Finding Unity in Diversity: Daria Torres on Overcoming Adversity and Fostering Hope

Are you ready for an emotional rollercoaster? This episode will take you from the heartache of the Phillies losing the Championship to the ongoing tumult in Ukraine and the Middle East with our special guest, Daria Torres, founder of the Walls Torres Group. This isn't just a discussion about the world's disappointments, it's a lesson in finding strength, hope, and unity amidst adversity. Together, we try to unravel the complexities of divergent beliefs and the challenging task of finding common ground.

As we shift gears, we'll journey through Daria's life from her humble origins in New Jersey to her illustrious career as a systems engineer and consultant. You'll hear about the profound influence of her parents and her transformative experiences at Lockheed Martin and the University of Pennsylvania. We'll also explore her inspiring battle against adversity with the help of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Through her story, we aim to illustrate the intersection of business, psychology, and leadership in the making of a successful entrepreneur. Finally, we delve into Daria's future vision, offering a glimpse of what success in the coming year looks like for her.

About Daria Torres:
Daria Walls Torres is the Managing Partner of Walls Torres Group. She is a board director, university lecturer, and executive-level advisor with over two decades of multi-sector management consulting experience. In 2004, after her tenure at McKinsey & Company, Daria founded Walls Torres Group, and prior to consulting she was a top secret/SCI-cleared systems engineer with Lockheed Martin. Daria serves on the board of Columbia Bank (Nasdaq:CLBK), and as an advisor to several rapidly-scaling, logistics-oriented enterprises.

Connect with Daria:
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/dariatorres

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Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist to blend psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:35

Good morning America, good morning Philadelphia, good morning world and good morning Arlo. Always have to say good morning to Arlo. We are here today, our founder today that we have on is. We're very privileged to have Daria Torres today of Walt Torres Group and we will introduce her properly in a moment. But we have to say it's Philadelphia and it's the day after the Phillies did not win the National League Championship and I did predict not only that they'd win the championship but they'd win the World Series, and I had good reasons to believe that. But things don't always go the way you hope or the way you want. So collectively Ange is in the studio with me today as well and collectively there is a sadness hanging over us about that, and there's also a lot of sadness in the world all the time, but particularly now. So I just wanted to ask both of you, ange, good morning.

Daria Torres: 1:32

Good morning.

Marc Bernstein: 1:33

And also Daria Good morning. Good morning. Your feelings first of all on the Phillies, which is minor compared to some of the other sadness going on, but still a thing. For us it's a Philly thing, it's a sports city thing. So you know how do you balance that sadness with? We're all going to be productive today and put on our best faces. You know how do you both handle that. Well, I'll start off.

Daria Torres: 2:03

Thank you both, Marc and Ang, for the invitation to be here today. Really appreciate it, our pleasure. I was out last night with some friends and you know we were I did see a picture of your shirt.

Daria Torres: 2:14

That's right. That's right. It had three strikes. You're out, and I was hoping it would go the other way, that your prediction would come true. But I think to your question, you know there are times when we are disappointed with an outcome and sometimes we have no control over that outcome, and sometimes we do, and I think it what's important is to recognize what you do have control over and to look over the horizon and say what can I do next time when I'm faced with a similar situation? What can I do in terms of conveying these insights to others and let every mistake or shortfall be a setup for the comeback? So hopefully next season we'll see that.

Marc Bernstein: 2:56

I love that. It is interesting how much we are invested. And I won't say I'm the biggest sports fan in the world. I love sports, but I'm not like some people. Yet it does really affect you, you know, you really get wrapped up in it and it's. And then the other side of me says, hey, it's just a game, you know, when you win some, you lose some and that's the bottom line. That's sort of it. And when it's professional sports teams, we cannot control that. Even though I thought I could, I had all my best garb on, arlo had his garb on, I had some great pictures. We were all ready to go because I felt the last loss was my fault because I didn't do that. But obviously I have no control. Yeah well, baseball is a very superstitious sport to begin with.

Ang Onorato: 3:35

But you know, I echo everything that you both said. But I think, you know, any good sports city feels the same way. But Philly, we know just it's a gritty blue collar. We bind together. It's a tough place but for me the levels of sadness were multifaceted because you know, I go back to my grandparents that were huge fans. I grew up as a kid. My mom's a fan. We have season tickets. I was at game six, third base side, right there ready to, you know, go to the championship, and it didn't happen and so I'm still reeling from it. But I think, the way that you know, I try to go back on my faith and say, like Daria just said, that you know you get disappointed, and I think about the generations of young kids. Right now they're disappointed, but it's also a lesson. Right that we didn't win this one, but maybe that just means because the next thing that's coming is bigger and better. Right, I have to kind of remind myself that, but I don't feel that at the moment.

Marc Bernstein: 4:26

True, it is hard to keep going back to the championship game every year, though, so that's the other.

Ang Onorato: 4:31

Well, it sure is, but there's teams that have done it, and I think we're building the foundation for that. So.

Marc Bernstein: 4:35

Are we? Are we building a dynasty? That's the question. What happened?

Ang Onorato: 4:38

to my mind. Well, we just, we just have to swing the bats more, right? Good metaphor.

Marc Bernstein: 4:43

So now let's talk about some of the other sadness in the world. We have a war going on in Ukraine that we tend to forget about, major thing because of the war in the Middle East, and we've got that going on, and those are things that in theory, we can do something about. I was reading some things last night and this morning about ideas of what I'd like to try to do to help the situation in the Middle East, and I've tried to do some things like to help in Ukraine. Do you see any different? There are differences, obviously, between that and losing losing a championship game. Any thoughts for it from either of you?

Ang Onorato: 5:21

Well, I was thinking about something on the way in and hearing different sides of things, and I think you know for me and I think this ties really well into what we're going to talk about with our guests today but it's difficult, I think, when you've got two different sides that firmly, firmly believe that their side is the only side, and how do you bridge a gap? In some ways, it goes back Thousands of years. You know where is the compromise and how do you get people to come to the table. I think that's the biggest challenge we have right now.

Daria Torres: 5:48

You've got that going on in both conflicts actually absolutely in Russia as well, and it can feel like you know, when you're geographically so far removed from a situation like this, that there is little that you can do, but to the point we were talking about a little earlier, even before the show. But you know how you can use your voice, how you can use your influence. There are certainly people in our circles, right all of us who are being touched by these situations and if you demonstrate Curiosity, if you demonstrate empathy, if you educate yourself on as much as you can about the situation, you're gonna be in my much better position to show concern and and to lean in and support where you can.

Marc Bernstein: 6:31

I'm tending to lean towards humanitarian aid in both situations because, no matter what else happens, there are many people who are the victims of the, you know, political differences, which is a shame, but seems to be the way of the world.

Daria Torres: 6:46

For it has to be, I mean, it has to be team humanity in my mind that and certainly and and hospitals healthcare right because of all the the atrocious injuries that are occurring, let alone the fatalities. So there always is going to be that medical relief need as well well, right, I consider that part of.

Marc Bernstein: 7:05

Maybe it's not technically, but I consider that part of the human need not humanitarian need.

Marc Bernstein: 7:10

So, daria tourists, let's talk about you. Daria founded the walls tourist group and Prior to that she was a top secret SCI cleared systems engineer with Lockheed Martin. We got to talk a little bit about that experience this morning. She serves on the board of Columbia Bank and is an advisor to several rapidly scaling Logistic oriented enterprises. In between that which I didn't mention, she did start a consulting company and is additionally a board, a director on several boards, a university lecturer, an executive level advisor with over two decades of multi-sector management consulting experience and we talked about the logistics aspect of it because I think that was something you learned as an engineer and it carried over in your consulting practice. Do you want to comment on that before we get into your story? Sure sure.

Daria Torres: 8:04

So just logistics is probably just a A fancier word to explain the complexity that takes place within systems that are moving things from one place to another, usually multiple points to multiple other points, and so that can be goods, it can be people, it can be any form of resources, and so, from engineering background, system engineering particular you learn about how to sift through complexity and simplify it, and you know, at its heart, all the work that we do is about adding value to people and organizations that aspire to excellence by enabling them to deal with complexity and, assuming that that's something, that that's the focus in your consulting business, I would assume absolutely is.

Daria Torres: 8:51

It's at its heart, it's problem-solving, which is why I say once an engineer, always an engineer, right? So, even though don't wear that title now, certainly it impacts how clients are served and how teams get built to serve those clients got it.

Marc Bernstein: 9:05

So I talked to you earlier about your humble beginnings and they were sort of humble. You, born in Camden, grow up in willing Barrow, new Jersey. What would you want to say about your childhood Prior to your education?

Daria Torres: 9:19

what I'll say is that it instilled in me both of those let's call it hometowns I do still claim both instilled in me a deep sense of community, because I grew up at a time where, you know, probably like yourselves, you remember being able to go to neighbors and Get more than just a cup of sugar. Right, you, you. There was a level of support, a level of mutuality, reciprocity, that has really impacted how I think about Everything to this day, including the types of clients that my firm serves Well was community really is what at the bottom of what you're talking?

Daria Torres: 9:57

about right.

Marc Bernstein: 9:58

That's right. And how about your parents? Tell us about your parents and how they influenced.

Daria Torres: 10:03

I would love to. So. My mother and father, barbara and Louis walls, were married for 53 years. My father actually just passed in July, and both of them you really had a tremendous influence me on me in thinking about you, probably asking this question. I was when I was driving into the studio this morning.

Daria Torres: 10:24

I said, you know, we all get so much from our parents, right, and if I was to say you know how did they each contribute? I mean, my mother is super organized, super detail oriented, very curious about things. She's a reader, voracious reader. Didn't go to college though, but I think from her those things that you know attention to detail, paying attention to others and then also Really just being about a constant learning discipline that's from her. My father very decisive, very much a disciplinarian, very much an entrepreneur at heart, even though the two of them met at Bell telephone you know, a place where many people in Philadelphia have kind of had their career journey. He always was doing something on the side in order to make sure that he was thinking ahead and planning for the legacy of his family, and so I've taken that from him and so when you blend the two, I'm sure there are gaps, but you know it's a.

Marc Bernstein: 11:23

It's a great combination and your mother, though she didn't go to college, I think, was responsible for your father going to college.

Daria Torres: 11:29

Oh, you remember that yes, yes so, like I said, they met at Bell telephone and One of her, one of her requirements of him, before she would have children, was that he go and complete his degree. So he had started at the University of Connecticut right out of high school, played basketball for them, but he left to go to the service. You know very valiant thing to do, courageous, brave. So when he came back he didn't, he hadn't completed his degree. They fell in love and you wanted to start a family and she said you better go get that finish and get that bachelor's degree.

Ang Onorato: 12:02

That's what they say. Every behind every good man right. That's right the supportive woman.

Daria Torres: 12:07

That's right.

Marc Bernstein: 12:08

So, and he did that in the adult program at LaSalle, and that education Importance has passed on to you, obviously, and to your children. I know you went to University of Virginia and then you might want to talk about your how you got to graduate school from there.

Daria Torres: 12:26

Sure, sure. So the University of Virginia is very unique in the landscape of universities. It appealed to me for one reason because they think about education as a lifelong process. From the start you are not a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. You are a first year, a second year, a third year, so instilling from the very beginning that this is a continuous process. That appealed to me, was supported by merit scholarships there and for that reason because performance was strong, got an opportunity with Lockheed Martin as a summer intern and was fortunate enough to join their Engineering leadership development program and then pursued graduate studies from there right.

Marc Bernstein: 13:11

And through Lockheed, I believe, you began your graduate school. Correct, that's right, that's right. And that was at another very prestigious school.

Daria Torres: 13:19

That was at a small school over in West Philadelphia.

Marc Bernstein: 13:23

Yes.

Daria Torres: 13:23

University of Pennsylvania.

Marc Bernstein: 13:25

Oh, not West Philly University no.

Daria Torres: 13:29

University of Pennsylvania, and you know it's listen I, even though you know people, will appreciate the prestige associated with certain certain institutions that you're affiliated with. It's all about the experience you have, the people you meet along the way and how people invest in you, and so I'll call out one in particular. You know Patrick Harker, who was the former dean of the University of, of the Wharton School at UPenn where I completed my MBA.

Marc Bernstein: 13:57

He initially was and my alma mater, I have to say. And then the University of Delaware.

Daria Torres: 14:02

That's right. That's right. So, and now President of Philly Fed. But the one quick thing I'll say is, you know, he recognized that there was a, an opportunity that was being untapped, which was finishing an MBA as well as the engineering masters, and just saw something you know in terms of how my mind was tuned, how I was contributing, and just the orientation towards business as well as technology.

Marc Bernstein: 14:30

That's wonderful.

Ang Onorato: 14:31

Very forward thinking, considering where we are today. Right that foundational background.

Ang Onorato: 14:36

And you've been quiet so far today and I know you have lots of questions for Dorothy Well and and you know me well enough to note too, that when I am quiet it's because I am so locked in in terms of you know, our guests and what you're saying. I just you know. One of the things that did prompt me though Daya was, in all the experiences you had, the very high profile organizations or, you know, at academic institutions, what have you, what have you brought from that that has? Then we're going to get into your company in a minute, but when you've had this drive to then maybe participate, being on boards of other entities and kind of bringing service, I think so where, where does that come from the technical side, into how you give back?

Daria Torres: 15:17

Yeah. So there are a lot of ways to do that, and you know, as I mentioned, the mission of my firm is to really support organizations and people that aspire to excellence and to to equip them, to enable them to do that. And you do that in a number of ways, but ultimately we call our work client service. Service is at the heart of it, right, and so to have that orientation from a professional services standpoint is super important. You can't run a business for as long as I have we're going into year 20 next year without having that that orientation of service.

Marc Bernstein: 15:56

That's a great stopping off point and we're going to take a minute break and we'll be right back on Founders Forum.

Announcement: 16:01

My daughter is Marina. Marina has a rare form of children's eye cancer retinal blastoma. Her doctor sent us to a specialist and then the specialist sent us to St Jude. Within the first couple weeks of us getting here, I was just so scared Like I think the reality just hit me and it kind of hit me all at once. I had started to cry and her doctor came in. Dr Brennan came in and just didn't even say anything, sat down beside me and like hugged me and held me while I, like, was literally sobbing and she just said it's going to be okay, we don't have to worry anymore, the treatment worked and we've saved her eye. This place has been such a blessing for us. There's no way we could have paid for treatment back home. If we had to, we can come here and we can just solely focus on taking care of her and helping her heal.

Daria Torres: 16:56

Finding Cures Saving Children. Learn more at stjudeorg.

Ang Onorato: 17:03

So we are back on Founders Forum with our guest today and we left just before the break talking about the topic of customer service and that being the root of really what any business should stand for. But I am really interested in and tell our listeners a little bit about. We got your journey and now what is the actual business that you do and where are you finding your clients today coming to you for what's their biggest needs and how are you serving them?

Daria Torres: 17:31

So consulting can be a tricky profession to explain because it can mean a lot of different things, but at its heart it's about solving problems that clients have. In fact, I had a chiropractor once say to me look, if people didn't have problems with their back, I'd be out of business. So it's the same thing. If organizations or individuals don't have some issue that they're coming to you to the table with, there's nothing to do. So organizations and people are always having problems.

Daria Torres: 17:57

It could be a team dynamic at the executive leadership level that needs to be sifted through, particularly as organizations are looking to map out a succession plan. That's one example. Another could be we're looking over the horizon, five years down the road. We have no idea what external factors might be influencing our organization, what uncertainties we should be considering, how do we shape a strategic plan in light of all this ambiguity? So that could be another. Another could be I'm operating a business successfully, but I'm looking to take it to the next level. How do I go from a very transactional business model to one that is more transformational, with recurring revenue streams built in passive revenue streams? So it runs the gamut. But again I'll come back to this idea of we really look to support organizations who are clear about aspiring to excellence, because that is the standard we set for ourselves. So we look for indicators of that before we will even work with an organization or an individual, because if you don't have that intention, what's the likelihood you're going to put action behind it?

Marc Bernstein: 19:04

That's great, that's amazing. I'm thinking about my own company as we talk about that. Excuse me, I'm a little worse today, and both in terms of we bring in clients today, financial planning clients. We want to have committed clients that are looking to improve, not just move forward, and at the same time, we're looking at ourselves a relatively new company, even though we've been in the business long together about how do we operate at the highest level of excellence as well. So can you talk about maybe one consulting job generically at the specific work that you're doing for a company?

Daria Torres: 19:42

Sure, sure, I can speak about one even a little bit more directly because it's fairly public. So we're supporting the Community College of Philadelphia now in its strategic planning process and we're at the point. There's a multi-phase process always involved with shaping strategy. At the beginning you first want to assure readiness, so we do a diagnostic at the beginning just to ensure that there's readiness. The next stage is to look within. That's assessing what your position is. How financially sound are you? What are the assets and liabilities that need to be taken into consideration? Then you look around. That's what's the environmental scan, what's changing around us, that some of which we may not have control over, some things we may. Then you look ahead. That's when you start shaping priorities, setting aspirations very clearly, mapping goals, objectives and so forth, and then the last stage is look beyond. That used to be something that we did not require clients to do, but we think that's super critical in a strategic planning process.

Daria Torres: 20:48

Beyond ahead, beyond ahead, right. So what does that mean? It means, before the engagement is done, mapping out the actions and accountabilities against the early stage priorities and aspirations. Why? Because otherwise what often happens is that the theoretical never turns into the actual, the conceptual never turns into the pragmatic. So that last step forces you with the client, when you're still embedded, still in support mode, to help them maneuver through and keep that momentum going. And I think that's been a hallmark of our work and it's why we get recommended from client to client. It is, in fact why we have this relationship with CCP, because prior to that their current board chair worked with us at the Urban League of Philadelphia which was a previous client, another great organization, yeah, very interesting.

Marc Bernstein: 21:43

What this actually? Since we're looking ahead, I'd like to ask you about your vision. If this were this date, october and 2024, and you're looking back on the last year, daria, what would have to happen for you to feel that was a successful year for you Business, maybe personally, if you want to Sure?

Daria Torres: 22:04

Well, you know, and I appreciate that you gave the opportunity to say one, three or I think it was 10 was the other choice, and I chose one. And why is that? It's not that I can't think long term, but I think it's very important to focus on what you can actually put action against. And so this one year vision to me feels very, very tangible. And the two parts of it, one personal, is. I'll just share one facet of it.

Daria Torres: 22:31

I'd love to say that I had completed a marathon this time next year and I have one set for April. I attempted it last April, did not successfully complete it. So what did we talk about at the beginning? Sadness, disappointment. Yes, I have a different plan in place at this point, so hopefully in October I'll be able to say that that happened successfully, excellent. And then, on the professional side, would love to continue productizing a number of our services, alright. So what does that mean? Things that can, as we talked about a moment ago, stand alone and provide recurring revenue and allow clients to do self service Right, which we are so much more accustomed to at this point in our trajectory. Right, people are much more comfortable with technology, much more comfortable with asynchronous learning and delivery of content, and so that's that's something where we've already begun that journey. But next year, this time, I'd love to say that we have productized many more of our services.

Marc Bernstein: 23:28

In regard to both of those running a marathon in regard to productizing your services. What dangers or what obstacles do you see in the way that you have to be careful, because I know in your consulting business for clients you're always talking about what can get in the way and what strategies do we have to overcome them. If you could comment on those for you personally and for your business.

Daria Torres: 23:51

Absolutely Well. Starting with the marathon, I guess it's overtraining, impossible fatigue. You know, trying to perfect your approach to the race is, you know, is something that you can't quite do. You have to leave room for imperfection in your training because you're not a machine. And that ties maybe a little bit to the second point.

Daria Torres: 24:09

You know, speaking of machine learning and AI, the impact that that has on professional services is just beginning to be realized, right. So in a business that is knowledge based, which mine is, who's providing the knowledge, right? Who's validating the knowledge? If that becomes much more the role of a bot or an algorithm or a machine and people grow more comfortable with that, then you have to think about how am I going to be a companion to, now the more trusted source of knowledge and information? We're thinking ahead of that. In fact, I'll be speaking on another panel tomorrow at Blank Rome to the Association of Audit Committee members about what is the impact of AI and audit. Every single professional services field has to think about how it's going to be displaced or how they're going to move ahead and leverage this as a game changer.

Marc Bernstein: 25:05

That's right, AI is everywhere. We've already had a couple of shows on it and I'm sure we're going to have more on it. We are running low on time at some point and maybe it's another show. We'll talk about your philanthropic work, because I know you do a lot of that and I was hoping we'd have time for that, but we like to end with a couple of fun things, so I'd like to ask you two things. Your favorite song maybe ask you that first and also what your favorite reading is, your favorite books?

Daria Torres: 25:34

Sure sure. So favorite song is definitely a change is going to come by Sam Cooke. Every time I listen to that song, there's something about it relevant, that pops up for me, that triggers a thought, and I think in it there is both a sadness and also an optimism.

Marc Bernstein: 25:52

Some hopefulness. That's right. One of my favorites and one of my favorite artists of all time, Sam Cooke, can listen to him and talk about. You know you go from having a party to change is going to come to some very sad songs too, and he's was amazing. Didn't live long enough a life, that's for sure. How about? What are you reading these days?

Daria Torres: 26:15

So favorite book of all time and I know you didn't ask me this, but it's relevant to answer your question Favorite book of all time is called the Medici effect, frans Johansen. And what he, what he posits in this book is that innovation comes from the intersection of things, and only when you start looking at those edges between domains and different functions is that where you find the greatest, most novel discoveries. And so how does that tie to what I'm reading? Now? I'm pushing myself to the edges of what I'm comfortable reading. With several friends of mine, we have started a book club. Not that I've never been part of a book club, but this one in particular. We're pushing the boundaries for ourselves and really discovering some new things. So we actually just finished the book Diva 2.0 by Shirley Ralph, who's known for her work on the show Abbott Elementary and fantastic book.

Daria Torres: 27:17

Amazing. But here's the thing we called our book club Diva's Read Book Club, and that title Diva often is seen as an insult for a woman, particularly a woman who's in a front stage position. But we're adopting Shirley Ralph's definition, and her definition is that Diva is divinely inspired by carously alive. Love it so let's go with that, let's push ourselves to the boundaries of what's familiar right Change that mindset, that's

Marc Bernstein: 27:49

right.

Ang Onorato: 27:49

That's beautiful.

Marc Bernstein: 27:50

Well, thank both of my divas for being here today. Appreciate it Diva guests, we're going to own it and thank you all for listening A great show. Thanks so much, daria, for being here. Good to see you in person again. Ange and everyone have a great week. We'll look forward to seeing you next week.

Daria Torres: 28:08

Thank you so much, Marc.

Announcer: 28:13

We hope you enjoyed your time.

Ang Onorato: 28:14

Make the healthy by nature.