Driven By with Sam Coates

As of 2019, the gap is increasing between rich and poor children with the quality of education that they receive in America. This week’s episode features what it takes to make a positive impact on this problem.

A couple of the top leading factors of crime are education levels and family structure. It’s been discussed on this podcast on previous episodes. Go back to episode three with City of Memphis police director Michael Rallings.

This episode is with David Montague, who led the effort in 2009 starting the Memphis Teacher Residency Program out of Memphis, TN, where he is still executive director today. In this episode, we’re going to talk about the initial need for this work, how it came together, challenges faced along the way, what types of teachers succeed in this work, successes experienced, the job still to be done, and more. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode.

RECAP:

04:07  And at that time, I didn't have a job. I didn't know what I was coming back to Memphis for. And I remember vividly praying and saying, "Lord, show me the biggest need in our city, and I'll give myself to it for the rest of my life."

8:02 I woke up in the middle of the night sobbing and uncontrollable cry... I'm not talking about just tears in my eyes. I'm like, I'm heaving. I'm groaning and with these really like... And it was almost like an out-of-body experience where I was... I remember thinking like, "What are you doing, David? Pull yourself together." And yet I couldn't keep myself from this wailing.

09:56: Yeah. But man, that is not the only experience in my life like that, but one of the lessons from that, I think is like how good a humbling is. 

18:27 And a theme that comes up often is the destructive power of self-interest, and that it is our self and our self-interest that pits us at odds with what God's vision for His creation would be.

28:00 Educational inequality is the single greatest social justice and civil rights issue in America today. And so one of it is just that to live in a city where there is such a disparity, we think is an injustice. 

31:23 We would say, "Proximity matters," and whoever is closest to the child is the one that can make the biggest difference. And outside of the family, the teacher is the one that has that sort of close, personal, regular contact, and that's why we focus on recruiting very, very high-capacity, high-potential people, training and supporting them really well, and then staying with them for years in the classroom so they can be the best teacher possible. 

33:02 Not terribly, not at the school level for a couple of reasons. The schools that we're wanting to serve typically have the highest teacher attrition rates of any of the schools in the city, so we don't have any sort of mandate requirement contract from the district that they have to hire our teachers. 

34:23 Well, I got a lot of thoughts on that. First of all, I would say the work in schools that are historically marginalized, low income, in low-income neighborhoods, the work is very, very difficult. 

37:17 Faith is incredibly important in this work because if I'm a person of need, insecure and needy, and I go into places of scarcity, I can't last for very long. 

RESOURCES:

• https://memphistr.org/
• Matt Haaga State Farm: https://www.matthaaga.com/
• https://abjets.com/

This week's episode is going to have a different twist to it than the previous weeks. A few days ago, an article came out where JP Morgan(one of the world's largest banks) told a portion of their staff that they must come back to the office.  This report said that through internal data collection, they saw decreased productivity on Mondays and Fridays and worries that remote work is not a substitute for organic interaction and creates missed learning opportunities for younger people. This article got me thinking about previous episodes that we have had on this podcast where Covid-19, relationships, work from home, development, engagement, and community have come up during each conversation. I thought it would be helpful to publish one episode with combined clips where this topic is addressed, and overall themes are exposed. It's fascinating to think about all the technological advances that we have today and what's ahead for our world, but how some things don't change. These are our need for community, relationships, encouragement, accountability, motivation, connection, and more. I hope you enjoy this week's episode.     

00:39 Well, I think there are several factors there. The big question I have, and I think a lot of people do is, "What happens to mentoring and culture and training in a digital business environment?

00:39  And I think CEOs are wrestling with this. I had one tell me 30 days ago, he said, "I'm really concerned about my young people," his twenty-somethings. "How do they learn the company culture? How do they learn who we are? They graduate from college, and next thing you know, their whole business is done on a screen."

01:52  I think that's missing right now, and I think it'll continue to be a shortfall from a digital office world although I do think that it's a part of the future.

09:09 Yeah, I'd love to know in those companies, you just mentioned if their C-suite people are all working from home. Are their R&D people working from home? My guess is that there are probably the C-suites in that office [chuckle] because there's enough stuff going on that they've gotta talk to each other

18:35 We're in the first inning of a nine inning baseball game here. We haven't gone through... We've gone through a quarter working from home, not even a year, not a budget, we haven't set a budget or missed a budget yet. And I think some of what we are missing is the personal interaction and the coaching opportunities

19:51 Now, that said, what you said is right. I lived in a big corporate enterprise where we had quarterly meetings, and we had meetings, 'cause we've always had these meetings, and I suspect that a lot of that has gone away, as it should have.

22:08 One is that this COVID-19 has taught us that people really wanna have contact with other people, a lot of the face-to-face and interpersonal interaction. Informal interaction, is a critical piece of the experience. People may not have recognized and understood how profound that was

23:11 One of the lessons we've learned is, "We're gonna keep some advising services online after this is over." And so we I think have learned on both the ends that human contact is critical, people need to have contact with one another, but there are things we can transition online for support that really helps students that have a lot of demands or working excessive hours and need to have access simplified.

• JP Morgan Article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/at-jpmorgan-productivity-falls-for-younger-employees-at-home?srnd=premium
• Matt Haaga State Farm: https://www.matthaaga.com/
• www.abjets.com

My guest this week is Ken Utech. What happens when you spend close to 40 years traveling the country and working with close to 1,000 businesses, organizations, individuals, non-profits, and more. You learn about how we as people operate and how to address things as they are, get to the root cause, and work through them. I have yet to hear where a conversation like this will not apply to any person’s situation or life. Ken and the Utech Group have served and impacted organizations as large as the United States Army and other Billion-Dollar Organizations to large private companies, family businesses, non-profits, religious organizations, and much more. I am glad to release this week’s episode with Ken Utech.

Episode Recap:

05:46: When you think back on your career and you look at what you're doing today and what you're focused on for the future, what are the top three or four things that hold either a leader back, an employee back, or someone back within their family? What are those things that you see most frequently?

08:27: Can you give some real practical examples of what it looks like within an organization or within an individual where there's tension, where change is not happening, and then what the process looks like to come in and to actually unlock that and to create improvement and to address those fears and those control issues?

6:03: What kind of work do you start doing to create change with the decision maker, and how do you get them to see what would be a better way of doing it?

14:04: So it seems like it's pretty messy to go through this process. Is that right?

21:02: What would you say to someone that's wrestling with how they're trying to understand their emotions? 

27:31: So from an individual perspective, you've talked about fear, you've talked about control, you've talked about scarcity, when it comes to limited beliefs, how do those affect a leader or an individual or anybody listening to this, regardless of what they do professionally?

30:17: You said, it almost cost you your marriage. What did that look like for you when you were working those hours? And then you also knew things were not the way they should be with your marriage, but you know, I would just guess that you suppressed that realization. How did that play out in your life?

37:24: I've heard this mentioned a lot, and I'm curious to know your take on it. But, in the Bible with Luke 4:24, I've heard this from people that would claim Christianity, and I hear this from people that claim not to be Christians, but they say that no prophet is accepted in his home town.

If you celebrate Labor Day, I hope you had a great long weekend. My editor Kyle Cummings (who does an awesome job) and I were both traveling this week, so I am relaunching one of the most downloaded episodes to date. The Momentum That Builds a $200 Million Dollar Company with Mike Bruns.

I have received lots of feedback about this episode and how much you enjoyed it. I spoke with Mike last week and he mentioned that the things we talk about in this episode are the most common topics talked about when he speaks or when he meets with people when they are trying to learn from him and his experience. One of the many things that stuck out to me personally is how he talked about some of these lessons he learned took him 4-5 years to grasp and act on them. If something sticks out to you, I hope you are encouraged by this podcast.

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Listen to this week's episode with Entrepreneur Mike Bruns. Mike founded trucking company Comtrak with one driver after working for three bankrupt companies prior. Twenty-three years later, Mike sold Comtrak with $200,000,000 in revenue and 1,500 employees. My conversation with Mike is unconventional and engaging. It's not your typical business conversation. Mike talks about getting scrappy, how we as people develop, the driving force behind opening up 21 locations, how much money is enough money, the importance of philanthropy, how he wants to make an impact, the aspects of life that won't change, what makes a bad acquisition and much more. If you like the show, please share it with your friends and leave a review.

My guest this week is Peter Abell, the CEO of Memphis Symphony Orchestra. I’ve heard about how much transformation MSO had undergone over the last few years. Today we’re talking about deeper reasons that push you into your interests, how to transform a struggling non-profit, the X-factors that create a significant impact, how a symphony drives the classical music within a city, how to step back and look at challenges differently, how to adjust when COVID-19 affects your organization, how to address your need for control, the feeling when you know it’s going to be hard, and more. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode. 

EPISODE RECAP

• My guest this week is Peter Abell (1:07)
• You went to the University of Tennessee, right? (2:56)
• This is the third non-profit you’ve been affiliated with? (3:58)
• What is it about non-profit organizations that you’re attracted to? (5:36)
• When you talk about the “double bottom line” and the “chief people gatherer”, you talk about opening up to the process. What specific shifts have you learned to make that were difficult and/or you’ve come to appreciate? (9:08)
• What is the best way to operate where you’re respecting the board but also your own personal thoughts about where the organization needs to go? (13:24)
• The things we enjoy as citizens in this city (and the same for orchestras all over the country and world), the foundation of the arts or music in that area is done by the symphony. So when people have events in the city, they draw off the symphony and that’s a lot of overhead. But when the money was raised, it gave you, the board and the team freedom to start doing the deeper things. (20:40)
• So what made this happen was you coming on after some dark times, the relationship with the donor and his large commitment jumpstarted this? (28:26)
• When the donor called you and asked if you could make this work, what did that feel like? (32:45)
• You talked about the internal piece, but in a non-profit space what have you learned that your people need the most to be able to navigate these difficult seasons? (34:43)
• Have you been through a season where there was someone who reported to you, was key to the organization but it wasn’t working out? What have you learned regarding that? (37:37)
• What do you think gives you contentment in this season to wake up each day and keep charging forward with optimism and confidence? (43:27)
• Can you talk a little about February and March when COVID started to be taken more seriously - what did the emotions feel like initially and what are your plans for growth after this season?  (52:21)
• What’re you excited about once this passes? (58:41)
• From a family perspective, how have you learned to operate with so much ambiguity but also what that looks like at home? (1:00:17)

RESOURCES

podcast.sampcoates.com 

• My guest this week is Tom Kadien (1:07)
• Tom, what made you want to take over UMRF Ventures after retiring from IP? (3:07)
• Can you talk a little bit about your perspective of work - from a financial standpoint, there’s no need for you to have to work. But it sounds like there’s a core belief about work that you have. (4:12)
• Can you talk a little about the value that a Memphis alum may not understand about the benefit of UMRF Ventures? (6:53)
• How would you recommend a student take full advantage of their time at the University of Memphis? (9:35)
• From your perspective starting from the ground up and taking on responsibility after responsibility, how did you take on your own tempo of urgency and how did you approach that with your team? (13:13)
• Do you feel like because you are competitive you could have had the drive toward anything or was there anything particular about IP that kept you engaged? (16:10)
• How old were you when you ran into bad bosses, how long were they over you and can you give some advice or perspective if someone may have a bad boss? (18:02)
• Sounds like you wanted to be part of a team or culture and you started getting more opportunity - it wasn’t a specific strategy or work focus? (19:58)
• From a corporate standpoint, were there any hard times from a family perspective moving your family around the world and having a very fast paced lifestyle? Are there any life lessons you can pass on? What did you learn that served you well? (21:11)
• It sounds like you and your wife really communicated and had mutual buy in and agreement (25:30)
• When you would take over a department or portion of the company, what would be your mindset or perspective on coming in and getting the area into the place you wanted it to go to (27:40)
• How did you learn how to worry about the things you need to worry about and let go of the things that weren’t important? (31:06)
• Can you talk a little about how you’ve learned to handle mistakes or hard lessons learned throughout your career? (33:54)
• Can you talk a little about the next 10-15 years with virtual working, do you see any long term change happening to corporate America? (37:10)
• Can you talk about how you learned how to accept or handle issues that threw you off guard?  (41:44)
• Did it ever feel weird or embarrassing flying company or private planes? (46:14)
• I thought it was really interesting that you were on the board at Sherwin Williams and they bought Valspar. What was that acquisition like on the board? Can you talk a little about mergers and acquisitions - when they go well, when they do not go well? (48:31)
• Could you give 3-5 bullet points on why a lot of deals don’t work out? (51:49)
• So is it really three main things - the forecast on sales and ROI, the leadership and the cultural identities. Could you boil it down to that?  (53:12)
• On a deal that size - $10 million - how long does a conversation take place? (55:13)
• From a personal standpoint, what are you most looking forward to over the next 10 years? (57:35)
• Last question - when you think back on your career, are there a few principles or values you want to pass on? (59:40)

RESOURCES

podcast.sampcoates.com

• Good morning Sara and Cam. Cam - what was it like volunteering and leaving your job to join R.E.P? (2:12)
• When you said, “I know that was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life”, what did that mean? (4:45)
• Sara, how long have you been involved in R.E.P and what made you want to go all in on this organization? (6:15)
• Cam, when you first started were there any moments where you were like, “Why am I doing this?” (8:17)
• From a generosity standpoint, it’s hard enough to start a business from scratch. I’d imagine it’s even harder to start an after school refugee program from scratch since it’s not for profit. What was it like raising money for that? (10:16)
• I hear you and your commitment - working for free and working out of belief. Sounds like Memphis Leadership Foundation has been a meaningful relationship, is that true? (13:47)
• Sara, what drew you to this work early on? (14:25)
• Cam can you talk about what it’s like to take a risk to go on a journey that is rewarding but also very hard? (15:50)
• Can you talk about challenges with Mama Ruth coming over here? (18:16)
• Can you talk a little bit about the core fundamentals that R.E.P believes in? (21:37)
• Mama Ruth sounds like a tough lady! How does it work to work together with 3 passionate people? Can you talk about the good lessons and tough lessons learned? (23:49)
• R.E.P is almost 20 years in. What does it look like now and what are you shooting for next? (28:24)
• What other lessons have we not talked about that are worth sharing? (32:04)
• So you came in and had a 5 year plan, but we’re close to 20 years in. Things don’t always follow the schedule. So is the takeaway that you need to know the end road and it’ll be a windy road to get there? (34:10)
• I’d love to close by learning a little more about the characteristics of the refugees that you see (36:47)  

RESOURCES

Refugee Empowerment Program

Listen to this week's episode with Entrepreneur Mike Bruns. Mike founded trucking company Comtrak with one driver after working for three bankrupt companies prior. Twenty-three years later, Mike sold Comtrak with $200,000,000 in revenue and 1,500 employees. My conversation with Mike is unconventional and engaging. It's not your typical business conversation. Mike talks about getting scrappy, how we as people develop, the driving force behind opening up 21 locations, how much money is enough money, the importance of philanthropy, how he wants to make an impact, the aspects of life that won't change, what makes a bad acquisition and much more.

• 1:03 I'm going to be the smartest 90-year-old you know
• 1:49 Transitioning from trying to make Friday's payroll
• 3:30 Industry experience is less important than raw talent
• 3:57 Daily habit- make my morning rounds
• 5:50 Mistake of hierarchy that organizational chart determines one's value
• 9:13 Empathy whether necktie or uniform on
• 11:30 No smoke-filled room
• 13:00 Working for 3 Bankrupt companies shows you what not to do
• 13:20 Trucking was immaterial for what I did for a living
• 13:36 I knew what buttons to push
• 17:21 Take the person for what their value is. You can't take a chainsaw to someone
• 20:23 Changed from doing everything to letting people do things better than me
• 23:50 We learned the most from mistakes
• 25:00 Examples how to make the best out of mistakes
• 26:05 Let's give the mistake the biggest wow factor they have ever seen
• 26:29 Enough money is enough money
• 27:44 Most conservative trucking company in the business
• 32:00 Where I learned to scrap
• 34:54 How we decided where to expand locations
• 37:02 Didn't care about size
• 37:17 I had to run ahead and see what we were doing next
• 37:47 Create new challenges for people
• 38:17 Working in a dying industry sucks
• 42:28 My greatest joy was taking someone and reinventing them
• 48:16 I didn't plan beyond a year
• 50:33 Technology creates opportunities today, but some things don't change
• 52:42 Even if I wasn't first I could react because I had the best people
• 57:46 What does well run look like?
• 59:33 Revenue hides sins
• 1:00:57 What acquisitions to stay away from
• 1:03:09 How to move on after selling
• 1:07:00 Importance of Philanthropy
• 1:10:19 Helping others created buy-in with employees
• 1:17:40 How to buckle down during a setback
• 1:24:30 Going backward to appreciate going forward
• 1:27:11 Humility is the secret weapon

My guest this week is entrepreneur Carolyn Hardy. The first episode I released for this podcast was with Carolyn, and that episode is one of the most downloaded podcast episodes to date.

If you listened to episode 1, you will hear how Carolyn said that her purpose has now shifted to help open more doors that should have been opened by now. I felt it was best to have a second conversation to understand better what she was saying in detail. Thankfully, Carolyn agreed to have this conversation.

This episode is a straightforward conversation in which Carolyn discusses the racial challenges that she encountered throughout her educational and professional career, the lack of follow-through or lip service that can occur with corporate diversity initiatives, what needs to change to make them effective, and more. This episode challenged me to think about my own mental frameworks and the difficulty that certain people have to endure to advance forward.

• 2:38 Target on your back
• 2:50 Don't give people ammo
• 5:02 Don't let someone run you out
• 5:26 Forced to be perfect
• 7:45 Who don't you leave?
• 10:02 Someone you would hate to lose
• 11:04 Mindset
• 17:50 Don't let them get in your head
• 21:16 Always doing business a certain way
• 26:00 Gatekeeper
• 26:50 Skilled workforce
• 29:31 Education
• 30:25 Equal Opportunity
• 30:33 No Lip-service
• 31:34 Starts at the top
• 33:28 Diversity on corporate boards
• 38:05 Why do we keep doing the same thing over and over again
• 41:08 What creates sustainability
• 45:58 Smile, shake hands, then be sent to the gatekeeper
• 46:20 Life is too short
• 47:12 You can't take it personally

This episode is brought to you by Matt Haaga with State Farm Insurance.  Call Matt today at 901-443-4655, or email Matt at [email protected] to see how he can help with your auto, home, renter's, business, and life insurance needs. Matt is licensed in the states of TN and MS.

My guest this week is Chris Canale. Chris founded Old Dominick Distillery four years ago, and Old Dominick produced its first batch of whiskey in 2016. This episode is a fun and straightforward conversation that goes into this history of 150 years of family business history – what it's like running a start-up company during COVID-19, what it’s like finding enjoyable work, unique and fun personal and family experiences during the pandemic, what it’s like going up against the big players in the Spirits business, and more. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode. And as always, if you like the episode, please leave a review and share it with your friends.

• How to gain perspective during Covid-19 (1:50)
• How Covid-19 is accelerating change (5:40)
• This too shall pass (7:12)
• Getting aggressive (7:25)
• Silver lining (8:40)
• Tough times (9:20)
• What running a distillery looks like (12:36)
• Self-awareness 15:24
• Family Business 17:57
• Finding enjoyable work (20:15)
• Don’t dwell on mistakes (27:23)
• Humility (29:28)
• Authenticity (35:23)
• Big Players try to eat you alive (35:46)
• Customer Service (38:22)
• Growing into new markets (42:40)
• Planning 12 Months out (48:19)
• Family experiences during COVID-19 (51:54)

This episode is brought to you by Matt Haaga with State Farm Insurance.  Call Matt today at 901-443-4655, or email Matt at [email protected] to see how he can help with your auto, home, renter's, business, and life insurance needs. Matt is licensed in the states of TN and MS.