How a marine built a career in security and risk management

0:00 - Welcome to the Degrees of Success podcast. 0:14 I'm your host, Frieda Richards. And today I am joined by an incredible alumni, John Kirch, 0:21 all the way from Lima, Peru. John's resume is incredible. It starts off with him being the director 0:28 of corporate security. With over 20 years of experience, John has been a leader in many different organizations such 0:35 as the Newmont Corporation and the Gloria Group specializing in security, 0:40 risk management, and emergency response planning. He's also a two time University of Phoenix alum 0:48 with an MBA and a bachelor's degree in organizational security and management. 0:53 John, we are so happy to have you. Thank you for joining us. - Thank you, Freea. It's great to be here. 0:59 - Absolutely. Well, we're so excited to have you and learn more about your story, so let's just jump right in. 1:04 Okay. Tell me more about like your upbringing and what you were like as a kid. 1:10 - Well, as a kid I was a very, probably disorganized kid actually. 1:16 Yeah, we very active in sports, but probably I was a little bit on the borderline out of hand. 1:23 So yeah, it was a challenge. I was a challenging kid as a, as a youngster, but Marine Corps changed that for me really quick. 1:33 - I, I'm sure, I'm sure it's, you know, it's funny that you say that because I was going to say thank you so much for your service. 1:39 Now I am an Army brat, but both my husband and father were in the Marines, 1:44 and so thank you for your service. I'm sure that being a Marine had a lot to do with the way in which you lead. 1:50 Now tell me more about your experience there. - Absolutely. I think the Marines, first of all, thank you 1:56 for the service of your husband, your mother, and your father. So you're still a Marine, like I said, 2:01 because I, I went to a Marine, always a Marine, but that's - Right. 2:06 - The Marines had the military in general, but for Marine, the Marine Corps had a huge impact the way I lead because in the Marines we have, you know, 2:15 the middleman is the person that leads everything. The directives come from the top 2:20 and basically the people that, the top officers, senior enlisted, those are the ones who are, are the ones 2:27 who make sure that the enlisted NCO ranks or the lower ranks have the resources that they need 2:33 and the guidance that they need, but they let 'em do their job. And I think this has carried me into the corporate world 2:38 today because, and it's really strange in my field because people want me to do and, and, and give orders, 2:45 but I give directives and I let my team do their job. And my job as a leader is always to make sure that they have 2:52 what they need to, to advance and to, to achieve their goals and make them shine. 2:57 I don't need to shine at my level. I make sure that my team is seen by upper management, 3:03 by presidents, the president of the corporation. I let them have their own reach on 3:09 what they do in their objectives and their day-to-Day operations. And I just guide 'em. They just look to me as a leadership, 3:16 from a leadership point of view and, and ask me for guidance. But I let them get their, their glory, let them do their job 3:23 and, and just make sure that they have everything that they need. So that I've taken all that from the Marine Corps 3:29 and brought it into the corporate - World. Excellent. Well, I imagine that all the people who work for me or excited 3:35 and happy that you were that type of leader to actually lift people up and celebrate them 3:40 and make sure they're seen by other leaders. It doesn't just shine your light, but it shines theirs as well. So I know that that's important to the people 3:47 that you work with. And so tell me this, I know that you've worked in seven countries in Central America and in South America. 3:57 - Correct. - Tell me more about your position in with corporate security. - Yeah, we have, I work for a large corporate company. 4:05 It's called Gloria. It's Peruvian owned, it's family owned as a matter of fact, but we operate in, 4:10 in seven different countries in South America, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, 4:18 and also Chile coming soon. But we have several different areas in the company, 4:25 several different holdings. We have everything between our main products, which is dairy 4:30 and food products. We have cement holdings, we have paper and packaging. We do agriculture, we also do transportation and logistics. 4:39 And all of those countries have a major footprint in the company. They're all major corporations in those countries, 4:47 key employers. And in Peru, it's one of the main, it's, it's a household name in every household. 4:54 Everyone goes up with the products that we, that we're owners of, you know, so it's, it's an outstanding 5:01 company to work for. We have, it's, it's well known and well respected. 5:06 - Excellent. And I'm, I imagine that your leadership is helping that stay well known and well respected. 5:12 Correct. So you mentioned that Gloria Group is actually going to be in Chile 5:17 and a few other areas in South America and Central America. 5:23 I know also that you are bilingual, is that right? - Yes, correct. Fully bilingual. 5:30 - That's amazing. So is there anything special you wanna say to our bilingual audience? - Yeah, sure. 5:43 - I love it. We'll put the, we'll put the translation down below. 5:48 Excellent. Thank you for that. So to speaking of, I believe this is the word in Spanish, 5:55 the Yana Cocha Shield project was by far one of the global standards. 6:03 Like it is absolutely fabulous. Can you tell us more about that and how you created it? 6:09 - Sure. Yana Cocha Shield was born, it was actually strange 'cause I named it because everyone's like, well, 6:14 you're a Marine, you have to have to Desert Shield. Shield. It kind of clicked, you know. 6:19 So Yana Shield was a project that was created because the board, we have the operation 6:26 in Peru, which is called Yanacocha. It had a lot of social issues, a lot of 6:32 what we call the possessory defenses where people come in and take your land and you have to take the land back within 6:37 a certain amount, amount of time before it becomes their land. And on a mine site, which is so large, that one part 6:46 of land could be very critical to the asset and to the operations. So we were constantly in this back 6:51 and forth between the community and, and things like that. And also we had a huge amount of theft from the operation 6:58 because obviously, you know, gold is gold. So people come in, they steal gold, not bars, 7:04 but they steal, you know, precept, which is liquid gold, or they steal splatter, which is when they're pouring the gold splashes over. 7:12 And that has a high value. So we, and just, just that, but we also had a lot of equipment that was stolen 7:20 and that could have a huge impact 'cause all the equipment's imported or are brought from other regions approved. 7:25 So the board of directors said, we have another project, which is called Sulfides in Ya sulfides, 7:33 which is extends the mi life of mine up to about 10 years, 11 years. 7:39 So they said, we, we can't invest in something that's a long term process if we don't protect our 7:44 installations as it is, we're getting people that are getting injured, the community members and things like that. 7:50 So the board asked, asked us to, to implement a project 7:56 which would in improve the, in the infrastructure, the procedures, technology adapt, things that didn't 8:04 go that we, we didn't have normally, basically. So they asked me to be in charge of the project. 8:10 I was actually on my way back to Miami to, with the regional location of the regional office. 8:17 So I, they asked me to stay in Peru. I said, definitely I'll stay. I'm happy. So I, I, what I did was I, I developed a whole scope 8:24 of work, look for travel all around the world, looking for different suppliers for things that they didn't have 8:29 and didn't exist. Actually, some of the things that we created were specifically designed to this 8:35 implementing technologies from other industries such as aviation. They didn't think about that either. 8:41 So they were like, how did you come up with this? I was like, does aviation make sense? You know? 8:46 So we implemented technology that didn't exist and it had, we had a budget of about $10.5 million 8:54 for this one project. We did it at nine and it's, and, and changed the whole way. 9:00 We do life way, we operate the mine site. So it was a huge success. And they say, well, we're gonna take this 9:06 to other countries. We're gonna take this to certain, we're gonna take it to Argentina, wherever we took it. So it was interesting. 9:13 - Oh, wow. So not only was this project incredibly successful, it was also a way for you 9:19 to stay in Peru, is that right? - Correct. I was on literally on my way to Miami one week prior to being named to this project. 9:26 So it was, it was a, oh my goodness, awesome way of staying. So, 9:32 - So you're, you're in Peru now. How long have you been there and what's keep you like, what do you love about it? 9:37 - I've been here for a total of 29 years. I start, I came here as a, a marine security guard assigned to the US Embassy in Lima in 1991. 9:46 I was here during the time of terrorism and I met my wife who's Peruvian, and we went back to Connecticut. 9:52 And she didn't like the cold, she didn't like this. It was not enough people there, you know, so she, she said, 9:58 let's go to another state. I said, well, let's go back to rural where you're from. At least you have family. We'll figure out. She said, okay. 10:06 And I've been here since that time, so it's 27 years this time. So it's, and I love it 10:12 because, you know, it's, it's never end. It never stops. Just, it's a major city. Willa's a a metropolis. 10:20 You have things that are constantly going on and it's just awesome. 10:25 The food is awesome this way. That's the best part. The food is great. So 10:30 - IL Hey, listen, that's the best part about traveling, for me at least, is the food 10:35 - Exactly right for me too. - Well, so we'll have to travel some day. 10:42 One day I'll they out to pre they gimme some good restaurant suggestions. - We'll take you up on that. Trust me. 10:47 - I love it. I love it. Tell me how nine 11 affected your career. - Wow. That, that's an amazing question. 10:55 Everyone remembers nine 11. Everyone remembers where they were. 11:00 It's funny because for in my situation, it's, it's looking back in retrospect, it's, it's kind of strange. 11:09 I joined an airline in April of 2001. I worked for Continental Airlines, 11:14 which is now United Airlines. And, and part of my induction was spent one month working in New Jersey and I was, they asked me 11:21 to go monitor a security checkpoint. And they said, what is your opinion? I said, they're not doing their job. 11:28 And they said, what didn't they do? They don't screen first pass passenger, first class passengers. 11:34 They don't screen everyone the way they should, and they're kind of like playing around. And I said, okay. 11:40 And after that I went, I, I traveled to do documentation training with, with 11:47 immigration nationalization service at that time, d 11:52 and after that I came back to prove, to implement the, to take care of the security operations in, 11:59 in continental in brew. I was new on the job learning all the processes of security 12:05 for aviation. And, and five months later, nine 11 happened. 12:11 And that changed obviously the world and especially in regards to aviation security 12:17 and where I worked. So I didn't have any contact with any of my bosses because they worked in New Jersey at the time for a week. 12:25 So we didn't have any idea what was happening. The security directives before that came out once every six months. 12:32 Once a year. They were coming out 12 per day. So we couldn't even print off the 12:37 copies before there was a change. I stopped printing and how to adapt the security processing 12:42 because you have different security levels depending on your country security approval. Columbia, Venezuela at 12:49 that time were all high risk countries. So they had the highest level of security, even higher than the US 12:54 after 11 September, September 11th, sorry. 13:00 So we had to adapt constant changes. And it got to the point where I was calling my boss finally got a hold 13:06 and we started operating again. It was crazy. We had to open up all the bags on the ground in front 13:11 of all the passengers. And, you know, privacy didn't exist at that time. It was like, you want, you saw everything 13:18 and that was the way it is. So I, you, you have millions of questions, you know, you're a brand new person. 13:24 And my boss just said, Hey, I'm not, I'm not the specialist here. You just converted to the specialist. 13:31 I was like, you worked 15 years in the organization. I, he's like, yeah, but no one has seen this before. 13:39 So he said, I don't see the operations, I don't see catering, I don't see passengers, I don't see baggage, I don't see documents. 13:45 You see all of that. So you're up to date with all the change and now you have to guide the rest of us through this organizational change. 13:51 So that was a powerful experience and, and something that obviously we never wanna repeat again, 13:58 but it was just an outstanding, from a professional side, looking at on, on a, on a PO 14:05 positive side from professional side and security, that was awesome. Learning experiences, as grim as it sounds, you know, so one 14:14 of my strange experiences is security. - I definitely a strange experience, 14:20 but how much do we appreciate the security now? Like we don't have any of those issues and we know that it's 14:27 because of people such as yourself that are professionals in security that keep us that way. 14:33 How do you maintain a work life balance in a life and death career? 14:39 - Yeah, that's an interesting challenge. I think I have a different perspective than my wife. 'cause I always say, yeah, I'm, I'm not working right now. 14:46 She's always constantly, but you're on your phone. I say, okay, it's a challenge. It's, I think, you know, with today's technology, with, 14:56 you know, the, the high, just the fast way of living, people don't have that disconnect. 15:02 It's kind of hard. Even though you think you are disconnected, you're constantly on your phone, you're constantly looking at social media. 15:08 So that disconnect is a big challenge. I try to do the best I can with it. 15:14 I, I definitely respect my, my family time when I'm at home. 15:20 I'm definitely a hundred percent there. Mentally, probably not so much. 15:25 But yeah, I'm with them and I try not to connect is during the weekends and, and, 15:31 and, and holidays. You know, I always tell my team, handle it, you can do it. And, and I trust your judgment. 15:37 So that's, that's a big challenge today. But I, that's the way I, - Excellent. 15:43 So tell me more about getting your degree from University of Phoenix. Did you do that all online in Peru? 15:51 - Yeah. It's interesting. I I, I saw at that time a lot 15:56 of publicity at the University of Phoenix. I was looking for a program that would allow me, because I, I studied as an adult 16:02 and I studied as, when I was working, I had to have a whole family. So I had to look for something 16:08 that could fit into my schedule and not me into theirs. And that was a big challenge because a lot of times they have, you know, fixed schedules, 16:16 fixed class times. I, and I just couldn't do that. I worked, I've always worked as being married and, and 16:23 and studying at the same time. So I've always had that challenge and something that just the military support at the time 16:30 and until now, the way that they love the veterans, the time, the flexible schedule just allows me 16:37 to do everything that I needed to do when I could do it. And I just, once I started taking that first class 16:43 and I started getting into that rhythm, it just fit, you know. And that's why I, I, once I finished my first degree, 16:51 I continued onto my master's degree because I knew the, the schedule, I knew the way that the, the things worked, the methodology. 16:57 And I said, that's, that's where I wanna finish. So that's, that's how it'll fit in. So it's just a perfect fit. 17:03 - I love that. Yeah, absolutely. The flexibility for our adult learners is essential, 17:09 - Right? - Especially when we have families in, in full-time jobs. Tell me, how do you think your degree actually benefited you 17:16 in your career? - My boss once told me, he said, if you don't have an MBA, you won't be a man at a director level. 17:22 I said, okay, I'll do it. I didn't, I didn't wanna do it at this at the first, but I said I have to do it. 17:28 It's just a challenge, my personal challenge. And, and, and that's, that's just the way it is. 17:34 I think people lose that possibility if people think that investing in a degree is not worth it. 17:40 I said, but that's yourself. You're investing in your own people. 17:45 Invest vacation, investing in that. But that's not, that's, that could be gone in one second. 17:53 So I said, no, I, I need something that's gonna be a benefit for me and for my family. So that's why I decided to go on the, 17:59 to higher education at, at this level know. And that it's actually, I kind of, I put a, 18:06 a milestone for my kids. 'cause my wife always tells them, but your father set a high barrier. 18:12 You gotta overcome your father. And they're like, I have to get a doctorate. You know, it's, it's kind of hard to, so it kind of set 18:20 that standard in our household. So, and, and all of my kids are studying. So it's, that's, it's a good example 18:27 - John, thank you so much for that. Tell me, I, you're in Peru, what is the security like there now? 18:34 - Yeah, in Peru is a big challenge for security. And this is why the University of Phoenix 18:39 and how to management and things like this help me in my degree because it teaches you, it gets you away from the simple security manager 18:48 and putting more security guards. You have to evaluate the operations across the board 18:53 and how that affects the business continuity. Now Peru has a, an interesting situation, 19:00 like most Latin American countries, we have a lot of people think that terrorist groups like Shining Path 19:08 had disappeared, but actually they basically migrated to the remote areas of rural with the drug cartels. 19:14 And, and we don't see 'em in Lima. We don't see 'em in, in major cities 'cause they're off doing what they have to do. 19:20 A lot of things that you saw, for example, extortions that you're seeing in the US now on TV all the time, 19:27 those are true situations. They, they're, they're the reality that we've been seeing for the last five years and, and it's gonna get worse. 19:37 So when we talk about how do you handle security and how do you manage that 19:42 for organizations, it's a challenge. And we're seeing that across the board 19:48 and in every different organization. The rule of law is, is not as great as it should be. 19:53 The police do an outstanding job, but it's just not enough. They, you know, they get taken out of prison and, 20:00 and put back in the seat on the streets. So it's a challenge. It's a great place to live. 20:05 And it doesn't, I don't wanna sound horrible, but it's just, it's it's, it, it is what it's, oh, 20:12 - Absolutely. Are there any, how do you identify if 20:17 security is there? There's a security issue. Could you give me an example of that? - Yeah, that's interesting. 20:23 We have a, that's an interesting question. We have a lot of different issues. We have a theft constantly armed robbery in, 20:30 in our operations. And, and you see it in, in many different organizations. So you basically have to look at what happens versus 20:38 what could happen. It's, it's always trying to project the future of what's gonna happen in your operation. 20:43 And that's just risk assessment and risk management. You try to close the gaps to where you think if I were a person that was 20:51 on the other side of the fence is trying to steal stuff or, and if I were a criminal, how would I attack it 20:57 or how would I do this? And where, where am I constantly, 21:03 where's my threat level? And I think that that's something that we're constantly doing. It doesn't always work. 21:09 It would be great if it always worked, but you know, we see things daily, people progress on the negative side. 21:17 People progress in how they carry out their activities and they say, how can I improve? Just as we're security professionals spend eight hours 21:25 or 12 hours a day working security for the companies and evaluating risks and, and risk assessments 21:33 and things like this, mitigation actions. But criminals spent 24 hours a day trying to to, 21:40 to violate those i, those, those actions. And they try to look for different ways to get at us. 21:46 So they're spending double the amount of time than we are in trying to get to what, to get into the same thing that we're trying to protect. 21:53 So I think you have to have that in constant considerations. What can we do better? And it's a never ending evolution 22:02 of, of security. Once you fall into that comfort zone is when they're gonna, you're gonna have an issue. 22:07 And I think that never being in a comfort zone, always challenging your situation, do a constant test of your system. 22:15 And that's what we do every day. So. - Well, I know that - It's a, it's a challenge. - I'm, I'm sure it's a challenge, but highly appreciate it. 22:22 And in keeping people safe, I heard you say that one of the concerns and one of the safety issues is theft. 22:30 Are there any issues in regards to like human trafficking, whether it be children or women? 22:35 And if so, how do you deal with that or, and identify it? - Yeah, this is an issue. It's a social issue. 22:41 We, we have it, it happens, it happens all across Latin America. It's happening in the us you see it now. 22:48 It's, it's one of those actions that you can see sometimes. When I was an airline, we used to see that a lot. 22:55 And that's more than 20 years ago. So you would see children with parent people 23:01 that weren't their parents and you can pick up on those body language and, and, and their nonverbal communication where you, 23:07 and you talk to the kids, say, Hey, that's what I used to do with my team. You talk to the kids as children and say, Hey, how are you? 23:15 You know, where's your mommy? You know, she's at home and your daddy at home. Oh, and that's a red light. 23:21 It's one of those things that just sets off a red light and say, okay, something's off here. And then when you start digging deeper, then you get the police involved and, 23:27 and you figure out, hey, these are like five children that could have been abducted or taken outside per, 23:36 and what's happening in the US is like, it's been happening all across the world for, for many years. 23:42 You know? So I think you have a bigger challenge in the US and we do here because it's, it's something that it's, it's, 23:49 it's a bigger piece of land, you know, here, here it's the smaller countries and you have ways of doing, 23:55 but the benefit is you have rule of law there. So - What new technologies 24:00 or trends do you think are shaping the future of corporate security? 24:06 - That's a great question. You know, it security. When you look at security in overseas 24:12 or versus the United States, and you see a lot of times in the job descriptions and the job titles that when you do an online search for, 24:20 you know, corporate security in the US US has transformed from physical to security to cybersecurity. 24:26 So I even saw one company that said, you know, security officers, security officers for me as guards 24:33 and even everywhere else in the world except for the us. So when I saw security officers and I started looking at job, the job descriptions, 24:40 they said, you know, technology. And then they had all the requirements for SAS and, and you know, cyber. 24:46 And I said, this is not security. So the US has migrated to to cybersecurity, but they're using the title, so corporate security and, 24:54 and physical security and, and they're just kind of like getting it out in a strange way. 25:00 For me that is, is it's definitely the future. AI is the future you have, cyber is definitely 25:08 important and it's probably something I'm gonna be looking at in the near future because if not in the long term, I probably won't 25:15 unless I stay in, in overseas and I won't have a, a job market there. But I think AI in cyber is definitely, those are the, 25:23 the biggest trends. But at the same time, we can't lose our core as 25:30 as corporate security and physical security because that's where you see a lot of chaos. 25:36 You see a lot of, when you see marches, there's security that's involved. When you see theft, that's security. 25:43 And when you see this uptake in all these, these social events that you have in the US between theft 25:49 and, and and extortion and armed robbery, that's because they're losing sight that 25:54 that corporate security has to exist and physical security has to exist. So I think that that's one of the failures that, 26:01 or one of the opportunities of improvement that that could be, you know, handled by organizations. 26:07 They're looking a hundred percent cyber, but they don't understand that their operations are cut when you have physical security in operations. 26:15 And that can cause just as much damage to the organization as, as, as a cyber attack, 26:23 - You know? My goodness. Well your leadership is most likely gonna hopefully help that issue within itself. 26:32 Maybe you could send, send some information this way to the us We don't get stuck in that route. 26:38 But using, speaking about your leadership, tell me your particular style of leadership. 26:44 - I, I have an interesting leadership style and it's kind, it's probably 'cause of my military service, 26:50 but I'm always, like I said, letting my team shine for me is leadership by example. 26:57 If, if I don't do what's right, then my team's not gonna do what's right. If I never send someone to do something 27:04 that I'm not willing to do. And this kind of drove people crazy at the mindset side. They said, please do not go on these social 27:10 marches and things like that. If I'm not gonna send one person, if I don't go myself. 27:16 So if you don't like it, then I'm the wrong person for the job because I won't send someone into harm's way 27:22 without me being there and doing it myself. Because if I'm afraid, then they should be afraid now. 27:28 And always being flexible, that's, those are my key key leadership. 27:34 'cause everyone has their own qualities. Everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses. So I look for things that people 27:41 that they sometimes don't see in themselves and I push them to development into that position. 27:46 So I've seen a lot of train, a lot of changes in people that, like introverts take 'em to the extrovert, 27:53 extroverts trying to push 'em back into the introvert so they can, you know, and that, you know, it improves their, their style 27:59 and improves how they get things done. But that's, I like working with people. That's, for me, that's my backbone. I just slow it. 28:08 - So as a people leader, it sounds like you are a servant leader. Exactly. Wanting to make sure that you're pulling along and working with them. 28:15 I can imagine that being pivotal for the people that you work with. That's, that's incredible. - Yeah. I, I always tell people that security is always, 28:22 it's across the board service. We're, we're here to attend everyone in regards of, of what we do. 28:27 - Well you've been doing it for 20 years. Yes. Which is fabulous. 28:33 If within that 20 years, if in any way you could do something again or do it differently, what would that be? 28:40 - Yeah, that's a great question. I always question myself is whether I should have gotten outta the military or not, because I, my wife tells me, you, 28:47 you left the Marine Corps a long time ago. You know, I say, yeah, but I, I'm always a Marine, 28:53 so I just love that part. I'm always gonna be that. That's, but I mean I've, you know, 28:59 everyone has ups and downs. Everyone has things that they would sometimes regret. 29:04 I have a list of things that I have regret. I could have probably done better, but I don't think I would've changed anything. 29:09 I think that that is what we've come from in, in, in learning along the way. 29:14 I just think that those are key parts of, of the life process, you know, and, and leadership. 29:19 Leadership. People don't get to leadership positions without making mistakes. You know, if you were looking at like, Thomas Edison says, I've not failed. 29:26 I've just found a, I've not been successful. 29:31 I just found a 10,000 things that don't work. You know? So just along the way, failure is part of the process. 29:39 Just you can make a billion and you just get one thing right. And you just shine for that. And so yeah, I, I wouldn't change anything. I just love it 29:47 - That I couldn't agree with you more. You know, all of your failures help make you who you are. 29:52 - Absolutely. Absolutely. So if you didn't fail, then, then the first time you fail, 29:58 you're gonna have a hard time. - Trust me. And if you don't fail, then did you try? - Exactly. Exactly. 30:03 If you're not willing to take a risk, everything you do then, then you just, just kind 30:08 of roll over and, and forget about life, you know, because life is just risk. It means it's like us, me living abroad, 30:15 me being in the Marine Corps, me being, taking a challenge and, and challenging myself to get a higher degree. 30:21 I mean, I'm just trying to think about what are the next steps, what do, what, you know, it's, it's gonna be interesting. 30:27 - Tell me, is there anyone in your life that's been very influential to help you with that drive? 30:33 - Yeah, I would set, I would have to say that my wife would be the one that made that drive. She's the, she's my backbone. 30:41 She's, she puts up with me a lot and she, she's always saying, well, you can do this. 30:46 Why, why didn't you do that? So she would, if it wasn't for her pushing me that whole time, I think I wouldn't have gotten 30:52 as far as I've gotten. I mean, she's just my, she's my rock. So I have to, she pushes me 30:59 to improve myself and everything. And my kids now, she pushes them as well. So I think she's the most influential leader 31:05 I've had, actually. - Oh, that is excellent. And I believe, I heard you said it's 32 years. 31:10 - Yes, we've been married for 32 years. Three kids, three grandkids. So it's, it's, it's amazing. 31:17 It's a long time. She deserves a medal of honor, actually. 31:22 - I believe it. I believe it. She sounds excellent. She sounds absolutely excellent. 31:27 So what achievements are you most proud of and tell me why. - Sure. I've always something that I've 31:36 sometimes reflect on, you know, it's like I've never seen myself as being the person able to work their whole career 31:43 and in a language that's not yours, that's in that for me was a major, something that I just overlooked. 31:49 It's like, that's kind of strange. I've worked for 29 years in the country, that's not mine in a language that's not mine. 31:55 And I've gotten to a management level, director level position on another language, you know? 32:01 And, and that's been an interesting challenge. Everything that, just getting to the level I've been to, 32:08 getting my master's degree for me was like a high point in my career because, you know, it, it was just times that, 32:15 that you spent not sleeping to study. I was, I would go to start to study when people would go 32:20 to when my kids would go to sleep and I would finish when they woke up. So, you know, that long nights was an interesting challenge. 32:28 Traveling everywhere I've been in, in the world and, and actually having that contact internationally, 32:35 getting in charge of being in charge of programs that are really, for organizations that are so big, 32:42 like Yana Shield, like my current position where we do a whole, made a whole transformation of, 32:47 of security from just one of the segments. Security. So the global security setting standards 32:55 for the whole corporation that I have so many things that I'm so proud of that it's, it's kind of hard. 33:03 I, I'd probably drop about a dozen in there that I forgot about, but I, I just, you know everything. Yeah, 33:09 - I mean, when you have a 20 plus years of experience, I imagine there's, there's a few achievements 33:15 that you can be very proud of, as you should be. As you should be. Of course. 33:22 Well listen, it, this has been an awesome opportunity to learn so much about you and corporate security and, 33:30 and ways to get there and how your degree, both of them have helped you in doing so. 33:36 So that, that has been excellent information for us to share with our viewers. 33:41 Now I wanna do one of my favorite things. This is called Rapid Fire Round. 33:47 So I'm gonna ask you some questions pretty quick and I wanna hear them back right off the top 33:52 of your head. Are you ready? - I'm gonna try. Alright, - You've got this, you've got this Alright. 33:59 Book that changed Your Life - Book that changed my life. Extreme Ownership by Will Jock Willick 34:04 and Leaf Babin. Awesome book - Early board or Night Owl. 34:10 - Early birth, definitely. Yeah. I fall asleep too early. I'm 34:17 - What time do you wake up? - Five o'clock in the morning. My, my early my inner alarms wakes me up at 34:24 that time every morning, so - Oh my goodness. The go-to productivity hack, 34:31 - Constant follow up. That's my, I'm constantly involved and constantly follow up. 34:37 That's probably the best way to get things done. Let my team do it. But be involved. 34:43 - Be involved. Best advice you've ever received? - Best advice I've ever received. 34:50 That's an awesome question. He has never made a mistake. Has never tried. 34:56 And that was been something that one of my directors told me. And when I was said, we can't do this, 35:03 and he just kept giving me back, back and forth and back and forth. So don't be afraid to try things. 35:09 - That's a good one. Go to karaoke song. 35:16 - Wow. Definitely a Bon Jovi song. Since I'm older and, 35:21 and probably living on a prayer, I, I, I would say that's the first one that cannot not go wrong with 35:27 that play this song or Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses, definitely those two. 35:33 - Also a winner. Also a winner. And lastly, what is your personal motto? 35:40 - My personal motto? I know I'm not supposed to repeat these questions after, but I'm just kind of at my calculator thinking. 35:47 So my personal motto, that's a hard one. I, yeah, I don't really have one. 35:52 I guess Marine Corps is better than the Army. 35:58 - Oh my goodness. I'm sorry, Bob. 36:04 I've, I've, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to plead the fifth on that one, but I will say what I've heard you say in this whole entire interview is 36:11 that you were a servant leader. You are an incredible husband. You adore your wife and your family, 36:17 and you strive your best to be present and, and make memories with them 36:23 and make sure that the people that you lead are set up for success as well. So whether 36:28 or not that is your motto, it is definitely the light that you shine. - Thank you very much. Yeah, it's a great summary. 36:35 I I have to think about that one. I'm, I'm pretty sure it's Marine Corps's better than the Army. 36:42 - Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Pleading the fifth. 36:47 I have to see my mom later, John. - Well, when I, when the podcast comes out, you can leave 36:53 that in so I can show my son and he was like, I can't believe you said that in person. 36:58 - Is he, is your son in the army? - Yeah, he, he's a veteran as well. He was in the Army. So that's, that's a daily thing in my household. 37:04 Arm Army's worst in the Marine Corps, definitely. - Oh my goodness. Yes. I know. 37:10 Your, your son will fill my pain. - Your brothers, all the military services are great. So I, I always bother people about that, 37:16 but when things hit the fan, we're there together. So it's, it's just a, it's just a personal thing between services. 37:23 - I know, I know. I've been an army brat for a while. I've seen it happen. I love it though. I love it. 37:29 So these are our closing thoughts. Listen, you have the floor. Anything you want our listeners to know 37:35 or anything else you'd like to share, please share it with us. - Definitely. You know, I, I've, I think that, first of all, 37:41 thank all the military service, active duty service personnel on active right now. 37:48 Veterans. Take your time to hire a veteran. Take, take your time To thank active duty members, 37:54 active veterans as well. They've given so much, their families have given so much 38:00 that people don't realize how much we give as military. And I think that we have so much to give to organizations 38:09 and leadership styles and getting things done that no one else is willing to do. 38:15 I give a huge shout out to an organization I just actually had a conversation with last week, but they're doing an awesome thing, 38:22 which is Mountain Valor Foundation z Zach Kliman is doing an awesome, 38:30 it's a nonprofit organization that works with wounded, wounded veterans 38:35 and also first responders. They work a lot with PTSD 38:41 and getting them, getting them into the mode where they feel that they're very valuable people. 38:46 So he's doing an awesome job. It's a very small foundation, but it's, it's great. 38:53 So I'll give a quick shout out to them as well. And also thank you for having me on the, on the podcast. 38:59 I just, it's great that someone's telling my story and let me shine for University of Phoenix as well. 39:05 So it's just awesome. And, and it's funny because I actually told my, my counselor career counselor at University of Phoenix, 39:13 my goal is to become a university teacher, a professor at the University of Phoenix. 39:18 So I'm, we'll see how that takes us. - Listen, I'm gonna have to put some feelers out there 39:23 because I think that you would be excellent in that role. And I, I bet you've taught a lot of our listeners 39:29 a lot about being an, a great servant leader. So thank you so, so much for joining us. 39:34 Your story has been simply incredible. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. - Thank you. - It has just been so awesome to get 39:41 to learn more about you and we hope that you have an incredible time out there 39:47 in Peru. - Thank you. Awesome. I appreciate, I'm honored to be here as well. 39:52 - Did you happen to come to commencement? - Did I go to commencement? No, no. I was, I, I wish I could have, 39:59 but it, it was just a whole logistical nightmare for me to get there because I, I would obviously want my, 40:07 my whole family be there to get all the way up there. It was just, it was just impossible. That's one of my major regrets, 40:13 but it's just, it is what it is. So. - Well, you know, we're signing up for, I mean, 40:18 every eight weeks you can sign up for your doctor at any time. - Awesome, awesome. - And then we can celebrate together 40:25 and walk across the stage. - Outstanding. - Excellent. Well, thank you so, so much. 40:30 We greatly appreciate you and I'm confident that I'm looking forward to seeing you again and getting your information. 40:37 University of Phoenix, maybe you'll be a professor anytime here. - Awesome. That would be great. Time to give back. 40:43 Definitely. - Well, John, thank you so, so much for joining us, just hearing about your incredible journey. 40:50 Thank you so much for your service and your sacrifice. That means a lot to many, many people, 40:57 and especially me as an army brat. So thank you so much for that. And thank you all for everyone that's joined us. 41:04 That is it for this episode of Degrees of Success. Feel free and don't forget to subscribe and like, 41:14 and comment. I'm your host, Frieda Richards, reminding you that your next chapter just might be your best. 41:21 See you soon.