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A Mindset for Success w/ Sam Cook · Something Extra

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1:44
Lisa Nichols: I am delighted to have Sam Cook on the show today.
1:47
Lisa Nichols: Sam is the chief financial officer at Brinkman Constructors.
1:51
Lisa Nichols: Well, Sam Cook, I am so delighted to have
1:55
Lisa Nichols: you on the Something Hates Your podcast.
1:56
Lisa Nichols: Thank you so much.
1:58
Lisa Nichols: We were just talking about our schedules, and I know that your schedule is
2:01
Lisa Nichols: insane.
2:02
Lisa Nichols: So the fact that you're taking the time to do this really means a
2:05
Lisa Nichols: lot.
2:05
Lisa Nichols: So and I cannot wait for our listeners to learn from you.
2:08
Sam Cook: How could I not find time for this?
2:10
Sam Cook: Thank you so much, Liz.
2:11
Sam Cook: I'm super excited to be here.
2:13
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
2:14
Lisa Nichols: I'm excited too.
2:15
Lisa Nichols: Well, I always kinda like to go back.
2:16
Lisa Nichols: So Sam and I, we know each other.
2:18
Lisa Nichols: I just I remember when you came to Brinkman.
2:21
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
2:22
Lisa Nichols: I remember Lynn Shaw
2:25
Sam Cook: Correct.
2:25
Sam Cook: Which
2:25
Lisa Nichols: is your CHRO, said the two of you need to know each other.
2:29
Lisa Nichols: And I we had lunch, and, the rest is history, and we're
2:33
Lisa Nichols: very grateful.
2:34
Lisa Nichols: Technology Partners is very grateful to be doing some work with Brinkman and with
2:38
Lisa Nichols: you, Sam.
2:39
Lisa Nichols: And so that's really how Sam and I got to meet, and
2:43
Lisa Nichols: now we've done several things together, like galas and all kinds of things.
2:47
Lisa Nichols: But let's let's go back.
2:49
Lisa Nichols: I want to take take this back to you growing up.
2:52
Lisa Nichols: I know that you grew up in a small town in Mexico.
2:56
Lisa Nichols: I don't think it had, you know, infrastructure or architecture.
2:59
Lisa Nichols: What was it like, and how did it shape your view of the possibility,
3:03
Lisa Nichols: Sam?
3:04
Sam Cook: Yeah.
3:05
Sam Cook: So, yeah.
3:06
Sam Cook: So Lynn Shaw, absolutely.
3:08
Sam Cook: She was a connection, so thank you for that, Lynn.
3:10
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
3:11
Sam Cook: So I was born and raised in Mexico.
3:14
Sam Cook: I was born actually in Mexico City, which is a huge, huge city.
3:17
Sam Cook: Right?
3:17
Sam Cook: One of the biggest cities in the world.
3:19
Sam Cook: But, very early, my parents moved to a border town where my
3:23
Sam Cook: dad was from.
3:24
Sam Cook: The name of this town is Piedras Negras, Coahuila, which if I translate
3:28
Sam Cook: it, would be something like Blackstone City.
3:31
Sam Cook: But just to put context to everyone who's listening or viewing this, think about,
3:36
Sam Cook: San Antonio, Texas driving two and a half hours south.
3:40
Sam Cook: And there's a town there that, it's called Eagle Pass, Texas.
3:43
Sam Cook: And you cross that border, which is a two hundred yard bridge,
3:49
Sam Cook: and you cross to my hometown, Tierra Nyrescoahuila.
3:52
Sam Cook: I was there.
3:53
Sam Cook: I I I I was raised there since I was probably less than a
3:57
Sam Cook: year.
3:57
Sam Cook: So I would I would say that I am from that that that small
4:01
Sam Cook: town.
4:02
Sam Cook: It's a very small town.
4:03
Sam Cook: It still is.
4:05
Sam Cook: It's a border town, so imagine similar to Tijuana and other, like, bigger
4:09
Sam Cook: cities in that sense, but very small, not a lot of
4:13
Sam Cook: infrastructure while I was, growing up.
4:15
Sam Cook: A very humble town.
4:18
Sam Cook: You know, I always tell everyone that for me, it was never used normal
4:22
Sam Cook: to have, like, air conditioner or, like, you know, hot water and and
4:26
Sam Cook: in a, like, on a regular basis.
4:28
Sam Cook: Those things, particularly in my in my area, just was, like like,
4:32
Sam Cook: not common.
4:34
Sam Cook: So it's those things that,
4:36
Sam Cook: kinda like shape a little bit.
4:38
Sam Cook: Like, when I was able to go to other cities, or visit family in
4:42
Sam Cook: other places, I would see, how different everything was.
4:46
Sam Cook: Or even the dichotomy to just cross the border and see that,
4:50
Sam Cook: oh my gosh, there's this whole world with infrastructure, huge hospitals.
4:54
Sam Cook: Like, even in this small town, Eagle Pass, Texas.
4:56
Sam Cook: Right?
4:56
Sam Cook: They had malls and hospitals and McDonald's
5:00
Sam Cook: and things like that.
5:02
Sam Cook: And it was just, like, just crossing the border.
5:04
Sam Cook: Right?
5:04
Sam Cook: Just just, you know, from my from my backyard, you could see it.
5:08
Sam Cook: So,
5:10
Sam Cook: that itself obviously created a little bit of,
5:15
Sam Cook: desire to learn other languages.
5:17
Sam Cook: My parents, my my dad never spoke English.
5:19
Sam Cook: My mom doesn't really speak English, other than basic to communicate
5:24
Sam Cook: now with her with her grandson.
5:26
Sam Cook: But, you know, it was that you gotta learn other languages.
5:29
Sam Cook: My parents were very clear on English was a given that
5:33
Sam Cook: you had to and so others.
5:35
Sam Cook: And so it was this kind of, like, being in a small town surrounded
5:40
Sam Cook: of possibilities.
5:41
Sam Cook: Right?
5:42
Sam Cook: So I had family in other cities, bigger cities.
5:45
Sam Cook: So when I would go to these big cities, I was like, oh my
5:48
Sam Cook: gosh.
5:48
Sam Cook: It's so different from where I come from.
5:50
Sam Cook: And that created a lot of, my personality.
5:53
Sam Cook: Like, since I was a kid, I was a kid that I I was
5:56
Sam Cook: reflecting on this because I do hear your podcast and I know we're gonna
6:00
Sam Cook: talk about that.
6:01
Sam Cook: And, you know, I was that kid that, you know, always in all
6:05
Sam Cook: kinds of contests and and and, you know,
6:09
Sam Cook: all kinds of stuff.
6:10
Sam Cook: And I was that kid who always, you know, getting the best grades and
6:13
Sam Cook: doing all those things.
6:14
Sam Cook: But looking back, it was it was I'm I'm I'm proud of
6:18
Sam Cook: that version of me because that version of me because who was so used
6:21
Sam Cook: to different things, was just, like, always hoping to get to the next
6:25
Sam Cook: level even as a kid.
6:28
Sam Cook: And so eventually, I got a scholarship for,
6:32
Sam Cook: one of the top universities in in Monterrey, Mexico.
6:35
Sam Cook: And that was my chance to kinda, like, you know, explore and go out.
6:40
Sam Cook: I left when I was sixteen.
6:41
Sam Cook: I got a scholarship at sixteen.
6:43
Sam Cook: Yes.
6:45
Sam Cook: And then from from there, the the the rest is history.
6:49
Lisa Nichols: So you went you started college when you were sixteen, Sam?
6:52
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
6:52
Lisa Nichols: Oh, my goodness.
6:53
Lisa Nichols: Wow.
6:54
Sam Cook: Yeah.
6:55
Sam Cook: So I'm on the younger side.
6:57
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
6:58
Lisa Nichols: Wow.
6:58
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you I know that I knew that you were brilliant, but,
7:03
Lisa Nichols: yeah, that just shows you that, you definitely you had ambition.
7:07
Lisa Nichols: I'm thinking it created this you you grew up as a curious child,
7:12
Lisa Nichols: you know?
7:12
Sam Cook: There was always books.
7:13
Sam Cook: I'm seeing your background and I'll tell you one thing.
7:15
Sam Cook: Well, I had a lot of, like, you know, limitance in my surrounding books
7:19
Sam Cook: was never something that I lacked.
7:21
Sam Cook: Like, my parents, a lot of things, you know, there
7:25
Sam Cook: were things that we could need, but books were always available.
7:29
Sam Cook: And so therefore, I remember I was talking to my sister the other day
7:32
Sam Cook: about that, like, you know, how many books we always had in architecture
7:36
Sam Cook: books and stuff like that.
7:37
Sam Cook: They were, like, completely out of what we were used to in our
7:41
Sam Cook: hometown.
7:41
Sam Cook: And yet, you know, I remember spending so many hours just looking at the
7:45
Sam Cook: pictures, reading, and, yeah, books.
7:48
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
7:48
Lisa Nichols: That's good.
7:49
Lisa Nichols: I mean, what did they say?
7:53
Lisa Nichols: You are the the the person you are in five years
7:57
Lisa Nichols: will the only difference between now and then will be the books that you
8:01
Lisa Nichols: read and the people you meet.
8:03
Lisa Nichols: Right?
8:04
Lisa Nichols: You know?
8:04
Lisa Nichols: And I I I'm I love books too.
8:07
Lisa Nichols: I grew up as an only child, so books were my friends.
8:11
Lisa Nichols: And I just I would devour them.
8:14
Lisa Nichols: So I love that you and I share that in common.
8:16
Lisa Nichols: Well, I know that you had an interest in architecture.
8:19
Lisa Nichols: Was there was it from the books?
8:21
Lisa Nichols: I mean, who that interest?
8:23
Sam Cook: So my dad actually studied architecture, but, but moving from a huge
8:28
Sam Cook: city to a small town where there was no infrastructure, not real opportunities for
8:31
Sam Cook: that, my dad was doing more so construction work then.
8:34
Sam Cook: And it was more like every so often because the town itself didn't, you
8:38
Sam Cook: know, didn't have a lot to offer for like that that area.
8:43
Sam Cook: But that's why I had a lot of access access to books like that.
8:46
Sam Cook: But in general, I mean of any kind.
8:49
Sam Cook: But, but I knew when I was about eleven, I was thinking about this.
8:53
Sam Cook: When I was about eleven years old, I decided I wanted to study architecture.
8:58
Sam Cook: And so much because in my, I was always in the public schools
9:02
Sam Cook: in Mexico.
9:03
Sam Cook: And, when you're in junior high, I think it would be the equivalent for
9:06
Sam Cook: us.
9:07
Sam Cook: You have the opportunity to study a trade.
9:10
Sam Cook: For me, I picked drafting.
9:12
Sam Cook: I knew that I wanted to, at some point, be in in architecture
9:16
Sam Cook: or construction, and so I went more so into drafting so I could kinda,
9:20
Sam Cook: like, eventually do some kinda work like that.
9:22
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
9:23
Sam Cook: Eventually in high school, I got into,
9:28
Sam Cook: the trade that I picked for high school because it's very trade driven.
9:32
Sam Cook: It was more,
9:34
Sam Cook: computer, programming.
9:36
Sam Cook: But it was kinda like more so about technology and trying to understand
9:40
Sam Cook: that from that perspective.
9:41
Sam Cook: But I knew when I was, like, ten or eleven that I wanted to
9:44
Sam Cook: get into construction architecture.
9:46
Sam Cook: And I think, again, it was my you know, because I knew where I
9:49
Sam Cook: was, there wasn't any of that.
9:51
Sam Cook: And I was like, well, how can I do that?
9:53
Sam Cook: How can I be part of of being that?
9:55
Sam Cook: And so when I go to Monterrey, Mexico, I get a a full scholarship
9:59
Sam Cook: and I was so blessed.
10:00
Sam Cook: But but again, it was years and years of since I I my sister
10:03
Sam Cook: and I like, this story is funny because, my sister is nine years older
10:08
Sam Cook: than me.
10:09
Sam Cook: And so but we're very close.
10:11
Sam Cook: And, the other day we were remembering, because I'm always very like, oh, okay.
10:14
Sam Cook: The next plan and what are we gonna do and how we're gonna do
10:17
Sam Cook: it.
10:17
Sam Cook: And I'm always stressing her about something.
10:20
Sam Cook: Like, she calls me we were talking about, Sam, you were
10:24
Sam Cook: like eleven years old or ten and you're calling me, like, in
10:28
Sam Cook: four years, you're gonna try to get a scholarship and you were stressing about
10:32
Sam Cook: how can you figure out how to get to that scholarship.
10:35
Sam Cook: And she's like, I cannot re like, understand how
10:39
Sam Cook: when you were eleven or twelve where you were so stressed about scholarship and
10:43
Sam Cook: and for and and, you know, I was that kid.
10:46
Sam Cook: And so eventually, after so many years of trying to get that scholarship, I
10:51
Sam Cook: get it.
10:51
Sam Cook: And I go to Monterrey, Mexico, which is a huge city, very modern,
10:56
Sam Cook: a lot of infrastructure.
10:57
Sam Cook: I I tell people, if you haven't had the opportunity to go to big
11:00
Sam Cook: cities in Mexico, Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara,
11:04
Sam Cook: those are big cities to be.
11:06
Sam Cook: And it's kind of a mix between LA and New York with mountains.
11:10
Sam Cook: So,
11:12
Sam Cook: so when I had the chance to move, you you see a whole different
11:15
Sam Cook: world.
11:15
Sam Cook: Right?
11:15
Sam Cook: You see, the universities are huge.
11:18
Sam Cook: You see the campuses.
11:19
Sam Cook: You see, the big buildings.
11:21
Sam Cook: And I started to work, within three months of
11:26
Sam Cook: me moving.
11:27
Sam Cook: And I started working in construction, like, as an assistant of of of an
11:31
Sam Cook: engineer or, like, a secretary or whatever I could do.
11:35
Sam Cook: At that point, like, I was doing it.
11:36
Sam Cook: And so read
11:37
Lisa Nichols: that you worked for an engineering firm and you were making three dollars and
11:41
Lisa Nichols: eighty cents an hour.
11:43
Sam Cook: Yes.
11:44
Lisa Nichols: And you were going to school full time.
11:46
Lisa Nichols: I mean,
11:49
Lisa Nichols: and of itself.
11:50
Lisa Nichols: But you said you learned so many things in that job.
11:54
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
11:54
Lisa Nichols: So many things.
11:55
Lisa Nichols: Probably, what was it?
11:57
Lisa Nichols: You what what's really popular tacos for breakfast?
12:01
Sam Cook: Yeah.
12:01
Sam Cook: So for instance, I was with you a few things.
12:04
Sam Cook: Right?
12:04
Sam Cook: Like the things that you're gonna learn in college and you're not gonna learn
12:07
Sam Cook: in any MBA or anything.
12:10
Sam Cook: First, I'm still friends of many of the people, that I work with during
12:14
Sam Cook: those times and and we keep ourselves, I don't I'm not big in social
12:17
Sam Cook: media, but I use it because that's the only way where I can keep
12:20
Sam Cook: up with the people that I've been in
12:22
Lisa Nichols: support of Yes.
12:23
Sam Cook: In the world.
12:25
Sam Cook: And so I do use social media for those reasons.
12:27
Sam Cook: But, first, I remember, like, tacos.
12:31
Sam Cook: I tell everyone when I realized that if I had to do something and
12:35
Sam Cook: I needed to ask for help, if I brought tacos in the morning, life
12:38
Sam Cook: was easier.
12:38
Sam Cook: For some reason, just like everyone was in a better mood, everyone was
12:43
Sam Cook: more willing.
12:45
Sam Cook: And I was like it's so worth it.
12:46
Sam Cook: So if I save this much and I go and buy tacos for everyone,
12:50
Sam Cook: like literally like my life would be easier that day.
12:53
Sam Cook: But now in in all seriousness is also creating that level of,
12:57
Sam Cook: you know, connection with others.
13:00
Sam Cook: But that job I was when I wrote I wrote an article on LinkedIn
13:03
Sam Cook: about that, I didn't have a title.
13:06
Sam Cook: I mean, I did I sometimes I would open the office and that meant
13:10
Sam Cook: that if I was, it was a small office.
13:11
Sam Cook: If so, if I was there earlier, that meant that I needed to check
13:14
Sam Cook: for the trash and I needed to make sure that things like I knew
13:18
Sam Cook: what I'm proud of of me of that version is that nothing was below
13:21
Sam Cook: me.
13:22
Sam Cook: And I love that because now, you know, you get to a point where
13:25
Sam Cook: you're like, well, is that the best use of my time?
13:27
Sam Cook: Is that this and that?
13:28
Sam Cook: But back then, everything was like, oh, yeah.
13:31
Sam Cook: Of course.
13:31
Sam Cook: I'll do that.
13:33
Sam Cook: And so that attitude of me, thank goodness, that I had that that
13:38
Sam Cook: that right, you know, mentality,
13:41
Sam Cook: helped me to to not see anything as a small thing.
13:43
Sam Cook: And and I learned from how to manage an office to
13:48
Sam Cook: how to figure out, you know, the real math and and and, you know,
13:52
Sam Cook: just just create that.
13:53
Sam Cook: And I never had a title in that role.
13:55
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
13:55
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
13:56
Sam Cook: I'm so grateful for that that no one gave me a title, and therefore,
13:59
Sam Cook: it was whatever is available, then I'll do it.
14:02
Lisa Nichols: You know what?
14:02
Lisa Nichols: You were there to create value.
14:05
Lisa Nichols: I mean, somebody has to empty the trash cans.
14:07
Lisa Nichols: Cans.
14:07
Lisa Nichols: Right?
14:07
Lisa Nichols: It nobody's gonna wanna be there if the trash cans are overflowing.
14:11
Lisa Nichols: I mean, really, you were there to create value, and I love
14:15
Lisa Nichols: you know, so don't if you are a listener and
14:19
Lisa Nichols: you've got a job that you don't feel like is, you know, as
14:24
Lisa Nichols: important or whatnot.
14:24
Lisa Nichols: No.
14:25
Lisa Nichols: It is.
14:26
Lisa Nichols: Every job is important.
14:27
Lisa Nichols: And just the attitude that you approach that job, people take notice
14:31
Lisa Nichols: of that too.
14:32
Lisa Nichols: Right?
14:32
Lisa Nichols: I mean Well, it did.
14:33
Lisa Nichols: Having a good attitude.
14:35
Sam Cook: And it did.
14:36
Sam Cook: And I I mean, you know, now of course we have interns and I
14:40
Sam Cook: I look at all the, you know, it's how different my world was from
14:44
Sam Cook: that.
14:44
Sam Cook: And,
14:46
Sam Cook: I learned so much and and and actually doing things like that.
14:50
Sam Cook: Like I don't even drink coffee and I remember like having to put coffee
14:54
Sam Cook: for people.
14:54
Sam Cook: I was like, I don't even drink coffee.
14:56
Sam Cook: So how do I do this?
14:57
Sam Cook: But even those skills that there weren't in for me, it was just creating
15:01
Sam Cook: my ability to, you know, when I brought coffee to someone said, so so
15:05
Sam Cook: what are you working on?
15:06
Sam Cook: What are you doing?
15:07
Sam Cook: And so why are you doing what you're doing?
15:08
Sam Cook: Right?
15:09
Sam Cook: And I was that person who I was very curious,
15:12
Sam Cook: and, you know, trying to figure out, like, what what I wanted to do.
15:16
Sam Cook: But, I worked with an engineering firm.
15:19
Sam Cook: I also worked with an architecture firm.
15:22
Sam Cook: And I remember the first day I I joined to that small architecture firm.
15:25
Sam Cook: They were using AutoCAD and I back then at college, we were starting
15:29
Sam Cook: to use Revit and we were and I was, like, great at SketchUp.
15:32
Sam Cook: It was a software super easy to use.
15:35
Sam Cook: And I was, like, I think we need to start using other softwares.
15:38
Sam Cook: Right?
15:38
Sam Cook: I think but and I look at back to even at that age, I
15:41
Sam Cook: was, like, should we do something different?
15:43
Sam Cook: Should we think about But I think it was my the right attitude I
15:46
Sam Cook: had that people were willing to listen.
15:48
Lisa Nichols: Absolutely.
15:50
Sam Cook: Okay.
15:50
Sam Cook: We we can we can listen for a second.
15:52
Sam Cook: Right.
15:53
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
15:54
Lisa Nichols: It's a great, lesson for us.
15:56
Lisa Nichols: Right?
15:56
Lisa Nichols: You know, to not, discount what others say, but to take the
16:01
Lisa Nichols: time to listen because yeah.
16:02
Lisa Nichols: I mean, I'm sure you had some really great ideas.
16:05
Lisa Nichols: Well, let's talk about this because you trans you know, you kinda transition from
16:09
Lisa Nichols: architecture to to finance.
16:11
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
16:12
Lisa Nichols: Now you build financial frameworks, not necessarily buildings, although
16:16
Lisa Nichols: you're working in a construction company.
16:18
Lisa Nichols: How did that transition happen?
16:21
Lisa Nichols: And, you know, I I would love and then I'd also love for you
16:24
Lisa Nichols: to answer this question, Sam.
16:26
Lisa Nichols: You've said that really building buildings and the architectural
16:30
Lisa Nichols: background has really helped you when you built financial systems, and I'd love to
16:34
Lisa Nichols: understand that parallel.
16:36
Sam Cook: Yeah.
16:36
Sam Cook: So so, yeah, it's a fun story.
16:38
Sam Cook: So I when I was in Mexico, I got my degree in architecture and
16:41
Sam Cook: a master's in construction.
16:42
Sam Cook: So I knew that construction was definitely the
16:46
Sam Cook: the the area where I wanted to grow my career at least for the
16:49
Sam Cook: first ten years.
16:49
Sam Cook: Right?
16:51
Sam Cook: I always joke that I still thought that I was gonna be designing huge
16:55
Sam Cook: buildings, but then I was like, well, maybe I'm I'm better at some other
16:58
Sam Cook: things.
16:59
Sam Cook: Maybe design is is what I wanna do for myself and not for everyone
17:02
Sam Cook: else.
17:03
Sam Cook: And so,
17:05
Sam Cook: in this journey of trying to find, you know, the next opportunity, I get
17:09
Sam Cook: this opportunity to work for a huge,
17:13
Sam Cook: company.
17:13
Sam Cook: The name is FEMSA and what they do, they have different divisions and
17:17
Sam Cook: one of it imagine it's like seven eleven and they would bill oxes which
17:21
Sam Cook: is the equivalent to seven eleven, put it in that context.
17:24
Sam Cook: And we were building seven, Oxus and all over Mexico,
17:28
Sam Cook: all over Mexico and it was like thousands of them.
17:31
Sam Cook: And also in South America, which I was I was, lucky
17:35
Sam Cook: to be part of the group that started to design for Colombia.
17:39
Sam Cook: And so I had a chance to also work with with that group.
17:41
Sam Cook: So anyways, we were we were doing that and I
17:45
Sam Cook: was put in the area of construction investments.
17:49
Sam Cook: And I learned from a very small spot, I
17:53
Sam Cook: learned, how performance work.
17:55
Sam Cook: And I learned how huge companies would make decisions on where to allocate
17:59
Sam Cook: these strategic places based on other data points.
18:02
Sam Cook: And back then, I mean, you're talking about when there was no Power BI,
18:06
Sam Cook: there was no data analytics per se, but it was like understanding data
18:10
Sam Cook: at a big point and trying to figure out what was gonna make one
18:13
Sam Cook: of these stores successful.
18:15
Sam Cook: From a design perspective, we were gonna make decisions based on
18:19
Sam Cook: those data points that were that had nothing to do with architecture or construction,
18:23
Sam Cook: but it had everything to do with the location and the products that likely
18:27
Sam Cook: are to be sold there.
18:28
Sam Cook: Right?
18:28
Sam Cook: So think about all the things I just said that had nothing to do
18:31
Sam Cook: with construction itself.
18:33
Sam Cook: But ultimately construction was designed based on those potential outcomes
18:38
Sam Cook: for the store to be the most successful.
18:40
Sam Cook: So I was put in this position with no technology back in those days,
18:44
Sam Cook: but trying to analyze all that and provide a recommendation based on formulas
18:48
Sam Cook: and methodologies that this huge company had established.
18:51
Sam Cook: And I am very, very blessed with life that put
18:55
Sam Cook: me in that position to be in a company that had a construction division,
18:59
Sam Cook: but their mindset was engineering and logistics.
19:02
Sam Cook: And so doing so helped me to understand all the things that I could
19:06
Sam Cook: do that had nothing to do with I learned architecture school, but I could
19:09
Sam Cook: apply it as process driven to what I was planning to do eventually.
19:13
Sam Cook: Right?
19:13
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
19:14
Sam Cook: But I do that, for about a year, year and a half a year.
19:19
Sam Cook: And then I,
19:22
Sam Cook: get this opportunity to move to another job that was a huge residential
19:26
Sam Cook: tower that we were gonna build in San Pedro.
19:28
Sam Cook: And so that was more so construction.
19:30
Sam Cook: But they needed someone to drive the cost management of this building.
19:34
Sam Cook: And this was a three hundred million dollar project.
19:36
Sam Cook: Think about more than fifteen years ago.
19:39
Sam Cook: So three hundred million dollar project, three hundred more than fifteen years ago.
19:42
Sam Cook: It was it was a big investment in one of the biggest,
19:46
Sam Cook: one of the most, high end residential areas in Monterrey, Mexico.
19:50
Sam Cook: And I get this opportunity to work with this company, and, they
19:55
Sam Cook: I was very young.
19:56
Sam Cook: I was probably, like, twenty one years old.
19:58
Sam Cook: And they,
20:00
Sam Cook: this guy took a chance on me.
20:02
Sam Cook: It literally he after talking to me and says, okay.
20:05
Sam Cook: You got the position, so you have to build a team.
20:08
Sam Cook: And I had to build a team of six, eight people who were by
20:11
Sam Cook: far older than me, a lot more experienced.
20:14
Sam Cook: And we go in working with architects that wears,
20:18
Sam Cook: PELI architecture.
20:19
Sam Cook: So that anyone knows how they're, like, huge and very iconic,
20:24
Sam Cook: towers.
20:25
Sam Cook: So working with people from India, United States, construction
20:29
Sam Cook: companies, like, all over the world, and I happen to speak English.
20:32
Sam Cook: Not as good as now, but back then I was like, yes.
20:35
Sam Cook: I can do it.
20:36
Sam Cook: And so I get that chance and I get to build this team.
20:41
Sam Cook: And we do a lot of value engineering.
20:43
Sam Cook: So we represent the owner client the owner.
20:46
Sam Cook: And the crazy thing is I worked a lot with the finance team to
20:50
Sam Cook: make sure that the pro form a applied and that we were gonna be
20:54
Sam Cook: successful.
20:54
Sam Cook: So then I learned here, my gosh, this is what I'm good at, like
20:58
Sam Cook: figuring out how to do the business of construction successful itself.
21:02
Sam Cook: Maybe not so much at the design level, but or or or on
21:06
Sam Cook: in the field.
21:08
Sam Cook: Right.
21:08
Sam Cook: I can do this.
21:09
Sam Cook: Right?
21:10
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
21:10
Sam Cook: At that time, of course, I had already done work enough in the field,
21:14
Sam Cook: and I would still go to the field, and I would still do all
21:17
Sam Cook: this work that ultimately had to happen in order for me to be able
21:20
Sam Cook: to do value engineers, mainly with the subcontractors, going through all the drawings,
21:24
Sam Cook: understanding the cities, all the things that need to happen.
21:28
Sam Cook: But I learned that I didn't need needed to know the details.
21:31
Sam Cook: I needed to know how to manage the overall, like, vision of what we
21:35
Sam Cook: were trying to accomplish.
21:37
Sam Cook: And by the end of that job, I was like, I'm good at this.
21:41
Sam Cook: I'm actually good at something that is in the construction
21:45
Sam Cook: field.
21:45
Sam Cook: And from there, I had I had people reaching out all over about
21:50
Sam Cook: so you know how to do this cost engineering thing.
21:52
Sam Cook: So but at that point, I don't have any true credentials that will allow
21:56
Sam Cook: me to move to the financial group.
21:58
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
21:58
Sam Cook: Eventually, I decide to apply for a job in
22:02
Sam Cook: the United States.
22:04
Sam Cook: I more than that, I put my resume on LinkedIn.
22:07
Lisa Nichols: What year was that, Sam?
22:10
Sam Cook: Man.
22:10
Sam Cook: So I was probably, like, twenty three years old, if
22:14
Lisa Nichols: that was Oh, wow.
22:15
Lisa Nichols: Okay.
22:16
Sam Cook: That's more than fifteen years ago.
22:18
Sam Cook: So Right.
22:19
Sam Cook: So LinkedIn wasn't a big deal back then.
22:23
Sam Cook: LinkedIn was you know, people understood LinkedIn.
22:28
Lisa Nichols: Nobody used it though.
22:29
Sam Cook: Nobody used it.
22:30
Sam Cook: Right.
22:31
Sam Cook: I got obsessed about trying to understand how to use this tool.
22:34
Sam Cook: I was like, I need to figure out because this is the only way
22:37
Sam Cook: I have to connect to the world outside Mexico.
22:40
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
22:41
Sam Cook: Back then you could do, like, a lot of, like, websites and load your
22:45
Sam Cook: resume and stuff like that.
22:46
Sam Cook: But actually the one who, like, encouraged me pretty hard was my sister who
22:50
Sam Cook: is an engineer.
22:51
Sam Cook: She works in San Antonio, Texas, and she was like, you have to apply.
22:54
Sam Cook: You have to do all this.
22:56
Sam Cook: And so I put my resume and I start getting calls.
23:00
Sam Cook: Eventually, I I make a decision to come to the states.
23:06
Sam Cook: And,
23:07
Sam Cook: I started working with our manino with a ma manino.
23:10
Sam Cook: Sorry.
23:10
Sam Cook: Now it's called our manino back then was bronze.
23:13
Sam Cook: And,
23:16
Sam Cook: I stayed there not long because glyco stole me.
23:18
Sam Cook: I work at glyco construction right after that.
23:21
Sam Cook: But when I moved to Glyco, I started to do a lot of cost
23:25
Sam Cook: engineering.
23:25
Sam Cook: I was, like, the first person to do cost engineering for this huge construction
23:29
Sam Cook: company in Saint Louis.
23:32
Sam Cook: And they gave me the the freedom to go about it, to
23:36
Sam Cook: what what you needed to do and how you needed to do it.
23:39
Sam Cook: And so eventually, I get more so into trying to cross reference
23:43
Sam Cook: everything that you can do in the construction side and say, how can we
23:47
Sam Cook: do that to the finance?
23:48
Sam Cook: How can we forecast better?
23:49
Sam Cook: How can we do better profit plans?
23:51
Sam Cook: How can we do all that?
23:53
Sam Cook: And then during that time, I went back to school.
23:56
Sam Cook: I got an MBA from Webster University, and then I decided I was gonna
23:59
Sam Cook: do a master's in finance as well while working.
24:04
Sam Cook: And that's how I was able to kinda, like
24:06
Lisa Nichols: To really transition.
24:07
Lisa Nichols: I had the credentials.
24:09
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
24:10
Sam Cook: You had the credentials, but actually use them.
24:12
Sam Cook: And I tell there's any young person listening.
24:15
Sam Cook: I'm I love studying as you can tell.
24:17
Sam Cook: Like, I'm someone who loves school, but it's better when you're intentional about it,
24:21
Sam Cook: when you know, you know, why you wanna do it.
24:25
Sam Cook: And I knew what I wanted to do with it.
24:27
Sam Cook: And so, therefore, when I went to school, I loved it.
24:29
Sam Cook: I was like, I love it.
24:31
Lisa Nichols: You were all in.
24:32
Sam Cook: Yeah.
24:33
Lisa Nichols: You were all in.
24:34
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
24:34
Lisa Nichols: That's good.
24:35
Lisa Nichols: You had an end goal in mind.
24:37
Lisa Nichols: You what just to go to school for school's sake.
24:39
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
24:40
Lisa Nichols: Well, let me ask you this.
24:42
Lisa Nichols: So, like, coming to, you know, coming to the states, I
24:46
Lisa Nichols: mean, was that hard?
24:48
Lisa Nichols: Sam, was that a big cultural change for you?
24:51
Sam Cook: And I tell I, you know, I tell some people when when we talk
24:54
Sam Cook: about this, because sometimes I have the opportunity to talk to,
24:58
Sam Cook: high schools in my hometown and like that.
25:01
Sam Cook: And and I keep this to myself, but sometimes well, sometimes I
25:05
Sam Cook: tell myself, I'm so glad that I didn't know how difficult it was gonna
25:08
Sam Cook: be.
25:09
Sam Cook: And I'm so glad that I had nothing to lose.
25:12
Sam Cook: When you have nothing to lose, when your pockets are empty, there's nothing that
25:16
Sam Cook: you're gonna lose.
25:17
Sam Cook: Like, I remember my mom I I told this to my mom not long
25:20
Sam Cook: ago.
25:21
Sam Cook: Because my mom is very, very simple, very humble, very smart, but but,
25:26
Sam Cook: you know, her world is a lot different than mine.
25:29
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
25:29
Sam Cook: Sense of how how, you know, how our days go.
25:33
Sam Cook: And I remember when I was leaving a great job that I had in
25:36
Sam Cook: Monterey, a huge network of people that I had already worked with.
25:40
Sam Cook: I was successful.
25:42
Sam Cook: I had friends from college.
25:44
Sam Cook: I had, you know, all this, and I was gonna move to Saint Louis,
25:47
Sam Cook: Missouri.
25:48
Sam Cook: And I called my mom and I said, what if this doesn't work?
25:51
Sam Cook: And again, my mom with no resources.
25:53
Sam Cook: My sister and I are the ones who back then we, you know, we
25:56
Sam Cook: we we took care of her.
25:58
Sam Cook: And she said, well, Sam, worst thing is you come back and come home.
26:01
Sam Cook: Right?
26:02
Sam Cook: Like, the worst thing that can and I am so grateful that those were
26:06
Sam Cook: the words.
26:07
Sam Cook: She knew I wasn't she knew my personality that I was gonna figure it
26:10
Sam Cook: out everything.
26:11
Sam Cook: But, I knew that, well, okay, worst thing is I don't like it and
26:15
Sam Cook: I come back.
26:16
Lisa Nichols: And you come back.
26:18
Sam Cook: But but it was difficult because what people doesn't know when you come to
26:21
Sam Cook: the states, you come with no credit whatsoever.
26:23
Sam Cook: The world doesn't, you don't exist toward the world.
26:26
Sam Cook: Apply for apply for, driver's license.
26:29
Sam Cook: You it's like you don't get the best rate even though you've been driving.
26:33
Sam Cook: Like none of that exists.
26:34
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
26:35
Sam Cook: You don't have credit.
26:36
Sam Cook: You don't have, anyone who back you up.
26:38
Sam Cook: I couldn't even be able to sign for a lease.
26:42
Sam Cook: So I end up, like, paying cash and this and that.
26:44
Sam Cook: It was like and I was, like, twenty three years old.
26:48
Sam Cook: So I was trying to figure out how to do all that.
26:51
Sam Cook: And and thankfully, I was you know, people were Saint Louis was very
26:55
Sam Cook: graceful, and I found some people who were able to help.
26:58
Sam Cook: But, you don't know those things when you're immigrating.
27:02
Sam Cook: You you just think that, you know, you're there to work and you're gonna
27:05
Sam Cook: figure it out, but the logistics are pretty complicated.
27:08
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
27:08
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
27:09
Lisa Nichols: You have to have some resilience and grit and confidence in yourself.
27:13
Lisa Nichols: I mean Mhmm.
27:14
Lisa Nichols: But I look at things like that when we go through things like that.
27:18
Lisa Nichols: Now when you're maybe stepping in with something that's uncomfortable, you're like, well, I
27:22
Lisa Nichols: did that so I can do this.
27:24
Lisa Nichols: Right?
27:25
Sam Cook: If you're Yeah.
27:26
Sam Cook: Like, with your club.
27:27
Sam Cook: Immigration, I tell people anyone well, this is an interesting
27:31
Sam Cook: approach.
27:32
Sam Cook: When I moved to the states, like, I always tell people in Spanish, guys,
27:36
Sam Cook: I'm great at speaking in Spanish.
27:37
Sam Cook: I have valedictorian, great at giving speeches, but then in English it was like,
27:42
Sam Cook: I the technical words.
27:44
Sam Cook: Right?
27:44
Sam Cook: I went to school in Spanish.
27:45
Sam Cook: Some of the things I can like, especially when I moved, like, I was
27:48
Sam Cook: so so paralyzed by the language because I was like, but I'm very smart.
27:52
Sam Cook: I almost like I was trying to tell people, but I I promise you
27:55
Sam Cook: I'm very smart.
27:56
Sam Cook: It's just not coming out like how I want it.
27:59
Sam Cook: But the other day, this is like full circle.
28:01
Sam Cook: I have a four four and a half year old and I was in
28:04
Sam Cook: in in he goes to an in an international Spanish, school
28:08
Sam Cook: here in Saint Louis.
28:09
Sam Cook: It's bilingual.
28:10
Sam Cook: It's actually an immersion school so it's all in Spanish.
28:13
Sam Cook: And we were in our house and and he was eating and I don't
28:16
Sam Cook: know what I said, but I said something like, Landon, what does it mean
28:19
Sam Cook: when someone has an accent?
28:20
Sam Cook: You know what he said?
28:21
Sam Cook: He said that that person he said that that person is very smart.
28:26
Sam Cook: So for me, it was full circle because all the concerns I had
28:30
Sam Cook: moving in about my my, you know, my ability to speak and the accent
28:34
Sam Cook: and all that, my son has a completely different wire in his head.
28:37
Sam Cook: Right?
28:38
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
28:38
Sam Cook: But him listening to someone with an accent means that that person is very
28:41
Sam Cook: smart.
28:42
Sam Cook: Very smart.
28:42
Sam Cook: Mom has an accent.
28:44
Sam Cook: And he knows that that means that that You're very smart?
28:47
Sam Cook: So it was a full like, okay.
28:50
Sam Cook: Maybe I'm doing something well.
28:52
Sam Cook: But in all
28:53
Lisa Nichols: Sam, hopefully, that doesn't change for you.
28:56
Lisa Nichols: Because there comes a point where they're like, they don't think you know
29:00
Lisa Nichols: anything.
29:01
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
29:01
Lisa Nichols: Right?
29:01
Lisa Nichols: But I'm sure that won't happen.
29:03
Sam Cook: No.
29:03
Sam Cook: But as an immigrant, truthfully, it's one of those things.
29:06
Sam Cook: As a professional immigrant, you you you wanna make sure that,
29:10
Sam Cook: you know, you're doing a fair job to the fact that you come from
29:13
Sam Cook: another country and that you represent that country to some extent.
29:16
Sam Cook: And coming to Saint Louis was a great decision, but it it came with
29:20
Sam Cook: a lot of logistics that at that age, I had no clue I was
29:24
Sam Cook: gonna have to figure it out.
29:25
Lisa Nichols: Right.
29:26
Lisa Nichols: Oh my goodness.
29:27
Lisa Nichols: Well, I've got so many more questions for you, but we do need to
29:30
Lisa Nichols: take a quick break, and we'll be right back on the Something Extra podcast
29:33
Lisa Nichols: with Sam Cook.
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30:04
Lisa Nichols: Welcome back, everyone, to the Something Extra podcast with my friend, Sam Cook.
30:08
Lisa Nichols: So, Sam, let's talk just a little bit more about Clayco, and then I
30:11
Lisa Nichols: wanna get into what you're doing today.
30:14
Lisa Nichols: You spent eight years there.
30:16
Sam Cook: Yeah.
30:16
Sam Cook: I was act yeah.
30:17
Sam Cook: I think that it's a little bit off, but it's it was about nine
30:19
Sam Cook: or ten years.
30:20
Sam Cook: Almost ten.
30:21
Sam Cook: But yes.
30:22
Lisa Nichols: What did you love the most about that chapter of your of your career?
30:27
Sam Cook: So I saw a company,
30:30
Sam Cook: grow,
30:32
Sam Cook: with with the leadership of, Bob Clark, you
30:36
Sam Cook: know, providing a vision and and establishing that.
30:39
Sam Cook: And what I learned, I worked next to I don't know if if you
30:42
Sam Cook: ever met Russ Burns.
30:44
Sam Cook: Russ Burns was the, CEO.
30:47
Sam Cook: Yes.
30:47
Sam Cook: Just passed,
30:49
Sam Cook: earlier this year.
30:51
Sam Cook: And I had the opportunity to work with him a lot, and
30:55
Sam Cook: I learned a lot from him.
30:56
Lisa Nichols: You bet you do.
30:57
Sam Cook: Yes.
30:57
Sam Cook: A lot of direction, a lot of ability to make decisions
31:01
Sam Cook: even when you don't know all the things that that you might think you
31:05
Sam Cook: need for that decision.
31:07
Sam Cook: So a lot of assumption making, a lot of,
31:11
Sam Cook: creating,
31:14
Sam Cook: the structures and methodologies that would come to that that outcome.
31:17
Sam Cook: And and with him, I learned a lot about that.
31:19
Sam Cook: Like, you don't need to know everything.
31:20
Sam Cook: You just have to be able to figure out the next five steps, but
31:24
Sam Cook: you gotta be very intentional about that.
31:26
Sam Cook: There's some quotes that he would say, like, don't hear what I'm not saying.
31:30
Sam Cook: And so I would always pay attention to then what was he what was
31:33
Sam Cook: he trying to say when he said that?
31:35
Lisa Nichols: Right.
31:36
Sam Cook: But, with Clayco, I had the opportunity to move in different roles from
31:40
Sam Cook: cost engineering, cost management, financial enterprise management.
31:45
Sam Cook: So I had the opportunity to work not just construction but also different divisions
31:49
Sam Cook: of the of the company.
31:50
Sam Cook: So they back then it was, their design
31:55
Sam Cook: engineering, their, class, company,
31:59
Sam Cook: Ventana.
32:00
Sam Cook: They had also their company for CSI, which was their concrete and then
32:04
Sam Cook: CRG.
32:04
Sam Cook: So I had the opportunity not to see how just manage the GC
32:08
Sam Cook: world, but also different, perspectives and how to fight,
32:13
Sam Cook: you know, those different angles and try to figure out what to how the
32:16
Sam Cook: vertical approach, ultimately improves, an organization
32:21
Sam Cook: from delivery, but also from a financial resiliency.
32:24
Sam Cook: So so I had that chance and, you know, working with people like Thomas
32:28
Sam Cook: Love and the technology area and the Kona and the risk management.
32:32
Sam Cook: There's a lot of names here in Saint Louis that would, you know, define
32:35
Sam Cook: a lot of the the, how tos, and I think I click I was
32:39
Sam Cook: able to work, side to them and learn from them.
32:43
Lisa Nichols: So important.
32:44
Lisa Nichols: So important.
32:44
Lisa Nichols: Great great, you know, wisdom for us.
32:48
Lisa Nichols: Right?
32:48
Lisa Nichols: I mean, people we always say those who know how show how and
32:52
Lisa Nichols: really having,
32:55
Lisa Nichols: that ability to have access to people like Russ Burns.
32:59
Lisa Nichols: I mean, what a gift.
33:00
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
33:01
Lisa Nichols: What a gift, Sam.
33:02
Lisa Nichols: Well, I I wanna talk about this because I know that you founded, or
33:06
Lisa Nichols: cofounded Clayco now.
33:08
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
33:08
Lisa Nichols: Tell us about Klayco now.
33:10
Sam Cook: Yes.
33:10
Sam Cook: And I I think they're doing a fantastic job now these days.
33:14
Sam Cook: But, back then when I was at Klayco, I saw a need
33:18
Sam Cook: for, creating a connection amongst all the females in the industry
33:22
Sam Cook: within Clayco and outside because, you know, we touch subcontractors.
33:25
Sam Cook: We touch a lot of people.
33:26
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
33:28
Sam Cook: And when I was at Clayco back in those days, I mean, now fantastic
33:31
Sam Cook: job that they've done in in inclusion and diversity.
33:34
Sam Cook: But there was not females in the executive team.
33:38
Sam Cook: There was, only care, Carolina, Carol, sorry,
33:43
Sam Cook: from the,
33:45
Sam Cook: legal department.
33:45
Sam Cook: There was a few names that, you know, that I could think of,
33:50
Sam Cook: but there was like a very different approach to how to support women in
33:53
Sam Cook: the industry.
33:54
Sam Cook: And, back then, I remember going to Bob Clark and I said, hey,
33:58
Sam Cook: Bob, I think we need to do something like this.
34:01
Sam Cook: We work on,
34:03
Sam Cook: a name, Clayco now network of women.
34:07
Sam Cook: And, yeah, the rest was history, and we started to create when I was
34:11
Sam Cook: there, my focus more so was in creating,
34:16
Sam Cook: successful connections amongst the women of Clico, but also providing some of the,
34:21
Sam Cook: knowledge base, things that could help us for negotiation, for,
34:25
Sam Cook: creating a lot more of a confidence amongst women.
34:28
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
34:29
Sam Cook: And they've done a fantastic job from what I see.
34:31
Sam Cook: We did bring I was able to do the first, bring
34:35
Sam Cook: your daughter to to Cleco.
34:37
Sam Cook: And I I see the pictures.
34:38
Sam Cook: They keep doing that, and it's so fantastic.
34:40
Sam Cook: And they have elevated it for sure.
34:43
Sam Cook: But it was great.
34:44
Sam Cook: For me, it was a good a good way to spend time with the
34:48
Sam Cook: community and learn from, the national women's of of,
34:52
Sam Cook: the national association of women in constructions, have them, like, participate and
34:56
Sam Cook: and just just join.
34:57
Sam Cook: But I've I've all but I've I've also evolved a little bit from
35:02
Sam Cook: just working with women in the industry in the sense of the
35:06
Sam Cook: more I have grown in this industry.
35:10
Sam Cook: This is kinda like a dichotomy in my thought process, but I have a
35:14
Sam Cook: separated a little bit myself of only being in women
35:18
Sam Cook: only groups.
35:19
Sam Cook: Why?
35:19
Sam Cook: Because I think that while that is good for our ability
35:23
Sam Cook: to create those connections, I'm not sure those are the ways that
35:27
Sam Cook: are really creating results in the changes that
35:31
Sam Cook: we wanna see in the construction industry.
35:33
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
35:34
Sam Cook: As with transparency and I think as with giving opportunity,
35:39
Sam Cook: to those who deserve it and through fair, you know, assessment of
35:43
Sam Cook: skill sets and and being part of those groups that can actually implement
35:47
Sam Cook: the change.
35:47
Sam Cook: So I, you know, it's like I I've I've learned to kinda see both
35:51
Sam Cook: sides and say, how can I continue working with women, to help them to
35:55
Sam Cook: to get to those spots Mhmm?
35:58
Sam Cook: Outside being in women in construction associations.
36:00
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
36:01
Lisa Nichols: There's I think there's a place for both.
36:03
Lisa Nichols: I think there's a place for both, Sam, because to your point earlier, the
36:07
Lisa Nichols: confidence, that's what we see sometimes with women is there's a lack of confidence.
36:11
Lisa Nichols: So you can work on the skills, but sometimes, you know, having
36:15
Lisa Nichols: both Right.
36:16
Lisa Nichols: Female and male in there
36:18
Sam Cook: Of course.
36:18
Lisa Nichols: To learn from each other too.
36:21
Lisa Nichols: The men learn as much from the women.
36:23
Lisa Nichols: Right?
36:24
Lisa Nichols: So, yeah.
36:25
Sam Cook: I have to say some of my biggest allies in growing my career have
36:28
Sam Cook: been, men.
36:30
Sam Cook: I mean, it's been so so the way that I think about that
36:34
Sam Cook: these days is what boards am I part of?
36:37
Sam Cook: What one on ones I do with people, especially if someone reaches out and
36:41
Sam Cook: says, hey, do you mind meeting with so and so, my daughter, my friend,
36:44
Sam Cook: my coworker who is in a completely different company?
36:48
Sam Cook: I'm like, that's, that's where I spend most of my time nowadays.
36:52
Sam Cook: But it all started from that need of networking with our women.
36:56
Lisa Nichols: Sure.
36:56
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
36:57
Lisa Nichols: Well, that's why your calendar is so full because
37:01
Lisa Nichols: you do do those things, but they're important.
37:03
Lisa Nichols: Right?
37:04
Lisa Nichols: And that's just who you are.
37:05
Lisa Nichols: If somebody says, hey.
37:06
Lisa Nichols: I have a daughter that's looking at concern.
37:08
Lisa Nichols: You're gonna take the time, Sam, to meet with that person, and I love
37:12
Lisa Nichols: that about you.
37:14
Lisa Nichols: I know, like, in twenty nineteen, you you did receive the inclusion award
37:18
Lisa Nichols: from the Saint Louis Council of Construction Consumers.
37:20
Sam Cook: I did.
37:21
Lisa Nichols: So congratulations for that.
37:24
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
37:25
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
37:26
Lisa Nichols: Well, alright.
37:27
Lisa Nichols: So let's let's pivot.
37:28
Lisa Nichols: Let's go to Brinkman now.
37:30
Lisa Nichols: So you are the CFO at Brinkman.
37:32
Lisa Nichols: What does a day in the life look like for you?
37:35
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you've already kinda told me that, you know, you will take these
37:38
Lisa Nichols: meetings, to mentor young women and things like that.
37:41
Lisa Nichols: But what what kinds of things are you would typically make
37:45
Lisa Nichols: up your
37:46
Sam Cook: day?
37:46
Sam Cook: So so bring them so bring them has has changed even a lot
37:51
Sam Cook: since since I joined.
37:53
Sam Cook: Back when I joined, we were eight hundred million.
37:56
Sam Cook: Now we have double that.
37:58
Sam Cook: Since then we have opened two offices.
38:00
Sam Cook: So we now have offices in Denver.
38:03
Sam Cook: We've we've had offices in Denver and and, Kansas City
38:07
Sam Cook: and Richmond.
38:08
Sam Cook: And,
38:10
Sam Cook: now we have an office in, Phoenix.
38:12
Sam Cook: We open an office in Phoenix, an office in Florida most recently.
38:16
Sam Cook: Am I forgetting one?
38:18
Sam Cook: No.
38:18
Sam Cook: Well, Saint Louis.
38:19
Sam Cook: Yeah.
38:19
Sam Cook: But, well, so things have changed a lot.
38:23
Sam Cook: Nice.
38:23
Sam Cook: And I I say that with a lot of pride because I think a
38:27
Sam Cook: lot of the things that have remained are what makes Spring Man so special,
38:31
Sam Cook: as a company.
38:32
Sam Cook: The people at Spring Man, we have fantastic people.
38:36
Sam Cook: But but for me, I think so I spent time a lot of time
38:39
Sam Cook: with the leadership team, both the CEO and the president.
38:44
Sam Cook: And it's a lot of time also looking at different
38:48
Sam Cook: areas that I I drive.
38:50
Sam Cook: Obviously, the financial, the accounting, the, the technology
38:55
Sam Cook: I work.
38:55
Sam Cook: Also, I'm responsible for the technology area.
38:57
Sam Cook: So a lot of data.
38:59
Sam Cook: But day to day is to make sure that we have, you know, all
39:02
Sam Cook: the tools that we need to continue, like, moving the company in the right
39:05
Sam Cook: way.
39:06
Sam Cook: But first of all, I have a great team.
39:07
Sam Cook: I always tell everyone.
39:09
Sam Cook: So when I joined, I had the opportunity.
39:12
Sam Cook: And back then, it wasn't it it was pretty stressful, but I
39:16
Sam Cook: had to build a team from scratch.
39:18
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
39:19
Sam Cook: And creating a different infrastructure because the company was growing too fast in
39:23
Sam Cook: the sense of even for finance and accounting, you have to have a true
39:27
Sam Cook: strategy in how you're gonna deploy resources to to decrease the
39:31
Sam Cook: impact to operation on those areas.
39:34
Sam Cook: And so some people came actually from other companies that I work with.
39:39
Sam Cook: And,
39:41
Sam Cook: and that that I'm always, thankful for anyone who did that because they
39:45
Sam Cook: follow me without even me asking.
39:47
Sam Cook: So I always appreciate that.
39:49
Sam Cook: But here we have a fantastic team, and so that allows me to do
39:52
Sam Cook: a lot of, like, check ins into, okay, what are the next things that
39:56
Sam Cook: we need to be working on for the next two years?
39:59
Sam Cook: So a lot of my approach when it comes as a CFO, yes, of
40:02
Sam Cook: course.
40:03
Sam Cook: I have to make sure that on a monthly basis and on a quarterly
40:05
Sam Cook: basis, we have a curiosity.
40:07
Sam Cook: But to me, it's a lot of preparing for the next twenty
40:11
Lisa Nichols: four months.
40:12
Lisa Nichols: Sure.
40:13
Sam Cook: What you know?
40:14
Sam Cook: And so in the last few years, it's working on developing a lot of
40:17
Sam Cook: infrastructure to systemize all that level of conversation
40:22
Sam Cook: all our offices with the vice presidents.
40:25
Sam Cook: And spending a lot of time trying to define that what how does that
40:28
Sam Cook: look like?
40:29
Sam Cook: What is the financial impact?
40:31
Sam Cook: And what decisions we need to make to make sure that we're always above
40:35
Sam Cook: the curve?
40:36
Sam Cook: But on a daily basis, you know, I wake up.
40:38
Sam Cook: I make sure that my, you know, my the things with my son
40:42
Sam Cook: are figured out between my husband and I.
40:45
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
40:45
Sam Cook: And, then I come to work and there's always something, you
40:50
Sam Cook: know, people driven.
40:51
Sam Cook: I think I I tell this to my husband and,
40:56
Sam Cook: to my friends is that I never I never thought I was gonna spend
41:00
Sam Cook: so much time, figuring out people.
41:02
Sam Cook: That's ultimately.
41:03
Sam Cook: Right?
41:04
Sam Cook: Because as leader, that's what that's where you spend your time.
41:07
Sam Cook: How can you make everyone's, not life easier, but their
41:11
Sam Cook: their time at work more efficient?
41:14
Sam Cook: What are the barriers that they have that you need to be, you know,
41:17
Sam Cook: moving from them?
41:19
Sam Cook: What are the things that you need to be doing for them?
41:22
Sam Cook: Because they're ultimately the ones doing the work.
41:24
Sam Cook: So my job is to make sure that the environment
41:28
Sam Cook: and the vision for our team is there.
41:31
Lisa Nichols: Mhmm.
41:32
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
41:32
Lisa Nichols: I totally agree with that.
41:34
Lisa Nichols: Your job is to make sure that your people are being able to be
41:37
Lisa Nichols: their best version of themselves while they're there.
41:40
Lisa Nichols: Right?
41:40
Lisa Nichols: Because they're the ones that, you know, are gonna move the company forward.
41:44
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you can't do it on your own.
41:45
Lisa Nichols: Right?
41:46
Lisa Nichols: It's working through other people.
41:47
Lisa Nichols: So I I completely agree.
41:50
Lisa Nichols: Well, Brinkman has just a stellar reputation for those.
41:53
Lisa Nichols: We have people that listen all over the world, you know, Sam.
41:57
Lisa Nichols: So if there's somebody in Europe that would love for you guys to open
42:01
Lisa Nichols: up an office in Europe, Make sure you reach out to see him.
42:05
Lisa Nichols: Just, the quality.
42:07
Lisa Nichols: I mean, you can just see you can tell the difference between a Brinkman
42:11
Lisa Nichols: building and another building.
42:12
Lisa Nichols: There's just a higher level of
42:14
Sam Cook: Our our passion to building are Yes.
42:19
Sam Cook: The people that we have within operations, our goal to satisfy the needs of
42:23
Sam Cook: our clients, to understand, and to always have the second best
42:27
Sam Cook: right answer.
42:28
Sam Cook: That's something that Bob Bremen would say often, when when he
42:32
Sam Cook: was walking around this building, but still, it's something that it's still,
42:36
Sam Cook: on everyone's mentality and make sure that we, you know, cross any paradigm and
42:40
Sam Cook: that we question we question why and offer the best solution to
42:44
Sam Cook: our clients.
42:45
Sam Cook: And I think that I tell this to everyone even in the finance and
42:49
Sam Cook: the accounting and the technology.
42:50
Sam Cook: If you ask anyone of my team, what do you do?
42:53
Sam Cook: The response is we build buildings because ultimately that's what we do.
42:57
Sam Cook: We have function within the company that that ultimately presents that product.
43:02
Lisa Nichols: Right.
43:02
Sam Cook: Something that
43:03
Lisa Nichols: No matter what your function is, we build
43:07
Lisa Nichols: it reminds me literally of the you probably know the story
43:11
Lisa Nichols: about, JFK that had gone and,
43:16
Lisa Nichols: you know, visited NASA and talked to a janitor and asked him,
43:20
Lisa Nichols: what do you do?
43:21
Lisa Nichols: And he said, you know, we put we're putting a man on the moon.
43:24
Lisa Nichols: Right.
43:25
Lisa Nichols: So that end goal, I love that.
43:27
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
43:29
Lisa Nichols: Let me ask you this question.
43:31
Lisa Nichols: You have said and this kinda gets more to the heart of of leadership.
43:35
Lisa Nichols: You've said that solving a problem, you make sure that you're emotionally
43:40
Lisa Nichols: ready to execute the plan,
43:43
Lisa Nichols: that you're emotionally ready to execute the plan.
43:46
Lisa Nichols: Can you unpack that philosophy a little bit?
43:49
Sam Cook: Yes.
43:50
Sam Cook: So,
43:52
Sam Cook: actually, I I tell people, we have here at Brinman,
43:56
Sam Cook: we have something that it's called Basecamp.
43:58
Sam Cook: So that is something that it's fantastic for every new employee.
44:03
Sam Cook: We have, all day one day that we meet, within
44:07
Sam Cook: the first quarter, and we present everything about the company, the culture, what drives
44:11
Sam Cook: us.
44:11
Sam Cook: But we have always a chance to have a q and a with the
44:14
Sam Cook: new employees and there's always some kind of a question that comes out of
44:17
Sam Cook: that and it's like, you know, like an advice.
44:21
Sam Cook: And I always tell, sir, I I have a few and I I rotate
44:25
Sam Cook: them, but this is one that always goes is never quit on a bad
44:28
Sam Cook: day.
44:29
Sam Cook: Right?
44:29
Sam Cook: Don't quit on a bad day.
44:30
Sam Cook: And it's not necessarily don't quit your job.
44:32
Sam Cook: It's don't quit anything that you're working on the day that doesn't go the
44:36
Sam Cook: way that you think is is supposed to be going.
44:39
Sam Cook: And believe me, that advice, I have to remind myself that every so often
44:43
Sam Cook: because days are hard.
44:44
Sam Cook: There are some days that are harder than others.
44:46
Sam Cook: Right.
44:47
Sam Cook: Emotionally at work life, but also, you know, on your day to day, even
44:51
Sam Cook: conversations with with your teammates.
44:53
Sam Cook: Right?
44:53
Sam Cook: You there's days that things don't go as you want them.
44:57
Sam Cook: And being emotionally ready, it means that you have
45:01
Sam Cook: spent the time that you're calm and that you feel confident
45:05
Sam Cook: that you can have a conversation
45:09
Sam Cook: out of a place of knowledge and not emotion.
45:12
Sam Cook: Now emotion is always gonna be there and you have the ability to,
45:16
Sam Cook: and it's okay to show emotion.
45:17
Sam Cook: It's great actually to show, passion for what you are trying
45:21
Sam Cook: to, you know, like discuss or or have the conversation.
45:25
Sam Cook: But making sure that it's not only emotion, what is driven you
45:29
Sam Cook: to to have that.
45:30
Sam Cook: And so I tell everyone, don't quit on a bad day.
45:32
Sam Cook: Don't stop a project on a bad day.
45:34
Sam Cook: Take a pause and and,
45:37
Sam Cook: and do something that, you know, increases your endorphins.
45:41
Sam Cook: I tell, Lynn and I were talking the other day, Lynn Shaw, and I
45:44
Sam Cook: was on here today.
45:45
Sam Cook: I'm going to the gym earlier because I need more more of that for
45:49
Sam Cook: my next few hours.
45:50
Sam Cook: And so it's getting that right mental place, making sure that you have hobbies
45:54
Sam Cook: outside work, making sure that you have passions that allows you to put
45:58
Sam Cook: your brain somewhere else, that you have goals.
46:00
Sam Cook: I'm very goal driven.
46:02
Sam Cook: So Yes.
46:02
Sam Cook: We have to have something.
46:04
Sam Cook: Right?
46:04
Sam Cook: Whether today this morning, my my husband and I were talking about something and
46:07
Sam Cook: I was like, yeah.
46:07
Sam Cook: When I climbed Kalimanjaro, he's like, yeah.
46:09
Sam Cook: When you climbed Kalimanjaro.
46:11
Sam Cook: It's you know, it's those things that, you know, get you to to be
46:15
Sam Cook: emotionally ready for the conversations that are difficult.
46:18
Sam Cook: That you don't have everything, you know, all your thoughts are not in that
46:22
Sam Cook: that that place.
46:23
Lisa Nichols: Right.
46:23
Lisa Nichols: That is so good.
46:25
Lisa Nichols: I love what you just said because sometimes,
46:28
Lisa Nichols: you know,
46:30
Lisa Nichols: having having that awareness of kinda where you are in that space
46:35
Lisa Nichols: because sometimes, like, going to the gym or doing something different,
46:39
Lisa Nichols: Sam, can unlock
46:42
Lisa Nichols: things and and and possibilities, can unlock even
46:46
Lisa Nichols: answers to some of the challenges that you're trying to solve.
46:50
Lisa Nichols: Right?
46:51
Lisa Nichols: And so or taking a a walk around the the building or, you
46:55
Lisa Nichols: know but don't quit.
46:57
Sam Cook: Don't quit.
46:57
Sam Cook: A bad day.
46:58
Sam Cook: But also know that that that it's okay to cancel a meeting.
47:02
Sam Cook: Like it's okay to say, you know what?
47:04
Sam Cook: It's not the right timing.
47:05
Sam Cook: It's not good for you or for me to meet right now.
47:08
Sam Cook: It's okay to do that.
47:10
Sam Cook: And it's actually it's actually better for a business decision.
47:14
Sam Cook: Not every I always tell my everyone in my team, not every email requires
47:18
Sam Cook: a response.
47:19
Sam Cook: What I mean with that is that sometimes your first is like, let me
47:22
Sam Cook: let me respond that.
47:24
Sam Cook: And of course every email requires a response, but not every email
47:28
Sam Cook: requires a response when the other person needs it.
47:32
Sam Cook: It it it there's a balance.
47:33
Sam Cook: You have to make sure you you you're in the right place to even
47:36
Sam Cook: answer an email.
47:37
Lisa Nichols: And it's so good.
47:38
Sam Cook: That that you learn as you go.
47:40
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
47:41
Lisa Nichols: It's so good.
47:42
Lisa Nichols: So good.
47:44
Lisa Nichols: Well, I'm gonna ask you.
47:45
Lisa Nichols: You oh, goodness gracious.
47:47
Lisa Nichols: There's so much to you, Sam.
47:48
Lisa Nichols: Seriously, you're a triathlete.
47:51
Lisa Nichols: You're an endurance cyclist.
47:53
Lisa Nichols: How has that discipline influenced how you approach business challenges?
47:58
Sam Cook: So you gotta think that I was raised in a place I never had
48:01
Sam Cook: grass.
48:01
Sam Cook: I I always joke with everyone because and and, like, everyone who knows me
48:05
Sam Cook: from Piedra Negras, like, I never like, grass wasn't even, like, something that,
48:09
Sam Cook: like, that in my house we had.
48:11
Sam Cook: So that means that I never had access to sports.
48:15
Sam Cook: That means that we never had bikes or like a school
48:19
Sam Cook: that had, you know, programs for volleyball or whatever.
48:23
Sam Cook: Like, nothing.
48:25
Sam Cook: Like, so I was always, like, wanna be an athlete, but I
48:29
Sam Cook: was, like, I don't have any and then when I go to Monterey, which
48:32
Sam Cook: they have mountains and stuff and cycling and this, I don't have the money
48:35
Sam Cook: to do any of that.
48:36
Sam Cook: And I had scholarships and I had a job.
48:38
Sam Cook: But I always look I would always, you know, be at the at the
48:41
Sam Cook: bus waiting for my boss or the metro or whatever to go to work.
48:44
Sam Cook: And I would see people with their bikes and stuff.
48:46
Sam Cook: And I was like, one day, one day, one day, one day.
48:49
Sam Cook: And so eventually, when I'm like, okay.
48:51
Sam Cook: This is my time.
48:52
Sam Cook: I get in triathlons.
48:53
Sam Cook: And this is a funny story though because I signed to one to the
48:57
Sam Cook: Chicago triathlon.
48:59
Sam Cook: And I back then, my husband also at Clayco, he had an office,
49:04
Sam Cook: completely opposite of the building and I go and I said, so I just
49:07
Sam Cook: joined the Chicago triathlon and he said, well, that's great, but
49:11
Sam Cook: you don't know how to swim.
49:15
Sam Cook: And I said, I know, but we're I'm gonna figure it out.
49:18
Sam Cook: And so we went to the YMCA that night, and and he
49:22
Sam Cook: knows how to swim.
49:23
Sam Cook: And he tries to teach me, and he's very supportive.
49:25
Sam Cook: But that day, he says, Sam, maybe triathlons, it's not your thing.
49:29
Sam Cook: From all the things, probably this is not the one.
49:32
Sam Cook: But that I was like, absolutely, I'm gonna do triathlon.
49:35
Lisa Nichols: I'm gonna do it.
49:36
Sam Cook: I got very obsessed with triathlons.
49:38
Sam Cook: I joined a team.
49:40
Sam Cook: I hired a coach, and I did the Chicago triathlon back
49:44
Sam Cook: then.
49:44
Sam Cook: And since then I've done a lot of triathlons.
49:47
Sam Cook: I've stayed to the Olympic distance.
49:49
Sam Cook: One day, I'm gonna be doing the half the half Ironman and a full
49:52
Sam Cook: Ironman.
49:53
Sam Cook: But,
49:54
Sam Cook: that helped me to realize that there's nothing I can't do
49:59
Sam Cook: if I don't, you know, the I all I need to do is train,
50:02
Sam Cook: make sure that I have the right mentors, the right people around me, and
50:06
Sam Cook: invest.
50:07
Lisa Nichols: I bet you I bet you Nathan was, pretty, impressed
50:12
Lisa Nichols: with you that you were able to do that.
50:14
Sam Cook: Right?
50:14
Sam Cook: He was because, yeah, the first time I went swimming at the
50:18
Sam Cook: y, like, the coordination wasn't there.
50:21
Sam Cook: So, yeah, when I did the Chicago triathlon and it's almost,
50:25
Sam Cook: you know, it's more than a mile swimming.
50:29
Sam Cook: Yes, probably like a mile and a half swimming.
50:31
Sam Cook: He was like, he did that, and, from a place of not knowing how
50:35
Sam Cook: to swim whatsoever.
50:36
Sam Cook: But then I got more so in the endurance, I did a a century
50:40
Sam Cook: ride with with with two of my with my my husband and a good
50:44
Sam Cook: very good friend of mine.
50:45
Sam Cook: And what I learned there is to make sure you have the right people
50:47
Sam Cook: because, they kept like, in those long distances
50:52
Sam Cook: is the people that surround you, the ones who are gonna make sure that
50:55
Sam Cook: you accomplish some things that you can't do by yourself.
50:58
Sam Cook: Like, they would push me in some of the hills, the three of us
51:00
Sam Cook: Viking.
51:01
Sam Cook: You know, they were stronger than me, so they were able to push.
51:05
Sam Cook: Some of them were, mentally in a better spot in certain parts
51:09
Sam Cook: of the race, and they would say, you got this.
51:13
Sam Cook: And even when I was mad and some parts of the race was I'm
51:16
Sam Cook: very math driven.
51:17
Sam Cook: And I was like, you know, if we continue going on this speed
51:21
Sam Cook: and doing this, we're gonna you know?
51:23
Sam Cook: So I I'm always looking at the next ten steps, and there's people who
51:27
Sam Cook: are like, but look at look at where we are right now.
51:30
Sam Cook: We're doing good.
51:31
Sam Cook: And so it's always good to have those teams.
51:33
Sam Cook: Endurance makes you that that, you know, you can do I don't have marathons
51:37
Sam Cook: and stuff like that.
51:38
Sam Cook: So it's, you know, it's just one one step at a time.
51:44
Lisa Nichols: Between you and, between you and Nathan, I know Landon's
51:48
Lisa Nichols: gonna just grow up being a really resilient little guy and,
51:52
Lisa Nichols: who knows?
51:53
Lisa Nichols: I know you guys will, and I know you guys love skiing.
51:56
Lisa Nichols: Yes.
51:56
Lisa Nichols: I know you.
51:57
Lisa Nichols: And and Landon was pretty good at it, wasn't he?
51:59
Sam Cook: Right.
52:00
Sam Cook: So now he goes to ski school every time we go to him, to
52:04
Sam Cook: Cannon Valley.
52:04
Sam Cook: Anytime we go to, Hart City or to Telluride or
52:08
Sam Cook: anywhere, like he will, he will
52:11
Lisa Nichols: And he's four and a half.
52:12
Sam Cook: I was thinking.
52:12
Sam Cook: Yeah.
52:13
Sam Cook: If we go to Deer Valley, he he gets on it and he has
52:16
Sam Cook: no fear.
52:16
Sam Cook: No fear.
52:18
Lisa Nichols: Yeah.
52:18
Lisa Nichols: That's so awesome.
52:20
Lisa Nichols: Well, we need to wrap up here.
52:22
Lisa Nichols: Although I could just talk to you for hours and hours and hours.
52:25
Lisa Nichols: Yeah, I really want to encourage our listeners, so go follow Sam on LinkedIn.
52:30
Lisa Nichols: She she I always love reading your articles.
52:32
Lisa Nichols: You put a lot of articles out there, lots of thought leadership, Sam.
52:36
Lisa Nichols: And so I'm hoping that our leaders will go and follow you, but I
52:40
Lisa Nichols: need to ask you, this is called something extra.
52:44
Lisa Nichols: You know, what do you believe is this something extra that every great leader
52:47
Lisa Nichols: needs?
52:48
Sam Cook: So I think what I'm gonna say is a little bit counterintuitive, but
52:52
Sam Cook: it's gonna make sense.
52:53
Sam Cook: And I was thinking about this.
52:55
Sam Cook: It's disloyalty to what make you successful.
52:59
Sam Cook: Now I'm not talking about what you know, it's it's part of your DNA
53:03
Sam Cook: and your culture and your beliefs.
53:05
Sam Cook: Mhmm.
53:05
Sam Cook: But it's that ability to look back and say,
53:09
Sam Cook: from everything I believe, from everything that I have learned,
53:14
Sam Cook: what are the things that I have to unlearn?
53:17
Sam Cook: What are the things that I have to challenge myself to think that maybe
53:20
Sam Cook: it's time to change?
53:22
Sam Cook: And what are the outcomes out of that?
53:24
Sam Cook: Is it is it the way that I lead?
53:26
Sam Cook: Is it gonna be better?
53:27
Sam Cook: Is it the way that I,
53:30
Sam Cook: go about a decision?
53:33
Sam Cook: For me, it was and I wrote about this when my brother passed,
53:37
Sam Cook: a year and a half ago.
53:38
Sam Cook: He had epilepsy.
53:40
Sam Cook: And when when he died, you know, I start questioning
53:44
Sam Cook: a lot of the things that I thought that were, you know, part of
53:48
Sam Cook: life.
53:49
Sam Cook: And I start questioning, why do I think what I think?
53:52
Sam Cook: Is this something that was product of what?
53:55
Sam Cook: And doing that has obviously passed into
53:59
Sam Cook: my job, what I do every day, how I lead teams, how I hire,
54:05
Sam Cook: how I think about new processes and teams and say, do
54:09
Sam Cook: I know?
54:10
Sam Cook: Am I trying to learn, or am I trying to make sure that I,
54:14
Sam Cook: you know, question everything?
54:15
Sam Cook: What I mean with that is that sometimes, you know, we think that adding
54:18
Sam Cook: and adding and learning and learning is the way to go.
54:21
Sam Cook: And the more I go about life is, like, maybe it's not about adding,
54:25
Sam Cook: and maybe it's about making sure that we question what we already know, and
54:29
Sam Cook: we give for new thoughts.
54:32
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
54:33
Lisa Nichols: I've got a dear friend and mentor, Sherry Botchowder, that was the CEO for
54:37
Lisa Nichols: Popeyes.
54:38
Lisa Nichols: And she always she encourages you, don't try and take in more
54:42
Lisa Nichols: information.
54:43
Lisa Nichols: Just sit with what you already know.
54:46
Lisa Nichols: And I I do think in this world, I do think the the information
54:51
Lisa Nichols: overload, right, Sam, can be,
54:55
Lisa Nichols: I don't know, can cause some anxiety sometimes.
54:57
Sam Cook: Well, because because there's so much.
54:59
Sam Cook: Right?
54:59
Sam Cook: You're trying to learn about technology and people, and you're trying to
55:03
Sam Cook: learn about culture, and you're trying to learn about the economics and
55:07
Sam Cook: you're trying to learn about and and learn and learn and learn and learn.
55:10
Sam Cook: And Mhmm.
55:11
Sam Cook: Sometimes you're trying to learn because you think of something else and
55:15
Sam Cook: you're like, well, that's the next thing.
55:17
Sam Cook: And Mhmm.
55:17
Sam Cook: The more I've been finding time to kinda cut my thoughts and
55:22
Sam Cook: say, why am I thinking this?
55:24
Sam Cook: What makes me think this?
55:26
Sam Cook: It gives me the ability to challenge myself, and challenge
55:31
Sam Cook: everything.
55:32
Sam Cook: And it it is not even about what other people are saying.
55:36
Sam Cook: It's what I'm saying and what I'm gonna stand up in from some in
55:38
Sam Cook: front of someone.
55:40
Sam Cook: I I truly believe what I'm saying because it's the right thing. So i
55:44
Sam Cook: t's a different approach.
55:45
Lisa Nichols: I love that.
55:46
Sam Cook: I hope that makes sense.
55:48
Lisa Nichols: That's different.
55:49
Lisa Nichols: That's different.
55:49
Lisa Nichols: I've not had anybody say that, so that's wonderful.
55:52
Lisa Nichols: I love it.
55:53
Lisa Nichols: Well, Sam, I knew this was gonna be fun.
55:55
Lisa Nichols: I knew it was gonna be fun, and I've just had a a wonderful
55:58
Lisa Nichols: time with you.
55:59
Lisa Nichols: And I am so grateful for your leadership.
56:02
Lisa Nichols: I'm grateful that you landed in Saint Louis because you make Saint Louis better,
56:06
Lisa Nichols: and we didn't even talk about, the the T aste of C
56:10
Lisa Nichols: hefs for the March of Dimes.
56:12
Lisa Nichols: You raised twice the money that they were hoping to raise.
56:15
Sam Cook: Three times. We raised th ree times.
56:17
Lisa Nichols: Three times the money that they were hoping to raise, and so you're just,
56:22
Lisa Nichols: you're on your right line m ore than community.
56:25
Lisa Nichols: Thanks so much.
56:26
Sam Cook: Thank you.
56:27
Sam Cook: Thank you, Lisa.
56:28
Sam Cook: You are a huge support.
56:29
Announcer: Thank you for listening to today's show.
56:31
Announcer: Something extra with Lisa Nichols is a Technology Partners production.
56:35
Announcer: Copyright Technology Partners Inc two thousand and nineteen.
56:38
Announcer: For show notes or to reach Lisa, visit tpi dot co slash
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56:44
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