Blaze Your Own Trail - S2:E15- Leadership Jam Session With Rob Fonte

Episode Date: July 14, 2020

Rob Fonte is the founder and President of Sarto Leadership Group, whose reputation has been built on being a transformational leader and inspirational coach with a passion for developing others. Rob��s twenty-year career spans across multiple disciplines from leading award-winning sales teams, developing leadership and management training curriculums, and now host of the Leadership Jam Session Podcast. Rob’s collaborative and practical approach when working as a trusted advisor to his clients is based on his extensive leadership experience and expertise in developing comprehensive leadership training curricula and solutions that align with an organization’s business strategy and leadership culture. A genuine strength that Rob possesses is the ability to connect with people in an incredibly unique way. He is passionate about assisting clients with assessing, developing, and executing powerful training and coaching solutions that increase productivity and improve performance. A holder of master’s degree in Organizational Behavior and Coaching, Rob is an academically trained Executive Coach certified by The University of Texas and the International Coach Federation. He provides holistic, executive-style coaching to organizational leaders in order to help them develop and achieve goals. Through the utilization of assessments and transformative coaching techniques, Rob works with all levels of management to pinpoint key areas of growth and development. His personalized approach and passion for helping individuals unlock and reach their full potential provides the trust and confidence clients need to effectively implement change, grow and succeed. In this episode we discuss: Rob's upbringing His first corporate role His experience with managing teams His journey into Leadership His podcast And much more! Connect with Rob: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robfonteleadershipdevelopment/ Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/robfonte_slg/ Website: https://sartoleadershipgroup.com/ Enjoy the show? Join our Facebook Community! https://www.facebook.com/groups/blazeyourowntrailmastermind/ If you haven't already, be sure to rate/review the show on iTunes! Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody. I hope you are doing well. This is such a great episode with Rob Fonte. He's a fellow podcast host of the leadership jam session. He's also an entrepreneur, a speaker. And him and I have a lot of similarities, which you'll definitely hear on this episode. So I hope you enjoy it. Get a lot of good nuggets and value. And I will chat with you after the episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. And I've got a very special guest with me today. His name is Rob Fonty. And I'm going to give him just a second and tell us a little bit more about who he is and what he does. Thanks, Jordan. It's great to be on your podcast.

Appreciate the invite. And I own a management, training, leadership development, coaching company that I launched about three years ago. And last year, I also launched a podcast called Leadership, jam session. That's awesome. And so one of the things I love to do on my show is really get context about our guests. So what part of the country did you grow up in? And what kind of kid were you? Were you more into school or more into athletics when you were younger? Yeah, no, great. Yeah. And my journey is a very convoluted journey at best with a lot of twist and turns. but I grew up in Jersey, and I come from a typical immigrant Italian family.

First generation born, my parents and grandparents came off the boat. They literally took the boat over here. This was back in the early 60s. And as a typical immigrant Italian family, my grandparents lived upstairs on the second floor. And so my grandfather was a huge inspiration, which will probably weave in in a little while here. But as far as schooling goes, I was, yeah, I would say I was probably more into sports than school, for sure. I was an average school at best. You know, I was the kid that, like, in high school would be in the hallway doing their homework,

like five minutes right before the class started. And so, yeah, it was, and when I went to college, and when I say went to college, I went like down the street because I couldn't get into a decent college. So I went to a county college for a couple of years. But yeah, it was. And the thing really I focused not only on sports, but on work. I mean, I had a pretty strong work ethic. And I think my first job was at 13.

I think I was a dishwasher and a pizza place. And I always just worked throughout high school, particularly more in like construction and carpentry. And my grandfather was somebody, he was a tailor by trade. But he was always tinkering and very handy. And that left a huge influence on me. And so I always wanted to do work in construction and carpentry. And I did a lot of that all throughout high school and even college.

Okay. That's awesome. So think back to that first job at 13. I want you to think about the person that was managing you, right? Now you do a lot of management, training today. So can you can you give the audience maybe a nugget or two of some information you got from one of your first managers or leaders that is stuck with you today? Well, if I am if I actually go to my first job more in the corporate world, I would say it was the one that

gave me a shot that hired me into a different role that I probably shouldn't even have gotten. and yet that person took a chance on me. And I think, you know, something that I always teach a lot of my clients now, and particularly my workshops, that, you know, great leaders have the ability to see the potential in others that they themselves don't see. And that was one of my first managers in the corporate world anyway. That really left a huge impression on me.

Okay. Awesome. So shifting backwards. So you finish. up high school, right? You, you, you made it true. You scathed by high school, right? And listen, I, I didn't enjoy high school either. If I liked the class, I did well. If I didn't, then I just didn't, I didn't put in all the effort, right? Because like you, I love to work. I love to do sales and just figure out ways to like make more money, you know? That was more important to me at that age. So, you finish up, you decide to go to college. Now, was this a choice that you had or was this

influenced by someone in the family, they're like, hey, you got to go to college. You got to at least take this next step. How did that all take place? Oh, for sure. I mean, you know, college was almost like, you know, non-negotiable, right? To take it for my parents that didn't go. And that was their dream. It was the American dream to come here. Your kid's going to go to college. So, no, and I did want to go to college. And my, I first went to become a teacher, but then something happened. So, So it's interesting. In my first semester, and I hear my mother's voice in the back of my head because all throughout high school, she just kept complaining that you're just not applying yourself. And here I am now my first semester, I'm getting straight A's. And I got straight A's all throughout the two years at this county college. And it was amazing that it's not that I was smart. Believe me, there's plenty of people smarter than I am. But what you just said, I really did put the effort in. And I had to. I had to work harder than most. And that was that work ethic in me as well. well. And then I got into Seton Hall, which was, you know, my parents were thrilled. My father, especially, he loved the seat and hall, the thought of me going there. But then I took a different

twist. I always had a crazy dream to build my own house. And again, I was always in carpentry and construction, still working, even in college, because I had to. And we had this other house in the family where my other set of grandparents live at that, by that point, they passed on. And my parents didn't really know what to do with the house. And it was kind of run down. So I said, all right, I'll make a deal with you. Let me fix it up. It'll take me like three months.

And then we can sell it or whatever we want to do with it. What I failed to tell them was I was going to take a semester off of school. I drained all my college money that they saved for me. And I had friends telling me it's impossible. You're never going to be able to build this house in three months. You don't have enough money. And now look, Jordan, I'm like 20, 21 at the time. I know everything. I'm the only sane person at this part. And three months came, I didn't even

come close, ran out of money. And then I started to realize, well, you know what? I think, I think I'm the only crazy one at this dance right now. And it took me three years to finish that house. I was living paycheck by paycheck. And it was actually an experience that was a pivotal moment in my life going through that experience, quite honestly. But I was very goal driven. I mean, I was pretty persistent. And so I learned how persistent I was in the importance of having goals. I also learned the importance of making realistic goals, too. But once it was all set and done, three years later, I've got this house. It was pretty cool as a 24-year-old to say that they built the house. I mean, it's cool to say now back then I didn't think so because I didn't know what I was

going to do with my life now. So my mom walks in, right? The house is done. And my mom was also a huge influence in my life too. And she's incredibly smart. And she looked at me and said, this is beautiful. Now what? And she just had a knack of just asking, you know, the most simplistic questions that you think you'd be able to answer. But they really do bring a lot of self-awareness. So that was a decision point that, and I knew I wasn't going to do construction all my life, was more like a hobby. I was ready for the next chapter. And I think you can appreciate this, because I think we share a similar scenario. But my mother worked for a pharmaceutical company called Sharing Plow. They don't exist anymore. They were bought by Merp. They were back in a day. They made Claritin,

copper tone, suntail motion. And she knew they were hiring for attempts to work in a warehouse. and I needed benefits. And so I went to go, I got the job. And after six months, as a temporary employee, you do get benefits. And that decision to go work for that company basically put me on a completely different path that changed my life to this day. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, it's always interesting how the places you least expect you're going to be end up being the best. thing that ever happened, right? Because of the trajectory that then changed and the path that

you started going. So that's awesome. And, you know, your mom's got your number always, right? You know, they know what's best and they know the right things to say, man. So that's awesome. All right. So you get this first role. You're at this company. So what was, you know, kind of your first 30 days like in this new corporate environment? Well, I mean, it was very intimidating. I mean, it was really my first corporate job, even though I was working in a warehouse and picking and packing boxes, driving a fork with, but still, it was a corporate environment. And, you know, it was intimidating. And this is where you kind of learn about humility and the importance of confidence and trying to build confidence.

But I'll have to say that, you know, I became much more, the whole experience of building my house changed me. in terms of becoming much more observant and methodical and really trying to be more strategic and thinking things through. So, you know, I'd say the first 30 days was really more of just soaking it all in and figuring out. And even beyond then, what am I going to do? What's next for me? And again, my whole goal there really was to try to get to six months, but then get permanent, too. because if you're permanent, they'll pay 80% of your college, which, so this is now, I still haven't finished my degree. I'm not back in college, and I had to think through what am I going to do with that too. Okay, so it sounds like it was very strategic, which is great, right? And three years of

building a house, you're going to learn a lot about strategy. You're going to learn a lot about what works, what doesn't work, right? So that's great. So you had this plan in mind, right? Benefits were, were insight, right? They were there. You just got to put six months in. And then after that, now you only got to pay 20% of 100 for school, right? So these are two things. And, you know, what I've learned so far is that, you know, anytime there's something that

is challenging for you, you're like, challenge accepted. Let's do this, right? And it doesn't matter how long it's going to take. You're driven to make sure that you actually complete that task. Yeah. All right. Right. So, all right, so you get there.

Let's fast forward to six months. So benefits kick in, right? What's the next step? Where are you at by this point? What have you learned? Have you maybe moved up? You know, give some context about where you are now at that six month point. Yeah, so, you know, it's interesting as I think through that now.

At the six month point, yeah, I got the benefits. So I'm happy. But I'm also in this weird place because now I start really having doubts. in terms of what I've done thus far. I've got friends graduating, you know, they're already out of school working on their careers. And here I am wondering, all right, did I really make a mistake? What am I doing? I still don't know what I want to do.

Still just a temporary employee, I got benefits. And I realized that, and again, going back to your other question, I had some managers there that were really good about guiding me. And at that time, you know, the sales, you're in sales. And are you, right, you have the sales background. I know nothing about sales. All I did know was that the sales reps at that time in this company who were calling on physicians and hospitals, had a great career making a lot of money. A lot of people were guiding me, you should go into sales. You have great personality. And so I was starting to formulate another goal. All right, maybe I should try to get to sales. It's going to be very hard to get

there. And I need my degree too. Right. So what's interesting is when I look back at that point in my life, I was really kind of like somewhat in a, I don't want to say a dark place, but almost like a depressed state of mind that did I just waste five or six years in my life? Of course, you know, when you go through these challenges, you don't realize it then that it does put you on a path. You just can't see it yet. And reflecting back, I wouldn't change anything for it because all that made me who I am today and it did put me on a path. Yeah, right. And a lot of times, you know, personal growth can't be seen by the human eye, right? Like no one can see how much you've grown based on all the mud that you have drugged yourself through, right? It's kind of like this invisible,

this invisible thing. But no, I mean, if you think back and just in hearing the journey, I mean, you had to have grown. Like you were you are forced into growth, right? It was it was like the training ground to building everything that you are to this point. Right. So all right. So did you take their advice, right? Did you say, you know what?

Let's do this like sales sounds like another challenge sounds like another thing that I can go after. Yeah, totally. And it was a step process. First, I had to get permanent. And it goes back to the question asking before. So it took me two years to get permanent at the company. And that's where that manager took a shot at me and brought me into a customer service environment. So here I come from the warehouse.

Now they put me in like an office environment. I had to go out and buy a suit and tie. I didn't even know how to tie a tie. And this manager took a shot on me. And this was a call center where the sales force would call in for all their supplies. And so it kind of got me one step closer. and now I went back to school. Now I'm going school at night at Kane University.

I switched college. So this is my third college. And I changed my major to a business major. And I was in that department for a couple years and, you know, thrived, did great. And then somebody else took a shot on me. It was a marketing director, the Clarendon marketing team. And we supported that team in the role I was in. And they were creating a new position.

and he brought me into the team. Again, no business being on this team. Didn't have my degree yet. Now I'm on this Clarede Marketing team, which at the time was basically paving for the way and best practices for a lot of pharmaceutical companies to follow. And I was in this department, again, very intimidating. But I did finish my degree.

And after a couple years... So, by the way, for those of your listeners that are listening and thinking, wow, it's a pretty inspirational story. It's not. Don't use me as a best case scenario for your kids because it took me 10 years to get my degree. So even with my boys right now, I got twin boys that are 17 going on three. And I tell them, yeah, you're not taking 10 years to get your degree. You know, don't take my path. It was a hard, you know, I always took the hardest path. Why I have no idea. But I eventually did get my degree. And so five years, almost did a day when I took the job in the warehouse.

Five years later, I got my first role as a sales rep with that company. Okay. Listen, and that was a hard fought journey, right? You went from the warehouse, right? From the warehouse, forklifts, right? Listen, you went through several different environments, different landscapes, if you will, right? I mean, I've been in a warehouse before when I worked at Fred Myers and drove their When I was 17 years old, you know, and that's tough.

That's and that's a different type of different types of people, different personalities. And then you go from there to a customer service world where you don't even know how to tie a tie. You don't, you don't have a suit and now you've got to go and now you're a grown up, right? Like as you're going to this new environment where people are super professional and so that was probably intimidating. But you know, the interesting thing that I'm noticing is people see something in you, right? to take a shot on you because the first time, no experience, didn't have any of that, but people could see. And the thing that I'm really pinpointing here is it's a work ethic thing. This is, this is grandpa coming out. This is, you know, let's jump in that dirt. I'm going to put my

head down. And no matter how long it takes, I'm going to get it done. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And, you know, it's always about trying to prove yourself because I'm surrounded by people who went to, you know, big-name colleges and, you know, possibly Ivy League colleges. And so I always had to work harder in order to prove myself, if that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So it was, like I say now, I wouldn't change that experience for anything because it, you know, as we talked about it, kind of makes you who you are today. Absolutely. All right. So year one in sales, right? So you make it five years, five years from Forklift to Salesman. Now, let's talk about what was that transition like from the marketing team, right? You guys were doing some new things and trying to be, you know, revolutionary for,

for its time. And now you move into sales because, you know, sales and marketing, some people try to mix them up and say they're the same thing, but they're completely different, right? Marketing is trying to gain visibility and traffic to get the sale, but it's not, you know, it's the step before, right? So give the audience some context. What was that, transition like going from one team to another because in a lot of times some organizations there's even in fighting with the two so can you tell us a little bit about that experience so you're spot on there's usually a lot of friction between sales and marketing at times and and i did it passed backwards to be honest a lot of the people in marketing the one thing our company did good

is they usually brought people from the field into marketing which was good and that was usually the step. I did it backwards. And so there was a little bit of resistance when I hit the field because I had no sales experience. Here's a marketing guy coming. And, you know, people are just probably sitting there thinking or they were thinking, oh, he's just, you know, going to be out here for six months, just so we can get the stamp on it. And actually, that was the plan, which I didn't agree with at all. I always felt that if you're going to do a role, you need to do it for the right amount of time, learn it and do it well. And they put me. me in Brooklyn. And there's some really nice parts of Brooklyn. The parts I had were all,

you know, not the nice parts. And it was a very challenging territory. But I have to say, it was one of the best territories. Because by the perception of, you know, you get fooled into thinking, oh, you know, you're going to work in all the posh areas, a real nice areas. It was better to be in some of these other areas because you're dealing with real people. people, real issues, and I loved it, enjoyed it. I mean, it was a hard transition for me personally, because I never been in sales and you know, you get rejected and how do you get it right back up and get back in there.

But it was a great experience. I loved it. I was in that territory for two years. It became one of the top territories in the nation. And then from there I moved into hospital sales in Manhattan and was there for a couple years before I landed my first manager. managing job. So let's give the the audience some context because you know my audience you know I've got some that are younger some in the middle and some they're a little older. So you know

this wasn't a these weren't phone sales like you were actually going to businesses right to try to market and offer your product. So you were essentially cold calling within a territory. Right. So give people some context here that have never done this and and and then I'll give you kind of my thoughts on this type of sales as it relates to being foundational for people. So give people some context. What was a day in the life like doing that type of sales? And I want the good, the bad, and the ugly. So because, I mean, I know it from experience.

There's a lot of crazy things that happen when you're out there going business is business. So. Yeah. Yeah. So in this type of sales, we're calling on physicians. And actually, we do have a set audience that we're responding. responsible for. And we go in and we try to meet with the physicians and it's really more about

educating them on the differences of the product and some of the side effects and helping the nurses. And at that time, it was more of calling on allergists, E&Ts. Later in my career, when I switched companies, it got much more in-depth and serious because I was dealing with cancer patients, right? but in my first role there, you know, there's some of the challenges is, here you are, it could be very intimidating. You're basically trying to educate somebody who has like eight years of schooling as a physician. So let's think about that. That in itself can be extremely intimidating. And you're trying to differentiate your product versus some of the other products out there and why patients would fare better.

better on your product versus another. And so you can imagine some of the tough discussions that take place. And there's a lot of great physicians out there. And there are some that won't even give you the time of day. And that's a reality of sales. I don't care what you're selling or what industry. That's part of the, you know. But you did have to be very, very, the training around it was so critical because you had to have really

and clinical knowledge of what you were selling so you can speed to it and speak intelligently. That's it. Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot of things, I think, when you're doing sales of that manner, because, you know, there is a gatekeeper, right? There's somebody right in front. So that's got to be your first focus is, you know, how do I get to this person? I don't know what type of day he or she's having.

And how do I get them to get me to the physician that I need to speak with, right? So, you know, I tell a lot of people when it comes to sales like that, there's, there's some things that are foundational. Smile, right? Make sure you're smiling when you walk into the office, eye contact, right? Enthusiasm. You got to be excited about what you're doing to try to relay that message to them, you know? So what are some foundational things that you found in having to deal with kind of some of those gatekeepers and things like that that you think helped do you get the meetings? So it was, as you bring up a great point, it was all on the gatekeepers, right?

I mean, and it's, it's almost as if you need to treat them that they are the most important person. And a lot of it is, as he goes, but some of these individuals are not treated very well or fairly. And so they're looking for attention too. And a lot of these people are great people. And some of them can be, you know, mean and nasty. but you have to understand and figure out where is it coming from. And that's kind of like the first step is really to help, you know,

help understand how can you work with this person better? And everybody has different styles and different approaches. And you yourself almost have to be a chameleon in some sense. And I don't mean that in a bad way. It's really about trying to, you know, adapt your style to the person sitting in front of you so you can relate better. I'll tell you this. I just a quick story, and this is sad.

I shouldn't even admit this. But, you know, in Brooklyn, the doctor's offices were basically like, you can hit like four in the same block, if you are, right? There's many of them. And I got hooked on General Hospital. This is back in like, this is back in like, I think, 2000 or 2001, I took my first, you know, in Brooklyn, my first cell job. And I got so friendly and built great relationships with the office staff.

And a lot of them would watch General Hospital. And so as I'm standing there, waiting for the doctor, talking to them and watching the show, I got hooked on it. So I would go from like, I would time the, depending on the location of the day, I would time my office visits between commercial breaks and go to the next office and try to get the next segment of the. I mean, that's a terrible story. But that also goes to show you. A lot of the gatekeepers really appreciated that. And they thought it was hilarious too. And we're kind of wait for me and bring me up to speed on the episode.

Listen, listen, you should not apologize for that because that's a brilliant strategy, right? If you really think about it, you know, there's three ingredients that go along with, you know, that smile, eye contact, enthusiasm. It's the three R's called. It's called read, relax, and relate, right? When you walk in, you try to read the situation, you try to read the person. Then you have to relax your body because when you're relaxed, it's contagious. They're going to be relaxed. And then find something to relate to them about, general hospital. Right.

Right. You literally did those ingredients brilliantly and it worked for you. So it's, to me, it's strategy, right? And so interesting tidbit here, my mom, she isn't with us anymore, but she was actually born in general hospital in Los Angeles, like the real general hospital. Yeah, yeah, what they made the show off of, which is, which is very crazy. So, all right, so you're in sales. How long were you in sales before you get that first opportunity as a manager? Three years. It happened pretty quickly, actually. And I got my first opportunity three years later. And they offered me, so here's the crazy part.

They offered me my first management position was the most tenured team in the nation. And it was in, by God, West Virginia. So I had to relocate my family. And so they take this guy who has home office experience. who was in Brooklyn and sales in Manhattan and they moved him to take over a team in West Virginia. My first conference called Jordan, you could hear crickets. They're like nobody spoke. And I know what they're all thinking.

I'm like, why are they sending this guy down here who's, it's going to be a disaster. But that was my first team that I took over. Okay. So what was that conversation like with the family? Like, hey, you know, I know we're here in New York, but get it. excited. I just got a promotion and we're going to, drum roll please. West Virginia, right? What was that conversation like? Yeah, it was a very quiet conversation. There was no enthusiasm in that one. And at the time, my twin boys were 16 months old. So here I am taking my wife,

who's a Jersey girl. And so that's the other, you know, disaster in the make and bringing a Jersey girl down to West Virginia and taking her away from all her support. structure. But, you know, we knew that this was, and she was great, it was very supportive. But we knew this was kind of the next step. And we figured we'd be there for a couple years and we tried to make it make it back. And I'll tell you, the team, it was a great team to cut your teeth on for first management team. It was a very humbling experience for me. Most of the people on a team were older than me. Again, very intimidating. And it was a, it was a great team to learn and be a part of.

In fact, there's, you know, some of them I still talk to to this day, and that was almost 15 years ago. That's awesome. So can you give the audience a little context? So how many people were on this team, and were you able to instantly come in and recognize, you know, their personalities and how to deal with them? Because, again, let's go back to the training ground,

three years in sales, walking into offices, you know, 10, 20, 30 offices a day, you're going to build up some ability to be able to read people. So when I think about that experience, I'm thinking that it probably helped you be able to understand and read these new folks that you're managing. Totally. It totally did. I mean, and that's the first strategy, you know, something I talk about a lot with leaders who I work with currently, is that when you take over a team, the first thing you want to do is, listen and listen well and really understand your people and the strengths that they bring to the table,

because everyone's going to be very different on the team. Right. So the way I coach you is going to be very different than the way I managed somebody else. And you really need to take that tailored approach, if you will. So my first month was really listening and I wasn't going to come in with like a super manager tattooed on my, on my chest. This was a well-seasoned, high-performing team, and it was really figuring out, how can I bring them down? How can I partner with them? So to your point, it really is trying to figure out what makes each person tick, which doesn't happen overnight. That takes time. Absolutely. Yeah, it has to take time. In order to get to the position to be that well-oiled machine, right, everybody has to, you have to get on the same page. You have to get on the same

page but yeah if you would have went in their guns ablaze in i'm this new hot shot from new york guess what you would have lost them you'd lost them real quick so you know taking a methodical approach where you're actually listening and trying to get context about them and learn about how they are as a human right i mean because you know when you're a manager you're dealing with human capital right you you are investing in other people and from my perspective when you're a manager you work for them not the other way around, right? Because when you partner with people, you get a lot better results. It's so true. And when you take over a team, the only thing your employee is thinking about right now, they're trying to answer one question and one question only. Who is this person

standing in front of me and what type of leader are they going to be? Will they have my best interest at heart? That's really what any employee is trying to figure out. when a new leader comes in. And knowing that, when I walk in, it is really about trying to prove that I do have their best interest at heart, which doesn't happen on day one. I mean, that takes time.

And you arrive there with each person at different points in times, which gets into trust. So you're right. You know, it really is about understanding your employees and proving to them that, you know, you are there. And all my teams over the years came to understand that, I am there for one purpose and one purpose only for them.

That's the only reason why I'm there. Yeah, we have corporate goals and all that, but I am in it really for them because I can't achieve my goals if they're not achieving their goals. That's exactly it, because the way that you advance is by the other people that are on your team. And so my goal, when I was a property manager, my goal was to have everybody get to the next position.

So if you're a leasing professional, I wanted you to be an assistant. If you're an assistant, I wanted you to be a manager because if I'm not duplicating myself, meaning feeding into people so that they're advancing, then I'm actually not doing my job. You know, and there are other people that look at it the other way. Like, I don't want them to take my job. I'm like, listen, if you can, take it. You know, I want you to grow. I don't want to hold people back because in this life, it's all about growth.

It's all about getting, you know, hitting our goals and getting that next level. Yeah, I mean, you know, my greatest achievements, were really some of the employees that I've led who won awards or gone on to whatever their goals were to help them achieve their goals. You know, one of the greatest highlights of my career was in, with a different team, was there was this very prestigious award that's only given out to a few, and it's more of like a career type of an award. And I had three people on my team that won it in one year,

which to me was like one of the greatest, you know, highlights. And that was their goal to try to achieve. And they clearly deserved it. So it is really about, you know, I often talk about, and a lot of leaders don't get this, that as leaders, you make a profound impact on your employee's lives. And sometimes you don't even realize it until like years later. You know, by this point, I've been very observant of all the leaders that I've worked for. And, you know, good ones and I had some bad ones. And you can learn just as much from a bad leader than you can, a good leader of what not to do. And sometimes more, yes. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, the important thing is, is that you really do have a profound impact. And even as I think

back, that first person, I took a shot on me and brought me into that customer service, I really didn't appreciate that and knowing that until years later. And that's part of the hard part about leading is sometimes you don't know the impact you're making or when your employee realizes it down the road. But we do make a huge impact. And sometimes we have a negative impact as well. And we need to be aware of that. And look, we spend the majority of our times at work. Right. If you mind us out sleeping, right? The majority of our awakened moments are spent over a lifetime at work. And the manager makes a huge impact to the quality of that person's life, both professionally and personally. Yeah, no. And I'm not a big fan of math, but one thing that stuck out to me, I can't remember who said it. But they said, you know, as a leader, you're either you're doing one or two things. You're either adding or subtracting. So if you want to be the person that's adding value to people,

or taking value away. And I know for me, I would prefer to add value to others. Totally. Totally agree. All right. So West Virginia, you know, you were down there. You've got this new team. How long were you there on this particular assignment?

And did you end up staying with the same company or did you leave? And I don't think we're to the point yet to where you've, you know, launched out on your own. So what was the next step for you? So two years, I actually did, got promoted into a. another sales manager position was more of a specialty sales force dealing with specialty products that did afford us the opportunity to move back and so we moved back to the East Coast and I was there for a couple years but at that point the company was changing new management was coming in it took over the company and I kind of knew where they were headed with this and at this point I had formulated

some pretty strong convictions on on culture and managing and I knew that I needed to make a change. I wasn't going to change my core principles for any one person or any company. And it was a very hard decision for me. I was there in that other role for two years and then I finally did leave, which was hard for me.

I mean, think about it. The company gave me everything. I supported me. I mean, however, the way I kind of served it up was the company I was leaving was not the company I grew up with anymore. And a lot of people were leaving. And so at that point, I switched

and that was 12 or 13 years with that company. And I jumped ship to a different company. Okay. So with this new organization, and it gets you closer to home, you're back on the East Coast. So what was this new role and how long were you there? Yeah, so this new company was another pivotal moment

that put me on the next chapter in my life. And the position I took was a sales manager position. and they were expanding. And it was basically almost like a startup type of feel. They were expanding. It was a sales manager role. And I was building out a team. And I was only in that role for about, maybe about 15 months.

And the company knew I had home office experience. And they were grown and expanding. And they were based in New Jersey. And they asked me to come in and help build out all the management training. They knew I had some pretty strong, I was passionate about, I had some strong convictions and I was passionate about managing people. So they asked me to come in and build out the managing training. So Jordan, I will tell you that of all the positions I was thinking of evolving into,

training was at the bottom of my list. In fact, it wasn't even on my list. I wasn't even a thought in my mind. But I thought it would be a cool project. I thought I would do it maybe for a year. And I took the role and that just took a life of its own. And again, this goes back to there was the person who was in charge of training, she saw something in me that I didn't see, that I was completely blind to. And she took a chance on me.

And once I was in the role, I was all in, loved it. Became certified to teach all different courses, loved facilitating, working with leaders at all levels. Went back, got a master's in organizational behavior. became an academically trained coach, certified executive coach. So here's somebody who took me 10 years to get my bachelor's, and I get my master's in like three years, and did that role for five years, and I was good. I could have done, I found what I was meant to do in life.

I'm good. You know, I had a goal of becoming a regional sales director. That just went by the wayside. I loved what I was doing. Of course, there was our executive, the vice president of our division came to me and sat me down and said, you know, this was five years later now. We have an opening as a regional sales director. I think you should take it. And I realized that I was going to be moved into that role regardless. It really was no thinking. But again, to her credit, she realized I had a gap that needed to be filled. Up until all this management experience that I had was with frontline managers. I never had a second line leadership experience, managing managers.

And here I am doing all the managing training for all levels of management, including her direct reports, the business heads. And so it was a gap, and I did take that role. And I had a region with five sales managers, about 50 reps or so, and loved the role as well. And I did realize that I did have some gaps. So it is, you know, managing managers is different, some different set of skills that are required.

that I didn't realize was important at that time. That's awesome. So for one, the role that you did for five years, that's what I've been doing for the last eight. So I love it. I love teaching and training. And I get to teach a six-month leadership program every year and then sales.

And so what was that experience like for you? So now you're coming from West Virginia. You get back to New York. And all of a sudden now you're an instructor, an instructor like you're doing instructional design and you're having to facilitate and and you know the the the prep time that goes into teaching and then having to capture an audience's attention right so all these are all things that are new that you said like this wasn't even on my list right so so what was that experience like being in that role and then obviously you grew you were there

five years before you went to the next venture so what was that like for you Yeah, you know, if you can tell, there's a pattern of me getting thrown into roles that I had no business getting into, right? And so there is that learning curve that goes into it. And but by this point, you know, I took a little bit of a different approach. While I didn't have any training experience, what I did know is what managers wanted out of training and what they didn't want. And so I brought that experience into the facilitation room, into the classroom. And, you know, It took a while. Fortunately, I had a great boss, right? The person that recruited me in was very good about teaching me. And I think that is something very important that people need to realize. You know, when you're put into a role, what type of support are you going to have? Is the person going to, are they setting out for success or failure?

So fortunately, I had a good manager that was teaching me along the way. But it was, you know, I mean, it was a long road of learning. And the one thing that I realized is, you know, I quickly put together an advisory team of other managers because I knew I didn't have all the answers. And why not tap into, you know, other people's perspectives and insights to help me build out everything. But, you know, it took time. You have to put the time in. These are different set of skills. Facilitating is different than presenting.

As you know, right, it is. Yeah. And so I just had to really put the time in to develop some of these new skills. But it's easier to do that when you enjoy what you're doing. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, no. And you were the type of person that wanted to go all in and everything, whatever new venture it was, right?

And that's brilliant bringing subject matter experts in because then they get some line light. They get to shine. But you get to partner with people that know about things, like you said, that maybe you're not privy to, right? So those partnerships, I can, I can attest to that they are foundational, right, when you bring other people in, because when you don't bring them in, that can cause a whole another series of problems and issues. So you take the sales management management job, like show, go let you had something there. So go ahead. Well, no, the other thought, and I'm sure you appreciate this is, yeah, training usually has a negative stigma attached to it. Right. And, and,

so it's hard to build credibility. So when you bring people in, they become your advocates for you and because they feel like they're part of it building it with you. So that's exactly it. Yeah, no, and that's a key part of change management, right? And this is the type of change. And so you have to have stakeholders. You have to have people that have your back. So that they're a larger voice than you are, right?

Because you're the new guy in the role. What do you know coming from West Virginia? You know what I'm saying? So yeah, you got to get those key. stakeholders to be advocates for you. Absolutely. So you get out of that role. Okay, you, you know, thrived in it. You had, you partnered with some folks. Now you get into this new sales role. You notice, they notice there's a gap. You agree with that gap. So what was it like now managing managers, right? Because, you know, you went from managing to having a bunch of indirect

reports like I do now. I have a couple hundred indirect reports. Yeah. I don't manage anybody. but I still think that, you know, you do. You do in a lot of capacities. But now you're managing other managers. So what was that, you know, first 30 days like? It was interesting. I realized while a lot of the basics applied, there were some nuances that I didn't realize.

And the one thing that I quickly had to learn is as I was not only meeting with my managers, but I also met with, you know, the reps reporting, you know, into them that were in my region. And the thing that really stood out to me was I had to really walk a fine line to make sure I wasn't, that I wasn't undermining my managers. And again, your reps, they want to build relationships with you as the regional director. But I had to really be very conscientious to make sure that I wasn't overstepping or giving direction and replacing, you know, inadvertently replacing the role. of my manager. And I, that was one thing that, that, that, that really stood out, that balancing act. Okay.

And so how long were, were you in that role until the next opportunity came? I was in that role for three years. So, yeah. And the other thing I learned, too, was that just because I stand in front of the room and I, you know, lay out a vision to think that everyone's going to remember that if I say it one time, you know, again, I was, you know, operating in a different universe. It's amazing how many times you have to, you have a vision and you set expectations. You have to continuously repeat it to make sure it does cascade down through throughout your ranks.

But I was in that role for about three years and I loved it. And then I started thinking, well, maybe I could do this now for the rest of my life. You always go through that type of mindset. You kind of don't know what you don't know until you get into the role. Okay. So what was the next step? The next step was, so the culture again started shifting big time. And I think it's inevitable sometimes.

You know, when small organizations grow and they become bigger, I think it's sometimes hard to keep that special cultural feeling. And again, I knew that I started to realize this wasn't the place for me anymore. And that's when I launched my company. I figured, you know what, I could, I love what I'm doing. why not try to bring more value to a broad group of people? Yeah. And, you know, if you think about it, right, and you think about the warehouse role to where you had gotten to that point, right?

You went from warehouse to call center to field sales to training and then to managing managers. All of that, all of that to me is experience, right? You gained knowledge in this aspect. You gained knowledge here. Went down this path here. So yeah, why not take all that, package it into your own thing, right? Which is what you did? And so what was the first step or what was that conversation like with your wife when you just said, hey, listen, like, you know, this long journey I've been on?

Yeah, I think I'm ready to, you know, jump out on my own. Yeah, my poor wife, you know, I've, she's been great. She's been supporting me all throughout these changes all the years and she didn't even hesitate She's like you know, I think you should do it and and again you have to remember I'm now very strategic in You know in my life about pulling the trigger on something based on it goes back to that building that house and So it took me a while to get there, but no, she was very supportive and You know, it's hard to know that are you going to get you know clients right out of the gate and and Timing is everything I think you can use that for

phrase for everything in life, right? And fortunately, for me, there was a lot of people leaving that were at different companies now that went through a lot of my training or were coached by me. And it didn't take long. I think within a month, I had my first client. And then it just grew exponentially beyond that. That's awesome. And, you know, I really feel like that house, man, it's been the analogy for your journey, you know, like you've built a leadership house that you're able to now turn into a business, you know. But, you know, the lessons that you learn back then have definitely been paving the way with your resilience and your hard work and your efforts. And, you know, and I know in your mind, you're like, man, this took forever. But, you know,

you have something meaningful, right? So let's give the audience some context on your business. And then we'll also talk about your show because you also have a podcast as, well and you know I'm excited to be coming on your show as a guest and being on on the other side of the table here soon so give us some context about what exactly you offer for your business and then we'll jump into your show yeah sure and I offer a variety I have my my business is like in three buckets I do a lot of managing training I build customized managing training curriculums with a wide range of offerings whether it's situational dish emotional intelligence I do have a my second bucket is I built the course for emerging leaders. I do have a special place in my heart for the

individuals that are looking to become leaders one day. And I think there's great benefit in providing them with foundational training before they ever even take over a team. It's unfortunate how many people are thrown into management without ever having any training. It's bizarre. This guy right here. Yeah. And it's and it's sad if you think about it. I mean, would you ever go to a dentist and let them drill in your teeth without them ever having any train. And some people will say, well, that's not a fair analogy. Well, think about it.

Managing people is at the first line manager is probably one of the most important roles in the organization. And yet we do not consistently get people trained before to ever take over a team. And so much damage is done along the way. And then my third bucket is I do a lot of, I have a large coaching practice. So I do a lot of one-on-one coaching with leaders of all different levels. All right. That's awesome. And so let's get into the podcast.

So it's the leadership jam session. And so when did you decide to launch the show? What was this conversation like? And who was it that said, you know what? Like you do all this training. Why not add another medium to your business? So I have somebody on my team that handles all my marketing. and he was pushing me for a year to do a podcast.

And again, I kind of feel like I live in a cave. I never listened to a podcast up until he started pushing me to launch one. And my whole approach and how I facilitate my classrooms, it's very, very interactive. I know that most people don't want to sit there and listen to me talk all day. I don't want to hear myself talk all day. The best learning comes from when managers sit in a room and they learn from each other.

They share experiences. It's like a good old-fashioned jam session. We bring musicians together to just jam, and some of the best music comes out of that. So I took that philosophy from my classroom into the podcast world, and thanks to my person who runs my marketing, pushed me into launching the leadership jam session.

And that's exactly what it is. I bring on leaders to really just talk about some of the challenges that they're up against and how they would, and the best practices on how they would do, deal with it. It goes beyond just concept and theory. It's the application piece. And yeah, I'm excited to get you on as a guest too here in the near future. Awesome. Awesome. Well, hey, listen, this has been, this has been great, really getting some context into who you are and

all about what you do. And I'll make sure that all of your info is down in the show notes. But just give the audience, where's the best place to get in touch with Rob? You know, they listen to this. They get a ton of value out of it. Where do you want people to come find you? Yeah, you can just look me up on any social media platform. You just look up Rob Fonte. Or you can even go to the website and you look up to Leadership JamSession.com. You'll find me there as well.

Perfect. Well, hey, Rob, it's been a pleasure. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. Yeah, this has been great. Thanks for having me. Hey, everybody. Thanks so much for tuning in to that episode with Rob Fonte. What a great guy.

Make sure you connect with him. All of his info, his social links, as well as his website, are down in the show notes. If you haven't already, make sure you subscribe to the show. And be sure to rate and review us on iTunes. It's going to help us rank higher so we can reach and impact more people. So please, please do that. And also tell all your friends about the show if you enjoy it. Have an amazing rest of your day.

and I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode.