Build Your Career Capital

Welcome to another episode of the Growing Our Future Podcast with host Aaron Alejandro, featuring Joanna Pineda,Founder, CEO and Chief Troublemaker at Matrix Group International, and host of the "Associations Thrive" podcast. Joanna shares her journey from the Philippines to Silicon Valley, her pivotal role in the development of the online bidding system for FCC spectrum licenses, and the founding of Matrix Group in 1999. Key traits in her journey include resilience, risk-taking, and tenacity, with an emphasis on being well-read and curious in spotting trends. 

The concept of becoming "centaurs"—partnering with AI for strength, innovation, and empathy—is explored, highlighting the need for positive human influence in directing technology. Joanna encourages young professionals to be resilient, take calculated risks, and be persistent, while Aaron emphasizes the importance of consistency and paying attention for a thriving future. Stay tuned for more insightful episodes of the Growing Our Future Podcast.

Story Notes:

• Joanna's Journey
• The Pandemic Challenge
• Spotting Trends and Technology
• Lessons from AI and Centaurs
• Partnering with Technology
• Encouragement for Future Generations

Learn More at:

https://mytexasffa.org/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. Here's your host, Erin Alejandro.

Speaker 2: 0:30

Well, good morning, good afternoon or good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. We just enjoy bringing this informational podcast to the listeners because we've got great guests and today is no different. Today we have Joanna Pineda. Right, joanna? Did I get it? You got it? Now I want Joanna in a second here. She's going to say her name and it's beautiful and I want her to say it so that y'all can all hear it. Joanna, say your name for us.

Speaker 3: 1:03

Well, so in the US I would say Joanna Pineda, but because I'm Filipino and in the Philippines, and I actually grew up there, I would say Joanna Pineda.

Speaker 2: 1:12

Pineda, that is a beautiful name and I love the way that it just so beautifully rolls right off, like you've been saying it all your life.

Speaker 3: 1:21

Amazing right.

Speaker 2: 1:23

I can't wait for y'all to meet Joanna. We discovered, or she discovered me, or I discovered her. I discovered you, and all of a sudden we started this communication, and I love our conversations. They're dynamic, they're forward-looking, they're empowering, they're encouraging. I think that's good. You're going to find that about Joanna. Before we started today, I told her if I ever get to feeling bad about myself, I'm just going to pick up the phone and call Joanna, please do. I'll feel better about myself. I love Joanna's title. I'm just going to give a quick intro here and then I'm going to let Joanna talk. Founder, ceo and Chief Troublemaker at the Matrix Group International, and we're going to learn more about the Matrix Group here in a second. And she also has an incredible podcast. It's called Association's Thrive, and I love that Thrive is in big, bold letters. So, joanna, are you ready to jump into today's interview?

Speaker 3: 2:22

I am ready, thank you.

Speaker 2: 2:24

Well, we're excited, joanna. One of the things that we're trying to do through the Growing Our Future podcast is, we believe, sort of like what Abraham Lincoln once said. He said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will become the philosophy of government in the next. So the seeds that we plant today are what will be harvested generationally. So we're trying to bring guests on that can share their insights, expertise, experiences that can provide seeds of greatness for young people, for teachers, to hopefully build an even brighter future. So today, together, we're going to grow the future.

Speaker 2: 3:05

I love it so thank you for being with us. All right, joanna, we're going to start off here. Every guest first question what are you grateful for today?

Speaker 3: 3:17

I am grateful for many things, erin, but today, and actually most days these days, I am grateful for health and for a healthy family. And you know we talk at the company my company about how the thing that'll really take you down professionally is when things aren't going so well at home, and one thing that takes parents down is when your kids are sick. So, knock on wood, I am so grateful that I am healthy, my husband is healthy and my kids are healthy Because if, like seriously, if you have your health, you feel strong, you're able to tackle everything.

Speaker 2: 3:56

That's good. That's good. I agree with you. By the way, I think we are very fortunate to look around, even sometimes when we have challenges. Sometimes, compared to other challenges, we've still got a lot to be grateful for.

Speaker 3: 4:10

Well, erin, think about this right. So say you've got a big challenge at the office. You've got a big challenge personally. If you're not well because you're sick or because you haven't slept well or you haven't eaten well, you're just not in a good position to tackle that challenge.

Speaker 3: 4:25

I actually had a staff member a couple of weeks ago who was working on a big project and he was really sick and I actually said I know you're very busy, but I really need you to take the next couple of days off and focus on being well, because your ability to get stuff done, but also to problems, often be creative and be present for your clients, is much diminished because you are not well. The other thing is, erin, you know this, when you are not well, everything is magnified Right, like the biggest problems. I know for me, erin, when I have the biggest problems, sometimes I'll just say I got to put this down, I'm going to go have an intense workout and then I'm going to go to bed and the next day it doesn't seem quite as bad because you had a good rest and you've had a good breakfast and you are able to tackle the challenges.

Speaker 3: 5:14

So my mom used to say when I was having a bad day in college she'd say have you had any sleep and have you had something to eat? You had a great mom.

Speaker 2: 5:26

That's good. We do have a lot to be grateful for. We live in a place where we can dream big dreams, make those dreams come true, and we get to professionally look at this. We get to talk across states through this incredible technology.

Speaker 3: 5:43

I know it can be shared.

Speaker 2: 5:45

I mean, there's just so much we could be grateful for.

Speaker 3: 5:48

I'm so grateful for many things, Erin. I'm grateful to this country for the opportunities that it has afforded me. I mean, it's unbelievable what I've been able to do. Let's talk about that.

Speaker 2: 5:59

That's a great segue, because I think you sit in an incredible seat and something tells me you didn't just fall into that seat. Something tells me there is a journey there that probably has some unique components that could actually encourage and power or even give a skill set to people that might be listening. Why don't you take us through that journey and how you came to the CEO position at the Matrix Group International?

Speaker 3: 6:28

So I'll start at the beginning. I was born in the Philippines, came here when I was 14 when my parents got divorced. So came we moved to San Francisco. Single mom with four kids, I get dropped into a public school. I speak funny we live in a tiny apartment, we don't have a lot of money and I get adopted by some teachers who somehow were just very, very kind to me. Erin saw something in me and through their help I went to Stanford on mostly, you know, on scholarship, and I'll talk about Stanford in a little bit because it's amazing how it really shaped me. So anyway, I went to school at West. I was in Silicon Valley.

Speaker 3: 7:14

After college I went to work for the San Francisco Education Fund and I remember my boss saying "'Joanna, if you can sell something as abstract "'as improving public education in your life "'you will be able to sell anything'". And boy was he right. Andrew Bundy was amazing In basically a CEO of this company. What do I do? I sell. I sell solutions, I sell the company, I sell a reputation, I sell my staff. I'm always selling.

Speaker 3: 7:43

So worked in fundraising for two years and then said you know what? I've got a degree in international relations. Let's see if I can do something with this. So I go out West, I go to Hopkins, the School of Advanced International Studies, and I get a master's in international studies and international economics. And so I say, okay, what am I gonna do with this? Am I gonna work at the State Department?

Speaker 3: 8:03

And Erin, I did an internship at the State Department and I didn't like it. So I say, all right, well, maybe I'll go work on the Hill. And, erin, I couldn't afford to work on the Hill because the Hill starting salaries were so low I couldn't afford to live on it. And so there's lots of rich kids who work on the Hill because mom and dad are supporting them, but my mom was not in a position to do that for me. I actually had to support myself. So I said, okay, what am I gonna do? I went back to my Silicon Valley roots and I went to work for a bulletin board company in Maryland. So for the next seven and a half years I worked for this company and we started out creating bulletin boards. For those of you who don't know what they are, you used a modem to connect to a bulletin board and we created these private networks. They were for government agencies or for associations.

Speaker 3: 8:57

And Erin, my claim to fame is in 1992, the FCC issued a request for proposal to build an online bidding system for the spectrum that they were licensing off, that they were auctioning off, and that spectrum license is what really kind of started the cell phone boom. It was the C-band. So I managed the development of the online network. That was used for a couple of years and the very first auction was three months long and raised a billion dollars. So that's my claim to fame. It was this tiny, tiny, tiny company and in 1993, one of my developers came to me and said you gotta see this. And he showed me the World Wide Web. We didn't know what it was about. We got a dial up account from Netcom. We got a prodigy account. We got a compuserv account and we just started playing. And in 94, we started pitching websites to our clients. So I started doing web in 94. Back then there was no Microsoft Internet Explorer, I don't even think there was a Netscape. But we just started piecing things together and then, obviously, developing skills. And then in 99, I left the company and started Matrix Groups. So I've been in business on my own since 1999.

Speaker 3: 10:18

And what we do today is we work mostly with associations and nonprofits and we use internet technologies, web, mobile, social. You know we have a CRM for associations and we have a virtual and hybrid event tech platform. But what we do is we help associations and nonprofits increase membership, increase revenue and increase engagement. So we're like your digital partner to help you succeed online. So if somebody says, really what I wanna do is increase membership and, you know, increase my membership retention, or I wanna make a bunch of extra money, because then that's how we'll thrive as an organization, so that's what we do. So and, erin, you know you said what's the key to your journey. There's two experiences that might be relevant for your students. So one is just by luck. I've never held a job that somebody had before me.

Speaker 2: 11:17

Ooh, that's good.

Speaker 3: 11:20

Isn't that fascinating. So when I went to work for the San Francisco Education Fund, I didn't sure I worked at the bakery someone had that job, right but that was in high school and I worked at the shoe store. But when I finished college and I worked for the San Francisco Education Fund, the job I had was new. And then I moved into another job that was new, so nobody had those jobs. So that meant that I didn't have anyone to tell me how the job was supposed to be done and I just felt like that was kind of the most normal thing in the world. And then when I went to work for the Bolton Board Company, that was a new position too, so I didn't have someone who was saying this is how it's done, if that makes sense, I think. For whatever reason, I think that's been very defining because basically I kind of had to find my own way. It's a blind spot for me sometimes because I'll say, hey, tell me what you wanna do, and tell me what you wanna do with this job. And some people say, ooh, hmm, why don't you just tell me what this job should be? And that's okay, but that's not how I've kind of lived my life.

Speaker 3: 12:27

The second experience, erin and I know that I'm very, very lucky is at Stanford. They don't like to say no. So, and here's an example. So I had a friend who wanted to take Gaelic. Gaelic was not offered at Stanford, but he marched into the Foreign Language Department and they said if you will find six other people who wanna take Gaelic, we will offer Gaelic. And he did, and they offered Gaelic. And I remember I had a friend who said I want to major in Southeast Asian Studies. And the department said we don't have a Southeast Asian Studies, but if you will find an advisor and he or she will help you design a major, we will give you a major in Southeast Asian Studies.

Speaker 3: 13:11

And I remember I started learning French as a sophomore. Apparently, that's late. So Stanford had two France programs studying France programs, one in tour and one in Paris. The one in tour was not the one I wanted. I wanted to go to Paris. So I walked, you know. I talked to the chairman of the department and he said Miss Pineda, mademoiselle Pineda, you do not have enough French. And I said ah, he said but if you do this, this, this and this, you can go to Paris. So he didn't say no, but he made it really hard. But, being the kind of person that I was and I really wanted to go to Paris, I did all of those things. I passed the test, I went to Paris. So, erin, I'm not used to hearing no and I think that's very defining for me.

Speaker 2: 14:08

There's so much in what you've shared already. I hope that everybody really took notes of all the little points along your journey that you just shared. Here's some things that I picked up on real quick Resiliency, and it sounds like in your life that started at a very young age and I've found that most people that can learn to be resilient can also. They can model that resiliency throughout other challenges that they deal with in life, because the other thing is the reason why that was important is because the second thing that I picked up on that you did is you're a risk taker, that you're willing to step out there and say why don't we try this? Well, I'm sure not everything worked out every time you tried it.

Speaker 3: 14:59

Absolutely not.

Speaker 2: 15:00

Also, something tells me that when we take risk, we also have to be prepared to be resilient in the face that it may not always go the way we want it to, but it doesn't mean we quit taking risk.

Speaker 3: 15:12

Yes. But you know what, erin, people say to me sometimes. They'll say, oh, you should take risks, you shouldn't be afraid to fail. I'm not actually sure that I agree with that. I'm always afraid to fail Because if I take really big risks I might lose my company If the risk is big enough. So I have to take calculated risks.

Speaker 3: 15:34

And I have to understand the risks. So I'll tell you, during the pandemic I thought my company was done for because I have so many association clients that rely on conferences and trade shows for the revenue and if 50%, 60%, 30% or 90% of the revenue just vanished, then they weren't going to have any money to work on projects with me, which meant I wasn't going to have any revenue. So it was terrifying, you know, those first six months. And so I said we have to take some risks, because to just pray that everything will be OK means that people are going to lose their jobs and I'm going to lose my company. So we took some bigger risks then because we had a lot more to lose. Post-pandemic I'm not making those kinds of risks because one I don't need to, but I still have to.

Speaker 2: 16:24

Well, that's good, and then we could have a whole topic just on the pandemic, and I would love to hear your stories about the pandemic. For sure, the two things that I tell people came out of the pandemic are innovation and empathy. Everybody came out of that Empathetic because we all went through it, and then those that thrived were those that found innovation. But the other thing along your path that I picked up on I picked up on that. You're tenacious.

Speaker 3: 16:57

Yes, I'm definitely tenacious.

Speaker 2: 16:59

That when you see something and you begin to pursue it, that you're very persistent in that. And the reason that's important is I think there's two things that we can all take away from the jobs that we do. Number one consistency creates credibility and persistence breaks resistance Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 17:20

And when I listen to your career path, those things really jump out at me when I think of the seat that you're in today and something else here that I want to really hone in on that. I appreciate that you said early, early on in your journey. I had a guest on the other day and he said listening is not just what you hear through your ears, it's also paying attention to what you see. And it sounds like to me you really had a niche for spotting trends quickly.

Speaker 2: 17:54

Maybe, I don't know, it sounds like when you began to unpack all these different platforms, that there were probably some common denominators that began to present themselves, that you say yeah, that one's going to work, right there, this one over here is going to work.

Speaker 3: 18:10

Yeah, maybe I'll tell you. The one thing that I know I am is I'm not the smartest person in the room, but I'm probably the most curious, and I think if you're curious, one people share because you're asking them a lot of questions. I think the other thing is I'm well read, so I'll read anything, and I think what happens is if you're well read and you're curious and you think about it a lot, then maybe you're able to connect the dots and then see some trends. So that's been important in my life too.

Speaker 2: 18:46

I like that. Oh well, here again, what was it? Walt Whitman, be curious, not judgmental, and I've always believed that a good leader is a good reader. And I think it goes back to what we're talking about. You've got to be paying attention, You've got to be. I mean, it's just like us in the world of food and I might have mentioned that when you and I talked on your show that just in the world of food, we know that in just a very short years maybe 20, 30 years max we're going to need substantially more food than we have today. There's not going to be more land, there's not going to be more water. So we need young people and professionals to be looking for trends, spotting technology, spotting science, having an imagination to try something that might not have ever happened before, for the sole purpose of feeding the hungry world.

Speaker 3: 19:40

Absolutely. I was thinking about this because I know that your audience is student source some of them and we were having a discussion at the office about doing an AI pilot. So people are talking about chat, gpt, and we're talking about co-pilot, which is a co-generator, and we found all these things and we had an interesting discussion about should we be doing it, under what conditions? You know, blah, blah, blah. For your listeners, I'm going to refer them to a book that I absolutely love. It's called the Inevitable, by Kevin Kelly.

Speaker 3: 20:15

Now, this book is a little dated it's from 2017, but I think some of the lessons are still very, very apt, and there's a whole chapter on AI and in the chapter, he talks about how, back in I don't remember it was the 70s or 80s when the IBM developed the AI that could play chess it was called Deep Blue, and Deep Blue defeated the chess grandmaster or one of them I think it was Kasparov and at that point, the whole world said oh yeah, that's it. You know computers, they're better than the chess grandmasters. But Kasparov said wait, not so fast. He said, what if I create tournaments where an AI is paired with a chess grandmaster and they go up against other AIs paired with grandmasters or AIs themselves. Now again, this is dated today. This may not be true, but back then it turns out that a chess grandmaster paired with an AI was more likely to win against a pure AI. So what's the lesson there? He calls them centaurs half man, half horse and he says the people who will be successful in the future will partner with their robots and with their AI. So, instead of fighting it, partner with it and you're going to be more successful.

Speaker 3: 21:39

So to your point about what kind of solutions do we need in the future? We're going to need to partner with each other and with the tools to envision and craft that future. So we're embracing it. We're going to make some mistakes. We're already making mistakes, absolutely. But man, what a great time to be in my space at least. I mean, there's so many tools and we actually have a Slack channel devoted to AI tools and every day somebody's saying, hey, do I have permission to do this? I read this article. What do you think about this? Oh, this was a disaster. We're just sharing it. That's great.

Speaker 2: 22:20

So this is good on so many levels. So I actually have a presentation that I give called AI cubed, and here's the reason why In our world of agriculture, when we hear the word AI, we think of artificial insemination. No, yeah, because that's the world that we live in.

Speaker 3: 22:40

Yes, amazing, I love it.

Speaker 2: 22:44

But when you get outside of our world, then all of a sudden we talk about AI, which is artificial intelligence, and I said really, what we all should agree on is that we need AI, which is more agricultural information.

Speaker 3: 22:56

Ah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:57

Because we need that technology. It does help us be more efficient. It also helps us spot trends, in a natural world even, and then we can also use blockchain, and there's so many beautiful components to technology that can help us work smarter, but we've got to have that human element that goes along with it, which sounds like this chess player said so beautifully back in the seven weeks.

Speaker 3: 23:23

Absolutely. It becomes centaurs, and I think what I love about the analogy to Erin is that for the folks who are afraid of AI, kevin Kelly was really saying don't be afraid, partner with it. And as a centaur, you're actually more powerful. Think of the centaurs we see in the movies and in the books. Right, they are powerful, mystical human beings that can run fast, faster than a human being but they still have human sensibilities and they still have human hearts and human brains. I just love the expression.

Speaker 2: 23:58

I like that too. Here's the other reason I like it because I believe in technology, I utilize technology. I'm not one that believes that technology is omniscient.

Speaker 3: 24:08

Yes.

Speaker 2: 24:09

I do not believe it is all knowing.

Speaker 3: 24:11

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 24:12

I believe it has to take cues, and that's where we come in. And to your point, if we can be the ones that are kind of putting in positive directions, constructive directions for technology to grow, then I do like the centaur analogy.

Speaker 3: 24:28

Yeah, I mean Erin, I've got a client. It's the Finishing Trades Institute and they train union painters. And the executive director said that the turn of the century the painters union was against the roller right the roller that because they said, oh, it's going to take away jobs. Well, it turns out it didn't take away jobs. In fact, more people went into the profession and now they were able to do more work. And so he said today people are saying, oh, there are robots that can do the painting, there are robots that can go into, you know, that can paint up high, paint down low, et cetera, do some of the dangerous tasks. And he says we're welcoming the use of robots in AI because now it is safer. But he also said, instead of thinking of painters as strictly people who paint, why can't they be the people who operate the robots or who program the robots? Again, they're centaurs.

Speaker 2: 25:30

That's good.

Speaker 3: 25:32

So I'm sure in agriculture this is very apropos right Everything.

Speaker 2: 25:39

Just because we're agriculture. That's just a discipline, that's a career, it's a vocation. Guess what? Every vocation we go into, all of these concepts are applicable. It's just some people are smart enough to spot them with opportunities and others, you know, let's see. I'll say in. Some people watch things happen, some people make things happen, some people wonder what happened. Yes, so to your point, we want our young people to be the ones that are trying to make things happen. Yes, because they're paying attention, which kind of leads me into what I'd like to talk about next. One of the things that we talk about with our students here are our states, obviously a big state. There are over 3,000 high schools in the state of Texas. Now, think about that 3,000 high schools. Every one of them are going to have a graduating class this year. Every one of them, kids are going to get out. They're going to be looking for a job, scholarship or an opportunity.

Speaker 3: 26:37

Everyone's going to have a valedictorian.

Speaker 2: 26:39

And so the question is what's your competitive edge? What separates you from your peers? I believe that a competitive edge is essential for young people to get out and to compete for their opportunities In the world, and all the guests that you've encountered you've got a great spectrum of insights. You deal with associations. How important is it for young people to try to find a competitive edge, hone a competitive edge, and what might be some skills that you would share with them to do that?

Speaker 3: 27:13

A competitive edge is unbelievably important. Every time I post a job, I get 100 resumes. So how do I pick through those 100 resumes and pick the 10 to interview? Something's got to jump out at me, right. So something about the resume, something about the experience. And I'll tell you, erin, sometimes it's a great cover letter, right? Sometimes it's a person who tells me a great story. Sometimes it's someone who has such a different experience that I just want to talk to them.

Speaker 3: 27:49

I swear to God, there was a project manager who I wanted to interview just because he used to manage casinos. I had never met anyone who managed casinos, so I said let's bring him in because I would love to talk to someone who manages casinos. I hired him because he was so amazing. He had all these problem-solving skills that I thought would just be amazing A matrix group and I was right. So the edge comes from so many different areas and I think the one thing that I would tell students is sometimes your competitive edge might be your curiosity, that when you go into that interview you're just so curious and you've done your research and you're articulate. That's your edge and you stood out during the interview. Your competitive edge might be the fact that you wanted to work at a specific job and you researched that company and you figured out who in your acquaintances, who in your network and who in your parents' network and who in your uncle's network and aunt's network knows someone at that job and you took advantage of that.

Speaker 3: 28:54

Your competitive edge might be. For young people who don't have a ton of experience, it could be an amazing cover letter. There was a I do an internship program for seniors. It's kind of an Alexandria thing where all the high schools, both public and private, they do something called senior experience, where for two to four weeks you work at a company and I get a lot of cover letters. And these seniors none of them have any experience, but the ones that kind of show that they visited my website and have at least a little bit of interest in what I do and connect their interest to my work then they're going to be picked. There was a kid who said really interested, looked at your website and he said to tell you the truth, computer science was the only class my senior year where I didn't mind that I had so much homework and it was just kind of a great story and I thought this sounds really genuine. So I picked them. So those are different types of competitive edges. But, erin, I'm going to recommend another book because I'm a reader.

Speaker 2: 29:58

That's fun.

Speaker 3: 29:59

It's a book called so Good they Can't Ignore you by Cal Newport. He's a Georgetown professor and he basically says that in your life, if you want a rare and valuable job, you need to have rare and valuable skills.

Speaker 2: 30:18

Oh, that's great.

Speaker 3: 30:19

Isn't that great, that's great.

Speaker 3: 30:21

Yeah. And he says if you want the job that's interesting, that pays well, that gives you flexibility, gives you a lot of vacation, gives you great benefits you have to have corresponding something special so that they will give you that. So I'll tell you a story. There's a woman in my office who's so amazing that when she came to me and said I would like to work from home and work part time, I basically said to myself Joanna, you will take half time of Tanya over. No Tanya, I will do whatever she wants so that I can have some of her. She is that rare and valuable person and so I give her a rare and valuable job with rare and valuable benefits and flexibility.

Speaker 3: 31:10

So what Cal Newport says is it's all about career capital. And he says it almost doesn't matter what you do. In fact, he says this business of finding your passion and it'll make you happy. He says it's baloney, because finding your passion doesn't automatically suddenly give you the skills and the experience to have that great job. What you need is to build up career capital. You just need to take whatever job you have and be so good, whatever it is Working in McDonald's, working the front desk, working the car wash Be so good that your boss says you're so good that I will forever be a reference for you. I will absolutely recommend you to the next job. And what you're doing is you're building up career capital so that people want to help you and give you opportunities, and I think that's what I've done, whatever it was.

Speaker 3: 32:00

When I was an RA at Stanford or I was a research assistant, I did anything my boss wanted. She was my boss at Ernst Young anything she wanted. She wanted me to get her lunch. I got her lunch. She wanted me to come to her house and help her pack for her trip Absolutely. She wanted me to go to the Ecuadorian Embassy and pick up a bunch of stuff and interview people. Whatever she needed, and my job was to do a really great job and make her look good. She is still a friend and she is still a reference.

Speaker 2: 32:30

Wow.

Speaker 3: 32:30

Any time opportunities came along, she would open doors for me. So Kalnuport says be so good that people open doors for you, and what you're doing is you're amassing experiences. He says it almost doesn't matter what the experience is, you're just developing goodwill along the way. He says forget passion. Whatever you're doing, be great at it and opportunities will come. It's a great book. There's a whole lot more to the book about how do you build a career and how do you make sure you get stuck in a dead-end job, but I really recommend it and I recommend every high school and college student to read it or listen to it.

Speaker 2: 33:13

This is why I bring this Right here, is why we bring guests on, because there is so much insight that we gain. Many of you that have listened to this podcast have heard us say many, many times if you want to be the best, train with the best. Yes, because training with the best makes you better. And now I've got a new term by being the best, trying to be the best, training with the best, you're building that career capital. Yes, that gives you a competitive edge for the next opportunity that you might not even see around the corner. Yes, it could be right there just waiting. And by being your best, training with the best, you will be prepared when that opportunity presents itself.

Speaker 3: 33:58

Erin, when I went to interview for the Bolton Board Company. I never run a Bolton Board project, I hadn't run a software development project, but I applied for the job anyway because it sounded interesting. And so I remember that the president, he called me in for the interview and he said you know, I interview you because you had an interesting background. And he said I called a couple of your references and they were walk on water, right. And he said I make a habit of not hiring anyone who can't give me three walk on water references, because if you can't find three people in your life who say you're walk on water, now I'm sure I had.

Speaker 3: 34:33

I'm thinking of one reference in particular. This is my boss at Ernst and I'm who I did everything for. I'm sure she said no matter what it is, she'll do it and she'll work her heart out. And she'll work her heart out and try to do her very best. And so, like if you're the employer, you're thinking that's kind of what I'm looking for and notice that in none of my experiences was it about being smart.

Speaker 2: 34:59

Well, there's a lot Again. Joanna, you've got so many incredible traits that I hope our audience is listening to Thank you Hard work, a capacity to want to do a good job yes. You know you're sharing books. I'll share one. One of my favorite books is Unstoppable, by Dave Anderson.

Speaker 3: 35:23

Oh, I've read it, it's great.

Speaker 2: 35:24

Talks about the mindsets right there. Yes, the you know the caretakers, the box checkers. You wouldn't get those walk on water testimonials if you were a caretaker.

Speaker 3: 35:36

Yes.

Speaker 2: 35:37

You got those because you were a game changer. You, you, you picked those up because your competitive edge stood you out.

Speaker 3: 35:45

But, erin, I was a lowly research assistant. I wasn't changing the world as a research assistant, I was just really reliable and I was a decent writer and all that stuff. But the point is like I was what she needed and I worked hard. Do you know what I mean? Like if, if she said, go to the Ecuadorian embassy and get some, get some stats and do a write up, I did it on time. I made sure that it was proof and edited. So I did a great job for her. But it wasn't like some amazing skill that I had. And I'm sure that over time you develop the skills. But when you don't have a lot of experience, what you can control is your attitude, your ethic, and then eventually you develop the skills.

Speaker 2: 36:29

And that, right, there is how you wrap up a podcast. That that was the perfect way to wrap this whole discussion up and say keep learning, keep building, keep striving. And guess what Was it? Who was it? That was it Ben Hogan that said the more I got for the famous golfer he said the more I play, the luckier I get.

Speaker 3: 36:58

Yeah, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Speaker 2: 37:01

It's the same thing in life, and if you're willing to put in the work and the effort, guess what? You might just grow an incredible opportunity. All right, joanne, thank you so much for being with us today. Now I got to tell you all guests get a fun question, so you're no different. You get a fun question at the end, and what we would like to know is what is the best concert you've?

Speaker 3: 37:28

ever been to Prince.

Speaker 2: 37:32

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 37:33

Oh God, prince was coming to San Francisco. Actually, he was coming to Oakland and God, I am dating myself. But this is before a ticket master and online purchases of ticket sales. I went to Tower Records like early in the morning and I was standing in line and there were three people in front of me and I heard them say, yeah, we got a few tickets left and they're way in the rafters. And then I'm two people you know in front of me and they said, oh, they just opened another day. And when I got to the front of the line I said I don't care, just I don't care how much it costs, get me the best tickets you can get me. I got three tickets for me and two friends and it was the best concert I've ever seen in my life. Prince was an unbelievable performer and entertainer and he he really cared about his audience Unbelievable.

Speaker 2: 38:25

That is a great story I got to tell you. My wife and I were in Las Vegas the night that Prince passed away and we went down to Fremont Street and that's where it's covered with lights, for the whole thing's covered and it was a complete tribute all night to Prince the songs, the music, the, the colors, the video it was. It really shared with the public the scope of his work and his talent, so that is.

Speaker 3: 39:02

Prince was the soundtrack to my life right my high school and my college years and even later on, and I remember there was a Facebook meme that I mean. I'm not going to do it justice, but the meme said something like think of all the planets in the universe and all the time in history and you got to live in a time when Prince lived.

Speaker 2: 39:25

How lucky are you. That's good, that's good. Well, okay, so while we're telling tales, I'm a diehard Bruce Springsteen fan, so you should be. I've seen the boss, I think seven times, and I absolutely think he's a genius performer, songwriter, everything. But I smiled when you talked about going to Tower Records because I remember he had a new CD that came out and a lot of people don't even know what a CD is, but I remember I got to the record store at midnight so that I could be one of the first to get the new Bruce Springsteen CD. Absolutely the things that we do to be a fan.

Speaker 2: 40:05

Joanne, I really appreciate you coming on, taking time, your willingness to share with our audience. I hope that they hear that, just because people don't come from an agricultural background or they don't come from an educational perspective, that a lot of the skill sets that we find that make people successful across all disciplines, across all vocations, are very similar. Yes, and I think Joanne's story is an incredible one to come from those very humble beginnings. Her, again, her tenacity, her real resiliency, her ability to vision and opportunity to be the best version of her, which gave her a competitive edge All of these things I believe somebody could put in place in their life.

Speaker 3: 40:55

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 40:57

So that's what this show is about. So, for all of our listeners, thank you for joining us for another edition of growing the future. If you want to know what the future is, grow it. That means you got to plant the right seeds, you got to take care of them and, when the opportunity comes, you harvest it. Now the most important thing is, after you harvest it, you start planting other trees, so those people that follow in our footsteps are going to have some shade to sit under. Joanne, thank you for being with us today. Everybody check out the Association's Thrive Podcast, the Matrix Group International. You got to meet the Chief Troublemaker today, joanne, thank you.

Speaker 3: 41:39

Thank you. It was a pleasure, Erin. I'm so glad I met you.

Speaker 2: 41:42

It's feelings mutual. All right, everybody, until we meet again, go out and do something great for somebody else and make this world a better place to live, work and raise our children. Thank you all for joining us Now.