Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome back. This is Ricky Chavez with Battle Ready. The process of reinventing yourself, you know, in people's lives, a lot of things go on good, bad. And, you know, it's not what happens. It's just, how do you react to what you do? Today we have on the show a really good friend of mine, a lady I've known for a long time, and if I was to be brutally honest, she was the first person that hired me, took a chance on me when I retired from the army. It's Annette Monks, the executive director for Nora's Home. How to get that right. Welcome. How you doing?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Thank you. We were desperate. We had to hire somebody.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: You know what? I totally get it. And I still remember that interview to this day. But, you know, that was 23 years ago or something like that. Long time. And it's just amazing how both of our careers and our lives have, you know, gone different directions. You've done a lot of amazing things, but now you're at Nora's home. Do you want to tell me a little bit about that?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah. You know what? I'll give you a scenario. So have your kids ever had strep throat?
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Okay, so let's say one of your kids comes home with strep throat, and they just can't knock it. I mean, it just keeps coming back. It keeps coming back, and then it goes to their heart, and then it gets to the point where it damages their heart so much that you have to have a heart transplant.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: But you're not anywhere around a place that does transplant, so you have to travel. So you travel to another city, another country, another whatever, and you don't know anyone there, but you have to be there for months on end. So that's pretty scary. You know, you have to stay somewhere. You can't stay in the hospital the whole time, because before a transplant, you have lots of testing to do. After a transplant, you have to be there to make sure that you're not the medicine, you're not rejecting your organ.
So where do you go? That's where we come in. So Nora's home gives affordable housing to people who are transplant patients or their families for long periods of time. And, you know, our mission is to ensure that we don't turn anyone away for their inability to pay. So we're here for them.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: You know, I remember when you told me about that, and I'm like, tell me about that. I remember what you said. I think you said something like, you know, Ronald McDonald's house. We're like, that for the transplant patients. Right.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Specifically for transplant.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: And I thought that was pretty amazing. You know, it's. It's funny. And I think I told you the story that I was taking up one of my clients, and I was downtown or actually in the Bel Air, I went to eat with the doctor, and he introduced me to a transplant surgeon. Now, you know, I've never met one before, and yuch is there. And I think we talked about this. When you buy that car that nobody's ever seen, you never seen, and all of a sudden, you buy it, you're on the road, and it's everywhere.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: So now you're out there just letting everybody know about it, letting everybody know.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: About Nora's home and about organ donation.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: How important that is. The first thing they let me do when I started with Nora's home was to watch an organ transplant. So I watched a live organ transplant where a daughter was giving her kidney to her dad. And it was pretty cool. It was amazing.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Pretty emotional, I'm sure.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: With the family and everything.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And, you know, at our home, besides just having a place for people to stay, which is important, it's got to be cle. The ventilation's got to be right. All those things have to be right. But we also, you know, people meet each other. We even have a couple who met there. And so it's really cool when they come back for test. You know, they come back for clinic every year, and they're now a couple, and they're getting married, and they met there, which is really cool.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Oh, wow. So you never know.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: You'll meet somebody, you know, and, like. And we have lots of groups that come out to do things for the. For the people, the recipients, and the families. And last night, we had a gentleman come out, bring pizza to everybody, and then he. His brother plays guitar, and they just sat and played guitar for two hours and visited with the group of 40 people from the home. So it's really cool, man.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: That's amazing. You know, I think about it and your journey to get here, and part of this story and part of this show is about reinventing yourself. So this is, like, way different than what you did in the past, I guess.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Yes and no.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Because I was in the staffing industry, as you know, for 34 years, and I kind of moved up through the ranks in the staffing industry and worked for international companies and for a regional firm, and it's kind of altruistic as well. I mean, if you think about it, you want to Help find people jobs. You want to help companies find great people. So a lot of people who are in staffing have that, you know, want to give kind of mentality.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: But also want to make money kind of mentality.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: And so, you know, I think you asked me before, you said, well, were your friends surprised, you know, when you made the change?
And the answer was no. I mean, they weren't surprised at all. They were super excited for me. And it fits kind of into kind of my. My nature. And so how I manage is very similar to how I would work in a volunteer kind of a nonprofit. So no surprise to them.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Okay. And how hard was the decision? Because. I know. And we'll come back and one of our. Another one of our next shows, we'll talk a little about the transition. But how is the transition going for you? I mean, it's different. Yes. The giving is there, but just. It's really a different kind of giving, right?
[00:05:30] Speaker B: It is. It's interesting. Usually when you're selling something, you have a product or a service and you sell it, and there's the values there. Here we provide this service, and we're asking for donations. And so that's new. And it, quite frankly, for me, is easier. There are so many people in Houston, really, all over the US who are so generous, and I had no idea that this world was out here, that there was. The philanthropy was so big, and people are very, very kind. It's not competitive.
It's, you know, everybody. Everybody helping everybody. It's such a great, great culture.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. I remember actually probably a month or so ago when you and I were talking about your position.
Adam was one of my shows before, and I introduced you and Adam, and you guys kind of do the same thing for different organizations. And I remember sitting there watching you guys and listening to you guys talk. It was an amazing conversation.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: We were talking that nonprofit talk.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Yeah, it was Russian to me. But, hey, you know, it's always good to learn a different language, right?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: But I think the amazing part to me is how freely you guys shared.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Yes, yes. We really want to help each other to be successful.
And, you know, in our industry, I felt that way about other organizations that were staffing. I really did. And I wanted to help my friends be successful because there was enough business for everybody. But not everybody thinks that way.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Well, you know, and that's. I think that's a good fact. And one of the points we're going to get out of this show is it's not how much you do, but it's how much you help. And help doesn't mean just your organization, but there's a right person for every job and a right person for every organization. And you may or may not know that right person, but if you network with like minded people, everybody wins. Right? It's a win win.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: I agree. Yes.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: And that's, I think, and I learned that from you way back when when I came out of the army, fresh out of the army. I'm sitting in the office with you, we're talking and I was just a yes, go, yes, do yes. And you kind of, you kind of use that. I can remember that, you know, I.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Just remember you saying, oh, you mean you can have sick days. Remember that?
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Oh yeah, that was, that was my amazing, my amazing transition. I didn't even know that existed, you know?
Yeah, I still that man. Sick days, sick days, sick days.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Not for you, you don't get sick days. Everyone else gets sick days.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: And one of the things about this show is talking and hopefully the people that are listening to it and finding time to review our show, some things like this is just amazing because one of the things I do also is I help transitioning servicemen and women come to the civilian world. And we've been doing this for anywhere from two to three to 20 to 30 years. And it's like, what's really out here? What do we do? And I remember, I mean, if we, if I talk about our relationship at that time, it was just these worlds colliding.
I remember you were single at the time and we were sitting there talking and we ended up talking about your boyfriend at the time, who's your husband now, Scott. And we were down mid downtown and he worked in the northwest side of town and he ended up being my son's teacher. That's how small the world is. So I think as long as you put good out, you get good back. Right?
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Yeah. And you know what? 100% of the time you don't always get it back. And that's okay. Don't be upset the times you don't get it back because ultimately more often than not you get something good. I mean, we just can't be discouraged when we can't think quid pro quo.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Right? You know, no tit for tat. Right?
[00:09:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: No. So I totally agree with that. And I think that's kind of what or why this show came about. You know, it's because, I mean, especially during COVID and I know you was out there doing your thing in the staffing World Covid. It's so many people were transitioning in and out of their positions, working from home, working at the building. Nobody knew what's going on. A lot of people got laid off. Nobody knew what to do. It was kind of a. You don't know what you don't know, so you don't know what to go find. And if you've been with a company for 30 years or 20 years or even 10 years, and all of a sudden you're back on the market, you know, it was people like yourself that could help them transition because you were finding work for people in jobs that were more usable for the COVID environment at the time.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Right. And some people are very narrow, you know, in terms of the kind of job they want. They're very.
Their scope is narrow and sometimes it's good to open it up. I mean, I'm in a non profit now.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: No, no, 100. 100. And I think that's. I was having a conversation with my transaction coordinator, Day, and I was talking to her about some of another thing I wanted her to do, and she says, well, you know, I wasn't thinking about doing that because, you know, I wanted to kind of stay in my lane and I want to make sure that it can differentiate the depositions. And then I basically said, well, I think it's really important that you don't pigeonhole yourself. You know, if you get the opportunity for more experience, do it. I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen?
[00:10:59] Speaker B: It's amazing how it applies somewhere else, right? You know, so the more you do, you know, growing up, my dad had us get involved in everything. I never thought I would end up taking taekwondo as a girl who was a cheerleader on the dance team, but it really rounded me out and I met different people and I got more confidence when I was out there by myself. So it was very helpful.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate we're coming to an end of our show again, guys. It's just you never know who's out there to help you, who's out there to be available, and there's opportunities for you to find something that can fulfill you.
But you got to open the doors, open the gates, and give yourself an opportunity. Thanks a lot for your time. We're going into a commercial. Look forward to talking to you when you get back.
Welcome back, It's Ricky Chavez with Battle Ready. You know, it's the process of reinventing yourself, and at any given time, no matter where you are in your life, you can transition into another life by Just being open, you know, and reinventing yourself. You have to be open to that. You can't pigeonhole yourself. In one of our previous segments, I had an amazing young lady out of Nora's home, and I have to always think about that when I say that, so she don't correct me. But anyway, and Nora's home, and we talked a little bit about what she does there, and we're welcoming back to the store. Talk a little bit about her transition. Hey, Annette, how are you today?
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Hey, great. Thank you.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Well, we talked about. In the other segment you like. I got that.
The other segment about how now where you're at in Norris home and the philanthropy part and, you know, still serving, just a different kind of serving. Right. But prior to that, you were in the staffing industry for ever and ever. I'm gonna keep saying that, but for a long time and kind of talk us through what prompted that change.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: You know, it's interesting. A lot of times you look back on your life after you've made a change, and then you can identify why you did it. You know, while you're in it, it's kind of harder to do. But when I was in staffing, I was so busy, you know, it's kind of a rat race. Just work, work, work, work, work. I enjoyed it so much. But for sure, one of the things that drove me was my value system. And so I managed using my value system, and I made decisions that weren't always popular with my managers, that were over me and people under me. But the fact is, I wanted to always be fair. I wanted to be honest. I wanted to do the right thing. Do the right thing was always the way, the value that I used when I made decisions. I found that moving into nonprofit is do the right thing. And so it's not surprising to people that I moved into it for that reason. But to get here, you know, I don't think when I thought my next position I wanted to be a nonprofit, I'm going to go to nonprofit. It was suggested to me by a dear friend. And so a dear friend said, annette, you know what you really need to do? This is what you need to do. You need to go into this position. I'm going to refer you over to them. They have an open role right now, and you would be perfect for it. And along the way, you know, it makes sense because I volunteered on boards. I was the chair of the Health Museum, and I was involved in the Greater Houston Partnership, and I did a lot of things in nonprofit. I just never Worked for a nonprofit, so I knew how they worked. So I was. I guess if you look back, I was working my way to the point where that transition would be easy, both in terms of my culture, my. My value system, as well as just knowledge. So, yeah, that's why it was so natural.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: Okay.
When people are at that place in their lives to make transition. And it's very scary, you know, it's very scary. I can tell you that my wife was at Coca Cola forever, and I think she would have died at Coca Cola, but an event happened. So it put her into where she's at now, and she's just thriving. And, you know, you had a lot of things going on in your life also at that time, right?
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: And it's amazing that all the stuff on your personal life didn't take you a different direction. Do you feel okay about talking about that a little bit?
[00:15:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And let's even back that up in terms of personal life and disappointments.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: So, you know, along the way, 34 years in the industry, I'll be honest about that, started at 5 years old, right?
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: But during that time period, things happened that really disappointed me. And so either my position was eliminated or someone got a promotion over me, or something happened, and you can either be angry about it or you can go, you know what, that's just business. And not take it personal. And people don't mean to hurt your feelings or to cause you pain. They just. It's business. Sure. So when things have happened to me along the way, I've just thought, you know what? It's business. And usually they're pretty good to you in terms of transitioning.
But we've talked about this. Something better always had came along.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: I think that's 100% right.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: You know, as long as you accept.
[00:16:21] Speaker A: It and you're open to it. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I know. That's always a scary one, Right.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: I mean, if you keep looking back, oh, I had this, I had this, I had this. You don't even know what's out there for you. But if you just. If you think these are my skills, this is what I can do, let me just network with everybody I know, and something's going to happen, and it always does. So in terms of professional disappointments, there were many.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: But personally, you know, over the last seven years, during this time period, crazy things. You know, when all the floods happened, we had 4ft of water, 9ft of water, 14ft of water in my house in 16 months. So we rebuilt the house several times. And you helped me get out of that house and get another house.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: That's a whole different thing. I remember that.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: And then my husband had two knee surgeries. Not just knee surgeries, knee replacement surgeries. He had a heart surgery, he had a stroke. And now, 37 months ago, he was diagnosed with brain cancer, glioblastoma. It's pretty aggressive, but he is thriving. You've seen him.
It's amazing how tough he is. Having been an ex Olympic athlete, that probably helps.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Yes, for sure.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: You know, he. So he's inspiring to me. But you know what? That can be distracting, and it can make a difference in how you make decisions for your family, you know, as we move forward. So I was, you know, my husband has brain cancer, my mother, elderly mother, is living with us, and I lose my job.
That's frightening to me.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: But, you know, all I can do is just trust the fact that, you know, I have a lot of friends that I network with. I've got people, something's going to happen, something good is going to happen, but I can't just sit on the couch and pout. I mean, I have to get out and make it happen.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: So, you know, so you said some things that really resonate with me. You have a lot of good friends that work with you, that network for you, to help you, but there's also people out there that, you know, they're good people, you like them, but they're not always positive influences. Do you have any? Have you ever had any in your life?
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Sure. You know, and. And sometimes it's the whole gaslighting thing, or sometimes it's. They're just, you know, that they are not. That their value system is not the same, we'll put it that way. And you can still be nice to those people. My son has a great saying, I got nothing but love for you. You know, he's like, there's no reason, though, to continue to keep them in your close network if they just continue to, you know, spew negativity. I mean, you just can't. You can't have that in function, you know, for a long period of time in a healthy way. So when I've had those people, nothing but love for them. But, you know, I also don't prioritize them.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Events with is. A lot of people are afraid, and it might even be a good word to be afraid, but afraid to be alone. But if they're, you know, they open their arms, they go out there, they meet friends, they network. And I think one of the things I always say about network, a lot of people feel like in networking, they need to have immediate results. But the reality is you network with people because you like to meet people, and they may know somebody that needs to know you.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: Right, right. I mean, you're right about that. We used to say we're not going on a networking thing to shag orders. You know, it's like to give business. In reality, you're going out there just to be known and to help others, and you do that a lot. So when you're out there, don't try to. Hey, bam. Card. Card, Card. It's more like, meet one or two people, get to know them. How can you help them? And naturally it'll come in return. And if it doesn't, so what? You help them.
It's great.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: And it's also all about timing. I mean, if you always leave a good taste in somebody's mouth, why wouldn't they find something out and get back with you? I think we're talking about Instagram a little bit earlier. You're like, I don't know this. Why is it? Why do people use it? Whatever. And I was telling you about. I was in a meeting yesterday, and I'm a real estate. I'm a Realtor by trade, but I was in a class, and we're talking about marketing, and the guy's like, what do you do? Because I open my phone, and you're all over my Instagram. Lucky for me, I have somebody that I pay that does it really well. But the key here was the house that I had came out, and he had a client for it. So going back to. With you, with Nora's home, it's like, you get it out, and you have such a big network, and when people pop on in, they're like, oh, my God, I didn't even know that. Like, I didn't really. I didn't never know about Nora's home until you mentioned it to me. I would never had an idea. And to be brutally honest, on my Texas driver's license, organ donor says no, but that will change.
I'll say.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: Oh, it's funny you say that, because Donate Life is coming up. April is Donate Life month, and there are 4,000 people in Houston alone waiting for a kidney.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Really?
[00:21:19] Speaker B: And we can donate kidneys. I mean, we've got two, so we can donate. And I've actually seen the surgery, and it's just so incredible. But if you think about it, you know, that's just giving life to someone else. Just, you know, and you can you can either donate a kidney in a, we call it Good Samaritan or non directed or you can donate for someone else and then they'll get a kidney for you. I mean, people wait years for this, really. And then they're on dialysis, waiting. It's tough. So you don't have to be on a gurney to donate.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: Okay, fair enough. I think I have no idea why I always put no shame on, you know, why.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: I think one of the myths in the past was that doctors will let someone die who has, you know, organs or they may not try as hard or, you know, there are things that I've heard like that and, and it's simply not true. I mean, doctors, they first and foremost are going to help the patient that they have right there for sure, 100%. And so, and there are lots of laws and stipulations and I mean, there's a whole moral code, I mean, the whole thing around just ensuring that there's no way one can help this one patient before even going down that road. But people can also donate, be a living donor, you know, and obviously kidney is the easiest one, but even part of your liver.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Really?
[00:22:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So there's some pretty exciting stuff.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Well, I need to lose some weight. I don't know if that's the right way to do it, but I appreciate the thought. But you know, everybody. Danelle, why don't you tell somebody how they can donate real quick?
[00:23:02] Speaker B: Well, oh, well, lots of ways. But you know what you can do? You can go. There's a great website called badgeofhonor.com and it has all the information you need for donating. Or you could go to Nora's home and there's some information there, but either one of those would give you some good feedback on what to expect.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: Well, listen, I appreciate you as always being on the show. Love our conversations, everybody. It's been a pleasure talking with you guys. We look forward. We're getting ready to go into commercial. We'll be back soon as possible.
Hey, welcome back. Ricky Chavez with Battle Ready. It's the process of reinventing yourselves. You know, on a lot of our shows, we've had a lot of different clients or people that have talked to us about, you know, their journeys, you know, from wherever they are to wherever they are now to where they're going. And once again, we have an amazing guest on. I've known her for a long time. I've seen her in the staffing industry. I also know her now at Nora's home, we have Annette Monks. Hi, Annette.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: Hello.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: So we talked quite a bit in the different shows on just your different direction that you've had. And one of the things that I've always appreciated about you is your availability, not only a mentor, because I know a couple times, you know, throughout the years, I had some bumps and bruises through my careers, and I reach out to say, and we talk a little bit, and, you know, I want to talk to you a little bit about mentoring. Talk to me, you know, what's your thoughts on mentoring and finding a mentor as yourself?
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Finding a mentor or being a mentor?
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Kind of both.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: Okay. So it's. Everybody, hopefully has a champion in their life, you know, who will be there simply to see you succeed, not for the purpose of helping them to succeed, if that makes sense. Sure. So sometimes, you know, your person that is your champion may not be in your company or they may not even be in your industry. So a lot of times you can join groups that have people who can be your mentors formally, or you can just find someone that you admire, and you're like, I like the way they operate. Not just the position they're in, but how they operate.
Ask them and just say, is it possible that from time to time, you know, I could come to you and just learn from you? And not a big formal program where you're filling out forms or any of that. Just learn from you. And it's amazing how many people are super flattered by that and will be there for you and we'll take an interest in you. And that did happen to me before with a female, with another company who was an executive. And I just. I like the way she operated. I like the way she was with her people. I liked the respect that she got, and she had a great reputation, and, you know, so she had a great personal brand. And I found her to be very engaging every time I talked to her. So even though she was in a position significantly, you know, higher than I was at the time, and I asked her if she would, you know, from time to time be my mentor. Absolutely. So as my mentor, though, my job was to come to her and ask questions and to be prepared for our meetings, not the other way around. She doesn't prepare some training curriculum for me. It's more me coming to her, and it was super valuable for me. So that's on that side.
I have been very flattered for people to ask for men, you know, for me to mentor them. I've been in programs that are formal within the national association that were mentor programs, but Also, people who just don't call me a mentor, they just call me. You know what I mean? Sure. And they say, hey, can you go to lunch? And can. You know, I've got a question about how you do this in the business. And I love those conversations because ultimately, I want to help everybody. We, as an industry and staffing, needed to make sure we did it right. And so if they don't do it right, then that hurts me.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:27:13] Speaker B: So I did have people come to me for that. And.
And I always learned when you're helping someone else, you kind of do your own research and make sure that you know what you're talking about. So I found that I learned as well. And they always had something they could teach me, which I told them, which made them have more confidence in themselves, because they're like, oh, I've got something to teach, and everybody's got something to teach.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: No, I totally agree with you. I know that. I really believe in mentoring, for sure. In the military growing up, you know, it's all about teaching everybody to take your position so you can get promoted. And the civilian world is a little different. Everybody's a little scared. They hold everything close to their chest because they're afraid that their place is going to be eliminated, somebody's going to take over. But, I mean, I know how open you've always been to receiving the calls about being a mentor or talking to people, because I know throughout the years, I'm sure we've been to many, many lunches on both sides just to kind of figure out where we're going, what we're doing, or just to check up on each other. And I think that one of the things I really, really appreciate about people out there is if you seek, you will find, but you can't seek from.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: Your home, not from the couch.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: No. You know, and then they're, woe is me, and I can't do anything.
And there's, like you said earlier, there's so many ways out here for people to engage people or find a mentor. I think I had a friend tell me one time, there's two things people like to do is talk about themselves and help others.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Well, you know, the most challenging regarding mentorship, you know, the most challenging behavior that I deal with is someone who doesn't take accountability for what they do or they don't. At least if something bad happens to them, they don't think, okay, what could I have done better, different, you know, how do I move from here? Instead, they're woe is me sure. And so woe is me gets you nowhere. Woe is me is just negative. And there's, there's no, it's not productive at all. So if somebody can't get out of that, pull themselves out of it, I find it really hard to mentor them personally.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: You know, I had a friend was telling me about the one on ones he does with his people and he has 16 or 17 KPIs is what he said. And A, B, C, D is the way he does it. A is good, B is okay. C as needs some help. D is straight up doo doo. And I thought that was pretty funny. But the one thing you know, because you know, I got that personality. But anyway, he says when he walks through it with his people, he doesn't grade them, they grade themselves. And as they grade themselves, he asks some questions because a lot of people grade themselves higher than maybe they should be, you know, sell value, but they are not being honest with themselves. And it goes back to what you said, right. Why did this happen? Do I take some ownership of it? Right. And I think the one thing that, that he left with me, that really made a lot of sense is you can tell somebody they're bad, but unless they believe it, there's not going to be a change.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: I remember when I first started doing reviews. Don't know if you remember this, but let's say you rate yourself on different things from 0 to 10. That's the rating. 10 being the best ever, you should get a major promotion, you're awesome. And zero being doodoo challenge doo doo.
[00:30:37] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: So what I found is we'd have people rate themselves. I would rate them and we'd come together and see if there were any big gaps.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: And so I would always go to the first review, never giving them any information about how I reviewed them. And what I found is that they gave themselves. If they did their job as needed, they gave themselves a 10. And so I rated them. If they did their job as needed, I gave them a 5 because 5 was right in the middle and 5 was good job, 10 was amazing. Because if you rate yourself a 10, how are you going to get any better?
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: So what does good look like? So of course I would have to come back if I rated someone a five. And I would have to say this is what a 6 looks like. A 7, 8, 9, 10. This is what that looks like. And this is where you're going to separate yourself, the men from the boys, the girls from the women, when it comes to promotions. When it comes to production, when it comes to anything, if you're just doing your job, then you're doing your job. Good for you. You can continue your job. However, if you want promotions and you want to move up and be more productive, make more money, whatever, you got to do that five to 10. And you got to really want to be rated that way, too, so that you can learn from it. Those who are like, I did it. I'm a 10. Those people tend to stay put.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: You know, the one thing about that is, I think you said this earlier about when you found a mentor that you had to go to the mentor, not the mentor going to you. So in the 5 to 10 window, I mean, if you don't know what that looks like, it's your responsibility to go, all right, I'm doing my job 100%, but what do I need to do? Or what are some things I can do to move me up and ask those questions? And I think today's environment, people, I don't know if they're scared to do it, they're just not. They don't grow up on learning to ask those questions. What do you think?
[00:32:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I think there's some entitlement, you know, that happens with people when they get a job. And I. And I don't know, I feel like people just. I don't hear as often, how can I get better? Not even. Not, how do I get, you know, promotions, et cetera, Just, how do I get better? The pride in getting better. And those people naturally are promoted, naturally make more money. So maybe it's the mindset. It's almost like the mindset of going into management. I want to be a manager. Why do you want to be a manager?
Because of ego? Because of making that money?
Or is it because you want to make someone else better?
[00:33:20] Speaker A: I mean, that's a good point.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: The fact is, you know, people. I have found people manage like they parent, you know, and so, okay, I.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: Have to think that through real fast.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: Either they're super available at all times, right? And they give honest responses. They're fair, can be tough or not. You know, if they let people run. Run amok or whatever, then it's kind of chaos. But if they have some discipline, I'm sure you have this, with your military background, some discipline in what's done, and manage expectations, there's a different outcome. So it's just kind of. It's interesting to see people, when I see them parent, I'm like, okay, I.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: Know how they're going to manage well, think about this whole conversation. I think it goes back to one of the things I wanted to ask you. So what would you, what kind of advice would you give to somebody out there that maybe is at a turning point in their career or maybe is stagnated or maybe wants to do a better rating, get a better rating? How would they go about that, you think?
[00:34:22] Speaker B: Well, I think exposure to other things. So, you know, whether you go out to networking organizations or you just go to meetings, go, I mean, anywhere where other people are doing other things because you're enlightened, you know, and you're like, wow, never knew that existed, never knew Nora's home existed, never knew this existed. So. Or I didn't know that person, knew this person who could introduce me here, you know, to your point earlier. So I think just exposure to something different than what you're doing now is a first step. You don't have to go to all these management classes. And I mean, you can, and that's amazing.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: But how about just look up, get out from the phone, look up and meet people, learn what they do. And, you know, you'll, you'll probably come up with ways to get you off of that fence that you're on.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Okay, well, listen, Annette, as always, it's fun talking with you. You know, we're moving on to commercial in a minute, but one of the things that I want you to really think about out there is open your doors. You know, go out there and the person or the, it doesn't have to be in the same industry. They can be anywhere. You see somebody doing great things, learn how to do great things again. You know, we're going ready, getting ready to go into commercial. Hope everybody's having an amazing day. Look forward to seeing you later.
Hey, everybody, welcome back. This is Ricky Chavez with Battle Ready. You know, it's the process of reinventing yourself. You know, it's always a good time for you to self evaluate, think about where you're at, where you want to be and don't settle, you know, open your doors, look out and see what is out there to help you. You know, in one of our other shows, we had Annette Monks from Nora's Home on and we had some great conversations about her career, her different paths that she made. And we're going to talk a little bit more today about just solutions. Hey, Anesh, welcome back.
[00:36:30] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: So I know in one of the breaks we were talking about what's important, what you know, and all Your experience at 34 years of staffing You've staffed at every level, from entry level to VPs and probably presidents of some companies. Right. And so you've had many, many conversations with many people that were in the transition of their life. Right.
What are some of the things that stand out to you were going on in these people's minds, not only as they're trying to feed their families to get to make the job, but what was going on?
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Well, I'll tell you, the most healthy situations were when people went through the proper grieving process.
[00:37:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: So, I mean, you've got all the stages, denial, then you're angry, and then you're this and you're that. I mean, it's going to happen now. It can go quickly, it can go in a day, or it may take you a couple weeks, I don't know. But there is a process. So they go through that and then they look at themselves and they go, what could I have done differently?
Where do I want to go from here? And it takes some accountability where it's. Where it's appropriate.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: And then they. They start looking at their network, you know, and they go, okay, so who do I know? What do I know? What do I want to be when I grow up? I mean, all those things. Because if you just. If I just came to you and said, hey, Rick, I'm looking for a job, which happens to me a lot, sure, hey, Rick, I'm looking for a job. Well, they don't call me Rick, but anyway, okay, that would be bad.
I think it would be bad anyway. Okay. So then I'm like, I don't even know where to start, you know, and so you've got to have some idea of, you know, generally the things that you like to do, you know, the kinds of people that are helpful for you to meet, the direction to you, something so that when you're talking to your friends or then you move out to an outer circle of, you know, maybe people you know on LinkedIn, maybe previous colleagues that you had at other companies. And then you go to people that you don't know at all, which you know is a different kind of networking, but you can give them the same story and you can say, okay, this is what I was doing for this period of time, you know, this happened. I'm in a position where I'm looking again. I love to work with people, kind of customer service. I love to do this, you know, I would love to have this level position, you know, you know, whether it's this industry or that industry. I mean, just the more General, but some level of, you know, organization to what you're looking for.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: What do you want to be when you grow up?
[00:39:03] Speaker B: Helps everybody who wants to help you. Because then you can say, so if you know anybody that is an HR manager anywhere. Do you know anybody works in hr?
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:39:11] Speaker B: Do you know anybody who works in the oil and gas industry? I don't care who they are. Do you know somebody? Yeah, I know somebody who's an admin assistant there. Great. You know, because that admin assistant might be able to tell me who's the decision maker for a company for some open position. So the key is going to be not straight here to the job. It's going to be here to this person who sends you to this person who sends you to that person, who then sends you to the person who makes a decision. And then you might get the job. So that tends to be what happens more often than not.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: Sure. I think through the years, if I could recall, I probably sent you 20, 30 resumes from people that are reached out to me, from everyone. I just went, right, Annette, not to your offices because you always filtered where it needed to be because you knew a lot of different organizations in different places. But I'd be like, hey, Annette, I have this person that's reached out to me. Can you help them? And you went from there. And you were always really good about that. So that's something I always appreciate. But now we talked about people and I feel like that was really good. Centered around people that may have been downsized, left, whatever. What about the person that is in that position?
They feel like they're stagnated and they're so scared to do anything.
But for their own growth, they may want to do something different. What would they do? What would be a good thing for them to look at?
[00:40:32] Speaker B: Well, you know, people are internally motivated. They have to be internally motivated. So if they're not, if they're not open to at least explain exploring other things, they don't have to lose their job, they don't have to change anything, but perhaps just opening their minds up to reading material, to going to networking events, to asking more questions of others. I have found a lot of times people talk a lot at networking events, but they don't ask questions and they don't learn about other industries and other types of positions. So they have no idea what's out there. Instead, they just talk about themselves and then leave. And they're like, I didn't get anything out of that. No, you didn't. You didn't. Learn anything.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: So, you know, so learning is a big part of it. You are a learner. You have been a life, lifelong learner. I've seen that.
[00:41:18] Speaker A: I'm all over the place for sure.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm like, wow, so. But that has helped you to be open minded and to go, oh, I've learned this, I've learned that. And so those people who can do that tend to just, you know, have more material to work with so that they can go, oh, I like this, or oh, you know what? Now I'm a little more confident that I can do that because I know more about it or that person is there to help introduce me in versus me. Take a chance and try to get in. So it's just all about reaching out and bettering yourself through education.
By education, I don't mean formal education, just reading. A lot of times you can go to national associations in your industry and you can sign up for the newsletter and you start getting newsletters about what's going on in your industry. So at least you're knowledgeable and that might help your current company or might help you to get the next position. So it can be as simple as that.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: Well, I know I always say this. You don't know what you don't know. Right? Yeah. And I know I was in the military for 20 years, then I met you, went to staffing for a minute, then I went into corporate America and that was pretty interesting. Then I left there and now I'm in real estate. So. Yeah. So I've been reinventing myself constantly.
I think that.
And I'm in a place right now where I never would have dreamed of was even available, possible. But I was open. Right, Right. And I think that's kind of how you went to Norris House too. I mean, it's kind of in your wheel well of the service part, but it's still different, right?
[00:42:53] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it does frustrate me when I talk to people who are looking for positions and I'm like, hey, I have this person that works for this company and they would love to visit with you and just see. And that person who's like, no, they don't have an open position that I'm looking for, whatever. Those people lose so many opportunities because, hey, I would talk to anybody. You would too, for sure.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: No, I totally agree because I used to know these salespeople for different organizations and I don't want to say something about my wife right now. She even say she was in Coca Cola, she was in C stores, but I Met somebody who was a manager of Kroger. Like, I met this really cool guy. He's open to see. No, that's not C Store.
You know what I mean?
[00:43:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: And so it was like. But that was her early on. Now she's in doing what she does, and she's just way open because now she understands. Because, you know, you refer somebody here, they'll refer somebody back, they'll know somebody here.
I believe there's no map to keep you on the path to always knowing and meeting just the people in your journey in the same industry. You know what I mean?
[00:44:04] Speaker B: I agree. I mean, the fact is, if you're stagnated in your position and you know you're stagnating, you want to do something different, then yes. Get involved in your industry, you know, meet other people. Not to leave your company, but to learn more about what can be done within your organization that others are doing that you can suggest, you know, So, I mean, make it for yourself. People are waiting, you know, for that next position to come up.
You make that position.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: What about how many. How often are. And maybe not at your level that you see a lot, but how often have you talked to people that don't like what they're doing and been doing a long time?
[00:44:40] Speaker B: There are a lot of people that don't like what they're doing.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: And, you know, there's a light at the end of the tunnel if they want to find it.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: Right, of course.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: But they just got to keep open.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: They, you know, sitting there and continuing to complain about what they don't like is probably not healthy. And it's not healthy for the people around them and it's not healthy for the business. Then what happens is they end up getting laid off and they're mad about.
[00:45:01] Speaker A: That and they're not ready for the next thing.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:05] Speaker A: And I think they're a victim. Oh, yes. But, you know, even if you feel like you've been a victim and you listen to the show right now, you just got to kind of put a line in sand and move forward and know there's so many resources. And we're in Houston. Oh, my gosh. On LinkedIn, you can find out everything that's going on in Houston. There are associations at any given time.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: Yes. There's there. There are so many different places you can go for information.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: And it doesn't matter what level you're at, you be entry level on. Because I have had some of the most amazing conversation when I was a director of contract resources and I met People and they're like, open to talk to me. I'm like, I'm gonna talk to everybody that's me. But I'm not unique. There's so many people just like me. You're like me. We're like exactly the same. We'll talk to everybody.
[00:45:54] Speaker B: You never know where it can lead you.
[00:45:55] Speaker A: That's right. That's 100% right.
[00:45:57] Speaker B: So I agree.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: But you got to get out the.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: House, got to get off the couch.
[00:46:01] Speaker A: And go do your things. Right. Know that somebody's out there waiting to mentor. You just got to find them.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Right. And ask.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
And I also know this. Once you ask, you have to follow up. It's your responsibility. I know that you said that earlier, Right. I asked you to be my mentor. You said yes. Great.
[00:46:22] Speaker B: Now bring me the curriculum.
[00:46:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Don't spoon feed me. Right? Yeah, but you can spoon feed yourself and go out there and oh, my God, chat GPT. Are you real good with chatgpt? You learning with that?
[00:46:34] Speaker B: I'm not good with it, but I know what it is.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you this. I've learned recently that you can go to ChatGPT and say, Houston, Texas, put a schedule together for me to have fun with my family, and it will tell you what to do.
[00:46:48] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: I mean, it's amazing. So if you don't know what to do, just write it up, see what happens.
Go chatgpt it. All right. And it's not a plug in for that, but it's just, I know it's worked for me and, and things I do, it's like, oh, my gosh, that's pretty spoon fed right there.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Yeah, that is.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: But guys, you know, as always, it's fun being here, having conversations with amazing people like Annette and just realizing there's so many people and resources out here to help you get over the hump. And if you don't even know that the hump's there, but you see that there's something you want to change, make the change.
Right. I. I know that. Tell me if I'm wrong about this point. Most companies like hiring people that are already working because they know they've had some accomplishments. Right? So like you said earlier, right. Don't wait till you set yourself up to be downsized or whatever, move to the next level.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: But if that happens, it's okay. Yes, most companies do understand it. It's how you present it and keep positive about that way you present it makes a huge difference.
[00:47:56] Speaker A: Well, guys, thanks again for joining Annette and myself. Here at Battle Ready. We appreciate everything. Come see us again. Hope you have a good night.
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