How Servant Leadership Leaves a Lasting Legacy - Terrance Cooley

In today’s episode, I chat with Terrance Cooley, Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President of Special Projects for the United States Air Force "Joint All-Domain C2" R&D Center, steering the agency’s strategic vision, people-first culture, digital security posture and advanced warfighter technology development. 

A champion of inclusivity, he shapes high-performance, cross-functional teams that model and inspire a workplace based on trust, curiosity, integrity and excellence. 

Which was a great place to begin our discussion. I had an opportunity to ask Terrance about his unique background, from his time as a Wireless Systems Specialist, architecting $73 million in wireless networks for Combat Search & Rescue teams and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, to his time as the VP of Cyber Risk & Compliance for the United States Air Force's largest Active Cyber Defense group, equipping 82 global vulnerability assessments and overseeing the certification of over 700 analysts. 

In his role today, Terrance is tasked with outfitting a highly-specialized force that operates in life and death scenarios with very real stakes. And how he thinks about the unique challenges and opportunities of implementing technological innovations alongside cultural change?

It was the latest in what has now become a series of inspiring, enlightening, and engaging chats with Terrance. And I hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording it.

Terrance Cooley

Terrance serves as the Chief People Officer and Executive Vice President of Special Projects for the United States Air Force "Joint All-Domain C2" R&D Center, steering the agency’s strategic vision, people-first culture, digital security posture and advanced warfighter technology development. A champion of inclusivity, he shapes high-performance, cross-functional teams that model and inspire a workplace based on trust, curiosity, integrity and excellence. 

Terrance cut his teeth as a Wireless Systems Specialist, architecting $73 million in wireless networks for Combat Search & Rescue teams and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies before moving into global IT program management and delivering the world’s first 30-nation Federated Mission Network. He previously served as the VP of Cyber Risk & Compliance for the United States Air Force's largest Active Cyber Defense group, equipping 82 global vulnerability assessments and overseeing the certification of over 700 analysts. 

LinkedIn


Thinking Inside the Box

Constraints drive innovation. We tackle the most complex issues related to work & culture. And if you enjoy the work we’re doing here, consider giving us a 5-star rating, leaving a comment & subscribing. It ensures you get updated whenever we release new content & really helps amplify our message.

LinkedIn
Website
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Stitcher
Pocket Cast


Matt Burns

Matt Burns is an award-winning executive, social entrepreneur and speaker. He believes in the power of community, simplicity & technology.

LinkedIn
Twitter

Transcript

Terrance Cooley: If the junior person is a subject matter expert in their field and they are speaking on their subject, they are treated as the most high ranking person in that room. And that is how we've been able to bring in a lot of inclusion.

Matt Burns: Is when you feel like you're a.

Terrance Cooley: Part of a team and you know your voice is heard even by the most senior leaders. When you're being the person who's briefing a general officer and you are making decisions, advising them on decisions that are changing the course of world history, you have to know that people are going to take you seriously. So that's already built into our culture here.

Matt Burns: Hey, everyone, it's Matt here for another episode of thinking Inside the Box, a show where we discuss the innovative ways organizations and their leaders overcome complex issues at work. If you're interested in checking out other content, you can find us at our website, insidetheboxpodcast.com, and on all of your favorite podcast platforms by searching, thinking inside the box. And if you enjoy the work we're doing here, consider leaving us a five star rating, a comment, and subscribing it ensures you get updated whenever we release new content and really helps amplify our message. In today's episode, I chat with Terrence Cooley, chief people officer and executive vice president of, special projects for the US Air Force and their joint all domain c two r and D center that steers the agency's strategic vision, people first culture and digital security posture alongside advanced warfighter technology development. He's also a champion of inclusivity, basing his hopes that high performance, cross functional teams that model and inspire a workplace based on trust, curiosity, integrity and excellence can be a reality, which was a great place to begin our discussion. I had the opportunity to ask Terence about his really unique background from his time as a wireless system specialist, architecting $73 million of wireless networks for combat search and rescue teams in NATO, to his time at the vp of, cyber risk and compliance for the US Air Force largest active cyber defense group, employing 82 vulnerability assessments and overseeing the certification of over 700 analysts. And more importantly, I wanted to understand how they've informed his view of leadership today. Because in today's context, Terrence has a unique job. He's tasked with outfitting a highly specialized force that operates in life and death scenarios with very real stakes, and how he thinks about those unique challenges and opportunities alongside implementing technological innovation and defining cultural change. Well, it's a very nuanced challenge, and Terrence is a great person to ask it, and it's been the latest in what has now become a series of inspiring, enlightening, and engaging chats with Terrence. And I hope you enjoy listening as much as I did recording it. And now I bring you Terrence Cooley. Terrence, I think we've had this conversation in the works now for quite some time. At least I have in my head. I was so struck by our last conversation, our only conversation, that I knew that I wanted to get you on the podcast. Thank you so much for being here today.

Terrance Cooley: Thanks for having me. obviously, it's always kind of challenging to align these schedules together, so I'm glad we're able to make it work out.

Matt Burns: I appreciate your time. For those who don't know Terrence Cooley, a bit about your background, your experiences, and what's led you to today.

Terrance Cooley: So I'm Terrence Cooley, active duty military with the Air Force. I'm in charge of the OR. I'm the chief people officer of the Joint all Domain Command and Control Research and Development Center. Jad C, two for short. It's a real mouthful. I just try to tell people that, I'm chief people officer for an advanced R and D division in the Air Force, and they usually clyde gloss over, and it's fine. But we're working on some of the most challenging problems that the Air Force has to solve right now, and it's been really incredible working with a talented team of individuals, getting the resources they need and expanding that mission set. So I think of myself largely as a team builder.

Matt Burns: I mean, the armed forces are synonymous in a lot of countries. Obviously, they play a huge role in american culture, but not many people think about the armed forces, the military in a human resources context. I think that's an interesting conversation that we can have today as we explore a bit further. But before we do that, I'm just curious, you're working a lot with cross functional teams in this role. Chief people officer, you mentioned you're working on complex problems with, I'm sure, many, many layers of stakeholders. How are you going about managing that process and knowing how complex those relationships are, but knowing that, end of the day, the job needs to get done?

Terrance Cooley: I think a lot of it starts from two aspects that I really like to focus on, trust and accountability. You have to be able to trust your team, that you've hired subject matter experts who are confident in their field, and then trust that when you bring them together that they can work collaboratively to solve problems and apply data informed decision making in order to get to the next step. And continue moving through. And then holding people accountable is making sure that when people say they're doing what they need to do, we create the structures and the policies and the culture that allows people to know that while we trust you, we want you to make sure you're following through. What I found is when people feel like they are being trusted and being held accountable, they are more likely to be successful, and then you can be more hands off, provide that vision and strategy, and then you're just putting people in the room together and going, here's the problem. Start.

Matt Burns: Yeah. And providing those constraints actually works towards a solution, which is ultimately where you want to get to, is to see that progress. I think about progress in a lot of ways. And again, when you talk about technology innovation, there's obviously that innovation is occurring within the armed forces personnel branches as well. I'm curious, how have you thought about integrating technology into your particular practice? And same question for artificial intelligence.

Terrance Cooley: Okay, so this one's kind of near and dear to me, so I guess I didn't really mention it up at the top. My background is actually, I started as an IT system specialist, and then I moved into it program management. Then I moved into becoming a cyber threat hunter. So I have a very interesting career, path when it comes to technology. So it's very near and dear to me when I talk about what data we're using, how we're securing data, and how we are evaluating needs for the organization from a, tech lens considered approach. So when we are looking at how to evaluate and use and leverage technology, we are developing it in house, or we are pulling it off shelf and doing operational tests and evaluations based on, does this meet the needs of the warfighter? Does this meet a specific problem case? Is that problem case easy to articulate? And is it relevant to people? Is it theoretical, or is it practical? And as we make these decisions, we are able to tailor and target specific technologies that can solve practical problems, because that's what we like to focus on. But for those theoretical problems, what's the end case? How do we get to the final destination of this? So they could be leveraged and used. A lot of the technology then that we're talking about has a lot of a data informed basis. So we are constantly tagging data, creating structures, machine to machine interconnectivity, so that we can talk to one platform, doing one mission, and then somewhere else in the world can talk to another one and remove a lot of that human element so that humans are still part of the decision making process, but the speed of which data gets from one place to the other is significantly more relevant to them. That part is where you're spending a lot of our major focus on. So when it comes to evaluating technology and how are we using it in a day to day, exhaustively is probably the best way to describe it.

Matt Burns: In short. Well, in a lot of ways, at the leading edge of innovation from an industry perspective, because to your point, by the necessity, you want to have as little administration in the hands of the employees in your organization as possible. You need to equip them with the time and the space to be able to form their missions. And having technology be a, for lack of better term, a copilot to that process really enables them to be their highest and best use case. Other organizations and other industries have lagged behind that trajectory because there's a different level of urgency around the mission criticality for a lot of cases. So I'm just curious, from your perspective, why do you think it's been so successful in moving digital transformation forward? Given the nature of the workforce and given the challenges you're facing, I think.

Terrance Cooley: It again comes back to hiring subject matter experts. So if I have a tool that requires mit level coordination, for example, we don't endorse any particular organization, but if that's who we have available, and they are saying, here's the roadmap to how to use this, then I bring my team on and we will look at that and go, this is the roadmap. How do we get there faster? And we were always looking not to cut corners, but we're looking for the most efficient way to solve a problem. When it comes to applying that across a spectrum of workforce, it really comes down to the urgency mission. I really like that you brought that up, because obviously, we have a very urgent mission, and especially as we are ramping up in future competition, we are consistently looking at how quickly can we do things, how efficiently can we do these? But when we are applying these methodologies, we are also keeping in the back of our mind, we don't have a lot of, outstanding government regulations that give us a guideline. So we have to be really critical on the data that we're pulling in. And so data ethics has been a huge aspect of what we're doing. And that ability to up from the bottom up, build your data stack, apply it and infuse it, get stakeholder representation on, is it meeting their needs? When you are applying that specific technical solution, that feedback loop being so consistent and such a well oiled machine for us, I think, has been a huge boon for us. And I'd like to see other people kind of take advantage of that methodology.

Matt Burns: And I think people are going to have to have necessity. I think that early adopters of this will reap the rewards of moving to this model, because I think it is going to be, as I mentioned, a necessity going forward. When I think about talent management in the military context, I think about traditional military doctrine of the soldier, where you want an interchangeable part to perform their mission in groups with the correct equipment, but you want them to follow in a very hierarchical fashion, give order, receive order, follow order, and it just follow that loop. And that is the traditional view of things. obviously, the world's evolved significantly in the last several generations to where that hierarchical structure may be showing some cracks. And I'm curious, as you consider kind of culture in the organization, I know you're also really big on inclusion and diversity. So how do you marry up this traditional doctrine of uniformity with, more of an, inclusive and diverse lens on it?

Terrance Cooley: That's a great question. Largely by not thinking of them as separate. So the soldier methodology works really well for the army because of the size of their organization. But in the air force, we take that lens, but we start from the fact that everyone is a person first. So, yes, there is a chain of command from which you need to follow orders, but we were actually taught to question the legality of orders to make sure that everything is on point. Like, if someone tells you to go clean their house, that's not a legal order. So there's already an implicit motivation to validate the instructions that we're getting. And so that, again, comes back to that trust and accountability piece, because you still have to follow the order at the end of the day, if it's lawful. But by applying this to our lens, we then are able to. When we've built our organizational structure up, military is built into an officer structure, which largely mimics a, director to executive level function and enlist it, which largely mimics a senior manager down to individual contributor function. It's not a perfect one to one ratio, but we've built our organization by what is the kind of person that we need when we're hiring to fill this specific role and need and where do they fit on the team? And then rank matters, but it doesn't. If the, junior person is a subject matter expert in their field and they are speaking on their subject, they are treated as the most high ranking person in that room. And that is how we've been able to bring in a lot of inclusion is when you feel like you're a part of a team and you know your voice is heard even by the most senior leaders. Being the person who's briefing a general officer and you are making decisions or applying, advising them on decisions that are changing the course of world history, you have to know that people are going to take you seriously. So that's already built into our culture here. Then when it comes to diversity, especially when I was managing our hiring program, one of the things I look for is diversity. and experience not just diversity across the protected groups. That is still important and thing that we look for to make sure we're getting different styles of thought. But also, if I have two people that have the same job, but they came from one is East coast and one's west coast, they're going to look at that lens differently, just based on their lived experiences. So we're able to take advantage of that. So if I have a person who's done three or four different jobs in the military career, they might not be the most specialist in that person, but their broadened lens gives a lot more credibility to looking at problems from a different solution and come up with more innovative solutions. And I can go on and on about that, but that's kind of how we think about our culture here in this organization.

Matt Burns: It is a unique approach, because to your point, the personalization, again, is something that most organizations are moving towards. Many large organizations, and I've worked for a lot of Fortune 1000 companies take more of a traditional military approach to organizational structure, where it is very much that top down, and there is uniformity in terms of roles and from the pay to the titling to the work location. There was levels of economies of scale were desirable in previous, before the information age, because economies of scale mattered when you were able to manufacture products and sell them for lower prices, et cetera, et cetera. Information now has completely changed a lot of that, and the digital era has brought upon new organizations that actually can be highly effective, profitable, and successful without following the traditional paradigms of that model that we brought us to this point. And I think a lot of times when I think about the armed forces, I think about an organizational culture very much in flux in trying to shift towards this kind of future world that we're going into, that looks very different than it once did. Yes, geopolitically, but this is not a political podcast, but more specifically, the nature of, I'll call it the talent pool, demographically speaking, we see that there are more people leaving the workplace every single day than are joining it. And that's just the fact of the truth in Canada, the United States, Western Europe for the next 15 years, because the demographics show us that somebody who's 30 today will be 40 ten years from now. And there are just more and more people that are leaving than if they're joining behind them. And as our population ages, organizations big and small have to adjust their approach to talent. And in some cases, they're looking to technology to augment or in some cases, to ultimately replace certain functions so that they can continue to move forward, grow, but not be constrained by talent in whatever shape and form that would look. I'm curious, as you think about the future of talent in your organization and knowing that technology is always going to be part of what you do, how do you think about the shift in talent with technology into the future and how it ties into ultimately marrying that with a process that makes sense?

Terrance Cooley: So I got to start up top. Just got to address one point. Obviously, the military is nonpartisan. I'm glad you pointed that out. Just got to make sure that we're clear. But I think this is probably one of the most interesting questions for me, because I am actually one of the few people, that I've talked to who are actually incredibly excited about the younger generation who are coming in right now. it's not uncommon to see that the military is struggling with recruitment, efforts right now across all the services, because it's having a hard time at the corporate level of connecting with individuals who haven't grown up with 911, haven't grown up with a serious wartime. And the first serious war effort that they've heard about was us coming out of Afghanistan. So there's a different emphasis when we're trying to pull in skills. But I'm really excited, because what I'm seeing in our younger generation is a, heightened awareness of the world around them, a willingness to advocate for themselves and the people and the communities that they serve, willingness to try different technologies and incorporate them in their lives. And that's the kind of thinking that we're trying to incorporate. So the challenge is, how do you encourage them to come in and you have to meet them where they are? You can't use the same old logic that we've been using for 1776.

Matt Burns: Hey, everyone, it's Matt here. I hope you're enjoying today's conversation. And before we continue, I want to update you on my latest creative project this week at work. Every Friday at 07:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. That's 10:00 a.m.. Eastern. And 03:00 p.m.. GMT. My good friend Chris Rainey of HR leaders and I discuss the latest trending topics on the minds of executives globally. From organizational culture to technology and the future of work. We cover it all, and we invite some of our favorite colleagues to join us, from Dave Ulrich to Whitney Johnson and executives from iconic brands such as NASA, Krispy Kreme, and WebMD. What can I say? We like to keep things interesting. And if you've been following us for a while, you'll no doubt recognize the fun partnership Chris and I have developed over years podcasting together. We're not afraid to be real, share our own challenges, and ask the tough questions. Joining? Well, that part's easy. Follow me on LinkedIn, click the bell icon on the top right of my profile, and you'll get notified when we go live. And now back to our discussion.

Terrance Cooley: We have to change and adapt to the fact that technology is now an integral part of people's lived experiences. So from our organization, we're looking at steering the organization towards more of a skill based focus. We are always looking at higher education pipelines. It is a requirement to have a bachelor's degree, to be an officer. We are always encouraging our listed folks to complete their associate's degree that they get as part of the air force, as well as work on bachelor's and master's degree to get those advanced skills. And we're really focused on STEM degrees, especially now as we look at our pacing competition. But from a, perspective of how do I bring someone in who might only want to stay for four years and get the most out of that experience and bring the most value to the military? I have to be thinking of, what are the skills I can give them here that they will cultivate and learn in the military? And then when they leave, they can take that into the private sector and support defense agencies or defense contractors or other public sector organizations that require these heightened skills. I now think of it, and I'm trying to promote this idea that it is our role as the military to be a leader in incorporating new changes in technology. Because we've always been the leader at, adjusting to new things. That's why they called things military great because of our standards and our willingness to change. So, to me, the question isn't why or, what to do about the change. It's how quickly are you going to adapt to what the new generation is bringing. So that your organization is absolutely the first thing that they think of. At mine, you got to meet them where they are.

Matt Burns: I think that's a great point, and I think it's something, again, that we didn't often think about from a recruitment perspective. But I think one thing that's working in your favor, in all of our favor, is that, particularly in this context, today's generation that's entering the workplace is very mission driven. They're very purpose driven, more so, perhaps, than in the last several generations, but they very much have the sense of they want to contribute to something bigger than themselves, and that's inavorable quality and an opportunity, potentially, with the air Force or another agency in the armed forces to participate in that process. How do you connect with them on that level? So you've talked about the opportunity to build skills and to get experiences. Amazing. How do you connect with them on the more personal level? If that's the deciding factor in terms of where they decided to spend their.

Terrance Cooley: Time, a lot of it is, like I said, meeting them where they are. So we are often community ambassadors in the air force, and I know some of the other services do very similar things where we will go to schools, even when we're not recruiting, and I'm not a recruiter. So we'll go to a school, we'll go to a college fair, and we'll just explain what it is that we do. And a lot of it is giving them an example of someone who looks like them, who can tell about their lived experience. And here's my journey through the military. It's been a very curators route. I've been in a lot of cool places, a lot of different assignments, and here's my experience, and here are the missions and values that drive me. And a lot of the questions that we tend to get are, why did you join? Do you fight? Do you fly a plane? And you can kind of just meet them on. Here is what it's actually like. Here's what a lived experience in the military looks like, and here's the mission that we're actually doing. And we talk a lot about defending and upholding the constitution. That's, like, the core of it. But there's also the social advocacy part of how do we build the communities around us to make them better, protecting people's rights, ensuring that we don't actually have to go into a contest with anybody. These are the huge level, objectives and missions that you could be a part of that are bigger than yourself. And I think often speak to that desire to be a part, but you have to go to where they are, and you have to ask them what questions they have and answer them in person in an email or put a poster up or, sit down. You have to talk to them. And I think that's very important, building that personal connection.

Matt Burns: It is absolutely important, and it's more challenging today to do so through technology. But organizations are adjusting and adapting. Terrence, one of the benefits of having a podcast is I get to do some research, and I know a lot about your professional background and things we've already discussed. But in doing the research, one thing I discovered about you was your passion for something in a very different light, which is your devotion to at risk children. And you've played a significant role in brokering mental health partnerships in a number of different cases. I'm just curious, what inspires you about this particular group, and what's the origin story of that?

Terrance Cooley: I found myself, early on in my career, still looking for more. I've already had combat experience under my belt at this point, but I've always wanted to provide a light in places. I was born in Detroit, Michigan, and I've talked on some other previous podcasts about my life growing up, my abusive, stepfather, my suicide ideation at the time, and my, failed suicide attempt. And a lot of the disadvantages that I had to work through, that I watched become positive aspects when my mother fought and fought and fought and fought to keep me and my little brothers going forward and make a life for us. So I've always wanted to kind of provide that back, because ultimately, it's the next generation that's going to make the difference. You hit your apex at a certain point before, there's not a lot left for you to change, and you're kind of lame duck, so to speak. But it's that generation who are challenging the norms and pushing the boundaries of what society is, that you want to meet them and give them those opportunities. So when I became a foster parent, a lot of it was about how can I help and give my time in a way that promotes an opportunity for other young people who might not otherwise have been given that opportunity through circumstances outside of their control. And as I've grown more into this field, a lot of it is now. How do I keep families together? How do I find ways and structures that can give people the resources they need to be successful so that when they enter the workforce, they can be incredible contributors? So we're not losing people to homelessness. So we're not losing people to completely avoidable situations. 75% of all foster care cases are related to poverty. Parents not being able to get a job that pays them enough, having to work multiple jobs, and so tend to be pulled for neglect because they can't be there for their kid while they're trying to provide a life for them. The rest of the cases that actually do require that higher level of scrutiny, if you could take that 75% out of the way, imagine all of the kids, because 183,000 kids, wind up in the foster care system every year, and it's insane. So if you can actually take that population and give them a pathway back into administration, the government, into the public sector, into trades, our workforce becomes stronger, we become healthier as a company, as a country, and we're able to bind and heal community wounds and divisions. I think that's an incredibly important aspect of public service, is providing a public good, and I don't think there's any better way you could do that than giving your own time. So that's why I ultimately wound up adopting my son out of foster care, and he's my legacy. But a lot of it just came down to, what else can we do to make this world better? And that's just the path that I.

Matt Burns: Chose well, and it's a beautiful path. Thank you. The journey that you've been on has not been an easy one, and I know parts of that journey very, very well. So the fact that you took that experience and turned to something that was really special and beautiful and was so focused externally on helping other people, I just want to acknowledge that for what that is. And I know that it's a deep part of yourself. So it wouldn't surprise me to hear that it's informed other parts of your life. And I'm curious, how has it informed your views around the workplace? You've seen firsthand the effect of poverty, mental health, domestic abuse, and I'm sure with the population size as large as the armed forces, you see evidence of that as well, and the impacts of those things. How does your lived experiences, how does your time now, how do those intersect in a workplace context?

Terrance Cooley: The first part I always start is positivity. It is important to have a mission. It's important to have a drive. But if you walk into a workplace, you just dread being there every day. You're already losing the battle for connectivity. So I always kind of come in and I'm willing to be a little goofy. I'm willing to make funny sounds of stuff, and act childish in certain ways, to get people to laugh, because laughter is one of the easiest cures. And so I've always thought about my role is creating a positive culture, and chief people officer is about creating cultures. And so I challenge my leaders and I challenge my teams to think about positive things to do to bring that positive light, to focus on the positive things that we're doing, and not so much the negatives. Recognize those negatives. We're not forgetting about them. We're not looking for a toxic positive. We don't want to go too far the other way. But to focus on what we can do to make difference and change that's within our scope of our control. And how can we expand that scope through influence to solve these bigger problems. Then you meet people where they are. When they're having moments of Cris, you show empathy. I had a member of my staff who, unfortunately, had a loss in the family, and it happened shortly after I had a loss in the family. The timing of it really did help us connect and be able to talk about those issues. But also, she was really concerned about not being at work. As soon as she told me, I stopped her immediately. Said, you're here to talk to me. Whatever you need, I'm here for you. But you need to take time and be with your family right now. Your leaves approved. Go and take care of yourself. Let me know when you're ready to talk, and we'll take care of the.

Matt Burns: Men on the back end. It was a no contest.

Terrance Cooley: It's so important that we can find other people who can do work. I can step in and do work. The work will get done. But when there are people having moments of crisis, being, willing and courageous enough to step in and give them the space they need and show that you care, that is one of the most important parts, because trauma affects us all differently. Everyone who's come in the military has had some form of trauma. You kind of have to if you want to be willing to join, especially those ones who joined during a time of war. And so being able to recognize that people come with their own baggage, they come with their own stories. And your role in the workplace isn't to be their family, but it is certainly to be friendly. You can be like family. You can create the space for them to feel safe, to feel authentic, and to work through those struggles and connect them with resources that are available in order to help them get through whatever they're struggling with and being challenged with. Because I always think about these kids who've been pulled away from their families. And then when they become adults, they're going to carry that with them no matter where they go. And if you can help them find a safe space to work through that and connect them with services, you will have a loyal employee for the rest of your life. Even if they move on to other places, they will remember how you made them felt, because people forget what you say, but they definitely remember how you make them feel. So I think of every interaction I have with people. That is what I'm trying to promote. And when I think of policies, when.

Matt Burns: I think of when I'm working with.

Terrance Cooley: My teams and telling them, here's the strategy going forward, that's always what I'm leading with, lead with positivity.

Matt Burns: I think it's an, absolutely essential approach nowadays, but I think it speaks to a broader thought process that obviously is very important to you, and that resonates deeply with the workforce. And as you look towards your own talent strategy into the future, I won't be surprised to hear that you've had a lot of success in some of your achieving your missions because of that overall methodology, because it makes a world of difference when you approach things through that lens. I'm curious, Terrence, you seem like a guy who's always up to something. So, from one mischievous person to another, what are you thinking about these days? What's on your brain? What are problems are you trying to solve for what keeps you up at night?

Terrance Cooley: so, right now, my journey here, as we talked a little earlier, that I recently finished my MBA and how proud I am in that. But I'm already thinking about the next thing, and I am considering. I'm kind of on two paths right now. They all lead to the same direction, though. I'm looking towards my doctorate, and I'm looking at specific programs in leadership and innovation because they kind of intersect the two places that I feel like I have had the most impact as a change agent, as a project manager, as a person who inspires leadership and others to have that cascade throughout the organization. What a lot of I found is that I don't have enough of, a deep background in data.

Matt Burns: I'm aware of it.

Terrance Cooley: I've used it. But I really want to go deeper into those whys and hows and start looking at that at a deeper lens. So I'm looking at things like masters of science and data analytics and data science to kind of focus in on what it means from that base level growing all the way up to your data strategy of the whole lifecycle that that entails, because AI is a big thing right now, and understanding how to apply data ethically going forward as technology changes is something I need to stay on top of as I work with my other teams so I can provide that insight and visionary leadership so that they can know what they need to do. That's a big aspect for me right now. Then there's other usual things. Reading podcasts or reading podcasts, listening to podcasts, reading books and looking at what are the challenges of tomorrow, what are the things that I think are going to be a big one. But right now, I think data is the keyword. Every leader should be making sure they have a deep understanding of, maybe not a practical understanding, but definitely a deep understanding of the theoretical backing because there's a lot more. When you were looking for data, compliance is a big part of that. how you secure it is a big part of that. But your data strategy is going to be core to your business model going forward.

Matt Burns: I couldn't agree with you more. And now running out of excuses to not having one, because with the advent of OpenAI and Chat GPT and the ability for you now to create with enterprise models APIs into that platform, you can dump tons of data and then analyze it and draw inferences and make really informed data driven decisions in a way that you couldn't perhaps before, unless you had resources for a data scientist or a team of data scientists. So I think the democratization of your own data is going to be something we look back on with AI and go like, wow, that's one of the biggest impacts, alongside, of course, the automation of manual administration. But I think that data point to not put two point of, fine, a point on it is going to be absolutely critical. Terrence, I'm curious, as we wrap up today's conversation, if our listeners want to connect with you in any other way, where's the best place to reach you?

Terrance Cooley: LinkedIn, that is the best place to don't keep a lot of other social media. I like to keep it in one professional setting, and LinkedIn is the best place. Feel free to reach out, send connection requests. Please do not try to sell me anything. I can't buy things from you, and I probably wouldn't anyway. Please do not try to make sales fest. But if you want to get to know me better, hear my story, follow along on the journey. Absolutely. And I'm certainly happy to help guide and help others who are looking for mentorship as well.

Matt Burns: Appreciate that, Taryn, thanks for your time. Today.

Terrance Cooley: Thanks.

Matt Burns: Matt Bento HR is a digital transformation consultancy working at the intersection of strategy, technology and people operations. We partner with organizations, private equity and venture capital firms to accelerate value creation and identify the organization's highest leverage initiatives. And this can take place in many forms, from strategic planning and alignment to technology procurement, implementation and integration, along with organizational design, process reengineering, and change management. With our proven track record of working with complex, high growth organizations, we provide a, lens that goes beyond the balance sheet, increasing enterprise readiness, resilience and value. For more information, check us out@bentohr.com. Bye.