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Nerds On Tap
Welcome to "Nerds on Tap," the podcast where tech industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts gather to explore the exciting intersection of technology, business, and innovation. Join Tim and his co-host as they dive into lively discussions, valuable insights, and thought-provoking conversations with a diverse range of guests.
From the latest trends in technology to the world of startups and entrepreneurship, "Nerds on Tap" covers it all. Each week, Tim shares candid conversations with industry experts, seasoned entrepreneurs, and rising stars, uncovering success stories, lessons learned, and emerging ideas shaping the future.
Grab a cold one, pull up a stool, and join the conversation. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur seeking advice, a tech executive keeping up with industry developments, or simply a curious listener who loves exploring new ideas, "Nerds on Tap" is your go-to podcast. Tune in, subscribe, and join the community of nerds who love to tap into the fascinating world of tech and business. Cheers!
Nerds On Tap
Navigating Leadership with Rachael Gillette: Sailing Secrets, Strategic Insights, and Delightful Drinks
Ever wondered how sailing can teach you to be a better leader? Join us as we chat with Rachael Gillette, president of VMG Solutions, who takes us on a journey from the high seas to high-level business strategy. With over two decades of leadership experience, Rachael reveals how principles like "Velocity Made Good" from her sailing adventures shape effective business practices. Her thrilling tales of racing to a small island off the coast of Mexico offer rich lessons in teamwork and navigating complexity—a must-listen for any aspiring entrepreneur or seasoned leader.
From the courtrooms of Liverpool to coaching boardrooms in the U.S., our episode also dives into the fascinating career transition of a former UK barrister turned business coach. Discover how courtroom skills like strategic thinking and persuasion seamlessly transfer to business leadership and personal growth. Listen in as we explore the role of data, KPIs, and milestones in steering toward long-term goals, much like sailing maneuvers such as tacking and jibing. Rachael's own transformative journey—meeting her future husband during a Caribbean regatta and moving continents—highlights the importance of flexibility and seizing unexpected opportunities.
We cap off the episode with something for the beer enthusiasts—a discussion on the unique flavors of Pensacola's local brews, including the El Medico Mexican Lager and the tropical Pensacola POG. Enjoy rapid-fire questions with business leaders that reveal their personal hobbies, dreams, and preferences. Whether you're interested in the nuances of self-awareness, the latest in sailing, or navigating generational differences in the workplace, this episode promises a blend of valuable insights and entertaining stories. Tune in for an enriching experience that will leave you inspired and better equipped to lead both at sea and in the boardroom.
Beers:
El Medico from Doc's Hop Shop
Pensacola POG from Perfect Plain
Samuel Adams Winter Lager
Sponsor of this episode: Digital Boardwalk
Digital Boardwalk is one of the top 10 Managed IT Service Providers in the United States. If you are seeking to outsource your IT Management, or if your IT Team could use some help with projects or asset management, give Digital Boardwalk a call today! They offer a FREE IT Maturity Assessment on their website. If you want to see how your business's IT scores against industry standards, go to GoModernOffice.com now.
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And I'm very excited about our guest today. In this inspiring episode of nerds on tap, we're joined by Rachel Gillette, a leader who believes in intentionally making a difference and is on a mission to improve lives. As the president of VMG Solutions, rachel brings over 20 years of leadership experience, having trained hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals on leadership and employee skills. Her expertise lies in solving business problems to help companies grow and thrive. Rachel is also deeply involved in her community, serving on the University of West Florida College of Business Advisory Board, as a UWF executive mentor and as vice chair of Visit Pensacola. She has been recognized with the 2021 Pinnacle Award for Outstanding Women in Business and contributes to numerous nonprofits, including Impact 100 and the Satori Foundation.
Speaker 1:An avid sailor with multiple race wins under her belt, including the race for the roses and the Pensacola to Mexico race, rachel applies the principles of sailing, such as velocity made good, to her approach in business. In this episode, we'll explore how she navigates the complexities of leadership, personal development and future growth, offering valuable insights for entrepreneurs and leaders alike. So, ladies and gentlemen, grab your favorite brew and join us for a conversation with Rachel that I'm sure will inspire you to chart your own course towards success. In segment one, we'll cover navigating leadership and entrepreneurship, then we'll discuss the power of coaching and personal development. We'll talk about charting a course for the future and we'll wrap it up with our exciting rapid-fire questions. So good to see you, rachel.
Speaker 2:It's good to be here, Tim. Thanks for inviting me. It's been a while it has been. See you, Rachel. It's good to be here, Tim. Thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 1:It's been a while.
Speaker 2:It has been a while, yeah, so this is going to be fun. I'm excited to be here with you. I don't know what you're going to ask me, so that's. That's the best kind of question, right that's it and, knowing you we've known each other for a long time it's going to be very interesting. You use that in your intro, and then, of course, we're going to be drinking some beer, so that's exciting, and I love all the references to sailing too, so I'm excited to get into that too.
Speaker 1:Good. So if you've listened to our show before, what do we do first?
Speaker 2:Well, we drink some beer.
Speaker 1:All right Edge. What do we got? All right Edge, what do we got? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nerds on Tap. I'm your host, tim Shue, and I couldn't be more excited to embark on this nerdy adventure with all of you. So grab your favorite brew, because things are about to get exciting.
Speaker 3:Three, two, one go Alright. So our first beer that we have is the El Medico Mexican Lager by Doc's Hop Shop in Pensacola, florida. This brew is described as not your typical Mexican lager. Instead, you'll find a more complex and interesting flavor profile, highlighting vienna malts and corn crisp with a pleasant malty sweetness oh, I like that, I like that that's a good one it's a good one, isn't it yeah?
Speaker 1:so how would you explain the uh flavor explosion in this?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, let me take another sip.
Speaker 3:I don't know if I would call it corny.
Speaker 1:No, it doesn't taste corny, it's actually. There's no nuts in this.
Speaker 3:No nuts. Well, I mean, it says Well, the nuts are here drinking it.
Speaker 1:It's being consumed by nuts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's very smooth, but it's got a lot of body, a lot of body to it, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:it's like, it's not like a full-bodied yes, yes, yeah, it's pretty light too it's very smooth and easy see it doesn't.
Speaker 2:It doesn't taste like a light beer, it's. It's got a lot of flavor, a lot of body, it's very smooth. It's a nice beer and I I mentioned the mexico because of the race to mexico that you mentioned in your intro. That we do on my boat, which is called atlantic union two. We had atlantic union one, but we're on two now bigger boat and, um, yeah, every other year we do this race. Actually, there's some really good stories about this year's race, if you want to talk about that. But yeah, we get down there and we certainly drink some Mexican beer, as well as rum and maybe a bit of tequila.
Speaker 1:Where do you go? Where down in Mexico? Where are you?
Speaker 2:be a bit of tequila. Where do you go? Where down in mexico. Where are you? So the race is called um the regatta, all song, and we race to this tiny little island that is off the coast of mexico, close to cozumel.
Speaker 2:That area you can get a ferry across and the island is about, uh, two miles long, one mile wide, and so it's like trying to find this little tiny dot in the middle of the ocean, and the finish line that we're trying to navigate to is maybe 50, 75 feet long, and you always not always, I'm going to say 90% of the time you get there in the dark, and there's all these lights of the mainland and you're trying to find a little flashing light that is the finish line. It's so confusing sometimes we almost ran into the rocks one time.
Speaker 1:How many are in the crew? How many?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so on our boat we take eight and we split our team into four each to do four hour watches. Four on, four off, so it's 24 hours a day. We race constantly. We always have four people on watch and then you can go off and rest and try and sleep, but honestly you don't get much sleep because it's just so intense and it's hard to sleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the unexpected. I mean, I'm sure there are plenty of stories. We've only got, you know, an hour here, but I'm sure there's plenty of stories about kind of like in business. Oh gosh it just translates all the time to him the unknown Right, because you're going into the unknown.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Weather, weather events. Before we get into segment one, let's talk about that, because it translates perfectly into this first segment. Yeah, let's talk about the unknown because, as a business leader, we're leading into the unknown, sometimes All the time.
Speaker 2:All the time, as much as we try and plan and prepare, you just don't know. And that's so. It's very, very similar. Planning, doing racing, is very similar to business. You get the right crew. You want the right people on the team, people who have the same values as you do, so that you can have this culture on your boat where everybody is pulling in the same direction. You as the leader, as the owner, have to cast the vision of where you want to go and what you want to achieve. So you do that at the outset of every race, which is sometimes it's winning. But sometimes you realize you're not going to do that because the boat you know maybe there's some boats just have more experience and are better than you. So you have to cast the right vision. Then you've got the team and you have to make sure that they're prepared for whatever, or as much as what's going to come. You select, we have you select the different roles, because everybody's in a different role on the boat, like in business, you have to have the right people in the right seat. Make make sure they're trained properly, have the right equipment. Again, we always ask do you have the tools and equipment that you need to do your job effectively. Same on the boat.
Speaker 2:And then we chart the course. And that is like in business, when you say, okay, what do we want to achieve over the next five years? That's like what do we want to achieve in this race? And then we set waypoints. So what do we want to achieve in the first 24 hours for us on a race, on that type of race? Well, we want to go at least 100 miles. The goal is more 125, 150 miles. So we set waypoints. So it's the same kind of thing. We study the weather, and this is where the technology piece of it comes in. Tim, again In business, we rely on different systems to help us. We do the same in sailing. So we're looking at the weather. We've got all kinds of weather programs and software to be able to process it.
Speaker 1:So you can somewhat predict the unknown. Yes, we're trying to.
Speaker 2:But, again, the weather, like the external environment in business, is unpredictable. So you think you've got the weather prediction for the next five days and you get out there and it's completely different than was predicted. So you have to be ready to pivot like we do.
Speaker 2:So winning one of those races, that's quite a feat, right, it is for sure, yeah, there's a lot of good boats and a lot of good sailors out there and it depends, Some conditions favor a certain type of boat over another type of boat. Ah, interesting. So again, it just depends on what the conditions are and trying to make the best of them. This race we didn't get very far before we broke a halyard and we're having to send somebody up the mast to change the halyard for the sail.
Speaker 1:We were then only maybe the second day in Tell our audience for the halyard there's we were then only maybe the second day, tell our audience there's gonna be a lot of I was about to ask.
Speaker 3:I don't know what that is it's like technology, right.
Speaker 2:There's all these different terms in technology and you have to learn them. And then different terms of business in my company, which we can get into vmg, and what it means. I work with all different kinds of businesses. I'm working with a construction company and they keep using all these different acronyms that I'm trying to learn them and understand their industry. And then I work with the healthcare industry and same thing. And then I work, you know, with tech, right, and so you have to learn these terms. So a halyard there's lots of ropes on the boat and they all have different names. A halyard is something that you attach to a sail to raise it, so the halyards raise sails up and down. So we had our sail up with the halyard, halyard's at the top of the mast and it breaks Sail, falls down. Halyard goes Halyard's at the top of the mast and it breaks Sail, falls down. Halyard goes up the mast. You have to send somebody up in a bosun's chair, which is like a little thing that you put on and you attach. How?
Speaker 1:high is that?
Speaker 2:On our boat. Our mast is 68 feet, I believe. Let me get that right. And then we have stuff on top, so it's up there.
Speaker 1:Several stories, yeah.
Speaker 2:Especially have stuff on top, so it's up there Especially. You know the boats moving and you're getting blown about and stuff. So safety is huge. It's an important thing.
Speaker 1:Well, what a great segue into talking about you and your new venture, VMG. So let's go back a little bit. Let's step back in time a little bit. Share the moment when you realized that your passion for law was evolving into the passion for helping others succeed in their entrepreneurial journeys.
Speaker 2:Right, so I started. People may, listening may realize that I have a bit of a not local Pensacola accent. It's Northern Alabama.
Speaker 3:What no?
Speaker 2:No, it's from across the pond. It's from England, from Liverpool, the home of the Beatles and, I will say, the best football team in the country. So it's from Liverpool. But there's a story again and it relates to sailing as to how I got here. But I was a barrister at law in the UK, the ones who wear the white wig and the gown and wear in front of juries.
Speaker 1:Do you have a picture that we can use?
Speaker 2:Wow, I would have to dig back because that was.
Speaker 1:I would love to see that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do, and I actually still have my wig. I should have brought it with me. It would have been fun to show you. It's made of horse hair and made exactly for my head. It's custom made by this company called Ede and Ravenscroft, which is a very, very old and very posh.
Speaker 3:It sounds very Hogwarts, it is it is Exactly.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so I was an entrepreneur as a barrister at law. You are an entrepreneur, you're a business owner, and so you have to learn. I mean, I was a specialist in law, I'd gone to university for that and I had learned everything I needed to know. But then all of a sudden I'm also starting a business, so I need to know about marketing and I need to know about accounting and I need to know about managing other people. Fortunately, the system that we have we work as a collective, so a group of barristers coming together, sharing barristers chambers, which are offices, sharing administration and that kind of stuff. So we did have a professional helping us to some extent, but it's still you're your own boss and so you have to manage that whole situation. So I learned a lot from doing that for 10 years and I loved it.
Speaker 2:When I came to the States, I kind of switched tack completely and became employed, so different but still passionate about personal and professional development and really knowing and understanding how businesses work and why do some businesses thrive and others don't? What's the secret sauce thrive and others don't. What's the secret sauce? And so that was something that I was always passionate about learning, about reading about, listening to podcasts and just trying to get very involved in it.
Speaker 2:So the next 20 years of my career was doing that and then helping other businesses with employee training, employee engagement surveys, doing conferences, coaching, business coaching and leadership training. And then all of that I decided to translate into starting my own business, taking the loop of faith. Taking the loop of faith because I really wanted to be able to spend more time with individual businesses, with clients, because it's hard being a business owner and trying to create positive change within a business is difficult, it takes time, and so, as a business coach and consultant, I want to really be able to get to know the company that I'm working with, get to know the people, and then I can really make a difference, I can help them and I can help with the people element of it and how to improve culture. And then also look at systems of processes and see how we can create efficiencies.
Speaker 1:So did being a barrister. Did that assist you with decision-making in business? I mean, that's what it sounds like. That was the precursor to who you are today.
Speaker 2:Absolutely very much so as a barrister. There's a lot of strategic thinking, strategic planning around the case itself, and how are you going?
Speaker 2:to win which is what you wanted to do. You wanted to win the case. So there was a lot of research, always a lot of planning and preparation for the trial. The same thing Understanding the law, which is understanding the technical side of the business, for instance, then understanding the players which are the witnesses on both sides. And then you have to understand your competition as well, which is the other barrister, the other legal team. So again, yeah, all of that really helped me develop those business skills actually the legal side of it and being in the courtroom as well as the business skills that I was developing as an entrepreneur. So I've parlayed all of that into learning and growing and succeeding in my own personal and professional life, then my business life now and now helping others.
Speaker 2:And then, parallel to that, Tim is the sailing aspect of it, because I've always been passionate about that as a hobby and it's very like a business the boat you have to continually be updating and keeping it on the top of its performance, which takes a big investment. And then there's a lot of thought and strategic planning into what races you're going to be doing, what team you need for that, how much money it's going to take to invest to achieve the outcome that you want to, and every time I go out on the race course or on the boat, I'm learning about teamwork and communication and leadership and strategy. I always say it's like playing chess, but the chessboard's moving underneath you because the water is moving, there's current, there's waves, there's wind, and so when I'm out there on the boat, I'm applying what I know, my leadership skills, my communication skills, the strategy, and so it's just constantly backwards and forwards, learning, applying, applying learning, and it just it's incredible. And that's where VMG Solutions comes in, because VMG is a sailing term.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so your passion for sailing has, you know, come over into your passion for helping others in business.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Velocity made good yeah. So let's talk about that. It's a fascinating concept from sailing yeah, right, that it's a fascinating concept from sailing right. And so how did this principle become a cornerstone for your approach to business leadership and coaching?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. When I knew I'd had this idea in the back of my head that I was going to start my own business and I knew that if I did, I wanted to call it VMG consulting or VMG coaching. It ended up as VMG solutions because that really fit, that I'm doing consulting and coaching and facilitating. But VMG as you've done your research is velocity made good, which what it means is the fastest course to success. So we take our hardware, which is our GPS, and in it is programmed the data from the boat and then we add to it the speed that we're traveling at, because it's doing that through the water, it's telling us that and then we add the destination, the waypoints in where we want to go to. So we specifically add into the GPS the route that we're going on, and what it does it's magic is to calculate for us the fastest course.
Speaker 2:So for those who are non-sailors, you can't sail directly in the direction you want to go. Fastest course from here to there, we think is a straight line. But in sailing you can't sail in a straight line from where you are to the course that you want to go to. You have to tack backwards and forwards and so you're on one tack, which is you think you've calculated as the fastest course to the the mark, and you're constantly looking at the data and the calculations that the machine is doing and at one point it will tell you that vmg starts to drop the number, the speed that you're doing towards the objective, and once it drops low enough, that's the decision. Like you never want to let your VMG be zero, because then you're making no gains on where you want to get to. If it's negative, then it might seem like you're going in the right direction, but you're absolutely not.
Speaker 1:So you're still, you're applying. I mean, in the world of business, we'd be talking about data and KPIs and and that's the absolute translation. It's the exact thing I mean you're taking data and you're setting milestones, and, and, and you're plotting your course based on that. So let's talk more about sailing. I, I, you know this, this. It's so amazing, see. I'm a, I'm a powerboat guy. I like to get from point A to point B as quick as I can in one straight line. I don't like tacking.
Speaker 2:No, and that's what happens. We can be out there on the race course on Pensacola Bay and these motorboats come right through the course that's me. You create wake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, I got yelled at one time.
Speaker 2:It slows us down. Yeah, you create wake. Yeah, I know I got yelled at one time. Slaves us down yeah, so if you see the sailboats, please go behind.
Speaker 1:When I was a young novice, I got yelled at and someone was like oh, you can't do that, you can't do that. I never have since Talk about a specific instance where you applied the concept of tacking or jibbing.
Speaker 2:Jibbing.
Speaker 1:Jibbingibbing, jibbing oh, I got it wrong. Jibbing now anyway um a specific instance where you applied either of those in your professional journey adjusting your course to achieve a long-term goal oh my goodness so this is a good loaded question, so let's take the professional journey yeah, there there's so many. Where have you had to tack or jibe? Your way through, through an instance of entrepreneurship or business leadership that helped you achieve the goal you were looking for. Is that a better way to put it?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, let's talk about life itself, because it kind of lends itself to the question of how I got here to Pensacola in the first place.
Speaker 2:And so there I was, on my course to success in the UK, which was as a barrister, and working my way up the chain in terms of getting more and more difficult cases, bigger cases, so that I could get the reputation that I needed to then apply to become a judge. That was my charted course to success. So if I was still in England and interestingly I did some research recently and a lot of my contemporaries have followed the same path that I had planned, which was to become a judge I'm a judge and then I am sailing in the Caribbean in a regatta and we went into an anchorage in the British Virgin Islands on our first practice day. We moored up next to a boat and there was this guy with this kind of sexy Elvis Presley voice and I was like oh, that sounds cute and turned and looked and this guy was kind of not my type and let's hope he doesn't listen to this. But no, we've been married for 22 years next month.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Obviously he is my type too, the love of my life. But yeah, there he was and he'll admit it. He had some you know, three days growth of beard and this, the worst Hawaiian shirt on in the world which apparently he was wearing for a bet. And he had these shorts with holes in which were apparently his lucky winning shorts when he was sailing oh wow.
Speaker 2:But oh my goodness, not what a girl when a girl looks over and kind of wonders about the guy, what you want to see. But anyhow, long story short, we ended up racing against each other in this regatta. Each day we got to know each other and we really, you know, we found each other interesting. We became friends and competitors on the race course and one day their boat would win and one day our boat would win. We ended up with the regatta. Our two teams this was team racing were tied on points for the overall regatta, which was a huge thing. These were teams from all over the world who had come to race in this, and my team won on the third tiebreak. So my team won the regatta, and I always say that he won me, which was the better prize.
Speaker 1:So then Is he going to listen to this.
Speaker 2:I might let. Well, he's heard this story a million times.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:I tell it on stage when I'm doing my keynote speeches or whatever. But yeah, and that was so. Then, obviously, my plan for what I was going to do in business I had to change because we fell in love and I decided that I wanted to move to the States to be here, and so then I had to wrap up my business. And so I wrapped up my business. I sold my house, I sold my car, I said goodbye to family and friends who all thought I was completely nuts and came to the States.
Speaker 1:Look at you now.
Speaker 2:Look at me now. I know I know. So it was a good move. You know it was a big risk, but my strategy was that I was going to do everything that it took to be successful over here, and that meant that I was going to get as involved in the community as possible, that I was going to build a network, that I was going to find people who I could help, because if you can come into a situation and network, build relationships and be helpful, that's when you can find not only for success the people you're helping but for you. It's like you're you know, in business it's kind of how you build your customer base right. You want to be as helpful to them as possible and then that gets you the client, or it gets you repeat business or it gets you referral. So that was my strategy when I came over here to just kind of embed myself as much as possible into the community, be helpful, do volunteer work, yeah, and just get started, let helpful do volunteer work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and just get started, let people know who you are. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, transparency is what I've always found to be the key. Yes it is, you know, is just show people who you are I love that. Yeah, you know I have to hide a few things about me, but no.
Speaker 1:I'm kidding, I'm an open book. Let's talk about those. But I'm kidding, I'm an open book. We don't want the cops knocking right, but I I think being an open book is the best way to be, because I think it builds trust and loyalty and and, honestly, uh, it's worked for me, it works for you. Um, I love that you. You've come down to the south and now you can combine your british accent with a little bit of a Southern twang, so that's going to be interesting as that gets more and more.
Speaker 2:And what's fun, tim, is that I forget the British words for things sometimes, and that really annoys me. And I can only remember the American word, and then sometimes I'll use the British word and people won't know what I'm talking about or they won't understand my British accent.
Speaker 1:How long have you been here? 22 years 22 years okay.
Speaker 2:Actually, it's 22 years tomorrow, Tim.
Speaker 1:I don't hear any Southern, I really don't, so you've worked really hard not to. Yeah, I got you. Hey, it works.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you.
Speaker 1:So we're going to go ahead and dive into our next beer, so you're going to have to finish that first one.
Speaker 2:I'm going to have to catch up. It's like being back at uni. It's like down that beer.
Speaker 1:It's okay. I've had requests when the ladies come on the show for vino and other things like that, and we try to know. I had you have to tune in to women and we did a women in leadership uh segment. We have a girl, uh, josie keck. She's from brazil, moved to the states with a thousand dollars in a suitcase wow, I bet that's a great story and I need to listen to that one. I just know you would love that show, so you should tune into it Fantastic Edge. What do we have?
Speaker 3:Alright, guys. Our next one is the Pensacola POG. It is kind of an oddball in our selection, but it's from Perfect Plain, the brewery in Pensacola. They describe it as a tropical sour conditioned with passion fruit, pink guava and orange puree. I was trying to go for something tropical Caribbean style for Rachel. Wow.
Speaker 1:That has a sour tangy.
Speaker 2:It doesn't taste like beer. That's dangerous, because you could just drink that kind of orange, orangeade, orange juice.
Speaker 1:It's almost like if you ever make a vodka drink by the pool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'd put a couple of ice cubes in there and drink it like a vodka drink.
Speaker 1:It's not my type of beer, but it's good. Yeah, it's very tasty. That, um, when I my initial reaction, which you probably saw on my face, I wasn't expecting the unexpected that sour bite yeah, and I love that we've got a local beer, because that's a great story too absolutely like prane brewing um, which used to belong to a local entrepreneur who is now the mayor, the mayor.
Speaker 1:Maybe you can help me get DC on this show. Yes, okay. I haven't reached out to him because I'm scared, honestly, oh my goodness, he'd be great. Maybe you could help me get him on the show, because I love-.
Speaker 2:He'd be on it.
Speaker 1:I love all the stuff he's been doing since he stepped into that role. He is an entrepreneurship journey.
Speaker 2:I mean, what a phenomenal entrepreneur, so he should be on the show.
Speaker 1:I just like how he creates realistic and we're not here to talk about this, but he creates realistic milestones for the community, instead of just saying, hey, we're going to do all these things. He's like we're going to reduce this by 20%. We're going to do this, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2:And he did a strategic plan. I was on the mayor's transition team.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so to look at the culture at the city and how engaged the employees were. So I studied the city. I met with different employees, different leaders within the different departments, and helped write the report on the culture of the city and made recommendations, which the phenomenal thing he was very intentional about the strategic report, wanting just in each area three or four actionable items. He didn't want this huge list and there could have been a huge list of things in each area.
Speaker 1:Had to be realistic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that he could actually put them into action. And that's what he's been doing. So he took that strategic plan from the Mayor's Transition Team and then he's been working through that and adding to it and he's currently doing a survey for Pensacola residents to chart the course for success for the next five years, so into 2030.
Speaker 2:So he is a really good businessman. He's translating that into how he runs the city so that he can just create a better place for us all to live, and he's doing it by having a strategic plan, by having waypoints by having KPIs by having measurables and holding people accountable for those, and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 2:And then building that engaged employee base, ie an ownership mentality within people who work for the city so that they're going the extra mile to do what it takes to achieve those outcomes. And great communication, that's the other thing. You can never please everybody when you're communicating and telling people what you're doing. But if you can be and this goes back to your point, Tim as much communication as possible, transparency when things go right, but also when things go wrong, to say, hey, this didn't turn out how we expected. My fault, I didn't do as good a job as I needed to, and so the communication that he is doing has been really good. The communication that he is doing has been really good the weekly press meetings to give information and answer questions, surveying constituents to hear from us and then sharing information back. So communication is one of the biggest downfalls when you look at businesses.
Speaker 1:I agree. You know he's always been a great communicator, leveraging social media, and he's a big Instagram user, and you know you made a point earlier and this is a good segue into segment two, which is going to talk about personal development. We just did an internal training in here. Actually, our VP of operations, brian Wilkie um, put together an entire slideshow for our amazing team just on how to. You know, years ago they taught you how to multitask. Multitasking was the thing, but it's not. It's the reverse of that. Your brain can only do so much. So he was talking about how he sets his desktop up and there's no paper on his desk. He refuses to have paper on his desk. He does everything electronically and because we're so crowded by the noise that comes in constantly the emails and the team's messages and all these things that you have to know how to tune that stuff out and focus on one thing at a time and achieve it and then move on to the next thing, and I think that's what you were getting at.
Speaker 1:I mean, dc limited his actionable items to what three, I think you said something like that and and being able to reasonably attack that, and then probably take them one by one.
Speaker 2:So what you've just described there, tim, is so important for listeners to hear if they're in business. And, interestingly, I did a training yesterday on communication for an organization and we talked exactly about what you're talking about, which is multitasking, which we used to put that on resumes as a good thing, I'm a great multitasker and that would be amazing.
Speaker 2:But, as you said, the research now shows that multitasking is really. You cannot effectively multitask. Our brains don't allow it and it takes so much time to refocus if we get pulled to one thing, to come back and refocus effectively on the thing that we're doing. So that training that was given to your team was hugely valuable and that's something I always recommend is switch off all the noise as you described it the notifications, the pinging emails, the blah, blah blah and people's question is always well, what if I miss something?
Speaker 2:You have to set the expectations on urgency of response and that's really critical. So if you can say to your team I do not expect a response to this communication, whether it's by email or instant message or text message, whatever it is, set the expectations. If it's an email, 24 hours is what I expect. If it's a text message, by end of day. If it's an, whatever it is, doesn't matter. A text message by end of day if it's an, whatever it is, doesn't matter. Just set the expectations and then allow people to turn those things off and check them on whatever interval you've said is okay for a response, so people can do what you mentioned, which is be able to focus on deep work and get things done, and your team you, your team will be incredibly more productive doing that than trying to multitask and have all these things pinging at them and it's just not productive at all.
Speaker 1:Well, the feedback that he got I mean incredible feedback and everybody was implementing or attempting to implement these things, including Kathleen. Yes, I was very excited when she was like I'm so excited to implement these things including Kathleen. Yes, I was very excited when she was like I'm so excited to do these things, so let's get into that beer. That tang is still sitting on my tongue.
Speaker 2:It has some dryness in there. If it was wine, I'd describe it as tannins, it puckered me up, I don't know. But obviously you don't haveness in there. If it was wine I'd describe it as tannins, but obviously you don't have that in beer. I'm not an aficionado, but there's definitely some tangs and dryness to it.
Speaker 1:So the power of coaching and personal development. What role does self-awareness play in personal development? This is a good one.
Speaker 2:And how do you help your clients cultivate that? That's a good one. And how do you help your clients cultivate that Our strengths is really important. That's part of self-awareness. Also, understanding where our blind spots are, that's a really important part of the self-awareness. To cultivate it, I use assessments. So doing assessments like Gallup StrengthsFinder, which is one of the ones I use with my clients when I'm coaching, is a great tool. So it's about having those tools in the toolbox. Assessments are really good because it gives you data based on your responses to questions. So it's hard to argue with. When you've given the responses to the questions, you can maybe say, well, I don't like it. When you're having a conversation with somebody and they're giving you feedback, you can argue with it based on it's their opinion, but when you've got assessments, you've got data. That's why I like them. So that's what I recommend to my clients is doing assessments like Strength Finder.
Speaker 2:I also use one called Management by Strengths, which I am certified to teach in, and that is phenomenal because it looks at our inborn, natural temperament. That's what it measures and, as you know, tim, 85% of the brain is formed by age three, 95% by age five. We can continue to learn and grow and develop our brain, but the inborn temperament is there by age five. So what does that mean? So we have traits, directness, extroversion, pace and structure. We all have them, we're all made up of them, but some drive us and drive our communication style, drive our work style, more than others. So knowing our temperament style through doing an assessment like management by strengths is going to help us become self-aware. So there's tons of them out there. Many of them are very good, but that's certainly something that I coach on is like let's do an assessment, let's do a CliftonStrength finder, let's do management by strengths, and then we can dig into them. And I do that in my coaching with clients.
Speaker 1:But define that, define self-awareness, what exactly you know? Tell the audience what exactly does that mean you know? Tell the audience what exactly does that mean?
Speaker 2:Self-awareness is about knowing and understanding how you come across to others, how you make others feel. So it's that awareness of strengths and weaknesses and how you come across and how you make others feel.
Speaker 1:So as we hire and build teams, you know not all teams gel together perfectly because of the personality traits.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And eventually you may have the perfect team based on how all that develops out, right Through training, building off self-awareness, doing the assessments, knowing where your weaknesses are.
Speaker 2:I'll add a caveat to that is that we're all human and so, even though we can do training, we can grow ourselves personally and professionally, we can have a high level of self-awareness, awareness. Nevertheless, sometimes we can revert back to our natural temperament or we can lose our temper, which happens in situations of stress, pressure, anxiety, fear, all those things, and that sometimes when conflicts can occur. However, if we have an understanding of self-awareness and a high emotional intelligence, then those can be mitigated, those circumstances where we have those conflicts, like any relationship, but they do happen, and then that's when we have to have an emotional bank account. So you have to going back to the start of our conversation.
Speaker 1:Oh no, this sits home with me.
Speaker 2:Building trust and having that trust with a person and them knowing that Tim Shoup's a really good guy.
Speaker 1:Early on, when I didn't have a high. I guess you call it emotional intelligence.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:If I didn't like something. Maybe I had a temper back in the day because I didn't know how to run a business. To be honest with you, this is 25 years ago and through the years doing assessments and learning on how to mature as a business owner and a leader, tim, when's the last time you saw me get emotional this morning? He's going to say this morning.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, everyone loses their temper from time to time. I haven't seen you become irrationally upset in a really long time, but I also think I know you pretty well at the same time. I mean just a couple years ago, I went through a pretty traumatic experience in my life and Tim Shoup was the first person I called and he took care of me and where was I when you called me. You were at your son's baseball game.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and he took my phone call and talked to me for about an hour on the phone to make sure I was okay.
Speaker 2:That's incredible, and so that's the difference, tim. You talked about how you may have reacted back in the day.
Speaker 1:Or Tim Edge. We've got two.
Speaker 2:Tims, just Tim edge. We've got two Tims. Just call him edge Edge. Okay, so edge probably would have never have called you back in the day because you didn't have the trust.
Speaker 2:You didn't have the emotional bank bank account. Now, when he was in a situation that was difficult, emotional, hard, he felt that he could call you and that's a testament to the fact that you had built that emotional bank account. You had built that trust with him that he could do that, and kudos to you for taking the call and listening and caring. Employees want to know, and this is one of the number one drivers of employee engagement is that employees want to know we care about them as a person and businesses never used to be run like that back in the day and that was a huge learning for me you talk about.
Speaker 2:You asked me the question, tim, like how have I pivoted or changed One of the things that I have done? Because naturally, I'm a very business-like person when I'm in the workplace and it's all business. But I had to understand that it was important to build the emotional bank account, that people wanted to know that I cared about them as a person, and so in order to do that, you have to talk about personal things. So in order to do that, you have to talk about personal things and as business owners or leaders, we're like I don't want to get personal right. We come to work, we're business-like. We leave the personal side at home. Now, of course, I'm not saying that we get into that every day, or it just depends Like you have to build a relationship, but that idea of caring and caring about the individuals who work for you and treating them like humans, putting the human back into business, is a real driver of employee engagement, and that's how much an employee is willing to go above and beyond for your organization.
Speaker 1:I think it trumps as far as employee retention. I think it trumps pay salaries and things like that. I mean, everybody needs to make money to live, but I really do think that that is one of the key drivers of employee retention is knowing your employees and understanding what matters to them and getting to know them as people, because we're all humans and we should care about one another.
Speaker 2:Absolutely nailed it. Yeah, and that's what the studies show. So you're spot on, tim.
Speaker 1:So how do you tailor your coaching to meet the specific needs of each client, considering the diversity of industries and backgrounds that you work with? Because you mentioned construction, there were several others.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Dive into a few of the industries that you work with and then lead into the questions. So how do you serve them all?
Speaker 2:I know it's interesting and I'm working with startups. Know a few of the industries that you work with and then lead into the questions.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so god, serve them all I know it's interesting and I'm working with startups.
Speaker 2:I'm working in healthcare, real estate, I'm this is a fun one I'm helping a magician here in pod, scholar um, grow his magician school um, both in person and online. The key is he wants to develop this online business school so that it'll be a worldwide um magic school. So that's really exciting. So, yeah, construction, so across the board. But what I do first is what I call the discovery meeting to chart the course to success. So the first thing I'll do with the client is a sit down three hour discovery meeting and I will ask a lot of questions to really get to know the client. And oftentimes this is a voyage of discovery for the client as well, because I focus not just on business goals Obviously that's important and we look at those, we look at the structure of the business and we look at what they want to achieve in the business over the next five to 10 years. But then I put that in context of life itself, because for me it's really important, and I think it should be important for business owners and leaders that we're creating a business that works for them, not them having to. And how do we create a business that is successful, so that they can employ people and help those people achieve their goals.
Speaker 2:So we sit down and we do this three-hour voyage of discovery to chart the course for success.
Speaker 2:And I've had laughter tears, you name it as we go through this process. But what we do is we take it from a 30,000 foot view of what 10 years might look like the best life ever might look like for them, down to five years, down to one year. And then we set those actionable goals, the waypoints what can we do in a one-year period to achieve what we need to to be able to get on that course for success? And then we break that down into shorter periods and smaller waypoints, as I call them because it's a sailing term. They're KPIs or measurables, doesn't matter, but we break them down into smaller periods, shorter variables, and figure out how we can realistically do them. And then my process with coaching and consulting is to be the accountability piece. That's the thing that really keeps people on track is having an external business coach or an external consultant to keep them on track, to hold them accountable, and and so that's what works we're we're seeing some great success with my clients.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to go off script here. You, you, you talked about tears and laughter, so Answer me this as business leaders ourselves, you're having to tell business leaders some information that they may not want to hear. They may not want to hear that you're not leading in the best way possible and they may get offended. Have you had that happen? I don't know if you can talk about that on here.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure no, because coaching is about having the person uncover the truth themselves.
Speaker 2:So, rather than telling which, as you described it, what I do through the coaching process is ask deeper and deeper questions. So a person will say how they handle the situation, for instance, and I'll ask a question about what the outcome was of that, and they'll tell me. And then I'll dig deeper and I'll ask them how it felt. And then we'll dig deeper and ask well, how did your employee feel about that? Or how did the team feel about that? Or how did the team feel about that? What was the outcome? Was it a good outcome? Was it a bad outcome? And eventually, through the coaching process, we get to the point where the client realizes that I could have handled that better, I could have done that differently. So they come to the self-realization and then we talk about well, what would that look like if you do it differently? And then we continue to coach so that they have a new process that they can put in place next time when the situation happens, if it happens.
Speaker 1:So it gives them better understanding it does, rather than just kind of say, maybe I am this person?
Speaker 3:Don't do that.
Speaker 2:Do this A lot of self-awareness. It is Absolutely, and that's a really big part of the coaching process is to help people understand that, and that takes time. It might not happen in the first coaching session. We have to have multiple coaching sessions to be able to get to that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. So before we jump into our next beer, I got one more question for you on this topic. What advice would you give to someone who feels stuck in their personal or professional growth, and how can coaching help them move forward? This is a good one. What do they do? Just call VMG?
Speaker 2:Call VMG. Yeah, is that the answer? It is the answer. Call me. And that's a lot of times what happens is people call me because maybe they're at a crossroads or they've got a big decision to make at a crossroads, or they've got a big decision to make somebody. I'll say, for instance, a person who has the opportunity for the next step, a big promotion that they might be going for, and so I'll coach them through, literally from doing role play for interview questions and that kind of stuff, so that they can achieve and I've had two really good successes with that how can they achieve the next step. And so, again, what we do is we'll sit down, we'll discuss Reflection is always good when you don't know, when you're at a point where you feel stuck.
Speaker 2:Reflection on the past, what's worked well, what you've learned from it, and then really a big thing, tim, is understanding what is going to make you happy, like what really matters to you. So if you're in business and you're trying to decide, do I want to sell my business? Well, let's look at the pros and cons of that, let's look at your value system and then let's look at what really matters to you in making the decision. Same if you're thinking of growing the business and acquiring businesses, we'll dig into the why behind you might want to do that and look at some of the decision making process and so, again, it's kind of a process of uncovering what the motivation is and looking at what the different outcomes might be for you and what really matters.
Speaker 2:So it really does help people get unstuck, whether they're it's a personal professional situation or it's a business situation and just having an external person to bounce things off, because coaching is completely confidential. So when I go to a business client who maybe has a hundred employees and I'm going to go and interview 20 of them who are in leadership and supervisor roles, I make it clear to the client, the owner, that I'm not going to share exactly what somebody has told me. I'm going to share an overview of the information that I've gathered to give them recommendations on things to do. So then when I'm talking with the person who's in the supervisor or the managerial role, again I said this is confidential, you can tell me anything that you want to. So it allows people to speak really freely because, you've got an outside consultant or an outside coach.
Speaker 1:Kind of like a business therapist.
Speaker 2:It is and we can brainstorm. At the end of the day, I'm going to bring you my 30 years of business experience and I'm going to kind of help you navigate, like we talked about, I'm going to provide you with advice but ultimately I'm going to help you make a decision that feels good and feels right to you, by gathering as much information as we can, as much data, doing the assessments, whatever it takes to make the right business decision at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:So, ladies and gentlemen, we're talking about VMG solutions. We're going to spend the last segment talking about what Rachel can do for you as a business leader, but before that, she needs to catch up on her beer drinking, and we're going to, we're going to hit the next beer edge. Take it away.
Speaker 3:All right. So our last beer is the Samuel Adams winter lager. Uh, from obviously the Samuel Adams Winter Lager, from obviously the Samuel Adams Bossom Brewer Company. It's brewed with cinnamon and an orange peel, no baking required. It's full-bodied flavors and a sweet, bright, flinging and unexpected twist.
Speaker 1:You don't have to drink that. You don't have to drink that.
Speaker 2:Sorry, ed, I interrupted you. It sounds yummy, so let's see. What do you think, tim?
Speaker 1:It's a winter beer. It is yeah.
Speaker 2:That's a good beer.
Speaker 1:I actually keep that in my cooler in the wintertime.
Speaker 2:It has a good news to it.
Speaker 1:Because we drink cold beer here in the States.
Speaker 2:Hey, I am a cold beer drinker. This is a lager right edge.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay, absolutely isn't it good, it's got a good yeah, well, I mean so you told me that you liked lighter beers and um you've liked both lagers that we had today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so because of our show, I know.
Speaker 1:You have opened up your palate.
Speaker 2:I have. To new and exciting, New and exciting things. This sort of reminds me I used to drink beer when I was at university in England, actually even kind of Pilsners and things like that, because they were cheap and you know that's funny. You could have a good time without having to buy too many of them, but this reminds me of that. It's a nice beer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's good, it's good. So we are going to get into our last segment and we are going to talk about what you can do for our audience that's listening out there. As you look to the future, let's start with this. As you look to the future, what trends do you see shaping the world of leadership and entrepreneurship, and how is VMG Solutions preparing to address that?
Speaker 2:Thank you for asking so well, there's quite a few trends that businesses need to be aware of and I hope are and what is shifting demographics? So we have five different generations in the workplace. I've been talking about this for many, many years.
Speaker 1:I knew where this was going to go.
Speaker 2:Because I've been talking about it for years and years and years and trying to be proactive and get businesses to understand that there are differences between the generations and what motivates them, and that's, of course, because of the experiences that the different generations have been through and how business operated differently back in the day. So and other things, because, interestingly you know, the boomer generation went through the world war. Doesn't matter which country you're in, you experienced the second world war and times were tough, and so having a job was something that you wanted to stay in one job, grow with the company and be there a long time, because there was so much instability in the world. That was what you wanted to do. So the boomer generation in general are more loyal to one organization. My husband has been with the company that he works for for 38 years. I know other people in that generation, so that's the you know. Tenure is generally longer when you move to Gen X, you know gen x you know the best generation.
Speaker 2:I know high five, um. You know we were the 80s and the 90s, so risk taking is something that kind of comes natural to us. We don't mind change as much. Obviously it it depends on our temperament, but that's the situation that we were in. We're still loyal. We still generally want to work for a company for a longer period of time, are behind us actually in terms of the number of people born. That's the other thing. The boomer generation was big. Gen X was really 10 million people less. I think you and I were in the same workshop that talked about that. So we've got a huge gap. And then you've got Gen Y and Gen Z and interestingly that's another situation with the worldwide pandemic that changed that generation's view on what was important and what success looked like. And this is a big part.
Speaker 2:Hybrid or working from home is one of the one of the things that's a big part of my coaching, because for a boomer, what success is and for what? A gen y or gen z or gen z plus whatever is happening now, it's very different and that is flexibility and being able to work from home, and maybe the benefits are more important than the pay and time off and the opportunity to maybe do my side hustle as well. So we have to understand the different motivators of different generations. That's really important. We have to be able to allow for those generational differences and you mentioned a very specific one, which is working from home versus working from the office, and for some organizations they had to embrace it because of the pandemic and people work from home. And then it and it was like, oh, this is great, everybody's being productive.
Speaker 1:But then gradually it's like, ooh, but I don't really like it and it was like, oh, this is great, everybody's being productive, but then gradually it's like, ooh, everybody's pulling back.
Speaker 2:But I don't really like it. I want people to be in the office because I need to see them, to know that they're being productive. Well, good for you, because you're going to be one of the successful businesses.
Speaker 1:We're leveraging technology to bridge that gap. Technology to bridge that gap and I think everybody should, because why do I have to physically be somewhere if I can mentally do the job and communicate with everybody?
Speaker 1:everybody in that other room and and all of our employees are constantly on video throughout the day on one of their monitors with their team, and then their other monitors are used for their work, so they're constantly collaborating. They don't have to physically I don't need to touch, you know be able to be that close. I can communicate with you through video just as well. The technology has changed everything.
Speaker 2:See, I love that, Tim, because you know, because you've been at the cutting edge of technology and you've always been forward thinking and what you've been able to do because you're in the industry is really leverage it effectively. And you're absolutely right. But we do, as humans, need connections, so I love that people are on video and being able to see each other and interact with each other.
Speaker 1:I'm sure occasionally you have people come into the office and maybe you have team events that you do, we do, we do a hybrid in Pensacola but the rest of our folks around the country are all remote. But we bridge that gap through, like I said, through video and other events, in-person events.
Speaker 2:Human connection is important, but leveraging technology to bridge that gap is the way to go.
Speaker 1:So let's stay on that. I'm not going to cut you off. You can't be on the show without talking about technology, so we just use this as a segue to get you to talk about. What role does innovation play you knew I had to go here In your approach to coaching and consulting, and how do you encourage your clients to innovate within their organizations?
Speaker 2:Outstanding.
Speaker 2:I love the question. It's great. Well, it's about pushing the boundaries and understanding that the world is changing at this phenomenal rate. And I'm going to go back to sailing, because what's happening right now, at the moment, is we're 2024 for people who may be listening in the future is we're 2024 for people who may be listening in the future is the America's Cup, which is the biggest sailing competition in the world. There are seven teams competing right now and they're doing it in these boats that have an incredible amount of technology in them and when you compare to the average sailing boat, it's just apples and oranges, night and day. And when we originally got these, they're foiling boats, which means that they come up and out of the water, because the biggest thing that or not the biggest things one of the things that we have to take into account when we're sailing is the drag of the water along the edge of the boat.
Speaker 2:It slows you down so decrease the resistance yeah so you're trying to all the time decrease that resistance. What they've done in this technology has found a way to bring the boat up and out of the water in what we say called foil. I asked the question of the team captain two years ago, when the race was on four years ago, I'm sorry whether this technology was going to translate from this like mega billionaire type situation to the average boat, and he was like no, there's no way, it's too expensive, technology is too difficult, blah, blah, blah. But the reality is in that four year period it's translating down to him and what's really going to be interesting, over the next five years even, is to see how that comes into the industry and here in Pensacola and Escambia County and the surrounding area, we should be very excited about that because it's all tech, it manufacturing, all the different things of utilizing this new technology, and it's going to translate into our everyday life. So that's from my sailing perspective. And then, when I look at it, when it comes to business, ai is the biggest thing right now that is affecting businesses and can help with efficiencies.
Speaker 2:Ai I've never heard of that. No, I'm sure you haven't. I know again, tim, that you're at the cutting edge of it, but artificial intelligence. But I mean, you know, you will probably know way more about it than me. I use it to run or to help run my business and some people are scared of it, some people are worried about it, but the business that can embrace it and learn how it can do some of the more mundane tasks that take a lot of time, it's going to create efficiencies on time to do some of the mundane things. So that's what I'm talking to my clients about. Where can they find efficiencies? By using AI, for instance, leveraging it, and I know you're using it in your business. Tell us about that, tim.
Speaker 1:There's different ecosystems when it comes to AI. I mean, when you're talking about chat, gpt and you're talking about the public domain, like that, when you're teaching it, when you're asking it to do tasks for you, it maintains that history so it can learn from the history. The problem is that's in the public domain. So, if you know, from a security perspective, not a great thing when you're talking about vital statistics within your company. Microsoft has developed Microsoft Copilot, which sits within the Microsoft ecosystem and it eradicates the. It pulls data from all your different systems within that ecosystem to be able to deliver the task, but it eradicates the question as soon as it's done, so it doesn't leave a trail. So, from a security, I'm always looking at the security perspective.
Speaker 2:Well, I was talking to a doctor client about their medical practice and they've been using it, but obviously they can't use it with any sensitive client information. But there are systems that are being developed that will be HIPAA compliant, and so we were talking about then well, what can we use those systems for that are HIPAA compliant? To be able to help back office staff. And so, interestingly, in the medical profession, what we were talking about is, for instance, reading MRIs, reading x-rays. That's all going to be done by AI very quickly. You know the future, but the future is now Stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Well, they implemented EMR electronic medical records years ago through all those different systems.
Speaker 2:They do, but then having them talk to each other is the problem. And so, again going back to that situation, with a medical practice, for instance, what could create huge efficiencies is the doctor can be with the client, can have AI record what he's saying, can summarize concisely the notes, can automatically send in the request for the MRI or the x-ray, or whatever it is, accurately and effectively. It can send in the request for medication for the prescription accurately and effectively, all securely, hipaa compliant.
Speaker 1:This isn't in place but you still have to go physically in to get that done. The future in my head you walk into your bathroom and you step into a pod or whatever it might be. I mean, it's part of your bathroom and it's connected. I mean they have telemedicine now. They do, so it's connected to your doctor and your doctor's collecting all their vitals you don't even have to go in and get labs anymore.
Speaker 2:You step onto your smart scale.
Speaker 1:Well, I do that now and it tells me what I don't want to hear.
Speaker 2:I know we have the app, but it gathers all this data about us that we could send that straight, you know. So there's so many different ways, but the key is, when I'm working with clients, to kind of dig in to find where we can find it. You know, look at efficiencies when are their roadblocks, where are they being slowed down? Where? Is productivity slowing down. Can we give the human individual the skills they need to be able to do better and be more productive? And if we can't, is there technology that we can?
Speaker 1:leverage. So let's end this segment with one quick question For those out there, those business leaders out there that are hesitant to embrace change or take bold steps towards their future goals. Look into any of those cameras out there and tell them what they need to do.
Speaker 2:You need to call me. Thanks for setting me up with that one.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:Call Rachel Gillette. Email me at vmgsolutions at gmailcom because we can have a conversation and that's what I do. Dot com because we can have a conversation and that's what I do. First time people to email me at VMG solutions at gmailcom. We will have a free call, we will do one of my shortened discovery sessions and I'll see how I can help you. Because that's what drives and motivates me is how can I help people and especially how can I help business owners and leaders, because they are the heartbeat of any community, and so if we can have great businesses and create great places to work where people actually enjoy working, that's a huge driver of mine.
Speaker 2:Business doesn't have to suck the life out of you, whether you're the owner of the company or you work for the company. It should be a place that we enjoy going to, that we feel the leader cares about us Empowers you to want to do more. Yeah, that we have people that we like to work with, that we feel empowered, that we're doing something that makes a difference, and so that's what VMG Solutions and Rachel Gillette is all about.
Speaker 1:All right, something new that's been on our show. We're going to finish the show with seven rapid-fire questions. Here we go. Number one take a swig.
Speaker 2:Take a swig. This is to give me more time. You know? Just go ahead.
Speaker 1:All right. What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Speaker 2:Take a pause before answering. And did you see? I didn't take a pause, but that is a phenomenal piece of advice, because when something happens, we often go into this sort of reaction mode. We often go into this sort of reaction mode and that first reaction whether it's and self-awareness comes in is really thinking about what that response should be. So take a pause, take a breath, count to ten.
Speaker 1:Mine came from my wife.
Speaker 2:Of course, when.
Speaker 1:I was between two businesses.
Speaker 2:This was her advice, I think, kathleen, yeah. She said suck it up, put your big boy pants on and go back to the drawing board Only your wife or your very best friend or a trusted coach can tell you that, but yeah, Kathleen's amazing Number two.
Speaker 1:what's a hobby you've always wanted to learn?
Speaker 2:That I've always wanted to learn, that I've always wanted to learn Goodness. That is a tough question. I need to take a pause. I'd like to paint. Paint all right, I'd like to be, I think, if I don't think I'd be very good at it, but that shouldn't hold me back and that's kind of one of my things like progress over perfection. Painting would be therapeutic and you create something, say painting.
Speaker 1:All right, I think mine would be getting more involved in filmmaking.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Love filmmaking. If you could sail we're getting on sailing anywhere in the world, which it sounds like you already have. Where would it be?
Speaker 2:I think it would be somewhere like Bali.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, somewhere like really exotic, really interesting, maybe the Galapagos Islands. I know people who have been to the Galapagos Islands and how interesting and amazing. So, yeah, somewhere like that.
Speaker 1:See, mine would be on a cruise and I'd be on the…. Pampered, I'd probably either do a river cruise over in Europe or go to Alaska. I'd like to do an Alaska cruise.
Speaker 2:Wouldn't that be interesting to see. And and that landscape is disappearing, so seeing glaciers, and it's on my.
Speaker 1:it's on my list, it's on my bucket and the um.
Speaker 2:the Northern lights, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:What's one thing on your speaking of bucket list? What's one thing on your bucket list you haven't done yet?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, there's so many things, there's so much travel that I want to do so. I would love to go and explore New Zealand.
Speaker 1:New Zealand.
Speaker 2:I've always wanted to go to New? Zealand?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were just talking about New Zealand in the last episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were Okay, so that's definitely on my bucket list.
Speaker 1:You know when I came out of bootcamp, you fill out what's called a dream sheet. When you go into bootcamp. You fill out the top three places you'd like to go to be assigned and go to your duty station, and I had Germany, new Zealand and Hawaii on there. They sent me to Oklahoma. Shows how much they like you In the Navy.
Speaker 2:You know the other thing that I want to do. I like speed and I would really like to drive a very fast car, maybe a Porsche, around the track. And I know that you've done that, haven't you?
Speaker 1:yeah, I have raced uh uh BMWs on a track up and there's, there's a Porsche track in uh Atlanta. Atlanta, I know and one of my um colleagues. Uh, he races there he has a 911 that he races on he. He ran into a wall and broke his ribs. He's in his 60s. We talk all the time.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, that's on my bucket list. I would love to do that.
Speaker 1:Coffee or tea.
Speaker 2:Depends on the time of day You're from.
Speaker 3:England. I am a tea drinker in the morning and then I like coffee.
Speaker 1:I'm coffee Coffee. How do you take your coffee Black? Yeah, unless I'm at Starbucks.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 1:Then it's got some kind of caramel. Whatever my daughter, she's 11. It's all about Stanley Cups and Starbucks.
Speaker 2:Stanley Cups and Starbucks.
Speaker 1:That's trendy. I've got two more. What's your go-to snack during a long day of sailing?
Speaker 2:Well, I love chocolate.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I always have to have some chocolate supplies on the boat, and so I'll go and grab a little chocolate snack, and when I'm on watch at night, I make sure that I come up and I have oh, that's funny in either pocket just to chocolate to give me some english chocolates or american chocolates, because they're different, they're very different.
Speaker 3:They're very different.
Speaker 2:Prefer english chocolates I'll have to say yes definitely, but they're hard to get.
Speaker 1:Not totally Americanized yet Dark chocolate.
Speaker 2:I like dark chocolate, that's my favorite, it's dark Last question.
Speaker 1:Last question and you can take a pause. Okay, take a step.
Speaker 2:Cheers Chin chin.
Speaker 1:What's your go-to music choice when you're sailing? Because I know you guys are rocking out out there, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, we do, and that's a great question too, because you're asking about my go-to choice. But here's what I'm going to say as I'm trying to buy time and think of who I like to listen to. The person who is driving the boat gets the choice of what they listen to Talk about team building and caring about the team and I sailed with another. I'll tell you this story too. I sailed with somebody else and they talked all about how they had, you know, xm radio, and we could listen to all these different channels and you could listen to what you wanted to. Well, we could listen to what we wanted to, as long as he liked it. So I'm not kidding you, tim, we would put the radio on the station that we wanted is this your husband?
Speaker 2:no, no, he and I actually like different music, but we like some of the same things. But yeah, and then he would change it. Like you'd be listening to a song and this guy would change it and you'd be like, oh my gosh, but um gosh, I like a huge variety of music dire straits, the. Of course I've got to have some good old T-Swifty on there. It depends what we're doing and what's happening at the time, but usually, yes, some kind of good motivational, maybe some rock and roll, all this stuff. I'm easy to please. You know me, tim.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you everybody for getting nerdy with us for an hour and joining us with our special guest, rachel Gillette with VMG Solutions. This has been such a great and inspiring.
Speaker 2:It was so much fun. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, usually everybody starts having fun once they've gotten a few fears in them, yeah.
Speaker 1:But thank you for getting nerdy with us for an hour. Don't forget to tune in to our next episode, where we will be getting nerdy with someone new. Thank you, cheers. My fellow nerds and beer lovers. Stay tuned for more Nerds on Tap. Oh, and one more thing Help us spread the nerdy love and the love for grape brews by sharing this podcast with your friends, colleagues and fellow beer enthusiasts. Let's build a community that embraces curiosity, innovation and the enjoyment of a cold one.
