Offering No-Cost Adoptions with Matt Higgins, CEO of Hope Children's Home

In this episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast, Doug sits down with Matt Higgins, Executive Director of Hope Children’s Home in Tampa, Florida. Matt shares the powerful mission of providing a loving home and education to children from difficult circumstances, along with their new Bundles of Hope initiative that gives mothers in crisis pregnancies the gift of time and support.

Links:

• Hope Children's Home

Episode Highlights:
00:00 Doug introduces Matt Higgins and the story of how they connected
04:00 The mission and model of Hope Children’s Home
08:00 Four pillars: physical needs, family environment, education, and faith
14:00 Stories of transformation from children at Hope
17:00 Aftercare and staying connected with alumni
18:00 Bundles of Hope initiative and no-cost adoption vision
25:00 Matt on taking over as CEO after his father’s leadership
28:00 The unseen weight of leadership and why encouragement matters
31:00 How to become the obvious choice for leadership roles
33:00 Dealing with self-doubt and imposter syndrome
34:00 The power of mastermind groups and surrounding yourself with stronger leaders
39:00 Cutting meetings in half and lessons on leadership rhythms
44:00 What went well and what went wrong in succession planning
47:00 Best advice, parenting wisdom, and Matt’s legacy vision

The L3 Leadership Podcast is sponsored by Andocia Marketing Solutions. Andocia exists to bring leaders’ visions to life. Visit https://andocia.com
to learn more.

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Transcript

Doug Smith 0:00

Hey, welcome to another episode of Welcome to the Podcast. My name is Doug Smith, and I'm your host, and we're going to this episode live on reality studios. He's the executive director of Hope Children's Home Florida. And they do incredible work if you've ever had an interest in taking care of kids, adopting kids, etc. You need to listen to this episode. Matt is also an incredible leadership insights. I support them and uh we just love them. So check them out and enjoy everything you're about to learn from Matt Higgins. Matt Higgins, welcome to the LP Leadership Podcast. I'm especially excited about this one because it's always fun to jump on with a friend who I've known for quite some time. And uh I want to dive into what you do, but before I briefly just want to share like a story of how we connected and just point out to everyone listening uh the power of creating content and the power of just connecting and partnering. And uh and please fill in gaps where I have. But my understanding is that your assistant Robin, who's the greatest ever, uh, was randomly driving in a car one day and never had listened to a podcast in her life. And somehow it had to be God. I like literally, my podcast popped up. She listens to it, it was on mental health, and uh, and she ended up thought it was powerful, shared it with you. Uh, and then as a result of that, thought it was good. You invited me to come speak at a conference that you were running, which was, I told you, like the best run conference I've ever seen. Like every detail was thought out, world class, the speakers you had, like unbelievable. I was so glad I stayed for the whole thing. Yeah, and then we started talking. I said, Hey, I have a conference that, you know, we fill a room, but the experience sucks compared to what you just showed me. What could could we ever partner and man make a difference together? And you know, for in 2000, was that 24? We partnered together and did an L3 one-day conference in Pittsburgh. And again, you brought that same level of world-class execution to Pittsburgh, and man, people were blown away by it. And uh, I just want to share that. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this whole experience. But but for me, it's like, man, if you are a content creator or put content out there, you never know who you're gonna reach or what it'll lead to. So I want to encourage you to do that. And two, I we I tell people well through one day all the time, like you're one connection away from changing your destiny and everything. And here we are now, it's been two or three years since we spoke and we're still friends. And man, Lauren, I love your ministry and supporting it. And uh it's just an honor to call you a friend and have you here. I don't know if you want to share anything there, but uh, it's just great to be with you.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Yeah, man, it's good to be here too, Doug. And of course, I echo the same thing, man. It's good to good to see you, good to be on your podcast. And, you know, I'll just say for the listeners as well, just to piggyback on your connection, is you know, when Robin, my assistant, shared that podcast with me, you know, she shared it with me on a particular moment when she knew I needed it. And so, um, you know, I was going through some things myself, and I wasn't to the point that you were in your journey, but you know, I I was well, I say that honestly.

Doug Smith 3:06

I wasn't as bad as you, thank God.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

But I was, but I was, I know that looking back, I was getting there. And so, you know, I always tell folks when I'm talking about your podcasts and talking about that interaction that we had was you know, the things that you shared in your podcast helped me to learn lessons before some of those difficulties that you had to journey through were evident in my life. And so thank you, Doug, for just what you do here. And like you said, you never know, you're just doing a podcast, you don't know who it's going out to. I was just some random dude in Florida and caught the podcast at the right time and uh God used it to really make an impact. And so and then the rest is history, like you said, we hung out and did some stuff, and and that's why I had you come to my conference the first time because it was impactful to me, and I said, Man, other people need to hear about this, um, and just you know how you were willing to very transparently share with what you were going through, which is something that we don't see a lot in leaders today. So, anyways, appreciate you having me on the podcast today.

Doug Smith 4:04

Yeah, well, and yeah, I think you know, we just hit it off because we both have a passion for leadership. Um, but we're not just running leadership companies and conferences on the sides. We both have full-time jobs helping lead organizations, and you're currently the CEO of Hope Children's Home. And man, it was amazing. I had never heard of children's homes before prior to meeting you, and getting to see the work you're doing there in Florida uh blew my mind. And as I said, Lauren, I love what you're doing. Can you tell people a little bit about what children's homes are, but more specifically what you do at Hope?

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Sure. Um at Hope Children's Home, you know, our our mission is uh simply put, is to love children in need. And so um we've uh we've we're founded in 1968. So for you know, well over 57 years, we've just uh found children that through no fault of their own, you know, we're not talking about juvenile delinquents, and and I'm glad that there's places that help children that have gotten off on the wrong path. But the children that we help are really a product of poor decisions of their parents. And so we do a lot of with our families with drugs and alcohol, incarcerations, uh homelessness, and all of those things where the children, you know, just I say it this way, they're good kids that come from bad situations. And so we bring them in here and we just simply love them and equip them uh for the future and uh whatever that looks like, as well as providing assistance to the families so that you know, hopefully our goal is to get that family back together so that they can, you know, be a family that whatever circumstances has prevented them from being. And so that's what we do uh on a daily basis. There's a lot to it, but in a nutshell, that's that's uh what our nonprofit does.

Doug Smith 5:39

Yeah, so the ultimate goal is reconciliation and to get them healthy again. Uh I'm curious, like can you walk people through like what what that actually looks like on campus? Because seeing your campus and actually seeing the model of how you guys do that when people come in is amazing.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

Yeah. Well, there's really I I would say four pillars to our mission statement. So if we have our mission statement as the foundation, there's really four things that that support that mission statement. And it's um, of course, meeting their physical needs. Well, you know, we have three different campuses. We have our Tampa campus, uh, one in New Mexico, and then down in the country of Honduras. And so we care for about a hundred children at any given time. And if you can imagine, Doug, you have five kids, I have four. We know what it's like, and just providing their physical needs, right? Food and shoes and clothes and all those things. And so, you know, you multiply that times a hundred, and it's just a lot. And um, and then of course, second part of this is to provide them with a loving family environment. We're dealing with kids that many of them don't know what it means to have a mom that loves them and a dad that loves them. And many, many of them come from homes where they've never experienced that love and never even experienced a true, you know, home the way you and I are trying to raise our children. And so that's a big part of what we do is provide them with that loving family environment. And then uh an excellent education, we know that that's that's something that every child needs and deserves, and so we we take education very serious. We have our own schools on our campuses, and um, and then the the fourth part of what we do, we're a faith-based uh nonprofit, is to point each child um to a personal and genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. And so that's really what it looks like now as far as on paper, but you know, if you were to come to our campus like you've been here, uh Doug, you see, we just we try to do it just like a normal family. So we have homes, they're not big dorms, they're cottages. We have a family that lives in the cottage with the children, and you know, what's their policies and procedures? It's just simply uh to be a family and to raise them the way that there's you know, the way that we're trying to raise our family. And so, you know, as executive director, my my guide is always hey, if if my children are afforded this opportunity, or if this is the way I raise my children, this is how we want to do it, in just exactly the same fashion. There they shouldn't be disadvantaged in any way. And so, you know, we have beautiful facilities and we've been blessed, and and we do that on purpose because we want each child to have that sense, that confidence, and just that that sense of pride where they can go home and they've got their own bed, their own spot, their own room in a beautiful home with loving parents that are in there for such a time as this, until uh they're able to get back with their family. So, really that's what it looks like on a daily basis here at Hope.

Doug Smith 8:24

Yeah, and I love that. I mean, again, what blew me away was even just the the living, the the how homes that they live in or the cottages, as you said, like world class. Like I walked in, I'm like, oh my gosh, this place is gorgeous. And and you actually have staff that live there, like it's host families that literally live there 24 hours a day just uh not and a lot of them have children, if not all of them, uh, but also houses. How many kids, in addition to maybe however many are in their family for your staff, can each family be responsible for?

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Sure. There's up to 12 uh in each cottage. We generally keep it around, you know, nine to ten is is is really the sweet spot. There's a lot of kids, uh, but they're they're full-time professional parents, if you can say it that way.

Doug Smith 9:04

Yeah. And how old are kids on average when they come to you? Is it all different ages or is there a typical time?

SPEAKER_03 9:09

Yeah, really, it's all different ages. So right now we have our youngest is one year old. Um, Castile, he came in when he was just uh a couple months old and he's been with us. And then yeah, we have all the way through seniors in high school. So we're this year we're graduating three seniors from our school.

Doug Smith 9:26

Wow. And you know, I know the goal is family reunification. You know, I work in a similar line of work, you know, working with the homeless. We have a lot of moms and dads in our program with similar situations. I am curious, like, how often do you actually see the families reconcile with their kids versus you just basically have to raise the kids through 18 plus?

SPEAKER_03 9:44

Sure. Yeah, I mean, I would say it's probably uh if I could say half and half. Um, you know, we we do work with the parents, and I I would say it this way, Doug. It's you know the old adage, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. And so, uh, and I know you experience that at Lie Life, and it's uh you you provide as much resources and help as you can, but at the end of the day, it is up to the family to make those necessary changes. And so, but the the success side of that is we do see every year we see many, many of our families reunited back. And this is no this is no difference this year at the end of this school year. We typically kind of go school year to school year just for the kids' sake, and um, we're reuniting several families here in just a few weeks that are going to be great success stories, in my opinion.

Doug Smith 10:26

Yeah, and I don't I don't know the answer to this off the top of my head, but when if when families are reunited, do you do anything for the actual parents to equip them? Because oftentimes, you know, if they were in the situation they were in, they weren't necessarily equipped to be great parents in the first place. Do you do anything for those parents?

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Yeah, we do. And in fact, that's probably a little known part of our ministry is that we do provide help and assistance. Um, a lot of times it's just it's just in the way of helping them and counseling them. So, you know, we deal with a lot of young parents and they just don't know any better. They weren't raised well, they didn't come from a functional family. And so just the basics of like, hey, you you need a place to live, right? You need a job, uh, you need a car, and just kind of helping them through what if you were in the state system, they would call a case plan. Um, and so we work with each family and just try to help meet those goals with them. And then, you know, and there's there's many, many times I would say every year we're we are able to help parents financially, you know, maybe purchase a car for them or whatever. If we know that it's a good investment and they're really making headway, um, then we invest wherever we can to make it successful.

Doug Smith 11:29

Yeah, I'm curious what you know, at light of life we always use a stat that at light of life, like that, oh, in general, the average person by the time they reach 18 years old has experienced at least one traumatic event uh in their lifetime. The average person who walks through our doors at light of life uh had three or four traumatic events by the time they're 18 and multiple thereafter. And I know trauma is a big word now. I'm just curious, I'm assuming, again, assumption, that a lot of these kids are coming to you with a lot of trauma in their background. Um, and I guess, you know, what have you seen the best ways for kids to heal from trauma and actually get out of that uh situation and circumstance that they were in? Sure. Well, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

Um, I would say a preface, a preface to that is, you know, we're we are pretty careful on who we allow to come in to our home because we do have little ones, like I mentioned, a one-year-old baby, you know, we have uh a four-year-old girl named Freya, we have a five-year-old girl named Desi. And so, you know, those that have suffered really traumatic uh things that that they really need professional help, um, we help to find another place for them, a different facility that can provide them the need. Um, but obviously, you know, even just being separated from your parents, if you've never been through any kind of quote, big on uh trauma, um, that's just traumatic in and of itself. And so um, yeah, I I would say that you know, we do our best to provide them with a loving structure environment, um, and then you know, do what we can in the way of counseling, and we use outside uh counselors uh that just help to uh really help them through those trauma. But you know what we've really found is um in the type of drama traumas that we deal with, which isn't the high-level stuff, um, just providing them with that sense of love, structure, where they know what to expect, and they know, you know, okay, I've got a place I'm going home to, I've got uh clothes and food and all of those basic things. Um, kids are very resilient. Um they do they do well with that.

Doug Smith 13:25

So yeah, and what I love so much about what you do is, you know, I heard a stat that the the number one way that kids get out of adverse circumstances is having someone show them another way. And, you know, I always use the word community. Essentially, you're surrounding people not only just another model of family, but you're surrounding them with a loving community of of educators, of staff members, of team members who are going to show them an entirely different way of life than they could ever see before. And uh I just love, love, love that model. Um I'm curious, you know, you've been doing this for years. Do you have a certain story or two that come to mind that you're like, wow, you know, this young girl or boy came to us in this situation and here's what they're doing now. Like, I would love to hear a story of transformation.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Sure. Yeah. Um, well, let me use one of our seniors that's graduating this year. Um his name's Greg, and Greg's been with us for oh, six, probably six years. And um, and so he and his sister actually came at the same time, and uh, they came from you know, they have a uh a mom that loves them, a dad that's been out of the picture since early on in their life, and so you have a single mom trying to raise them, and uh, she just financially couldn't do it. And uh she they were um kind of staying with family, they ended up in a homeless shelter for a while, and um, and that that still that just she just never could get it together, and eventually they um moved out of the homeless shelter and into the woods and and were living in the woods as a family in a tent. And Greg and his sister Olivia told me stories, you know, they went to public school and um they would at a particular corner they would catch the bus and ride it to school, and when they would come home, you know, they would get dropped off with a bunch of children at the at the corner and they would just kind of hang out there and wait for all the kids to disperse because no one at school knew they lived in the woods. And uh they would just wait for everyone to get out of eyesight and they would just kind of go back into the woods. And so um somehow they found out about Hope Children's Home and we brought them in, and um they're they're just they're fantastic. Uh so the the older sister Olivia uh graduated from our school and uh went off to college, and she's now just finished her junior year at college studying graphic arts. Um she comes back here for summer breaks and Christmas breaks. I mean, this is her home, we are her family. And uh her brother's graduating this year, and he's heading off uh to our community college, and then he's gonna transfer to our state college here and uh wants to be a video game designer. And so he's in computer science. So, I mean, you you look at that where these kids were just pushed from one place to another. They were good kids, they they they just needed a place where they that someone could love them and someone could make a difference in them, and and now we see that complete 360 in their life.

Doug Smith 16:13

Man, that's so beautiful. And side note, just my natural connector. Uh one uh there's a guy, a guy in my neighborhood I'm friends with that works at a video design company and like gets to do all these cool 4D rides for Disney and things like that. So if you ever want a connection or even someone to talk to in the space for him, you know, please let me know. I'd be happy to connect them.

SPEAKER_03 16:31

Okay, cool.

Doug Smith 16:32

And talking a little bit about, you know, you mentioned Olivia in college, junior year, like what is we would call it aftercare, light of life, like, but what do you try to stay connected with you know all the kids once they're out of the the home? Or how do you yeah, yeah?

SPEAKER_03 16:46

It's actually one of our core values is family, and we say that not only the children that are in our care, but after they leave our care. Um, and so we do it, we really do a great job. We just had one of our staff um just arrived back this early morning and uh drove 10 hours one way to go to a child that was in our home last year to his high school graduation. Just drove 10 hours to be there, turned right around and came back. And so um we we want to instill that that we are their family. We're not trying to replace their family, but we're in addition to their family and we'll always be there to help them, love them, support them, whether they're doing great or whether they're back on their face in in some and they need assistance. We're we're there either way. Wow.

Doug Smith 17:28

And how many kids again are with you right now?

SPEAKER_03 17:30

Usually about a hundred at any given time.

Doug Smith 17:33

Wow, that's amazing. And another ministry, and again, I don't know if you would say it's already created or where we are in the process, but then I'm fired up about is Bundles of Hope.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Sure.

Doug Smith 17:42

Uh can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Yeah, so yeah, I'm I'm excited about it too. Um, Bundles of Hope is a new ministry initiative we're launching, and um, it really is for women that have found themselves in a crisis or an unplanned pregnancy. And uh specifically, they're looking for options of what to do. Um, and we know that you know, statistically, there's many, many women each and every day that find themselves in that position. And so what we want to do is we want to get in that space specifically to help mothers and offer them another choice. And so a mother that is in a difficult or an unplanned pregnancy really has three choices right now. They the mother can try to keep the baby and make it work, um, she can choose to adopt the baby, she can choose to abort the baby. Um, but you know, what we're finding is is that that's those are really difficult decisions to make. And oftentimes, with some of the legislation that's changed recently, those decisions are having to be made very, very quickly. Um, and so what we want to do is offer mothers the gift of time and say, hey, here's a fourth choice. If you will just simply choose life and and go ahead and and have the baby, we'll take the baby even day one from the hospital if need be. Let us love the baby, let us care for the baby as if he or she was our own and give you time to decide what you're gonna do. Are you gonna be able to parent this child? Are you, you know, do you want to uh create an adoption plan and find a forever home for this family? Whatever it is, but it gives mom time. And so, you know, our plan is to be able to care for that baby for about a year. This isn't a forever arrangement, um, but just understanding that at the end of that year, you can either come and parent your child and we'll help you through that process, or we'll find uh a forever family, and uh we've already created an adoption agency, or we'll find uh a family that would be willing to love and raise these children um just as their own.

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Doug Smith 20:39

That's unbelievable. And I love that that fourth option uh vision. Uh I know I you know I'm a promoter, and I've already like told everyone about this. Um if if a mother would choose that they want to give up their child for adoption, you mentioned you open an adoption agency. Uh and let me know if you can't talk about this on podcast, but you have really unique circumstances on which people can and actually adopt through. Can you talk about that if you're able to? And where people can connect with you if they're interested.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah. So um, you know, our vision with this is to find uh families that would align with us philosophy-wise and just style of parenting and their faith and those things, and be able to connect these families to these babies that need a forever home. And, you know, Doug, I get the opportunity to speak in in in many different places, and I meet people really everywhere that are very interested in adoption. But I I found one of the biggest barriers to that, unfortunately, is the financial aspect. And so, you know, adoption, the average cost of adoption is$43,000 in the United States. And so I I find families that either can't have children of their own or have had a few of their own children and just want to help out a baby. Um, and but they s they just don't have that kind of money sitting around. And so one thing that's revolutionary and And I still haven't figured out how we're going to do it, but this we're going to do these adoptions at no cost to the adoptive family. And so this, you know, to me, it's like, why should finances be a barrier to be able to connect a great family with a with a baby in need? You know, money shouldn't be the one to stand in the way. I don't think I'm the only one. So I do believe there'll be many donors that'll step up and just underwrite whatever hard costs that there are to make have us to be able to make that connection.

Doug Smith 22:27

That's amazing. Anything else? Because I want to transition in some leadership talk, but anything else you want to talk about hope and you know just share with people where they can connect if they want to become a supporter and sure.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

Yeah, I mean, you can always go to our website as hopechildren's home.org. Um, we have everything laid out for bundles of hope there as well. Um, that's a good way to connect with us. And of course, we do, you know, uh our team does a great job with newsletters and things, and you can sign up for those uh on our on our website. But yeah, we love connecting with people. We love uh being able and and specifically with the adoption thing, if there's any of the listeners out there that that piques your interest, uh certainly reach out to us. And we're right now we're compiling uh names of people that are interested in adopting. And and when we get to that point, which you know, Lord willing, we're gonna be uh breaking ground the end of next month on uh building some houses that are be just for these babies. Um, you know, in the near future we'll be looking for families that want to help out.

Doug Smith 23:22

Let's go. And I always, you know, I you've been hearing me say how world-class Matt and his team are, and I mean that it's worth becoming a donor just for the experience of everything you receive as a donor, and not even from like gifts, but like literally, so I've worked at a nonprofit in development for I've been there for 14 years. And literally, I'll get stuff from from Hope Children's home, like we have no clue what we're doing. Like these guys are the best. Like the gifts they send, the way they communicate the stories, like it is absolutely beautiful. So again, Laura and I are supporters, really encourage you to get involved. Uh, really, really special work there. Uh, and I didn't do this, and I'm gonna change the subject. Thank you for all the the compelling work that you do. Because we talked before we started recording about this, I have to call it out. I hate you for the shirt you're wearing. Uh if you're listening to this on audio, yeah. I jumped on and first, like it said Dougie Fanboy Club. I'm like, then I pop on, and Matt is wearing a shirt with my head cut out on it, uh, which is just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Yeah.

Doug Smith 24:20

Nice to yes, because I do have a large head. So that's not what I was saying.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

I'm just saying it's there. I wanted people to know I'm a Doug Smith fan.

Doug Smith 24:29

So I'll use this as an opportunity to say if you're not subscribed to our YouTube channel, you can head over there and see my giant face on Matt's shirt, and it'll probably totally distract you from all of the great work that he's actually doing. So anyway, I love you, brother. It was hilarious. And again, just another example of world class. He literally took time to think through this and actually get the shirt hilarious. So uh I do want to talk. So we talked about all the great work you're doing, but you know, I had a great mentor tell me once like, nothing happens without prayer, money, and leadership. Uh, and you're leading this organization, but you haven't been leading it forever, you've been leading in it. But this past, I think around just over a year ago, barely a year and a half, you took over as the successor for your dad, who is a legendary leader. Um talk to me, like, what's it like sitting in the seat now that you're the CEO compared to other rules that you've had?

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Yeah, I mean, it's different for sure. And um, you know, I worked for my dad for over 20 years, and so it's easy to be the second man down, and it's easier to, you know, be the Monday morning quarterback. And one of the things I found is when you're sitting in that seat, it's like, oh, okay, everything, you know, kind of rises and falls on on me and what my decisions are. And so that's kind of been um, I think, a little more eye-opening than I thought. And then I think just kind of the the busyness of the schedule of, you know, we're we're not a huge nonprofit, but you know, we have over 50 staff and three different campuses, international, and you know, it's a lot to to to juggle at times. And I I think that you know that maybe caught me off guard a little bit as well. But I'd say overall I love it, man. I I'm I'm right where I know I need to be, and there's just something special about that, even when the days may be long and the stress and all of that maybe um there's just something great about being able to put your head on your pillow and knowing you're right where you should be and doing right what you should be doing.

Doug Smith 26:22

Yeah, the whole head on the pillow thing. I am curious, you know, when I talk to leaders who step into leadership roles, they all say the same thing, like, man, you can't you don't know the weight until as much as you think you do, or as much responsibility as you took in other roles, like you don't know the weight of it until you sit there. Have you has there been a price you've had to pay that surprised you or a weight that's that's pressured you that you wouldn't anticipate? Like what do you agree with that statement?

SPEAKER_03 26:45

I do. Yeah, um, I think I think if you have the right philosophy of leadership, and you know, I think as leaders, we are there to lead our people and to lead them well. And when you really take to heart the responsibility that that is, that you are um ministering and being a servant to people in their lives, people have given up their lives uh to come here and to be a part of what we're doing. And you know, that that to me holds a big weight, um, not only the children that we serve, but but the staff that that serve them. And so as you lead from that servant perspective, really I I think that there's a lot of weight in that. And then also just the logistics of, you know, if I'm not if I'm not doing well raising the money that we need to raise, then that's the livelihood of those that um work for the in our staff at the at the home. And yeah, so I do think that there is a lot that weighs on you, and then big decisions as well. You know, that it's been many times where I've just woken up in the middle of the night and thought, what am I gonna do? How's this gonna work? And um, those are probably the uncounted costs that most um people inside of organizations don't always experience or don't get to see. Um, and so you know, just a uh shout out to the listeners here that maybe you're not the leader, maybe you're not the top, but that is something that that the person at the top is, you know, they say it's lonely at the top sometimes. Um support them, love them, encourage them. And you know, that that goes a whole lot further than you think. It really just kind of helps to take the weight of some of the burden and responsibility away to know that hey, people, um, people are for me, and I'm I may not be the best leader, I may not have all the answers, but but we've got a team that we love each other, we support each other. And I think a lot of times people do that well within their teams, but maybe don't always communicate that up to the leader. And so that'd be my encouragement to the listeners.

Doug Smith 28:44

Yeah, you talked a lot about, you know, there's a lot of people listening to this that they're not in that seat, you know. I had someone share a stat with me, I don't know if it's true. He said only 3% of people actually get into like executive rules, and I was like, wow, that's that's never thought about that, but it makes sense. Um but I know there's a lot of aspiring young leaders who want to be in that seat. You know, I always tell people this principle of like you need to become the obvious choice. So when a new role, it may not be the head role, but when a role comes up, like you want your name to come up first. Um, you didn't become the successor and CEO of Hope Children's Home just because your dad was that. Like you had to have the goods. I'm curious, what advice would you have for young leaders when it comes to becoming the obvious choice? Like what what did what did you do to become the obvious choice to be the successor at Hope Children's Home?

SPEAKER_03 29:26

Yeah, and I'm glad you said that, Doug, because um the the you know, obviously seceding my dad, that you know, there could be a thought that, well, you you got the position because of your last name, or you got, you know, and so so I think I had the disadvantage of that, but I think I would also call that an advantage because it inspired me and motivated me to work twice as hard and because I wanted to be exactly what you said. I wanted to be the unequivocal, you know, first choice. Like, okay, it just makes a lot of sense. Not because of his last name, not because that he's been here for over 20 years, uh, but because he has worked the hardest and is the most qualified. And I think, you know, that's that was not to digress into a different topic, but that was one of the things I was struggling with when uh my assistant gave me your podcast. And it really was weighing on my heart and mind, you know, as we were starting to work toward that secession plan. It was right at the very beginning of that secession plan. Um and then I I was going through some some mental difficulties with this very thing, like, hey, maybe you are just getting this because your dad was the the former director. Maybe maybe you haven't really earned this. I'm not enough, I'm not worthy. Those things were going through my mind. I'm and I'm thinking, you know, I started to believe them for a while. And uh, and that's about exactly when your podcast came on, and some of those things you were expressing in in a different way, and I probably interpreted them in the way that I needed to for me. Um, but it I think that that also motivated me to do to do and and be better and bigger.

Doug Smith 31:05

Yeah, do you talk about like I I don't want to say that was like imposter syndrome, but talk about like the mind games. Like even in the the role you're in now, have there been times of like, uh, am I am I really kinda because I think I think people think you eventually get to a point where like you're totally full of confidence, you're totally secure in who you are and the rule you have. Like, has that been the case for you? And and if not, how do you manage those mind games that you were talking about?

SPEAKER_03 31:30

Yeah. So that's one of the things I think is a misnomer for for leaders is that they they have it all together and that they're very confident. And maybe some of them are, but I'm thinking like me, you, just just guys that are trying to do our best. Um, I think that that's something that we struggle with. And I certainly do in the back of my head. And you look at big successful guys, and I've had the privilege to be around successful leaders, and you know, you you do, you start to compare them, you say, Man, I'm not even half the leader of that person. Um, why why am I leading an organization of you know 50 people and trying to raise this money and help help these kids, you know? Um, and so I I I do believe it's something that we that more leaders struggle with and they probably want to admit. Um, but I I think you have to just constantly remind yourself for me, you know, I I lean heavily into my faith, and I so so I know that this is where God has put me. And who am who am I to doubt what God has done, right? Come on. If if God put me here, then I'm the person for the job. I may not, I'm not the best leader, I'm not the most qualified, but for whatever reason, God put me here. And I don't really, I can't, it's not really up to me to doubt that. So when I start having those thoughts of, well, he would be a better leader, and I'm not half the leader that she is, or whatever, I have to recenter myself to say, but God didn't call them to hope children's home, and and God didn't call her to lead, he called you. So, you know, almost like uh step it up, bud. You know, stop feeling sorry for yourself and get the job done because you you have an enormous task to do each and every day.

Doug Smith 33:09

Yeah, you know, I mentioned several times throughout the podcast we have a similar uh hunger for personal growth and leadership. And you know, you've been there for 20 years before you got the rule. Like that is a long time to be growing development. But you just mentioned, you know, I've had the opportunity to be in front of, you know, around some pretty high capacity leaders. And it's one thing I admire about you. Like, I feel like I get a text from you every other day. It's like, hey, I'm hanging out with Rick Warren. Hey, I'm hanging out with Peggy Show. Hey, okay, here's me, Karenua. I'm like, bro, I'll come work for you if I get his trap.

SPEAKER_03 33:38

Like that's but uh You're making me sound cooler than I am.

Doug Smith 33:44

It's oh you're cool, yeah. But do you wear did Rick Warren get a shirt with his face on it when you met with him? Anyway, uh only you don't. Honored, honored. Yeah. Um talk about putting yourself in in rooms that are bigger than you with people that are bigger than you. Like what impact has that practice made for you and why do you continue to do it?

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Sure. Yeah, I I don't remember who said it, um, but they said if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. Um, and so I I do try to put myself around people that I, you know, I know that they're a better leader. I know that they're smarter than me. Um, Doug, you're you are a great person for questions. Like you, I've been in a room with you around other leaders, and you you are a great questioner, and you ask deep questions and thoughts. I aspire to be able to get to that point where I'm asking these great questions to leaders, but I'm not there yet, but I still want to be in the presence. I still want to be able to ask questions and rub shoulders and things like that. And so uh for me, one of the things recently I've leaned into is uh a mastermind group, and I know you promote those a lot on IL3, and um I think it's fantastic. Up until honestly, up until really your podcast, I I didn't even really know what I don't know if I've even heard of a mastermind group. I didn't know what that was. Um, but just the concept, and we don't call ours a mastermind group, but it's the same thing where we can just get together. And dude, I'm telling you, man, I I am by far the least smart person at that table. And I'm telling you, like, and I and I picked, I was actually invited into this group, and it was such an honor to me uh to be sitting at this table, and it's and I'm the only nonprofit in there. It's all these for-profit CEOs that run very successful businesses. One of the guys I sit next to, you know, he's a CEO of a publicly traded company. They do$2 billion a year. He has thousands of employees, and I'm like, I don't belong at this table, right? I don't, but I I I spend one day a month with them, you know, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And we just talk and we share strategy. And I, you know, in a nonprofit world, we're we're great at mission and vision and values and passion, not always good at the business side of things. And so this is where I'm like, hey, I gotta lean into this and these guys. And so for me, it is just a matter of stretching myself because I know that I'm not the, you know, that I know I have a ton to learn and I want to constantly be learning. And I do, I love it for me, but I think I I I shoulder the burden of like my staff depend on me to be the best leader. The children here at the home need me to be the best leader so that we can continue to help them and their families.

Doug Smith 36:26

Yeah, and the the groups that you're in are C12, which is a great organization if you're listening to this. If you're an executive or have a key player on your team, really encourage you to check them out. If you're in the Pittsburgh area specifically, we're about to launch uh C12 Pittsburgh, which is really exciting. But they have them all over the US and really all over the world. Yeah, um, but there's a cost to this, right? Like we um I there was a meeting last night of interest group for C12, and and I unfortunately couldn't be there, but I heard one guy was like, I'm paying X for what? Like, yeah, like you know, can you talk about the importance of actually investing? And hey, for high returns, you need high investment. Like, even though things have been expensive for you to be in those rooms, what's been the return on the investment you've made in yourself?

SPEAKER_03 37:05

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think to me, it all always goes back to the ROI, right? And so when I looked at this, and and it is expensive every month, but um the value that it brings to me, and um, you know, where I I'm able to two parts I think really value. One, we study uh amongst other things, but we always study a business principle. And so, you know, I'm taking these guys that are running thousands of employees running huge corporations, and I'm like gleaning from them that I can apply it into my little nonprofit with 50 people, right? Um to me, it's just like an absolute no-brainer. Um, and then the other side is is we spend, you know, about an hour just open talk. And so, you know, even this last week when I met, I was like, guys, like I'm in meetings all the time. Is this normal? And uh, you know, I'm looking at these big CEOs and they're like, Well, how many meetings do you do? I'm like, well, eight or nine every day. And they're like, ridiculous, stop right now, you know, and they're like little yelling at me, and uh, you need to cancel half of your meetings immediately. And so, I mean, there's really no no you can't hardly put a dollar value on that. There's so much more return uh for what you're getting, and these guys will sharpen you. I saw one of those guys just yesterday at an event, and he came right up to me. He's like, What have you done to fix your scheduling problem? I'm like, okay, yeah.

Doug Smith 38:25

This is gold. Yeah, and so I so I have to ask, I was gonna say what's been the greatest takeaway from it, but literally uh we use EOS here at Light of Life, and we've been IDSing, which is identifying, discussing, and solving issues. And one of the big issues is we have too many meetings. And actually, the same thing you're saying. I've been questioning, I'm like using AI, I'm like, is it normal to have like a whole schedule full of meetings every week? Have you have you taken any steps or did you get any advice that was transformational? Because I'm like, how do these huge corporations not like there has to be a solution to this? Please help me. Yeah, I'm sure people listening to this are saying, help us, Matt. Too many meetings.

SPEAKER_03 39:01

No, so for me it was uh one, I have too many direct reports. Um I have a 11 direct reports. Um, so I need to cut that number down, and I know I I need strategically to make another hire there, but that's not going to fix it in the immediate future. And so um then they just started asking me what's your what's your meeting with them? And so I'd meet with every one of my direct reports, either weekly or bi-weekly, and they said that's that's too much. At your level, um, you're meeting with your leadership team, right? And I said, Yeah. They said, Well, they should be functioning uh a lot more independently. So cut that down to once uh once a month on uh one-on-one meetings. So it's that's a little bit scary to me because I I like to build the relationship side of things. Yeah, so that that's one change. I already talked to my assistant, I'm gonna implement uh starting in June. Yeah.

Doug Smith 39:50

If I could pipe in on that, man, that's so good. And it's interesting that came from like such a high-level leader. So I'm in my mastermind group, and uh one-on-ones came up at some point. And uh my friend pulled me aside because I also do weekly one-on-ones, and again, I'm highly relational, want to stay in touch when everything that's going on. And he said, I think that's way more about your ego and pride than it is actually like and clearly I said, You have no idea what you're talking about until this moment, anyway. But I think there's something there. And when he said once once a month, man, but but inside the control freaks out of me is like, once a month.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

Yeah.

Doug Smith 40:24

Ah anyway, what else? What else?

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Another thing, um, one of the CEOs said, you know, he said, remember, Matt, you know, you're you're the CEO, and so people need to come to your schedule. And that's one of the things I struggle with is like, you know, well, you know, I I need to meet, or but let me do it on your time frame. He he said, No, you know what? You know, you just you need to call it as you need it, and they can switch their schedule around to make it adapt so that you're not spreading your meetings out and all of these type of things. And so that was a big deal. And then um moving our leadership team meeting uh to we meet weekly, and now we're gonna meet bi-weekly. And so um I was able to strategize all this out, and I I cut my meetings down uh over half uh for for what's gonna be the next couple months as I try all this out. But you know, hey, you know, we may talk three months from now, Doug, and I'll say none of it worked. But here's the thing, here's and I think it will, but here's the thing is that is you have people around you that challenge you. And maybe this isn't the solution, but I'll go back to them and say, hey, I tried this and I felt like this was kind of falling apart and this didn't mesh. And then they'll say, Well, we'll do this, this, and this, and try that. So um, that's the importance back to the main point of this was like surrounding yourself by people that can sharpen you, that can hold you accountable. Even that friend that talked to you. I mean, uh that's a you know, that's it's probably hard to say. Uh, hey, it's about your ego, buddy. Get off your high horse, you know. That that's not always a fun thing to say, but you need people around you that do that and it keeps you sharp as a leader.

Doug Smith 41:56

Yeah, and that leader that told me that also met once a month with his with his direct reports. Yeah. And in my mind, I'm like, you're lazy.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

You just don't want to But you know what I found when I was really going through my schedule was I I have way too many one-off meetings. And so, you know, just it's not necessarily the one-on-ones in the leadership meetings, it's just this person wants to meet with me. And so I took last month and I had 21 one-off meetings, and I I got to really ask myself, did I need to be that person? Did I need to be the person having the meeting? And uh right off the bat, without even hardly thinking twice, I scratched eight off that I'm like, I shouldn't have met. So there's, you know, there's a bunch, that's a third, right? Uh uh of the meetings I shouldn't even have been in to begin with. And then the other ones I I I've I just went through and was like, you know what? I could have been in it, but I I could have also delegated that one too. And so that that's something I'm working through.

Doug Smith 42:53

Does Robin, your assistant, run your full calendar?

SPEAKER_03 42:56

She does, yeah.

Doug Smith 42:57

Yeah, we'll put it on her. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Well, no, this is funny. Like, I had another mentor who was helping me through the same thing, and he said, he had a great phrase. Uh, I think I shared it all through one day. He said, uh, stop scheduling to your availability, schedule to your ability. Like, man, what's gonna provide the goodest return? But he also said, never have more than 70% of your day scheduled. You need like that bandwidth, uh, which is so funny. So, like, I had my sister put all this bandwidth time in, and I again like she wants to kill me. I basically just filled it with meetings because yeah. I'm like, sure. And then she's like, Stop! I'm I'm trying to free you, and this is your fault anyway.

SPEAKER_03 43:32

Robin says that same thing to me. She's you know, so so that that's kind of the last thing I put in place was I'm gonna go down to uh three hours of meetings so um per day. So three hours, so that'd be three meetings max. Um, I typically already don't schedule meetings on Thursdays. I've been that's been pretty a long standing thing for me, but I'm also gonna make Tuesdays as well. So I'm gonna go meetings only three days a week, and I'm gonna do three meetings per day. Um, that's in One week, what I've been doing in one day, nine meetings. So uh TBD on how that works, Doug. I'll let you know.

Doug Smith 44:06

I'm definitely gonna stay tuned because that is a high priority issue in our organization. Um I want to go I want to ask a few lightning questions, but I I think to wrap it up on the leadership end, uh, you know, a lot of times when I'm talking to leaders on the podcast about succession, it's talking about how they did it or what their succession plan is. I don't talk to a lot of people who've been the successor. Uh what what advice would you give from your standpoint on what went well in your succession and maybe some things that you wish you would have done differently?

SPEAKER_03 44:34

Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so we we my dad and I started our succession planning in uh 2020 and we had kind of a five-year road. And so um the secession plan was supposed to be through to take place at the end of this year, 2025. Um, and so we one of the things I think we all admitted that we did wrong was we had too long of a runway for that secession. Um we were looking too far into the future. Now I think it's it's one thing to be planning toward that, but we were actively like trying to transition roles and it just it got messy um when none of us we neither of us intended it to be. And so that's when about 2023 my dad and I just sat down and he said, Look, he said, You've been here almost at this point, almost 20 years. Um, you know, there's there's you're you're more than capable. You know, he said, let's just shorten this thing a couple years and make it happen now so that there's no there's clarity amongst the staff, there's not kind of two leaders kind of coming. And um, and so that was one thing I think we uh we course corrected. Um I think something that we did well was we, you know, again from your podcast, you introduced us to Lee Kreitcher, and um and you had him on your podcast, and I texted you, I was like, dude, I need to talk to this guy. Like um, you know, I I we want to have some third-party help in in going through this transition and just helping us to look for what are the red flags, what are things that we're missing, blind spots, how to communicate it to the staff, how to communicate it to our our donor base. And and so uh Lee coming in and he flew down and spent a day with us, that was very helpful. But we came up with the written plan of like, hey, here's what we're gonna do and here's how it's gonna look with timelines and agreements. Um, I think it was specifically important for us because it's family as well, and that can get messy quick. Um, it can be your it can be the best thing ever, and it can it can be messy at the same time. Um, and so we wanted to make sure we were we were very clear in both sides' expectations of what it would look like, um, and then just started executing on that plan. And I think overall it's gone really well.

Doug Smith 46:42

Yeah, yeah. I've I've loved watching it, and I've lost seeing you step into your role, man. I'm just so proud of you, and uh, you're doing a phenomenal job. Thanks again for the work you do. Uh we only have a few minutes left, so some lightning round questions that I try to ask at the end of every interview. Uh, the first one I I've never asked before, but if you could wear a shirt with your favorite leader's face on it, it would be good, man.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

Yes.

Doug Smith 47:07

But for real, uh yeah, best lead best advice you've ever received and who gave it to you.

SPEAKER_03 47:13

Oh man, that's a big one, Doug. Um I think there's probably multiple advices along the way. Kind of, you know, I've had great parenting advice, I've had great leadership advice. Um but I think if I had to boil it all the way back to something, and it sound maybe it's you know sounds a little bit predictable, but when I was probably 17, my parents sat me down and uh specifically my dad, but they were both there and just and told me that they wanted me to go to this particular Christian college. And um, if I would go for one year, that they would pay for it. And what I did after that, you know, was up to me. And and so I agreed to that, and they just you know, they said, we think this is the best route for you. And then looking back, you know, obviously I went to college and that's where I met my wife. Um, and then you know, and then you start looking at that, and it's like now we've we have four children and we've been in ministry for 20 years together, and so you know, I think maybe just listening to the advice that my parents gave me on a direction when you're 17 or 18, you don't know anything, right? So I was just taking advice and saying, okay, this is what they say, and uh, and I look back and it was pretty pivotal because I could have gone somewhere else, I would have never met Mandy, I wouldn't have the kids I have today, you know, and you just start looking into those things. So um so maybe not the advice uh that's very oh it's very specific to me, but that's probably very pivotal as well.

Doug Smith 48:38

Yeah, yeah. Uh you mentioned parenting advice, which I have to ask. Uh, you know, I'm in the the the midst of five kids. Best parenting advice you've ever received.

SPEAKER_03 48:47

Oh man. Um it clearly is this it is your kids grow up fast, and so take advantage of every moment that you can. And uh, you know, my I have two children through adoption, so one, you know, my older two are uh 28 and 26, um, and we got them when they were seven and nine, and it blows my mind that they're 20s, 28, and 26. Our 26-year-old son just got married like two weeks ago, and so this time next year, Doug, I might be a grandpa. So I probably won't have my grandkids' face on the shirt from then on. That's right, rightfully so. But they do grow up so fast, Doug. So I would say, you know, I know you've got a a house full of little ones, and it just probably seems more like logistics as much as anything. Like, okay, I gotta get them here into bed and to duh, and make before the call, you told me that you were on daddy duty for a while when Laura was out traveling. He's yeah, he's like, Well, they they all stayed alive, so like some days you just feel like that, like that's the threshold, right? So that's right. But but take every moment in and every opportunity you can. That was big for me.

Doug Smith 49:50

Biggest leadership pet peeve.

SPEAKER_03 49:52

Um I would I don't know that I have a pet peeve. I would say I can tell you what I I admire the most in leaders is is humility. And uh, you know, and that's one of the things, you know, you get in a room with the leader, and you know pretty quick if they're humble. Um and if and and and so I guess by kind of the inverse of that is when you get in a room with a leader that um isn't humble, and uh you know, that's I guess strikes me as as uh a pretty poor characteristic.

Doug Smith 50:26

So good. Now, if you ever get time to get to get to know Matt, you have to listen to his stories. He has crazy, crazy adventures that he goes on. He's crazy. I'll just say that. Uh but I love asking people like what's something you've experienced in your life that you think everyone should experience before they die?

SPEAKER_03 50:42

Yeah, I would say um wilderness backpacking. So I think I think if you've never climbed a mountain for 10 days with your food in your backpack and your tent and all of that, I think you're missing out, I would say for sure. Specifically out in Yosemite area or California, it's great.

Doug Smith 50:59

Ten days in a mountain. And don't fall off the cliff with your brother in a in a what were you in a bun?

SPEAKER_03 51:04

Like a side-by-side ATV, yeah. That was Colorado.

Doug Smith 51:09

You're crazy. You're crazy. Uh if you could go back and have coffee with yourself at any age and you would have actually listened to that, Matt, what would you tell him?

SPEAKER_03 51:18

Yeah. Um, probably right out of college, maybe 22 years old, and I probably would tell myself to seek wisdom more, pray for wisdom. And again, if you're if you're listening and you're a person of faith, you read in the Bible that God promises to give you wisdom if you just simply ask for it. And and maybe there's theologians out there that know deeper, but um that that in my recollection is the only promise that you know we can ask for finances, we can ask for health, or never promise those things. But God says, if you ask for wisdom, I promise to give you wisdom. Um, and so I would tell myself to ask for wisdom from God.

Doug Smith 52:00

Yeah, and you must have because you're one of the wisest friends that I have. So I really appreciate that. Yeah, last question, then I'll just leave it open-ended after that. But um at the end of the day, at your end of your life, what do you want your legacy to be? What do you want to be remembered for?

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Yeah, I think I would say uh, you know, the apostle Paul in the Bible wrote uh the last some of the last recorded words that he wrote uh in 2 Timothy was I fought a good fight, I've finished my course, I've kept the faith. And you know, there's gonna be times in life where we have to fight through some things. Uh there's a course that God has specifically given you, Doug. He's given me. Um, and I just want to finish strong. I want it to be said of me 50 years from now, whatever. Um, you know, he he fought a good fight and and he he kept the faith and he finished his course. And so I think that that's what I want my kids and grandkids to look at me and say.

Doug Smith 52:54

Anything else you want to leave leaders with today?

SPEAKER_03 52:56

No, I I just appreciate you letting me be here, Doug. It's uh it's an honor. And um, you know, as you always say, the the leaders out there keep doing what we're doing. Um it it sometimes it feels like a an uphill battle, but um we're there for a purpose and and uh just keep doing what we're doing.

Doug Smith 53:13

Great. And if you want to connect with Matt, I'll include links to ways to connect with him and everything going on at Hope Children's Home in the show notes and make sure you check them out. And if you're ever in the Tampa area, again, really encourage you to check them out. You can go take a tour and actually see uh for yourself the colleges and the families and the school, and uh you'll just be blown away. So thanks again for all the great work you're doing, Matt.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

Yeah, thanks, Doug.

Doug Smith 53:32

Well, we just thank you so much for listening to my conversation with Matt. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. You can find ways to connect with him and link up with Hope Children's Helm in the show notes below. Again, incredible organization are I support them and have for a few years now. I really hope I don't link up with the great work that they do. Uh I also want to thank our sponsor at Dirce Marketing Solutions. They're an incredible organization that wants to help you with your organization's marketing. If you any marketing needs at all, I cannot recommend them enough. I know a lot of their clients and they're beyond through with the work that they do. You can learn more about com. And you know, I like every episode with a quote, and I'll quote Anthony Gaudi who said this. He was talking about a church that he built. He said, It is not a disappointment that I will not be able to finish the temple. I will grow old, but others will come after me. They will make it even more grandiose. And I was just really challenged by that uh leadership mindset of just knowing that hey, one day, this work that I'm doing is gonna be complete. But if I do it right, I can hand it off to the next generation and they'll do an even better job with it. And that's what kingdom work is all about. So I hope that inspires you. As a leader, as I say in every episode, remember don't quit. Keep leading. The world desperately needs your leadership. We'll talk to you next episode.