Most people would agree every company wants to be excellent, but how do you get there? Sure, who you hire is important, but it’s much more than that.
Ohio entrepreneur Tom Lambotte has built several IT companies; his latest venture is to prepare companies and CEOs for AI and how it changes everything. He’s now presenting to high-profile leaders, including Tony Robbins and his inner circle.
Lambotte says the biggest lesson he’s learned in business is to be unapologetic when demanding excellence in the workplace. In his experience, setting the bar high frees up your best employees to flourish, which will take your company to new heights.
Because one of his companies focuses on cybersecurity, Lambotte also shares what business leaders should know about protecting their digital assets from ransomware attacks in this episode.
Lambotte not only believes in fostering a culture of excellence at work – he believes in doing it at home and is a dedicated family man. Building their family hasn’t been easy, but he and his wife are about to welcome their 5th child through adoption. So, naturally, he covers work-life balance too.
Get ready to be inspired by Tom Lambotte and demand excellence in your own life!
Resources from the episode:
- Connect with Tom Lambotte on LinkedIn.
- Tom founded GlobalMac IT, which excels in providing outsourced IT services to Apple-based law firms. Learn more here.
- One of Tom’s businesses, BobaGuard, offers premier cybersecurity solutions to law firms. Learn more here.
- If you think a one-day workweek is impossible, think again! Learn more about Tom’s six-step formula to create a self-managing business that gives you income, equity, freedom, and joy.
- Learn more about Tom’s current focus, the Ai Accelerator, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at accelerating the adoption and understanding of AI technologies.
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Transcript
The following transcript is not certified. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. The information contained within this document is for general information purposes only.
Speakers: Tom Lambotte and Mark Wright
TOM LAMBOTTE 00:00
If you want to build a championship team, which, it’s like, if I’m running a business, I want to build a championship business, you know, like a team that the A players appreciate, because the A players, they know who the B players are on your team, and so it’s been really hard over the years to, you know, learn to kind of pull the trigger a little bit quicker, like when you realize it’s a B player, it’s like move them up or move them out. C players need to go quickly, but I think that’s been the biggest lesson I’ve learned, is really, you know, curating and building a high-quality team that supports, you know, the culture and who we are, you know, our identity as a company.
MARK WRIGHT 00:41
This is the BEATS WORKING Show. We’re on a mission to redeem work – the word, the place, and the way. I’m your host Mark Wight. Join us at winning the game of work. Welcome to BEATS WORKING – winning the game of work. On the show this week: building a culture of excellence. I think we can all agree every company wants to be excellent, but how do you get there? Sure, who you hire is important, but it’s a lot more than that. Ohio entrepreneur Tom Lambotte has built several IT companies. He says the biggest lesson he’s learned in business is to be unapologetic when it comes to demanding excellence in the workplace. He says when you set the bar high, it frees up your best employees to flourish, and that will take your company to new heights. Tom says that’s how he’s redeeming work. So, one of Tom’s companies focuses on cyber security, so naturally we wanted to cover what business leaders should know about protecting their digital assets. It is crazy how common ransomware attacks have become. Tom’s latest venture is to prepare companies and CEOs for AI, and how it is changing everything. He’s presenting to some pretty high-profile leaders, including Tony Robbins and his inner circle. Family is also important to Tom and his wife. Building their family has not been easy, but they are about to welcome their fifth child through adoption. So naturally we wanted to cover work life balance. So, get ready for some inspiration and a number of takeaways in my conversation with Tom Lambotte. Well, Tom Lambotte, welcome to the BEATS WORKING podcast. It’s great to have you here.
TOM LAMBOTTE 02:29
Thank you, Mark. I’m thrilled to be here.
MARK WRIGHT 02:31
So, this is going to be a fun conversation. We’re going to talk a little bit about entrepreneurism. We’re going to talk a little bit about how you’re helping entrepreneurs really become the best version of themselves. And I’m also super interested in this latest chapter in your life where you’re helping business owners and CEOs understand the future of artificial intelligence and how that is going to impact, uh, everything, everything. So, let’s jump right in. Tom, you’re an entrepreneur at heart. Um, when you, I’m curious, when you were a little kid, did you have entrepreneurial leanings? Were you that kid with the lemonade stand?
TOM LAMBOTTE 03:08
Yes, uh, I was a kid that had, uh, you know, I did, uh, car washes, you know, only five bucks, but then I’d upcharge to get your rim, rims cleaned and, you know, do the windows and all that. Uh, I, I grew up in San Diego. I’m from Belgium originally, but I grew up in San Diego. I moved there when I was eight. So, we’d go to the, you know, when we’d go to Mexico, I’d buy the, you know, 12 or 24 packs of Mexican candies and I’d break them up and, you know, sell them for 50 cents apiece in school. So, I, I definitely always had entrepreneurial leanings.
MARK WRIGHT 03:37
Well, so a global background. Tell me about, uh, did you say Belgium? Yeah. How did that work?
TOM LAMBOTTE 03:44
Uh born and raised, uh, born and raised in Belgium. All my extended family’s there. Um, uh, in 1988, uh, my dad had an opportunity with a company he was working with. Uh, it was a biotech company, uh, called Quide, no, called Hybritech. And their headquarters were in San Diego. He had an opportunity to go and took it. And that’s how we, uh, ended up and grew up in San Diego.
MARK WRIGHT 04:05
So did you and your dad, Tom, ever have conversations about business and entrepreneurism and things like that?
TOM LAMBOTTE 04:11
No, he, uh, you know, he’s a scientist, uh, by background. So, he was never entrepreneurial, um, in any way. Um, uh, you know, so it was really just. It was just my natural inclination, you know, it was never a conscious, I just kind of gravitated towards those types of activities.
MARK WRIGHT 04:29
Yeah. I want to know more about Global Mac IT. So, you started that company in 2006. Um, outsourced IT for law firms. Um, it sounds like a really like niche, uh, business model. How did you come to start that business?
TOM LAMBOTTE 04:46
Yeah, most people think I’m crazy when they, you know, so technically it’s a, it’s a managed service provider, right? So, we do outsourced IT for law firms that use Apple computers. So, the way it started, um, I loved Macs. You know, I grew up using Macs in my home. Uh, we couldn’t afford a Mac laptop when I went to college. I had a Compaq, uh, laptop. And I remember it died on me during a training I was running in my second or third year of college when I was doing some business things then, and I got a Mac. And I remember getting my first Mac. It was a 12-inch PowerBook G4, my, still my favorite Mac ever, and I was so blown away. I was like, wow, like to set up a printer, it was just life changing. You just plugged it in, and you printed. And I was like, wow, it’s so easy. You can focus on what you want to do instead of just trying to get the damn thing to work, right? And so, I became a big Apple fanboy, taught myself everything, uh, you know, just on my own for fun. Uh, and then started helping my friends convert from PC to Mac, helping out my family with their issues, that kind of stuff. And in 2006, I was starting something new, and I was like, hey, I love Macs. I love business. Let’s put them together. So I was living in Santa Cruz at the time and I just put some, uh, you know, you know, those flyers with the tear off tabs. So I just went out and put those up in all the local coffee shops. And, uh, that’s how the company was started. Uh, so, we eventually, uh, so I was doing hourly, uh, Apple consulting, started with residential first, grew more into businesses over the years, and then in 2014, we had just a dry year. We had zero new clients for the first six months, and I had fallen into a little pocket of working with attorneys, um, really just by accident. Uh, you know, essentially, I, I got a few really cool attorneys that the fact that they’re Mac using attorneys, they were against the grain. I mean, this is 15 years ago, right, where it wasn’t normal or easy to use, uh, you know, Max and law firm and they got the value of my time. They just wanted it done right. And I was like, hey, this is cool. I could support them and no one really knows how to support, you know, lawyers. Um, so in 2014, when we got zero new clients, I had this insight because I had wanted to work with more attorneys over time and then I realized, but I had been scared to make the jump. And this is, this is a good kind of life lesson here to, to niching. Um, you know, the, the idea was like, man, half my leads come, you know, are lawyers. The other half are other types of businesses. And I was like, we got zero new clients. If I cut, if I say I’m only going to do lawyers, I’m going to cut my lead flow in half and be even worse off, right? Uh, but then I had one of those, you know, light bulb moments and I was like, wait, if I go 100 percent to law firms, then I can be the expert. I can know where they go. I can know what they read. I can, you know, really focus on their specific needs. And so, uh, I made that commitment. We went 100 percent forward and, you know, we haven’t taken on a non-law firm client since then, just maybe one or two. Um, but the rest of that year we picked up six new clients. And, and so the rest is history, as I say. So, um, yeah, that’s how I got into, you know, attorneys. People are, I always get the question like, why attorneys? It’s like, it was a total accident. There’s no, I don’t have like a inclination to, I love attorneys. They’re the greatest people in the world. Um, you know, at the same time, I don’t have the mindset that all attorneys are scum. Um, you know, in, in, in any kind of vertical, there’s scum, right? It’s just humanity, right? Um, you know, we’ve had a lot of really cool attorneys. We fired, you know, a handful, plenty of attorneys over the years as well. Yeah. Uh, because again, there’s some people that, who just aren’t good people, you know, and I don’t tolerate that. I say no, because I don’t think, uh, I think I’m going on a tangent here, but I think it’s a good point. The old mindset of like, you know, the client’s always right is, is a fallacy. It needs to be thrown out because the employee is not, you know, the client’s not always right. And something I realized early on is I don’t care what value or what revenue I’m getting from a client. If they’re going to be, uh, assholes, pardon my French. I don’t know if I can cuss on this. I don’t know if this is a podcast. Um, you know, it’s not worth keeping them because of the hit on morale, right, on the team. And then, you know, it becomes like, oh, you’ve got to turn the other cheek because the client’s always right. And, you know, I’ve had so many employees who join our team over the years and they are so grateful for that. And it’s like, we have great clients, and I don’t tolerate, you know, mean clients or clients that talk down to you. Like, it happens once, I have a coming to Jesus talk with the client and it’s like, hey, This does not go here. You may not treat my clients this way, and if you do, we let you go. And if it happens a second time, I let them go. And we fired a six figure client, uh, because they were just toxic. And it’s like, I will, the, you know, that $100, 000 in annual revenues or 120 or whatever it was, is not worth the negative impact that now my employees are going to dread coming into work because they have to deal with assholes on the phone, you know, or when the, you know, the caller ID of that client comes up and everyone’s like, not it. I’m not touching it. I’m not talking to the client. You know, it’s just horrible. And so you know, with the theme of the BEATS WORKING Podcast, I think a core thing that entrepreneurs need to do is, is protect their teams, you know, and like have a list of red flags. I’m like, who are your great right fit clients that value what you do and are grateful for what you’re doing and where it’s a truly a win-win. Uh, but we’ve had plenty of toxic clients over the years where, you know, they think, uh, they think they can do anything they want, you know, because they’re writing you a check and it’s like, nope. You know, but that’s, that’s, that’s a big struggle for a lot of business owners, I think, is learning to draw that line and stand by it and literally put your money where your mouth is, you know, be willing to walk away from a client.
MARK WRIGHT 10:34
Yeah, I think that’s so wise because you know what? What message does it send to your employees if you’re going to say, well, these are my values, but those don’t apply if somebody is paying us a lot of money and can treat, treat people badly? Um, what, what’s, what’s the biggest lesson that you’ve learned as you’ve grown that company, Tom?
TOME LAMBOTTE 10:55
The biggest lesson? Um, you know, it’s been a hard one, um, but to not tolerate mediocrity. And it’s kind of a double-edged sword. I love helping people to the core when you strip away the, you know, the technology and entrepreneur and all that stuff. At the end of the day, I love helping people. It’s just that, you know, it’s deep in my heart And, you know, almost to a fault, right? Because I believe in my heart that people can change any time in life, right? People can always change. Um, but, you know, it’s the old adage, you can only bring a horse to water. Uh, and, and I think for, it’s taken me years to learn uh, that sometimes, you know, people aren’t going to work out in your organization. Um, you know, but I, I, I believe in them and I was like, oh man, what have I done? How have I failed them, right? Have I given them the right direction? Have I given them the right support, right? So I take, I typically take a lot of the blame on myself when an employee isn’t doing well. Unless, you know, you have the obvious ones. I mean, if they’re, you know, the C and D employees stand out, they get themselves fired, right? Those are easy. But what I’ve really learned to build a really high performing team and culture is that you can’t tolerate the B players, you know, the C plus and the B players. Again, the C players stand out really easily, but the B players, it’s like, if you want to be, you know, I’ve always loved, you know, the, the movies that make me cry are the sports, you know, comebacks and turnarounds and, you know, the underdog. Um, and it’s like if you want to build a championship team, which it’s like if I’m running a business, I want to build a championship business, you know, like a team that the A players appreciate because the A players, they know who the B players are on your team, and they know that you’re tolerating them. The B players, they’re not doing great work, but they’re not doing horrible work, but they’re also not doing great work. They’re not creating raving fans with the interactions when they’re providing support. They’re getting it done, right? They’re doing okay. Um, and, and so it’s been really hard over the years to, you know, learn to kind of pull the trigger a little bit quicker. Like when you, when you realize it’s a B player, it’s like, move them up or move them out. C players need to go quickly. Uh, but I think that’s been the biggest lesson I’ve learned is really, you know, curating and, and building a high-quality team that supports, you know, the culture and who we are, you know, our identity as a company. Uh, cause the more A players you get. The more they value and, and, and appreciate all the other A players that, you know, that people want work, they can enjoy, you know, doing with people they enjoy spending time with. And when you get those mediocre, like, you know, it’s just like, oh, I can’t, it drives me nuts. And, and so I think, you know, not tolerating mediocrity is probably one of the hard lessons I’ve learned over the years.
MARK WRIGHT 13:49
So, you started Bobaguard three years ago, right? That’s a cyber security company protecting mid-sized law firms. What an amazing opportunity this has been just because cyber criminals, um, are everywhere now. And what a crazy chapter in, in business history where we have really good, organized criminals who are going after honest, hardworking businesses here in America, and they’re getting them every day, right?
TOM LAMBOTTE 14:17
Yeah. Um, they’re not going anywhere. It’s an extremely profitable business. They don’t have to play by the rules. You know, they’re organized entities. I mean, cyber criminals are not, you know, the, the 42-year-old loser son living in his mother’s basement playing video games, eating Cheeto crumbs in his beard, and like, oh, I’m gonna do some cyber hacking on the side. It’s like, no, these are, you know, they’re professionals. Um, they’ve got, you know, weekly team meetings, they’ve got daily KPIs they’re focused on, they’ve got a marketing team, they’ve got a CFO on their team, you know, a lot of them are funded by government agencies, uh, it’s an extremely profitable business models and unlike us, they don’t have to follow the rules, you know, and it’s, you know, it’s like telemarketing. It’s just a numbers game, right? They know that they can put a bunch of the, you know, laziest people that hate their jobs and just get them to sit there and dial all day and they’re going to get X amount of sales, you know, they’re going to take advantage of X amount of people. Um, you know, here it’s just, you know, kind of the next level on the criminal side. Um, and they’re not going away, it’s not going to change, um, you know, they’re using all the latest, you know, automation and tools and technologies that we’re using to amplify our businesses. Uh, they’re definitely going to, you know, they’re already doing it and they’re going to continue to leverage AI, um, right? So, it’s like, hey, I can have a spreadsheet, a whole list of companies and targets I’m attacking. And I can use AI to go and read their LinkedIn pages, find some relevant content. So I can send a custom email. That’s got a relevant point. They just shared on their LinkedIn or blog article to open a conversation and build trust, right? And they can do that at scale. So, I don’t know what direction you want to go in, but I’ll stop there.
MARK WRIGHT 16:02
Yeah, Tom, I’m interested, like, what’s the typical way that cybercriminals are targeting businesses in America these days? What, what does that look like and how do you know it’s happening, you know, and then how do you, I guess, prevent it? But what’s, what’s a typical scenario?
TOM LAMBOTTE 16:18
So, here’s a stat. Uh, on average, it takes 268 days to identify that your company has been hacked.
MARK WRIGHT 16:29
Wow. 268 days. So, they’ve been roaming around inside your system for days and days and days, weeks.
TOM LAMBOTTE 16:37
Rewind 10 years back when someone breached your email account, your biggest concern was, oh man, they’re going to send out Viagra offers to everyone in my address book, right? That was a threat, and it was kind of embarrassing and that was it, right? Now they’ve learned like, yeah, that’s not the best approach. Once we get access, let’s not make it known we’re there. Let’s, let’s do the, the data collection. Let’s see what we can find, right? And let’s take our time. Let’s download all their files. Let’s, uh, you know, we’re in their email account, so let’s look at Mark’s sent folder. Um, let’s, let’s do some key, key words because the wonderful indexing that we all depend on, you know, to search our, you know, 50,000 emails and get results instantly, uh, is super, super helpful for cybercriminals. So, they’ll type in social security number, routing number, bank transfer, SSN, uh, EIN, um, you know, date of birth, password. Oh wait, Mark. You look like a smart enough guy, you’re not going to, if you, you know, the few times you sent a password via email, you didn’t do it by writing password. You put PW, right? And you were smart enough to send them in two separate emails, because you’re like, oh, that’ll get them. So, hey, Mary, here’s my login for this password, and I’ll send the password in a separate email, right? And then 15 seconds later, you sent another email with the password. So, they’re going to type in PW. Boom, they’re going to find any, any password you’ve ever submitted in there. Since they’ve got email to access to your email account, they can now go to your bank, uh, to your Dropbox, to whatever they’re trying to get into. And if, if they don’t have that password, no big deal. They just hit reset password and that’s going to send an email to your email account. So now they can change your other logins and they can get into different accounts. They’re not telling you all this is happening. They’re smart. They’re not gonna, you know, they’re gonna make sure you don’t see that email come into your inbox, right? So, when they go to your bank and they say reset password, email goes to your inbox, they’re on it, they’re gonna delete it immediately, and they’re gonna erase it from the trash, right? They can do all that stuff. So that’s how they can, you know, operate behind the scenes. Um, I don’t know how much you want me to keep going on, but that, that’s, that’s, you know, one of the ways, the biggest way is just getting into your accounts. Um, you know, there’s billions of passwords that are accessible on the web right now. Uh, for the majority of people, you can give me their professional email address. I can use a tool that we use for our clients. We can find out what passwords are currently already on the web. Um, most likely, you know, the, the three passwords you use for 90 percent of your logins, those are probably already on the dark web, and I can get into your accounts if I want.
MARK WRIGHT 19:16
Wow, that is crazy. What about holding people’s data hostage? Um, that seems as you can literally bring a business to, to its knees, right? And is, is that still really common right now?
TOM LAMBOTTE 19:30
Absolutely. Yeah. Ransomware is extreme. It’s, it’s rampant. Fortunately, with, with Global Mac IT, you know, we just support Mac users. They haven’t figured out the way to really use ransomware to encrypt Mac users’ data. Uh, but on the Windows side, Bobaguard is for Mac and Windows, right? So, it’s definitely, it’s a threat that we protect against. Uh, but yeah, they, they get access. They install the tool. They can encrypt all your files. And the only way you can get access to them is by paying the fine. So, here’s the kicker. Cybercriminals have figured out that insurance agencies will pay the ransom. So, it’s just, again, it’s a numbers game, it’s their business model, it’s their revenue model. They know out of a hundred companies we get, we encrypt and we say, hey, pay the ransom 20,000, 50, 100,000, uh, you know, or you lose all your data. They know exactly what percentage of them are going to pay the ransom. That money is going to be sent to the, uh, insurance company, insurance company is going to pay for it. So now insurance companies are starting to charge a lot more for premiums, uh, for cybersecurity insurance. Um, they’re, you know, they’ve got a lot more exclusions. They’re starting to demand a lot more requirements that the companies have. Like, hey, if you want to get a cybersecurity, if he wants to give you a cybersecurity policy, you need to have this, this, this, and this in place. Um, so, yeah.
MARK WRIGHT 20:50
So, what would be your best advice, Tom, to a business owner of any size? Like, here’s the bare minimum what you need to be doing right now to prevent cyber criminals from hitting your business.
TOM LAMBOTTE 21:02
So bare minimum, make sure you have two factor authentication. Turned on for all of your accounts, right? First one you need to do today is your Gmail or 365 account, right? Because again, someone gets access to your email account, they’ve got access to any other account that they want. Um, but two factor authentication is not the end all be all. There’s some tools that can interrupt now. So, if they’re sending out a text message to your phone, those can be hijacked and then used. So we use a password management program, uh, whether it’s 1P, you know, 1Password or Dashlane. You know, there’s a whole, there’s a number of different solutions. Um, PassKeep, I think is another one. Uh, but a lot of these tools will let you store the two factor authentication in the app itself. So it can’t be, uh, it can’t be hijacked, right? So two factor authentication is one. My real answer, though, is that you need a comprehensive protection strategy because, you know, my one answer is the multi layered approach, right? So if you think of the old, uh, heist movies, right, like Italian Job and Ocean’s Eleven, those kind of movies, right, I always loved those. Um, you know, a random team comes together, they’ve each got their unique skill, and in order to get the jewels, they have to pass through, you know, six, seven, eight different unique, you know, layers of security before they can access the jewels and make off into the night. So they can’t just break through two or three. They have to get through every single one. So the best way to really protect yourself is with a suite of tools, right? So you need to have antivirus and anti, you know, ransomware. Um, you know, protection, you need a security operations center that can kind of keep an eye on all your systems. And so if something starts happening, it can identify it and remediate it immediately, right? As some files start getting changed in your system, it’s like, oh, that might be ransomware trying to lock up your files that can be addressed and mitigated immediately with the right tools, right? Um, monitoring the dark web. So, you know, the way cyber criminals get paid when they have these big data breaches is, uh, let’s say they, you know, they breach Netflix and they get, you know, 15 million usernames and passwords. Um, they haven’t been paid yet. Usually they have to go to the dark web, which is kind of like the Amazon for cyber criminals, and they list them all for sale there, and they say, hey, we’ve got, uh, you know, 10 million usernames and passwords from Netflix, who wants them? And other criminals come, they say, hey, I’ll take a million of those, I’ll take 200,000 from Chase, they’re a little more expensive, but they have a good ROI, you know, and they pick and choose and buy them. So, on this dark web, it’s just a marketplace, um, so dark web monitoring kind of connects to all these marketplaces, and anytime an email shows up with your company domain, it tells you about it right away. So it’s kind of like if someone, you know, if you found out criminals had a copy of the key to your house, how long would you wait to change locks, right? What do you want to know, of course, and you’d have the locksmith over right away. Um, so, you know, there’s a whole bunch of different tools. You know, cybersecurity training. You’ve got to make sure everyone on your team knows what to look for. What are the signs of a, you know, a phishing email? Uh, they, they keep getting better. They’re going to start getting more and more targeted. Uh, there’s spear phishing where they pick out a specific person on the team, you know, let’s say my executive assistant on my team and they’re going to, you know, focus on her and trying to get her to give up her credentials because then she can intercept, you know, emails and that kind of thing. So, so my one thing is a complex answer. Bare minimum two factor authentication. You know, the real answer is multi layered solution. You need a whole bunch of different tools, you know, to help protect you. Uh, cause like you said, you don’t, going through a data breach is a world of pain and stress and it’s just, it’s horrible. You know, you have to, you’re forced to stop everything you’re doing. I mean, your business goes on pause. Uh, as you get data forensics people coming in to find out what happened, what did they access, you know, having to send a letter out to every single contact in your database, your clients, your, you know, JV partners, you know, everybody in your database, you have to send the letter. Hey, we, you know, had a data breach. Um, so, you know, the cost, the reputational damage, the time, it’s just, it sucks. So,
MARK WRIGHT 25:16
Well, as you’ve grown your companies, you came to the realization that your joy, your unique contribution is not running IT companies. It’s, it’s, it’s just not, even though you, you seem to be pretty good at it. So take, take me how you came to that realization, Tom, and how that has springboarded into what you’re doing now.
TOM LAMBOTTE 25:38
Yeah, so seven years ago I joined, uh, a, a great organization called Strategic Coach. Uh, it’s run by Dan Sullivan. And that, that, that’s how I know Dan, you know, and that’s how I was brought to this podcast.
MARK WRIGHT 25:50
Yeah. Our Dan, Dan Rogers, yeah.
TOM LABOTTE 25:52
Yeah. Dan Rogers. And one of their, you know, they have a lot of great concepts, is specifically, you know, group for high performing entrepreneurs. It’s, it’s what I call my, my tribe, my people. It’s not just about, You know, working and more and success. It’s about balance and a lot of other things that I really aligned with. Uh, but one of their key ideas is unique ability. You know, the idea behind unique ability is every single person on the planet has a set of God given abilities, um, that you just naturally gravitate to and, and so your unique ability uh, it’s often something that you take for granted, right? You might not notice it. You figure everything else thinks that way or operates this way, uh, until someone points it out to you. Uh, it’s something that you feel you could always improve and get better at, right? Whether, you know, whether you spend 5, 10, 25 years, you can always learn more and improve. Uh, if you spend, you know, your whole day doing, you know, things in your unique ability, at the end of the day you feel energized, right? Like, wow, that was awesome. You know, and it’s not like soul sucking and exhausting, right? And so, a big concept in Strategic Coach is they help people figure out what their unique ability is. So about five years ago, I did kind of the initial, you know, work on unique ability, and I found out that my unique ability is to, uh, identify strengths and obstacles, um, build, help people create a bigger, you know, kind of build a path to help people overcome those and then help people become a bigger and better version of themselves. Uh, and that was kind of a rough, you know, my, my beta version of my unique ability. Uh, and when I realized that, I was like, wow. So what am I doing running an IT company, right? Uh, and, you know, essentially, I’ve, I’ve kind of always been wired to excel. Uh, and I don’t say that in a, in a. It’s more like, you know, there was a ladder up against the wall and I was like, ooh, a ladder, let’s climb it. And so I started, you know, helping people with their Macs, right? And then I kind of started building the company and it kept going to the next step. And before I know it, it’s like, okay, I’ve got a nationwide managed service provider with a team of 15. But I never stopped to wonder, like, is this the wall I really want to be on, right? Is this something that I love and excites me? I mean, I love GlobalMac IT, they’re great companies, amazing cultures and clients, and they both have super bright futures, um, but it’s not what I’m most passionate about, right? And so what I really realized is like, I love coaching. I love helping others. I’m really good at kind of, uh, distilling, you know, concepts, finding big opportunities and ideas and that kind of thing. And so five years ago, when I had this realization, I wasn’t in a place where I could, you know, sell the company or, or kind of move out. And, and so it’s been a long process over the past five years to kind of start working myself out of GlobalMac IT, that I created Bobaguard and kind of built that because I created myself a lot of freedom to do so. And, you know, I’m not dependent on to run the companies, you know, GlobalMac IT and Bobaguard combined, I probably work one, sometimes two days per week on. Okay, and then I have great teams running. And so I, I had this new time, I was like, all right, what’s next? And so what I’m doing now that started in March of this year, uh, is we’re doing AI coaching for C, AI coaching and training for CEOs, uh, executives and leadership teams. Um, and it’s been very, very fun.
MARK WRIGHT 29:16
I understand that you were actually invited to present to Tony Robbins at, at his, at his house. Um, I’m just thinking, man, no pressure, but hey, Tony Robbins wants to sit down with you and talk about this stuff. Tell me what that was like.
TOM LAMBOTTE 29:34
Uh, it was amazing. So it was actually for his Platinum Lions, which is this highest level group of kind of mastermind. Um, so it was a total of 41 people, you know, and Tony was there and his wife and his whole team and uh, it, it was awesome. I mean I grew up listening, you know, my, my first dose of personal development was, you know, Tony Robbins. Um You know, I remember I had my personal power to you know, CD set, you know, the big giant box, you know, 24 CDs, and I would just play him over and over as I was driving around running a business in college. And, you know, so he had a massive impact on me to say the least. And since then, I’ve, you know, continued to read and learn, you know, the I’m surrounded by my friends here, you know, my virtual mentors. Um, and so it was an amazing experience. It’s kind of surreal. Um, but yeah, we, we got to go and my, my partner, Mike Koenigs, um, and I got to go there and run a two and a half hour workshop on AI and really just blow their brains with what’s possible, what’s out there right now that they can, you know, make use of and leverage. And I got to work with Tony, you know, um, for about 10 minutes you’re gonna break out and then he’s like, hey, come back to me when you’re done. And it was, it was midnight by the time we finished, you know, you might’ve heard Tony’s known for giant long days and he didn’t disappoint. Uh, but I got to work on one on one for another 20 minutes after and it was really cool. Um, I’m not, you know, people are people. I don’t really treat people differently or put them on a pedestal. You know, we all put on our shoes, you know, one, one foot at a time kind of thing. Um, so it was cool. It was a really, really good experience.
MARK WRIGHT 31:13
Yeah. What, what is it about Tony that you think has made him so, so successful? Um, he just is just at, at a completely different level. Just a blowtorch, isn’t he?
TONY LAMBOTTE 31:25
I mean, he’s involved in 108 companies, you know, his, his, his reach has impact is just massive and I think it’s you know, his passion for learning, uh, coupled with his passion for helping. I mean, he deeply, you know, cares. He’s, he’s genuine. You know, I think a lot of people write him off, you know, far too soon because you know, they still think he’s the motivational speaker on late night TV kind of thing and it’s like, yeah, that was 40 years ago, you know, so, um, yeah, no, he’s just, uh, you know, he’s, he’s, he’s a powerhouse and, you know, what, what I love the most, we also got to work with Peter Diamandis, uh, with Abundance360, he founded SpaceX and, you know, 20 other companies and kind of the, um, you know, cutting edge, longevity, medical, AI, all this stuff. Uh, so we’re, you know, it’s opening the doors to work with some really great, uh, you know, deeply caring and impactful leaders. Uh, and, and it’s, it’s, it’s awesome because for, for years in Strategic Coach, there’s, there’s this one tool that’s called the pocket planner. Um, and I’ll, I’ll show it to you here, but this little thing, but then it unfolds and it’s two full pages of kind of a guide to planning and, you know, one of the things on the back is the lifetime goals. And for years, I never knew how I’d realize it, but I’d always written, uh, impact a million, you know, uh, impact a million people and over time that grew to influence, you know, impact a million people and I wrote influence the influencers and, you know, when in my world running a small IT company at the time, I was like, I had no clue how it ever how I would ever make that jump. And so, as I’m getting a lot, I’m a hell of a lot closer today than I was, you know, 5 ,3 ,2 even 1 year ago to kind of manifesting and creating that, um, and I, I, I owe a lot of that. to really taking the time to discover my unique ability and, and, and create the space over time to spend more time there, you know, um, so.
MARK WRIGHT 32:32
I love, I love the fact that you’re now consulting at super high level, uh, about AI, because that, that is the topic right now in business in America. Um, it’s scaring a lot of people. It’s exciting a lot of people. So, let’s, let’s drill down a little bit further on, on it uh, AI right now, uh, Tom, what, from a basic fundamental level for somebody like me, who doesn’t know anything about computers, what’s the difference between AI and just computers running programs? You know, what, what, what is AI?
TOM LAMBOTTE 34:05
You know, I think that, you know, the big difference is, you know, you have these LLMs, which are large language models, and it’s, you know, it’s learning to think itself. You know, for example, there’s going to Google, typing in a search, something you’re looking for. I made a, I made a Cuban sandwich for lunch, you know, recent example. And in the past, let’s say I want to pull up a quick, uh, you know, quick, a quick recipe, I’d go to Google and I type in Cuban sandwich recipe and I’d get, you know, 2.3 million pages, uh, you know, the first 15 are ads, you know, the 10 recipes I go to are so chock full of pop ups and banners and interruption, you know, you’re, you’re just digging for the where’s the print button, right? When you try to find the recipe and printing, pass on that crap, right? Um, now I never do that. I never Google. I go straight to ChatGPT and I say, hey, give me a simple recipe for a Cuban sandwich. Boom. Here it is, right? Um, uh, you know, for my 12-year-old daughter, um, she’s kind of boy crazy and, um, my wife and I were talking about it and we’re like, hey, you know, AI, you know, ChatGPT isn’t, it’s, it gives you immediate access to thousands of different types of niche experts, right? So, it’s like, hey, I want you to act as a, you know, a parenting counselor or something like that. Um, here’s what’s going on with our daughter. And I give as much detail as I can. And I’m like, hey, what would you reckon? You know, recommend some strategies that we could use some books, you know, different frameworks we could look into. Um, and boom. And it gives me a specialized, unique response to my specialized, unique need, where if I would type all that into Google. One or two paragraphs of detail that I would have provided would probably not give any hits. The few hits I would get would be SEO optimized articles that maybe would touch on something, but not all of it, right? So, it gives you access to get a really well thought out, you know, response. And again, it’s like, imagine you’ve, you found an expert and you’re paying for consulting time or therapy or whatever it is, or a soccer coach, right? Um. And AI is able to give you, you know, specialized custom responses based on what you provide. You know, so it’s a completely new world. You know, let’s say you take soccer and hey, my son is 10 years old. He’s having a hard time kicking the ball. He kicks with his toe instead of the side of his foot. How would you recommend I can help him with that? Boom. It’ll give me a custom strategy on an AI channel that I’m in with Abundance360, another organization I belong to. Um, I saw a chat about someone who her cousin has horses and there was some kind of weird injury, and they use Chat GPT to help diagnose and recommend the course of action to help the horse with their unique injury. You would never have been able to find that just googling around and finding some static article written, right? But instead Chat GPT has the knowledge of, you know, thousands of different, um, uh, you know, expert horse veterinarians, you know, and all the book and, you know, data and information, it’s able to take that background of information and consider it with your unique specific thing and kind of give you a, you know, customized response. I don’t know if that answered the question.
MARK WRIGHT 37:33
Yeah, no, it’s, it’s, it’s really amazing how these new AI models know what’s relevant. It’s like, uh, and they not only know what’s relevant, they know then how to collate all that information into specifically the question that, that you have. Um, and, uh, you’re right, it’s a completely new ballgame. What do you think the biggest impact on business is going to be? Which businesses do you think will be most impacted by AI? Because even in, in our, you know, podcast, you know, some of our staff have, have started experimenting with it. Hey, write show notes for this show. And just plug, we plug in the verbatim of, of the interview. And it’s scary how accurate, uh, these, these, uh, engines are. So, what, what do you think are the biggest impacts we’re going to see from AI?
TOM LAMBOTTE 38:26
There are many, you know, Deloitte, you know, there’s different, you know, there’s been plenty of research and really deeply analytical, like these are the areas that are gonna be mostly impacted. Um, you know, we can search those. Um, but my belief is that every business is going to be impacted. And so, you know, 12, 24, 36 months from now, you’re going to look back as a business owner or company and you’re going to see the companies that chose to embrace AI. There’s going to be those who embrace AI and those who don’t. Um, you know, so the next question and concern is like, oh man, AI is going to replace us all, right? We’re all going to be replaced by AI. It’s a threat to all of our jobs. Um, you know, I think the same things were said when the fax machine came out, right? When email came out, right? Oh, you know, so anytime there’s a massive evolution in technology, there’s always the initial fear of change. And that’s just how our society has been wired, right? When someone invented the wheel, you know, uh, someone were out there protesting, you know, the invention of the wheel and it’s horrible and it’s going to kill our local communities because now people, you know, whatever. Um, you know, but it’s a constant, you know, state of evolution. Um, you know, the obvious question that a lot of people, you know, are concerned by is the fear, the impact, the terminator, right? And, you know, my response to that is you can use fire to cook your dinner or burn down your house. Nothing in and of itself is bad. It’s the usage and application that makes it so, right? Nuclear power, right? You can think of Hiroshima, or you can think of, you know, the billions of people that now have energy thanks to nuclear power, right? That are able to provide, you know, lighting in their homes and all these different things, right? So, you know, I believe, is AI going to be used for bad? 100%. I don’t doubt it. But that’s not the discussion or topic or world that I choose to zoom in and expand on, you know, whatever folks on expands. But the flip side, AI is going to solve some of humanity’s biggest problems. And, you know, when you have the right people with the right visions, and, and caring and, and there’s a lot more people on this planet who are caring and loving and want to help one another, uh, you know, than the opposite, you know, the, the, the news make us think otherwise, because, you know, shock cells, right? Um but there’s going to be, you know, some of our biggest problems that we have today are going to be solved by AI. You know, because it’s able to consider so many different things, you know, it can analyze what one of the clients we’re working with, Joan Greco, she is building an app that can help you self-diagnose whether a whether you have skin cancer. So, you take a picture, uh, of your mole. And when you go to a dermatologist, I think they have a 50 percent success rating being right. Okay. Her application is going to have, I think she’s already 80 or 85 percent now. It’s just a matter of training the model some more. She’s going to get it to where it’s over 90%. Now you make that app available for free in third world countries and things like that. Now you’ve got a doctor, you know, or a village person who’s got an iPhone. They can install this app and they can check everyone in the village. You know, early detection is key, right? And then you can make it billable for all the people, you know, who, uh, don’t have much trust or faith in our wonderful medical system. Yes, heavy sarcasm there. Um, uh, you know, but how many people never go in to get diagnosed because they’re afraid to go to the doctor, they don’t want to deal with having to go to their doctor, get a referral, all this stuff, and then still get a ginormous bill on the other side, right, even though they have insurance. Um, so there’s so many people that don’t even get checked, right? So that’s just one small example. You know, imagine that times a thousand. Imagine that being applied in, you know, all the different fields of, you know, medical. I mean, there’s so many applications. They’re literally endless.
MARK WRIGHT 42:34
When you look at the things that have changed society over time, I mean, starting with the Gutenberg press way back, do you think this is one of those epic moments in, in our society when, yeah, archeo, you know, anthropologists will look back and say, wow, this, this was a major turning point in human history.
TOM LAMBOTTE 42:54
Yeah, the wheel, you know, fire, um, you know, the internet, right, like the, you know, the, the press, right, that all these things are going to massively shift and change the future fabric of our world, you know, um, it’s going to get, you know, again, you know, someone with a cell phone in the middle of Africa, a little village now can access more information than the president of the United States had access to only 10 years ago, right? So, this is going to be another one of those, you know, now you don’t even have to know how to use the thing. You don’t have to know how to search and take the patience and time. You just describe it. What’s going on? I’ve have I’ve used GPT for so many random things across so many different areas. And my mind keeps expanding into, you know, what it’s What’s possible that it can do? You know, one of the big insights I had was really going meta. And, you know, a lot of times we go to, you know, Chat GPT is kind of the most popular one. You might go in and ask a specific question, but it dawned on me one day. I said, wait, what if I don’t know the right question to ask? So, I said, hey, here’s my outcome. Here’s what I want to do. What are the questions I’m most likely to overlook as I try to get there? And then it can, it gives me a list of questions. And then I say, okay, go ahead and answer those questions for me, right? So again, it’s, you know, most people when it, when it comes to AI, I think 50 percent of the population is like, oh, you can use AI to write a blog article. Great. I don’t care. The other 40 percent is like, oh, AI is bad. It’s going to be the end of society and all this. And then 10 percent maybe have a clue of what it can do. Most people can’t really, wrap their heads around it just yet. It’s still kind of theoretical. It’s like, yeah, it sounds cool. It sounds threatening. You know, it’s like, yeah, it’s not really for me or a few people have kind of used it once or twice and, you know, asked a few prompts and like, meh, you know, so they kind of stop, you know, so I think it’s still gonna be a while for people to really get. You know, kind of shift their mindset and, you know, to the question of, oh, it’s going to replace all our jobs. Uh, AI is not going to replace your job, but an AI powered employee will, rght? So I think it’s imperative for every person to get familiar, um, with how to use it, where you can leverage it to amplify your work, you know, because again, if you can use it to amplify your output by 20 percent without working any harder, a year from now, it’s going to be like, hey, these people on my team are getting way more done. And they’re working the same amount as these people. What’s the difference? And that can be a big, um, you know, it’s going to be an unfair advantage. And so, I think it’s also a huge opportunity for those who want to kind of reposition their, you know, their stance and their path and their plan. Um, you know, there’s the, um, what’s it called, the, you know, during COVID everyone took a break, now no one wants to work. The great,
MARK WRIGHT 45:49
The great resignation. Yeah.
TOM LAMBOTTE 45:51
The great resignation, right? I think the issue is not that people don’t want to work. It’s a people don’t want to work shitty jobs for shitty people and crappy bosses who treat them like shit and aren’t grateful. You know, so it takes, it’s going to take a big shift from entrepreneurs who are creating the jobs, who are creating the cultures and the experiences, you know, on one side. Uh, you know, they’re there. There’s not enough and we need more of them, but there’s also the employees. Now, I think the ones that want to kind of shift, you know, what their life is like and what they’re doing. This is an amazing opportunity that there’s a giant void of employees that know how to leverage AI, uh, you know, in any field. Um, where I think, I, I think if you look for them, you can find ways to leverage it, having, you know, make your job easier, bigger, better, faster, uh, and, and you can use that to kind of have an unfair advantage, you know, versus other people you’re, you’re potentially competing against.
MARK WRIGHT 46:42
Um, I wanted to touch on for a while you were focusing on, uh, a new startup called the One Day Work Week, um, where just helping entrepreneurs understand how to focus more, work less on certain things to allow them to work more on other things. What’s your best advice, Tom, when it comes to that entrepreneur out there who might be just working a ton, but doesn’t feel like they’re going in the right direction. How do you get to that point of understanding how to let go, um, how to prioritize, how, how to let other people do some of that work? What, what’s the best lesson that you’ve learned so far in that regard?
TOM LAMBOTTE 47:20
Yeah, you’ve got to step out of the forest, you know, and, and, you know, go to the top of the mountain. You’ve got to disconnect yourself so you can work on the business instead of working inside the business. And the majority of entrepreneurs are just, you know, they’re trapped in a J O B that they call being an entrepreneur. You know, but they’re a slave to their job. They’re working five, six, seven days. They never get a break. If they want to take a week off, it makes them nervous. It makes them scared. Because they think everything’s going to fall apart because they don’t have the systems or processes because they’re overcompensating and doing everything on their own. Well, if they do go on vacation with their kids and families, they’ve got their, you know, they’re tied to their phone. They’re making calls or checking email that they don’t really get to disconnect. And, um, my mentor Dan Sullivan says that an entrepreneur who’s too tightly scheduled can’t reinvent themselves, right? And so as long as you’re, you know, toiling inside the business continually with, you know, never getting a break, you’re never going to shift. You know, working 10 percent harder, working 20 percent harder is not going to create a massive shift in your life. It’s gonna make you work 10 percent or 20 percent longer hours. And so, I think for an entrepreneur who wants to shift and who wants to kind of end that and get to the next level in their growth, they need to find a framework. They need to find a kind of, almost a support group, you know, find other people that have been where you were. And every entrepreneur has gone through this. No entrepreneur starts and it’s like, oh, I’m working on the business. I’m not doing anything right. You have to go through the, you know, the hard challenges and toils and all that. Uh, but I’d love to help entrepreneurs, you know, cut that learning curve so it doesn’t take 10, 15 years. You know, so, uh, you know, frameworks like E. O. S. The entrepreneur operating system or scaling up by Vern Harnish. Um, you know, there’s a lot of different ones out there. We’re a huge fan of E. O. S. Um, you know, we implemented E. O. S. In our company years ago. It made a mm, radical shift and it really helped us get to the point where I was working one day a week in Global Mac IT, which allowed me to, you know, create Boba Guard and then eventually get that down to one day a week. And then the third business I started is called One Day Work Week. Um, you know, what we do, it’s kind of a custom boutique, um, consulting firm where we work with the CEO and the COO. So, it’s me and my COO and we work with them to help build out the systems, processes and everything that they need. Um, that’s kind of been, that’s been put on hold right now as the AI opportunity, uh, kind of, you know, showed itself and it’s kind of taken on a whole new level. Um, so one day work week is not done. It’s on the shelf for when the time allows it to, to kind of resurface. Uh, but I think the biggest thing is, you know, EOS is, I think a great starting point. If you want to get introduced to EOS, I recommend the book, uh, Get Traction, no, uh, Get a Grip. Get a Grip is a storybook, uh, it’s kind of a fable, fable style book. So, it’s easy to read and go through and kind of wrap your head around the challenges and, and, you know, reading that book, you’ll have so many insights and go, woah, that makes so much sense. You know, up until EOS, I always thought that as a CEO, I had to do all these things that I thought a CEO had to do. Uh, but one of the big insights I got from EOS was that every great company has two people at the top. There’s a visionary and an integrator, and I was forcing myself to do all the roles of an integrator as well. And I just thought it was part of the job I signed up for. You know, so I had the big insight that’s like, wow, this makes so much sense, right? All these things I suck at, I’m not good, but I’m forcing myself to do, and I just delay and I procrastinate. Uh, you know, and it’s just zapping my energy and, you know, you work in long days and uh, you know, there’s definitely a way around that. There’s the other side, and you can grow, um, and you can pursue all of your ambitions without having to sacrifice your balance and your family and your kids and your spouse, and I think that’s a really important thing, uh, that our society needs kind of a reawakening to, you know, there’s this mentality, there’s another, um, group I used to belong to and the mindset was like, oh, if you want to grow, you got to keep an eye on your employees cause I’ll screw you over. And if you want to make it America, you got to get up early and work late. And, uh, I was like, no, you know, and I think that that’s, that’s a belief system that exists in our society. It’s helped get us to where we are in a big way. Uh, so I’m not taking away from hard work. Um, it’s good. You know, you, you got to get that to get started, but it’s not a long term, you know, uh, solution, uh, we want to beat work and, and, and make it better. That’s where it has to charge and change with the balance. Um, so yeah.
MARK WRIGHT 52:12
Yeah, I’m, as you’re saying that talking about family, I’m looking at that picture of your beautiful family behind you. Tell me a little bit about family, your family and, and the importance of it. And, uh, I understand you’re about to adopt a fifth child. Is that right?
TOM LAMBOTTE 52:26
Yeah. Yeah. So, we’ve got, um, thank you. Yeah. We just got news last night, actually, that we have a new opportunity crossing our fingers. We won’t know until next week or so if we get picked. Uh, but if we would, uh, potentially August 28th will be placed with our new son, which should be exciting.
MARK WRIGHT 52:43
That’s fantastic. What is it about family, Tom, that’s so important to you? And I’m, I’m guessing that you understand how family makes you a different person, I guess is, is the way to put it, right?
TOM LAMBOTTE 52:56
Yeah. Yeah, um, I always loved kids. You know, I babysat when I was young. I worked as a clown and balloon animals. That’s a story we didn’t touch on. But for family picnics and stuff. So, I was always around kids. I always loved them. I always knew I wanted a family. Um, and when my wife and I, you know, started training 15 years ago. Um, we found out we couldn’t get pregnant, you know, so we tried all the natural, holistic methods. We’re very, you know, hippie, new age, healthy, organic, all that stuff. Uh, so we tried, you know, things from Mayan abdominal massage that we did in Belize and all these different things. Um, it didn’t work. Couldn’t get pregnant. My wife was put on this planet to be a mom. Uh, so it was really hard. And, um, at one point, we, I had, I met with a client of mine who’s a good friend, still a client today. They had triplets through IVF and the discussion we had together was like, Tom, you got to figure out how much you’re willing to spend, you know, like if you go through IVF, you’re not guaranteed a kid. You can spend 50 or 100 grand and still have nothing to show for it, right? And so, we decided early on, my wife and I were both like, hey, it doesn’t have to be our kid. It just, our kid is going to be our kid, you know, and every kid, you know, I think a lot of kids in this world just need love. They need a chance and opportunity. And so, we moved towards adoption. Um, you know, at first, when we were naive and knew nothing about adoption, like most people, we were like, oh, we want to close adoption. We want a white baby just because we thought it would make it easier for the child to not be confused. And, you know, talking with their birth parents and us and that kind of stuff. And then as we started, you know, getting more familiar with the world of adoption. You know, we, we learned that first open adoptions are far healthier. There’s been a lot of research done for the birth mom, for the child. Uh, you know, in the 80s, uh, adoptions were always open up until the 60s or 70s. And then they started becoming, you know, doing closed adoptions here in the U. S. and, um, you know, they showed that it create, it does a lot more harm than good.
MARK WRIGHT 54:54
What’s the difference between an open and a closed adoption?
TOM LAMBOTTE 54:57
Ah, good question. Yeah, so an open adoption is where, uh, you can stay in touch with the birth mom, or the birth parents, right? Um, most people hear that, and they imagine that the birth mom’s coming over for dinner every Sunday night. Um, but it’s far from that. In reality, um, you know, it just means you can send letters back to each other, you can have phone calls, but the overwhelming majority ends up being almost nothing or just a trickle, maybe a once-a-year connection kind of thing. Um, you know, we still stay in touch with, uh, the birth mom, two of the birth moms. Um, one of them had a closed adoption and, uh, two of our daughters are biological sisters, they’re siblings. Um, so yeah, so we opened ourselves up to adoption and, you know, we adopted, uh, Eliana. Our first, we were placed with her in 11 days, which is unheard of. Um, and then six months after that, we found out we were pregnant, which was a miracle. I’ll hear about that happening. It happened to us. Um, right after we found out we were pregnant, we found out that our daughter’s birth mom was pregnant again. Um, and she was due in like four or six weeks. Um, so we actually took her to the hospital and, um, our son, um, was stillborn. And so, she had a placenta abruption and we lost him there. And so, we had just found out that we were pregnant, so we couldn’t grieve. We had to just, like, focus on the baby and, you know, just, you know, keep moving forward. So, we, you know, went through everything. Perfect, you know, pregnancy. My wife didn’t miss her prenatals a single day. I mean, she does everything to a T. And, um, at the time of our delivery, our son was also stillborn. And my wife went septic. She almost died. She went into septic shock. Uh, she was in the hospital for a week and, you know, barely came back. I mean, she saw the light. And, um, thank God we had our daughter at the time, because she was our light that kept us going and getting out of bed. Uh, you know, it was a hard, hard, hard time. Um, and eventually we, we got to the other side and, and, uh, we knew we weren’t done, you know, we, we wanted multiple kids and so we opened ourselves up to adoption again. Um, we adopted our son Atreyu from Columbus and then five months after that our daughter’s birth mom was pregnant again and she’s like, hey, I’m doing like, you know, a month or two. So our, our, our two kids in the middle are eight months apart and we’re able to keep the, the sisters together. And after that, we actually worked with a birth mom and the medical system to help her get the, um, get her tubes tied. So, she didn’t have to worry about it. You know, so there’s the spectrum. Some people can’t get pregnant no matter what. Some people get pregnant, you know, without trying. Um, and uh, yeah, so we adopted Malia and then we waited a few years and we wanted, I thought we were done at three. My wife wanted to go for four. So, we adopted Kaya. Uh, you know, it’s going to be seven years ago almost in a couple of weeks. And my motto was four no more for a while it stuck, uh, until it didn’t. And so here we are, uh, going for number five. So,
MARK WRIGHT 58:07
Well, congratulations on your on your growing family. Um, what do you hope your kids are most proud of when it comes to the person you are, Tom, and how you live your life?
TOM LAMBOTTE 58:17
Great question. I think that, uh, you know, if we’re looking back, they were proud that I, you know, I was there for them. You know, I was present. I think that’s, that’s 150 free days last year. Um, you know, it’s so important, um, to, to make time and be there, and I think that, that’s always one of my biggest fears. Um, we were actually, I had a dinner after the last Strategic Coach workshop with Dan Rogers and a few other people, a small group of six or eight people or so, and we kind of went around and everyone shared their biggest fear. For me, it was the biggest fear that, um, you know, I, I let my ambition and kind of the natural flow of success that that’s coming now, especially the more I come in my unique ability, the easier it is. Uh, but I, that I let that overtake my kind of family balance and you know, I’ve never wanted to be a traveling dad. That’s gone. You know, it’s not worth it You know at the end of the day, one of my favorite kind of parenting books is by Jim Shields it’s called the family board meeting b-o-a-r-d like a surfboard, and the, the byline on his book is you have 18 summers to build lifelong connections with your kids, and there’s just something about that statement that it’s one thing thinking of 18 years and everyone says, oh, it goes by so quick. And, you know, you know, once you start having kids, you’re like, holy crap, they’re two. How’d that go by so fast? You know, and now mine is 12. And when I look at that, when I think of that statement, you have 18 summers to build lifelong connections with your kids. You know, my daughter’s 12, and she just entered seventh grade. And I was like, wow, we have six summers left. You know, and it’s just so fleeting and goes by so fast and I don’t want to build a business and get this success and, you know, stuff and whatever at the cost, you know, and have it and then all my kids are gone and moved out of the house. You know, it’s like to what end, what’s the purpose? You know, so it’s important to pursue your passions and your ambition and do what you love and focus on making an impact, but also keeping your family number one and your priorities. You know, I don’t want to do it to the detriment of my relationship with my wife and then, you know, it goes south and then I don’t build real connections with my kids. Uh, there’s another article that I read that I think it’s called The Tail End or something like that, but essentially by the time your kids turn 18, you’ve spent something like 95 percent of the time you’re ever gonna spend with them. So again, it’s like spend time with your kids now, be there with them and, uh, you know, being in the same room while you’re on your phone does not count as being with them. Going on vacation and sneaking away for a zoom call is not being with them. You know, be fully present cause you’re not gonna, you’re never going to look back and go, man, I wish I’d worked a little bit more, you know?
MARK WRIGHT 01:00:59
Yeah. Um, what a beautiful statement. I mean, just. It’s the fact that, you know, we’re on a mission to redeem work, you know, I think we’ve, we’ve talked to so many people in redeeming work that, you know, you can get the work done and you can prioritize your family at the same time because you’re right, that, that time is fleeting and there’s only so much time with our kids. Well, Tom, what a, what a, what a inspiration it’s been to spend some time with you. Um, and it’s so cool how you are committed to learning and growing and reinventing yourself and now you’re on the cutting edge of of AI and teaching people about that. Thank you for what you’re doing to redeem work. And just for the inspiration that you are, it’s been fun spending time with you.
TOM LAMBOTTE 01:01:40
My pleasure and thank you for what you’re doing and helping drive this message and spread it with more people. You know, like I said, we just need more good, inspirational, caring leaders. You know, they’re out there. There’s a void. So, if that’s your calling, like, follow it. You know, people need that. People want that. And, uh, you know, I think there’s more opportunities today than there ever have been. And AI is just going to create more opportunities. It’s not a threat, you know, it’s just a change. It’s a shift. So, you can, you can resist it or you can fight it or you can embrace it, you know, so.
MARK WRIGHT 01:02:11
Awesome. All right, Tom, thanks a lot. Take care and keep in touch.
TOM LAMBOTTE 01:02:14
All right. Thank you, Mark.
MARK WRIGHT 01:02:16
I’m Mark Wright. Thanks for listening to BEATS WORKING, part of the WORKP2P family. New episodes drop every Monday, and if you’ve enjoyed the conversation, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. Special thanks to show producer and web editor Tamar Medford. In the coming weeks, you’ll hear from our Contributors Corner and Sidekick Sessions. Join us next week for another episode of BEATS WORKING, where we are winning the game of work.
