Latest / Passing The Torch with Martin Foster / Ep. 134: Manny Piñeiro - The Hard Truth About Time, Identity and What Really Matters

Transcript

Ep. 134: Manny Piñeiro - The Hard Truth About Time, Identity and What Really Matters · Passing The Torch with Martin Foster

• 0:00
  Martin Foster: Stuff lined up for you, man.
• 0:01
  Martin Foster: So I appreciate you jumping on my show.
• 0:03
  Manny Pineiro: Man, believe me, brother, I'm I'm honored and I'm humbled with the requests.
• 0:06
  Martin Foster: I've had my podcast for 12 years, uh, but this specific I've been podcasting for 12 years.
• 0:12
  Martin Foster: This uh specific podcast started in January of 2018.
• 0:15
  Martin Foster: So it's it's cool to see like episode five.
• 0:18
  Martin Foster: I had K Wright on when he was SimSAF.
• 0:20
  Manny Pineiro: That's cool.
• 0:21
  Martin Foster: Yeah, like and this, I mean, you know, so and General Jumper was my very first guest, and you know, but none of those all those fail in comparison to uh to you.
• 0:30
  Manny Pineiro: So great start, brother.
• 0:33
  Martin Foster: Uh hey, I want to make sure I get I want to put respect on your last name.
• 0:36
  Martin Foster: Uh so I'm gonna say it.
• 0:37
  Martin Foster: Please tell me if it's if it's correct or not, because I've been practicing and and I've even called some other friends of mine like practicing with them, but Pinero, am I saying that correctly?
• 0:45
  Martin Foster: God, I've been practicing so I don't know, brother.
• 0:48
  Martin Foster: Uh whoever you called, make sure you get let them know.
• 0:51
  Martin Foster: It was Kathy Torres Pummel.
• 0:53
  Martin Foster: Uh yeah.
• 0:54
  Martin Foster: I said it was probably like a month.
• 0:56
  Martin Foster: I said, hey, uh uh and I typically don't tell people when I have a guest come when I book a guest because things happen and people get you know uh cancel and stuff uh all the time, right?
• 1:06
  Manny Pineiro: Kathy is great people though, man.
• 1:07
  Manny Pineiro: I'm glad that you guys are are like teamies, man, because uh yeah, from my first meet and greet with her, uh man, we could have stayed on we could have stayed talking for for like hours, brother.
• 1:18
  Martin Foster: Yeah, and I'm gonna uh I'm gonna bring her up later in the episode.
• 1:20
  Martin Foster: We'll so uh I'll save uh some of that.
• 1:23
  Martin Foster: But uh Pinheiro, perfect.
• 1:26
  Martin Foster: All right.
• 1:26
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah, cool.
• 1:27
  Martin Foster: What's uh did you have any questions before we get started?
• 1:30
  Manny Pineiro: No, man.
• 1:30
  Manny Pineiro: You know, this is all natural, brother.
• 1:32
  Manny Pineiro: You know, yeah, this is the way I love uh you know these types of audiences.
• 1:36
  Manny Pineiro: Every time I because I you can imagine I get my share of uh invites, but but I always they're so different, right?
• 1:42
  Manny Pineiro: Some people will send me questions ahead in advance so they so they can look cool, you know.
• 1:46
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, and uh and you know, I I I work either way, man.
• 1:50
  Manny Pineiro: Now you know this is something that's a platform that you know I appreciate, I enjoy.
• 1:54
  Manny Pineiro: So but for me, this is the raw, right?
• 1:56
  Manny Pineiro: You want raw.
• 1:56
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, so I'd rather bring it as I see it and and and you know, let's bleed together.
• 2:02
  Manny Pineiro: Let's bleed together.
• 2:04
  Martin Foster: And I don't know how familiar you are with my show, but um so actually I just published episode 131 uh just uh today.
• 2:11
  Manny Pineiro: Congrats, brother.
• 2:12
  Martin Foster: I appreciate that.
• 2:12
  Martin Foster: It's been a grind, but it's it's man, I I love it, man.
• 2:15
  Martin Foster: Uh I pour so much into like questions and research and everything.
• 2:19
  Martin Foster: So hopefully that shines through.
• 2:21
  Manny Pineiro: I love it, bro.
• 2:21
  Martin Foster: I love it.
• 2:22
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 2:22
  Martin Foster: Uh and I got some fun stuff for you too, man.
• 2:24
  Martin Foster: So and you're from Brooklyn, is that right?
• 2:28
  Martin Foster: No, the Bronx.
• 2:29
  Martin Foster: Uh is it so is the Bronx different than Brooklyn?
• 2:32
  Manny Pineiro: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:32
  Manny Pineiro: So five boroughs in New York, uh, all distinctively in their own, they're all distinctive in their own press of Manhattan.
• 2:39
  Manny Pineiro: Uh where I actually, my mom lives now, so I, you know, I call Chelsea is where I kind of grew up in the in the Manhattan area.
• 2:46
  Manny Pineiro: But then I'll I always say, I I was raised in the Bronx.
• 2:50
  Manny Pineiro: Like that was my that was my real fortitude to living.
• 2:54
  Manny Pineiro: But uh yeah, Brooklyn is is great.
• 2:56
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I you know I love New York, so I I follow through on all the boroughs, but they all are their own kind of platform.
• 3:03
  Manny Pineiro: And people people forget, if you're not from the city, you will automatically think, Oh, I've been to New York.
• 3:08
  Manny Pineiro: Uh no, you Brooklyn is a whole different type of New York.
• 3:11
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 3:11
  Martin Foster: And by the way, I'm from Lawton, Oklahoma.
• 3:13
  Martin Foster: I know your first duty assignment was Altus Air Force.
• 3:15
  Martin Foster: Yes.
• 3:17
  Manny Pineiro: You're from Lawton.
• 3:17
  Manny Pineiro: That's you.
• 3:18
  Manny Pineiro: So I'll give you something that just took place.
• 3:22
  Manny Pineiro: And please, I don't want to cut your time in.
• 3:24
  Manny Pineiro: No, no, no, no.
• 3:24
  Manny Pineiro: Go ahead, man.
• 3:25
  Manny Pineiro: I was just uh extended an invitation to Altus to go back.
• 3:29
  Manny Pineiro: And I couldn't, I couldn't go.
• 3:31
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, I run it, bro.
• 3:32
  Manny Pineiro: I've been dying to go back.
• 3:33
  Manny Pineiro: I couldn't even go back when I was uh in the position in the when I was still really yeah never made it back to Altis, but I got extended an invitation to be their guest speaker at their CCF graduation.
• 3:44
  Manny Pineiro: So the the the gentleman who uh extended the invitation says, Well, can you do it virtually?
• 3:49
  Manny Pineiro: I was like, Hell yeah, I could do that virtually.
• 3:51
  Manny Pineiro: But yeah, man, that base, man, it was amazing.
• 3:54
  Manny Pineiro: It taught it taught me everything about the military, which which I to this day love.
• 3:59
  Manny Pineiro: It was small enough to understand it.
• 4:01
  Manny Pineiro: It was great that uh it gave me a perspective of the missions that were going on around me, you know.
• 4:07
  Manny Pineiro: Like, you know, I I had no clue, right?
• 4:09
  Manny Pineiro: The Air Force had its own police, its own fire department, its own, you know.
• 4:13
  Manny Pineiro: So I learned so much.
• 4:14
  Manny Pineiro: And that was my that was my stance, my first real impact of yeah, you know, it was really crazy.
• 4:21
  Martin Foster: Now I got some good stuff from there, but when I saw you were at Altus and I was like, oh man.
• 4:25
  Manny Pineiro: Man, man, Lawton is great, man.
• 4:27
  Manny Pineiro: Lawton used to be our getaway.
• 4:28
  Manny Pineiro: Like go up to go up to I know it's funny to me because I grew up there, right?
• 4:33
  Martin Foster: So and I I went to Altus a couple times just because uh so I played sports in high school, so we uh we'd always compete.
• 4:39
  Martin Foster: Bulldogs.
• 4:40
  Martin Foster: Yeah, we'd compete against Altus in some uh some sports.
• 4:43
  Martin Foster: I said wrestled in high school, so we always wrestled against uh Altus and everything.
• 4:47
  Martin Foster: And and then uh so it's funny for you know Altus was to get Lawton was a getaway for a lot of the smaller towns, our getaway from Lawton.
• 4:54
  Martin Foster: We used to go to what Wichita Falls uh Shepherd as like our getaway, you know, which is 45 minutes for I actually had my uh my I had my dental and Wichita Falls.
• 5:03
  Manny Pineiro: I I had my freaking wisdom teeth pulled that food.
• 5:07
  Martin Foster: Yeah, bad memories.
• 5:09
  Manny Pineiro: But that'll tell you how small the town was.
• 5:10
  Manny Pineiro: People don't understand how small Altus really is, you know.
• 5:14
  Martin Foster: Yeah, like I used to think Lawton was small, then I'm like, oh my goodness.
• 5:18
  Martin Foster: Oh yeah, uh Lawton's grown quite a bit.
• 5:20
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
• 5:21
  Manny Pineiro: Well, Fort Sill, you know, I mean you got there's so much going on there.
• 5:24
  Manny Pineiro: So I gotta ask you, man, Fort Sill being your Lawton community, Air Force?
• 5:30
  Martin Foster: My dad was in the army, uh, my dad and stepdad.
• 5:33
  Martin Foster: Nice.
• 5:34
  Martin Foster: Uh yeah, and uh, so just a quick backstory.
• 5:37
  Martin Foster: My dad was stationed in Germany, met my mom.
• 5:40
  Martin Foster: He was stationed there for many years.
• 5:41
  Martin Foster: I forget which he was at Augsburg, uh, Germany.
• 5:44
  Manny Pineiro: Nice.
• 5:45
  Martin Foster: Uh, you know, got married uh to my mom.
• 5:46
  Martin Foster: My sister was born in 1975.
• 5:48
  Martin Foster: She lived there until she was six, and then 1981, my dad got because he was filled with artillery, so he got an assignment to uh Ford Sill.
• 5:56
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, that's the base.
• 5:57
  Martin Foster: And that just happened to be when my mom my mom was pregnant with me, and I was born in November of 81, and then uh my dad ended up separating from the military, I think, like in when I was probably four or five, maybe something like that.
• 6:07
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 6:08
  Martin Foster: And that's just where we planted roots, and then and then my my parents got divorced when I was very young, and then uh my mom remarried uh to another army guy uh when I was uh 10.
• 6:18
  Martin Foster: But yeah, so both my dad and my stepdad were uh at Fort Sill.
• 6:22
  Martin Foster: That's cool.
• 6:23
  Martin Foster: Yeah, so but none of my family is from like outside of my immediate family, is like lived is from Lot.
• 6:28
  Martin Foster: Like it's uh like all my dad's family is from Virginia, and then my mom's German.
• 6:33
  Manny Pineiro: So I never Did you ever acquired the language?
• 6:36
  Manny Pineiro: Did you speak German at all?
• 6:37
  Martin Foster: A little bit.
• 6:38
  Martin Foster: My sister's fluent, and she actually had uh was a dual citizen for for many years.
• 6:41
  Martin Foster: And yeah, my mom didn't work on it with me.
• 6:44
  Martin Foster: There's a uh six-year age gap between my sister and I.
• 6:46
  Martin Foster: So my I yeah, my mom just didn't work with me as much, which is crazy because my mom spoke five languages because growing up in Europe, you know, you learn obviously German.
• 6:55
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:55
  Martin Foster: And you learn uh the Queen's English is what she learned.
• 6:58
  Martin Foster: Uh and then uh she learned Italian, French, um, and there was one other language, but um, but yeah, and I I I wish I'd have taken um and I've learned some stuff now, but um I yeah, I wish I would have my mom would have like worked with me on that because that was it's it's just a good skill to have.
• 7:16
  Manny Pineiro: And uh believe me, brother.
• 7:17
  Manny Pineiro: Look, I haven't traveled international with my children, we were in the same place.
• 7:21
  Manny Pineiro: I I look back, I mean we were stationed in Okinawa.
• 7:24
  Manny Pineiro: My kids were learning, they were young enough to learn it, and then it then it just left.
• 7:28
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 7:29
  Manny Pineiro: You know, you just grab what you can when you can.
• 7:32
  Martin Foster: Last summer, so I retired last year.
• 7:34
  Martin Foster: Um that too, bro.
• 7:36
  Martin Foster: Thanks.
• 7:36
  Martin Foster: I appreciate it's such as a matter of fact, my ceremony was on May 8th of last year.
• 7:40
  Manny Pineiro: So I just celebrated it.
• 7:43
  Martin Foster: Yeah, so it's kind of it's crazy, right?
• 7:45
  Martin Foster: Uh last summer I took my I took my family to Europe for two weeks, and I I didn't want to do it, so I don't share my rank often, but so like I was a chief, right?
• 7:54
  Martin Foster: And you like I, you know, you had way higher scope than I did, but you know, I never felt like anytime I took more than five days of leave, I felt like I couldn't f I couldn't appreciate the time, right?
• 8:04
  Martin Foster: So when I took that uh two weeks in Europe with my family, I was present the entire two weeks, like not checking emails, not thinking about meetings or awards or maining or anything like that, right?
• 8:16
  Martin Foster: And we did pairs for yeah, pairs for five days, uh, went to Austria, and then we spent uh like four or five days in Germany and went to different cities in Germany, just hung out, you know.
• 8:27
  Martin Foster: I love it, bro.
• 8:28
  Manny Pineiro: I love it.
• 8:29
  Manny Pineiro: Well, brother, that's exactly why, you know, I'm happy that you you tuned into at least what I'm trying to instill in a lot of folks, because it does, it it takes a toll, and you don't realize that you're losing so much of your life, you know?
• 8:42
  Martin Foster: Many, I gotta tell you this too, because uh my dad died when I was when I was 11 years old.
• 8:48
  Martin Foster: Oh, bro.
• 8:48
  Martin Foster: And I'm getting goosebumps right now.
• 8:50
  Martin Foster: He was 51 years old.
• 8:52
  Martin Foster: I'm 44 right now, and I think and last year I was 40 well during my ceremony, I was I was 43, but I I remember just saying, if if I knew, if any of us knew we had eight years left to live, oh bro, you'd say, like, you know what, I'm gonna stop working, I'm gonna go write that book, I'm gonna go uh, you know, travel, I wanna go on that big fishing, whatever, right?
• 9:14
  Martin Foster: I want to go and I thought, man, um, and I'd hit 23 years.
• 9:19
  Martin Foster: Um, and I'm like, you know, 23 years is respectable, man.
• 9:22
  Manny Pineiro: And yeah, four years.
• 9:24
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:25
  Martin Foster: You know, so I was like, you know, what's the goal here?
• 9:27
  Martin Foster: And uh um, and I didn't get pushed for command chief at that time.
• 9:31
  Martin Foster: And I was like, you know, like not that I was like gunning for it, but I'm like, the jobs being offered to me were all lateral moves.
• 9:37
  Martin Foster: I would there was no growth in those jobs, like that I was being put, and I was like, I and I just like you know, 23 years is good.
• 9:43
  Martin Foster: Yeah, and I think about uh some conversations I had with my with my wife and then with my kids.
• 9:49
  Martin Foster: My kids are still young and in the house.
• 9:51
  Martin Foster: I walk my son to the bus stop every day.
• 9:53
  Manny Pineiro: That's what I'm talking about.
• 9:55
  Martin Foster: You know, uh my daughter, you know, she comes home, like she's 14, so of course she loves talking when she comes home from school.
• 10:00
  Martin Foster: Not really, she hates it when we ask her questions, but I ask her how was school every single day, like I you know it now, and just things like that.
• 10:06
  Manny Pineiro: That but that matters, man.
• 10:08
  Manny Pineiro: It does.
• 10:09
  Martin Foster: It makes it makes time count, right?
• 10:10
  Martin Foster: So I feel like that's when I'm doing more intentional.
• 10:12
  Martin Foster: Not that I didn't do that stuff before wearing the uniform, but it's different when you go TDY for three weeks, you come back and do stuff for three days, and then you got to get hit the you know, the grind.
• 10:22
  Martin Foster: Like it's more I'm able to be more intentional and more consistent with everything.
• 10:26
  Manny Pineiro: And that's really what this is this whole movement is about, man.
• 10:29
  Manny Pineiro: Intentionality.
• 10:30
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I I think that we um as a military society, we're mission focused so much that we lose sight of the things that actually brought us to belonging to this this uh community, right?
• 10:44
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, yeah, really you you already established those values, but now you have a community that is like, oh man, we all could believe in the same kind of goal.
• 10:52
  Manny Pineiro: But then slowly but surely, man, you're just fading out because we got, like you mentioned, we get wrapped around the promotion, the rank, uh what's next level, and uh, and then we start really losing sight of what we actually have, like right now.
• 11:06
  Manny Pineiro: And and man, look, a couple years ago, uh, you know, you talked about um, you know, how old you are and and how much you have left, but we just there was a good chief.
• 11:16
  Manny Pineiro: I I had just spoken with him, uh uh Mike De Torre.
• 11:20
  Manny Pineiro: I had just spoken with him, and we communicated because his birthday was in March.
• 11:24
  Manny Pineiro: Um you know, this has been a couple of years now, but and then all of a sudden it was like it he he went cold, and I was like, man, what's going on?
• 11:31
  Manny Pineiro: Then I find out he passed away.
• 11:33
  Manny Pineiro: And I'm like, you know, that those are Joe's those additional, you know, trackers that go, damn, like wow.
• 11:42
  Manny Pineiro: And that could be us.
• 11:43
  Manny Pineiro: At any game, anybody so so those things really brought out a a little bit more clarity.
• 11:49
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, you know, I I say I always say it's the the vi the the the the visine of life, right?
• 11:55
  Manny Pineiro: You you don't realize how much we lose because we're so blurried with all the other things going on, yeah.
• 12:02
  Manny Pineiro: And to me, I I I just I realized it even you know throughout my career, I mean, this has been my my mantra, right?
• 12:09
  Manny Pineiro: I've been saying it, it's it's on my coin, but it's it became such a real world effect because uh you know, bro, you know, and I you know you wouldn't know this, but 23 now, yeah, 2023, I was diagnosed with cancer.
• 12:24
  Manny Pineiro: And and and it really was like yo, like me, you know what I mean?
• 12:30
  Manny Pineiro: And and so you go through these these these personal you know rituals of life and you go, wow man, am I prepared for my family?
• 12:39
  Manny Pineiro: Am I and you don't even realize I spent lifetime telling first sergeants, make sure all your people are good to go, you know what I mean?
• 12:45
  Manny Pineiro: So now I I had to eat my own medicine and go, boys, am I ready?
• 12:51
  Manny Pineiro: If is my family prepared if this happens?
• 12:53
  Manny Pineiro: And it notched up everything about making time count so much to a different level that now when I'm out in corporate or I'm speaking about it, you know, those real world talks bring back a little bit of, you know, I I I get personal with it because, you know, you don't know.
• 13:10
  Manny Pineiro: You just don't know.
• 13:11
  Manny Pineiro: If you're out here hustling and and and grinding and not realizing that, you know, and and I don't like to say from a morbid perspective, right?
• 13:19
  Manny Pineiro: I I I just try to bring a little more reality to humanize it, you know, like, hey man, we we this is real.
• 13:26
  Manny Pineiro: And we because we don't think about it, doesn't mean it can't happen.
• 13:30
  Manny Pineiro: You know, so so that's that's uh that's I'm I'm so happy that you took that vacation, bro.
• 13:35
  Manny Pineiro: And I'm so happy that you had that time with the family.
• 13:37
  Manny Pineiro: Because those are the priceless things that we we know exist, but we rarely ever do.
• 13:42
  Martin Foster: Is it okay if I keep that part in where you talked about the cancer, or do you want me to cut that out?
• 13:47
  Manny Pineiro: This is your show.
• 13:48
  Manny Pineiro: I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm transition transparent.
• 13:52
  Martin Foster: That's good, because that was some good stuff.
• 13:53
  Martin Foster: And I'll tell you, I'll I should and I'm sorry, but I mean it's go, go, go.
• 13:56
  Martin Foster: I love it, man.
• 13:57
  Martin Foster: Go ahead, man.
• 13:58
  Manny Pineiro: I'll tell you that for uh for years, I mean years.
• 14:01
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, you know, I had surgery, uh, you know, I'm still being diagnosed every you know three, four months, right?
• 14:07
  Manny Pineiro: Blood work and all that.
• 14:08
  Manny Pineiro: But after I was so not ready to talk about it because the last thing I wanted was, oh, poor Manny.
• 14:16
  Manny Pineiro: You know what I mean?
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:18
  Manny Pineiro: We never we never want that type of a of relationship with people that they now see you in a different way.
• 14:25
  Manny Pineiro: So they and you know, and this stems from our military time, right?
• 14:28
  Manny Pineiro: Any any illness, any sickness is a lack of of leadership, and it it sets you almost looking like you're weak.
• 14:36
  Manny Pineiro: And and for many, many years I held the information.
• 14:41
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, and look, I'll tell you that even when I had it, I was die when I was diagnosed, my mom, it took me so long just to share with my family.
• 14:51
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, my wife is in healthcare, brother, and and and I even held it from her for uh like a couple of weeks, you know, and it was like, man, how do I tell these people that I'm because you know you you're you're the rock, you're the format of the family, you're the you know, you're stronghold, you you kind of hold all the pieces together.
• 15:09
  Manny Pineiro: And and yet I was so not ready to expose myself in that way.
• 15:13
  Manny Pineiro: And now I realize this is life, man.
• 15:17
  Manny Pineiro: We're all dealing with life.
• 15:19
  Martin Foster: Exactly.
• 15:19
  Martin Foster: Yeah, man, that's so good.
• 15:21
  Martin Foster: Uh, just on a uh much wider note, uh going back to my I did have a great time in Europe.
• 15:26
  Martin Foster: My new blood type is red wine.
• 15:28
  Martin Foster: And uh I love it.
• 15:30
  Martin Foster: And and crepes, right?
• 15:31
  Martin Foster: After five days in Paris, I was like, man, if it's I need everything served to me like a crepe.
• 15:37
  Martin Foster: So uh and then uh another unofficial reason why I retired was I saw all the pictures with Kay Wright golfing and stuff, and I was like, man, you're having a good time.
• 15:47
  Martin Foster: And yeah, I was like, I need to like this this joker, man.
• 15:50
  Martin Foster: Like, I don't know him super well.
• 15:52
  Martin Foster: He's been on my show a couple times, but uh he's a good guy, man.
• 15:55
  Manny Pineiro: We we I just I just saw him.
• 15:56
  Manny Pineiro: We one of our teammates from uh Team 18 just got married.
• 16:00
  Manny Pineiro: Oh, cool.
• 16:00
  Manny Pineiro: And we went to the wedding and we played, you know, we don't see each other a lot.
• 16:04
  Manny Pineiro: He moved to Texas now, so he's a Texan, and uh so but we still, you know, when we can, we we'll do our best to stay in touch.
• 16:11
  Martin Foster: I love I see that because I I think it's good, it's healthy, especially for men, just to have that uh your group, right?
• 16:17
  Martin Foster: Your that you can go out.
• 16:18
  Martin Foster: Do you know who Edgar Jones is by chance?
• 16:20
  Martin Foster: He uh he's friends with Todd Simmons, but uh he knows Kate Wright through Todd Simmons, but he played linebacker in the NFL for seven years, but he's now a speaker.
• 16:29
  Martin Foster: But uh, but same thing, like he's in his 40s, and uh and he does a lot of talk about just like a lot of his topics now center on self-reflection and the importance of having that can like the community, like your the your group and stuff and how healthy that is for it is it is, and I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
• 16:48
  Manny Pineiro: Um, you know, I mean, you know, Todd and and Kay Ryan, we all are doing our own thing, uh, but we still try and do our best to find time.
• 16:56
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, we still connected, you know, via you named the the extension, right?
• 17:00
  Manny Pineiro: Either we're texting each other, yeah, uh, whatever the case may be, but we make we make it a point to, you know, you can't live on that island forever, right?
• 17:09
  Manny Pineiro: Because it's it's interesting, and and maybe you can attest to this, uh Mart.
• 17:15
  Manny Pineiro: We try to do our best to look at all the negatives that the military brought to our lives before we think about the positive impacts it really had on who we are.
• 17:25
  Manny Pineiro: It's like the people that say, and I'll give you an example, man, I'm never going back to the base.
• 17:30
  Manny Pineiro: Like I'm never going back on a base, right?
• 17:32
  Manny Pineiro: But you know, there's so many people that I've spoken with uh who are former military or veterans, and they they thrive to go to a base, man, because they're still they're still hunting down that identity, right?
• 17:44
  Manny Pineiro: That that crisis of remember going, I remember going through the base and and I'm the chief.
• 17:48
  Manny Pineiro: Or, you know, and I I spoke to an officer who told me the same thing.
• 17:52
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, I loved when they I got saluted.
• 17:54
  Manny Pineiro: Those parts of who you were in the military, you're still trying to figure that part that you're missing.
• 18:00
  Manny Pineiro: So they love going on base.
• 18:02
  Manny Pineiro: Then I speak to the other side of the folks to say, man, I I had can't seem to tell you the last time I was on a base because they want to separate themselves from that environment.
• 18:09
  Manny Pineiro: And I realize it's because it was so difficult to transition.
• 18:14
  Manny Pineiro: So they don't want to go backwards, right?
• 18:16
  Manny Pineiro: They're they're like in a good place now, but they they don't realize it's all right.
• 18:20
  Manny Pineiro: You know, you don't have to be you don't have to, hey chief, you don't, you know, unl unless they see your ID card when you're going through the gate.
• 18:26
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 18:26
  Martin Foster: You know, I make sure they see my rent now joking.
• 18:29
  Martin Foster: Damn it, yeah.
• 18:31
  Martin Foster: What was that?
• 18:32
  Martin Foster: I still go back to the base because of the the uh Wright Patterson date in Ohio because of the bowling alley.
• 18:38
  Martin Foster: That bowling alley is pretty solid, man.
• 18:39
  Martin Foster: Uh and shout out to the person who makes the quesadillas at the right uh Patterson bowling alley.
• 18:45
  Manny Pineiro: I was there earlier last year.
• 18:47
  Manny Pineiro: I you know, actually it was actually this year.
• 18:48
  Manny Pineiro: I went to Red Pat.
• 18:49
  Manny Pineiro: Um, I did a speaking engagement there.
• 18:51
  Manny Pineiro: Uh and it was it was really cool, it was really quick, and but it was it was my I was back on a on a base, right?
• 18:57
  Manny Pineiro: I was in the community.
• 18:58
  Martin Foster: Yeah, it's a good a lot of history on the base, too.
• 19:01
  Martin Foster: So yeah, that's that's huge.
• 19:02
  Manny Pineiro: You if you don't get lost trying to just get on bass, or the wrong base.
• 19:08
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 19:08
  Martin Foster: Uh speaking of history, I'm gonna read a couple quotes and then I put together a bio uh about you and feel free to laugh and go.
• 19:16
  Manny Pineiro: I don't like I said, we're we're here to have some fun, bro.
• 19:18
  Martin Foster: You guys, I'm loving this, man.
• 19:19
  Martin Foster: I'm loving this, Manny.
• 19:20
  Martin Foster: All right.
• 19:21
  Martin Foster: One, two, three.
• 19:23
  Martin Foster: The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
• 19:25
  Martin Foster: Abraham Lincoln.
• 19:27
  Martin Foster: Second quote for you We are what we repeatedly do.
• 19:30
  Martin Foster: Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.
• 19:33
  Martin Foster: Aristotle.
• 19:34
  Martin Foster: Two more quotes for you.
• 19:35
  Martin Foster: Life is love.
• 19:36
  Martin Foster: Pro boxer Danny Garcia's dad.
• 19:39
  Martin Foster: Last and certainly not least, there are moments in life that call you back to your roots, not to dwell, but to remember to realign and to move forward with purpose.
• 19:47
  Martin Foster: My guest in this episode of Passing the Torch is a certified executive coach and professional speaker who is skilled in leadership and character development at all levels of management.
• 19:56
  Martin Foster: He is also on the USL Board of Governors and is the president and founder of Making Time Count LLC, which focuses on making the most of our humanity count every second through human involvement and meaningful change for C-suite executives and their employees.
• 20:11
  Martin Foster: He is an extreme advocate for trans of transitioning military members who seek their highest potential both in and out of uniform while identifying and anticipating common struggles for veterans coming out of active duty.
• 20:24
  Martin Foster: Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome son, husband, father, brother, uncle, first sergeant, chief, air force veteran, grandfather, friend, servant, and leader, and the pride of Altus Air Force Base, passing the tours with Manny Pinero starts now.
• 20:41
  Martin Foster: First and foremost, welcome to the show and thank you for joining me.
• 20:45
  Manny Pineiro: Ah, brother, thank you so much.
• 20:46
  Manny Pineiro: What a great intro, brother.
• 20:47
  Manny Pineiro: I love it.
• 20:48
  Manny Pineiro: I love it so much.
• 20:50
  Martin Foster: Um yeah, thank you for that.
• 20:51
  Martin Foster: I spent a lot of time on that.
• 20:53
  Martin Foster: Um before I forget, I want to say congratulations uh for your son from graduating from North Texas recently.
• 21:00
  Martin Foster: How was that?
• 21:00
  Manny Pineiro: Ah, bro, that was amazing, man.
• 21:02
  Manny Pineiro: He's my youngest, and I'll tell you, I'm, you know, I say I'm happy that he's graduated because it's less on the paycheck, but it really isn't because he decided to stay an extra two years for grad school.
• 21:13
  Manny Pineiro: So I'm still invested one way or another.
• 21:16
  Manny Pineiro: But but man, I'll tell you, it was a milestone from uh two two parents, you know, from New York City.
• 21:23
  Manny Pineiro: You know what I mean?
• 21:24
  Manny Pineiro: That's uh it's something that I think a lot of folks take for granted when you look back at your life and you go, man, look what we've done, you know?
• 21:31
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 21:32
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 21:32
  Manny Pineiro: It's it was pretty cool.
• 21:33
  Manny Pineiro: And we were blessed, man.
• 21:34
  Manny Pineiro: We had so many friends and and family that was able that were able to show up and and provide him that village that you know that he's had as a support.
• 21:43
  Manny Pineiro: So it was great.
• 21:44
  Manny Pineiro: But thank you for asking, man.
• 21:45
  Manny Pineiro: It was it was wonderful.
• 21:46
  Martin Foster: Yeah, it was great.
• 21:46
  Martin Foster: And I also saw that how was his recital um used?
• 21:49
  Martin Foster: Oh my God, man.
• 21:50
  Manny Pineiro: That that was phenomenal, man.
• 21:53
  Manny Pineiro: The pieces that he played, you know, though those aren't easy.
• 21:56
  Manny Pineiro: And uh, and this is something that you'd appreciate uh, you know, as a professional.
• 21:59
  Manny Pineiro: Professional.
• 22:00
  Manny Pineiro: He played a piece from one of his professors and and she was there.
• 22:06
  Manny Pineiro: Like Yeah, man.
• 22:08
  Manny Pineiro: And that that's you know, you gotta have even one of his colleagues, uh, one of his peer uh orchestral uh members.
• 22:15
  Manny Pineiro: I just I was speaking with him on the side, and he's like, man, that takes some cojones.
• 22:19
  Manny Pineiro: You know, like that that's real, that's real hardcore.
• 22:21
  Manny Pineiro: If you really risk that, but man, he he turned it out.
• 22:24
  Manny Pineiro: So the recital was money.
• 22:25
  Manny Pineiro: It was uh it was just you you see, you know, you felt the pride that he that that that that his his coming coming into his milestone of of accomplishments, man.
• 22:36
  Manny Pineiro: It was great.
• 22:36
  Manny Pineiro: It was real great.
• 22:37
  Manny Pineiro: Thank you, bro.
• 22:38
  Manny Pineiro: That that man, you you really did some homework on that piece, man.
• 22:41
  Manny Pineiro: That was huge.
• 22:42
  Martin Foster: I appreciate that.
• 22:43
  Martin Foster: I really do because it's uh I do a lot of research.
• 22:45
  Martin Foster: I know not everyone likes to do a lot of research, but for me, it's my way of honoring the person.
• 22:51
  Martin Foster: Oh, yeah, and everything, right?
• 22:52
  Martin Foster: And it also I think it leads to organic and just really good conversation.
• 22:57
  Martin Foster: Without that, I've been following your content.
• 22:58
  Martin Foster: So I'd say, you know, I the past two years, because I made the decision basically to retire about two years ago, and the last year that I was in, I started following a couple people on LinkedIn.
• 23:10
  Martin Foster: Shout out to Scott Stalker.
• 23:11
  Martin Foster: Uh, you know, he has his content, uh, it's it's decent.
• 23:15
  Martin Foster: It's good, Scott.
• 23:17
  Martin Foster: Your content's great, man.
• 23:18
  Manny Pineiro: Well, you know what I love about Scott is that he's actually pushing information out that's that's like current, right?
• 23:26
  Manny Pineiro: For a lot of folks.
• 23:27
  Manny Pineiro: VA stuff, uh, you know, transition, um, you know, he's really he's aligning what he's sharing with what he's going through.
• 23:37
  Manny Pineiro: And I think that's that's that's a that's a real, you know, that's real talk.
• 23:41
  Manny Pineiro: I honest spot talk.
• 23:42
  Manny Pineiro: But yeah, he's great, great friend, uh, great brother, uh, and and we we stay connected online too.
• 23:48
  Martin Foster: That's awesome.
• 23:48
  Martin Foster: Yeah, so his in addition to his content, I've been following yours.
• 23:52
  Martin Foster: And with regards to your son, and this you wrote you were talking there was a lot of things you were talking about, his uh uh about the recital muse, and something that really stuck with me is that you wrote that your son has become a muse to you.
• 24:04
  Manny Pineiro: Oh, yeah.
• 24:05
  Martin Foster: When did you realize your kids weren't watching you but actually shaping who you are?
• 24:11
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, what a powerful question.
• 24:13
  Manny Pineiro: Um, you know, it's funny, through the military, we seem to always feel like we're we're the leader of the pack, right?
• 24:21
  Manny Pineiro: And at home, more so, right?
• 24:23
  Manny Pineiro: You know, watch me, these are my values and characters.
• 24:26
  Manny Pineiro: And we always say our children base their livelihoods based on what they see.
• 24:31
  Manny Pineiro: Um, you know, I mean, truthfully, sometimes it's kind of funny when you think about it.
• 24:36
  Manny Pineiro: But in the military, we seem to always find other people outside of our own circle to try to emulate.
• 24:44
  Manny Pineiro: Um, and we'll say things like, Man, that guy, his uniform is always on point.
• 24:48
  Manny Pineiro: Or, you know, man, that guy always has a great attitude.
• 24:51
  Manny Pineiro: I wanna, I wonder what he's doing.
• 24:52
  Manny Pineiro: So we we seem to always fade away from what we are at home and we look at outside of the outside the box.
• 25:00
  Manny Pineiro: Um my children have been giving me lessons every day uh on how to be a father, how to uh how to be a better husband, right?
• 25:11
  Manny Pineiro: You know, the if you're if I'm having a a conversation or turns into a slight argument with my wife, I look back at my kids and I'm like, man, this is not the this is not a good example, right?
• 25:22
  Manny Pineiro: But they they it seems like you're almost in a in a constant mirror with your children because they're so they're still growing, they're still so innocent.
• 25:30
  Manny Pineiro: And and sometimes our reactions are, you know, when we take them to the 10th level, right?
• 25:35
  Manny Pineiro: When with the littlest things in the world where they're so concentrated on nothing, right?
• 25:40
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah I remember watching my kids play and I'm like, damn, that must be nice.
• 25:44
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I'm I'm stressing my life out here.
• 25:46
  Manny Pineiro: And but you realize that your role is to uh make it a little better for them so that they can have it a little better for their future.
• 25:56
  Manny Pineiro: And and and if they decide, two of my two of my young men now have children.
• 26:01
  Manny Pineiro: They have families, right?
• 26:02
  Manny Pineiro: My youngest is the youngest, but he's gonna be 22, you know what I mean?
• 26:06
  Manny Pineiro: Like, yeah, you know, you think about that and you go, man, wow.
• 26:09
  Manny Pineiro: But yeah, so the muse factor was huge, man.
• 26:12
  Manny Pineiro: You know, and he he labeled his his arrangement for that day was muse.
• 26:17
  Manny Pineiro: And I just I I I just thrived off of that because, you know, in all essence, he used the music, and and then, you know, and I'll share this personal piece, but at the actual recital, you know, he gave me love, you know, about the muse action in his life.
• 26:35
  Manny Pineiro: And uh, and to me, that that meant the world, man.
• 26:38
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I mean, you just try to do what you can to make sure that they have what they need.
• 26:42
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, but his his values and his character and his because no one knows, I mean, I look at him and I think about what I what I go out and coach or what I what I you know help institutions try to understand is that you have you have to be intentional with your craft, but you gotta you gotta want to do what you love to do.
• 27:02
  Manny Pineiro: And so watching him get to that point and realizing it, and then having an opportunity to sit to sit back and and reflect on it, man, that was such a mature, you know, uh move that it just it left me left me, you know, just like wow, wow, this is my son, you know?
• 27:19
  Manny Pineiro: And uh and it's nothing, there's no proud or feeling than that, man.
• 27:23
  Martin Foster: Now that's that's so that's uh thanks for sharing that story.
• 27:26
  Martin Foster: Thank you, bro.
• 27:27
  Martin Foster: This is beautiful.
• 27:29
  Martin Foster: Um, you know, you talked about like kids watching us.
• 27:32
  Martin Foster: So April was the month of the military child.
• 27:34
  Martin Foster: So my daughter was on my podcast last month in an episode.
• 27:37
  Martin Foster: And she comes on every April.
• 27:39
  Martin Foster: This is the fourth time she's done my podcast, but I asked her, you know, like, hey, what's one of your favorite quotes?
• 27:45
  Martin Foster: And she was like, Hey, let me pull out my phone.
• 27:47
  Martin Foster: So she pulls out her phone, and on her notes app, she has like a list of quotes that whenever she hears something, she like jots down or whatever.
• 27:53
  Martin Foster: And I was like, What are you doing?
• 27:56
  Martin Foster: She was like, I learned that from watching I did you do that.
• 27:58
  Martin Foster: So I learned that from you.
• 27:59
  Martin Foster: And I was like, oh my God, like you know, um.
• 28:02
  Martin Foster: Um how has fatherhood changed the way you think about time?
• 28:09
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, I mean, you know, you so you don't mind me sharing this, but you you spoke about your dad earlier.
• 28:16
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 28:16
  Manny Pineiro: And I lost my dad at a very young age as well, uh, back in 2009.
• 28:21
  Manny Pineiro: Um, you know, he had vices, right?
• 28:22
  Manny Pineiro: He smoked, he he he has some contributing factors.
• 28:26
  Manny Pineiro: But at the end of the day, he still was gone, right?
• 28:30
  Manny Pineiro: And so um I think about where my children's lives would be if I wasn't around or I wasn't present.
• 28:38
  Manny Pineiro: And so it helps me actually keep me, you know, motivated positively so that I can, you know, try to do my best to be around, right?
• 28:46
  Manny Pineiro: As long as possible.
• 28:47
  Manny Pineiro: And now that they, you know, they they some of my two oldest have children, I want to be available.
• 28:53
  Manny Pineiro: Like I want to enjoy it.
• 28:54
  Manny Pineiro: And as I do now, my my middle son, Christian, he lives here in Maryland as well.
• 28:59
  Manny Pineiro: So he's about 20 minutes away from me.
• 29:00
  Manny Pineiro: So, you know, if I get a call from him and says, hey, dad, I got a dentist appointment.
• 29:04
  Manny Pineiro: I'm working from home today.
• 29:06
  Manny Pineiro: Can you come over and you know, watch Millie?
• 29:08
  Manny Pineiro: I'm like, I'm there yesterday, you know.
• 29:11
  Manny Pineiro: Like, I'm taking full advantage of that opportunity, man, because there's uh that's a gift, man, if you have that opportunity to be around your children and then their children as well.
• 29:20
  Manny Pineiro: I was thrilled, look, my mom went to my son's graduation, and I I actually at the dinner, I actually gave her, you know, her flowers on that because she's been able to, you know, she's 83 and she's been able to be at every one of my children's graduations.
• 29:36
  Manny Pineiro: And that in itself is like a wow factor, right?
• 29:39
  Manny Pineiro: How many, how many, how many peop, how many people can actually say that that happens in their lives, right?
• 29:46
  Manny Pineiro: So, and I know so many that don't have that opportunity.
• 29:49
  Manny Pineiro: So if we if we are able to even come close to to feeling a little bit of that, I'm taking full advantage.
• 29:57
  Manny Pineiro: So, yeah, but look, my children have had a huge impact on um me being a father and and uh and then how how they've actually kind of put their their circle around this whole MTC concept.
• 30:08
  Manny Pineiro: My son actually brought it up in his his little speech to the is that every day this is always about uh what do we do to continue making time count.
• 30:18
  Manny Pineiro: So to me, those those little things, they they they may not feel like a lot, man, but they matter.
• 30:23
  Manny Pineiro: They matter.
• 30:24
  Martin Foster: Yeah, would you say that's the biggest lesson, unexpected lesson that you learned with regard to uh fatherhood?
• 30:30
  Martin Foster: And I didn't intend for this to turn into a fatherhood discussion.
• 30:33
  Martin Foster: We'll get to some other stuff, but this kind of just I'm gonna be able to do that.
• 30:35
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 30:38
  Martin Foster: But uh yeah, would you say that's the most uh the what's been the biggest unexpected lesson about fatherhood?
• 30:44
  Martin Foster: Fatherhood that your kids have taught you?
• 30:46
  Manny Pineiro: You see yourself and through their eyes, you know, like it's funny because as a father, you just want to you're you're leading the pack, right?
• 30:53
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, but as a as a but when you really sit back to to to look at your children and think about where they're at in their lives, and we really do this, but we you know, we don't pat ourselves on the back and say, man, great job.
• 31:05
  Manny Pineiro: We watch what they do and how they look at life.
• 31:09
  Manny Pineiro: And I'll tell you for me, it was interesting because there's a lot.
• 31:13
  Manny Pineiro: My my sons are all on LinkedIn, right?
• 31:16
  Manny Pineiro: So they they see the content and I don't tell them anything about it.
• 31:20
  Manny Pineiro: I just push out what whatever's current in my life.
• 31:22
  Manny Pineiro: Uh it's like my own personal therapy, right?
• 31:24
  Manny Pineiro: If something that's popping that that really struck my attention, and or I look at something, I go, man, I can't be the only one who sees this.
• 31:32
  Manny Pineiro: Well, if not, if I am, then let me remind somebody else that this matters.
• 31:35
  Manny Pineiro: My children will read it and I'll get a call or a text, and it'll be like, hey dad, thanks.
• 31:41
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I appreciate that.
• 31:43
  Manny Pineiro: You know, and I'm going, and for me, that's like, man, they got it, you know, they understand it.
• 31:47
  Manny Pineiro: But uh, but I try to do my best even now to continue to set an example of intention with my, especially my children who have who have children, I want them to understand how important it is to be present and not get caught up in the hustle, right?
• 32:04
  Manny Pineiro: Because I was part of the hustle for a long time.
• 32:08
  Manny Pineiro: And I lost, I don't live in the regret mode, right?
• 32:11
  Manny Pineiro: You hear people say that all the time.
• 32:12
  Manny Pineiro: I don't regret anything, my life is where it's supposed to be.
• 32:15
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, I get that.
• 32:16
  Manny Pineiro: But when we lose out on real world events because we just weren't there, you know, and I mean mentally, we weren't present, then that's a loss of of a of a moment in time that you're never gonna see, you know?
• 32:30
  Manny Pineiro: And and and look, this is, I mean, this is real talk.
• 32:33
  Manny Pineiro: Um, my wife showed me a picture one day as we were, you know, repositioning stuff, right, in the house, right?
• 32:41
  Manny Pineiro: We say we're gonna get rid of stuff, we just move it into a different place.
• 32:43
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 32:44
  Manny Pineiro: But she came across a picture of my Lackland days, and she says, Hey, you remember this?
• 32:50
  Manny Pineiro: And I'm looking at it, and I'm on like on a drill pad, and and my kids are young, and they're and I'm like, who took this picture?
• 32:57
  Manny Pineiro: And she goes, one of your one of your MTI colleagues, you know, and I said, uh, I don't even remember this.
• 33:04
  Manny Pineiro: And she goes, What are you talking about?
• 33:05
  Manny Pineiro: This happened, and she had all the background behind it.
• 33:08
  Manny Pineiro: But bro, for me not to remember that, you know, that's like, I was, I know I could have been in the zone, but these are my children, bro.
• 33:16
  Manny Pineiro: And so that that really struck me, man, to think that there would have that's just one example of so many other opportunities that I probably just let slip by because we were busy.
• 33:27
  Manny Pineiro: And and and and what a what a great call sign for someone who thinks that they're doing real work.
• 33:33
  Manny Pineiro: Most of the time we were just probably hanging out at the job, just catching up.
• 33:37
  Martin Foster: Yeah, shooting it, yeah, yeah.
• 33:38
  Martin Foster: Exactly.
• 33:39
  Manny Pineiro: So, but but that became more important than anything else at home.
• 33:42
  Manny Pineiro: And when you get home and then you're too tired to go outside, or too tired to throw the ball, or you know, and and I found that my wife through through many years, man, was was actually advocating for you know for me in a different way, right?
• 34:00
  Manny Pineiro: It it was like, hey, dad is tired, you know, leave let him be, you know, give him some time.
• 34:05
  Manny Pineiro: She's she you know, you think she's doing me a favor, really, she's actually applauding the opportunity for me to say and use that as an excuse.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:15
  Manny Pineiro: So so you know, we talk about that all the time, about you know, where where we were, we both were in our lives during trying to raise his family.
• 34:24
  Manny Pineiro: And uh, and it was tough, man.
• 34:26
  Manny Pineiro: You know, it was tough.
• 34:27
  Martin Foster: What did you think about that second quote I I shared, Life is Love by Danny Garcia's uh dad.
• 34:33
  Manny Pineiro: Brother, that I remember when I posted that, man.
• 34:35
  Manny Pineiro: So I'll tell you that that that that was strong for me because I truly believed in uh in that that was an upset fight, you know.
• 34:44
  Manny Pineiro: You look at the fight alone, but you think about the power of influence that he had in his dad, who never gave up on him, you know.
• 34:50
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, bro, that that really struck me when I saw it and why I wanted to share it is because I truly believe that life is about love, man.
• 34:59
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I not not to not to get into a carpenter's, you know, flashback of Woodstock, but I'm trying to tell people that when you understand the people that surround you that have always supported you, uh, and you still have that, right?
• 35:13
  Manny Pineiro: You still are are attached to those people.
• 35:16
  Manny Pineiro: Man, give them their flowers now, man.
• 35:18
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 35:19
  Manny Pineiro: Martin, brother, you lost your dad, right?
• 35:21
  Manny Pineiro: And uh at a young age, and how many times have you probably thought about why he never got to see?
• 35:29
  Manny Pineiro: You know, you getting promoted, you reaching the pinnacle of chief uh in the in the military.
• 35:36
  Manny Pineiro: Those moments are things like my dad never got to see any of that either.
• 35:40
  Manny Pineiro: So I'm I'm I you know when you mentioned it to me, I really connected to that because we live to to make our parents prior, proud, you know?
• 35:49
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 35:49
  Manny Pineiro: Literally, that's what it comes down to.
• 35:51
  Manny Pineiro: We want the best because we want to, that's our that's our own form of grace to say thank you for what you provided.
• 35:58
  Manny Pineiro: And let me show you how I'm gonna repay that.
• 36:00
  Manny Pineiro: When we don't have that opportunity, um, it it it hurts.
• 36:04
  Manny Pineiro: It hurts.
• 36:05
  Manny Pineiro: And and so when I saw that and I realized, man, through all the things he was going through, his dad has been there through the falls, through the the you know, the bad times.
• 36:15
  Manny Pineiro: And and think about how strong he had to be to put that out there.
• 36:19
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 36:20
  Manny Pineiro: He just went to the world.
• 36:20
  Manny Pineiro: In front of the world, in front of the world.
• 36:22
  Manny Pineiro: In front of the world, brother, to say, you know, he's been struggling with depression.
• 36:26
  Manny Pineiro: He's been, but man, my dad, you know, like this is my soap, my support beam, and he's been there.
• 36:32
  Manny Pineiro: That that that touched me, man.
• 36:34
  Manny Pineiro: That touched me.
• 36:35
  Martin Foster: 100%.
• 36:35
  Martin Foster: I'm a huge boxing fan too.
• 36:38
  Manny Pineiro: No doubt, no doubt.
• 36:39
  Manny Pineiro: So so those things that that was uh that was important for me to share.
• 36:43
  Manny Pineiro: And sometimes, look, I push information out there on certain platforms.
• 36:47
  Manny Pineiro: It how it affects people, cool.
• 36:50
  Manny Pineiro: I I I just had a conversation, you know, you brought up Todd recently, uh a little while ago, but when I saw him, because he was at the wedding that I kind of had the rebellion at, and we were talking on a sidebar, and uh, you know, he I hadn't seen him in a while.
• 37:04
  Manny Pineiro: He was telling me he was been off the grid for a while, um, some some you know family stuff going on in his life.
• 37:10
  Manny Pineiro: And so we really had a bonding moment to talk about.
• 37:12
  Manny Pineiro: And he's he openly said, you know, Manny, when you started your company, uh, I didn't understand what making time count was.
• 37:21
  Manny Pineiro: Like, you know, it wasn't the the words, the action behind the coaching piece, right?
• 37:27
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 37:27
  Manny Pineiro: He was trying to figure it out.
• 37:28
  Manny Pineiro: He says, for years I didn't understand, he goes, and now I get it.
• 37:32
  Manny Pineiro: Like, and I you know, that's a compliment, but I I wanted to say, now you get it.
• 37:38
  unknown: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:41
  Manny Pineiro: But think about that, you know, because again, we're so caught up with whatever is going on.
• 37:46
  Manny Pineiro: And and to me, you know, just the words alone spoke.
• 37:49
  Manny Pineiro: But to him and his life, until something actually started to attribute to uh, you know, the moments and and real realistically not knowing whether or not he he would have them, um, that became a new way of looking at it, right?
• 38:05
  Manny Pineiro: And and that that that whole MTC mantra became something different to him.
• 38:10
  Manny Pineiro: So then when he, I mean, he I was I was humbled with the fact that he said, Man, now I get it.
• 38:15
  Manny Pineiro: Now I understand it.
• 38:16
  Manny Pineiro: And I go, I wanted to say it's about damn time, but but yeah, been doing this for quite some time.
• 38:22
  Manny Pineiro: But I I I fully embraced what he said because a lot of folks don't.
• 38:25
  Manny Pineiro: Even in now, when I get a call uh from some senior director who's asking, you know, hey, someone referred me and they told me about you.
• 38:35
  Manny Pineiro: I always I I like to like almost want to get into their their insight about what they think making time count means to them.
• 38:43
  Martin Foster: Absolutely.
• 38:44
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I mean that just just on the initial conversation.
• 38:47
  Martin Foster: There's a psychology to it.
• 38:48
  Martin Foster: So again.
• 38:49
  Manny Pineiro: And so when they start to hear themselves tell me, it's they embrace it and they go, man, I never really thought about that, you know?
• 38:56
  Manny Pineiro: And and it's a concept, man, that just it's it's ongoing, bro.
• 39:00
  Manny Pineiro: We can't negotiate that.
• 39:01
  Manny Pineiro: So, so when you have an opportunity to really understand it, and then ask yourself, what am I doing to make time count?
• 39:08
  Manny Pineiro: That's that's one of the reasons I always end everything I post with that.
• 39:12
  Manny Pineiro: Like I want that to be, it's more than just a branding.
• 39:15
  Manny Pineiro: I want you to really think about the the storyline, whatever it is that I'm talking about for that particular day.
• 39:22
  Manny Pineiro: But I really want you to understand how does this apply in my life?
• 39:25
  Manny Pineiro: You know, how is making time count for this action applying, how am I applying that?
• 39:31
  Manny Pineiro: I that's why I share a lot of things.
• 39:33
  Manny Pineiro: When I go on trips, work trips that turn out to be like vacation spots, really.
• 39:37
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, you know, uh, I make it a point to to really have some reflection on, man, where's my life at right now?
• 39:45
  Manny Pineiro: Because I if I'm feeling this good, somebody else may not be feeling this good, right?
• 39:50
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 39:50
  Manny Pineiro: Uh so I I just try to make sure that people get a better understanding of what the concept of this movement is.
• 39:58
  Manny Pineiro: It's not just a business brand.
• 40:01
  Manny Pineiro: This is about really digging into your own identity and seeing some clarity, you know, seeing some real clarity.
• 40:08
  Manny Pineiro: Um, brother, bro, I I got stories forever, man, that will shape your conversations into like, no way.
• 40:15
  Manny Pineiro: Uh business owners who left, it's senior executives who are now living purposeful with what they got away from because of the business that they fell into.
• 40:26
  Manny Pineiro: And and I and I when I get those those stories, I'm like, man, I I gotta, I gotta embrace that because it wasn't me.
• 40:34
  Manny Pineiro: It was someone, it was them, you know, they really dug deep into their own soul and said, Am I happy?
• 40:39
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 40:39
  Manny Pineiro: You know, am I happy doing what I'm doing?
• 40:41
  Manny Pineiro: So for me, those are the big wins.
• 40:44
  Manny Pineiro: If I if I can maneuver, you know, I I I did some work with a company and the senior director, I ended up coaching them.
• 40:50
  Manny Pineiro: And I called, I we were on a virtual, and I said, and I asked about this particular individual who asked me, who I, you know, confronted during the conference, uh, and said, what's the best thing in your life that reminds you about how important time is?
• 41:05
  Martin Foster: And when she Manny, that's a great question.
• 41:08
  Martin Foster: That is a fantastic question.
• 41:09
  Martin Foster: Sorry, I had to I want to give you some props for that one.
• 41:11
  Martin Foster: That's an excellent question.
• 41:13
  Manny Pineiro: Bro, but that's real talk.
• 41:14
  Manny Pineiro: And I think sometimes we don't even understand it until someone applies it and makes you responsible to answer it.
• 41:19
  Manny Pineiro: So when I gave it to her, you know, she started telling me how she used to love to paint and how she uh doesn't have time for that anymore.
• 41:28
  Manny Pineiro: But she loved to do it.
• 41:29
  Manny Pineiro: And I saw I in our conversation, we had a sidebar, and then I found out from the senior director that she quit.
• 41:37
  Manny Pineiro: She left her job 18 years, and she left.
• 41:40
  Manny Pineiro: Guess what she's doing now though?
• 41:42
  Martin Foster: I'm guessing painting.
• 41:43
  Manny Pineiro: Bro, she opened up an art gallery.
• 41:45
  Martin Foster: Man, you know, Manny, that's a that's a great question because it uh it exposes the truth.
• 41:51
  Martin Foster: So people can give a canned um you know, framed uh political or your standard answer, but people are gonna see like the people listening to that are gonna see right see right through it.
• 42:01
  Martin Foster: Oh yeah.
• 42:02
  Martin Foster: Oh yeah, but but you know, but it also like there's two options.
• 42:05
  Martin Foster: You can give the it's either gonna expose your fake answer or expose like your your truth.
• 42:11
  Martin Foster: There you go.
• 42:12
  Martin Foster: And you you know, get to the core.
• 42:13
  Martin Foster: So no, that's actually I love that question, uh that's that's great.
• 42:21
  Manny Pineiro: 100%.
• 42:21
  Manny Pineiro: And I and and for me, you know, I don't ask a question I'm not ready to answer.
• 42:25
  Manny Pineiro: You know what I mean?
• 42:26
  Manny Pineiro: Like I'm not gonna just arbitrarily throw something out there that I'm not prepared to answer.
• 42:30
  Manny Pineiro: But when you put somebody on the spot, rather than to say, and I always say, take your time, you know, make sure that this is your answer, not the answer that you think I'm poking to get.
• 42:40
  Manny Pineiro: And so when when they respond and it's truth, like you mentioned, it's honest, it's real talk, then they start to think, man, how long have I been faking it?
• 42:51
  Manny Pineiro: And that and that to me means more than, you know, just having a uh invitation to, you know, some corporate event uh or leadership workshop.
• 43:00
  Manny Pineiro: It really exposes where they're at in their life and whether or not they've been giving all they can to this position that they have.
• 43:09
  Manny Pineiro: Are they in?
• 43:10
  Manny Pineiro: You know, in the military, I used to tell my first sergeants, this you, you, this is a full-time investment.
• 43:15
  Manny Pineiro: Like you can't play this game halftime, right?
• 43:19
  Manny Pineiro: So, so that is another format of letting someone else know in a different arena that you can't cheat yourself by giving half of what you think you should be giving.
• 43:31
  Manny Pineiro: And if you're not, then maybe that's not where you want to expose 100% of your life.
• 43:35
  Manny Pineiro: If you're giving 50%, uh and I just I recently wrote about that to some, you know, I put a a mode out there of 50% versus, you know, just showing up to work.
• 43:46
  Martin Foster: I actually have a question about that because uh yeah, sorry, finished your thought, but it was a it's an excellent post.
• 43:51
  Manny Pineiro: But it's it's an interesting concept, right?
• 43:53
  Manny Pineiro: If you're willing to go to work every day, like think about it.
• 43:56
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, take a moment, think about it, Mart.
• 43:57
  Manny Pineiro: You get up in the morning, whatever hustle you got going.
• 43:59
  Manny Pineiro: On to get to work and you're not even fully invested, then think about the time that you're losing of your life.
• 44:07
  Manny Pineiro: So if you're not fully invested and you're not engaged at 100% of who you are, then what are you doing there?
• 44:19
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 44:19
  Manny Pineiro: You know, because now you're just really cheating yourself of the time that you should be having doing something that you love to do.
• 44:25
  Manny Pineiro: So those things are they they sound rhetorical when I when I ask people and they look at themselves, you know, that's almost like they give me that query look, like, I never thought about that.
• 44:34
  Manny Pineiro: I go, I don't know.
• 44:35
  Manny Pineiro: That's what I'm trying to make you think about it.
• 44:37
  Martin Foster: No, it's great.
• 44:38
  Martin Foster: Uh, it's what I'm doing with this podcast.
• 44:40
  Martin Foster: I um I haven't applied for any jobs because I want to go all in on this podcast.
• 44:44
  Martin Foster: And I love it.
• 44:45
  Martin Foster: And it's just it's my passion, right?
• 44:46
  Martin Foster: And trying to um but it takes time.
• 44:48
  Martin Foster: I mean, it takes a lot, a lot of time to do it.
• 44:50
  Martin Foster: Uh you were talked about first sergeant stuff.
• 44:52
  Martin Foster: I got to give a shout out to an amazing first sergeant that I served with the last uh couple years that I was in.
• 44:58
  Martin Foster: He was my right-hand person.
• 45:00
  Martin Foster: That's uh senior master sergeant Richard Good.
• 45:02
  Martin Foster: And something he's he's here at Wright Patterson, and he used to say, he used to tell people, because people would want him to do everything for them.
• 45:10
  Martin Foster: So you know what he and he had this this really stuck with me, and it's one of the best things I've ever heard for for leaders.
• 45:15
  Martin Foster: He says, I will double the effort that you give me.
• 45:18
  Martin Foster: So I'm saying, and because people they'd want him to help them, they didn't want to do any of the work.
• 45:23
  Martin Foster: Wow.
• 45:23
  Martin Foster: And he's like, you know, and that was his whole point.
• 45:25
  Martin Foster: I can't help you.
• 45:26
  Martin Foster: At some point, you have to help yourself, but you got it make time count.
• 45:29
  Martin Foster: But like, I'm gonna um you know, double, and I just that always stuck with me.
• 45:33
  Martin Foster: So shout out to uh Yeah, man.
• 45:35
  Manny Pineiro: Shout out to him too, bro.
• 45:36
  Manny Pineiro: Thank you.
• 45:36
  Martin Foster: Yeah, Rich Good.
• 45:37
  Manny Pineiro: If he's listening, man, look, uh, thank you.
• 45:39
  Manny Pineiro: Thank you for putting that chevron on and and going out there and doing all you can to assist our airmen and our and then and their families.
• 45:47
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I'm I'm biased, right?
• 45:49
  Manny Pineiro: I spent almost 17 years wearing that diamond.
• 45:52
  Manny Pineiro: And so I know that it's not an easy, it's not an easy gig.
• 45:56
  Manny Pineiro: And uh I I always try to make sure and and recognize that.
• 45:59
  Manny Pineiro: I get so many folks that reach out to me on LinkedIn that are still serving, you know.
• 46:04
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, and um they used to show a video of me at the schoolhouse even after I retired.
• 46:10
  Manny Pineiro: And so they they're they're kind of locked into I gotta get in touch with this guy, you know.
• 46:14
  Manny Pineiro: So when I reach out, I'm always like, first sergeant, you know, hyping them up, man.
• 46:18
  Manny Pineiro: Make sure they understand the the relevancy of that, of that, of that chevron, you know?
• 46:22
  Martin Foster: Yeah, no, thanks for that.
• 46:23
  Martin Foster: Uh I'll share this clip with him.
• 46:25
  Martin Foster: Um one question I typically we're so deep in this podcast, but I do think I typically start off with the same question.
• 46:32
  Martin Foster: Um, but I uh I feel compelled to ask you now, why is life great right now?
• 46:36
  Martin Foster: Ah, bro, I'm here.
• 46:38
  Manny Pineiro: I'm here, man.
• 46:39
  Manny Pineiro: You know, when I wake up, people people used to laugh.
• 46:41
  Manny Pineiro: I used to say this with a uh, you know, some some form of uh almost like it was just a smiling effect of knowing that you know I get up, right?
• 46:53
  Manny Pineiro: So they used to think, say things like, Man, why do you look so happy all the time?
• 46:57
  Manny Pineiro: And I go, man, you don't understand, someone else didn't get up today.
• 47:01
  Manny Pineiro: So, so that was more of uh my own personal motivation and inspiring, man.
• 47:07
  Manny Pineiro: But but man, in this day and age, under all the constraints and challenges that our our nation is under, um, man, the neighbor across the street, you know I mean, everyone around us is going through something.
• 47:20
  Manny Pineiro: And and and you gotta just stop and ask yourself, uh, where am I in my life?
• 47:28
  Manny Pineiro: Like I'm happy, right?
• 47:29
  Manny Pineiro: Uh I have shelter, you know, how many homeless people we have in this in this nation?
• 47:35
  Manny Pineiro: I I have hot water, you know, how many people can't pay that bill?
• 47:40
  Manny Pineiro: I am in a place, and this is just, I'm giving you a resource, you know, uh spectrum.
• 47:46
  Manny Pineiro: From a personal perspective, uh I'm healthy.
• 47:50
  Manny Pineiro: And and and that in itself, there's no cure for anything other than grace, you know?
• 47:57
  Manny Pineiro: Like you have to really embrace the fact that you are healthy enough to enjoy uh a walk, you know, or go outside and take a freaking deep breath of air.
• 48:07
  Manny Pineiro: My I wrote about my my wife is a respiratory therapist, so breathing is like imminent in her life, right?
• 48:14
  Manny Pineiro: That's her whole job.
• 48:15
  Manny Pineiro: But how many of us actually take that for granted and just assume it's gonna be there?
• 48:19
  Manny Pineiro: When when she spends 12 hours in a hospital trying to help somebody breathe.
• 48:24
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 48:25
  Manny Pineiro: You know, so so bro, uh, there's that's too much to try to outline into a uh uh you know some type of uh solid stick with you line.
• 48:34
  Manny Pineiro: I'm grateful for life, you know, every day.
• 48:37
  Manny Pineiro: And uh, and you know, opportunities to to encourage other people to see it through sometimes my own lenses is that's that's actually fun for me because I I know exactly where you were at.
• 48:50
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I know exactly how you feel.
• 48:52
  Manny Pineiro: Uh I may not be going through the same grind, just being invested in that conversation gives them an opportunity to know that they're not alone.
• 48:59
  Manny Pineiro: And I think that's that's part of what we're dealing with.
• 49:02
  Manny Pineiro: Everybody seems to be locked in their own, you know, their own circle uh and their own cipher, and and and they think that they're the only ones dealing with life.
• 49:09
  Manny Pineiro: Uh I have a great, great friend.
• 49:11
  Manny Pineiro: I posted about her, Maria Perez.
• 49:14
  Manny Pineiro: Maria is doing some great things.
• 49:16
  Manny Pineiro: She was actually one of my trainees, one of my trainees back in the days.
• 49:19
  Manny Pineiro: But we stayed in touch throughout through the years.
• 49:21
  Manny Pineiro: And at any given time, I used to just call her just to check and see how she was doing.
• 49:26
  Manny Pineiro: And, you know, she had her own bouts with depression and she dealt with a lot of stuff.
• 49:30
  Manny Pineiro: But even now, to see where she is in her life and the awareness of her mental health, and now she's pushing that message back out to the world, that to me is powerful, man.
• 49:40
  Manny Pineiro: Because you know, I I don't believe that a lot of us know how much, how many people are looking at you for um guidance, you know, mentorship.
• 49:50
  Manny Pineiro: And even now, like these conversations, Marn, you don't even realize this.
• 49:54
  Manny Pineiro: And if you don't, um, and I'm hoping you do, but you exposing all of these opportunities to have conversations with people, uh, and then bring them down to humanity, right?
• 50:06
  Manny Pineiro: Like a human, real talk conversation, man.
• 50:09
  Manny Pineiro: That's powerful, bro.
• 50:10
  Manny Pineiro: That's a gift.
• 50:12
  Manny Pineiro: That's a gift.
• 50:13
  Manny Pineiro: So, so man, I encourage you.
• 50:14
  Manny Pineiro: You found you tell me you find your passion and your purpose.
• 50:17
  Manny Pineiro: Don't stop, brother.
• 50:18
  Manny Pineiro: Don't stop, man.
• 50:20
  Manny Pineiro: This is something that you and and and more so because now you're like you mentioned your daughter, she's watching you do this.
• 50:26
  Manny Pineiro: And and this is real talk, man.
• 50:27
  Manny Pineiro: You're having conversations with people about life.
• 50:30
  Manny Pineiro: And and there's no better way of helping someone through such a hard time because what you're doing is exposing people to say you're not alone.
• 50:39
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 50:39
  Manny Pineiro: You know, and and and for a veteran community, man, there's so many of us that believe that we're just dealing this and we're we're weak and that we no one understands what we're going through.
• 50:50
  Manny Pineiro: And when you can say, nah, man, let me tell you, let me tell you about General Jumper.
• 50:54
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 50:56
  Manny Pineiro: And the list goes on, right?
• 50:57
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 50:58
  Manny Pineiro: No, but it matters.
• 50:59
  Manny Pineiro: It matters, so thank you.
• 51:01
  Martin Foster: Well, thank you for the kind words.
• 51:02
  Martin Foster: I I really appreciate that.
• 51:03
  Martin Foster: I I pour so much of my heart and soul uh into this.
• 51:06
  Martin Foster: And this right here, someone sent this to me that uh this this wouldn't the passing of the tort sign right here.
• 51:11
  Martin Foster: I love it.
• 51:12
  Martin Foster: Uh someone anonymous, well, uh someone that I know but not super well mailed that to me just out of the blue.
• 51:19
  Martin Foster: And it was on uh so November 1st was my effective retirement date.
• 51:23
  Martin Foster: I did uh my ceremony was on May 8th, but I did skill bridge and terminal and all that stuff.
• 51:27
  Martin Foster: I love it.
• 51:28
  Manny Pineiro: I'm glad we did that too.
• 51:29
  Martin Foster: Yeah, um, but anyway, so uh Halloween was my last actual day on active duty, and there was just a lot of emotions that day for me that I didn't expect.
• 51:39
  Martin Foster: And around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, early evening, uh this package dropped off of my door, and it was it was this, and I was like, wow, man.
• 51:48
  Martin Foster: And huge.
• 51:49
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 51:49
  Martin Foster: So again, just uh just thank you for the kind words.
• 51:51
  Martin Foster: Um well deserved, man.
• 51:53
  Martin Foster: Uh I have kind of one more, like a couple more questions, and we'll get into making time count and uh specifically.
• 51:58
  Martin Foster: Yeah, but I got uh I just I I did want to ask you for someone who for someone who feels disconnected from their story, where should they start in reclaiming it?
• 52:10
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, wow.
• 52:12
  Manny Pineiro: Identity, I think it's probably the biggest piece of it all, man.
• 52:15
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I think sometimes we lose, we forget that our identity is something that you you don't identity is something you don't find once, right?
• 52:24
  Manny Pineiro: Because I think before we joined the military, we had we were whoever we were.
• 52:28
  Manny Pineiro: And then, you know what I mean?
• 52:29
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I I know many are bank robbers who join the military.
• 52:33
  Martin Foster: It's like, yeah, we all I think we all have that shared.
• 52:35
  Martin Foster: That's why a lot of people join at 19 or 20.
• 52:38
  Martin Foster: Yeah, you know, yeah.
• 52:40
  Manny Pineiro: Either, you know, hey, you're gonna go to prison or you join the military, you know, service, right?
• 52:45
  Manny Pineiro: Uh you can't live here anymore.
• 52:46
  Manny Pineiro: You graduated school, so what's the so we run out of options and we're trying to find that identity, right?
• 52:51
  Manny Pineiro: But I I truly believe that even then, even after, uh, you know, and I and I speak I'm speaking to a military community uh as much as a uh uh society, but it's something that you continually negotiate.
• 53:04
  Manny Pineiro: Uh because you're still trying to figure out what it is that you're supposed to do.
• 53:08
  Manny Pineiro: Uh and you hear that from people who who actually served.
• 53:12
  Manny Pineiro: You know, uh one of the the clinch lines in anyone who's transitioning is I don't know what I'm gonna do next.
• 53:18
  Manny Pineiro: So that is a format to trying to figure out that identity piece.
• 53:22
  Manny Pineiro: Um but you don't, you know, what I I truly believe is that you don't need full clarity to move forward.
• 53:28
  Manny Pineiro: Um as long as you're moving forward, right?
• 53:30
  Manny Pineiro: As long as you're doing something other than, you know, hanging out uh, you know, at home, trying to figure out what you're gonna do.
• 53:38
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I always say I love failure, man.
• 53:40
  Manny Pineiro: Failure is something for me is that's a powerful tool because at least you did, you you attempted to do something, and if it didn't work out, then cool.
• 53:49
  Manny Pineiro: What's next?
• 53:50
  Manny Pineiro: So you're constantly moving forward, and and you just you just gotta know enough of your own honest self to really embrace what it is that you love.
• 53:59
  Manny Pineiro: If that makes sense to you, you know?
• 54:01
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 54:02
  Manny Pineiro: You have to really understand that not every not everybody's gonna want to do a podcast.
• 54:07
  Manny Pineiro: Not everybody is gonna, you know, want to coach.
• 54:10
  Manny Pineiro: I I knew folks who tried to jump into everything.
• 54:13
  Manny Pineiro: They wanted to, you know, do a podcast, they wanted to try to coach.
• 54:17
  Manny Pineiro: And and again, this goes back to initially uh when we spoke about folks who look at you and say, I could do that.
• 54:25
  Manny Pineiro: Because they have a vision of something that they would love to do and they see someone that they admire doing it.
• 54:31
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, I don't know how many times I must have got, you know, side DMs about, hey man, I want to do what you're doing.
• 54:36
  Manny Pineiro: And I go, cool.
• 54:37
  Manny Pineiro: You're like, I'm not gonna downplay that.
• 54:40
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 54:40
  Manny Pineiro: But this space is very unique because if you don't, if you're not at your honest self, you know, your clients or your your whoever you're coaching, they're gonna see right through that.
• 54:51
  Manny Pineiro: So if you're not willing to expose a little bit, and then the other part is you gotta just shut up and listen, man.
• 54:58
  Manny Pineiro: You know, sometimes people don't want you to talk.
• 55:01
  Manny Pineiro: They just need somebody to hear them.
• 55:03
  Manny Pineiro: And so that's hard for a lot of people, especially in the military, who have been always thinking that they gotta have a hand in the game, you know.
• 55:11
  Manny Pineiro: Sometimes you don't need to be that person.
• 55:14
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, you just need to let somebody just expose what they have going on.
• 55:17
  Manny Pineiro: And then you encourage them to figure out, let them figure out what it is that they need to do.
• 55:22
  Manny Pineiro: Uh that that's the that's the real essence in coaching.
• 55:25
  Manny Pineiro: You know, people think, oh, I could tell people what to do all day.
• 55:28
  Manny Pineiro: I've been telling them for 20 years, you know.
• 55:30
  Manny Pineiro: Nah, man.
• 55:30
  Manny Pineiro: Some people don't need to be told what to do.
• 55:32
  Manny Pineiro: They this this line of business in this space is really about letting folks understand who they are and then letting them figure that out.
• 55:39
  Manny Pineiro: Uh that that's the real win, right?
• 55:42
  Manny Pineiro: That's when they could, you could, there's sometimes in a in a virtual coaching that I do, if I'm not, you know, out and about uh locally, they'll have the whole conversation.
• 55:50
  Manny Pineiro: And then they go, man, thanks so much.
• 55:52
  Manny Pineiro: I feel so much better.
• 55:53
  Manny Pineiro: I'm like, and all I did was like, yeah, so how's that make you feel?
• 55:58
  Manny Pineiro: You know?
• 55:58
  unknown: Yeah.
• 55:59
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 56:00
  Manny Pineiro: But but really, man, you just gotta have enough, you just gotta be honest with yourself to take the next step and really understand what it is that you're passionate about, what it is that you do, you know, to to unfold and un you know, un kind of unradle your own identity, man.
• 56:17
  Manny Pineiro: It really takes take time to learn who you are.
• 56:20
  Manny Pineiro: And that's the part that I think a lot of us uh who transition into different spaces struggle with.
• 56:27
  Manny Pineiro: Because for many years, people kept calling you the chief.
• 56:31
  Manny Pineiro: You know, they they only know and that identity, man, that's a they transplant that in your head.
• 56:36
  Manny Pineiro: And now it's part of your DNA.
• 56:38
  Manny Pineiro: So when you're no longer the chief, you know, then all of a sudden you go, damn, I'm less than that.
• 56:43
  Manny Pineiro: And and and then that's probably the most difficult part of the transition.
• 56:47
  Manny Pineiro: I I when I retired, I'll I'll share this with you.
• 56:50
  Manny Pineiro: I spoke with uh Joe Bass.
• 56:52
  Manny Pineiro: Um, she was sitting in the seat at the time, and I remember telling her that, you know, I went through taps, I don't know, like two or three times, right?
• 56:59
  Manny Pineiro: Okay.
• 56:59
  Manny Pineiro: Uh because I was supposed to retire in 17.
• 57:02
  Martin Foster: That's right, yeah.
• 57:03
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, Khalid called me up and then before you know it, I was back in the seat.
• 57:07
  Manny Pineiro: Um just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in.
• 57:10
  Manny Pineiro: I was me, godfather all the way, right?
• 57:13
  Manny Pineiro: But you know, I but I I it wasn't uh I struggled with the decision because I thought I was ready to retire.
• 57:20
  Manny Pineiro: I just I wasn't I wasn't feeling like I was uh I was at my best.
• 57:26
  Manny Pineiro: You know what I mean?
• 57:27
  Manny Pineiro: And even and you know, people will tell you, what are you talking about, right?
• 57:31
  Manny Pineiro: But I just knew I said, you know, I I had a great, like you mentioned, right?
• 57:34
  Manny Pineiro: 23 years, I had a good career up to that point.
• 57:37
  Manny Pineiro: I had a great career.
• 57:38
  Manny Pineiro: And I go, I I'm good, like I'm ready.
• 57:41
  Manny Pineiro: But but when he called me to ask me, I had to reach out to my mentors, right?
• 57:46
  Manny Pineiro: The Jack Johnsons.
• 57:48
  Manny Pineiro: I I reached out to folks who who nurtured and grew this monster, right?
• 57:53
  Manny Pineiro: And uh and and ask them, you know, what do you think?
• 57:56
  Manny Pineiro: Because I didn't want to take the job selfishly.
• 57:59
  Manny Pineiro: I really wanted to make sure that I can attribute and and and give give the community what I thought they deserved.
• 58:07
  Manny Pineiro: And not by virtue of me, but by having more of the policy behind it.
• 58:11
  Manny Pineiro: Because I was on the receiving end for a very long time of things that happened that go, why are we doing that?
• 58:16
  Manny Pineiro: But now I had an opportunity to go, this is why we're doing it.
• 58:19
  Manny Pineiro: You know, these are this is exactly why we're making this move.
• 58:22
  Manny Pineiro: And that to me was a different type of position that gave me the uh more of an authoritative role to have consistency versus ambiguity.
• 58:35
  Manny Pineiro: And sometimes when we're lost in the shuffle and we're told what to do without explaining the why, uh that that that can get pretty that can get pretty dirty.
• 58:43
  Manny Pineiro: Um because now it's uh that's the guy that said this and that's the guy.
• 58:47
  Manny Pineiro: And we're pointing fingers, not realizing that those are easy distractors.
• 58:51
  Manny Pineiro: Um but but I think that uh, you know, when when you know I mentioned I didn't want to get away from it, but when I got the call and I was gonna retire, uh I realized that, you know, I still had a little bit of fuel left, you know, to to and I and I'll and actually I'll tell you something, Mark.
• 59:08
  Manny Pineiro: The real part of it was that I I was on the same, I was on the same bridge with the with why.
• 59:17
  Manny Pineiro: Like I connected to Khalise's uh values on taking care of our airmen.
• 59:23
  Manny Pineiro: And that to me, that was powerful because I had not heard that from a chief for a long time.
• 59:28
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, you know, someone sitting in that position.
• 59:30
  Manny Pineiro: But, you know, not to get away from why I brought it up, when I talked to Joe, I told her, hey, I went through these transitional classes, and there's nothing in here about how do we transition folks back to society.
• 59:42
  Manny Pineiro: You know, like I get the resume writing, I get the next job, but there's a lot of people who don't want to work anymore.
• 59:48
  Manny Pineiro: And and how do we just tone it down so that they understand that we have to teach you how to get back into mainstream society?
• 59:56
  Manny Pineiro: And we we do things in the military now in retro, I look back on life, man.
• 1:00:00
  Manny Pineiro: I think about even my retirement, how many people gave me alcohol as a sense of gratitude, right?
• 1:00:06
  Manny Pineiro: Bottles of things of of expensive things.
• 1:00:11
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 1:00:11
  Manny Pineiro: You know what I'm saying?
• 1:00:12
  Manny Pineiro: But bro, think about this.
• 1:00:14
  Manny Pineiro: And I and I put this out there uh when I talk about um our veteran transitions, think about the senior leader, or not, maybe the the the tech sergeant who got out and they gave him a complimentary bottle, but he's still trying to figure life out.
• 1:00:29
  Manny Pineiro: You know, that I I I was I was that guy, bro.
• 1:00:32
  Manny Pineiro: I was sitting in my house after retirement looking at all this alcohol, thinking, eh, who's gonna know if I take a bot uh a glass at 10 o'clock in the morning?
• 1:00:40
  Manny Pineiro: You don't realize how how something so innocent can turn something really negative just because it's available.
• 1:00:50
  Manny Pineiro: So I so I look at that, right?
• 1:00:52
  Manny Pineiro: So I think about that and I go, oh man.
• 1:00:54
  Manny Pineiro: So let's think about time and that concept.
• 1:00:56
  Manny Pineiro: How can I utilize the time that I have to completely filter uh a positive outlook with what you have left, regardless of what it is.
• 1:01:06
  Manny Pineiro: You know, this these are part of the lessons, man.
• 1:01:09
  Manny Pineiro: And I think sometimes we don't think about that until you know you hear about the guy who passed away or the guy who crashed a car or whatever the case may be.
• 1:01:18
  Manny Pineiro: I'd rather have an opportunity to leave a legacy of positivity, especially if you have an opportunity to embrace what what you have in time.
• 1:01:28
  Manny Pineiro: You know, that that for me is important because we've all been there.
• 1:01:32
  Manny Pineiro: We've all devalued it because we thought it was always going to be present, it was always gonna be existent.
• 1:01:37
  Manny Pineiro: And and so I I'm passionate about it, man.
• 1:01:40
  Manny Pineiro: I'm telling you, bro.
• 1:01:41
  Manny Pineiro: So I look at this like this is my this is what I was here for.
• 1:01:45
  Manny Pineiro: You know, first sergeant, cool.
• 1:01:47
  Manny Pineiro: I love it, man.
• 1:01:48
  Manny Pineiro: I love that I'm I I was able to reach that level and and be able to expose myself to these families and such.
• 1:01:54
  Manny Pineiro: But man, you know, look, I'm gonna read something to you, bro.
• 1:01:57
  Manny Pineiro: Do it, go for it, man.
• 1:01:58
  Manny Pineiro: You're gonna love this, man, because this this this just ties in and it just hit me when I thought about it.
• 1:02:03
  Manny Pineiro: So I received this message.
• 1:02:06
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I get LinkedIn connects all the time.
• 1:02:09
  Manny Pineiro: So I get this message and I send a response, you know.
• 1:02:13
  Manny Pineiro: My apologies always are because I'm traveling so much sometimes.
• 1:02:17
  Manny Pineiro: Uh if not for like this last past week with my son and his situation, but work-related.
• 1:02:22
  Manny Pineiro: So I get this message and it says, and I and always end it, you know, keep thriving and keep making time count.
• 1:02:28
  Manny Pineiro: And I sign it, Manny, right?
• 1:02:30
  Manny Pineiro: I get this.
• 1:02:32
  Manny Pineiro: I know you signed off as Manny, but you will forever be Chief Pinheiro to me.
• 1:02:37
  Manny Pineiro: I was happy to see your name pop up when the message came through on my phone, and I'm glad you reached out.
• 1:02:43
  Manny Pineiro: Life is good, my babies and I are blessed, and I am continuing to do my best each day to make time count.
• 1:02:49
  Manny Pineiro: It is great to see the incredible work you've continued since taking the uniform off.
• 1:02:53
  Manny Pineiro: And I wish you and your family nothing short of happiness, health, and abundant wealth.
• 1:02:57
  Manny Pineiro: Take good care.
• 1:02:58
  Manny Pineiro: I was like, damn.
• 1:03:00
  Manny Pineiro: She knew me in the military.
• 1:03:03
  Manny Pineiro: I go back to look at her profile, bro, she was a freaking first sergeant.
• 1:03:08
  Manny Pineiro: That I didn't, you know what I mean?
• 1:03:10
  Manny Pineiro: And so those things matter.
• 1:03:14
  Manny Pineiro: Because if she's doing everything in her wheelhouse now to continue doing something that I shared I don't know how many years ago, you know, to me that's the real impact.
• 1:03:26
  Manny Pineiro: A person on vacation, Martin, who sends me a note and says, just like my brother always says, keep making time count.
• 1:03:34
  Manny Pineiro: You know, if it's locked in your brain about you looking at your life in a different way, and you're thinking, I'm doing what I'm doing because I'm trying to make my time count.
• 1:03:45
  Manny Pineiro: Brother, message and mission complete.
• 1:03:49
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, and that to me means more than than anything, man.
• 1:03:53
  Manny Pineiro: Than anything.
• 1:03:54
  Manny Pineiro: Having a better understanding of the time you have left in this world and and and then utilizing that to be at your best.
• 1:04:01
  Manny Pineiro: Ah, bro, there's nothing more powerful than that.
• 1:04:04
  Martin Foster: You know, many God, that's so good.
• 1:04:06
  Manny Pineiro: I'll tell you, man, look, and I and I just I recently just I just got that like a couple days ago, and I was like, man, this is it's powerful for me, man.
• 1:04:13
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I spent decades leading at the highest levels, bro.
• 1:04:16
  Manny Pineiro: You know, but the real lesson that I realize I've I've come to understand is just not about the rank.
• 1:04:22
  Manny Pineiro: It's not about it's about realizing how easy it is to be successful professionally and still miss what matters.
• 1:04:29
  Manny Pineiro: That to me is is a is a cause and effect in everything, not just in a military environment, but in a corporate environment.
• 1:04:35
  Manny Pineiro: Because I look at it the same way.
• 1:04:37
  Manny Pineiro: CEO, commander, right, senior director, you know, uh COO.
• 1:04:42
  Manny Pineiro: There's always an an echelon where you get lost within that transition of the conversation.
• 1:04:48
  Manny Pineiro: So, you know, we're all dealing with it, man.
• 1:04:50
  Manny Pineiro: But man, that that thing about time, bro, that's it's a dangerous concept that if you fail to to realize how important it is in your life.
• 1:04:59
  Manny Pineiro: Uh and I and I cannot, I cannot, brother.
• 1:05:02
  Manny Pineiro: This is too important for me.
• 1:05:03
  Manny Pineiro: Man, I love it.
• 1:05:04
  Martin Foster: Do you have time for more questions?
• 1:05:06
  Martin Foster: Because I do have this your house.
• 1:05:07
  Martin Foster: I'm just gonna mention, I know you're a busy guy.
• 1:05:10
  Martin Foster: I have one more, and hopefully this is the first, this is not the last time like we can do more conversations, right?
• 1:05:16
  Martin Foster: This is open, you know, hopefully a part one of many more.
• 1:05:19
  Manny Pineiro: You you own the stick, brother.
• 1:05:20
  Manny Pineiro: I'm I'm just uh I'm just a passenger on the plane, bro.
• 1:05:23
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:05:24
  Martin Foster: Uh I do have one last serious question, then I want to jump into some fun white stuff.
• 1:05:28
  Martin Foster: But you mentioned K Wright in that phone call.
• 1:05:30
  Martin Foster: So if you could go, and I like I'm I'm very interested and fascinated by the idea of time travel.
• 1:05:36
  Martin Foster: Yeah, it's just something uh and I love it.
• 1:05:40
  Martin Foster: I love it.
• 1:05:40
  Martin Foster: Yeah, and one of my favorite shows of all time is Quantum Leap.
• 1:05:44
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, back in the days.
• 1:05:45
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 1:05:45
  Martin Foster: And they had a remake that came out that was phenomenal, and it got canceled after two seasons, and I'm still at like five years, and I'm heartbroken still.
• 1:05:52
  Martin Foster: I absolutely love that the original and the remake.
• 1:05:55
  Martin Foster: Oh man.
• 1:05:56
  Martin Foster: But if you could go back in time, let's say the This version of Manny could go back in time and speak to the version uh after right like five minutes after you got off the phone with K Wright about the Diamond One position.
• 1:06:11
  Martin Foster: What would you tell yourself in that moment?
• 1:06:14
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, um was I ready and prepared to be that guy, the guy he he needed versus the guy I thought he needed.
• 1:06:26
  Manny Pineiro: You know, does that make sense?
• 1:06:27
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 1:06:28
  Manny Pineiro: When he sp when he called me, because he called me at home.
• 1:06:31
  Manny Pineiro: I was sitting at the island in my kitchen with my wife.
• 1:06:34
  Manny Pineiro: We were having a conversation, and when he called me to ask me, he didn't, he wasn't asking, he was more directing.
• 1:06:42
  Manny Pineiro: Like, I need this is what I need, this is what I'm looking for.
• 1:06:46
  Manny Pineiro: And and then, you know, my full instinct jumped on board because you know what?
• 1:06:52
  Manny Pineiro: I I felt threatened that he was trying to take my time back.
• 1:06:55
  Manny Pineiro: You know, is that I'm I'm trying to bring you where I'm at, brother.
• 1:06:59
  Manny Pineiro: So I started to really renegotiate the deal.
• 1:07:03
  Manny Pineiro: Like he was telling me what he, you know, hey, I'd like you to come on the team and be part of this team.
• 1:07:09
  Manny Pineiro: And in my brain, I kept saying, I'm done.
• 1:07:12
  Manny Pineiro: Like I don't need to be part of any team anymore.
• 1:07:14
  Manny Pineiro: I'm this is this is the Manny show.
• 1:07:16
  Manny Pineiro: I'm trying to take care of me now.
• 1:07:18
  Manny Pineiro: And then I started telling him uh what I wasn't gonna do because I knew the position.
• 1:07:25
  Manny Pineiro: Like I knew all my predecessors who had the position, and they didn't have that type of autonomy.
• 1:07:31
  Manny Pineiro: I I they were more of an extra body in the in the pulse of the office.
• 1:07:36
  Manny Pineiro: And and not no takeaway, right?
• 1:07:37
  Manny Pineiro: No disrespect to any of them, but the chief mandates whether or not you will be invested in the in the decisions.
• 1:07:46
  Manny Pineiro: And I started saying, I'm not gonna get you coffee, I'm not gonna get you, you know, I'm I'm not gonna be that person to be an additional protocol um for your office.
• 1:07:58
  Manny Pineiro: And um, as I was telling him all of these things, he he just stayed quiet.
• 1:08:03
  Manny Pineiro: And then that's when he just said, Man, I called you to hire you, you were about to get fired.
• 1:08:08
  Manny Pineiro: But he said, Listen, talk to Vanessa, figure out the family dynamics, and then let me know if this is something you want to do.
• 1:08:21
  Manny Pineiro: And and he just said, But I just want to leave you with this.
• 1:08:24
  Manny Pineiro: I'm not looking at anyone else.
• 1:08:26
  Manny Pineiro: And and and that, you know, no pressure, right?
• 1:08:29
  Manny Pineiro: But I I literally uh I remember that, man, like it was like it happened a couple of minutes ago.
• 1:08:36
  Manny Pineiro: And I I got off the phone and I said, she says, Who was it?
• 1:08:40
  Manny Pineiro: Because you know, she probably saw saw that dumbfounded look on my face.
• 1:08:43
  Manny Pineiro: And I said, That was Khalid.
• 1:08:45
  Manny Pineiro: He's asking me to get on the team.
• 1:08:47
  Manny Pineiro: She goes, What are you gonna do?
• 1:08:48
  Manny Pineiro: Bro, I'm two months out from retiring.
• 1:08:50
  Manny Pineiro: And uh, you know, I had invitations going out.
• 1:08:54
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, it was crazy.
• 1:08:55
  Manny Pineiro: And then I I said, I gotta, I gotta call some people.
• 1:08:58
  Manny Pineiro: And then I started calling some senior folks that I knew that, and I think I called them for validation.
• 1:09:05
  Manny Pineiro: Because I I was, you know, as most leaders, we feel confident in the position, but I wasn't confident in in my abilities.
• 1:09:15
  Manny Pineiro: I was more, um, I mean, I wasn't, I didn't look at it like I know what I can do.
• 1:09:20
  Manny Pineiro: I looked at it like, is this something I need to do?
• 1:09:23
  Manny Pineiro: And and because I, again, I had a great career, man.
• 1:09:27
  Manny Pineiro: I had nothing else to prove to anyone, but it was, it became a very unselfish act because I knew that I didn't have to take the job, but man, I was surrounded by these giant bookends, right?
• 1:09:42
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 1:09:42
  Manny Pineiro: I had Khalith, I had Dave Golfein, I had, I had people who embraced airmanship and embraced the the values of taking care of our people.
• 1:09:53
  Manny Pineiro: That to me was like this was a this was a calling, right?
• 1:09:57
  Manny Pineiro: This was uh uh man, the opportunity to and then to really unfold how I saw the first sergeant in this triad, right?
• 1:10:09
  Manny Pineiro: The role that to me was like, man, I can I can persuade this conversation so that they can see the impact that a first sergeant actually has.
• 1:10:19
  Manny Pineiro: If if given the the responsibility and and like it's self-automated, right?
• 1:10:27
  Manny Pineiro: Um, but there were so many things that I in my brain I kept thinking, okay, man, I gotta I gotta go back.
• 1:10:32
  Manny Pineiro: I look, I'll tell you this.
• 1:10:34
  Manny Pineiro: I remember one time, so I'm on the team, uh, we were months in, we're traveling, and I remember every morning we used to go to the gym, right?
• 1:10:42
  Manny Pineiro: Um and then waiting for the rest of the team to to assemble, Khalid and I used to throw some hoops, right?
• 1:10:48
  Manny Pineiro: We'd be in the in the basketball court just taking shots until everybody came and we were ready to go together.
• 1:10:52
  Manny Pineiro: He asked me, he says, Hey man, you know, we only this is literally, we only have so much time to take care of the things that we need to take care of.
• 1:11:00
  Manny Pineiro: He goes, What are your priorities?
• 1:11:02
  Manny Pineiro: And I said, Man, that's huge.
• 1:11:06
  Manny Pineiro: Because the concept of time was in my brain, right?
• 1:11:09
  Manny Pineiro: And I said, We got to change how we teach first sergeants.
• 1:11:13
  Manny Pineiro: Like, we got to go back to the the root of tutor, like he used to always say, and and get back to the real basics of the world that the first sergeants live in.
• 1:11:23
  Manny Pineiro: So that had to be the first pit stop is how are we training?
• 1:11:27
  Manny Pineiro: And that was my focus.
• 1:11:29
  Manny Pineiro: Let's train these first sergeants, the not my way, but the way that we say they're supposed to be in the field.
• 1:11:37
  Manny Pineiro: And um, man, we changed so much, man.
• 1:11:40
  Manny Pineiro: I had a lot of good help uh from the cadre that were out there uh to include my you know my commandant at the time um I had hired uh Mike Perry.
• 1:11:50
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:51
  Manny Pineiro: So, so you know, having those conversations and just bringing a little realistic view to what type of first sergeant do we need in the field.
• 1:11:59
  Manny Pineiro: Um, and then uh and then accrediting that with the commander, right?
• 1:12:03
  Manny Pineiro: The commander position, and then bringing in the chief, and then having that same messaging from the headquarters level kind of migrate all the way down to the to the to the field.
• 1:12:13
  Manny Pineiro: That was the most important part of what made this opportunity something.
• 1:12:19
  Manny Pineiro: So yeah, bro, look, you can hand me the keys to the DeLorean any day.
• 1:12:22
  Manny Pineiro: I love I love going back and and trying to figure it out, but man, we did so much goodness for the airmen.
• 1:12:30
  Manny Pineiro: At least we tried to do our best with the time that we had um and set a set a great tone.
• 1:12:36
  Manny Pineiro: And you know, you know, to Dave Goldfein's accounts, to our 21st chief staff of the Air Force, uh, you know, him and I are still connected, right?
• 1:12:45
  Manny Pineiro: On the USL board.
• 1:12:46
  Manny Pineiro: But we talk about our time together all the time, you know, like what worked, what didn't work.
• 1:12:50
  Martin Foster: He shares a good story about you.
• 1:12:51
  Martin Foster: I've heard him talk about so I'm working on him and uh getting on him.
• 1:12:55
  Martin Foster: So he has agreed to do my podcast.
• 1:12:57
  Martin Foster: We're just working out dates, right?
• 1:12:59
  Manny Pineiro: You gotta get him on.
• 1:13:00
  Martin Foster: But he talks about I heard him on a podcast talk about when you guys went to Puerto Rico and him and K Wright were basically they took the backseat and just let you do all the mingling and the speaking and stuff.
• 1:13:10
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, man.
• 1:13:10
  Manny Pineiro: That was that was beautiful, man.
• 1:13:12
  Manny Pineiro: That was a beautiful moment, you know.
• 1:13:14
  Manny Pineiro: But again, a test to leadership, right?
• 1:13:16
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, uh, you gotta put things in perspective.
• 1:13:19
  Manny Pineiro: This is uh this is the chief of staff.
• 1:13:21
  Martin Foster: I mean, this is the you know, the top military person in the Air Force.
• 1:13:24
  Martin Foster: I mean, this is you know, uh, this guy is one person away from the the secretary of the defense, right?
• 1:13:29
  Martin Foster: In terms of no doubt.
• 1:13:30
  Martin Foster: I mean, yeah, so he's uh he's uh he's the final boss.
• 1:13:33
  Manny Pineiro: And for him to say, you know what, this ain't our this ain't my wheelhouse.
• 1:13:37
  Manny Pineiro: Let me let me give it to the guy who who understands the post of what we're trying to communicate out here, that was a turning point in that whole trip because it wasn't about me.
• 1:13:47
  Manny Pineiro: It was about what we're trying to establish in communication, right?
• 1:13:52
  Manny Pineiro: And and that I just happened to, you know, that was my that was my people, right?
• 1:13:56
  Manny Pineiro: Those were my people.
• 1:13:57
  Manny Pineiro: So it was it was like the stars aligned right in that moment.
• 1:14:01
  Manny Pineiro: And they realized, and and and even him when he tells the story is great because I didn't see it that way.
• 1:14:05
  Manny Pineiro: I was just, I was just there.
• 1:14:07
  Manny Pineiro: But but the moment that he let go of those reins and said, man, let's put the right people in front of the audience, um, that spoke a lot, right?
• 1:14:16
  Manny Pineiro: That that told a big story to the to the not just the community, but to our Air Force.
• 1:14:22
  Manny Pineiro: Um, I I'll share this, and I'm I'm sure he'll remember this if you ever ask him.
• 1:14:26
  Manny Pineiro: But we were we were talking, uh, you know, I was very adamant about first sergeants and chiefs, right?
• 1:14:32
  Manny Pineiro: Like the chief position.
• 1:14:33
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, especially if you were a first sergeant who made chief, I always say, well, let's go back to the field, and then you can learn to embrace your chiefs, basically surrounding your chiefs.
• 1:14:43
  Manny Pineiro: And then after that, you can, because there was a lot of times prior to my uh taking on the position, was that if you made chief, your senior man sergeant, you made chief, you can easily put in for one of these command first sergeant positions.
• 1:14:55
  Manny Pineiro: And I always said, man, but they that's a lot of pressure because they're gonna be speaking on behalf of the commander and that command chief.
• 1:15:03
  Manny Pineiro: And so a lot of folks were in that, you know, poised for that.
• 1:15:06
  Manny Pineiro: I just wanted them to get back, get amongst the their chiefs and and melt into that pool, understand some of the conference, some of the responsibilities that come in the squadron level, you know, and then how you navigate that before you take on this role.
• 1:15:19
  Manny Pineiro: So I remember one time we were talking, we were coming back from a trip, and uh he was asking me about command chiefs and and how I picked my command first sergeants.
• 1:15:29
  Manny Pineiro: I said, well, they usually are first sergeants, they were good first sergeants, they went back to the world, and I kind of gave him the the step process for it.
• 1:15:36
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:15:37
  Manny Pineiro: And I said, you know, boss, I gotta tell you, uh, how do you pick your commanders?
• 1:15:41
  Manny Pineiro: And I said, because, you know, in my world, and this is a conversation I always had with Khalith, was that not every chief needs to be a command chief.
• 1:15:48
  Manny Pineiro: Nope.
• 1:15:49
  Manny Pineiro: Right?
• 1:15:49
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, that you know, we're being honest about it.
• 1:15:52
  Manny Pineiro: It's not that we, you know, I think our selection process could have been a little better.
• 1:15:56
  Manny Pineiro: We selected some folks who didn't even be command chiefs, and we we let go of a lot of good opportunities to make folks command chiefs, right?
• 1:16:03
  Manny Pineiro: But because of the position, we there was a nurturing in the in the book frame of of chiefs that thought that every chief needed to be a command chief to feel successful.
• 1:16:14
  Manny Pineiro: I asked him about his commanders, and I said, not every com not every officer needs to be a commander.
• 1:16:20
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 1:16:21
  Manny Pineiro: And and I look, man, that this is how powerful our conversations were.
• 1:16:25
  Manny Pineiro: We were going back to DC and he was hosting the Wing Commanders Conference.
• 1:16:30
  Manny Pineiro: And here he is on the stage telling all of these officers, all these commanders, not every officer needs to be a commander.
• 1:16:39
  Manny Pineiro: Wow.
• 1:16:40
  Manny Pineiro: I was like, you know, I'm in the back.
• 1:16:42
  Manny Pineiro: I'm like, what?
• 1:16:43
  Manny Pineiro: I'd be laughing so hard.
• 1:16:45
  Manny Pineiro: That'll tell you, man, that he listened to his people.
• 1:16:49
  Manny Pineiro: What made him great and why he is such an enamored uh, you know, officer chief um in our Air Force history is that he actually listened to his people.
• 1:17:02
  Manny Pineiro: Uh I was blessed to have him as the boss.
• 1:17:06
  Manny Pineiro: Um, I was blessed, I, you know, Secretary Barrett is on the USO board, so I see her all the time as well.
• 1:17:12
  Manny Pineiro: And we talk about our the moments that we had, you know.
• 1:17:15
  Manny Pineiro: I I had her, I had Wilson.
• 1:17:17
  Manny Pineiro: We we talk about this identity that wasn't ours.
• 1:17:22
  Manny Pineiro: You know what I mean?
• 1:17:23
  Manny Pineiro: We were we happen to be in those positions to help push the message to our folks in the field to understand their capability and and put put the put the responsibility back in their laps.
• 1:17:35
  Manny Pineiro: You know, the if anything, General Goldfin was the first to say, I don't make decisions for you.
• 1:17:41
  Manny Pineiro: You're the commander.
• 1:17:42
  Manny Pineiro: Like, make the decision.
• 1:17:43
  Manny Pineiro: And and and that was like a a moment of self-reflection to say, hey, you're you're in this position for a reason.
• 1:17:51
  Manny Pineiro: Make the decision.
• 1:17:52
  Manny Pineiro: And if it's the right decision, I got you.
• 1:17:55
  Manny Pineiro: Like, don't worry about it.
• 1:17:56
  Manny Pineiro: And that's that's what leadership is really about, man.
• 1:17:59
  Manny Pineiro: Make the decision.
• 1:18:00
  Manny Pineiro: If it's the wrong, you know, you'll be all right.
• 1:18:02
  Manny Pineiro: No one's taking your birthday.
• 1:18:03
  Manny Pineiro: But but if you make the decision and you're not and it's consistent to how you are as a leader, then your money.
• 1:18:11
  Manny Pineiro: Because that's what it's about, man.
• 1:18:12
  Manny Pineiro: So it's really, I think that we lose a little bit of that when we we try to emulate other people, right?
• 1:18:20
  Manny Pineiro: You know, because this thread conversation isn't just about leadership, man.
• 1:18:23
  Manny Pineiro: You know, this stewardship of time, people, relationships.
• 1:18:28
  Manny Pineiro: You know, we really have to embrace all those things that that true leaders look at.
• 1:18:33
  Manny Pineiro: Um, when I talk to senior directors, it's the same way, man.
• 1:18:36
  Manny Pineiro: Look, are you taking care of your people?
• 1:18:38
  Manny Pineiro: Because if you're taking care of your people, guess what they're gonna do?
• 1:18:40
  Manny Pineiro: They're gonna take care of this game you want.
• 1:18:42
  Martin Foster: Exactly.
• 1:18:43
  Manny Pineiro: So nothing has changed in that, in those, in that when you embrace that, but time, people, and relationships, man, that's the fabric of what makes what makes our moments uh and and why leaders excel.
• 1:18:56
  Manny Pineiro: If they have those three concepts, you know, am I wasting time?
• 1:19:00
  Manny Pineiro: Am I not, you know, doing my best for my people?
• 1:19:02
  Manny Pineiro: And am I building this network of of leadership uh within the relationship, the scope of relationships?
• 1:19:09
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, man.
• 1:19:09
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, bro.
• 1:19:10
  Manny Pineiro: I'll tell you, look, man, I apologize.
• 1:19:11
  Manny Pineiro: Long ass question, long-ass answer for sure questions.
• 1:19:14
  Martin Foster: No, this is good.
• 1:19:16
  Martin Foster: This I'm letting you cook, right?
• 1:19:18
  Martin Foster: It's just kind of like, hey, like, you know, paint a Picasso, right?
• 1:19:21
  Manny Pineiro: So it's just Yeah, I'm actually bringing up you bring up a lot of good points that actually have a lot to do with why I am where I'm at in my life, you know?
• 1:19:29
  Martin Foster: No, and like I've been a guest on podcasts where it was an hour episode, and the host talked for 50.
• 1:19:34
  Martin Foster: No, this is not like I timed it, like they talked for 58 minutes.
• 1:19:38
  Martin Foster: They were the host, like they asked me to be a guest, and I'm like, you know, they would ask me a question, and then they would go, they would go into they would answer their own question.
• 1:19:45
  Martin Foster: And I'm like, oh my god, like I'm just it's it was so weird.
• 1:19:49
  Martin Foster: I'm like, just do a solo episode, man.
• 1:19:50
  Martin Foster: That was crazy.
• 1:19:51
  Martin Foster: No, but this is what I like to do, man.
• 1:19:52
  Martin Foster: And I feel I take pride.
• 1:19:54
  Martin Foster: I mean, I've like I've mentioned a couple times now.
• 1:19:57
  Martin Foster: I mean, I pour so much into this, and yeah, I was an Intel analyst by trade, and Joe Bass was on my podcast, and then she likes to say, Martin, you guys are God's children or whatever, special children.
• 1:20:07
  Martin Foster: Because until like the questions I was asking her was asked her a question that said, Hey, we've all seen the clop out when people leave the Pentagon, right?
• 1:20:14
  Martin Foster: All the uh all the service leads and the generals, all that stuff, right?
• 1:20:19
  Martin Foster: They always everyone's lined in the hallways clopping out.
• 1:20:21
  Martin Foster: And I said, if I would have met you at the end of the bottom, like you walked out of those steps, the bottom of them, you're walking out, and if I would have came up to you in that moment uh and asked you uh right then and there, what are you running from and what are you running toward, like what would your answer be?
• 1:20:35
  Martin Foster: And she was like, Where do you come up with this stuff?
• 1:20:37
  Martin Foster: And I'm like, it's just it's I love it.
• 1:20:39
  Martin Foster: I mean, I this is I want to hear this stuff from people.
• 1:20:42
  Manny Pineiro: I love it.
• 1:20:43
  Martin Foster: Thank you.
• 1:20:43
  Martin Foster: I appreciate that.
• 1:20:44
  Martin Foster: Oh, yeah.
• 1:20:44
  Martin Foster: Uh, just before we wrap up, so some light, miscellaneous questions.
• 1:20:48
  Martin Foster: There's no rhyme or reason.
• 1:20:50
  Martin Foster: One thing I like to do is I call it the name game.
• 1:20:52
  Martin Foster: So I'm just gonna say a few names, just provide uh one word or like a short sentence about like what comes to mind when you hear these names.
• 1:21:01
  Martin Foster: And these are all I think good names.
• 1:21:03
  Martin Foster: So uh, but the first one is Chief Master Sergeant Luis Rivera.
• 1:21:08
  Manny Pineiro: Luis Rivera.
• 1:21:09
  Manny Pineiro: I know that name.
• 1:21:10
  Martin Foster: I heard that name.
• 1:21:11
  Martin Foster: Was he a recruiter or something?
• 1:21:12
  Martin Foster: Anyway, I might move on from that one.
• 1:21:14
  Martin Foster: Uh because I've I've listened, I've listened to you if uh you've been on a podcast, I've listened to you tell stories, even going back to uh, you know, you did the blueprint with K-Wright.
• 1:21:25
  Martin Foster: And I mean, even if you did a podcast period, I mean I've Oh bro, you're talking about my recruiter.
• 1:21:31
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 1:21:31
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:21:32
  Manny Pineiro: What's the name?
• 1:21:33
  Manny Pineiro: His name was uh Rivera.
• 1:21:34
  Manny Pineiro: Uh okay, yeah, yeah.
• 1:21:35
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:21:36
  Manny Pineiro: You're smart.
• 1:21:36
  Manny Pineiro: I was like, damn, I know that name.
• 1:21:38
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, bro.
• 1:21:40
  Manny Pineiro: That's the guy.
• 1:21:41
  Manny Pineiro: And I hope he's still with us.
• 1:21:43
  Manny Pineiro: I lost touch with him.
• 1:21:44
  Manny Pineiro: He was in San Antonio.
• 1:21:46
  Manny Pineiro: I I actually tried to invite him to my retirement ceremony, but he never answered it.
• 1:21:49
  Martin Foster: So yeah.
• 1:21:50
  Martin Foster: Well, shout out to him.
• 1:21:52
  Martin Foster: So or his fancy.
• 1:21:54
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, that's the guy who he's in that's my life blood, man.
• 1:21:57
  Manny Pineiro: I I another reason I I wanted to be a recruiter is that he I felt like he saved my life, man.
• 1:22:03
  Martin Foster: That's awesome.
• 1:22:03
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 1:22:04
  Manny Pineiro: That guy took me out of the jungle, bro.
• 1:22:06
  Manny Pineiro: And and and what was so cool, and this is something I advocate for with recruiters, um, I was fortunate.
• 1:22:12
  Manny Pineiro: I I spoke at a the recruiting group.
• 1:22:15
  Manny Pineiro: Uh they had uh their annual awards, and I went out and was a guest speaker, a keynote speaker, and uh, which I loved, but I told the story about how you don't even realize the impact that you have on someone's life.
• 1:22:27
  Manny Pineiro: And this recruiter literally changed my life.
• 1:22:30
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, I went there um with no options but to get out of New York.
• 1:22:36
  Manny Pineiro: And and this guy happened to be from New York, happened to be from my, you know, they like, you know, when you're selected to be a recruiter, you get an opportunity to recruit wherever you're from.
• 1:22:46
  Manny Pineiro: But yeah, but you know, most of the time, those recruiters just want to be home, right?
• 1:22:50
  Manny Pineiro: But this guy really believed in what he was doing.
• 1:22:54
  Manny Pineiro: And uh, and you know, he was a tech sergeant.
• 1:22:56
  Manny Pineiro: And here I am years later, I'm I find myself in Lackland.
• 1:23:00
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, if you don't know the story, but yeah, man, I'm having uh, I'm in the NCO Academy at Lackland Air Force Base, the Gaylor uh uh NCO Academy.
• 1:23:10
  Manny Pineiro: It wasn't even the Gaylor Academy at the time.
• 1:23:13
  Manny Pineiro: I don't I don't believe it was yet.
• 1:23:14
  Manny Pineiro: But he um uh I this recruiter that was in my class, he says, Hey man, you got recruited in New York.
• 1:23:21
  Manny Pineiro: And he goes, You remember your recruiter's name?
• 1:23:22
  Manny Pineiro: And and that conversation came up, and I say, Oh my god, bro, this guy.
• 1:23:26
  Manny Pineiro: So I started telling you guys, yo, you know what, my my chief is a Rivera.
• 1:23:29
  Manny Pineiro: And I he goes, and I said, bro, you know how many Rivera's come out of New York?
• 1:23:33
  Manny Pineiro: And he said, Nah, man, I I think this is the guy, man.
• 1:23:36
  Manny Pineiro: So at one of the breaks, uh, the group, the recruiting group was right there on Lackland, and we went up to the office, and bro, I've run into my recruiter.
• 1:23:46
  Manny Pineiro: I actually sat right across from my recruiter at my NCO Academy graduation.
• 1:23:51
  unknown: Wow.
• 1:23:52
  Martin Foster: You've so I've heard you tell the story.
• 1:23:53
  Martin Foster: That's where I got the uh the name from.
• 1:23:55
  Manny Pineiro: So I've heard you and you know what was crazy?
• 1:23:56
  Manny Pineiro: I was able to see, I went to his retirement and I told this story.
• 1:24:00
  Manny Pineiro: I had there was nothing but tears in that room.
• 1:24:03
  Manny Pineiro: And it was so emotional because man, this guy truthfully changed my life.
• 1:24:08
  Manny Pineiro: Like the course of my life was because of this person who invested in me.
• 1:24:12
  Manny Pineiro: And I didn't see him, you know, you don't see a recruiter, right?
• 1:24:15
  Manny Pineiro: You got nothing but negative stories about recruiters, right?
• 1:24:19
  Manny Pineiro: But I wanted to say thank you, and no better way than to, bro, I was I was doing that job at the time.
• 1:24:26
  Manny Pineiro: So, so that'll tell you that I was like now in a whole different pulse in my career, and he saw that, and and to sit across from him at my graduation was like, wow, wow.
• 1:24:40
  Manny Pineiro: You know, that's yeah, man.
• 1:24:42
  Manny Pineiro: Moments like that, you just don't forget, bro.
• 1:24:44
  Manny Pineiro: You don't forget.
• 1:24:45
  Martin Foster: That's no, that's a great story, and I that's where I took note of that one.
• 1:24:49
  Manny Pineiro: Thank you for bringing that up, bro.
• 1:24:49
  Manny Pineiro: I feel like I heard the name and I was like, damn.
• 1:24:53
  Martin Foster: The second name, certainly not least, Kathy Torres Pomo.
• 1:24:58
  Manny Pineiro: Oh man, money.
• 1:24:59
  Manny Pineiro: She is uh she's the truth, bro.
• 1:25:01
  Manny Pineiro: You know, another New Yorker.
• 1:25:03
  Martin Foster: Shout out to Elmhurst Queens.
• 1:25:05
  Manny Pineiro: Queensbound.
• 1:25:06
  Manny Pineiro: Uh yeah, man.
• 1:25:08
  Manny Pineiro: She and I had a great conversation, man.
• 1:25:10
  Manny Pineiro: It's it's I give her mad props because I leverage where she's from.
• 1:25:16
  Manny Pineiro: And how many people probably told her the same thing they told me?
• 1:25:20
  Manny Pineiro: You can't.
• 1:25:22
  Manny Pineiro: You know, this is not for you.
• 1:25:24
  Manny Pineiro: And then you ask yourself, and she's a Latina, she's uh she's uh, you know, like her embodiment.
• 1:25:31
  Manny Pineiro: People always think that New York is all hardcore and pushy.
• 1:25:34
  Manny Pineiro: And man, man, but when you embrace what you want to do and you love what you do, it it comes across.
• 1:25:40
  Manny Pineiro: Um and look at, you know, I look at her now and I think about, you know, and our conversation was really uh uh do you know someone that knows someone that because I gotta connect from someone else.
• 1:25:51
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I are you familiar with Keith Castile?
• 1:25:53
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah, KC, yeah.
• 1:25:55
  Manny Pineiro: KC reached out to me and said, hey man, I'm I'm working with these this team.
• 1:25:59
  Manny Pineiro: Um they call uh it's part of the Mick and they do some other stuff.
• 1:26:03
  Manny Pineiro: And but I your name came up in the conversation, and I was wanting to know if you would be you would be willing to connect with with Kathy.
• 1:26:11
  Manny Pineiro: So it was like really, you know, a real connection that led to another connection that led to boom, here we are in a conversation.
• 1:26:20
  Manny Pineiro: And man, we we're I mean, literally on speed.
• 1:26:23
  Manny Pineiro: She just reached out to me.
• 1:26:24
  Manny Pineiro: She gave me those, she gave me one of those manny exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point.
• 1:26:29
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 1:26:29
  Manny Pineiro: But man, she's great.
• 1:26:30
  Manny Pineiro: She's just the truth, man.
• 1:26:32
  Manny Pineiro: And I and I appreciate what she brings to the table, what she's doing to influence uh military spouses.
• 1:26:37
  Manny Pineiro: She's uh she's trying to actually get me to be to be at an event.
• 1:26:41
  Manny Pineiro: I told her September is gonna be crunchy.
• 1:26:43
  Manny Pineiro: I think they're having an event in Tampa.
• 1:26:45
  Martin Foster: Yeah, so I'll be there at that one.
• 1:26:47
  Manny Pineiro: I told her, I said I'll do my best to because I know I know my you know my calendar is pretty crazy, but uh she also extended an invitation in July because she's trying to do an event for some spouses.
• 1:26:57
  Manny Pineiro: Um but man, you know, I mean it's like that, right?
• 1:27:00
  Manny Pineiro: Once you get a connection to a certain pulse of the give back, it's for me, that's all that's you know, that's part of this, man.
• 1:27:07
  Manny Pineiro: This is I I I'm a for-profit entity, but at the end of the day, if there's an opportunity to do something that's gonna give back to the community, you know, just give me a holla.
• 1:27:16
  Manny Pineiro: I'm there, you know.
• 1:27:18
  Martin Foster: Yeah, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Kathy.
• 1:27:20
  Martin Foster: She's been mentoring me for the past year and a half.
• 1:27:22
  Martin Foster: Not a lot of people know that.
• 1:27:24
  Martin Foster: Uh they just have no, you know, and that was just a chance encounter that her and I had.
• 1:27:28
  Martin Foster: I had no idea who she was.
• 1:27:29
  Martin Foster: I was just genuinely nice to, you know, who I thought was a stranger.
• 1:27:33
  Martin Foster: And I was uh it was actually at the military conference two years ago.
• 1:27:36
  Martin Foster: She was I was watching one of the events happen, and I she was standing there, just I thought it was just another just another person just like me, just attending.
• 1:27:43
  Martin Foster: I said, Man, whoever put this event together just did an outstanding job.
• 1:27:47
  Martin Foster: I'm so I'm just blown away.
• 1:27:48
  Martin Foster: It's my first time here.
• 1:27:49
  Martin Foster: And she was like, Oh, you know, and then we talked briefly, and then a couple months later, they did an event here in Dayton at the Air Force Museum, and you know, her uh Kurt Taz, the other guy.
• 1:27:59
  Martin Foster: Right, and him I know, right?
• 1:28:02
  Martin Foster: So I went and helped up.
• 1:28:03
  Martin Foster: I was setting up chairs and doing organs, you know, trying to, you know, tear down chairs, set up the event.
• 1:28:07
  Martin Foster: I wanted to help them, and he was like, Hey, I want to introduce you to my boss, and it's Kathy.
• 1:28:12
  Martin Foster: And I'm like, like, oh my God.
• 1:28:14
  Manny Pineiro: Like, yeah, yeah.
• 1:28:14
  Manny Pineiro: I'm I'm extremely proud of her, man.
• 1:28:16
  Manny Pineiro: She is uh, you know, single mom.
• 1:28:18
  Manny Pineiro: You know, she's just she's killing the game, man.
• 1:28:21
  Manny Pineiro: She's killing the game.
• 1:28:21
  Martin Foster: She was on my podcast uh a couple months ago.
• 1:28:23
  Martin Foster: So that's great.
• 1:28:24
  Martin Foster: That's great.
• 1:28:24
  Martin Foster: Yeah, she doesn't do a lot of stuff.
• 1:28:26
  Martin Foster: As a matter of fact, that might have been the first podcast she's done.
• 1:28:28
  Martin Foster: So I was just honored that that's even better.
• 1:28:30
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah.
• 1:28:30
  Manny Pineiro: And you got that type of entity and you got that, that that's a great uh spirit, man.
• 1:28:35
  Manny Pineiro: Possible positive spirit.
• 1:28:36
  Martin Foster: Yeah, big fan.
• 1:28:38
  Martin Foster: Uh last name is uh on the list for this this part is not really a name of a person, but just more of uh an area.
• 1:28:44
  Martin Foster: But which you being from the Bronx, which borough of the five boroughs do uh people from the Bron Bronx secretly refuse to admit is fun?
• 1:28:53
  Manny Pineiro: Uh from the people from the Bronx.
• 1:28:55
  Manny Pineiro: Um fun.
• 1:28:57
  Manny Pineiro: I would probably be like, I, you know, it's hard because there you you can find yourself um exploiting every borough and their secrets.
• 1:29:08
  Manny Pineiro: You know, like like there's a lot.
• 1:29:10
  Manny Pineiro: Long Island has a lot of history.
• 1:29:13
  Manny Pineiro: Uh Queens, of course, has a lot of I'm still connected to Queens.
• 1:29:16
  Manny Pineiro: My my family most of my family lives up there now.
• 1:29:19
  Manny Pineiro: But I don't know, man.
• 1:29:20
  Manny Pineiro: There's a lot there's it so from a New Yorker, I will tell you, everything about that city brings something different to anyone who travels there more than once.
• 1:29:31
  Manny Pineiro: Because you're never gonna get to see everything.
• 1:29:34
  Manny Pineiro: You know, you can jump on a hop on, hop off, and think that you're gonna cover so much, but the hit there's so much, there's this history that I don't even realize that's going on.
• 1:29:43
  Manny Pineiro: Look, I just recently found out that there was a uh there was an area in on 59th Street, I want to say in where where the Lincoln Center sits now, there used to be a thriving community of African Americans and Latinos.
• 1:29:59
  Manny Pineiro: I had no clue about it.
• 1:30:01
  Manny Pineiro: It was called San Juan Hill.
• 1:30:03
  Manny Pineiro: And that's the community, just they demolished it to build Lincoln Center.
• 1:30:08
  Manny Pineiro: So you, I'm always learning something new about, you know, walking around the city and realizing that there's so much to it.
• 1:30:15
  Manny Pineiro: I'm I'll be back there next month uh for a couple of things.
• 1:30:20
  Manny Pineiro: Uh one, my mom is having some surgeries, cataracts, so I'm gonna stop by and check on her and make sure she's good.
• 1:30:26
  Manny Pineiro: But then I'm coming back a couple of weeks after that and I'm gonna celebrate, you know, Puerto Rican Day Parade, man.
• 1:30:31
  Manny Pineiro: Just go out there and roll out with the madness of the city and and you know, celebrate our island and the people and the beauty and the it's just uh you get so much, you you know, you can only get so much in New York, by the way, if you're there, right?
• 1:30:47
  Manny Pineiro: Um there's only you know, it's like going to Altis.
• 1:30:50
  Manny Pineiro: You can only get so many rattlesnake derbies, you know.
• 1:30:54
  Martin Foster: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:30:56
  Martin Foster: The festivals, rattlesnake, yeah, I remember that.
• 1:31:00
  Manny Pineiro: So so those things are those things that are happening for the moments that they're happening, but there's always something going down in the city.
• 1:31:07
  Manny Pineiro: So there is, man.
• 1:31:09
  Martin Foster: The rattles you're bringing up memories of rattlesnake, yeah.
• 1:31:13
  Manny Pineiro: I was out there, I'm telling you, that was like, no way.
• 1:31:15
  Manny Pineiro: People eat this, and then you know, it the following year.
• 1:31:19
  Manny Pineiro: I was eating it too.
• 1:31:20
  Manny Pineiro: I was yeah, did you ever go to Mears?
• 1:31:22
  Martin Foster: Uh in E E.
• 1:31:23
  Martin Foster: Yeah, have the the big like Mears bird.
• 1:31:25
  Martin Foster: That's always like that.
• 1:31:26
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, man.
• 1:31:26
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 1:31:26
  Manny Pineiro: So you know, I try to I try to get invested uh into the community and just try to figure out what was going on.
• 1:31:32
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I I I enjoyed the base.
• 1:31:35
  Manny Pineiro: Uh my wife and I always talk about trying to go back just to see the little house we lived at on Walnut.
• 1:31:40
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, you know, it was just right across from Jackson County, you know.
• 1:31:44
  Manny Pineiro: I mean I tell you, man, it was a trip, bro.
• 1:31:47
  Manny Pineiro: But I but it again, it it opened the doors for what uh military community is about, you know.
• 1:31:54
  Martin Foster: Uh last couple questions.
• 1:31:56
  Martin Foster: Uh listened to your episode with Kay Wright uh when he was SimSAV and you had a great conversation.
• 1:32:01
  Martin Foster: You guys were talking about uh one of the best parts of the episode was I think it was the bath and body work story.
• 1:32:08
  Martin Foster: So so hear me out on this one, Manny.
• 1:32:10
  Martin Foster: Smelling good, smelling good is important, right?
• 1:32:13
  Martin Foster: We want to smell good.
• 1:32:14
  Martin Foster: I want to smell good.
• 1:32:15
  Martin Foster: I'm wearing I I put on a cologne just for this episode.
• 1:32:17
  Martin Foster: I'm serious.
• 1:32:17
  Martin Foster: I put for this episode.
• 1:32:19
  Martin Foster: You can't smell me.
• 1:32:19
  Martin Foster: I smell good though.
• 1:32:20
  Martin Foster: Just know that.
• 1:32:21
  Manny Pineiro: I love it.
• 1:32:22
  Martin Foster: But smelling good is important.
• 1:32:23
  Martin Foster: If you and K-Wright, if you and K Wright developed and released your own signature scent, what would it be called?
• 1:32:31
  Manny Pineiro: Oh, bro.
• 1:32:32
  Manny Pineiro: Uh it would definitely have a smoky tobacco flavor because he's a hardcore cigar head.
• 1:32:42
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, and we definitely did our share of bourbon and and and uh uh you know, you name you named uh whiskey.
• 1:32:52
  Manny Pineiro: We we covered a lot of that, but it would have to be probably uh I don't know, man.
• 1:33:00
  Manny Pineiro: I I'll put it this way.
• 1:33:01
  Manny Pineiro: It wouldn't be just around centered around him and I, I'd probably say dream.
• 1:33:08
  Manny Pineiro: I like that, dream.
• 1:33:10
  Manny Pineiro: Dream.
• 1:33:11
  Martin Foster: You want me to ask ChatGPT?
• 1:33:12
  Martin Foster: Well, yeah, that'd be cool.
• 1:33:14
  Manny Pineiro: If you got it up.
• 1:33:15
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, I and I would say because I think for both of us, coming from where we came from, even the backgrounds that we had growing up in the military, uh, I don't think we both we ever thought we would be in the positions that we were in.
• 1:33:29
  Manny Pineiro: And we talked about that a lot, you know.
• 1:33:31
  Manny Pineiro: You only get that one, it's like it's like Hamilton, right?
• 1:33:33
  Manny Pineiro: You only get one shot.
• 1:33:35
  Martin Foster: Yeah.
• 1:33:35
  Manny Pineiro: And so we had an opportunity.
• 1:33:37
  Martin Foster: Nice reference.
• 1:33:38
  Manny Pineiro: We had we only had that one opportunity to to make the moment that we had.
• 1:33:41
  Manny Pineiro: And uh and and and the team that we had really wasn't us.
• 1:33:45
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I mean, I think about that.
• 1:33:46
  Manny Pineiro: The dream team that we had was team 18 and uh and team 21, who who by far, you know, we we supported each other so much.
• 1:33:56
  Martin Foster: But our I have some names.
• 1:33:58
  Martin Foster: I have some names, sorry.
• 1:33:59
  Martin Foster: I put name and signature scent if Manny Pinheiro, Pinheiro and Khalith Wright uh developed and it came up with a title and a profile for it, and then um uh some other taglines for it.
• 1:34:13
  Martin Foster: Uh okay, they call it Afterburn.
• 1:34:15
  Martin Foster: Afterburn, a signature scent inspired by the uh presence, precision, and charisma that both Manny Pinero and Khalith O'Bright bring to a room.
• 1:34:22
  Martin Foster: Wow.
• 1:34:23
  Martin Foster: The notes of it, the fragrance profile, it's uh bergamot, black pepper, and smoked citrus with middle notes of leather, cedar wood, aviation fuel accord, dark lavender, and then base notes of tobacco leaf, amber, um, and sandalwood.
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 1:34:41
  Martin Foster: And then um, what else do we have?
• 1:34:43
  Martin Foster: That is good.
• 1:34:44
  Martin Foster: Ooh, uh the vibe, and the uh the it would say clean uh that's another name, the clean enough for a leadership uh summit, bold enough for a fighter squadron bar story.
• 1:34:55
  Martin Foster: Um the background for the vibe is the profile is confidence without trying, confidence without trying too hard, command presence, whiskey conversations after a long mission and a mix of modern executive and old school warfighter.
• 1:35:10
  Martin Foster: Uh and the the quick tagline uh was lead from the front.
• 1:35:15
  unknown: Wow.
• 1:35:16
  Manny Pineiro: Wow.
• 1:35:16
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, bro, we're blessed.
• 1:35:18
  Manny Pineiro: You know, I and I'll share, I don't know if I've ever said this, or I've had to share the story, and so you may be getting it first.
• 1:35:23
  Manny Pineiro: One of the one of the best examples I have of Khalith, um, we were both, we were visiting a base.
• 1:35:33
  Manny Pineiro: I wish I could remember it was in Florida.
• 1:35:35
  Manny Pineiro: And after the after the day, I mean it was a hustle day, right?
• 1:35:38
  Manny Pineiro: We start early, we end late.
• 1:35:40
  Manny Pineiro: And I remember we we find, we always found a local cigar lounge, just to kind of go through the moments of the day, the takeaways, you know.
• 1:35:47
  Manny Pineiro: So it's funny that all of that is coming up.
• 1:35:50
  Manny Pineiro: Um, ChatGPT, you gotta love it, man.
• 1:35:52
  Manny Pineiro: But while we walked in to this lounge, apparently was a very popular lounge, and there were no seats available.
• 1:36:02
  Manny Pineiro: And so two guys in the back row saw us walk in and saw us kind of looking around.
• 1:36:08
  Manny Pineiro: And one of them came up to Khaliz and said, Hey Chief, hey Chiefs, um, you could take our seats.
• 1:36:14
  Manny Pineiro: And I was like, No, we both were like, nah, that's all right, man.
• 1:36:17
  Manny Pineiro: Thank you so much, you know.
• 1:36:18
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, we appreciate it.
• 1:36:19
  Manny Pineiro: He says, No, no, no, no, please.
• 1:36:20
  Manny Pineiro: So we sat, we're walking towards him, we're walking back with him to get his stuff off the table and to meet his uh his his partner.
• 1:36:29
  Manny Pineiro: And he says, Man, thank you so much for what you do.
• 1:36:33
  Manny Pineiro: And so he's, you know, basically giving us a compliment.
• 1:36:36
  Manny Pineiro: And we were like, man, thank you.
• 1:36:38
  Manny Pineiro: Thank you for what you do.
• 1:36:38
  Manny Pineiro: So we start talking, we sit down, they're standing next to us, and at one point, Khaliz turns to me and he says, uh, hey, give me, give me uh a couple of little sticks that you just bought, you know?
• 1:36:50
  Manny Pineiro: So I was like, oh, here, man, so here you go.
• 1:36:53
  Manny Pineiro: And I gave them to him.
• 1:36:54
  Manny Pineiro: Now, I want I didn't lay the foundation for that.
• 1:36:56
  Manny Pineiro: I had already walked in prior and saw a couple of cigars that I hadn't seen that I said, man, this would be, these are, these are classics right here.
• 1:37:05
  Manny Pineiro: I'll smoke these in a different time.
• 1:37:06
  Manny Pineiro: Put them in my bag, in my box, and uh, while we were sitting there, he said, Hey, you got those sticks that you just got?
• 1:37:13
  Manny Pineiro: And I said, Oh yeah.
• 1:37:14
  Manny Pineiro: So I gave them to him, and then he turns around and hands it to these guys.
• 1:37:18
  Manny Pineiro: So I was like, yo, you know, like I didn't have a moment there, but I I was a little taken with that.
• 1:37:25
  Manny Pineiro: So they left.
• 1:37:26
  Manny Pineiro: I said, Hey man, I gotta ask you something.
• 1:37:28
  Manny Pineiro: Um, what was that about?
• 1:37:30
  Manny Pineiro: And he goes, What?
• 1:37:31
  Manny Pineiro: I goes, you asked me for two cigars, I gave them to you, and you gave them away.
• 1:37:36
  Manny Pineiro: He goes, They were mine, you gave them to me.
• 1:37:38
  Manny Pineiro: Bro, you know the lesson that I learned that day?
• 1:37:41
  Manny Pineiro: Just in that, just in that that zone, is that man, one, you don't get too attached to anything.
• 1:37:49
  Manny Pineiro: And two, man, always be at your best by providing grace with an opportunity to say thank you.
• 1:37:56
  Manny Pineiro: And and I I that was such a oh man moment for me.
• 1:38:00
  Manny Pineiro: Because as soon as he said you gave them to me, I realized anybody can do anything with anything that's given to them.
• 1:38:07
  Manny Pineiro: Wow, another notch on the Khalid is a this was a good decision move, you know, because he understood the gambit of people and how to always stay grateful for what you do, you know.
• 1:38:20
  Manny Pineiro: So yeah, man, that was uh I love that.
• 1:38:22
  Manny Pineiro: The the you don't have to send that to me on the sidebar, bro.
• 1:38:25
  Martin Foster: Yeah, I'll uh I'll uh I'll copy and pick it.
• 1:38:26
  Martin Foster: Yeah, I'll send it to you on LinkedIn.
• 1:38:29
  Manny Pineiro: We know we talked about uh opening up a cigar lounge when we were in, and then then it just never came to fruition, you know.
• 1:38:37
  Martin Foster: But you should actually they came up with some other names.
• 1:38:39
  Martin Foster: I'll send you uh one of the other names was uh runway 27.
• 1:38:43
  Martin Foster: I don't know why it came up, why it said 27.
• 1:38:45
  Martin Foster: Interesting.
• 1:38:45
  Martin Foster: But you know, it's just kind of has sounds like a cool thing.
• 1:38:48
  Manny Pineiro: That's that's that's tight.
• 1:38:49
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, man.
• 1:38:50
  Manny Pineiro: But but great add-on story to the to the to the flow of uh my time with Mr.
• 1:38:55
  Manny Pineiro: Khalith Wright.
• 1:38:56
  Martin Foster: Yeah, no, that's great, man.
• 1:38:58
  Martin Foster: Thank you so much for that.
• 1:38:59
  Martin Foster: One question I like to end every podcast with is if there was a giant billboard with with your picture on it for the world to see, what would you want your leader?
• 1:39:07
  Martin Foster: I don't even fuck, I never get the answer, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
• 1:39:10
  Martin Foster: What would you want your leadership message to say?
• 1:39:12
  Martin Foster: And where would you want the billboard to be located?
• 1:39:15
  Manny Pineiro: Oh, wow, bro.
• 1:39:16
  Manny Pineiro: Um, Altus.
• 1:39:18
  Martin Foster: Hey, that's that's what no one ever says that.
• 1:39:20
  Martin Foster: I get Times Square a lot, but no one ever says uh Altus.
• 1:39:26
  Manny Pineiro: Um what would it want it to say?
• 1:39:28
  Manny Pineiro: Um, bro, I don't need it to say anything.
• 1:39:30
  Manny Pineiro: Does it have to have my picture on it?
• 1:39:32
  Martin Foster: Or your signature cologne with UK right now?
• 1:39:36
  Manny Pineiro: Well, I'll definitely say that it would have to have some type of lineage to making time count, uh, and and and probably uh use it as a pivot, right?
• 1:39:47
  Manny Pineiro: To to to to remind folks about um you know transition period.
• 1:39:53
  Manny Pineiro: What are you doing to make time count?
• 1:39:55
  Manny Pineiro: Where I would want it to be, oh, this is good.
• 1:39:59
  Manny Pineiro: Because I just had this conversation and a good friend of mine just published it in a book.
• 1:40:03
  Manny Pineiro: Um probably at probably at the uh Arlington Cemetery.
• 1:40:11
  Manny Pineiro: And you know why?
• 1:40:14
  Manny Pineiro: I the conversation I had was with a great friend of mine, uh CEO of uh used to work for Go West, and now he has his own mission out there called Created by David Fachette.
• 1:40:25
  Manny Pineiro: But David just wrote a book called Um Hello Find Friends.
• 1:40:30
  Manny Pineiro: And it's a great book on stories that he uh acquired and thought about.
• 1:40:37
  Manny Pineiro: But I happened to be visiting him uh last year uh in Nashville, and uh we were on a walk, one of his walks, and he likes to do these walk and talk podcasts kind of mentality.
• 1:40:50
  Manny Pineiro: And so he asked me, hey man, how does it feel to be popular?
• 1:40:54
  Manny Pineiro: Like out of the blue.
• 1:40:55
  Manny Pineiro: He knows my history, he knows my background.
• 1:40:58
  Manny Pineiro: He's been with me when people say, Oh my god, it's Chico, you know.
• 1:41:01
  Manny Pineiro: So he asked that question, I said, bro, you know who the most popular person is?
• 1:41:05
  Manny Pineiro: I said, the guy at the funeral.
• 1:41:08
  Manny Pineiro: I said, and why that became such an important topic is because, and maybe why I went towards Arlington is because we spend so much time in life not realizing uh the importance of the guy who actually is no longer with us.
• 1:41:26
  Manny Pineiro: I mean, think about this for a minute, Martin.
• 1:41:28
  Manny Pineiro: When you hear that somebody died and they were close to you, or someone that you knew, maybe we're gonna travel.
• 1:41:34
  Manny Pineiro: We're gonna travel distant lands, we're gonna do our best to be there, to look good, to present.
• 1:41:40
  Manny Pineiro: And while you're at the funeral, you actually are telling stories about this individual and going through all the lineage of his life.
• 1:41:49
  Manny Pineiro: So all the good, right?
• 1:41:50
  Manny Pineiro: This person did this for me.
• 1:41:51
  Manny Pineiro: Oh my God, this was the best part of this person.
• 1:41:54
  Manny Pineiro: But man, but think about how many times we pass by each other every day and we don't even share those flowers with the people that are still here with us.
• 1:42:02
  Manny Pineiro: So, so I I shifted the conversation to say that's the most popular guy in the world.
• 1:42:08
  Manny Pineiro: Because if you we took the same action that we did for that person uh that was now no longer part of our lives, um, but we were able to filter that to the people that are in our lives, then that's that's the real moment, right?
• 1:42:24
  Manny Pineiro: It's almost a learning uh seesaw, because we are so concentrated on the person that's no longer with us, but we are surrounded by people that are with us.
• 1:42:35
  Manny Pineiro: But we don't tell them, we don't give the praise the way we would to the person who's no longer with us.
• 1:42:40
  Manny Pineiro: So if I had the opportunity to have a billboard and a message, I would make sure to amp up make time count.
• 1:42:49
  Manny Pineiro: Like those people in Arlington, they all they all did it.
• 1:42:52
  Manny Pineiro: They all lived a life worthy, they all lived a honorable um, you know, moment in their lives where their their lives mattered.
• 1:43:01
  Manny Pineiro: And and now we pay homage to them there all the time.
• 1:43:05
  Manny Pineiro: But a reminder to damn, how am I gonna make my time count?
• 1:43:10
  Manny Pineiro: Because they're there, right?
• 1:43:11
  Manny Pineiro: We're visiting them, but how are we making our own time count?
• 1:43:16
  Manny Pineiro: You know, so I mean, that's a powerful question, bro.
• 1:43:18
  Manny Pineiro: Real powerful question.
• 1:43:20
  Martin Foster: Thank you.
• 1:43:20
  Martin Foster: I appreciate that.
• 1:43:21
  Martin Foster: Yeah, Manny, I want to end on that because that's a perfect note.
• 1:43:25
  Martin Foster: Uh, what can I do for you?
• 1:43:27
  Martin Foster: How can I best serve you?
• 1:43:28
  Martin Foster: How can I best serve the USO and make time count?
• 1:43:31
  Manny Pineiro: You're doing it, brother.
• 1:43:32
  Manny Pineiro: You're doing it.
• 1:43:32
  Manny Pineiro: You have a platform, you're leveraging real talk with conversations that matter to people uh that probably feel empty on many occasions.
• 1:43:42
  Manny Pineiro: Um, I would say you're supporting me just by humbling me with the opportunity to be on the show.
• 1:43:48
  Manny Pineiro: Uh I and I and I love it, man, because uh I should be asking you, what can I do for you?
• 1:43:52
  Manny Pineiro: Uh how can I continue to pass the torch?
• 1:43:55
  Martin Foster: That's a good man, that's a good question, man.
• 1:43:57
  Manny Pineiro: Because that's that's our role, man.
• 1:43:59
  Manny Pineiro: Look, as leaders, what is the real identity of leadership?
• 1:44:02
  Manny Pineiro: Is how do we make it better for the next person so they can leave it better for the next person.
• 1:44:06
  Manny Pineiro: Um we need to continue it.
• 1:44:08
  Manny Pineiro: But I was so taken with the with the with the symbol to your show, uh, because it speaks truth to power, man.
• 1:44:15
  Manny Pineiro: It's the people who who hinder and hog and want to own their space that think that they are leading.
• 1:44:22
  Manny Pineiro: And no, man, if if the airman cannot communicate the message that you're trying to communicate to the masses, and I mean from a military perspective, right?
• 1:44:32
  Manny Pineiro: This is in a in a corporate environment, the same thing.
• 1:44:35
  Manny Pineiro: If I can't communicate the message of the CEO and his mission and vision down to the person in the operation who's grinding every day, then I've failed a huge communication gap.
• 1:44:46
  Manny Pineiro: And that to me is uh entity of passing the torch, right?
• 1:44:52
  Manny Pineiro: Because that person that's down at the bottom of the pool that's grinding every day, uh, is just trying to get to the part where where they matter and they feel like they're valued.
• 1:45:03
  Manny Pineiro: A good leader in any position is gonna make his people feel valued every day.
• 1:45:09
  Manny Pineiro: And that is the real essence of leadership, man.
• 1:45:12
  Manny Pineiro: Um, you know, I I am uh I'm a fan of it, and I, you know, I don't try to drown people out with it.
• 1:45:18
  Manny Pineiro: I just want you to really dig deep inside your your soul and think about how are you leading, because that's time you're not gonna get back.
• 1:45:25
  Manny Pineiro: You know, so I'd rather you invest into the people now, humanize yourself to understand that they all have something going on, and then realize, you know what?
• 1:45:35
  Manny Pineiro: I'm gonna make sure that they enjoy coming to work and giving 100%, you know?
• 1:45:40
  Manny Pineiro: Yeah, bro.
• 1:45:42
  Martin Foster: Manny, thank you.
• 1:45:43
  Martin Foster: This has been an absolute honor for me.
• 1:45:45
  Martin Foster: I have you were someone I've wanted on my podcast for a long time.
• 1:45:49
  Martin Foster: Uh bro.
• 1:45:49
  Martin Foster: And uh I'm just humbled that you you joined me and just uh you made time count for me with me.
• 1:45:56
  Martin Foster: No doubt.
• 1:45:56
  Martin Foster: Uh just thank you for everything.
• 1:45:58
  Manny Pineiro: Uh bro, right back at you, man.
• 1:45:59
  Manny Pineiro: Look, continued success.
• 1:46:01
  Manny Pineiro: Uh I'm here.
• 1:46:02
  Manny Pineiro: You know, you you have me on speed dial, brother.
• 1:46:04
  Manny Pineiro: So just reach out for whatever.
• 1:46:06
  Manny Pineiro: Um, I I am I'm here.
• 1:46:08
  Manny Pineiro: Uh, but I wish you nothing but but continued success, man.
• 1:46:12
  Manny Pineiro: Blessings to you and your family.
• 1:46:14
  Manny Pineiro: Uh make sure you understand your daughter is watching.
• 1:46:17
  Martin Foster: Yeah, that's yeah, that stuck with me for sure.
• 1:46:19
  Manny Pineiro: I love that you bring her on the show, bro.
• 1:46:21
  Manny Pineiro: I love it.
• 1:46:21
  Manny Pineiro: Um but my best to you, please uh share the opportunity uh with your with your spouse as well, with your wife, and let her know that I said thank you for supporting you through all these years.
• 1:46:32
  Manny Pineiro: Uh even now.
• 1:46:33
  Manny Pineiro: Even now.
• 1:46:34
  Manny Pineiro: Because right, you know, you you you humbled me with the opportunity to say thank you for making time count.
• 1:46:38
  Manny Pineiro: But brother, she's giving you an opportunity to do what you love.
• 1:46:41
  Manny Pineiro: And in that support element, bro, that's time that you're not gonna get back.
• 1:46:46
  Manny Pineiro: But now you got an opportunity to say thank you.
• 1:46:48
  Manny Pineiro: So please push on a big thank you from me as well.
• 1:46:51
  Martin Foster: Absolutely.