dad voice was uh, made, made youtremble real, real early.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
So at least if I got you said family, love, trust,
responsibility and respect andrespect.
Okay, yeah, um, is there astory that you can think of
where you had to learn one ofthose lessons the hard way?

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Um, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
I was you know for the most part was actually your
brother's kid.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, one of my brothers might have a couple
examples of that.
He might have gotten it.
He got it tattooed on himself,which, looking back on it,
hindsight's 2020.
But maybe he could have gottenit earlier.
Would have would havepotentially helped a little bit
right um, but no, I mean, it wasjust again.

(24:13):
It was with it, really just sucha young age, like as far back
as I can remember, and it was,you know.
I feel like it's stuff thatcame down from his dad and how
he was raised and just thecoaching that he received and it
was just something that welearned early and you didn't
really step out with Tim.
Tim ran a tight ship.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEO and founder of
ClearEdge, a company dedicatedto transforming the business of
talent.
Through our three lines ofbusiness ClearEdge, marketing,
recruiting and Rising that helporganizations across the
recruitment and HR tech sectorsgrow their brands and market
share while building their teamswith excellence and equity.

(25:00):
I believe we were one ofCasey's very first clients.
He helped our sales and accountteams really those people on
the front lines of building anddeveloping client relationships
in so many ways.
Here are a few.
He helped us unlock the powerof curiosity.
For me it was a game changer.

(25:20):
I was personally learning allabout TED-based that's, tell,
explain, describe, questioningand that really resonated with
me.
We also learned about unlockingthe power of humility and
unlocking the power ofvulnerability.
Casey taught us to be a teamplayer, to embrace change, to
stay positive.
He is one of the most positivepeople I know.
He believes that optimism,resilience and a sense of humor

(25:44):
can go a long way in helpingpeople achieve their goals and
overcome obstacles.
And I agree Casey's book Win theRelationship, not the Deal.
It is a must read.
Listen.
Whether you're looking forcoaching and training or a
powerful speaker or keynote,casey is one of the people I
recommend when talking tocompanies.

(26:05):
The end result for us, at leastas one of Casey's clients our
own clients would literallycommend our approach over all
other companies, from the way wewere prepared in advance of a
call to how we drove meetings,to how we follow up.
It sounds really basic, I know,but let me tell you it is a
standout approach that led tostronger relationships.

(26:29):
I encourage you to learn moreby going to CaseyJCoxcom.
You have nothing to lose byhaving a conversation and a lot
to gain.
Now let's get back to Casey'spodcast, the Quarterback Dadcast
.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
When?
So I'm guessing your dad'screative side with photography.
Your brother, the graphicdesigner, took after him.
Is there a creative side to youat all?

Speaker 1 (26:54):
um, a little bit.
I would say nowhere near whatmy brother is, um, you know, but
I I mean I can, I, I can draw,um, no, I I mean kind of using
it in business a little bit andusing it with coaching, but
nowhere near what you know whathe's able to do, it's, it's
pretty incredible he's.
He's a photographer and graphicdesigner and does both

(27:17):
extremely well and he loves whathe does, which is really cool
to see, because he was a cheffor a number of years, not using
his degree, and then, oddly,through staffing, I had a client
have a temp graphic designerjob, open entry level, and I was
able to get him in, which wasreally, really cool, and he's
turned it into an unbelievablecareer sense.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Wow, that's cool.
So family, love, trust, respect, responsibility.
I want to spend some time withthese a little bit because those
are big ones.
You gave some examples of youknow chivalry, which I think is
you know.
I still love when I see guyshold the door open for their,
for their spouse, or give them,give her their, your coat on a

(28:02):
cold night.
Um, you know, family is likeit's, it's we're.
We're at the age of parentingwhere I'm experiencing like all
the hard work we did early.
I think we're seeing that.
We're seeing the you know, thewhat's the fruits of your labor,
a little bit like my son he was.
He's been gone all day at thegolf course practicing.

(28:22):
He's plays.
He plays in college, but he'she wants to hang out with us
tonight to watch the marion gamewith me that's so cool you know
, it's like college.
He could easily be saying hebeat it out and he's he was with
his buddies all day.
He's like, yeah, I'm going tosee my girlfriend tomorrow, I
just want to hang the night,watch the M's and we'll, we'll

(28:44):
hang out and shoot the you knowwhat and um.
So it's like you only get onefamily and my family is.
You know, I have great memoriesof like these huge, like family
reunions we go to and.
But it's like I don't know ifit's just maybe society's
changed, maybe just my family,but we don't have those anymore.

(29:05):
You know I miss.
I miss those Like just you see,cousins you haven't seen since
once a year, and just this, justhuge shit show.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
You get together but you already make it work.
Yeah, it's, uh, I mean that onefor us has been we're lucky, I
mean we're.
You know, I've got cousins onboth sides, um, but my dad's
side of the family, for whateverreason, it's just they did a
good job when we were younger,um, and it just kind of stuck Um
, so he's, he is one of five Um,he's got an older brother, a

(29:35):
younger sister and twin youngerbrothers, um, every one of his
siblings has, you know, betweentwo and six kids.
So there's a lot of cousins, um, and we'd always do Christmas
together, and now thateveryone's getting older it's
definitely more challenging.
But what's been fun is alwaysdo Christmas together.
And now that everyone's gettingolder it's definitely more
challenging.
But what's been fun is we doChristmas together.
Every year.
The week before Christmas we doa big Christmas party at my

(29:58):
uncle's house, and now even theyoungest cousin is 21.
So it's a ton of fun.
And then in the summer we gettogether too.
So we used to do We'd go to theCape for a week to two weeks
every summer with my dad's sideof the family, to the Cape for a
week to two weeks every summerwith my dad's side of the family
, rent a bunch of little likecottage, cabin type things, um,
and just have fun.
And it was the older cousinswould watch the younger ones.
And you know parents would, youknow, do their own thing, go

(30:22):
out or, you know, grill out andthen hang out and play cards and
drink.
And now all the cousins areinvolved in that.
And now that we've introduced,you know, my three kids and a
couple of my cousins have kids.
You know, the cousins are nowwatching our kids and it's it's
just, it's so cool to see itcome full circle.
But you know, my wife istraveling for work a couple of
weeks ago in New York and shewent out and grabbed dinner with

(30:45):
my cousin.
So I mean we see them, textthem, talk to them all the time.
It's like having more brothersand sisters, it's it's really
really cool.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
That's awesome.
I love how much you havegratitude and you appreciate
that Cause I think that's veryuncommon to have families like
that.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
You know, um, and to have that, uh, just the, the
stories and the memories and, um, you know, and now you're
passing it on to your kids andhave you ever asked your parents
about, like, do they rememberlike this stage of life for you,
where you're at, and just kindof the full circle for them to

(31:21):
see, right?

Speaker 1 (31:22):
now A little bit.
My mom gets really nostalgicabout it so she will unprovoked
bring it up.
But it's really cool to sitdown and chat with them about it
.
I definitely want to spend moretime with them.
I'm jotting down a note of likeall right, you got to ask your
dad about this period and yougot to ask mom about this.
Um, but it's fun, it's.

(31:42):
You know, I got the, the nicetext from my mom yesterday for
father's day and it was.
You know how proud she is andall that.
And we're lucky because they'remy parents are like 20, 25
minutes away and Amanda'sparents are also 25 minutes away
.
So we've got.
You know, my kids have two fullsets of grandparents that are
both super, super present.
You know, to the point wheresometimes, if they show up, my

(32:04):
youngest cries because he knowsit means mom and dad are leaving
.
But it's so cool to have themaround all the time.
I don't think my kids realizehow lucky they are, because I
had my grandparents growing upbut they were either in Florida
or New Jersey and it was likeyou had to go plan a trip to go
see them and it was once ortwice a year and that was pretty

(32:26):
much it, and they get to seememes and granddad a couple of
times a month.
In the summer they're seeingthem all the time and then
throughout the year you knowthey make it a point to go to
the games or come over.
I'll text my mom and say, hey,I have a babysitting opportunity
for you and she loves that.
So it's, we're, we're very,very fortunate to have them.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
So that's so cool.
Now are your?
Are your grandparents stillaround?

Speaker 1 (32:54):
They're not.
So both of both my mom and mydad's parents both got remarried
.
My dad's dad passed away acouple of years ago His, his
wife.
So my step grandmother is stillalive, still in touch with you
know some of the kids um, thegrandkids through that, but not

(33:15):
as much Um.
And then my mom's parents samething.
She, her mom, got remarried, um, and she passed away probably
close to a decade ago at thispoint, um.
So yeah, they're.
They're unfortunately both gone, but my grandfather got to see
we went down when Charlie wasreally really little Um, so it

(33:38):
was cool to have you know him,have some time with the great
grandparents, get some pictureswith them and and get to enjoy
that.
We had one of the last memorieswith him, which was really cool
.
It was one of my cousins gotmarried um down in South
Carolina and we had the wholefamily there and they actually
did the?
oh gosh, what did they do?
The?
Um, like the rehearsal dinnerat um in Greenville, at the

(34:02):
little minor league ballparkthere.
Um, we had the whole familythere.
Grandfather was there.
There may have been, you know,a couple of funnels there and
some other things, and he didone of them and one of my
cousins started chanting theKing of the North and everybody
started doing a picture of himwith all of his grandkids, his
great grandkids, his kids.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Your great grandfather beer bonged.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Professionally done and everybody signed it, so it's
pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Let me hear it, let me make sure I heard that.
Right, your great granddad beerbonged.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
My, my, my grand Let me make sure I heard that right
your great-granddad beer-bonged.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
My granddad, my kid's great-granddad, yep, so good,
that's an elite move right there.
Yeah, that is an elite move.
I love again how present you'rein the moment because I'll tell

(34:55):
you, I grew when I was growingup.
My, I never met my dad's dad.
Um, my, my, my dad's mom hateto like get into religion.
My mom's was a jehovah'switness and the one thing I
learned about your witness wasthey don't celebrate like that.
I never got a birthday card asa kid.
I'm like what the hell liketalking about getting gypped as
a kid.
Oh, that's tough.
Grandma couldn't send me abirthday card.
And then my other, my mom'sside, awesome grandma.

(35:15):
And then my grandpa, who I kindof knew, but not really.
But my grandma was the best andso like.
But you mentioned greatgrandparents, so like Grammy
lane, but she passed away.
She got it.
She got to meet Ryder and Riley, my kids, before she passed.
But then my wife, carrie, her,her grandma was like, almost was
like adopted me as a grandkidyeah, that's so cool oh, the

(35:37):
best, um and then.
But that it is pretty unique anduncommon that when your kids
get to meet theirgreat-grandparents you know, so
I definitely have happinessabout that yeah, it's like a.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
It's like a pinch yourself moment of like.
You don't really think about it.
You're like, oh, I'm gonna gosee Gramps.
It's like a pinch yourselfmoment of like you don't really
think about it.
You're like, oh, I'm going togo see Gramps.
Then it's like oh no, this is,you know, four generations in
one room.
This is, this is special.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
That does not happen often, so tell me the best piece
of advice that your dad sharedwith you, that you that you
apply to your life as a dad.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Oh gosh, best piece of advice.
You know, I think it's kind ofgoing back to you know, to the
five words there, but again, I'mjust going to harp on the
family piece of it and justbeing present.
It's, you know, work andeverything else will come and go
, but you really only get one,you know one go around this

(36:32):
thing.
So, being present, you wantyour kids to have a good memory
of you.
You don't want them to beremembering you for never being
there and you know, hey, youmight financially support them,
but kids don't care, they don'tknow what's going on, they just
want to see you.
So I think you know, and lookingat the example that he set of
just making sure that you knowI'm here for them, I am not just

(36:54):
, you know, here in the sensethat I'm in the same room, but
playing with them, spending timewith them, helping them be
creative and make games up, andgetting outside in the backyard
and pitching with them, spendingthe one-on-one time with both
of them, time with both of them.
My wife and I are constantlytalking about needing to do a
better job with that.

(37:14):
I'm just like, hey, little daydates, even if it's, you know,
something small, like she'sgoing to take one of them to
target and go out and grab lunchafter, or, you know, at this
point in the year, and Iabsolutely love it, my
daughter's like when are wegoing to go hit?
golf balls and drive around inthe golf cart.
I was like sweetheart.
Whenever you want.
Talking dad's language rightnow.
But no, I just think it's thatbeing present in the moment and

(37:38):
just really embracing it andloving every second of it,
because you're not guaranteedanything in this life.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
And it goes fast, man .
Like I said, I have 19 andalmost 17.
I feel like that was yesterday.
I can't remember if I told youthe story.
I told this story before on thepodcast.
So, people, if you're hearingthis story again, you're going
to hear it again.
But I always like sharing withlike dads with younger kids,
because so when I was instaffing for 20 years or so, I

(38:06):
remember early in my right whenI was first so, halkinion was
the company I was with K-Forcebought us in June of 2004.
And right now I was first soHall Kenyon was the company I
was with K-Force bought us inJune of 2004 and right now I was
starting to kind of have somesuccess.
I remember I was just like sostressed out, my son was young,
my daughter was.
I think my daughter Riley wasnot born yet but my son was and
I remember just being likegetting home at like seven
o'clock, uh, leaving before theygot up really, and then getting

(38:29):
home late.
I had like 15 minutes a nightand I'm like this sucks, this is
not now.
My company was happy.
You know, financially we weredoing great, but I was miserable
.
And I remember thinking tomyself like, and I remember
going to my boss at the time,shout out to Angela Veronica and
I'd love giving her credit forthis because she made a huge
impact and I remember going toher and like, hey, I'm, I'm

(38:50):
struggling.
And she's like, like what'sgoing on?
I said I just I freaking feellike I'm letting my family down
because I'm barely seeing them.
I know you guys love me herebecause it's financially we're
doing great.
But like, I'm just not the dadI want to be.
And she's like well, leave itfor you.
Got an hour drive, just beavailable.
I'm like, angie, I can't, it'snot a bank, I can't leave it for
we like it's, we got to bearound.
She's like, do you not trustyour team?
I go no, I trust them.

(39:12):
She's like then, freaking,leave, just be really, really
clear, set expectations, getahead of everything and if we
need you, we'll call you homeand then, when you get home,
just be with your family and Itrust you.
I know that you're adocumentation psycho.
You'll get online when the kidsgo down, you spend time to
carry.
But like, like and literallywhen they once I did that and

(39:32):
committed, weird, my teamstarted stepping up.
Weird, my, my anger went up.
My not anger, my likefrustration went away.
Yeah, and I, I it just openedup so many more doors.
So I was like I think, as yousaid, that it like reminded me
of that and I was one of thebest decisions I know I ever
made as a dad, because I alwayswas around yeah, it's uh.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Yeah, it's funny.
When I had my daughter, it waspre-COVID, so it was the
staffing rigmarole of in theoffice at 7.30 and probably
there until 6 or 7 o'clock atnight, and then if people were
traveling into town, you got toput the dog and pony show on.
So a lot of times it wasgetting home after bedtime and I

(40:15):
would take her to daycare acouple of times a week, but it
was literally, you know, 15minutes in the car, put her in
the, you know, put her indaycare and drive to work, and
then my wife would do the restand it just it killed me.
Um, you know.
So when I was, when I wasleaving there, one of the things
that I was absolutely lookingfor was to make sure that I had
the flexibility because I just Iwanted to be around more.
I was, you know, no pressurefrom my wife at all, it was me

(40:38):
just similar to what you weresaying, like it was eating me
alive, like I just I wanted tobe there and I didn't want to
just be there on the weekend,you know, and I got the
opportunity to, you know, be alittle bit more present there,
and then COVID hit and justchanged everything and you know,
now I work three days a week,remote and pick my kids up and
drop them off, and you know Iget to go to games and get to go

(40:58):
to practices, and having theflexibility is so nice.
I think one of the things that Iprobably struggle with the most
and would love your, your, youradvice on, is just that
separation between church andstate, with with work and at
home.
It's staffing is such astressful world.
Um, you know, as any, as anycareer and any sales career is.
But just that frustration ofyou know, hey, don't, once you

(41:22):
walk through the door, it's,it's your dad.
You're not VP of sales, you'renot salesperson, it's not.
You know, somebody chewed youout on the other end of the
phone, it's the kids.
Just want to be with you.
I think that's the biggestthing that I'm working on right
now is just how you can have areally bad day at work or a
really bad month or a quarter orwhatever it is.

(41:42):
It's not your kid's fault andthey don't really care, you know
.
So just kind of being able tohit that off, switch and and
hang up the professional hat,especially when you're working
at home and just literally, youknow, going into the other room
and the kids being there, it'slike all right just being being
more present with them in themoment and and not letting kind

(42:02):
of the frustrations of of workspill over.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
So yeah, I mean, I think some well, I would say, no
job defines somebody Everyone'shas.
We have to remind ourselves ofthat.
Second thing give yourselfgrace.
I would say that you're notalone in that journey, something
you know, little things I'veheard people do.
They literally will go outsideand then walk back in to make
them feel like they're entering.
I like that you know, I, when Iwell, I don't want to say, I

(42:31):
don't mean to self plug here,but when I, when I wrote my book
and, and I and my son, when hewas seven years, lily's age
writer said hey dad, what, whatdo you do for your job?
And I couldn't say, oh, Iprovide staff augmentation,
professional services.
And he'd be like what the helldoes that mean?
So I told him I made friendsfor a living and my buddies were
like dude, you can't tell yourkid he makes friends, so he's
going to be asking for 50s atthe freaking recess.

(42:52):
I said, no, he's not an idiot.
But to your point, they don'tcare.
And that was one of the biggestdrivers around this podcast.
I want to start as, whetheryou're a VP of sales, pro
athlete, the announcer for theKraken, a former linebacker for
the Seahawks, your kids, youmight, as a dad, think it's cool
.
Your kids could get two shitsto your point.

(43:13):
And I think, if, if you're, ifyou don't believe me, you're at
your ego speaking brothers, andI think the sooner that, like I
believe the superpowers of lifeand relationship building.
Leadership is being humble,vulnerable and curious.
When those three skills arepresent, I just think it changes
cultures for the just I meanjust changes so many things for

(43:35):
the positive, you know, and weas dads can lean in that.
Hey, it's not about ussometimes.
And hey, let's ask morequestions.
And I remember interviewing adad that he was like he didn't
want to do.
He wanted to go play golf buthis kid didn't want to play golf
.
So he had to say, well, maybe Ineed to put clubs in sideline
for a couple years and learnabout mountain biking or learn
about kitchen or learn aboutcooking or doing something, and

(43:59):
like, weird, his relationshipwith his kids got better.
Yeah, it's easy to be the dadthat says, well, go play xbox
for six hours, we'll see you,see you next week.
But do you want to be that guydad's?
You know, probably not.
So, um, the good thing, you gotgoing for your corner, you got.
You got two great parents thatset a hell of an example and
you're, you got your.

(44:19):
Obviously you got your head onstraight and even as a fullback.
But, uh, you know, just beingpresent and being around and
being involved, like your unclesaid, is so true.
And I mean I, I end up runningtwo youth organizations.
I didn't want to, but likethose things, leaders, they find
you.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
Whether you want to do it, they're going to find you
.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
Yeah, it's, we're both already starting to see it
and I'm like you know what, nowthat we're getting involved, I'm
like, well, if you want tocomplain, get involved 100%.
You, you know what, now that?

Speaker 2 (44:53):
we're getting involved.
I'm like, well, if you want tocomplain, get involved, you know
.
So you mentioned um, you, youkind of alluded, but I always
like asking this question a bitmore concrete.
So I always like to ask dads anarea, your dad game, that maybe
you don't quite like, thatmight speak to another dad at
home, but at least you're goingto admit it and we're going to
work, so at least we know where.
Hey, I know like for me, overthe six years, my patience has
improved dramatically becausethis podcast tell me what's your

(45:17):
gap that you're working on.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
Yeah, I mean it's definitely patience.
I kind of touched on it alittle bit before but just being
in the high stress environment,I think you've got to not you
I've got to probably a prettyquick trigger at times.
And you know, kudos to you andthe podcast and your book and
just you know the network ofpeople that I've been able to

(45:39):
surround myself with.
Like I've been very consciousof it and making an effort to be
better about it and you can seeit in just the day with the
kids and even when they go tobed.
it's like I feel less frantic,like I don't feel guilt because
I you know, I raised my voice orI got frustrated.

(45:59):
It's like no, you just, you know, handle it as it came.
And they didn't have a meltdownafter and they didn't say dad's
yelling at me, it was.
I might not love what they did,you know, but we got through it
and in hindsight, looking back,I realized that really wasn't
that big of a deal.
So you don't need to stress outabout it, don't?
You know?

(46:20):
The stresses of the day can'tcompound.
And then when your kid doessomething small, it's like snap
and it's like that's just, it'snot fair to them.
So no not perfect.
I've got a long, long way to gowith it, but, uh, definitely
something that I've probably,over the last two to three
months, have been a lot moreconscious of and making an
effort to, you know, kind ofstop myself in the moment.

(46:41):
Like you, you don't need toreact that way.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
So, yeah, well, I think I'll tell you, man for me,
when I earlier in my dad game,I actually told my wife to coach
me, but do it in a way that'snot going to make me even more
fired up at you, cause, like,sometimes your wife comes at you
and you're like no, and youalmost you feel like an idiot.
So now you're getting doublecoaching.
You're mad at yourself.
Now your wife's calling you out, but I said, honey, like, I
need to like, kind of like asafe word or some kind of like

(47:05):
safe way to like.
If you see me losing mypatience, just come at me calm
and just say case, are you openfor some feedback?
I'm like oh shit, that meansthat, like, and I think I was
something like that and Iremember and like, one of the
ones that I used to strugglewith was when the kids were
young.
I'd had these expectations oflike okay, we're going to have
the nap time, we're going to dothis, we're going to be home,

(47:27):
I'll be home for this time forthat beer and watching sports
and and fricking.
Not a chance in shit.
Was that going to happen?
Yeah, cause they're kids andthat's like.
You gotta be flexible right now.
We were strict with like naptimes and that helped get better
kids Like for in terms of likeon schedules and stuff, without
the behavior stuff.
But dude, once I like, I didn'thave expectations for the day,

(47:50):
my dad, my dad's patience wentup.
It got better, Because I wassetting myself up for failure.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Yeah, I think we both did that.
It's funny because my wife islike the ultimate planner.
I genuinely don't know if we'dget anywhere without her.
Um, but I think, for for herthat's, that's tough and for me
it's like, well, I know whatwe're supposed to do and it's
this, but it's like, well, youknow, one of them's inevitably

(48:18):
going to wake up at four, 35o'clock in the morning, and now
your plan is already cooked andnow you're going to be
frustrated and it's like youknow what.
If that's the case, I'll just,I'm going to get up and we're
just going to go out, and we'rejust going to go grab breakfast
and bring it back and hang out.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
We're going to do something, we're going to color,
we'll go for a walk, whateverit might be, and it's like you
know throw a movie on early,like just something to be like.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
It's.
In the grand scheme of things,it's not that big of a deal.
No, Like it's.
They had no idea what we weregoing to do, so no one's missing
anything.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
No, I love it.
Okay, before we wrap up here, Iwant to transition to learn
about your role at Digital.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
How did you?
How did and what I always loveasking people and stuff how the
hell did you get involved instaffing?

Speaker 1 (49:09):
yeah, I mean, like most of us, I stumbled into it.
So you know, college athletefor four years, spring semester
was going to be the greatestthing in the world because I no
longer had spring football.
I had another year ofeligibility but ultimately
decided hey, you are five foot10 and you're relatively
athletic, but not enough to playbeyond this.

(49:31):
So it's time to hang them up.
And I ended up getting aninternship my senior year, my
spring semester, and wassupposed to be sports marketing
and show up day one and it isdoor to door sales.
So it worked out well for meinterviewing after, but,
needless to say, I graduatedwithout a job because I did not

(49:52):
want to take that full time,came home and went back to
painting houses with buddiesworking out, just kind of
enjoying myself.
And one day I came downstairsand my dad just looked at me.
He's like, buddy, figure it out, it's time to go.
Just looked at me.
He's like buddy, figure it out,it's it's time to go.
Um, and I was like, yeah,you're probably right.
So you know, at that point Istarted to look and I ended up

(50:13):
going down to New York.
Um, you know, just through alot of family connections and
friends.
A lot of my football buddieswere either Boston or New York
based.
Um, so I ended up going downand doing some interviewing and
some networking and reallythought I wanted to be in
advertising or sports marketing.
Um, you know, met withinformally with a handful of
people and ultimately realizedthat you know it's crazy, crazy

(50:39):
hours just to get a name on yourresume for 12 to 18 months.
Then you move to the next one.
You're not going to get paid,well, for the first five to ten
years and I was like well, youknow, the hard work's not a
problem for me, but if I'm goingto work my tail off like I want
to be compensated for it and Iended up, just after a day of
just getting my teeth kicked in,grabbed a beer with my cousin

(50:59):
and he said hey, have you everthought about staffing,
recruiting?

Speaker 3 (51:03):
I was like I have no idea what that is he's like.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Well, my best man for my wedding is in it.
He was with one of the bigcompanies, just went out on his
own.
Let me call him and see if I'llmeet with you tomorrow.
So I ended up going in andmeeting with that guy, kind of
learning what the industry is ata 30,000 foot level, and I was
like all right, this isinteresting to me, I'm
interested in sales and this isall people and relationship
building and I think there's alot of parallels from playing

(51:29):
sports competitively my wholelife.
And I ended up getting aninterview with one of the big
companies, one of the bigstaffing companies down there,
and while I was there I ended upcoming out of it, turning my
cell phone back on and I had avoicemail from Aerotech.
I listened to it, ended upgetting a text from a friend
from college and she said hey, Ijust started here, You'll love

(51:53):
it, Come in and interview.
So drove home, ended upinterviewing with Aerotech in
Woburn, Massachusetts, and inUnicorn Park the most magical
place in the world, you know,about 10 miles outside of Boston
and just fell in love with it,Loved the people, loved the
hustle and the grind about itand there, got into recruiting
and then into sales, and thensales and leadership and

(52:14):
ultimately started to look andsay I think I want to go smaller
.
This company is incredible.
It's afforded me so manyopportunities.
The training and developmentprogram there was so well done,
but everything strategic,everything creative, everything
new was already done.
So I wanted to kind of go digmy own holes.
I ended up going to Signature,which was still massive but

(52:38):
significantly smaller, andreally just love the people, and
through an M&A they were backover a billion dollars and I
started to look and think, ah,this kind of feels like 2.0, the
last situation.
And I ended up getting in touchwith one of the founders of
Digital Prospectors and just hisstory resonated with me.
They were a lifestyle companyfor a number of years and

(53:00):
realized we've got some prettyincredible clients and we've got
this really unique value propin our service offering just
doing things slightlydifferently and treating
consultants well and having thisvery strong benefit package.
We're onto something, but wedon't know.
We don't know we're bringing instrong leaders from the outside
to help us take that next step.

(53:21):
And that was almost three yearsago and it's lived up to
everything I wanted it to be,which is pretty incredible.
So we're a recruiting firmbased out of New Hampshire,
Seacoast.
We're a national firm.
We specialize in governmentservices and federal work,

(53:41):
engineering, technology and lifesciences.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
So we've got two offices here, but we've got
consultants and clients in about35 states at this point.
Wow, very cool, I'd say.
The one thing that I've learnedon this podcasting journey is
when you're going to be now oneof 300 and something dads I've
talked to and uh, there's somany fricking cool people in the
staffing industry, there's somany talented people in the
staffing industry and there'swhat 20, like 23,000 firms, I

(54:07):
think.
I heard many talented people inthe staffing industry and
there's what 20 like 23 000firms.
I think.
I heard um, which means there'sso much business for everybody
out there.
Um and uh, I just think it's, Ithink it's so cool and I love
learning.
I'm like obsessed with the wordcuriosity and so I love
learning about people and theirstory and and yours is freaking
just as good as they all.
I mean, I've been inspired byyour, your, your family and um,

(54:29):
just the connections, and Ithink, hopefully, if there's a
dad, a homeless and that youdon't have that, we'll go create
it, don't wait for it, gocreate it and um, okay.
So if we were to summarizeeverything we've talked about,
connor, that dads maybe couldtake from our conversation today
, that maybe they can apply withyour some of your advice, some
of your life lessons, some ofthe things that we've talked

(54:51):
about where they could applythese, maybe you know two or
three actionable themes tobecome a better ultimate
quarterback or leader of theirhome.
Tell me what comes to mind.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, I mean, I think that the two words that come to
mind is patience and presence.
You know the patience we touchedon quite a bit, but just you
know, to what you had said, it'sdon't set these unrealistic
expectations and timelines andgrand plans.
It's just be present and havefun.
You know the kids don't knowany different, so what you know,

(55:24):
what they see is how they'regoing to react.
So if you're calm, cool andcollected and you're ready to
have fun and go with the flowand you know, play with them and
help create a game and be onthe sideline and encourage them.
And you're not talking to themabout a strikeout, you're
talking about their attitude,their effort.
They ran off the field, theyhelped the teammate.
You know they were a goodteammate on the sideline,

(55:47):
whatever it might be, um, youknow that stuff's so much more
important than the.
You know, did you score atouchdown?
Did you score a goal?
Did you do this, did you dothat?
So I think it's that patience,presence and just being a being
a good role model.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Goal dude.
That's.
That is wise advice that Ithink I could not agree with
more, more, uh, emphatically sowell said.
Um, if people want to learnabout you, if they want to learn
about digital prospectors, tellme what's the best way people
can find you.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yeah, uh, reach out to me on LinkedIn.
It's uh, connor Gardu anddigital prospectors is also on
on LinkedIn.
Give us a follow, give us alike.
Um, you know we're, we'reconstantly posting on social
media there, between that andInstagram.
Definitely more on the LinkedInfront, but I'm on there every
day, multiple times a day.
I would be happy to make asmany connections as possible.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
I will make sure that both are tagged in the show
notes.
When this comes out here, thiswill be probably out here
sometime in the summer.
When this comes out here, thiswill be probably out here
sometime in the summer.
But, connor, it's now time toshow you.
Take you into the lightninground, which is where I show you
the negative hits of taking toomany hits in college not bong
hits, but football hits your jobis to answer this.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
I'm right there with you brother?

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Yeah, you have more hits than I did.
I just got hit, but anyway.
So your job is to answer thesequestions as quickly as you can.
These are not prescripted.
I'm going to show you just howmuch of a nut job I am.
My goal is to get you to laugh,though.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
All right.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
Okay, um, true or false?
When you went to Brian, youinitially turned down a
gymnastics scholarship.
False, if you were to dogymnastics, you would have done
the pommel horse.
Oh, absolutely true.
I was the rings still holdingfrom old school.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
I was going to say with the, with the smoke in your
mouth too.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
It's fun.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
If I went to all your employees at digital
prospection, said and tell mewhat would be the one genre of
music that might surprise them.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
That I listened to.
Uh well, I mean, having aseven-year-old girl at home
definitely messes up the Spotifyquite a bit, but we've had Pink
Pony Club by Chapel Roan prettymuch on repeat over here for
the last month and I'membarrassed to say, but starting
to really enjoy the song If itmakes you feel better.

(58:05):
I more of a benson boone fannow oh, that's I was gonna say
benson, chaperone, taylor, swift, they're.
They're all on a very steadyrotation mixed in with some of
the little kid stuff of you know, blippy and all that good stuff
.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
So there we go um.
If their favorite comedy movieall time is caddysyshack, solid,
solid choice.
You get a pool.
Yeah, we get a pond.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
Pond's probably better for you, natural spring.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
If I came to your house tomorrow, tell me what
we'd have for dinner.
Ooh, brisket, it sounds reallygood If there was to be your
dream foursome golf.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Who's going?
Oh uh, tiger mj uh, and we'llstick with the caddy shack.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
We'll go bill murray oh god, what a, what a group.
Yeah, that would be a goodgroup.
Um, if there was a to be a bookwritten about your life, tell
me the title.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
I'm going to go, based off my dad, the five most
important words.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Okay, the five most important words in a family love
, trust, respect andresponsibility is crushing it.
Every bookstore cannot keepthese in store.
Every airport sold out.
So now Hollywood decided tomake a movie about this, connor,
and I need to know you've beencast as the casting director and
we need to know who's going tostar in this critically
acclaimed, hit new movie.
Starring you, who's it?

Speaker 1 (59:34):
going to be Well.
When I was a little bit larger,I drew a lot of James Corden
comparisons.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
Okay, the carpool karaoke guy.
Yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
Probably got to go with James Corden.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
So that's his first appearance.
I think it's a good choice Ifyou were to go on vacation right
now, you and your wife no kids,where are you?

Speaker 1 (59:55):
going Portugal.
My wife is a first generation.
Her parents moved here from theAzores when they were like 20
years old, so we're itching toget over there.
Do both the Azores and themainland hit up Lisbon and all
that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
Okay, and then last and most important question tell
me two words that woulddescribe your wife Gosh got a
million.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
I would say amazing and stoic.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Boom Lighting round's complete.
I think we both giggled.
I took a soft script.
I think I proved I do have ascrew loose.
We did get a giggle out of you,but I'm still going to give you
the win.
Congratulations, conor.
This has been fantastic.
I appreciate your humility,your vulnerability of wanting to
come on and accepting theagreement to come on Everybody.
I did put a little pressure onhim when we were playing golf.
I said you're the only guy inthis group to not come on the

(01:00:46):
podcast and he immediately justfixed it.
So, joke aside, I reallyappreciate you spending time.
It's late where you are.
I learned a ton.
I got a full page full of notes.
We'll make sure this is taggedso everybody can learn more
about you, digital Prospectors,and I just really really enjoyed
spending time with you, man.

(01:01:06):
Thanks so much and I hope.
I'm glad our paths have crossedand I hope we can meet up again
on the golf course sometimesoon.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much.
And just so you know, your bookis now on the rotation for my
training program with my salesteam.
I've read it Absolutely, lovedit.
Love the podcast.
Thank you for the opportunityto be on the platform.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Awesome.