Follow The Brand Podcast with Host Grant McGaugh

The Reinvention Blueprint with Professor Everton "Richard" Thompson

• Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM • Season 3 • Episode 32

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What happens when your work no longer feels true to who you are? In this eye-opening conversation with Professor Richard Thompson, we explore the challenging yet rewarding journey from corporate success to educational impact – a transition that reveals profound lessons about purpose, authenticity, and personal reinvention.

After 25 years in telecommunications with companies like AT&T, Thompson reached a critical crossroads when he could no longer deliver the customer satisfaction that had once energized him. Rather than continuing down a path that conflicted with his values, he embarked on a journey of self-discovery that ultimately revealed his true purpose: helping people grow. This realization led him to education, where he now empowers students to find their own path by understanding their passions, strengths, and interests.

Thompson shares a practical framework for anyone contemplating career transitions: identify what you're passionate about (what you'd do without payment), what you're good at (as validated by others), and what genuinely interests you. By exploring careers connected to these elements, you can uncover dozens of potential paths aligned with your authentic self. The critical insight? You don't start over when transitioning – you repackage the valuable skills you've accumulated throughout your professional life.

For professionals feeling stuck or unfulfilled, Thompson offers reassurance that your experience is never wasted. The key lies in networking extensively, researching thoroughly before making changes, and understanding that modern careers require adaptability. As he wisely observes, three things are always in motion: social norms, technology, and time. Don't waste precious time in work that doesn't align with your true self. Instead, focus on who you want to BE rather than what you want to HAVE, and everything else will naturally follow.

Ready to discover your purpose and make a meaningful career transition? Listen now and learn how to turn professional expertise into personal fulfillment. Then share your own transition story with us – we'd love to hear how you're redefining success on your terms.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest marketing trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates from us, be sure to follow us at 5starbdm.com. See you next time on Follow The Brand!

Speaker 1:

Hey everybody, thank you for tuning in to the Final Brand Podcast. I am your host, grant McGaugh, and I am filming live at Atlantis University in Miami, florida. People say you're in Atlantis University in Miami Florida. You just moved to Omaha, nebraska. Well, I did, and weren't you just in St Croix? Yes, I was in the USVI, but I also have maintained offices still in the Miami area and I wanted to have a candid conversation about a topic that a lot of people are finding themselves in, that is, transitioning from corporate America to education, or maybe education to business or any of those types of things. This is important when you're in a transitional, pivoting moment in your life, how can you successfully make that move? So I'm going to introduce you to Professor Thompson, who has made that move from corporate America, which we both worked in for about 20 plus years, into education. We're going to have a candid conversation around those lines. So, Professor Thompson, would you like to introduce yourself?

Speaker 2:

Well, you did all the introduction already and you know me as Richard Thompson, but for this conversation we'll keep it at Professor Thompson. That's okay with me. You know I'm so happy we're able to do this because we have worked. We worked together 30 years. We've probably known each other 35 years, but we worked together for so long in the business world. But the most important thing is we saw each other's journey right, we were witnesses to each other's journey, and so we get an opportunity to talk about it.

Speaker 2:

I've watched your change, so it's not just my transition. You were in the world right next to me. Technology and this whole new thing that you're doing now is brand new. Now just want to make sure no one is asking why you're in Miami. Only thing people want to know is why you're in nevermind Omaha. But no, it's a pleasure to be here. I like the fact that we're having this conversation. I believe it's an important conversation. I've talked to so many people, whether or not they were forced to or they chose to, transition from what they were doing before to something now, and sometimes a lot of them say, man, I wish I had done it sooner. So I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1:

No, I'm happy you are here. So let's jump right into it. Because this I always look at the pivot. What was the pivotal moment? Sometimes you have to have that defining experience. You're going along, especially if you're going along for 5, 10, 15, 20 years in a particular profession and then you come to a point where a point in the road, a fork in the road, more or less, you've got to make a decision. Help us understand your particular pivotal moment, as you made that transition from corporate America to education. Can you frame that story for us?

Speaker 2:

You know, I'm sure everybody's story is different. I'll share mine. I'll give a little back story, just so that you understand. I always say that I was lucky enough. I was born in Jamaica and I grew up in the Bahamas and after college I moved to Miami. So I've only lived places where people come to vacation, right. So I've lived my whole life seeing happy people, people enjoying themselves, having a good time, and I come from the world of hospitality, where it's your job to make people feel well. Why do you do that? So they come back. Because people have choices, right.

Speaker 2:

So I came to the United States and I worked in corporate America and I loved it, I was successful at it. But at some point in the process I realized that it didn't feel the same anymore. And the reason it didn't feel the same anymore I went in front of customers right, my customers, because I had many of them and when I left I didn't feel the same. The reason I didn't feel the same wasn't about the customers. Yes, the customers did change a little bit, but I didn't feel the same because I didn't feel I was able to deliver top flight customer service. I didn't feel necessarily that my product was the best, that we gave the best service. See what happens. When I first started in business, that's what my company strived to do right when we were AT&T. When I used to walk into a customer at AT&T and they used to say you don't have to, you know first part of a presentation you say who am I? You've done that before.

Speaker 2:

Every business person has done that. They walk into a room and they say who is? This is who I am, we're AT&T and people look at me like my mother and I own your stock. We know what you do, right. So at that point, for many, many years, all I had to do was deliver on expectations. The expectations were you're going to give superior product, service, right and manufacturing, and we did that. But, as you know, you were going through the process with me with many companies.

Speaker 2:

As with many companies, the transition happens where they may no longer manufacture, where they no longer distribute, where they no longer, and they become so sales-driven and so competitive that you feel like the customer isn't being delighted anymore. So that was a long answer to a very easy question is why I made the pivot. Because one day I realized that I wasn't satisfying customers anymore the way I'd like to. Because one day I realized that I wasn't satisfying customers anymore the way I'd like to, or this medium, what I'm doing now, didn't satisfy customers the way I wanted them to. So it's very simple for me. I said well, who am I? Who am I and how can I pivot? How can I do something different that makes me feel that I'm delivering happiness to the people I do business with, and that's how it started. I sat down one day and a good friend of ours helped me with the transition. I'll go into that later.

Speaker 1:

Sure, sure Now. You talked about some of this pivotal in what I do and helping people to understand their brand identity is a part of that and you've got to do some soul searching about who you are and what you feel your purpose is in this life. And if you're living in that purpose, it's not work any longer. It is a passion of yours and you enjoy doing it. And what I heard you just say is that you did this for a long time and I remember we've had these conversations how you love working for AT&T. At the time you had the best product, you had the best service. People didn't know, but you could deliver on that premium brand experience. And then, but over time, as we all know, in our time, this thing called voice over IP started coming out. Other competitors started coming out. Avaya at the time had to pivot in what they were doing and all of a sudden, even though we were saying we were the best, we really weren't.

Speaker 2:

It was very competitive and you want to be able to. Your integrity means everything right, because guess what we are.

Speaker 2:

We are customer representatives, right? Or business representatives. So when we don't deliver or we make promises we don't keep, that customer doesn't want to do business with you anymore and he tells another and another and another. Right, we'll talk a little bit more about this. But networking and keeping your network good is so important, and so at some point you've got to say am I willing, right? Some people say, oh, but the money's good, or a big company? No, it's not about that.

Speaker 2:

At the end of the day, you have to go to bed and you have to wake up and you want to feel that you delighted somebody. You never have to pick up the phone and say I'm sorry, or I missed the mark, or I have to get back to you. I didn't like to do that.

Speaker 2:

One of my biggest things that I hold my hat on is for 25 years I was worked in the field, working with customers and clients, and not one time in 25 years did one customer have to pick up the phone and call above my head. In other words, I'm going to call your vice president, I'm going to call your director, I'm going to call your VP to say you're not delivering what I need. That's never happened. I've never been called into a room because I wasn't meeting customer needs. So when I got to the point where I felt that you know what I can no longer say that you know what. I'm the best, you're the best, our product's the best and we're going to deliver on what we promised, it was time for me to look for other things, and at that point some interesting things happened and it got me to where I'm at today, and I'll go into that in a moment.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm glad that you made that change and that you were able to do that, and it's a transitional period. I would also say that your ideal client changed, meaning you were selling to a certain group of people and that group of people persons changed and they had a different framework, a different look on different things. And when I say this, when you were in the buyer world and you were selling, you're usually selling to what we call the telecommunications department. That changed. Now what we used to call MIS, but it's the information technology world. They were used to plugging things in on IP, not utilizing an analog circuit.

Speaker 1:

It changed things and I want my customers, I don't want to get too technical about that but when your ideal client changes, your buyer changes and the perception changes. You've got to start all over again Because you don't bring that legacy and that pedigree always to the table. Now you have been in tech, you have been in sales for a very long time. Now you pivoted over into the educational world. How are you bringing that kind of mindset or that kind of skill set to the education world for students?

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, I want to fill a gap before I go there and answer that question. I want to fill a gap because we were just talking about the business world. Now I'm in education. How did I get here? Yeah Right, so we got to fill that gap. How I got here? Let's do it. So we have a mutual friend. I was having a conversation with my mutual friend about you know where the state of the business is today, mark Herman. Yeah Right, mark, great guy, good friend of mine. He said hey, you know what?

Speaker 2:

I went to this for the last lack of a better word retreat or seminar. It was like a couple of days seminar and he actually gave me a free pass for it to go and it literally changed my life because it allowed me to take a look at who I am, not what I do. See, when you're in jobs, I am even interesting conversation. It irritates me now, but it didn't irritate me before, when somebody walks up to you and say well, so what do you do? Well, the minute you ask somebody that, now that defines them. It's not about what people do, it's about who people are. So I went to the seminar and they decide what I do. I'm doing it because of who I am. So this is the first way of disconnecting from AT and technology and IT, realizing I'm just a person who does what I do best but I'm actually doing it in technology and a person like me, doing what I do best, can work in any field. So I had to find myself. So the way the seminar and the retreat worked was it talked about abundance, that there's an abundance of opportunities out there. Okay, if we're willing to look for them with finding out who we are. So they do this little test through one of the people that worked there, worked in the thing do a little test where you pit the things you like to do against each other and it's a whole process right. But at the end of the day, you find out what are the top three things you were good at, right, and then when you find out just the same thing we've talked about before what is our purpose, what are we good at? What are we? Interests are Whatever that is. That's towards getting you to find out who your purpose is. So I found out that, really, that you know for lack of a better term, it was the money, was a soft load, it wasn't any of that what it is is.

Speaker 2:

I like to help people Grow. That's literally how it came down. It's a process of elimination, a whole complicated thing. I like to help people grow and that's why I love business so much.

Speaker 2:

Because I went into business, I really wanted, when I went into a brand new company and had to talk to them about their technology or their roadmap to getting best customer service or getting clients right, I was into it because I wanted them to get better customers and better things, so I wanted them to grow, help people grow. And while I was in that transition to that for about a couple of years, I started doing business development for small businesses Right, and when I was doing the, the business development and helping them, I was sitting there and I realized I, because of my and again, thank you AT&T and Lucent and Avaya they gave me some amazing tools in terms of. You know, we were always going to training. We didn't realize how much of a high-level training we were getting in terms of because we were dealing with high-level customers High-level, if I mention some of the names that we interfaced with they're some of the largest companies in South Florida.

Speaker 2:

Those are the conversations we're having. But mid-sized companies and smaller companies, they don't get that. So while I'm having this conversation, these people were amazed at some of the information I was getting. So all of a sudden, I'm teaching them I'm not doing it for them, I'm teaching them how to do best customer service, the importance of data mining or Internet or research, doing marketing, and they're like whoa, we didn't think about it. I'm like wait a minute, you're in business and you don't think about it. So I said, man, I enjoy teaching what I've learned over this period of time.

Speaker 2:

And, like clockwork, I got a call from another friend of ours which is here at Atlantis University, was Dr Stewart, dr Bert Stewart. So she called and she actually just asked me if I knew someone that would be interested in teaching. And I said, yeah, I gave her the name of someone in IT and then she came back again and said what about business? And Sherry was sitting there while I was, because I turned to her do you know somebody? That she said why don't you do it? You got a master's degree. I totally forgot I had a master's degree because I really and I said you know what? I've transitioned out of technology, and you know what I love this, so I would love to do it, and this day one, I was energized because, again, I'm helping people grow. That's what.

Speaker 1:

I found is my core.

Speaker 2:

Helping businesses and people to grow. That is where I get my motivation from. So I'm doing it at the college level, right, loving it. And then the kids are coming in, the young adults are coming in. I'm saying, man, I really wish we could reach them sooner. And lo and behold, I get a call from Broward County Public Schools and they said hey, you know what? We have an entrepreneurial, small business, entrepreneurial program that we're trying to have students get certified in so that they leave college with this education background. I was like this is a blessing. So that is how I made the transition. The transition came from that young man in the Caribbean who saw the value of seeing happy customers to getting involved in business, where my goal was to have grow and have happy customers, to now education again, and we'll talk about this. Yeah, I see students as customers. Not everyone in education does.

Speaker 1:

This is interesting that you frame it in that context. As I was saying earlier, you have to know your client. You have to know your customer. You've got to know your buyer. Who is that? You, from what I just gathered, from what you just told me, that in order to make to live into your core service that you want to provide, you had to find a customer or a buyer, or a persona or someone that could really enjoy what you do. And you found that through students, especially students that were interested in business, and you said, wow, I'm bringing all that to bear. You bring up an interesting point where I think a lot of people, when they're transitioning, they feel like they have to start all over again.

Speaker 1:

when you're really not starting all over again. They're really taking everything that you've been doing over the last 5, 10, 20, 30 years and repackaging it in a certain manner that someone else can benefit from that. Right, you're still. You still understand business, you understand technology, you understand the sales process. You understand how that happens. You're able to give that to students as they begin their journey of how they're going to engage and do the right thing around, whether it's business or working for a corporation and that type of thing. I applaud you for that, for continuing to do that and that type of thing I applaud you for that for continuing to do that.

Speaker 2:

So the students have no idea. Matter of fact, I'll tell you, most students do not want to be in business. They do not want to be an entrepreneur, so it's. But what they do want is they want to do what they love or what they're good at. Right, do what they love or what they're good at. So it's, the first thing I have to do is not approach them by hitting them over the head and says this class is about you starting a business. That would scare the heck out of them. Yeah, no, the class is about hey, what are you passionate about? As a matter of fact, tell me three things you're passionate about. Okay, now tell me three things you're and I always define passion as things you would do, even when you're not getting paid for it.

Speaker 2:

Okay, even if you're not going to get paid for it. If you like dogs, you're always going to have a dog, right? If you're rich or poor, then I say okay. And then I say tell me the things you're good at. And I tell the kids what you're good at is what people tell you you're good at. People always tell you hey, you know, grant, mr McGraw, mr McGon, you're good at fishing, or you're good at being cooking, you know, especially when you're cooking the fried fish, right, I'm saying, but what you're good at Right? So tell me three things. The last thing is what are your interests? And I define that by telling them that what you're interested in is things you have never done before but you have interest in. You know what I'd like to travel, I'd like to ride a camel, I'd like to fly jets I don't know what it is. Then you ask them well, now I brought them in, they're talking about the things they love, they're engaged. I said wouldn't it be great to be able to do that for the rest of your life and help somebody while doing that and make money while doing the things you love, interest and passion about? And all of them say yeah. And then I say to them I said okay, do me a favor In each of the things you're either interested in or good at right or passionate about, tell me careers associated with it. What are the careers associated with it? So now you have people.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let's say you said fishing, right. So how many people in the fishing industry? There are people who sell boats, there are people who sell their marine life. You probably could tell me better, but there's like maybe nine or ten things that are associated with just fishing as being passion, interest or something you're good at, whatever. Right. Then you do the next one and the next one. Right, I just asked for ten, yeah, so ten, twenty thirty, just in the things you're good at. Ten, twenty, thirty in the things you're passionate about. Ten, twenty thirty in the things you're interested about. Right, that's ninety, right, 90.

Speaker 2:

I said and I have them draw it on a board and I said that is your industry that you can work in. Right. Now, what are all the things you can do in that industry? Right, all those things you can do in that industry. Right, all those things you can do in that industry. You can, you know, you can just work in the industry. You can sell to the industry, you can provide products to the industry.

Speaker 2:

Then we go down that rabbit hole. Now they're seeing the world. See the difference between adults and the corporate world. You know we worked in a world where it wasn't if these people were going on vacations. Where they're going on vacation, the level that we're dealing, we're at the C-suite. We're talking to people at CIOs, ctos, cfos. These people have seen the world right.

Speaker 2:

The difference is students haven't seen anything and, specifically in the kind of school that I went to, which is like more of a Title I school, right Inner city school, they haven't seen much.

Speaker 2:

So the first thing you have to do in education is have them open their minds and do research. So for weeks we just have them, I just have them totally go down that rabbit hole of what they love and do it. Before I start to introduce the business concept, but what I do tell them is that once you have found a career in somewhere that you love, purpose, interest or good at, and then you're able to help them Because, remember, my focus is to help people, right, right, and they're all now. Yes, I want to help, yes, yes, I want to help people. I said then you found your purpose. I will tell you, nobody walks away from their purpose. See, the thing is about what I've found a lot since I've been in this world is that people are good to tell you what you need to do. Right, you need to find your purpose, but you got to give people a roadmap on how to do it right and I just showed you the blueprint.

Speaker 2:

Write down what you're good, interested and passionate about, talk about careers in it, and you know you could keep doing it right, because you could put down law enforcement. And how many places can you go with law enforcement? You work in health care. My God, how many. If you just said I want to be a nurse and I said that's great, be a nurse, but do me a favor. How many other jobs is there in health care? You can reach thousands, and when you have that on the board, it looks overwhelming and amazing. But these are students that I never want to be able for them when somebody asks them, because this happens a lot. It happened to me at a college level. So what do you want to do? I don't know how can you not know? But if you've gone down that road, you say why do you want to go into medical? Well, they have all these careers, they have all these trends, they have all these things going on. And what kind of things are you?

Speaker 1:

going to do in there. Well, I can do this, and I can do it because they've researched it right. Well, if I, if I could jump in what I've heard you say just put it into context is that you first, especially when you first, engage with students, is you help them find clarity, focus, and then their own purpose is not given to them. They define what it is that they really want to go into. Cause you're going to invest time and money into your education to eventually be able to provide for yourself for whether you're going to a career or if you're going to business for yourself. You've got to have those babies. What I really like, what you just stated, is that I'm not going to just tell you what. You might come up with some ideas, or you may have an idea of what you want to do, right, but you've given them a process that they can begin to utilize over and over again to find other things, because I guarantee you, you will pivot along the way.

Speaker 1:

I've interviewed over 200 different executives. Right, most of them all tell, especially when they're in their collegiate years, but they started out doing something completely different. And then how they got into this particular field or this profession sometimes it was by happenstance, sometimes it was in a certain way, like they just did not know. I talked to so many different CEOs of hospitals. I wanted to be a doctor, but then I got into the actual room and I saw blood and I was like that wasn't going to be a doctor. Yeah, I got into the actual room and I saw blood and I was like that was yeah that's not good blood and, yeah, that's not gonna work.

Speaker 1:

So until you get into the profession and really see what it truly is about. You only have an idea it's almost like I have an idea to go swimming, but once you get into water you might find out. Hey, this is a little bit different from where I, but yeah, you're giving them the process. You can do the recalibrate you know what? Recalibrate that? But go through your experimental stages while you have the opportunity, cause, as we both know, that you go further and further down the road of life. It that your opportunities for change lesson, because you have responsibilities that you did not have typically. You know, when you're in in a collegiate world. I want you to help us understand as you pivoted and then you had to make that transition within yourself, the struggles and challenges. You came across like, wow, oh, this is different, but then you had to get your rhythm with it. You had to find your balance with it. Talk to us about that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so the first thing, and again, all of this is different, but then you had to get your rhythm with it, you had to find your balance with it. Talk to us about that, yeah. So the first thing and again all of this is transitioning from one area that I did well into another area, but some of the things, even though I did well over here, didn't translate over here, okay. So the first thing that you have to change is how you communicate. Like I mentioned to you before, ceos, well-traveled, well-learned Now you're dealing with people that don't care. They don't care, it's high school, they don't care, they think they figured it all out, right, okay? So your communication is totally different. You have to be a lot more repetitive, a lot more structured, right, you've got to hold hands a little bit more. The one thing you never dealt with for the most part, we never really dealt with it. We never because it was business right. We always said business and personal is different In education. They're the same. It's their personal life, affects who they are. Students will walk in and they have the weight of the world on them. They all come from different situations.

Speaker 2:

In the transition, in the tipping point, I could take my strengths to the classroom, which was organization skills, listening skills, because I used to listen to customers, their needs. So now I'm listening to students and their needs. I'm still learning from how to problem solve, so I'm teaching the students how to problem solve. I'm used to meetings, right, students are not used to meetings, they're used to being on their own in their room and on their device, right, they're not used to collaborating, right. So the importance I've seen the joy of what collaboration has done to students that have been isolated. They love it. They don't want to do have been isolated. They love it. They don't want to do it, but they will love it. So the differences that I've seen I've been able to take. But then the skills that have worked for me.

Speaker 2:

Well is, as a natural salesperson, you learn to listen. First you have to listen to your customer. Business education I don't care where it is, when you lose track of who the customer is. And let me tell you it's not a skill that a lot of people understand, because I'm telling you, in certain fields and I don't want to necessarily say education they are very rigorous. These are the rules, you follow the rules and there's always punishment associated with not completing tasks. Right, it's kind of the way education goes, smack right when we in the world where we come from, we can't.

Speaker 2:

If I build a great restaurant, a great Jamaican restaurant curry goat curry, chicken, oxtail rice and peas, and I put it in the middle of Coyote Show in Little Havana and nobody comes in, why am I going to yell at the customers? I can't yell at customers, right? I'm not motivating them. I haven't put the restaurant in the right place. I should have put it in Lauder Hill, with the other 30,000 of them that are there, or in another part, or Pembroke Pines. You can't. You have to know your customer, and so that has helped me well. And so what we do is we motivate customers to buy from us. That's what we've always done, right. We do is we motivate customers to buy from us. That's what we've always done, right, yeah, yeah, how? How do I become that valued asset to that customer, right? And so that's what I'm trying to establish. The students know them. And how can I be that trusted advisor? Remember that word we use oh yes trusted advisor.

Speaker 2:

So we continue to say so. It doesn't matter that transition. So what I'm saying is nobody has to be fearful as they transition. You take what you know and what you've learned. Those years of experience mean something and you don't understand. If you just are willing to take a leap of faith, your skills that you've learned over 20, 25, 30 years will transition. It will transition. You don't just go through the world and learn all of a sudden it years will transition, it will transition. Right, you don't just go through the world and learn all of a sudden it doesn't transition. You just have to be patient and say, wait, it will transition. But how do I deliver it in this space? Because you deliver it differently.

Speaker 1:

Well, you brought up something earlier that I think I would encourage our audience to truly do. First, sometimes you have to have a pivotal moment or a lint pen to get you to that next level, or at least get you your mind to start thinking differently. For you, that was that seminar. You took the advice, you went to that webinar, you started to think differently, you started to look at the possibilities of doing something different. We all need assistance and we all need help. We can't always do it by ourselves. So you seek out certain individuals that have expertise in certain areas that you do not, because they're further down the road that can help you in that transition.

Speaker 1:

Me and you talked to your best friend now my mutual friend. Hey, how can we, how can my skill sets transition to another point in time in my life if I start doing it early? That's another thing. You don't want to get into the situation where you have to do something now. Sometimes you go through a layoff. You got to do something. Now Something happens.

Speaker 1:

In my particular case, I started to look for what I have now for five-star BDM five years before, because I went through a layoff in 2019, 22, right before the pandemic, and I did get another job and that type of thing. But I started to realize if I don't begin to develop a way of supporting and sustaining myself through my own business skills, it's going to get harder and harder for me down the line. So I begin developing this type of skill set that someone else found valuable knowing your customer, knowing who you're helping and it all goes back to this. I want to end it like this, to this. I want to end it like this You've got to know your story and you've got to know who would benefit from the story that you have lived. If you can do that, you can start making transitions and knowing these transitions don't have to be within a day, a week, a month it can be over time, that you do that.

Speaker 1:

Before we conclude, because we're getting toward the end of our time on the podcast, I want you to frame that story. We've talked about your transition. We've talked about your true client right now, which is the students that you serve. If you had to look back in time when you were a student, when you were going to the University of Florida, and the teaching that you got and the understanding you got, and then what, the understanding that you're giving now to your students, how is that different and how do you think it's going to be beneficial for them going forward?

Speaker 2:

the only thing I would change as I was younger is I would have definitely said to myself stay, I want to be. I should have been a lifelong learner. And lifelong learning means it, doesn't. It just means that you're paying attention, right? There's a term that we use in football that's called head on a swivel. What that means is for those people that aren't football is that you've got to pay attention to the world around you, right? And when you pay attention to the world around you, you have to do that in football, because somebody will take your head off if you're not paying attention. Right, I would have paid more attention to the world around me. I would say pay more attention.

Speaker 2:

That's what I'm trying to teach the students to do. In other words, they got something I never had. They've got a computer in their hands, and I ask my students to not take the time just to use it for entertainment. If you can just give me 50% of the time even 40, at this point, 30% of the time to use it for education, right. Every time you see, oh, that's cool. What would it take to do that? Oh, let me find out about that. We were limited in our curiosity because we had to um, either watch the news or go to a library or read a book or go to a university, right, right, uh, they don't have that anymore. They can it me. I do it all the time. We didn't even get into AI. Right, ai is your. I don't even like Googling things anymore because Google gives me a lot of ads. I have an AI partner. Ai doesn't give me any ads, it just gives me the answer.

Speaker 2:

So, yes, as a younger person and with anyone, now, that's transitioning and the reason we're talking about this. Let me be very clear the younger generation now will change jobs as much as 10 to 15 times, while our generation may have changed it three to four or five times. Correct, so this is a new world, so embracing change is something we all have to get used to. The problem is is that we have a lot of people that have aged out of the business world. Aged out, whether they're firefighters, police officers. They've aged out and they're still 50 years old and they got 30 years to live. What are you going to do now, so I'm telling those people, is find out your interests, what you're good at and what your passions are, and then explore, right, explore, yeah, educate yourself on those industries and you will find, no matter what career you had before, there is something in your background that you've learned, that you've trained over all those 40, 50 years you were weren't done for waste. Somebody wants those skills. I am a testament to say you don't take it for granted. People understand that. I have a testament to say you don't take it for granted. People understand that I have a good friend he's just transitioned to. He was in law enforcement and he transitioned to have his own training on trafficking, right, and let me tell you he's passionate about it. But I thought I knew I didn't know this stuff. I listened to him. I'm like, wow, I didn't know that.

Speaker 2:

Don't be afraid of change, don't be afraid of speaking, networking, because that's the other thing I teach the kids In order to get from purpose to opportunity, you have to network. So you found your purpose in life. You let everybody know. So, right now, to transition if everybody doesn't know, don't transition until everybody knows what you're looking for, right, you're the king of LinkedIn. Let people know Everybody. Conversation. This is what I want to do next, next, next, right, that's networking. Letting the people know what you want to do next, next, next, that's networking Letting the people know what you want to do next.

Speaker 2:

People remember that. That makes you memorable. Once you're memorable, opportunities come your way. Hey, you don't have to be present. So, yeah, so I would tell the person I knew before the number one thing and I tell it to young and old is have your head on a swivel. Keep your eyes on what's going on out in the world. See which ones hit your, your purposes, explore them. You don't just quit a job and go work there, then you go. Well, I didn't know this. That used to happen before. People used to quit a job and go work there, then you go. Whoa, I didn't know this. That used to happen before. People used to quit a job and go work and then two weeks into it, I didn't know it was going to be like this. Why didn't?

Speaker 1:

you know it was going to be like this no research, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2:

You seek it out, you seek it out, you seek a network, opportunity and place where you want to be, and nothing feels better than the place you want to be, right. There's a lot of people that start off by saying this is what I want, right, I want this big house, right. And then they say, well, what am I going to do to get what I want? So they do want, do. And then they're being and guess what? They're unhappy. Yeah, because they started off with what do I want, so I'm going to do this to get this. And then you're here, yeah, I'm telling you to reverse it. Decide who you want to be, yes, okay. And then you want to be, yes, okay. And then you do, right, yeah, what you need to be this person. And then you'll want for nothing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you'll want for nothing. Those are just natural results that go away. This has been wonderful, professor Thompson.

Speaker 2:

You can call me Richard now.

Speaker 1:

No, I'll call you Richard now. No, I'm kidding, I'll call you Richard now. No, and I do this with all my guests before I let you go, and I always ask in the moment how did you feel about this interview?

Speaker 2:

No, it felt good. It felt good. I love what you're doing because we are all a brand, right, we're all unique. Branding yourself is part of what I'm talking about. Exactly Branding yourself. Is you believe it or not? Is you letting the world know what you are good at, passionate about, interested in Same thing I've talked about? So it makes people think you walk around as your brand every day. People don't realize that the way you wear your hair, the way you walk in clothes, the cars you buy, you are a personal brand. The best thing to understand right now is that people are making millions and millions of dollars being influencers.

Speaker 1:

Yes, what is that?

Speaker 2:

That's all they're doing. They branded themselves. People go looking for foolishness. Yes, right, so you don't have to be. There's someone that needs what you have. There's someone who wants what you have and they're willing to follow pay for it. There's so many channels for you to get your brand out, and that's why I love what you're doing. So I appreciate you having me on and you did the right thing.

Speaker 1:

You had my wife on before me. I did, I did, I did. I've had 200 other people on before we had this moment. Because I've known Richard Thompson for a very, very long time Professor Efton Thompson I had to get his name correct. You have to know the backstory to understand why this had to come out. So I made sure that I did that. But I want the audience. First of all, kudos to Atlantis University. It's the second time they've had me in the studio and this is a wonderful, wonderful university. I came here the first time. I saw the joy in your face and I saw it as you came across, and so many people were warm to you. This is like home for you, and I knew you were in your zone of genius. Wow, this is exactly what you need to be. Did you use the word genius?

Speaker 2:

Genius. I don't think that word has ever been associated to me in my life.

Speaker 1:

Professor Thompson, Zone of genius. But I want to thank them for having us here. But you've got to first of all let them know how to contact you and then how to contact the university and, if you don't mind, tell them about some of the coursework they can get here at Atlantis University.

Speaker 2:

Well, atlantis University is an amazing opportunity that I had here. They have some core programs here. I teach in the School of Business and I teach marketing and management and those sort of things and management and those sort of things. It's so important that we give students the full view of what the world they're going to experience. So that's why I love being here, because one of the things I didn't talk about before is that I'm a real-world person talking to them. I'm not necessarily just an academic who I'm talking from a textbook, I believe, and what we try to do here at Atlantis is have professors that have real world responsibility, so that when we're talking to students, we're talking about LinkedIn, we're talking about Instagram and the importance of that. We're staying current. I've been to some courses in other schools because I've taught at other universities where the minute I saw a book and it said 2018, I said I'm not teaching from this book because that was before COVID.

Speaker 2:

The world changed after COVID, right? Everything Supply chain changed, online, everything changed. So Atlantis is good. It's here in Miami, florida, and it has a good undergraduate program. It has a very good graduate program. All the professors here are similar to me.

Speaker 2:

We spend a lot of time talking about our previous lives as opposed to talking about our current lives. So and I want to thank them for giving us this opportunity definitely to be here the whole idea of doing it in this setting had everything to do with the fact that students need to understand today that they're going to be changes in their life, constant changes, and they either need to be in the forefront of it or they're going to be forced upon them. Change. There are three things that always keep moving, right, all right. So the one thing is definitely social norms. So, today, you are a tie. We always had to wear a tie. Today, I'm not wearing a tie. And then Zuckerberg doesn't even wear a shirt, right? No, I'm kidding, right. So social norms are going to definitely change. We lived in.

Speaker 2:

The other thing that always changes technology. Don't sit down and say, oh, I am not going to use my, I'm not going to use the internet, I'm not going to use LinkedIn to get a job. No, I'm not going to use AI. I even heard educators say I'm not going to use AI. I said are you kidding me? Ai is the most amazing thing to allow professors to give the best information and get it back to the students. Teachers have to learn how to ask better questions, don't just ask students to define it. That's what Google is for, just like. Remember when we had calculators first came out and they asked you to do math long-handed and you said why?

Speaker 1:

Ask. A came out and they asked you to do math long-handed and you said why I have a calculator, Right? I remember telling that to a teacher Everybody, no one cares about using a calculator, nobody could do long division anymore.

Speaker 2:

Why, why, right, right, and so definitely. Technology continues to change. Social norm continues to change Always moving right. Yep, social norm is always moving Technology. What's the other thing that's always moving People? Time. Oh Don't, that's the biggest. Don't slip on time, that's the biggest thing I've heard. I wish I would have done this sooner. Okay, so understand Adapt technology, understand the social norms. Social norms, changing is opportunities. Yeah, that's all it is Changing. And absolutely, absolutely do not waste a moment of your time.

Speaker 1:

No, I couldn't have said it better Again. First of all, they've got to know how to email you and give us the not email address, but the URL for Atlantis University.

Speaker 2:

I don't have it. Everybody Google stuff, go to AI. No, but reaching me is everton E-V-R-T-O-N. Dot Thompson at AtlantisUniversityedu. Right, okay, and I believe it's just Atlantiscom. So AtlantisUniversitycom, they'll find it, we'll find it. Atlantis University Ask Chad TPT. He, it's just Atlantiscom, so.

Speaker 1:

AtlantisUniversitycom. They'll find it, we'll find it. Atlantisuniversity, you're lucky to ask Chat TPT, he'll definitely get you there. I want to definitely encourage your entire audience, everybody at Atlantis University. They can come and see all the episodes that follow the brand at 5 Star BDM. That is the number 5. That is star. That is B for brand, d for development infomasterscom. I want to thank you again for being on the show, professor Epton.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, sir, thank you.