Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / The Empathy Executive: Mallory Govert on Leading with Heart in Disability Employment | Staffing Series

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The Empathy Executive: Mallory Govert on Leading with Heart in Disability Employment | Staffing Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:09
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:15
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi,
0:17
and today's guest is Mallory Gover, Chief Operating Officer
0:21
at Peak Performers. Since its founding in 1994, Peak
0:26
Performers has been a trailblazer in the world of
0:29
disability employment. As a 5O1C3 nonprofit, they were
0:34
early innovators in using the temporary staffing model to
0:38
create more inclusive workspaces.
0:41
Today, they specialize in temporary staffing, direct hire
0:45
and executive search services nationwide, all with a mission
0:49
to raise the bar for employment opportunities for individuals
0:53
with disabilities. Now, under Mallory's guidance,
0:57
the organization continues to strengthen its reputation for
1:00
building a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
1:03
Mallory earned her bachelor's degree in Organizational
1:06
Leadership and Supervision from Purdue University.
1:10
Before joining Peak Performers in April 2022, she held several
1:14
leadership roles at Kelly Services, including overseeing
1:18
growth strategies, managing large scale recruiting
1:21
divisions, and guiding cross functional teams.
1:25
She also served as a community ambassador, driving outreach and
1:29
engagement initiatives. Her passion for analytics and
1:32
effective recruitment strategy has fueled her success in
1:36
operational management and workforce development.
1:39
It's this combination of expertise and dedication that
1:42
has helped her shape impactful programs and inspire countless
1:47
professionals along the way. Now before we get into all that
1:50
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AD Back benefits.com. All right, back to our guest
2:23
today, the COO of Peak Performers.
2:26
Mallory, I appreciate you making the time to Share your story
2:28
today. Thank you for having me,
2:30
Anthony. So it looks like you started in
2:34
the staffing industry almost right out of college.
2:37
What first drew you into this space?
2:41
Yes, I, I did. And I will actually start off by
2:45
saying probably very similar to a lot of us who just fell into
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it and by that just not even really kind of realizing that
2:53
this industry was a thing. I graduated as you mentioned
2:58
from Purdue. It was around 2009, 2010,
3:02
extremely challenging market. Also, my degree was like, what
3:06
am I supposed to do? It's kind of business
3:09
management. Very, very vague.
3:11
And so after 96 applications and no interviews, I was finally
3:19
complaining to family and saying, I don't know how I'm
3:21
going to find a job. I I've got to start my student
3:24
loan payments soon. And they started calling around
3:28
and my, my sister-in-law actually had worked at Kelly
3:32
previously and she said, hey, they've got an opening in the
3:34
Cincinnati market. You'd have to interview for it.
3:37
But if you would be willing to move, they've loved the
3:40
interview. I'm like, okay, great.
3:42
So went through all of that and landed the job.
3:46
I started off actually as an in house contractor and I was ready
3:50
to prove a point. But what I will say is I moved
3:54
to Cincinnati. I was super excited and it
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honestly probably still took about 3 weeks before I realized
4:01
I was recruiting. Like, I don't know what I
4:03
thought I was going to be doing. I don't know if I thought I was
4:06
a receptionist or what, but it did.
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I was like, oh, I'm like matchmaking people to jobs.
4:13
And really, I mean, I was just kind of hooked from there.
4:16
But yeah, I I kind of fell into it from a very challenging
4:20
market and I don't see myself doing anything else.
4:25
What was it about it, once you realized what you were doing,
4:28
that really appealed to you? A lot of things, I mean, it's
4:32
it's very fast-paced. People often laugh at me.
4:35
I like, I literally like park my car and run into the grocery
4:38
store. I'm a very like high energy
4:40
person. I like the fast pace.
4:42
I like the variation day-to-day. You get to talk to so many
4:46
different people. You hear so many different
4:48
stories. I also loved the challenge like,
4:52
oh, give me that job. I don't know how we're going to
4:54
find right the typical purple squirrel.
4:58
So it was just, it was really captivating.
5:01
And I am very competitive and so I had a great team that I worked
5:06
alongside. I was also very young.
5:09
I don't know. And I was, I was like, I, I got
5:12
to get hired on full time. So I was just like ready to make
5:16
a difference and and just fell in love with what I was doing.
5:19
It sounds like you were probably pretty hungry at that point
5:21
because you had spent so much time looking for work.
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There had there was probably like a a big sense of gratitude,
5:27
like finally I found something like I got to make the.
5:29
Best of this, right? Yeah.
5:31
Oh yeah. Throw myself.
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Into it. Exactly.
5:34
And like even then you're like, what?
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Oh, I got to get insurance eventually.
5:38
Like, I'm no longer on Dad's insurance.
5:40
So yeah, there was a lot of moving pieces to navigate in
5:43
your early 20s of your first time on your own and figuring
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out that professional, professional world.
5:50
So you made a few stops along the way before you found Pete.
5:55
Maybe let's pick one sort of the most impactful stop along the
5:59
way. What you learn, why it was so
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impactful for you. OK, I'll pick one.
6:08
I think that. So again, this this actually was
6:12
even early or really early and I was still in Cincinnati.
6:16
I think you and I talked about a little bit that I originated in
6:19
the Midwest. I always wanted to go out to the
6:22
mountains. Personally, I just fell in love
6:25
with with it as a kid. And so as I'm navigating this
6:29
professional experience and learning what I like to do and,
6:34
and also knowing that I still hated the Midwest weather, I
6:38
ultimately was just like this. This is not where my life is
6:42
going to end up. I don't know why I'm still here.
6:45
However, while I was at Kelly that first year, again, I was
6:50
determined to get hired on. We also had some significant
6:54
turnover relatively quickly where the branch manager just
6:58
suddenly was like, I'm leaving, I'm I'm leaving and I'm leaving
7:01
in a week. And so as I'm super eager and
7:05
hungry, as you mentioned, well, these are kind of combined, but
7:10
I was, I was set out to convince them that I was ready to be a
7:13
branch manager. I'm like, I'm 24, I've got this
7:17
degree from Purdue. I can do it.
7:19
And they're like, you're crazy, like you're crazy.
7:21
You just started. I'm like, just give me an, the
7:25
interview. I, I will prove you wrong.
7:27
And I had a lot of really wonderful leaderships, my
7:30
regional manager, the, the VP of the region, some of them set up
7:35
in Columbus, some in Chicago. And so they, they gave me a shot
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to interview. I went through six different
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interviews, extremely, incredibly intimidating.
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And, and what we kind of landed on is like your degree matters,
7:49
but not really. But what I sold them on was the
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consistency factor. I said, you know, this branch
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had a lot of turnover in the last five years, which we
7:59
constantly were turning business.
8:02
We were losing business with the people.
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And I said I find I developed relationships with these people.
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If you get another branch manager in here, you're going to
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lose them. And so they're like, she has a
8:12
kind of a point. So just to clarify, Mallory, the
8:16
turnover that you were getting was not with the employees or
8:19
the the contract workers, It was with the clients.
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Clients were not happy. They were moving on.
8:25
You came in, you had some good relationships with folks.
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They were sticking around. It's like, hey, you give this
8:31
role to me like I don't know what's gonna.
8:34
Happen. They might go.
8:35
They might go, yeah, because they're gonna have to, you know,
8:37
create this relationship. And at the time the branch
8:39
manager was really required to do both kind of recruit as full
8:44
desk, right, full desk recruiting, sales, etcetera.
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So I'm like, I, I would be essentially at this point
8:49
passing the relationship off again, but yet still being here.
8:54
So, so yeah, we really, we would potentially lose clients and
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that's what I had them sold on is that if I got the position,
9:01
we would keep them. We did, but they they gave me
9:05
that opportunity at 24. You ended up getting the branch
9:08
manager. You'd been out of school for how
9:10
many years? A year and a half, Two years.
9:13
Yeah, yeah, yes, yeah. I like it.
9:16
It's bold and audacious. And So what did you, obviously,
9:19
you learned a lot going through that interview experience and,
9:22
you know, put a hat to you for, you know, convincing them that
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somebody's so young and green, but highly energetic and
9:28
motivated, you know, was ready to take on this challenge.
9:32
So what was it like once you actually stepped into that role?
9:35
Oh, a lot of work, a lot of things that you know, it's kind
9:41
of funny. It's like we think we know it
9:43
all. We're like, I know what
9:45
everything that that branch managers doing and they are
9:48
horrible at it or or what are they doing behind that closed
9:51
door, right. So it was pretty eye opening the
9:54
level of responsibility. It was a lot of long hours just
10:00
to teach myself and work with the other leaders to really
10:03
understand the scope of the job. And it's a lot more, it's a lot
10:08
easier said than done right? But it, it put me in a very
10:12
uncomfortable spot. It required me to figure it out.
10:17
It also taught me a lot about what then I wanted to do to
10:20
build my team right? Like what was my experience?
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Cuz I was just in it with the branch manager it, it was
10:29
incredibly challenging, but extremely rewarding.
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And again, I was super determined.
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So I didn't really mind and young.
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So I was like, I don't mind the grind.
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And, and we, I also was able to learn so much because I had a
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seat at a different table of like, oh, these are the
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conversations that happened behind those doors, you know?
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So it was incredible though. So who were you able to learn
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from? I mean, I hear you say that you
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were teaching yourself a lot, but did you have someone, a
11:01
mentor or somebody you could go to and say like, hey, I don't
11:04
know how this works? Like, you know, give me a hand
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here. Yeah.
11:08
So Kelly, I mean is very, it was very, very layered.
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And so there was a lot of different layers of manager.
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So directly within our physical branch, the area manager, Susan
11:22
Walsh, which I, I don't even, I think she might still be there,
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to be honest. She was very much a mentor and
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would consistently have very open conversations with me.
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Very, very direct, very, very sweet too.
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But about the different areas of, OK, we're putting too much
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focus on recruiting and now we're dropping the ball on
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generating new business, right? So how, how do you have to
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prioritize your time or learn to flex between the two and or take
11:55
your hands off and allow them to do that?
11:57
That's what you're doing in a branch manager is kind of
12:00
bringing it in, passing it off versus the actual completing the
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task. And so it was just, it was a, it
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was a safe space. It was very supportive.
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And I never felt like it was just, you know, to point out
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the, the flaws that I was having or the things that I were, you
12:19
know, was dropping. It was it was candid and and
12:22
where I needed to improve, but it was supportive in giving me
12:26
the resources and and conversations needed tools,
12:30
etcetera to help me get those done or at least send me in the
12:34
right direction to continue forging forward.
12:39
Yeah, sounds like a lot of really constructive feedback.
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There's something interesting that you mentioned that I want
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to highlight for a second, which is, you know, you sort of
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observe from the outside what you thought this role was before
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and thinking, oh, you know, I could do that 10 times better.
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What is it that they're really doing behind the closed door?
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Right. And I think that there's a lot
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of that that goes on just in life in general.
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We're sort of, you know, we're, we're observing something from
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the outside without really knowing what's going on behind
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the curtain. And once you got to go behind
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the curtain, because now this is you sitting in that chair, you
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were like, oh, a whole lot more to this than I.
13:21
Realize. That's a good reminder just for
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people in general. Like, we tend to compare our
13:26
inner experiences to other people's outer experiences and
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like, Oh yeah, I want that job because they drive a nicer car.
13:32
You know, they're in a better apartment or a house or
13:35
whatever. And exactly.
13:36
You know, you don't know sort of the the daily grind that they go
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through. So you got to go through that,
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you know, in a pretty big way and it, you know, pretty early
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on in your career. Yeah, no, I, I think, I think a
13:47
big thing that's important that I've learned and I, I think it
13:51
took me a lot longer than just that time frame, but is why it's
13:56
that much more important to build trust among your you and
14:02
your team or teammates. Because if they trust you, they
14:06
know, they know like you've got them right.
14:09
They know if your doors closed or whatever it is, right,
14:11
whatever you are working on is in the best interest of the
14:16
organization or in the support of that team.
14:19
It's not they're not left to create their own narrative.
14:23
They're not wonder what's going on, right.
14:25
And so there's a level of transparency obviously as
14:29
especially, you know executive leadership, there's not
14:31
everything that we can share. But if you have a level of
14:35
transparency in the overarching goals and direction and what is
14:41
being worked on from a high level without giving all the
14:44
details and then to also see those things kind of leading by
14:49
example and coming to fruition, you build that trust of, OK,
14:53
yes, they're they are doing what they're saying.
14:56
We don't know necessarily how they're getting there, but we'll
14:59
kind of follow them in that direction.
15:01
Direction, yeah. I want to switch now to what
15:06
you're, you know, doing today, Peak Performers.
15:08
You've been there a little over three years, worked your way up
15:11
pretty quickly, you know, director of market strategy and
15:14
analytics, then chief of staff. Now you've been in the COO role
15:19
for, you know, almost two years. How did that door first open?
15:23
How did the opportunity to join Peak Performers first come
15:26
about? Yeah, absolutely.
15:30
Well, my, my last position at Kelly well was more formally, I
15:39
guess known as the community ambassador, had a very big flair
15:44
or dynamic to that role as a growth strategist and really
15:49
doing a lot of market research, data analysis and just pulling
15:55
in information to supply the teams to help with different,
16:00
you know, whether it was QBRSABRS, you know, your
16:03
different business reviews or going into a pricing
16:07
conversation to request for additional or you know, raises
16:11
or increases on your pay rates, whatever that may be, right.
16:15
Really supplying them or equipping them with that
16:18
information. And it was a very big job
16:20
because at the time I was over our mountain market and our
16:25
Pacific market. So basically anything like West
16:29
of Kansas, North and South all the way West was my territory.
16:36
So it was a big job. It was very fulfilling.
16:39
And I know we'll, we'll probably get into a little bit more about
16:42
data feeding, you know, more sound business decisions.
16:46
But I also at the same time was going through a lot, right?
16:52
Everybody went through a lot in 2020 with Kovid.
16:55
There's no ifs, ands or buts about it.
16:57
Everyone had to whether that was personally, professionally and
17:00
different business aspects that we all had to learn really quick
17:03
what was what we needed to do to be agile.
17:06
However, I also right after COVID, my mom got really sick
17:12
and I was working remotely with Kelly.
17:14
So I was able to go back and be a caretaker for her and continue
17:18
to work. And so it was really good that I
17:21
was able to be with her and spend that time and help them
17:24
through that. I also, it was good that I still
17:27
had a distraction and something I enjoyed to do.
17:31
But inevitably we did lose my mother.
17:34
And it was just a moment in life where I, I kind of said, what am
17:39
I doing right? What am I doing?
17:41
Do I enjoy what I'm doing anymore where I'm at?
17:45
So again, personally and professionally, you know, when
17:48
you have a loss of that nature, you just, you kind of put things
17:52
in perspective. And so after, after that
17:56
reflective moment, I had realized we had gone through 6
18:00
restructures or reorgs at Kelly and like a three or four year
18:05
span. And that was just really
18:07
exhausting in itself. I also was like, OK, I'm
18:12
approaching 11 years at the same company.
18:15
Job hopping isn't what it used to be.
18:17
It's actually probably maybe even going to be looked at this.
18:21
This individual can't adapt because she's been somewhere for
18:26
so long, you know, maybe she only knows their technologies or
18:30
their way. If she goes to another company,
18:34
she wouldn't, she would try to push that agenda on us or again
18:38
struggle to, to transition. And so in that moment, I, I
18:42
started to open up like, I think this might be a moment that I
18:46
need to make a change. And, you know, whether that was
18:50
burnout, it might have been a little burnout, I don't know.
18:52
But I think I at that moment needed, needed a radical change.
18:57
So ironically, an old colleague who was in the same type of role
19:02
as I was at Kelly, she had left on her own doing and started her
19:06
own staffing company. She called me and one day and
19:10
said, Hey, I just talked to another old, you know,
19:13
colleagues of our from a long time ago.
19:16
And he mentioned that peak performer where he's now at is
19:21
looking to expand not only into the private sector, but
19:25
nationally. And she's like, and they're
19:28
looking for this director level strategy, strategy and analytics
19:32
person. And just everything we talked
19:35
about was like, Oh my God, Mallory would be your person.
19:38
Like it would she would be perfect for it.
19:40
So it was brand new to them. Again, they were navigating
19:44
different waters that they hadn't been in yet.
19:46
And I was the first person that came to her mind.
19:48
She's like, would you be interested in talking to them?
19:51
And at this point in my life, I'm like, well, one, yes, I was
19:55
actually just thinking about making a change.
19:57
But two, that sounds like that sounds really exciting.
20:02
But also I don't get it. I think I mentioned to you I'm
20:06
like, what is this company again?
20:07
She's like peak performers. They're nonprofit.
20:11
They they are staffing. Their business model is
20:13
staffing. And like, OK, send over some
20:16
information, but I'd love to have a conversation.
20:18
I also think you should always have conversations with anyone
20:21
because you never know what doors that could open.
20:24
So that's another aspect of it. Anyways, Long story short, I
20:28
started doing the research. I was so intrigued.
20:32
I was again somewhat confused, but I was like, this is really?
20:36
Intrigued you? What?
20:37
What was it that was like, OK, this, these guys are doing
20:40
something? Well, again, it's staffing, so
20:43
it's everything I know, but it's also their mission as a
20:49
nonprofit is to prioritize putting individuals with
20:52
disabilities to work. I'm like, that's incredible.
20:55
You are making a huge difference, right?
20:58
I, I love people and I love to see that kind of marriage of a
21:03
perfect job and, and a difference that it's going to
21:06
make in their life for their family's life.
21:08
And then I, you take it a step further and you're, you're
21:11
making a difference for somebody who is in an underserved
21:15
community, who doesn't have somebody advocating for them,
21:18
that there is a huge misconception or stereotype out
21:22
there, lack of knowledge of what it means to work with somebody
21:26
with disabilities or just that they're all incapable.
21:31
And I, I mean, I was just like, I need to know more, right?
21:34
I need to know more. I wasn't in that very moment as
21:36
educated as I am now, but I was very, very, very intrigued.
21:41
And so that's what started the conversation.
21:44
And within a month and a half, I I said I'm ready to go.
21:48
So tell us more about this business model of helping folks
21:52
with disability find work. Like, why this niche?
21:56
Why does it work? Why is it important?
21:59
Yeah. Yeah.
22:00
Well, so I'll just kind of dive in really quick as the
22:03
nonprofit. Well, I'm sliding backwards as
22:07
the nonprofit because again, as I said, it was confusing to me.
22:12
However, as a nonprofit, as long as we are driven by the mission,
22:18
which is to prioritize those individuals with disabilities,
22:23
then then we have that status. And it's also again to, you
22:28
know, a driven societal need is, is what this is fulfilling.
22:35
And it's, it's addressing that societal need straight on.
22:41
Again, there's this misconceptions and it brings
22:44
immense value to diversify your workforce.
22:50
There's, there's so many complexities that people
22:55
associate with somebody with a disability, but are often not
22:59
even accurate, right. The biggest thing that we get
23:02
is, oh, it's going to cost way too much because they're going
23:06
to need an accommodation. They don't always need an
23:10
accommodation. You have no idea.
23:12
You know, you're just putting them all in one box that they
23:15
all have the same disability, which would require a, an
23:18
accommodation. In fact, 10% of our workforce,
23:22
only 10% of our workforce has asked for one.
23:26
And of those 90%? Does not. 90% does not.
23:31
And of those 10%, there's little to no cost or some have no cost,
23:36
right? It's like I need a demo will
23:38
switch in my office or I would need to sit closer to the
23:42
restroom. OK, like easy.
23:45
That's not gonna cost you anything.
23:47
You're gonna. Put on a ramp in or you know, I
23:49
don't, I don't know what the other accommodations could be,
23:51
but yeah. And there's a plethora of
23:53
things, right? But The thing is, if you can't
23:55
stereotype and put them all in one box, you can't say all of
24:00
them would require an accommodation because you have
24:02
no idea. So again, that's kind of where
24:05
it goes back to that. We're putting this lens and
24:09
saying just hiring somebody with disability, it is going to cost
24:14
too much, is going to come with legal ramifications, you name
24:18
it. But it's also dismissing that
24:21
it's creating that inclusive workspace.
24:24
It's providing more engagement and and empathy.
24:29
Another aspect is retention and, you know, decrease in turnover.
24:36
They're very loyal. They need a job.
24:37
They want a job. They, quite frankly, want to
24:40
work. That's interesting.
24:41
I mean, because especially with, you know, temporary and contract
24:44
workers, I mean, notoriously very high turnover rates.
24:48
What I'm hearing you say is you've got, you know, an
24:52
underserved population here, incredibly grateful to have, you
24:56
know, found gainful employment. And they're like, we're here,
24:59
we're on board, we're with you, and they stick around longer.
25:03
Absolutely, absolutely. And and another aspect and I
25:07
understand how an employer could add a cost to this, but
25:11
generally you already have this emerged into your, your business
25:15
plan. But you, you heard me mention as
25:19
a 24 year old, I needed insurance.
25:22
Don't you think an individual with disability probably would
25:25
need insurance too? But they have to be gainfully
25:27
employed in order to get that insurance without having a huge
25:31
cost attached to it. So again, they're going to be
25:36
showing up to work every day. They're going to be incredibly
25:39
thankful and grateful for that job so that they have those
25:43
benefits that are needed to address things that for their
25:46
health that. Makes a lot of sense.
25:49
You know, I always find it interesting and helpful if we
25:53
can talk about like individual case studies, like a particular
25:56
example of somebody that you were able to help, not
25:59
mentioning any names. But you know, here was somebody
26:02
here was their their situation. Here's how we helped them find a
26:05
job. And you know, it made the
26:07
employer better. It was good for the employee.
26:10
You have any stories sort of off the top of your head you can
26:12
share? We do, I do.
26:15
And I'll actually, if, if you want at, at a later time, we can
26:19
go through a, a new series or initiative that we have that
26:23
we've just recently launched, which is called Talent Without
26:26
Limits. It's like a, a video film series
26:31
in which we're highlighting some of our talent that is actively
26:34
working at this time. So I, I, I won't use this name.
26:38
However, we do have it posted so we could always refer to it at a
26:42
later time. But we recently, you know, met
26:45
with an individual. He was a former radio station
26:49
manager who had an extreme passion for comedy.
26:54
He was well on his path to be a stand up comedian.
26:58
He was stepping on stage. He had, he had just a, a
27:02
wonderful and exciting path in front of him.
27:05
He soon after, you know, his his career at that point was taking
27:10
off, he was diagnosed with peripheral artery disease.
27:17
Yes, that's a mouthful and that's something also that a lot
27:20
of people probably have no idea what it is.
27:22
However, what that what happened is that it led to some
27:26
complications in his legs, which ended up exposing nerves and
27:31
flesh, which required a super innovative treatment using cod
27:37
fish skin grafts. So the cod fish skin grafts
27:42
aided his recovery. His journey though was not even
27:46
just about healing physically. It also though completely
27:50
destroyed him confident, his confidence, his purpose.
27:55
He really struggled to get back into stand up comedy because
27:59
this was a gun happening in his legs.
28:01
But he also just, he, he completely derailed him for
28:05
years and so many different doctors and things that, I mean,
28:09
they didn't even know that they were going to be able to help
28:13
or, or find a solution. And so he, he also had, he was
28:21
receiving disability payments. And so then he had this juggle
28:27
of, well, if I get a job, I'm going to lose that.
28:30
And it took him a long time to get the, the disability
28:35
insurance. And so he, he, he juggled at
28:39
that point. Then do I go back to work?
28:43
Is, is my, and it will help him mentally, it'll help him
28:46
physically. He also could exceed what he was
28:49
receiving on those benefits, but it took him forever to get them.
28:54
And if he lost them and potentially got like a contract
28:58
gig and he lost that, now he's left with nothing again.
29:01
So it's a it's a pivotal moment for him to say, but it's
29:05
important that I get back out there, right?
29:07
So, so next insert peek, he starts working with some of our
29:12
different recruiters and it's been incredible.
29:16
We've actually found him several positions, but he is now as an
29:21
accountant with one of our state agencies here in Texas and they
29:26
love him. I mean, and he's he's able to
29:29
use the skills he actually is starting to do some of the stand
29:31
up comedy again. He has friends, I mean his Co
29:35
worker, he has Co workers that are have become friends and he's
29:40
just he's incredibly resilient and true testament.
29:45
Excuse me, that disability didn't define him.
29:49
And really in all actuality, he's got the talent, he's got
29:52
the ability. He just lost his way because of
29:56
his confidence, because of his disability, taking him out of
29:59
that for a few years. So we've helped kind of get him
30:03
back on that journey. What a great story.
30:06
And yeah, you know, the additional benefit besides
30:09
finding him work, besides, you know, helping an employer who
30:12
needed a position. Phil.
30:13
Phil is now he's he's back in society.
30:16
He's he's making friends. He's, you know, out of his
30:19
house. He's like he, he's, he's
30:21
redeveloping a life again. Absolutely.
30:24
I think it's hard to you know, put kind of a a number or price
30:28
tag on the value of that. Exactly.
30:30
Yeah, I would agree. I agree wholeheartedly so.
30:33
So Mallory, talk to me about how you at peak there you leverage
30:39
data analytics and recruitment. How does that come into play?
30:43
Yeah, absolutely. I, I don't know that this is any
30:48
different just right out of the gate that anyone else would be
30:53
doing or using, right. I mean, we're looking at data
30:57
constantly from a recruiting perspective to look at our, you
31:03
know, phone screens, our interviews, our time to submit
31:07
our submittals, our offers, right, our rejections,
31:15
everything that you're going to be looking at to understand the
31:18
health of your pipelines. We're also looking at, you know,
31:22
our job postings or the, the return on investment, the, the
31:27
numbers behind our job postings and job boards that we're using
31:32
to make sure that we're posting actual, you know, jobs are
31:36
bringing in the right talent. What do our postings look like?
31:39
How much money are we spending because we have a bad posting
31:43
and we're getting the wrong talent.
31:44
And, and so with that being said, I don't think it's really
31:48
any different than a lot of our standard staffing agencies or
31:52
recruiting efforts. However, from our end and
31:56
operationally speaking, a few years ago, I really tried to
32:01
drill in and say, listen, you know, data is only as good as
32:07
what you actually are able to paint as a big picture, right?
32:10
What is the big picture telling you and how do you zoom in and
32:14
how do you zoom out? But what are you also going to
32:17
pull from it to understand if there's a trend?
32:22
And ultimately, there's three areas that I like to, to put
32:25
focus on and that is people processing technology.
32:30
Because again, that number may not be telling you that the job
32:36
posting is wrong. It might be telling you that the
32:39
technology is broken or something is not actually
32:43
feeding that information over. And so you can't just take it
32:47
too literal of like, oh, our, our number is down.
32:51
So we need to go do more. So if we, if we look at these
32:55
three categories more specifically to say, oh, it's
33:00
and I hate to pick on the people part of it first, but it's like,
33:03
if is, is this person having a bad week?
33:06
Or are they consistently not meeting their metrics or those
33:11
numbers and figuring out why, right?
33:15
Is it a lack of effort? Is it a lack of knowledge?
33:17
Maybe they just need to be retrained.
33:19
Maybe they haven't been given the right, you know, resources
33:23
or is there a bottleneck in our process?
33:26
So the numbers are telling us that everybody, you know, is
33:30
getting hung up at that point or everybody's numbers are
33:34
extremely large. But we're not then netting
33:36
anybody to an inner or smittle or an interview, right?
33:39
So trying to really take that data and look at it more and
33:44
then specifically look at those 3 categories to say what do we
33:48
need to do operationally speaking, to pinpoint how we can
33:52
use those numbers to actually move the needle or do are we
33:57
doing great, right. And everything's seamless, which
34:00
is rare, but it happens. The Unicorn moment we're all in
34:06
search of, right? What markets are you currently
34:09
serving Mallory? We're, we're kind of all over
34:15
the map. However, we've we've drilled
34:17
that in as of the last year or two, we are still in Texas is
34:23
our biggest market right now. That is where we were founded.
34:27
And again, up until about 2020-2021, we were not expanding
34:33
outside of that. New York, NY City are very big
34:37
markets for us. We're also expanding into New
34:40
Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island. We're in Florida.
34:45
We just landed a new account in Oklahoma.
34:49
And by a new account, I mean the, you know, state use
34:52
program, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona.
34:56
So it's kind of all over the place.
34:57
We're in about 19 different states.
35:02
Do you set up a physical presence in each of those states
35:04
as you grow, or is it more like, hey, we're working with a
35:08
national account and they've got, you know, offices?
35:11
Multiple locations, yeah, yeah, we mostly have a centralized
35:16
delivery method or delivery, what am I trying to say,
35:21
operations. However, we do have some offices
35:25
in different locations if it's a contractual agreement or
35:28
requirement. And so we have offices actually
35:32
in New OR, New York and New Jersey.
35:38
We have one in Pennsylvania, in Oregon, Texas and I might be
35:45
missing one. But yes, we only are doing a
35:49
local OR presence there again if we are required from a.
35:54
Contractual. Something that the the client
35:57
wants from you. Correct.
35:58
Yeah. And then do you need a client of
36:01
a certain size and a new geography for it to make sense
36:05
for you? Because I'm also trying to wrap
36:08
my head around like, how are you finding the employees with
36:13
disabilities that are looking for work in those localities
36:15
too? Yeah, absolutely.
36:18
So yes and no. We have some states that we will
36:21
will not service your Californias and Illinois.
36:25
We're just kind of like we're not, we're not, we're not at a
36:29
size that we could support it and it's just very hairy from a
36:33
compliance perspective. So we're just not even going to
36:36
go there. We're going to be more strategic
36:37
in our efforts and energy. But with that being said, we
36:43
generally are looking at either state use programs, which is the
36:47
entire state, agencies within that particular state and or.
36:53
Say more about that. I don't know what that means.
36:55
The state. So yeah, state use program.
36:57
So there are actually different CRPS, so certified
37:02
rehabilitation programs that the different government agencies
37:08
would have to go through to find contingent employees before they
37:13
could go outside of that program.
37:16
So there are, I don't quote me on this, but I think there are
37:20
27 states that have these programs and there are 20 states
37:25
that are a must use. So those state agencies must go
37:30
through that contingent program, which is again then we're trying
37:36
to, they're trying to actually say, yes, we want to promote
37:40
that you would hire somebody with a disability prior to then
37:43
going outside of that program, right, They're trying to so.
37:46
This is helping folks find jobs within state government
37:49
themselves. Yeah, agencies within the state,
37:51
OK. Yep.
37:53
And so that's that's kind of where we we were founded and
37:57
originated. And again, Texas is a must use
38:01
and so that's our New Mexico, Nevada, actually Oklahoma again
38:08
some of these it gets a little muddy because not all of them
38:11
are these must use programs, but it's, it's within the public
38:15
sector. And then our private sector in
38:19
the last year and a half, we realigned our, our sales
38:24
strategy and are only focusing on managed service programs.
38:28
So those are going to be larger clients.
38:30
They are, you know, they're headquartered in Maryland.
38:34
We have, you know, 5 or other six other states that we would
38:37
know about that we would potentially be servicing in
38:40
addition to that and generally have a point where we could
38:45
scale when, when we would be servicing that or let them know,
38:50
you know, we would not be servicing this until we had a
38:53
volume or increase in, in Rex presented or opportunities.
38:58
Yeah. I'm guessing it requires sort of
39:02
a certain amount of like heavy lift from you to go into a new
39:07
geography and to run the ads there, do the recruitment or
39:10
whatever it is that you guys do to find the folks that are
39:13
looking for work. Yeah, absolutely.
39:15
And actually, if you want, I can, I can go a little further
39:17
into that because there's probably again, it, it is
39:21
interesting because a lot of folks say, well, how, how do you
39:26
vet them for, to have, if they have a disability or not?
39:31
And first and foremost, we're still recruiters first and
39:34
foremost, right? We, we are looking at their
39:38
skills. We are still vetting them to
39:40
ensure that they have the qualifications.
39:43
That is first and foremost nothing of that changes as a
39:47
nonprofit. We do have and with our mission,
39:50
we do have the ability to discuss that is a prioritizing
39:56
factor that they would be prioritized in consideration for
40:00
the job. So we need to understand if they
40:02
do or do not have a disability, but that doesn't mean that we're
40:07
not again talking to folks that don't have disabilities either.
40:11
And then how we then target or try to continue to partner with
40:16
affiliations and other organizations that are.
40:19
Mission minded or like minded in that mission is actually by our
40:24
disability inclusion partners. So that's a very unique title.
40:28
I don't know any other organization that has something
40:32
of that nature, but it is an incredibly important role here
40:37
at Peak and something that we developed a few years ago.
40:44
I'm trying to actually get to the bottom of my little notes
40:47
for you guys because they're really unique in how that we
40:52
approach this. Let me see, Sorry, we have two
40:59
of them and they actually operate.
41:04
I'm keep going back to this talent with limits thing.
41:08
Which is an interesting video series that you guys are are
41:11
working on now where you can kind of highlight some of these
41:13
success stories and that that'll be interesting.
41:16
You provide us the link. Mallory won't include that in
41:19
the show notes for folks, but. That would be great.
41:21
That would be awesome. Yeah, it is.
41:24
It is really cool. And they are a part of that as
41:26
well, in addition to our head of brand, but our disability
41:32
inclusion partners, it's, it's again very unique in our
41:37
staffing model model. But they, they're, they're
41:41
specialized recruiters and staffing managers that actually
41:45
provide guidance through for both recruiting or candidates,
41:50
excuse me, candidates and employers, but they're more than
41:54
that. They're advocates, they are
41:56
mentors. They're also career advisors for
42:00
every candidate and every client.
42:02
Basically. They understand, right?
42:05
They understand thoroughly how the disability can affect the
42:08
job seeker and the different workplace dynamics.
42:11
They also will provide tailored coaching.
42:14
So our recruiters do a little bit of this as well.
42:17
But again, these these two individuals are dedicated to
42:20
doing this, but they'll provide that coaching on, you know,
42:24
disclosing your disability or their disability.
42:28
What should they say? How do they say it?
42:30
And also, again, giving them the encouragement to to release that
42:37
information or disclose that information.
42:39
They'll help prep them for interviews.
42:42
Everyone hates going through interviews, right?
42:43
It's an incredibly stressful time.
42:46
And so to go a step above and beyond and be there to help
42:50
coach them through that and prep them and be there on the waiting
42:54
for them when they get done with that.
42:56
But they also just they grow in the roles they help them feel
43:01
empowered. They're also looking to, again,
43:05
like I said, kind of in those new markets, reach out to
43:08
different affiliations and organizations to partner, you
43:12
know, not to say, Hey, can you send us all of these people that
43:15
come to you? It's, it's a partnership, it's a
43:18
exploration and continuing to provide that information and
43:22
just team up, right, Like it's, we're not really competing,
43:26
we're just trying to all help these individuals.
43:28
So how can we, how can we partner on that?
43:32
So you've mentioned that obviously you guys are doing a
43:34
lot of work with States and supplying workers to the state,
43:40
different state agencies side of that.
43:43
What other industries do you find that you're a good fit for?
43:48
Yeah. So we, everything that we're
43:51
doing is really at a higher level, more professional roles.
43:56
We're in several different industries.
43:58
You've got your, you know, accounting and finance, ITHR,
44:04
you know, administrative office, clerical.
44:07
We do have some engineering. We also some legal.
44:13
As far as what we do, we also, I mean we do your, you know,
44:17
standard contract, contract to hire direct hire.
44:21
We also have a, an executive search.
44:25
We've done several executive searches actually C level roles
44:30
and, and those are completely different, right, of a
44:33
recruiting requirement or search or it completely derail A
44:39
recruiter for what that executive level needs.
44:44
So we have three different, I guess we we put them down into
44:47
three. It's our staffing model, our
44:49
peak direct, which is more of your executive search level and
44:52
then Peak launch, which is something that is new for us as
44:56
far as the product, which is going to be more of a skills,
44:59
best skills based, excuse me, hiring, delivering job ready
45:04
candidates and that's a little newer of an initiative for us,
45:08
but to keep us, keep us fresh. Say, say more about some of
45:13
these newer initiatives or where you see like future growth
45:16
coming from? Well, the, the world is ever
45:20
changing, right? I mean, we've been doing the,
45:23
the contract and contract to hire for a long time.
45:27
We didn't have a ton of direct hire until about 2 1/2 years
45:31
ago. And, and I'm like the pendulum's
45:34
going to swing, right? So what are we, what are we
45:37
going to have to do when direct hire no longer so hot And it's
45:42
just it's, it's staying in front of that as much as possible.
45:47
But ultimately, we know what our expertise is and that is again,
45:52
identifying these candidates for these particular industries,
45:56
ensuring that we're continuing to build a pipeline that are
45:59
that are ready to go. You also combat people that want
46:03
to be fully remote. And so we continue to make sure
46:07
that we're building those pipelines of saying, don't call
46:10
this person, they may look like perfect fit on paper, but they
46:14
only want remote. So unless you have a remote
46:16
opportunity like don't move forward, right, don't, don't
46:20
pass go. And that is the way of the world
46:24
still that a lot of people are still wanting fully remote and
46:28
they're doing a lot of back to office.
46:30
So it's a shift that we just have to stay in front of, but we
46:33
just have to be agile internally with our processes and make sure
46:37
that we're buttoning up our communication.
46:41
What is the process of keeping this information organized in
46:45
our applicant tracking system? Again, making sure our processes
46:50
are dialed in and everybody is operating seamlessly or
46:54
consistently. We were not, we did not, we did
46:57
not have work clothes like 3 years ago.
46:59
That was my big push in 2022 to get everything documented right.
47:04
Sometimes it seems super basic, but we often forget about those
47:08
basics. So it's it's making sure that
47:10
we're consistently talking about them.
47:12
Well, Mallory, what core beliefs have guided your decisions and
47:17
shaped your leadership style? I think that there's a lot of
47:29
things that have guided me and, and I'm very, very grateful for,
47:33
again, a lot of the experiences that I've had, the people that
47:36
I've worked with, because they've certainly added a flair
47:40
or two or things that I did not want to do moving forward.
47:45
But I'm, I'm very, very big on leading by example.
47:52
I'm also very, very big in not being afraid to take a risk.
48:00
I don't know, it's like you can't break something or you can
48:04
break it, but we can probably fix it.
48:06
And so I would rather, I would rather empower my people to feel
48:11
super confident in their ability to make those decisions so that
48:16
we are responding in a timely fashion.
48:20
That's my my responsibility as a leader if they're not equipped
48:24
with the right resources and tools to make those decisions.
48:28
But otherwise I would be bottlenecking if it had to come
48:30
through me 24/7. So it's really important again,
48:34
to to train, to support, to empower.
48:39
I also am incredibly big on empathy.
48:44
I actually every once in a while people kind of laugh because
48:48
like I'm so process driven. I'm so structured.
48:51
And then I'll do a reminder to folks like, Hey, don't forget to
48:57
give grace and not just to others, but to yourself.
49:02
We're only human. And again, our product is, is
49:06
people. I mean, we're all human.
49:08
Things are going to happen. There's a lot of stressors in
49:12
life. There's a lot of things going
49:14
on. You can, you can be
49:17
understanding and still hold somebody accountable.
49:21
You know, you can still have those expectations, but you, you
49:24
need to have a lending area. You need to be, you need
49:26
understand, especially, again, in our particular case, we're
49:30
working with people with disabilities, We're asking them
49:32
to have these very, very vulnerable conversations.
49:37
If you are not empathetic and in what you're doing, we might as
49:41
well not be doing it. Like we might as well not.
49:45
And so a lot of folks I think over the years that I've
49:49
encountered are kind of like, to me, the empathy doesn't go with
49:52
these other things. And to me, I'm like it.
49:55
It wouldn't be going if I didn't have it and if I didn't
49:59
encourage my team or those I work with to also be empathetic.
50:03
And again, a lot of times too, to ourselves, 'cause we're our
50:07
own worst critics and we'll beat ourselves up.
50:09
But you allow the, you know, you allow room to make mistakes, to
50:17
learn from that, to grow from that, to be resilient.
50:21
And if you do that for yourself, you'll extend that to your team,
50:23
and your team will extend that beyond them.
50:26
I like a couple of things that sort of came out of what you
50:27
just said there in Mallory. You know, we're talking about
50:29
this idea of empathy and it doesn't really on the surface
50:33
seem to align with somebody who's so process driven and
50:36
let's get stuff done today. But I love that you point out
50:41
that these things can and should coexist.
50:44
You can be very process driven and understand that the people
50:48
behind the processes are people. Are still people.
50:52
Yeah, right. And the other thing I really
50:54
loved about what you said is not only extending that empathy and
50:57
that grace to other people, but to yourself, right?
51:01
Like we are, most of us, we are our own worst critics almost all
51:06
of the time. There's that voice inside of our
51:08
head that is, you know, constantly berating us.
51:10
And, you know, if that voice in our head spoke outwardly to our
51:16
friends, our friends would no longer be our friends.
51:19
You know, if we talked to our our friends the same way that
51:21
sometimes we talk to ourselves. Hey, I don't want any part of
51:24
that. So I, I, I love this idea of
51:26
empathy and grace, not only for, for others, but for, you know,
51:32
internally for ourselves too. Absolutely, yeah.
51:37
OK, let's shift gears a little bit.
51:38
I'd like to hear Mallory about a serious challenge that you've
51:42
overcome in your life, personal or professional.
51:46
What was it? How'd you get through it?
51:47
What did you learn? Well, I, I mean, I, this is
51:56
actually probably very fitting for personally and
52:01
professionally just in this conversation, But while I was in
52:05
college, it was probably my sophomore year.
52:10
I started to experience, I didn't know at the time, but
52:15
panic attacks, and I mean incredibly stressed out.
52:20
I was really struggling with some of the the classes I was
52:23
having that semester because I felt a lot of anxiety taking it
52:27
was they were the only grade you got was through tests and tests
52:32
freaked me out. I would immediately blank as
52:34
soon as I went in there, no matter how much I studied or
52:37
didn't. And so anyways, I, I started
52:41
having these panic attacks and I always knew again, I was high
52:45
energy that I just always kind of felt anxious.
52:50
I don't know that I knew the word anxious truly though, as a
52:52
child. And so I went through a lot of
52:57
of very much having to learn myself in college and it's a
53:04
very odd time anyways, but that I do suffer from panic attacks.
53:08
I do suffer from severe anxiety even in that time, some
53:14
depression. And so that was a whole, I don't
53:21
know, I, I just eye opener for me that all of a sudden I'm
53:24
like, I, I didn't know any of this existed.
53:27
And it came on very, very quick. And so I had, I did at the time,
53:32
a lot of therapy, but I also had to go through a lot of exercises
53:37
to help myself to not necessarily grow out of it.
53:42
I, I, I don't know that you'll ever completely grow out of it.
53:44
I think you find ways to manage it.
53:47
But what's interesting over the years is I've actually found it
53:53
to help me in my professional environment, my high energy, my
54:01
anxiety, the feelings I have about getting certain things
54:06
done has actually ate like helped me in accomplishing some
54:11
of the things that I have. And so I think that it's, it's
54:17
been a, a shift on how I've even looked at having a disability or
54:22
chronic illness or, or whatever, right?
54:25
I don't even look at it as that anymore for myself.
54:28
Because to me, I'm like, I can embrace this.
54:32
I can actually take this. And it gives me a lot of task
54:39
completion's not the right thing because I don't like just task
54:41
completion, but the desire to get things done and in a very
54:49
well done manner and but timely, right?
54:52
Like I, I, I have to constantly be doing something.
54:57
And I also, though, need to couple that with meditation,
55:03
with yoga, with doing different things to kind of then also take
55:08
myself down because I don't want to throw myself into a panic
55:11
attack because I have all of this moving behind the scenes.
55:16
So it's been, it's been very interesting, but it's helped me
55:19
a lot in, again, kind of I think in my career to have some of
55:26
these things behind going on, I guess.
55:29
But also then tell me that I do need to slow down at times and
55:33
help me kind of work through some of those different thoughts
55:36
in a different way as well. So a few things I want to unpack
55:40
here. First of all, thank you for.
55:42
There's a lot to unpack. Yeah.
55:45
Good stuff first, yeah, thank you for opening up about this.
55:49
I think this is unfortunately a very common thing that people
55:53
experience, unfortunately not something a lot of people talk
55:56
about. And so when it happens to
55:58
somebody, they don't know what's going on, they don't understand
56:01
it. They think something's wrong
56:02
with them and that just compounds the struggle and the
56:06
suffering. So I'm, I'm curious, when this
56:09
first presented itself to you back in college, how did you get
56:13
to the point of understanding what was even going on?
56:16
Yeah, no, that's in your spot on.
56:20
I think then I was very scared. I was very uncertain what was
56:25
happening. I didn't know how to unpack it,
56:27
right. So a lot of that in the time and
56:30
like you said, a lot of people don't want to talk about it.
56:31
So at that time, I think I did a lot probably behind closed doors
56:35
with my, my family not really understanding what to do
56:40
obviously. I think in those moments it was
56:42
more like, OK, go to the bathroom and breathe into a bag.
56:46
I'm like, I don't just carry a paper bag with me everywhere,
56:48
you know? So it was very ad hoc and like,
56:52
what do you need to do in this moment?
56:54
But it was like, OK, no, I think we need to talk about longer
56:58
term. I, I think I need to seek some
57:01
therapy to actually discuss ongoing ways to cope or
57:05
mechanisms that I, I don't have the knowledge, I don't know
57:10
what's going on. So I need someone to educate me.
57:13
And so it went, it went from, you know, family to then, OK,
57:17
let's talk to somebody else about it.
57:19
And I'm sure in those moments I had a lot to unpack to from
57:22
childhood or other things going on.
57:24
But ultimately that there was just something I was kind of
57:28
wired with and that that was OK. But I also think that's why, and
57:34
I might be jumping ahead a little bit, but I think that's
57:36
also why it was kind of something that made me a little
57:39
bit more empathetic and give myself grace was this doesn't
57:44
make me a bad person, right? It's not something I did wrong
57:49
per SE. It's just something I have to
57:51
deal with. And I can either embrace it or,
57:55
and you don't even have to embrace it, but I can, I can, I
57:58
can deal with it and know how to, or I could be mad about it
58:02
and shut down and all these other things.
58:04
And so I, I tend to try to find Silver Linings or the positive
58:08
and things. And so I, I, I chose that
58:09
different Rd. But I certainly, to answer your
58:12
question, I had to be, I had to get education.
58:15
I had to have somebody help me walk through it and, and kind of
58:20
give me that, you know, push, push in the other direction
58:24
because I, I wouldn't have probably been able to get to
58:26
where I did on my own. And what's really interesting
58:29
here is how you were kind of able to turn this on its head
58:34
and you're like, oh, this is actually kind of a strength for
58:39
me. This is it when I can learn to
58:42
sort of put some guard rails in, right?
58:44
So, you know, it doesn't get out of control.
58:46
Like this is like I'm high energy, like driving me to get
58:50
things done. What helped you kind of get to
58:52
that inflection point of of sort of turning this around from
58:56
something that it, you know, is a struggle or, you know, it's
58:59
it's a, it's a, it's an albatross to hey, no, like this
59:05
is part of the good parts of who I am too.
59:09
That took years, years and years.
59:12
I would say honestly, it's probably been the last five
59:16
years that I did. And and really I will reflect
59:19
back again, 2020, everybody went through something.
59:23
I was always an extrovert. I had to be around people when
59:27
COVID hit. I'm like, Oh, wait, I actually
59:30
think I like this time to sit here and think to myself or take
59:35
this me time. And, and I, I leveraged that.
59:40
I, I kind of had that I'm comfortable in this reflection
59:45
mode in my own thoughts and, and felt a different way about it
59:50
coming out of COVID. I mean, I was super stoked as we
59:53
all were to see people and etcetera, maybe in a mask or not
59:56
in a mask. But then then, you know, taking
1:00:01
care of my mom and and losing my mom, I'm like, life's too short,
1:00:05
like. Even she went through a lot of
1:00:08
things of, you know, I have cancer, nobody's going to want
1:00:12
to talk to me. I'm like, that is not true.
1:00:15
Like, that is just not true. Like, why would you think that?
1:00:19
And so it's again, kind of saying, how can I find the
1:00:22
silver lining in this? And use it to my advantage
1:00:26
versus allow it to bring me down or back.
1:00:29
So I don't know if that answers that.
1:00:30
But it does. I love it.
1:00:32
It's a hard path to get there. I think we may have talked about
1:00:36
this in the before we went live here is, you know, I had another
1:00:40
guest, we talked a lot about imposter syndrome.
1:00:42
And he in a similar way, kind of flipped it on its head.
1:00:45
And rather than being this thing he sort of ran from is kind of
1:00:48
like you putting the silver lining on it.
1:00:50
This is his superpower as he sees it.
1:00:53
And it allows him to sort of get up and, you know, out of bed
1:00:57
every day and, you know, look for new challenges to tackle
1:01:00
and, you know, ways to improve the things in his life.
1:01:02
Right, but. Mallory, I've just got, I've got
1:01:05
one more question for you. But before I ask that, I want to
1:01:08
do 2 things. I want to first of all, invite
1:01:10
everybody who's listening to go ahead and hit the follow button
1:01:13
on your favorite podcast app. You want to get more great
1:01:15
interviews like we've had today with Mallory from Peak
1:01:17
Performers. I also want to let people know
1:01:20
the best way to either get in touch with you directly, follow
1:01:24
your story to follow that of Peak Performers.
1:01:26
What would that be? Several different things.
1:01:31
I mean, we are our website ispeakperformers.org, so please
1:01:37
check us out. I'm on LinkedIn.
1:01:40
We also have a LinkedIn, we have an Instagram, we have a TikTok.
1:01:43
Now we have a lot of things because we want to illustrate
1:01:46
these stories and share these stories with others.
1:01:49
Anyways, you can find us a peak performers and kind of go from
1:01:53
there as far as everything else on the different outlets.
1:01:57
So last question for you, Mallory, as you look out say
1:01:59
over the next two to three years, what are the biggest
1:02:02
changes that you see other coming to your industry or
1:02:05
specifically to peak performers that you're most excited about?
1:02:10
Oh, most excited. Well, I, I, I mean, I am, I'm
1:02:15
very, very excited. I think that our growth strategy
1:02:20
over the next three to five years and and probably we're
1:02:23
about year 2 of that is very well established.
1:02:29
We have an incredible alignment across all of our departments
1:02:34
now and how we're going to get there.
1:02:36
And so I'm just, I'm really excited to see how we continue
1:02:40
to grow and develop that private sector market or the, our, our
1:02:45
managed service programs and into these new states, as well
1:02:49
as our public sector, our state state agencies.
1:02:53
You know, we, the, again, the economy is well, public sector
1:02:57
shrinking, right? It's just right before our eyes.
1:03:00
So that might be a little unique.
1:03:02
So I, I guess excited, well, we'll just say I'm excited to
1:03:05
see how that all shakes out. But I, again, I think we have a
1:03:08
really wonderful team here. So I'm excited about that.
1:03:12
I'm also excited, maybe anxious or nervous about all the
1:03:19
different AI and things that are inevitable.
1:03:24
I still think that, you know, a lot of people in our industry,
1:03:28
not a lot of people, but some are very scared.
1:03:30
You know, it's like, I, I look at it as back in the day when
1:03:33
the self checkout registers were created and everyone's like, oh,
1:03:36
it's going to take all the jobs of the, the cashiers.
1:03:40
Like, no, it's not. But I, I'm interested how it all
1:03:44
unfolds. I, I'm very intrigued.
1:03:46
I think it's a really cool resource and tool and there's
1:03:50
gonna be so much that comes out of it.
1:03:53
But I also, again, we're human like we are human.
1:03:57
We need human interactions. We're gonna, I, I, I think it's
1:04:00
going to potentially come to a point where it's like, well, now
1:04:04
we need proof of human like. So I, I, I'm, I'm very
1:04:08
interested to just see from an industry perspective how that
1:04:11
continues to unfold, where it lands, where maybe the hype, you
1:04:16
know, calms down a little bit, but should be very interesting.
1:04:20
Are you implementing utilizing AI in any way?
1:04:23
Currently we're. Dabbling, we are dabbling.
1:04:29
That is an initiative in this year that we are looking on how
1:04:33
we want to build those policies right, create trainings and how
1:04:38
we would incorporate it to not just be a the importance around
1:04:43
responsibly using it, but also the efficacy, you know,
1:04:48
efficiency, efficiencies, etcetera within our processes.
1:04:53
So we're we're dabbling, but it's still very, very early from
1:04:59
an adoption perspective. And so it we'll we'll see how
1:05:02
that kind of plays out. Mallory Gover and I want to be
1:05:05
the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your
1:05:07
story with us today. I really appreciate it.
1:05:10
Thank you so much, it was a pleasure.
1:05:12
Folks, that's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories
1:05:16
podcast. Thanks for learning with us
1:05:17
today.