The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
Never stop dreaming, even when life tackles you hard - Art Thomas, Randstad
What happens when your childhood dreams collide with academic reality?
Art Thomas, a client partner from Randstad Digital, knows this journey all too well. After receiving multiple D1 football offers but falling short on his SAT score by just 70 points, he was forced to completely reimagine his path to college athletics. That detour through the military academy became one of the most formative experiences of his life.
Now a father of three, Art draws from his unique background as a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from Guyana with virtually nothing. Despite humble beginnings, Art never felt deprived growing up—a testament to his parents' determination to create opportunities through education and an unwavering work ethic. These same values now form the foundation of his parenting philosophy.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Art reveals how he encourages his children to dream audaciously while developing disciplined habits. When his youngest son declares he wants to play in the MLB after high school, Art doesn't dismiss it. "If you're not dreaming, then what are you doing? What are you chasing?" he asks. This perspective comes from his own journey of achieving what once seemed impossible—playing professional football and briefly joining his childhood team.
Perhaps most powerful is Art's approach to daily self-investment. He teaches his children to set aside time each day for personal growth, regardless of distractions. "Make sure every day, two hours a day, you invest in yourself," he tells them, emphasizing that consistency and personal accountability create the foundation for future success.
This episode beautifully illustrates how our most challenging experiences often become our greatest teachers, and how sharing both successes and failures with our children creates authentic connections and valuable life lessons. Whether you're a parent seeking guidance or simply someone navigating life's unexpected detours, Art's story will inspire you to persevere through challenges and keep dreaming big.
Subscribe to the Quarterback Dadcast for more authentic conversations with dads who are working to become better leaders of their homes.
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Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show. Hey, everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. Welcome to season six, and I could not be more excited to have you join me for another year of fantastic episodes and conversations really unscripted and raw and authentic conversations with dads. If you're new to this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we interview dads, we learn about how they were raised, we learn about the life lessons that were important to them, we learn about the values that are important to them and really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback or leader of our home. So let's sit back, relax and listen to today's episode on the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast. This is Casey Jaycox, your host. We are in season six and we continue to roll along. I want to thank all the 300-plus dads who spent time with me each and last for the last six years, and we are on a quest to get to 1,000 dads interviewed, which doesn't even sound overwhelming. It more excites me than anything and I'm very excited for our next guest, who is not only his. He is a Virginia Cavalier. He is. He's got some some ties to football. He's got some ties to the CFL and maybe had a cup of coffee with my Seattle Seahawks. He is a client partner at the fantastic Ronstadt Digital, a very well-known company doing great things there. But more importantly, our next guest, art Thomas, is a dad and he's working hard, continuously working hard, to become that ultimate leader or quarterback of his household, and we're going to find more about him. So, without further ado, mr Thomas, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me Casey Pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm grateful, brother, so we always start out each episode with gratitude. So tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today?
Speaker 2:To my kids just being healthy and continuing to better themselves every day. I'm grateful to be able to see them as often as I I do from working from home, that's. That's a blessing for me Love it.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of us sometimes we say health and it sometimes can be cliche, but I'm hopeful that people listening when you, when Art said that slow down and like, appreciate that, like I think I've shared with are. Before I do, I do gratitude work in the morning, when I write my journal and the first thing I always say is God, thanks for waking me up today. And, as silly as that might sound, people like when I write that I actually find myself subconsciously smiling, cause I'm like you know what? I got a chance to do something today. I don't know what it is yet, but I got a chance to do something. And it's amazing when we, but I got a chance to do something. And it's amazing when we, when we, when we, when we slow down our most, just like I tell my son the the, the most powerful club in your golf bag is not a golf club, it's your mindset. I think that same mind, that same thing, can be talked about in sales and leadership. Or our mind's not right, taking it back to fatherhood when we're not the best dad we can be, we're going to be a shitty at our job, yeah, and we bring that negative energy. So I love that. You said that's a great thing for people to remember. What I'm most grateful for today is and my wife is out of town so I miss her, but with that I get more one-on-one time with my kids, and so I was grateful last night. But with that, I get more one-on-one time with my kids, and so I was grateful.
Speaker 1:Last night was a. I got to see my son and his girlfriend, my daughter and her boyfriend. They were playing cornhole in the backyard. That was fun to watch. And then we had people for the first preseason Seahawks game. My son had his buddies over and their girlfriends, and just like the noise in the house, I'm just grateful for that. Awesome, yeah, I'm just grateful for that. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Um, well, I know you're a db, but you get to play quarterback today, all right. So, uh, tell, bring me inside that the thomas huddle. You're, you're the quarterback. I'm guessing your wife's the general manager, but bring me inside the squad. Tell me a little bit about how you and your wife met and a little bit about each member of the team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so many moons ago, we both attended University of Virginia. She was a scholarship athlete for softball, I was a scholarship athlete for football and we met at school. From there, we, you, you know, we dated the traditional dating thing and then, uh, as, as we graduated, we, um, went our separate ways but found each other again. And then, uh, in 2010, we, we got married and, um, you know, we started having kids. Here I have three kids Oldest is 13. He's Simon, and then I have a daughter who's 10, jackie, and then I have an eight-year-old who thinks he's going to be the next MLB player any day now, but he's doing really well Asher, who's eight.
Speaker 2:So you know, that's the fam, that's the troop, that's the team right now.
Speaker 1:Love it. Now, what is your wife's name?
Speaker 2:Joanna.
Speaker 1:Does Joanna, does she stay home or does she work outside the home, joanna?
Speaker 2:Does Joanna? Does she stay home or does she work outside the home? She is a nurse who has recently transitioned from bedside nursing to another role that I'm still trying to understand exactly what she's doing, but it allows her to be home. So this and this just happened, like maybe two or three weeks ago. So she's still doing orientation and training right now, um, still learning about this role, but, um, it's something that will allow her to be more in the fold of the day-to-day what we do in family. Cause, last 10, 10, 11 years we've been ships passing the night and the fact that we made it this far is a blessing because, you know, I was initially on the road a lot and when I get off the road, she the next day she'd go over her three, twelves and then vice versa. You know, when she comes back the next day I'll be on the road.
Speaker 3:We did that for years.
Speaker 2:It was when the kids were young. To this day, it's funny I still travel in my world today.
Speaker 3:but not as often.
Speaker 2:When I leave, they're like why are you leaving? They don't even remember how often I was on the road. At one point, 52 weeks in a year, I was on the road. 46 of them, wow, and that's a lot. But they don't remember that and that was intentional on our part. That, hey, once they start asking hey, where are you going from Monday to Thursday? Right, I think I need to hang it up. Hey, where are you going from Monday to Thursday? Right, I think I need to hang it up. And you know they're, they're my priority, right, I, it's jobs. You know I had to change jobs and that in order for that to happen. But, um, I think I made the right decision.
Speaker 1:It's the best for our family love it, ma'am, um, tell me about. So we got Simonon, jackie and asher. What are their? Um? So asher's going mlb. We got that figured out. Uh, tell me what. Tell me a little bit about simon and jackie.
Speaker 2:What, what, um, what they're interested in well, uh, jackie is is by far my most athletic kid um, she is very boys, what's?
Speaker 1:that I said.
Speaker 2:Sorry, boys, we're airing you out yeah, yeah, I mean I I tell her that all the time um she has, uh, she's just naturally athletic and um can do anything any sport she's.
Speaker 2:She's done volleyball. She's in the middle of softball right now. She's played tennis, basketball. She loves it. All right. The beautiful thing is she doesn't have to work much at it. But that in itself develops some bad habits. But she's not too focused on sports. I wouldn't say I wouldn't say she's all about playing sports. She loves. She loves to draw, she loves to do um painting. She does that almost every day.
Speaker 2:She loves to read um she's she's more well-rounded than the boys um and I'm trying to get the boys into these other things because you know it, so they'd be more than just what they do so and then?
Speaker 2:simon. He is uh, he's 13, um, full of energy, always has a smile on his face, working through that adolescent phase right now, where he's trying to figure out who he wants to be and the type of man he's going to grow into. So it's sometimes it's a process with him, you know, as he's growing into his own skin. He's very he's very tall for his age, so he has that awkwardness looking like a giraffe trying to find his way. But he's just as committed and passionate about the things that he does, and maybe doing them the right way, than anyone else in the family, right? So he's a very quick study. So I have to teach him patience most of the time because, you know, when he was three or four years old, he learned about ride a bike in like a couple hours.
Speaker 2:Wow so he thought everything should be that easy, right. And so I'm like you know, we started playing basketball when he was young and he wasn't. He was frustrated with it. I was like you gotta work at it, you can get it, you just gotta work at it. Not everything's gonna come easy, and so he's. He's grown out of that and now he's ready to challenge himself and we're looking forward for him going into the eighth grade this year and playing football and really, really excited about that.
Speaker 2:He's also very interested in basketball and he's he's passionate about that as well, so the sky's the limit for him.
Speaker 1:So cool. Now do our, do your kids realize hey, mom and dad were pretty good athletes.
Speaker 2:I think, look, we have some memorabilia around the house. They've seen the accolades We've taken, taken them back to UVA to kind of see our where we met, where my wife played. They know, they know that, um, that, hey, we, we, we've been through what they're going through, yeah, and I think that has allowed us to talk to them a certain way where they're more receptive. I have a lot of friends, who's who, who talked to me about, you know, coaching their kids or putting them on a the right way. Hey, you should be focusing on this. And a lot of them say, hey, my kids don't listen to me. I don't have that problem with my kids. I tell them hey, if you want to get better, this is what you need to do. I'm not going to push you. It has to come from you. But if you come to me and ask for help, I'm going to help you the best way I know how, so they know what to expect.
Speaker 2:We almost set that expectation and my wife has set that expectation, especially with Jackie and Asher, and just how she taught them how to throw a ball I'm a football guy, right, she was a pitcher. So she went down technically like here's how you throw, here's how the motion, here's what you look at, right. So she was very disciplined on that and now they're flourishing because of it. Asher is about to go to 9U where before he was that machine pitch and now he's that kid pitch and he's one of the hardest throwers on his team. And then Jackie, she's been pitching and softball is a little different because it's very technical how you pitch. It's totally different than men's baseball. And she can throw that ball. It's. It's amazing to see her get dialed in. Um, it's just a short amount of time.
Speaker 2:I mean this is very early in their their careers, but um they're, they're progressing well.
Speaker 1:So cool. Um, okay, this is where I love learning about my guests, so I want you to go back and tell me about what was life like growing up for you and talk about the impact that mom and dad had for you.
Speaker 2:Now that you're a dad as you reflect, maybe from a values perspective- I'm number two out of four and my parents both immigrated here to the US from South America. They were actually childhood friends that got married here in the United States. I think it was 1972 when they got married and they came over here with nothing Right so, but we didn't know it. We didn't feel that as kids growing up. They gave us every opportunity to do whatever we want. It was never a thing as an adult looking back at that. It was never a thing as an adult looking back at that. We didn't feel that we didn't have much ever. But I saw situations in my childhood looking back like, yeah, I don't know how we got through that, but we did Right and you know they're very hard workers.
Speaker 2:Education was a very, very, very important thing for them. My dad ended up going to law school, passed a bar in Pennsylvania, so most of my childhood was in that Pennsylvania, central Pennsylvania area, harrisburg, mechanicsburg, pa, and just a lot of what they've shown us was like the discipline it takes to go to work every day in the grind, and my parents I would say out of my parents, my dad was had the personality of like he's very charismatic, very affectionate, loving all that stuff. My mom was a workhorse and she was very different, very disciplined. Hey do things this way. And so it's funny. In my adult life I find myself being very kind of the same way my mom is, but also around my friends, kind of opening up and having that charisma.
Speaker 1:So I feel like I'm a blend of both. So dad was a lawyer. Yes, and tell me about mom. What did she do for a job?
Speaker 2:She worked at a community college. She's an administrative assistant for over 20 years in Central PA. So when she she, it was amazing, because every time we'd go see her at work everybody knew her. She was like oh yeah, she's here. She was, she knew everything about what was going on there. She was the go-to person.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of things that we were proud of her for and the way she raised us, even though it was very. It wasn't easy for my brothers and my sisters, but she's. I would do it all over again if I could wow so first generation from first gen guineas.
Speaker 1:You said right, guyana guyana, south america okay, so guyana. Uh, have you ever asked mom and dad? Hey, what was the tipping point when mom and dad said we're out of here, we're going to the States?
Speaker 2:in the country that allowed them to. Hey, we have to maybe be in a better environment so we can raise kids and have a family. And the opportunity here. You know Guyana, if you're not aware, it's a third world country, right, so there's not much of an infrastructure there. It's really different. And so the opportunity to come to the United States presented itself for them, and not just individually, but for their entire family. So my dad is one of 13. My mom is one of five. Very large family, everybody went Right. So, um, and it was just I believe it was more opportunistic opportunity to grow, opportunity to advance, advancements for their children. Um, and education was a big, big piece of that.
Speaker 1:So did they when they moved? Did they have jobs or did they move here looking for jobs?
Speaker 2:They moved looking for jobs. Um, they did not have a job. Um. My dad tells a story.
Speaker 2:He used to be, um a doorman at a hotel in New York somewhere while he was going to school he'd work nights, um, and you know, back then he always tells me the story. Just last week he was telling me a story of how, of how you know, school going to school when he came over this country it was like 300 bucks, it was nothing like. And now you know, now you're telling thousands, thousands of dollars a semester. He goes to credit a credit dude credit was like 50 bucks, like it was nothing. So you take, you know, you got 300 bucks, you got a whole semester worth of credits and you're good. Wow. So he's just, he's just, he always reminds me of that story.
Speaker 2:He tells it to me probably a couple of times a year, but like it was very different for them when they came over here, Now, do you guys ever go back?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so as kids we never went back right. And you always wonder because we were, you know, out of my brother myself, my sisters it's. It would have been expensive for us to go Right. So, um, we never went back when we lived with them, but I would say this was probably five, six years ago. We all went back altogether and I got to take my oldest, simon. I believe he was nine or 10 at the time. So it was a great experience all around, and to have my son be a part of that, it was just awesome.
Speaker 1:Wow, what was like the biggest maybe learning lesson for him or for you going back that made you realize how fortunate we are in the United States.
Speaker 2:It's humbling, it is very humbling, um, but it wasn't. It wasn't to the point where you know where it's like you felt bad. Right, because there were so many things that you know in my as a kid growing up. The food I ate, that you know in my as a kid growing up, the food I ate that reminded me at home, every meal that we had cooked. We had a chef there that was making food for us. Every meal was like oh wow, this is even better than what we had stateside. And you know, food for me was very, it's very comforting and it reminds me of home.
Speaker 2:But that whole experience kind of like wow, you guys grew up in this right and it really helps you understand their perspective on things and how nothing that we've experienced as kids or going to experience can compare to their experience in in that area and how they grew up and the things they had to do and um the progress they've made so that I, I'm always grateful for that, and it's very humbling to know that we still have land there.
Speaker 2:Um, we still have a house there. Uh, for my grand grandfather there's just. There's still family and a reason to go back, so that that will always be with me. Now we're mom and dad athletes too uh, so my dad, my dad would say he's an athlete, he's a cricket guy he's a cricket guy, right okay but let me just put it this way.
Speaker 2:So he said he was he's the best bowler ever right, and that those are the guys that pitch um. But, uh, um, out of the 13 of them on his side, everybody else ran track and was probably like the person at their age group running track and field. And I have some uncles that would blow a lot of people out of the way, so he's never. My dad has never talked to me about how fast he was. He's like yeah, that wasn't me, but I could really throw the ball.
Speaker 2:Not to say he wasn't athletic but he never talked about running track and that that for me, because of the type of athlete I am, speed was like I go, I probably get my speed. For him and my mom she was athletic but she she was more like band, band type stuff. Um, she paid a little bit of tennis here and there, but nothing, nothing much. You know Um, but I, I, really I, I believe I got my athleticism. My siblings got their athleticism from my dad's side, because there's probably six or seven of them that were like the person in their sport that dominated and that sport was track and field.
Speaker 1:Wow. So education obviously is super important, but without without could give two shits about it. Yeah, so tell me how, how did mom and dad like get to you and your siblings to really cement the education is important? And then second part of that question is tell me how you guys are using maybe your foundational, how you learned education to like making sure your kids appreciate it too.
Speaker 2:If I were to look back, I had to go through my, my siblings, right. My brother is, is, is next level smart, right, he can be anything and graduate from it. He. He can be a physicist, anything very smart. I have a sister that's behind me. She's just as intelligent and smart as he is, if not even more. She went to Vanderbilt. I have another baby sister who is just like the both of them all in one. She's a nurse manager at John Hopkins. And me, I was a runt. I'm going to keep it real with you. I was a runt. I was when it came to school. It was never a priority for me until I was able to kind of tie school to what my purpose was, and that's when it had to click for me. So I've been through some things that allowed me to develop this importance of school. But it didn't mean my parents didn't push it, that they, they pushed it all the time. It's just it wasn't clicking with me, it wasn't. I didn't take it seriously enough, right and that's on me with that.
Speaker 2:I have developed these habits that were like hey, here's how I succeed in this piece. Anything physical for me was a walk in the park, um. But when it came to school, I just never put that same energy in the school. But when I connected the two and said, hey, in order to get here, I need to do this, then it was yeah, I, I got it now.
Speaker 2:So you didn't have to worry about me, but it was, I think, seeing them my dad go through law school and we were living in Toledo, ohio, then, and we'd spend our summers in New York and he would be, you know, a four year program. He finished in three years in law school. Like I mean that in itself is like yeah, anything is possible and you know. To hear him tell me about his journey and how he was so focused and, you know, being there and trying to take care of us at the same time, there's so many nuggets and so many pieces of motivation I can use for my. My parents would be like I can't let them down.
Speaker 3:I can't let my family down.
Speaker 2:So in that, with me and my kids and with Joanna together, we are like this stage we're at, they're in right now, especially the youngest ones. One's going in third grade, one's going into fifth grade. That's the foundation for the rest. So the rest of their school, with Simon he's going into eighth. But with him we started that process good habits. You come home, you get a snack, you release yourself, go outside, play, come back, let's get the work done right. So it's great because now Simon has a routine in middle school that we don't have to be on top of him. He just knows. He's like, comes in, gets his snacks, hangs out a little bit, does his homework, goes to practice. Last year, the last two years, we didn't have to worry about it. Now we're trying to develop those habits with Asher and Jackie.
Speaker 2:And you know Jackie's going on the fifth grade and she's she's on it and she's keeping up like through the summer she's reading. She's on her third book this summer. Asher's on his second book this summer and it's the habits of being a good student is what we're teaching early on. So, um, we don't know if they want to go to school. I mean, simon's definitely talking about it because he's like I'm trying to get a scholarship. Asher's like hey, I don't have to go to school if I'm going to play an MLB. And Jackie Jackie's just like hey, you know, I just enjoy the process of doing things, and don't? She's just in love with the journey, right? So they're all a little bit different, but and we want to, we want to be where they're at Right. I don't want to kind of push them to where we think they're going to like right now.
Speaker 2:Asher thinks MLb is the next thing after you graduate high school okay but as he grows we'll kind of redirect him and say, hey, school is just important, but he's developing the great habits do you guys allow him to dream big and like, why not go to mf?
Speaker 1:absolutely?
Speaker 2:absolutely I. I big piece of me is, I think, for some reason, I don't know what happens when you grow up. I don't know whether you grow up to go to school or grow up, or you graduate school or what have you? Some people just stop dreaming. No, I'm, I'm dreaming today. I still have a vision and dreams that I want to accomplish today that are far fetched, right, but that's my dream. And at one point, football was so far fetched for me, but that was my dream and I got to accomplish it. I got to. I got to play for my childhood team. Like rarely does that happen, right? So I, I'm all about dreaming. If you're not dreaming, then what are you doing? Like, what are you chasing? I'm, I, let them dream as big as they want. So if he wants to play mlb at high school, yeah, we watched. We watched the major league draft the other day and he was looking at the bats getting in sketch with people's names. Like I get that when I got drafted.
Speaker 3:I was like yeah, man.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEO and founder of ClearEdge, a company dedicated to transforming the business of talent. Through our three lines of business ClearEdge, marketing, recruiting and Rising that help organizations across the recruitment and HR tech sectors grow their brands and market share while building their teams with excellence and equity. I believe we were one of Casey's very first clients. He helped our sales and account teams really those people on the front lines of building and developing client relationships in so many ways. Here are a few. He helped us unlock the power of curiosity. For me it was a game changer. I was personally learning all about TED-based that's, tell, explain, describe, questioning, and that really resonated with me. We also learned about unlocking the power of humility and unlocking the power of vulnerability. Casey taught us to be a team player, to embrace change, to stay positive. He is one of the most positive people I know. He believes that optimism, resilience and a sense of humor can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Speaker 3:And I agree Casey's book Win the Relationship, not the Deal. And I agree Casey's book Win the Relationship, not the Deal. It is a must read. Listen, whether you're looking for coaching and training or a powerful speaker or keynote. Casey is one of the people I recommend when talking to companies. The end result for us, at least as one of Casey's clients our own clients would literally commend our approach over all other companies From the way we were prepared in advance of a call to how we drove meetings to how we follow up. It sounds really basic, I know, but let me tell you it is a standout approach that led to stronger relationships. I encourage you to learn more by going to CaseyJCoxcom. You have nothing to lose by having a conversation and a lot to gain. Now let's get back to Casey's podcast, the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:Love that. That's such an important thing to do. My son's one of his best friends. He plays hockey. One of his best friends. He plays hockey and he left high school as a sophomore. After a sophomore year he went and lived in Idaho with a billet family and played like minor league and then he went to New Hampshire. So he was and I'm like it was so hard for our friends but when he was a kid he was going to play on the PGA Tour and play in the NHL and then if he could try to get MLB in the offseason, he'd do that too. Now, asinine thought, right, I mean that doesn't happen. But his parents are like awesome, perfect. How can we support you?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's such a yeah.
Speaker 2:It's crazy the way these kids think, and I love it. I just love the way they like, especially my eight-year-old. He's like well, after I play MLB, then I'm gonna play in the NFL. I'm like but, but Ash, you're not, you're not playing any football right now. He's like, yeah, but maybe I should start right, like he's not clicking it together. But I'm like okay, just it's your dream, you'll figure it out all. But I'm like okay, just it's your dream, you'll figure it out All right. So I'm not going to say you can't do that, I'm just going to you know.
Speaker 2:encourage them to keep dreaming Like maybe they'll find a way.
Speaker 1:Do you ever like reflect and think like, where? Um, I think I know the answer, but I'm asking a question Anyways. Do you think like, have you ever like slowed down, thinking like, hey, where did if I'm arts talking to himself like, or where did, where did I get the, the power of dreaming, and where that instilled from? You ever think about where that came from?
Speaker 2:yeah, yes, I have, and I think this stems from my parents again, right, so in this country, there's, there's an underlying stigma that, like you have to see somebody that looks like you and see whether or not it's even capable of happening. And if you don't see enough people that look like you, then probably, yeah, I'm not going to do that thing because I don't see many of us there. But for my parents they grew up where at the highest levels government, police, all this stuff they were people that looked like him, and so they never had the doubt in their mind that they can do anything. And then they had us.
Speaker 2:So there was nothing through our childhood that they said you can do and be anything you want.
Speaker 2:We had that from small right. So I don't have the lens of. Just because there's nobody that looks like me up there, I can't. I shouldn't be going for that. Or just because I'm in an environment where nobody else has done it, I shouldn't be going for that. I have the lens. I can anything. It doesn't matter what you look like. If I want to do that, I can do that and all my siblings have that. My entire family, from cousins, uncles, aunts, my extended family embraces that and they were just just nothing that holds them back.
Speaker 1:Powerful. Yeah, I thought that might be your answer. Just like, obviously you know you, you moved from Guyana to the United States with nothing and you make it work. Like those are, like you can get inspiration out every single day if you think about it.
Speaker 1:I mean and I think that's so powerful, and I think it's also powerful to say like, because there there are people in life and you know, like I said, fair enough, fair, racism is never going to go away, unfortunate thing. But if I like, I can't remember if I shared this when we first met, but in 2020 was like a huge, huge year of growth for me from just understanding the word privilege and one of my great friends I met during this journey of entrepreneurship, a guy named Dale Favors, in the height of Black Lives Matter and the height of the social unrest, because I used to be one of these white people that said, when I heard the word privilege, I'd be like, I'm not privileged, I had to work my ass off for everything I get. I just didn't understand art. And so privilege to me now is I understand like, hey, when I go to a restaurant, how many people of color are there? When I'm walking down the street, do I have to worry about if I'm holding a purse as a woman, woman do I need to put it the other side of the shoulder just in case someone tries to snap it from me? Or if I'm in an elevator by myself and I'm, you know, like and there's, am I thinking about things that are not what maybe someone of color might be thinking about or a woman might be thinking about, and to me, that's privilege? No, I don't. I don't.
Speaker 1:I, as a white, middle-aged white guy who was very privileged, I'm not going to feel guilty about it. But what's? What's changed is I'm a natural empathetic person, but now I'm like way empathetic to it and I'm and I'm more, and I use a curiosity which is a superpower that we all have. If you decide to use it, you get to learn a little bit more about like, hey, just because I'm, I don't have racist tendencies or I'm, but I but, like other people do at times. So, have empathy for people who've gone through it they're not making it up and maybe learn a little bit more about it to get them to talk about it.
Speaker 1:And so, like during that 2020, I went back and interviewed every I mean not every, but I probably interviewed five or six of my teammates from college football of color and I just said, man, I wish I was more curious back when we play football. Now you were my boy, like I've Polynesians, african-americans, samoans, but I never knew about their family. I didn't know where they're from. I didn't know, I didn't hear that stuff and I just and I remember telling my guys I'm sorry, I wish I would have learned, and just to hear stories and give them a voice and give them a platform to talk about, like their journey, what's good or bad, and so I just want to share that with you because I think it's, I think it's important and hopefully there's a middle aged white guy at home that's listening, that's maybe not thinking that way. Hopefully we can change somebody to get a little curious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's, there's layers, there's definitely layers and, um, if you break through and I, I'm, I I truly believe if you break through a couple layers, you'll realize that everybody is the same. Yeah, there's nothing. Everybody has issues. They're going through. Everybody copes with them differently, but at the core of everybody, we're all the same. No one's any better or any different. We all have the issues. We all have the same stresses. Sometimes you guys take a step back and be like hey, what am I judging here? Right, let's be curious, like you've always emphasized with me. Um, let's be curious before we judge yep, yep.
Speaker 1:Well, I know I'm I've already been inspired by your story. I hope there's a mom or dad or grandpa someone listening that says, you know, if you've not really, you know, slowed down to think about how you can help your kids dream like what a gift. You know what a gift. Like my, my son, you can help your kids dream Like what a gift. You know what a gift. Like my, my son plays golf, and in college at the NAI level.
Speaker 1:So it's not like some of these crazy, but he's a really good player and his team is a really good players. And after his freshman year he's like I think I want to try to play in the mini tours. I'm like, go do it. Yeah, why not? Now? Are the odds that he will? It's not for me to judge. I mean, that's he's got three more years of college golf, yeah, um. So you know, and I think about, like if I, if I would have told my high school teacher, my english teacher, that, hey, this dipshit's gonna write a book one day, you're like I'm not buying that thing. Hey, this dipshit is going to write a book one day, you're like I'm not buying that thing, is it going to?
Speaker 1:be a pop-up book, but like, why not? Like I didn't know how to write, I didn't know how to write, I didn't know how to start a podcast, but it's a power of like you can teach your kids like visualization, goal setting. I love that you said habits Like those are all things that we have control over, right, you know? Okay, so education, hard work, habits Is there a story that you might feel comfortable sharing, that where you had to, like, learn one of those things the hard way that maybe you've used as a teaching moment with your kids, or that maybe that, or just you yourself really learned the power of that?
Speaker 2:so my journey to college wasn't a normal journey. Every one of my peers um in college is familiar with it and I had some guys that were along the same journey, right. So, growing up central PA, I think I had 17 or 18 D1 offers. It was the top five. My top five was Syracuse, penn State, ohio State, virginia I believe Northwestern was in there at some point and I had to pick of any one of those schools I could have went to. I was what I think 70 points away on my sat in qualifying um and this story is something that is uh. But everybody had told me, hey, everything's good, all the papers look good and I go on to camp in the office. I ended up going and I get there and they check with ncaa and it's like, oh, you're short by 70 80 points on your sat score, based on your average gpa at school. So like, okay, what do we do now? So I had to leave camp this. I was three, four days in the camp and I went back home and the next thing was well, hey, you need to take the SAT again, but the next course is until October. So I'm like, okay, so then what? Right? Like, think about it. I'm at the top of my game, going into college like best shape of my life.
Speaker 2:Where did it go in this? It's about school, it's a school related thing, right? And the University of Virginia recommended this school that was like an hour away, two hours away from them, called Fort Union Military Academy. They had a postgraduate program where you know if you finished graduate high school you could take, go there and get opportunity to take the SAT again. So I did that. So I did that.
Speaker 2:When that SAT came around, passed it, got high enough, but part of the commitment. So part of the commitment was like you had to stay there for a year Because I came in late, they weren't expecting me. So hey, if you come here here, you stay for a year. Yeah, we'll get you ready and be able to take it. If I didn't pass, then I could take it in the spring or I could take as many times I want to. So I had to sit out a whole year, um to go there.
Speaker 2:But while I was there I I started. You know you get a lot of time by yourself and it's isolation. I had none of my friends that I grew up with there and you know you're in the military. You're doing drills, you're doing the whole year doing that. But somewhere in there I found like the discipline again in my schoolwork, right. So I took classes, this government class, these classes and I excelled, I got all A's on them, and so that was a learning point for me, right. And that was like, hey, I can't let this stuff slip, even though I can do this great stuff athletically, and everybody wanted me to go there. So that was, that was a dark moment for me, right, and but I I got through it. I had the right people around me. There was a guy there called Coach Schumann. There was a guy there called Coach Schumann and he was a tough nose coach, right, but he he would definitely was the right person that I needed in my life then, right, so that journey.
Speaker 2:I share with my kids. I was like, hey, regardless, it doesn't matter what you do on the field, it matters what you get done here in school and your habits that you develop. So a lot of that is stemming from you too. Um, and to make sure that they are developing these habits that they don't run into coming out of high school have you ever asked your parents how hard it was on them seeing you go through that?
Speaker 2:yeah, it was hard. It was hard, I mean, you know, expecting your kid to go here um, and you know they paid for my, my brother, to go to school.
Speaker 2:But then they saw the opportunity where they didn't have to pay for me and then ended up paying for me to go to this, this school. That wasn't, that wasn't the plan, right, like my dad. My dad's like was not the plan. So he's trying to find money to pay because he thought I had, I had my full ride, right. So that delayed. So they did end up paying for me in that short stint, not as much as if I were to go to a real university, but it's still something that was unplanned.
Speaker 2:And you know that, looking back now, I was probably in a piece of depression there. Sure, it was just, you know, a humbling experience for me, for my family, for my friends. To talk about it. Hey, I'm not seeing you on the sidelines in Virginia. What's going on? Tell them the story Right lines in Virginia. What's going on telling them the story, right um, but it had to happen. It's part of who I am. It's part of my resilience today. I use it all the time now. It's part of part of my story love it.
Speaker 1:Uh, did I ever show you my my football journey when I got hurt?
Speaker 1:no so it's funny, all what you just said just spoke to me big time. Um, because I use my injury as motivation still to this day. As I'm, I'm almost 50 years old, like in March. So my junior year, high school, well, sophomore year, a guy at the same age as me, he's playing um, he's a better athlete and he's on the jv. So I'm on the sophomore team now I was too dumb to realize hey, bro, your fate's sealed. Why are you going to keep playing quarterback? He's, he's the same age, you're not going to beat him out. I'm like didn't even think about. I was like having fun playing.
Speaker 1:We had 14 guys on my sophomore football team. I was 6-1, 134, so pretty much looking like a cross-country runner playing football. I played middlebacker, I punted, I played quarterback, I was on special teams, the whole thing and we sucked. But I had the most fun ever. The last, one of the last games, my sophomore year. I get played on j to jv and I kind of like get a few reps. Why I start playing? Well, don't realize it. And I remember one of my coaches says Coach Canoon, he goes, jay Cox, your stock's rising. I was like what does that mean? Didn't even, was oblivious to the stock market. I didn't know what he was talking about, just so naive School was not my thing and I FYI, my SAT was a 740. I barely even passed, and I was because I just guessed. I was like I'm too bored to take this test. It's not, it was not my jam. So, uh, I learned. This is where I learned about the power of belief. And, like so, my coach, marty Osborne coach Osborne, he, um, he asked me to, uh, he goes. You can either be an advertised school football player or a really good football player, but you got to quit basketball and baseball. You're going to have a chance to be a starting quarterback junior year, but here's what. Here's what you got to do. I was like what? So I learned about goal setting, weightlifting, running, all these types of things.
Speaker 1:Well, fast forward story, I ended up beating this kid out my junior year. So I start my junior year and I'm thinking, oh my God, it was like this high drama thing. They did announce me as a starter to week one and so much hard work went into it of like thousands of throws in the backyard I built a tire swing by myself. I was lifting twice a day for three. I mean crazy. I squeezed every ounce of athletic ability out of me. That junior summer, before my senior year, I went to the University of Washington football camp, got named best quarterback of the camp, went to Central Washington, got awards there, thinking, oh my God. And? And now I'm on UW's radar thinking this is going to be great. Well, and now the guy that I beat out, he's playing tight end. So fast forward to the.
Speaker 1:We had these things in Seattle called the jamboree, which is like a practice game. Yes, we had these jamborees and played against Brock Heard. We lit them up at Piala. Sorry, brock, but I do remember doing that and life was great. Well, the last play of the Jamboree for some reason I get put back in and it's Leroy 90 reads. So remember the play. It's pass play. I'm like why are we calling it pass play? What's our?
Speaker 1:And I got like I'm with the younger line because Shane, he couldn't go play quarterback for a reason. Snap, slow defensive tackle shoots the gap Knee gets on top of my foot. I can't move. Defensive end comes in, blast me from behind, felt like the tongue of my shoe, flew off, tried to stand up, collapsed. Trainer came out. Typical high school trainer Sorry, high school trainer, like I think you'll be okay, you'll be back by Monday. Like, okay, cool, within an hour. Pain was so bad I felt tears in my eyes. My parents like maybe we should go to the doctor, go to the doctor, take an x-ray. They're like we got to go into surgery now. I broke my foot in four spots. He goes you're, you're done. You're not playing this year. Now Shane, who I beat out my junior year, he would go play quarterback my senior year. I was a captain and I had to just watch. He would take us to the state playoffs first time in 20 years.
Speaker 1:He would set single season passing yardage record first school and he was named second team all league and I had to watch the best thing that ever happened in the yard yeah uh, after the third game of the season, because the first three games, deep down I'm like I hope he throws 14 interceptions, I hope we lose, I hope he gets hurt, I hope the team sucks, cause I'm so important and they miss me. And false, false and false. Now, that was true. That was a story I was telling myself. I was depressed, for sure, and something clicked in me where I said this is not how it's supposed to go. And I remember going to coach Osborne's office and I just said hey, coach, you got a minute. He's like yeah, I go. I just want to let you know. I'm so mad and angry and I just need to get this off my chest. I said I'm hoping you guys play like shit. I hope you guys suck. I hope the team plays bad. I hope, shane, I'm struggling. I, he's like man, I'm so proud of you, I go. Did you just hear what I said? How could you be proud of that? He goes because you're asking for help, and this is what being vulnerable is about. He goes, he goes case. We got a role for you. We just got to figure it out. He goes, I got it. How about you go in the booth and you help me call plays know this offense better than I do. I'm like I do. He's like, yeah, I. I'm like, yeah, let's do it. So I went from sadness, depression, anger to purpose, got a role. Now it was not the role I wanted, but I remember crutching down the field, gave the team a speech, told him my role. I'm on the sidelines, you know, freaking out, getting people jacked up. I played like two snaps. My senior year. Now, central Washington gave me a chance to be a walk-on, end up being a three-year starter, all-american, my senior year and all of it's.
Speaker 1:Because of that moment, flash forward to business. I went, I started in the dot-com crash. I went to the 2008 world crisis. I've been through 2014, 15,. One of the biggest failures in our old company history, where we had to lay off like 80 people overnight, goes back to. I've been through this before.
Speaker 1:So, um, I mean, that's why and even now, like dads, it's like dad sales leaders, companies like I think people want to hear the failures more than the successes, so that we can relate and we're genuine. And then, because you only get to the success of the successes and the big things we achieve in life through the heartaches of the tough times, you know, and I think sometimes people forget to share those things. I love sharing those things because it makes me more of a real human. Um, so I that I did not have 17 or 18 D1 offers. You got me there. I didn't have one, but I love. I love the story. Okay, back to you. If you were to say the three most important things that you and Janet are going to teach Joanna, pardon me are going to teach your kids from a value perspective, that will be like man, I'm proud of them. Tell me what comes to mind.
Speaker 2:Never give up Okay, never give up and have a unwavering worth ethic. Love it. You know there was this um this week at dinner talking to the kids my wife and I were. This was part of the theme of the dinner. You can't get frustrated. You just got to keep plugging away. You're going to get knocked down several times, but it's how you respond to that that matters. Right, and make sure you invest in yourself. That was another thing we talked about just two nights ago, and when I said investment in yourself, the investment in yourself is there's going to be so many distractions and more so than when I was growing up.
Speaker 2:I mean, they got the iPads, all this stuff, their friends, social media, all this stuff. But make sure that every day, you put set aside a couple hours for you to better you and make sure you hold yourself accountable for that. There's no, oh, I don't. I don't feel like it today or I'm too tired. No, you don't negotiate with yourself in that time that you're making for yourself, I don't care if it's an hour or two hours. Make sure every day you're investing in yourself.
Speaker 2:You're going to be pulled away by games, your friends, me and your mom, but make sure every day, two hours a day, you invest in yourself. So that's what we told him this week, because it just came up where hey, did you read today? Did you, simon? You know he's about to try out for next week. Did you work out today, asher? Did you throw the ball today, did you? Did you, simon? You know he's about to try out for next week. Did you work out today, asher? Did you throw the ball today? Did you read? Did you clean up your room? Did you do the simple things? Take care of things that are about yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And consistently. You consistently do that. You continue to grow and everything else will happen, but at least you took care of the things that are going to better yourself.
Speaker 1:So love it. Such a good and you don't need to be a D1 athlete to get it. You could be. You know theater. So you're going to practice your lines. You're going to maybe you're in piano practice piano. It doesn't matter what I mean. These are like great life habits. I love that you guys are teaching those things.
Speaker 2:Tell me how you got into the wide world of staffing and how people and then, secondly, how can people learn more about the work you guys are doing at Ronstadt? Yeah, so funny thing I had a wife who was in staffing. She worked for a staffing company, um, while I was playing um professionally and you know, bouncing from team to team, and when I stopped playing she was still working for the staffing firm. And every day she'd come home and say, you know, I got this guy that you know he's mad because this consultant was doing this and this, this, this. And I would just tell her I'd be like sounds like you just need to have a conversation. It sounds like you just need to, like, bring people together.
Speaker 2:And for me, like I was very social in that that's the part of me. I think that's my little gift here, right, that's what I do well, relationships, right. And so I saw myself coaching her and she'd go and be like, oh, guess what? I did talk to them and I connected these guys and now we have more business here. Right, it worked for her, it was simple, but she was overthinking it, thinking that everything was going to be the end of the world. It's like sometimes, talking about it with people, it's the key right.
Speaker 2:So I got an opportunity to start out with a company who was just breaking into healthcare and they were building this healthcare division around EMR deployments and switching from paper to electronic. So it was like a bubble, almost like the bubbles that you were talking about right Within uh technology. So that was a bubble and I started at the ground level and I said to myself, if I put the same energy I put into being an NFL athlete playing in CFL into this, I'll be fine. And that's what I did. I took notes on every person I talked to. I then asked a lot of questions, being curious.
Speaker 2:That's why you know, the training you're doing now just reminds me of what I did when I was early in this career, and now I'm about 15, 16 years in this field, and you just remind me to continue to be curious, continue to learn, continue to ask questions. And you know, now I'm here today talking to you about it.
Speaker 1:So good If people want to, if people, let's say, your stories inspired them. They're like man, I got to meet this art guy and they want to connect with you. What's the? I don't know if you're an Instagram guy, a LinkedIn guy. Tell me what's the best place that people want to connect and meet you or connect with you live. What's the best way they can find you?
Speaker 2:Professionally. I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me there. Something new that is I'm trying out. I just signed up for Instagram. I was on Instagram a long time ago during COVID, and it was more so around my cooking Cooking. I'm a big barbecue guy so I wanted to video the process. My neighbor and I built this big cooker like a smoker in our backyard and we did. We do whole hogs back there, we'll do pork butt, we'll do everything. So now I have an instagram site that I just stood up again because my wife early on we talked about my wife transitioning to this new role, where it gives me some weekends to do that, and so I started up again and now I'm starting to cook and I just post my cooks on there. So if you're a big barbecue fan, feel free to follow me on there, but professionally, LinkedIn is probably the best way.
Speaker 1:Do you know your Instagram handle off memory.
Speaker 2:It is WesleyCh Barbecue Bandits.
Speaker 1:Wesley. Okay, I'm going to find that I'm getting hungry just thinking about this.
Speaker 1:All right, well, before I let you go, it's now time to go into the lightning round Art, where I show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college not bong hits, but football hits at the quarterback position Show you why I definitely have a screw loose. My job your job, is to answer these questions as quickly as you can. My job is to get a giggle out of you. All right, are you ready? I'm ready? Okay, true or false? Your first NFL 40-yard dash was 5.2. False, okay, true or false? Greg Peglieri can beat you in a 40-yard dash. False. I just laughed at that one. I lose already. Okay, if we went back to Guyana and they said what would be one word that would describe art or the Thomas family, what would they say? Leaders? I like it. Favorite comedy movie of all time is.
Speaker 2:Harlem Nights.
Speaker 1:Okay, tell me what would be one song or genre music that might surprise your team that you listen to.
Speaker 2:Jazz.
Speaker 1:Okay, if I came to your house for dinner tonight, what would you make me? A steak, okay, I got gout. I got easy on the red meat. Do you got anything else?
Speaker 2:I can do fish, I can do anything.
Speaker 1:I can do chicken, I'll take chicken. I think seafood's best for me too. If there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title Perseverance. Okay, now I do a little traveling as well. I'm trying to look for perseverance. I went to the airport store. They said not sold out. I went to Amazon they're like no, we can't print enough copies, it's getting sold out too quick. Went to Barnes Noble sold out. So Netflix has found out about perseverance art. They're going to make a movie out of it. You are the casting director now and I need to know who is going to star Art Thomas in this critically hit new movie on netflix my son?
Speaker 1:no, can't be family, can't be family.
Speaker 2:What hollywood actor um um, he like, I like him, but he wouldn't do great. I am not sure. That's a good question you got me there.
Speaker 1:What about the Rock? Let's go the Rock. He used to play in the league.
Speaker 2:Nah, he's Denzel. Denzel's too polished. He needs somebody a little bit more rough around the edges what about Kevin Hart? And Get Hard yeah, that's pretty funny. So you know the guy. Oh, what is his name? Not Idris, he played in this. Have you seen that new F1 movie? No, he's in that, um, and I forget his name Right, and I've only seen him in one other show and it was Snowfall. He was really good. I think.
Speaker 1:I can't remember his name off the top of my head, but Well, that dude's going to play it then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I just had a brain fart. I don't know why I can't remember his name.
Speaker 1:It's okay, yeah, all right. And then the last and most important question tell me two words that would describe Joanna.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of words. I'm trying to pare it down.
Speaker 1:It's always a hard one, so that's the hesitation.
Speaker 2:Is the right two words, Because I don't think I want to just put two words on what she's been to me and you're not giving me enough there right.
Speaker 1:How about two words that are your, her, your favorite qualities about her passionate and loving? Boom lightning round's complete. We both giggled, I lose. I laughed at my own jokes, which I tend to lose often. Um, art, this has been an absolute joy to spend time everybody at home. I showed art the script. Before we started. It was a blank page of paper and now I got a page of notes. I hope you guys have notes at home too.
Speaker 1:Listen to his story, which is crazy inspiring, about belief, about dreaming big, about habits, about work ethic, about holding yourself accountable, about someone's going to do something in life. Why not you? And the Thomas family has proved that to be the case. I can't wait to watch Asher in the MLB when he goes big time. I hope I get tickets one day. When it comes to visit the Mariners in town, please connect with them. Art and his team do a fantastic job of delivering IT talent across a lot of big brands, so if you want to learn more about him, please connect with him. Grateful brother, appreciate your time and really, really thank you for spending time with me today, and it's been fun learning more about you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, casey, it was a blast. It's always good to connect with you.