Leading Through Service with Chris Solie | #LeadWithLegacy | Episode 33

What does it take to lead through change, serve with purpose, and prepare for the future?

In Episode 33 of the Lead with Legacy™ Podcast, Amanda Chambers and Sloane Lott welcome Chris Solie, retired U.S. Space Force leader, project management professional, and AI transformation advocate.

Drawing on more than 22 years of military service, Chris shares powerful leadership lessons on building trust, developing people, listening well, navigating career transitions, and embracing emerging technologies without losing sight of the human element.

The conversation explores military leadership, project management, artificial intelligence, professional development, and how servant leadership creates lasting impact in every organization.

Whether you're leading a team, transitioning careers, serving in the military, or preparing your organization for the future, this episode offers practical leadership wisdom you can apply immediately.

🔔 Subscribe for leadership insights, honest conversations, and practical wisdom you can apply immediately.

🌐 Learn more about IOL Global:
www.iolglobal.com

🔗Connect with Chris Solie:

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-solie/

Transform Your Military Experience Into A Project Management Career:
https://vets2pm.com/

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https://www.buzzsprout.com/2600300/support

Contact our team to book a time to be on the Lead with Legacy™ Podcast:
https://iolglobal.com/podcast

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Lead with Legacy, the official podcast of IOL Global. Here we will explore leadership that outlives titles and trends. Through conversations with faith-based and marketplace leaders, we will discuss integrity, conviction, and purpose. To learn more about us, visit us at iOLglobal.com. Thank you all for joining us to listen in. We are here today. A very honor to be here with Mr. Chris Soly. And we're going to talk a little bit about who he is and how we came to connect up. But before we do, um we're going to do a little shameless plug for our podcast. Go and like us and share us and follow us and please comment. It really, really helps us a lot just to kind of get the information out, all the algorithms like all that. And so we just request that you do that. If you go to our website at iolglobal.com, you can see our podcast tab at the top, and you can click there and you can literally access this podcast from every platform possible. Sloan has been so amazing, and she's gotten us on BuzzSprout, YouTube, Amazon, Apple, all the things. So yeah, go there and check us out and listen to the podcasts. Um, so we have today Sloan Lott, my director of operations with Iowa Global. Um, she is incredible. So honored to work alongside her. I learn from her every single day, and so I'm very, very grateful. And Mr. Chris Solee, go ahead and tell us who you are and how we got together on this podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

Yeah. Well, first I want to thank Sloane and you, Amanda, for inviting me. Um, I think I know behind the scenes who who drove the the thought to get me on the show, but um I'm always grateful to to Dr. Lafrance for thinking of me.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yes, I yes, I know that we're mutually connected there. We'll we'll talk a little bit about that too.

SPEAKER_04 2:01

I love it. Yeah, so I I retired from the Space Force at the end of 2025 after 22 years and nine months of total military service between the army and the Space Force. Started my career a bit later in life in the Army. I joined at 24. Uh, we'll explore some of that, I think, in in the in the conversation. But that that led to some some unique perspectives in terms of how I approached the my service and and the commitment from there within, right? You know, having lost uh employment in the household and really no kind of formal experience, no college, none of that stuff. But found my way in the recruiting office, and then it was it was all history from there. So now, now you know, it's a whole new life now in retirement.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

So yeah, absolutely. So so tell us a little bit about that. How what was that transition? Like what got you there when you were 24 to say, hey, like I wanna I want to join the military now versus you know what was going on there?

SPEAKER_04 3:15

Yeah, the with with no formal college, I I had grew up in northwest Wisconsin, big manufacturing area. I was building custom kitchen cabinets at the time, and the economy kind of went the wrong way for me in that area, and I I didn't have any other real skills, and I had applied for a position making custom um garage doors, but the gentleman that I interviewed with, the hiring manager, he told me that I was overqualified for the work that he had for me. So I said, Well, you know, I can listen, I can work as slow or like I can I can do this, like I just need a job. And he he couldn't bring me in for what the skill set that I had at the time, but he just couldn't match the pay or any of the things. And I like it, you know, you have to respect that. There right he's got a business to run just like I had, you know, a a pursuit of employment to to get to. But yeah, the the where it came down to was really doing a lot of research on like what opportunities are out there, and considering that I I knew I needed some some form of formal education to really kind of make my mark. The military offered the the best source of you know latitude in that regard, right? With all the tuition assistance that's available to service members, it was really kind of a no-brainer. And then I went into the army recruiter. I was initially gonna go into the reserves, and after doing quite a bit of research, seeing kind of what the life is like for a reservist versus an active duty service member. Uh, as a family, we chose active duty, and then first duty station was uh Wiesbaden, Germany, which was a really cool experience. Yeah. And yeah, and then the the rest just kind of went from there.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

That's fantastic. Oddly enough, I think one of the biggest quote unquote rejections I ever got a job was the same, is like you are overqualified. And it was the strangest thing. I was like, is that a thing? Like, really? You can and it was so weird. And I remember like I actually remember the road I was driving down when I got the call about it. And I called my dad and I was like, Dad, is this really? I was pretty young too. I was like, is this really a thing? Like you can you can know too much. Like I did not know this was, and I didn't even know that much at the time. So it was really, really strange. But yeah, that's that's it. I don't I don't know who all like gets it's it's just strange. It's very odd. I almost think I would have rather just been like, no, you know, you're this is not the job for you. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

You know that I could have taken that differently if it would have been like, you know, well, we're gonna go in a different direction. Appreciate you coming in.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Somebody else is more qualified or whatever, but no, you're just you you're too qualified. It was, yeah, very rare. I actually had applied to that's strange, like that bring back memories, but I had applied to uh a company that was like a marketing company. Um like a graphics and marketing company. This was good grief. This was 25 years ago. And they were like, oh no, like it's just you know, we can't hire you because you're just overqualified for the job. And I was like, I'm not even remotely overqualified for this job. Like, anyhow, first of all, let me tell you, thank you so much um from all of us for your service. Um, I we, you know, I I didn't I have a lot of family that has been in the military. Um, and then I'm so blessed to have a lot of contacts through, and we're gonna talk a little bit about that too, through project management. A lot of a lot of people I'm like yourself who've had transitioned from military to project management. And so yeah, I look forward to talking a little bit more about that too. But I just wanted to say thank you from all of us for your service. We're getting to celebrate 250 years of America pretty soon, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

And so, yeah, that's really amazing. I'm gonna let Sloan kind of take over a little bit and ask some questions.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Absolutely. So, 22 years across the U.S. Army and the U.S. Space Force, um, that's quite a bit of time. And of course, it influenced you, right? How did that journey, how how did that journey shape the way you understand leadership today?

SPEAKER_04 7:50

What a tremendous question. Listen, look, leadership is is not an all or nothing type of event, right? It it's ever evolving. I think every situation required me to be a slightly different type of leader in the moment. Uh, I do have a particular leadership style. I'm I'm pretty type A. I'm pretty outgoing, I'm outspoken, I can get loud and boisterous, and I I like the the physicality that that the army allowed me to kind of present myself in, right? Not that not in terms of like violence or things like that, but just in regards to you've really got to motivate people to do things that they really just kind of don't want to do in the moment because it requires a lot of physical activity and continuous. It's it's it's ongoing, it's repetitive, so it drains you. And I think the finding some of those intrinsic leadership values early on in my career really is what allowed me to make connections with people to get them to do a lot of those hard things that that just had to get done because nobody was gonna come do them for you. You there wasn't a you know another team behind you that was gonna now you know set up all of these tents or or establish the communications lines that needed to be done. It it really just evolved from a sense of how do we best motivate people to get them to do things that that are required to be done. So I I don't really have a one-way or a one-size-fits-all leadership style. It really just depended on the person, kind of knowing them, what what motivated them on a deeper level? What how can I connect with them to do those types of things? And I'll say this the one of the big things that leaders will often do is ascribe like you know, reading lists, mandatory, like, or not mandatory, but some recommended books to to you know help you kind of shape a leadership style or gain a tone of voice that'll help resonate deeper with people. I never really picked up on those. I dove deep into what was already presented to me from a leadership perspective in terms of like the doctrine that the army gave me on leadership. And that really went a long way because I was able to back the things that I was asking people to do against a known source of good, right? Well, the army says that this is an approach that's that's been tried and true for hundreds of years, right? We're we're this year will be 251 years of the army's existence, right? So, like those leadership perspectives and the metrics behind them are tried and true. They've been proven in really tough situations. So sometimes just using the simple language that's in you know army doctrine went a long way as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, I was just thinking, too. I'm I'm sure you thought about this over over your your 22 years in it, but what if you had gotten a garage door job instead of going into the military? Like it would have been a very different situation, right? Who knows? Like, yeah, you'd had a lot, a lot of different, I mean, who knows? You know, it it was likely a blessing in disguise. But yeah, I think about things like that. Sometimes, like, well, that one thing could have just completely changed the whole trajectory of everything. So it's really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Yeah, so Slong, what do you have next for us? Okay, I'm really ready to talk about the Space Force. She's she's really been so excited. We both have we can't quit talking about it. We've talked about it all week. So a lot of people are still learning about U.S. Space Force. It's it's pretty new, and and we're learning what that work involves. Can you give us a picture of what your role involved and what made that mission unique?

SPEAKER_04 11:56

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna let a little bit of air out of your out of your balloons. So I didn't have a I didn't go into some of the more flashier Space Force positions. The the organization that I led, we built an operationalized professional education uh programs for Space Force members. Well, really the joint force and uh our civilian counterparts that uh that supported or support the Space Force operationally. And I think what uh what made it unique was uh how we were challenged from Space Force leadership to really think about doing these developmental programs in a different manner than what the Air Force had done traditionally. And the Air Force professional development programs are wonderful, they work fantastic for airmen, right? And we were to we were challenged to think about these programs differently and employ them for guardians by guardians, which sometimes created unique challenges because the service, and it's still largely made up of former airmen, but those of us who came from other services, a big task to us was to help them think differently. Think about what the approaches would be from a supported member in the army, right? What what type of space elements would make a soldier's activity easier or better, and then translate that into professional development programs at the Space Force service level, so then it can be taught in the institutions that that train the guardians who you know enable the space domain.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

I think that's really cool. You did not let the air out of our balloons. I still think it's really cool. Yes, that's cool. And we are we are in learning and development too, and so uh that's that's really cool. We've not done anything for anyone preparing, you know, to guard space. But I think that's that's really cool. We're not quite there yet, but you never know. No, we love that. I find that I find that interesting. Yes, no disappointment here on our end.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Well, same, yeah. And so let's let's shift a little bit while we're there since we're talking about training development. So I'm I'm guessing, I I don't know for sure, but if I had a guess, I I believe that we got all connected because of Dr. Lafrance. And so we won't spend a lot of time on him because he's had two podcasts already and a whole bunch of other stuff. But um, so Dr. Casey LaFrance, he is an incredibly intelligent, brilliant, brilliant uh man who we are really honored that we are partnered with. Um, and we have been working with him, I think since last October, on a book, um, on a workbook that I almost pulled my hair out on yesterday. And then we are also doing some other stuff with him. We're creating some courses on the book that we actually um have been developing at IOL, a learning platform, which will come out later this year. Um, and we will have multiple people's online courses on there, um, which is really my heart and my passion. It's just that God keeps saying, do this and do that, and do this and do that. And so that's what I've been doing. Um, but so Dr. Lith is kind of the catalyst of how we got to get connected on LinkedIn with you. And you recently read the book and you did a review on LinkedIn, and people can go read that. We won't bore them with that. But the other thing is that you are very, very um involved in AI. And so it's been very interesting to watch your posts, in my opinion, because I'm also, you know, our team is learning and growing and all things AI. And so I've really, really enjoyed watching your posts and reading your information and kind of uh from afar picking your brain on those things. What changed for you when it came to technology and culture and strategy and the way that you had to think when you moved from army to space force and then out of that into project management?

SPEAKER_04 16:17

Yeah, wonderful. Really, it going from where I was in the army, like the army's so hu, so big, right? There's it's massive. You're we would joke, and this sounds terrible, but it it's it's sort of true. You're a number, right? You're you're just a you're just a number. I mean, you're a whole person, everybody's a whole per right, and the like, you know, it's the organizations that made the people matter, right? But in terms of the army, it's so large, you can't account for the individuals at you know every organizational level. Well, the Space Force, very, very different, very small. Hopefully, soon it'll grow. I know the Space Force leadership was was just advocating for doubling in size, uh, which we kind of knew from very early on that it that it needed to grow because the space mission is is, I mean, it's infinite, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Like we literally and growing to be on, I think, is what Buzz Lightyear said, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Right, yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Exactly. It wasn't that long ago. We had a meeting with somebody else that had been on Space Force too. It's like really, really strange. Like my whole life, I've gone 46 years, never met anybody on Space Force, and now here we go. We are, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:41

And I what what really brought me to a different light was the positions that I was filling in the organization that I've served in in the Space Force required me to think about the in the service in it in its entirety, right? And then I had to think back to some of my earth those, you know, 22 years ago when I was a young soldier, like the things that we were doing, the education platforms that we were attempting to build and strategize on, like that's who we were affecting. So I you know, I couldn't think of myself in my office and say, well, like what do I, you know, what what do I need? What are the things that drive my success? It's the what are the things that they need to drive their success, and then five, 10, 15, 20 years down the road as well. So, really that that mindset shift of going from like what are my day-to-day operations to what are the operations that are gonna come in the future, and how do we strategize to build education and development programs towards that end, right? It it really made me think in different ways. I always had a saying, uh, whenever I had, I know I didn't have an office till much later in my army career, but I would say to my team, let's take this to the whiteboard. Because you could now like you could talk about things, but like to I'm a visual learner and I and I like to write things out. So we would take it to the whiteboard, and then we would just you know splatter ideas all over the whiteboard and then narrow those down into actual executable projects and things, right, that could drive outcomes. We would do that a lot in our organization. We had what oh boy, they would be mad at me now that I forget the name of this space. But it was a big collaboration space, and we had uh put these big glass whiteboards on the walls and then you could sit out there and just strategize and throw ideas onto the wall, and you know, whatever educational program that you were developing or working on or tasked with helping in that time space, you could just go out with that team and then you know, write out whatever it is your thoughts are, and then leave it up there, and people could come back later and do those types of things. So, really, it's the the strategic thinking that made the difference in in my transition.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

That's really fantastic, and and and right up my alley of nerdiness, because that's right. That's all the things that I love to do, and and the learning and development. I love what you said about you know, looking forward. Like I we might have something right now that people need to learn, but what are they gonna need to learn six months from now, 12 months from now, two years from now? It's not gonna be the same thing because it's education is constantly evolving. I mean, look at now, like things are, you know, things are so at your fingertips online, especially with AI. You can learn anything you want. And I find myself now, like, I I know there's pros and cons to it, right? But I find myself like I'll I'll be thinking, and I'm like, oh, I can just look that up and I can find out and I can read about that and I can learn about that. And you know, I can, and so it's this kind of constant evolving. My brain is just a hundred miles an hour because I'll think of something. Like, for instance, this is totally, totally off topic, but I'm growing carrots this year. I'm a gardener and I'm growing carrots for the first time, and I've never done carrots before. And so I'm like, I got I didn't even ask myself, like, when do I harvest the carrots? I don't know. And I got to look at them like, well, they're getting kind of big. Like, I probably should look up like when do I harvest the carrots? And so, you know, it's at my fingertips, I can just, you know, go on any device, look it up, and I can learn. And I did like last night I spent like two hours learning about carrots. And, you know, I mean, I could, it's amazing what we can do now, but it is so important that we look forward, especially those of us who are in learning and development in in these specific niches of what's what is this going to look like in six months or 12 months? What is this going to look like? like five years from now. I don't know. You know, because what look at five years ago, totally different than where we're at now. Completely and totally different. And so it's really interesting. It's exciting for for I think people in this, I think, you know, with anything there can be a little, you know, scary or unknown. But I I think it's really exciting. I think if you stay up on the trends in in what's really working and what's, you know, we we just have so much more, so many more possibilities now than we had before and things that we can do that we just weren't able to do before. And I think that's just incredible. So let's talk a little bit about your AI stuff. Like how how did you get I it was it a natural transition in from Space Force kind of stuff? I know you're doing project management stuff too. We'll talk about that. But um what what's your passion there for that?

SPEAKER_04 22:51

Honestly the I'm gonna say like the market drove my initial interest right as I transitioned and I looked at the project management marketplace in terms of jobs even as early as as 2025 early 2025 January February when I was really I hadn't I hadn't retired quite yet wasn't eligible to take on employment but I was in that magic window of right searching for employers or the right job market that type of stuff and you know we were being told as project managers AI is coming right I think early on some of the messaging was you know it's it's coming for your job it's cut like right but I think the the messaging has really leveled off in terms of like it's coming it's not coming for your job it's just changing or reshaping a lot of the ways that we work as project managers not necessarily replacing us but helping us do projects in a new and and improved manner. And that's kind of what what shape what shaped that initial interest was like looking across at job postings where a lot of it was you know technology driven like you know what platforms do you know how can you bridge all of the like Jira and you know the random p PMIS platforms that are out there and I was like well wow like I I I got a long way to go in this regard so let's start upskilling while I have uh while I have some time and that's where I found the PMI CPMAI credential and then that just drove it you know I like it started talking about the different libraries and I had done my undergrad degree is in management information systems so database design database building development management all of those types of things so knowing C sharp and Python language was part of that degree program and I've served in technology my entire military career very early on it was telephone switching that I got into satellite communications I worked in a in the service we call them technical control facilities but it's it's a it's a data center ultimately it's you know it's a it's a transport layer right all the switches and phone switching and right fiber optic endpoints all those things so I understand technology at it at its core right I like I've laid fiber optic I've terminated fiber optic cables that type of stuff so transitioning into ai was it just felt natural at the top where I was like wow like I I know what these libraries are I understand the code mechanisms right like what the brackets are what a while is what these you know all of that kind of stuff so when I started to dig into it I was like all right we're just going full send like let's let's really get into this and start kind of you know figuring out how to how to build it how to employ it where to employ it which I think is a is the the huge benefit to though to that certification that I got through PMA through PMI the CPM AI it really helps you think of AI in a in a different way not in terms of like well we have to build this thing but like why are we building it and what are the things that we need to actually build it right and what are the outcomes there within hopefully that answered the question.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

It did answer the question very well and I just like to say right here at this very moment that you definitely were overqualified for the garage door building job. So it was they were correct because just about half of what you said went over my head no like I I I do not even begin to understand coding and all of that. I have a six year old son who will probably be that guy he is like just ridiculously brilliant he's already smarter than I am and I don't know how I'm ever going to keep up with him. And he will probably be like all into all the things once he gets like free reign. Right now I'm just trying to keep him outside and climbing trees and stuff as long as like um all right son let's talk about she's got some questions about um the transition over to project management. I don't know if we missed anything important if we did you come back to that but the the transition what how did you get from point A to point B and all of that I know again uh there's a lot of I I think they're becoming more prevalent more more kind of out there um these programs for military personnel to translate um their experience into project management and again we've we've been really blessed I've been really blessed over over the last six or seven years to know a lot of people in that space and very special people because it's a different transition than others who have transitioned into project management. So Son I think has some questions about that as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Absolutely so we are honored to work with Project Success Academy and they do a service to certified program and they do it for our um members of the all armed forces and and for their spouses and it it's great and that really tells them how they can translate the skills they already have into what they need to do for for project managers. But when you were making that transition when you were thinking about life and work after the military how did you decide which certifications or areas of study made the most sense for the direction you wanted to take yeah that really started back in 2018 where I first that's where I first heard of project management like professional certifications.

SPEAKER_04 28:57

But for me at the time I was I was in the middle of my undergrad degree and then I was on the edge of do I pursue a graduate degree or not so I really put like that in the background but in the in the well I say the background but but I'll I'll keep I kept the thought in the background of my mind because I knew that through like PMI there's credential requirements right you have baseline requirements that you have to meet in order to apply right to to prove your your credence in that agency of work right and really what shaped the decision was in Kuwait I had a really great mentor who was I I served with a lot of reservists while I was in Kuwait and a lot of them in their in their private employment were doing project management for the organizations that they worked in and we had a credentialing outfit kind of pseudo atta attached to us that you could get your PMP credential through or you could get the 35 hours of c the 35 contact hours of of education and then they would help you uh fill out your application to apply for the PMP I didn't take advantage of that then but I that was the first time that I knew that that thing or that that existed in the marketplace for us right and then as a transitioning service member and someone who in the latter part like I just described earlier all of the Space Force programs and projects that I worked on I knew that project management was my passion right was something that I I'm I'm good at I I can help people think strategically of operations and and match things together find resources remove blockers those types of things and I ended up finding a program called Vets to PM yeah I'm aware of that program.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Yeah fantastic absolutely wonderful they are an amazing organization they're incredible I know quite a few people that I again I'm connected with who talk a lot about them it's like on the tip of my tongue who who it is that heads it up we will find it and we will find it yeah yeah great program though yeah really interesting too because if you think about it Chris like when you were building the cabinets in your 20s you were running a project right and so it was just it was it was just the natural progression going through the military learning uh different different avenues and different things that you needed to do and then going into Space Force and you were running projects that entire time and so it yeah it's a natural progression to go into uh that area of project management and you're pretty deep into it now and it hasn't taken you very long so from well from the transition from military to to to then yeah you have an incredible presence on LinkedIn and I think it is because you are so knowledgeable and you're willing to share that knowledge and you do it and you're kind right you're not you're not patronizing and and wagging a finger at us I do want to comment I am a type A person myself.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

So when you said you know in 2018 it was in the background yeah you were already thinking for when in 2025 when this happens so I get that lots going on in the background you've got years to go but uh yeah I that yes I resemble that very much yeah I don't know what type I'm in it's about 10 of them probably depends on the day so depends on the day yeah depends on how we probably say depends yeah you know sometimes to to go to you know to to the leadership point like you know I am very type A I am boisterous and outgoing but there are times where I will completely curb that uh and I will sit I will be the quiet presence in the room and just be the listener because sometimes like I I've always tried to for for the people that I that I work for that I enable right that that like their success depends on the organization's success right and my success is tied to everyone's success and right it's all intertwined right we we can't succeed if if everyone doesn't succeed right that and and sometimes it's just the listening value of the conversation and then going back and having that one-on-one conversation to say like hey I think like what did you hear in that meeting or in that in that proposal here's what I heard and here like and then you match that up and then at the leadership level you can really start to discern and filter out what needs to get funneled down and what activities actually have to get you know assigned to people to make that program come to life.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

That's really true. And that's really really good advice I wanted to kind of stop there for a second because we don't always think about that right because what me, Sloan and you what the three of us would hear at if we're sitting in the same meeting is not likely to be the same exact thing because we're different people from different backgrounds. We have you know one of us might be listening better one of us might be distracted one of us might have something going on you know sick family whatever's going on and so we're all three going to hear three very different things. So sometimes it is very important that we come back together as a team and go, like you said, what is it that you heard what is it that you think that we should do how did you take this because we also have some biases right like there, you know, somebody might get on your nerves and so you don't really hear them very well versus you know I might hear you really well because you you're very respected in the industry but I might listen I might or might not listen to someone who doesn't have some as much experience, although they might have a a lot of value to give. So it's important that we're really careful about listening. I love that you brought that up because it is very important that we we listen well and listen with intent. And then also that we come together and kind of ask like hey what was your opinion of that what did you think like I might you know have have a different take on on what that was so that's that's very good advice.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Yeah and also what did we not hear? Like what was you know you have to listen for what's not said as well you know why wasn't it said what you know what what kind of pressure are they feeling to omit that from the discussion you know especially those people that are affected most by the outcome of the project I can tell that we have all read listening for value and I look at it using using that listening terminology yes in real time. But it's that important and you've touched on it in several of your answers even in the beginning you know as a leader you had to listen you had to listen to what people needed around you and adapt your leadership style to what they needed and what they needed in the moment because the same person can need different styles from you in different moments. You've got to be listening you have to be paying attention if you want to be an effective leader. And I mean who just wants to lead I mean I if I'm gonna do it I want to be an effective leader right so it it is so important and we see it in every industry. It's important everywhere armed forces AI project management it it's it's vital if you want to be successful. And so I it's obvious as it keeps cropping up in this conversation a hundred percent you can tell but as you continue shaping your career because you are you you're a baby project manager. It's so funny I am not one at all. Everyone that surrounds me I don't have the certification but yes I I will take yes I am running some projects but yeah so as you are moving through this this chapter after your military service what parts of your leadership experience do you know that you want to carry with you?

SPEAKER_01 37:09

You know I I think honestly it's it's my ability to connect with people and my ability to discern like what really kind of what what's real what's hype and what can we actually accomplish with the tools that we have right now right I I think that's that's really what made or operationalized a lot of success that I had in uniform because we all get we we got orders we had a mission to go accomplish and sometimes it didn't account for the skill set that we that we actually had in our I'm a I'm gonna say formations but in our in a in the workforce that was available to me at the time so I I had to go make like decisions based on who I knew I had to employ the communications assets that I was responsible for for presenting to the people that relied on them to then go perform their mission that's that's really what I I like that that's who makes me up as as a person and that's what I want to like present now to right future employers or um you know depending on what what happens whether I you know shape something on my own like it's all kind of yet to be seen it's all pretty new i'm you know I'm only well we're in june so this is month what am I on oh boy months yeah eight I think so so that's that's a good question too so are you're just kind of in an interim right now like you're not employed by anyone at this particular point are you looking for employment or so shout out for that if you need somebody really really brilliant and intelligent we we somebody snap him up yeah you never know that might be why we're on this podcast somebody snatch it right up but you're doing some of your own stuff too right you're kind of trying to kind of fill out your space and try to you know see um what's next um which is really interesting because I have I have a feeling it's gonna be some incredible stuff which um so you got your PMP in October is that correct of 2025 oh may May of of May of 2025 yeah and so since that point though you've gotten several other certifications like quite a few yeah so like just highlight the the bigger ones for us yeah so the PMI C PMAI right and then through the United States Artificial Intelligence Institute I first gained the credential called certified artificial intelligence scientist which goes like super deep into like building coding understanding you know some of the stuff that I was talking about earlier like the the actual parameters that that make up AI right and then the libraries that you have to pull in in order to make the AI actually work.

SPEAKER_04 40:19

And then I on top of that then I stacked the through the same organization USAI a certified artificial intelligence transformation leader which really helps you understand AI from a program level right like okay that makes sense yeah yeah versus talking about it at just the operational level and understanding like what the things that I just described but like where how to how to really kind of determine or help shape where it gets employed and why it gets employed right which ties back to that first credential of the CPM AI right understanding how to manage the project of AI and then the transformation leader for me it it really just kind of creates this big arching rainbow of knowledge where I can I can I I know like how to discern where not to do it or where to do it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

And then in the middle I don't think I don't know that there's a whole lot of people that are deep diving into that particular arena yet but that's really really good. It's very interesting to me I might have to pick your brain about that some other time um but really really interesting and you've gone really really deep on the certifications and the training for all of that so it's really where tell me I don't know if we even asked you where you're located at I'm in uh Aiken South Carolina I love South so I'm from Georgia so yeah I mean I'm born here now I grew up in Georgia so yeah I love me so it's so weird my son asks me all the time like you ever been to North Carolina you ever been to South Carolina like I've been to a mall like in all of them and they're beautiful. Very very cool very that's very neat. I was asking that so that um I can just send him to you because you're way smarter you can just teach him all that AI and programming.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

That's very cool.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Yeah we'll get his backpack today. Yeah we'll get him no that's really great those are some some incredible certifications and so I'm gonna ask you this here's here's a question that's not on the script what's your favorite AI right now?

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Boy so I kind of tink I I like to tinker with a bunch I spend quite a bit of time in Gemini. Gemini okay yeah I spend that's where I spend the bulk of my my AI time but I'll I'll play with just about everyone is better Gemini or Claude are they completely different I find them to be different if if you really want to like build things I you can you can really build some cool stuff with Gemini but I think the the developers behind Claude have really focused on enabling the builder portion of AI in Claude a little more I know I got a friend he spends an exuberant amount of time building in vibe coding is the vibe coding yeah is the term a lot of time in in Claude doing and building tools for himself or his business to to leverage. Right. I I don't I don't spend a whole lot of time doing that just because I don't like I'm I like to tinker but I'm not just gonna build something just to say that I've I've built it either.

SPEAKER_01 43:42

I I mean maybe that's that's unfair to me or you know I I don't know underselling but either way I I don't I just I find it an interesting question because we had to have quite a few people on here pretty deep into AI um and we're connected with quite a few of them. And so we've been kind of asking like What's the hot thing? Right. And so I guess it's been like a month or so. And Claude was like all the rage.

unknown 44:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Yeah. I'm going to be honest. I haven't used it, I have, we have Gemini, but I haven't used it. Um and so now I'm going to have to go check that out and probably like go down some rabbit hole on that. But I have been, I've been impressed with Claude and some of the stuff that it can do as far as the industry that we're in. Um and some of the things that I have been able to do that I wouldn't otherwise I mean, I could I could do them, but they would take me like the the time span that it would take versus how I manually did things like that versus now using Claude to like say, hey, can you help me think through this or maybe help me polish this up or help me lay this out in a different way that I'm not seeing it? Um has been pretty incredible. I'm pretty impressed with it. I haven't gotten I I I've tried on like Claude co-work to like automate some things, but I'm not like a I I don't want things to be super automated as far as like when we're uh communicating with people and stuff. So I'm trying to be kind of careful about that because I want it to be authentic. Um but I do know there's some things um that we're using it for too that are kind of automating um some of our work processes that we're able to do things that we wouldn't in the again in the time span be able to do. So now I don't have to go like deep dive into Gemini, so I'll be like, you know, head in the head in that next week. But aren't enough hours, not enough hours.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Yeah, not enough hours.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Yeah, that's the hard part. I guess, and that's where I tailed off there was it in in my mind, I was thinking, so a lot of the times I'll I'll pause myself from like like you're saying, Amanda, like diving into a rabbit hole, right? Like, yeah, here's this cool, like I see something on LinkedIn or YouTube, or I see an advertisement for something, I'm like, oh, I could I could build that. Right. But then I have to pause like, well, what am I going to do it for? Like, right? Like, what's the actual use case? And then part of me too, there's a there's a a a conservationist in me that says, like, I don't need to go do that, right? Because I know I I talked about understanding where AI comes from, right? It it's it's machine language. Well, that machine language is built on machines that devour energy at scale, right? So if if I don't need to go do something, then why am I going to go do it just for the sake of proving that I can? Well, I know I can because we've democratized technology to the point where you could on your phone, you could build an agent today, right? For for little to no cost at all, you could go do that. Anyone can do that, and that's what's so cool about it. But then what like, do I actually need to do that? Do I need to prove to myself that I can do that? If I had a purpose, I would absolutely do it. But just because I have a thought of doing it doesn't mean that I I need to do it, I guess. Is kind of that's why I apologize for my my long pause and trailing off there.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

No, don't apologize. No, I think that that's really good. And I think it's really valuable that you bring that up too, because it like you, you know, kind of like obviously we're in very different kind of spaces there, but you know, with the stuff that we're doing, especially when you talk about like when you're doing a lot of this too. Like when you're on LinkedIn and stuff, there you we've we've all gotten to the point where you can tell, like, this is automated, it's not automated. And I'm not gonna say that we don't use anything to kind of construct some, you know, some of our things that we're working on, but we try really, really hard to put the human aspect back into it. Like we might have a draft of something, and then we go back in and kind of make sure. I think it's important to if you haven't learned I know you have learned this lesson, but if other people haven't learned this lesson yet, you should definitely read what it puts out because it's not always right. I mean, so you only make that mistake about once, maybe twice before you before you realize before you I still want the human element, you know, like uh Sloan does a lot with AI too. And I, you know, we're very big on still wanting that human element. There's still a person behind it. And I think that goes back to like that fear-mongering of like, oh, AI is gonna take everything. I think it's great. I think it's super helpful. And, you know, even like there, there's been a couple of times the last few weeks when Sloan's had some appointments and stuff, and so I've been here working on some stuff and it's been helpful to me, but it doesn't replace Sloan. I still need her. And so it's it's it's good in a lot of aspects, and I can do a lot of things. And I I've said this on some other podcasts. I love talking to it. I love that I can talk to it. I don't have to type all the time of what I want. And so I can just sit there and say, you know, can we work on this or can we work on that? But and sometimes it can, like yesterday when I was working some stuff, it can feel a little like it's my assistant, but it's still like there's that human element that's gone. Like I still want to talk to her, reach out to her, hey, can you do this or that? And I don't think that's gonna I my opinion is that's not gonna go away. I think it's gonna be the people like all of us who are trying to learn it and learn it well and learn it ethically, that those are the those of us who are doing that. My hope and and my belief is is that that will be the catalyst that goes forward. And it's it's those that are kind of like refusing to to learn it. And we've talked about this before too. And so that was like it's you know, when when the computers came out, like that was scary too, right? It was scary to everybody. Like, you can't have that in your house or even TVs, like if you go back as far as TVs, like that was freaky, right? Oh, we can't do that. And so it's just another tool, it's just another avenue for us to do things. And I I think that we have a lot of uh advantages with it. And I think there's there's negative things to it too. I think it can certainly be used inappropriately, but all right, so we we have we could have talked to you all day. We've already been on here a long time.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

I know, it really does.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Yeah, it's crazy. Conversation flies by. Son, do you have any other important questions before we get to the last two?

SPEAKER_00 50:08

I am ready for the last two. All right. The answer is never the same. And I I learned something from everybody from these last two, and I and I love it. So let's let's jump right in.

SPEAKER_01 50:18

You you want me you want to go first or you want me to go first?

SPEAKER_00 50:20

We'll go first. Yes. We'll do it. Chris, name a leader you admire and share briefly why that leader has influenced you.

SPEAKER_04 50:27

Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna take you back in the in my way back machine, right? Everybody's way back machine is different, but my way back machine takes me back to 2003 in my very first section, Sergeant. Or I guess in in other terms, like maybe a regional manager, I guess, right? He was two two supervisory levels above me. But Samuel Everett loved the guy. Uh we stay connected every couple years. We drop each other Facebook messages just to kind of stay connected. But he really taught me what discernment is and how to employ it. Uh, we would sit and have long conversations. So we communications backgrounds. So in that's in Iraq, in the in the army, we would have 12-hour shifts, endless time, right? We would have long conversations. And just like he got to know us on like a visceral level, right? Like understanding what made us tick. And I that like that, for me, you've heard a lot of the comments that I've made, like that, that's really kind of what made me successful was understanding the people. And he got to know us on that level, where he could talk to you on a walk to the dining facility to get food and ask you about your family, and ask about the things that right, that everything matters, but the things that matter to each person and I carried that with me. So he he's hands down been the biggest influencer on as a leader, and I I can't thank him enough for what he offered me in terms of leadership and development, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:09

So what is he up to? Samuel Everett, what is he up to now?

SPEAKER_04 52:12

He lives in Pennsylvania. So he retired from the army a long time ago now, I guess. He lives up in Pennsylvania, he does some real estate. Uh, last time him and I chatted, he was refurbishing a home that he had purchased.

SPEAKER_00 52:29

Very nice. Yeah, very cool. You can go do some cabinets for him. Get his his good, right? Custom kitchen cabinets. Yeah, that'd be a fun project together. That's right. Yeah, good call, Sloan.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Absolutely. Always thinking. Tie back. That this is what, yeah, this is why she's here. She's always thinking ahead of me. All right, Chris. Well, the last question we're gonna ask you is what when you think about your legacy as a leader, what lasting impact do you hope that it has on other people?

SPEAKER_04 52:58

I you know, that's a that's a really good question. I I just well I would hope that people just think of me as a good human, right? Like someone who, no matter what the trouble or the the joy, right? What in elation or sadness, like I just want to be your guy. Like, let's celebrate it, let's commiserate about it, whatever that is that meets you in that in that period or that space that you're in at the time. Like, I you know, I don't I don't view myself as someone who's gonna leave, you know, some some lasting like 100 years from now, right? My gravestone will be buried under some you know deep tuft of grass somewhere, right? But like for the people that I've that I've shared moments with, like if you could just remember me in as a as someone who you that you can rely on, right? Whether that just be a conversation or if if there's a true need, like let's work on this, let's figure this out. Like that that really to me matters most, right?

SPEAKER_01 54:06

I think that's really what a great answer to. Because I think too, I think the older I get too, the the more I try to employ that in in the way that I try to be is like um well, like you were talking about um with Samuel as well, is like knowing the person and knowing what's going on and then following up on that. Like, hey, I know you've been going through this situation, how's it going? Is there anything that you need? Or like you're saying now, just sitting in it with somebody. I think sometimes it's so important. I know it that some of the things that I've been through in life, like if somebody would have just sat with me in it, but also giving me loving guidance in some things and kindness. Um, but I think like you're saying, just being a good person to in whatever situation that you're in, right? Um, and and I suppose it's a little relative good person, but I I like the answer because it I think, you know, there we look at people, right, and there's a legacies, uh, the people have a legacy and it's a big, huge thing. And, you know, they have statues and all this, and I'm not diminishing that, but I like your answer so very much because it's just the everyday of it, right? Just being in the trenches every single day. Um, and so um, although we have a lot of heroes that we can look up to and people who have made great strides and and leave us great lasting legacies, I think it is just the everyday being there for the people who who are brought across your path and that you can just sit with them in it or um you know encourage them or help them through whatever is going on, whether it's good or bad. Like you said, celebrate when it's time to celebrate. So I think we could probably have on you on here for about three or four hours because we have about a million questions. But I will we were told when we started this podcast that we were supposed to keep it to a to a certain amount of time. So I suppose we'll follow directions on that. But um, maybe we'll have you on again. Maybe we'll we'll do a couple months down the road and we'll see what you're up to. But I really appreciate you being on. Sloan, do you have anything else? Anything you have to ask? Great. Thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

We appreciate you joining us for this conversation. And I I really think our listeners are are gonna enjoy it as much as we enjoyed having this conversation with you.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

I hope so. I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 56:17

Yeah, and thank you for connecting with us on LinkedIn and everything and just you know being a part of that. I really enjoy your post. I enjoyed the washer and dry of the laundry room post the other day. That was that was a lot of fun. If you if you're not connected with Chris, you should go and connect with him. Um, we'll put his information down below this video, and you can go connect with him. Um, he's got a lot of great insights. You you you give a lot of good information. I think, you know, in the industry that we're in right now, it just feels like there's a million things coming at every given second, but you have some fun, lighthearted stuff, but also interesting. And so it's it's really refreshing. And I love seeing your posts come up. So thank you for that. And and thank you for just giving us your time to to talk and pick your brain a little bit. It's a lot of fun. I think like I said, I think there's a lot more we can learn from you. So thank you for your service and and for all that you've done there and your family. I know, I know that's uh all-encompassing. It's not just just whoever, you know, you guys moved from here to there and everywhere. And so, how did you land in South Carolina? Was that like the last I I chased a lady?

SPEAKER_04 57:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

That'll do it. That'll do it. That's good, good. Well, we wish you absolutely the best. Uh, I hope to continue to stay connected, and I'd love to have you back sometime on here and we can talk some more.

SPEAKER_04 57:36

Yeah, I appreciate it. Yeah, maybe you know, after I, you know, get get somewhere further in in service, and I've got some uh you know, some war stories to tell on on this side, right? Versus the focusing on the service side, do some some in the some industry relative topics, right? That that could be fun. Yeah, it makes sense. I appreciate you the the invite. I can your content, your podcast is one of the best. I I I enjoy it, I watch it every time it comes out. It's it's good. I'll I'll play it on car rides, I'll play it sometimes just as I'm doing some chores around the house. So well, well done. Keep it up.

SPEAKER_01 58:17

Thank you. So that's encouraging. Thank you. We appreciate you very much. So well, thanks for being on with us. Thank you for your time. I know it's precious. I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

SPEAKER_04 58:27

Appreciate it. Thanks so much. I I can't thank you enough for having me on and let me share my story.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you, Chris.

SPEAKER_04 58:35

Thank you.