Welcome to the Make Work Work Better Podcast, where we delve deep into the minds and experiences of some of the most inspiring leaders in business today. I am so thrilled to have Sean Vassilaros with us today. Thanks for joining us today, Sean. Mark, first of all, thank you for having me on. I couldn't be more thrilled to to spend some time with you. I've enjoyed working with you in the past, and I think that this concept of making work, work is something I'm super passionate about.
I've seen it, be terrible and not work and work in really great ways. So hopefully we can have a good conversation around that. So excited to talk today. Yeah. So just for context, for you guys that are listening, Sean reference, we work together. I had the opportunity to watch Sean and we'll talk about this probably a little later on, really work with a large team of people and turn things around and build a lot of trust in a situation where people were very hesitant to trust.
So I am super excited to learn myself from Sean and to share his lessons with you today as well. A very talented leader. That really is excellent at making work work better. Before we got on here, we're chatting a little bit, and Sean told me about how he's kind of a “from the ashes” kind of guy. He's gone through a lot of different processes and learned a lot of things over the years.
So can you share with me your career journey, some of the key parts of your life that have really influenced you and turned you into who you are today? Yeah. No. Absolutely. Yeah. So I love telling the story. I'm not a fast forward to the end here. I'm an entrepreneur. I love to give back. I love to to teach. I mean, these are all things that I love to do. And I've been blessed to do over the the career. So that gives a little context that the story all turns out okay. My first job, I was in IT.
I just bought myself a computer. This is mid 90s and, me and my buddy in the IT department were like, we're way smarter than everybody that works here, so let's go start our own business. And we had two choices, right. Choice number one was, let's make funny IT t-shirts. Right? Because that would be amazing. We thought we were hilarious. And number two was, you know, mid 90s or late 90s.
It was like, hey, we could probably build websites for people because we were doing the website building and maintenance for this organization. And so we thought about it and we did some, some research and we we landed on the smart choice, which was the, funny IT t-shirts. Right. Of course. Match up. I tell this story because it shows lack of judgment. In the very beginning, we built our own website and people saw it and they just kept calling us to help them with theirs.
We were forced and compelled to do the right thing. And there we were. One day, I promise you, I would go back and I will start a funny, IT T-shirt company and, but then it was just wasn't in my stars. So started just kind of building, people's websites. Built up an organization that was just high technology. And we ended up exiting to an ad agency in Los Angeles. And just really focusing on this is right before the .com bubble burst.
And so, we focused on building, like, really crazy properties for some people in the entertainment industry, travel industry all over the place. And then the, the bubble burst and just like every other company, we were forced with some decisions and we said, okay, look, we can close up shop and move on And we actually took a different approach. We sent everyone home with their computers. We built the first remote, all remote workforce in like 2001. Right?
We send everyone home with their computers and, said, look, we'll pay for your cell phone bill and your internet access. And we were just able to drop our overhead and just start cranking out work. And we were able to do that for many, many years. And I like to tell that story because it shows. Look, we were hit with a business catastrophe. And we were able to pivot and change and rethink our model. And, continue to do some success. So fast forward through that.
I ended up, getting married to the love of my life, my lovely bride. We have four amazing children, but she said, hey, look, I want you to settle down, and it's time to, you know, get a job, be home with the family, all that. So I took a job in technology, in the travel industry, and and it was another startup. And it was great. Right. And I learned a ton that was way before its time. And we were basically, in essence, doing what kayak did before kayak came around.
And it was a desktop application and it was before apps. And so just ahead of its time. Right. And it failed. And the reason it failed, I think there was leadership challenges. Right. And I remember sitting there saying, look, this is such a great idea. And and watching my kind of my first or second boss ever, I'm like, I just don't know. Right?
Like there's some challenges here with integrity and honesty and, and some of the kind of core characteristics and, and, and so that company went out of business, and I spent about nine months unemployed trying to, to find my next thing. Right. I felt unemployable, I felt like I had these skill sets that were just super unique, some entrepreneur, some technology, some ops and and it was devastating. I had a brand new wife. I had a brand new baby.
And, that was the first time in my life, really that I hit a personal wall. And it was one of those times where I was like, I just don't know what to do. And I remember I, I interviewed for a company that I just absolutely loved. I crushed the interviews. I felt, I mean, I was on interview 3 or 4. It was a global corporation. The job was exactly what I wanted to do was uniquely skilled to do it. I had been able to travel internationally.
I would be able to work in cool outdoors products and things like that. And I just remember not getting the job. We were at the end of our rope and I got the call. I was like, I didn't get the job. And I was like, I'm just done. I don't know what to do next, right? Yeah. And and I think, you know, so many people have the same story, right? So many people. And that's why I, I can relate with those that have gone through this and just been at the end of the rope.
And then someone recruited me into a position that was like 3 or 4 steps down from what I was used to. And one of my buddies, a very wise friend of mine, says, take that job and work your way up and take over that company. Like he was joking, in fact. But he knew me, right? Yeah, I did, I took that job and I had a great leader and a great manager, and he saw what I was capable of.
And within five years I had started from like a director position and the company sold and I was able to step in into a C-level position as chief operating officer. Awesome. And, and that was in the healthcare and life sciences space. And I had just tons of great experiences there. And that was super fun. And but, left there and started a company called thread and, that's my most recent adventure. We were a life sciences healthcare technology company.
And the day that Apple announced, do you use Apple iPhone? I do, I do know there's an app on your phone that's very common now, which is your health app, right? It captures all your health data, right? Yeah. A year after they announced that they announced a product called Researchkit. So that's Apple Kit. This is Researchkit, which allows you to share your data anonymously with researchers all over the globe. If you want to. Right, right.
My business partner at the time saw that and was like, that's the future. Like this is 2013 when they announced it, right? Right. He literally called Apple and they called him back. And so we worked with them and we said, we want to play. This is super interesting. And we donated and gave a ton of our time and effort, to build, eight of the first ten applications based on this. We partnered with Apple and Johns Hopkins and with the first Apple Watch when it first came out.
And we built an apple, an epilepsy tracker So when people are going to have an episode, they know it's coming on. They have this aura, right? And so we set it up so you can click a thing on your Apple Watch and this Apple Watch, it just come out like literally right. version one. right. And so completely unknown. As soon as they click on that, it starts to gather all the real life data, tremors, all of that. And we're taking cognizance test like all of these things.
And that's getting sent real time to Johns Hopkins researchers and that data was then being used to come up with certain conclusions. And like, you know, fast forward years later, you know, conclusions like, hey, things like stress are a huge predicator of having episodes. Right? Right. So that was an example, another example, which is my absolute favorite. We partnered with USC and their, their College of Body Computing is very interesting thing that they were doing there.
And the United States Marine Corps. And what happened was they were trying to be able to predict who going to pass their special forces training so that there's the recon program, which is marine Corps Special Forces. And they wanted to be able to predict who was going to be able to do it. And this is the most fascinating study I love this. Yeah. So they put our technology and Apple Watches and all these things on a few different classes. Right.
And they tested them for sensor data like health data, stairs, heart rate, all those things. And then but every day they had to take a whole bunch of like cognitive tests about like, different personality traits and, and, and things. Right, right. And then at the end, I was at the read out for this. It was fascinating. They read this out at this massive conference.
And I got to hear the read out on the data and the conclusions that they found was still early, but but this is it was so telling to me, and it has been an moment for me in my life. And it was, there was only kind of one indicator so far of health type data that would be an indicator. So if you had those with a lower resting heart rate succeeded better. Right. So heart rate at rest. That means they were less stressed or they were able to sleep better. That all makes sense.
But then one of the things that they tested was for grit. Right. Well, grit the you think of Marines that they're gritty, right. The ability to, you know, persevere, right? Yeah. Everyone was equally gritty. Not an indicator. Right. Not an indicator. Really. Correct. But you know what was a Optimism. Optimism was the number one indicator of those who made it through the entire program. And optimism, the way they defined it was super cool.
It was the belief that you can, improve your situation based on the tools and resources at hand. Right. Optimism. Yeah. So those that were optimistic were the ones that passed. Now they were doing this not to see and get people out. It is to get in front of it and be able to get more people through. So when you think about that, and I pondered that a lot as an entrepreneur or as someone who's gone through, you know, tough things, you know, I was like, you know what?
I want to embrace that trait, and I'm going to be optimistic in everything that we do. So let me challenge you. I'm going to I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a second and bring it. I hear that and I love it. But there's a part of my brain that says, okay, but you know, we all know those people that are just super optimistic and bubbly and they almost seem like they cannot see the hard things or the negative or bad things. Yeah. So so is that way out.
That's a great question in my mind. The way I kind of justify it is optimism isn't like a Pollyanna approach. And look at life, right? Optimism is remember the belief that I can improve my situation based on the tools and resources that I have not. Hey, everything is sunshiny and and, you know, unicorns, right? And so if you look at that definition, my belief is that I and everyone around me can improve their situation with the tools and resources at hand if they just found a way to do it.
And so I agree with you, like some people will will absolutely say, you know, you don't want to be too sunshiny. I know lots of people that are actually quite pessimistic and quite successful because they're skeptical. And these are all great qualities. But I would argue that those with optimism have the ability to get through tough things. And that's that's I've proved that out over and over in my life. Yeah. I mean, the stories you've shared already have proven to that to some effect.
And also that optimism is contagious, right? So when you have an organization, especially one who's experienced some traumatic things, being able to come in with that optimism and, and I wish you all could sit and watch Sean work a little bit, because if you did, you'd see this uncanny ability to acknowledge the truth of things with out any gloss on it. Just say it how it is, but then turn to the optimism and move forward. Right?
I tell everyone I work with, I want the bad news and I want it quickly, not for punishment or reaction. It's like, so we can solve the problem. We have to acknowledge there are going to be problems. I talk to people all the time that are just so overwhelmed and overburdened and hopeless, like you're spinning 500 plates and you're going to drop a bunch of them. My only ask is that you deliberate in what you drop, right? Drop them. Be deliberate.
Right? Yeah. And we'll be here as your team to pick up the pieces. And that's the, you know, the this helps people move through very tough things. One of the things that I'm running across as I'm meeting with different people and working with different teams, is challenges worth work life balance this overwhelm, this, burnout, this. Like, what am I doing here? I actually have it. A lot of C-suite level people who come to me like, I'm I'm rich, I have achieved all my goals, but I'm miserable.
Like, this is awful. And what I'm hearing you say is there's something to optimism. It's not just about being business successful, it's about living in a way that you're going to thrive. If you can keep that optimism 100%. And so the most powerful combo in my mind is optimism with a purpose. I think about that for a second. Right. Those those are the people that you're talking about are super successful. No purpose. Right. My purpose I found early on I'm here to help people.
That's it. Right. And I and I try to do that in every possible interaction way I do. So if you can combine optimism with purpose, game over, game over. You know, I love that you said that's something I've been discovering recently as well and really shocked in that purpose feels like it could be limiting, right? It's going to narrow.
But my experience has been it's actually opened up so many doors of, you know, watching you and I. I'm going to ask you both about this in just a second, is you're willing to take on all kinds of challenges and problems because it matches with your purpose. It becomes exciting and fulfilling rather than one more thing to do right. And it lights you up. So Tell me a little bit about your experience with Operation Underground Railroad.
This is actually where Sean and I started interacting a little bit. So let's let's hear your side of the story and kind of where things are at right now. This is a an amazing organization that are super heroes that really impact An underserved community in a way that is phenomenal. It is just super moving. So I'm so tell us a little bit about your story. Yeah. for your listeners, I wanted to kind of, give an overview of what this organization is. Right?
About a year ago, there was a movie that came out called The Sound of Freedom, and this movie was about, a gentleman who worked for Homeland Security. And in that he saw some of the most terrible things that involved trafficking children, trafficking across borders, all of this. And he found his personal drive and desire to solve that problem and to do everything and dedicate his life to be part of the solution for that.
And in the movie, he goes and he sacrifices everything to go and try to, rescue these trafficked children. And it's it's a tough watch, right? Because this is a real thing. If you don't know, then human trafficking and child trafficking is such a big problem, and it's global. It's not just over there. It's here. It's everywhere. And and modern day slavery to me is one of the the biggest scars on this earth that we have to go and solve.
This gentleman started a company called Operation Underground Railroad, and that's a nonprofit entity that, goes out and and helps fight human trafficking, which is, you know, again, the noblest of causes. Last year, right around when the movie came out, a lot of kind of things came up and a lot of drama unfolded, and the organization needed some help. Right. And so through friends of a friend, I got reached out to, to say, hey, this nonprofit does great work, but they need help.
They're struggling with, a leadership void. They're struggling with direction. They're struggling with hope. They have their purpose. They don't have any optimism right now. And I said that's a hard no like, all the trauma, like the lawsuits, like, I mean, there was just a lot going on and and I'm working on my own startup. I've got all these other things going on. I'm very protective of my time and with the time I spend with my family, the things that I do, I was like, yeah, nope.
And my buddy called me back and he's like, just let's give it a look. I said, okay, all right. So, we looked under the hood and we found a few things. Here's what I found. That was true. Number one, from a financial standpoint, they were on solid footing and there were no improprieties that had happened. And I know that because they were audited for every dollar since formation. And I was able to see that financially, no improprieties, there's no tomfoolery. There are number one.
Number two, one of the rhetorics that were in the media was that this organization doesn't do anything. They just raise money and they give it away to their friends. After meeting with operators around the globe, I found that we were doing 10 to 15 missions a week right? Not only were we doing things, we were doing lots of things and lots of great things.
And the stories I mean are heart wrenching, and I, I honestly, I had to tell the operators, like, honestly, I, I am not strong enough to hear these stories. That flipped the switch in me like I am going to do everything I can to keep this business going so you can keep doing your work right. But let me deal with the business side that that's my strength. You guys keep helping kids. So number two, they were doing great work.
And number three is there were still great people at the organization that really cared about the cause. And this cause needs all the help it can get in my books. Yeah. So I stepped in, as more or less the interim CEO. Right. And so worked with the existing legal team. We put together, our legal kind of approach. We hired crisis PR, we started doing, kind of wrangling internally. There were some, you know, people that we had to let go. There were some things we had to kind of straighten out.
We look for an executive team and ultimately refreshed the board. And that's where I met you, Marc, which was where you served on the board of directors for this during this incredibly tumultuous time. And people ask, hey, you know, what did the board know? Or the end is like, here's my stance on that. Is this board did all the right things as soon as they had the information, you know, and I, I couldn't be more proud of the effort that you guys did and how you guys got us from there to here.
And, honestly, I don't think that the organization could have navigated without the tough decisions that you guys made along the way. So I think and that that's how I, how I met you, Marc. Yeah. So we hired some great executives. And, you know, the key is we knew that the key was bringing in a CEO that could carry and run this organization, and we did. And Tammy's fantastic. She has just come in and done a dynamic job with a few things.
Number one, healing the organization, building bridges and relationships, and turning this into an organization that's a coalition builder right now. We can't do this ourselves. No one can do this by themselves. But we have started building this coalition to help kind of just slow down this terrible, terrible thing that's happening. So it's still early. It's only been about a year. And I step back and and, I'm chairman of the board, And this is all volunteer. Right? This is me giving back.
I'm grateful to be able to give my time to help this organization do amazing things. What's the one lesson you took away from your time so far with Operation Underground Railroad? Besides, this is important. We should all be aware of this and be involved in this somehow. What would the lesson be taken away from an organizational standpoint? From a leadership standpoint? Leadership and the character of your leaders. And you'll hear me talk about this a lot. Character is so important.
It is so important. And so we knew when we brought in the CEO, we knew someone that was honest to a fault. We need someone who's going to act with integrity. We need someone who's going to be accountable. We needed someone who was going to be humble and listen to direction and feedback. Because there's an organization that exists, they need to talk to them. We needed someone who treated everyone with respect and stories for days about how she's doing.
We need someone with confidence to be able to go toe to toe with so many haters, right? I mean, building our brand out of what it was to what it's going about to be is, is a lot of work.
And we needed someone with optimism and grit These are not skills like the fact that she has amazing experience in the industry and has championed this in the past is actually secondary to all those character traits to be the the brand and the persona of an organization that is so important and needs to be infallible. So tell me a little bit when you're talking about character.
Yeah. I think if we were to poll different leaders throughout the business world of what we mean by character, we probably come up with as many definitions as there are people. Absolutely. I'm intrigued to hear, how would you define character or what are the key character pieces that you were looking for or that you have found to be super valuable? Because, you know, I was fortunate enough in that process because I was still on the board at that time to be able to talk with Tammy.
Yeah. And I was blown away. We had a one on one conversation for about an hour. Right. And everything that you're saying about her, I saw in that first hour And that left me with zero doubt. of what she could offer. How would you define what you're looking for if you're looking for that leader, that person what what are those character traits? That is great question. We've actually done some some research on this. Right. Because you'll find that I am champion of character. Right.
And for 100 reasons that I could get into later. So some of the research that we've done is like, look, everyone has character traits and they impact different parts of your life. So what character traits are most important in the office? at work. the big six that we found and this is doing research with, people in, in HR executives hiring, like across the board. And the data came back and it was these top six. It's integrity, right? It is accountability.
It is humility, respect, confidence, and grit. There are studies everywhere outside of our independent research that says character is the number one indicator of performance and success and how someone will impact an organization's culture. Think about that for a second. Like culture is the word, right? Everyone's like, we gotta have a great culture to get people here, get the people there. And then how do we get a great culture? I say this all the time.
It used to be ping pong tables and and snack stations. But I'll tell you right now, you want a good culture you hire and you will reward people of high character, and you get rid of or you train, or you upskill people with low character. Period. Think about your work, like your work experience and what disgruntled you the most. And a lot of times it was someone else who either wasn't pulling their weight or taking advantage of the system, forcing you to to do more with less.
That's something that I feel really strongly about. And I think that the world needs to remember that there was a time when your handshake was all that mattered, and your word was all that mattered. You know, why is because they believed in your character. Now you do a deal on a handshake. It's a joke and it sucks. And and we are worse off because of that.
If you had someone in front of you and you were thinking, yeah, you know, I see the potential here, but yet there's, there's some things we need to to address here. Yeah. Would you what would your recommendations be. How do they start changing. Where do you start. Right. Well so so I got a great story. But I'm going to give you this quote that I literally read yesterday okay. It's Jim Rohn. He's like, “Character isn't something you were born with and can't change like your fingerprints.
It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming. ” Okay, so the debate on whether you can change your character, I think he sums it up just right now. So, in my new startup, right, it's Kanny can you can check it out at Kanny, K A N N Y.com. Our whole premise is this is we think that character is important, but It can't be credibly told to me, right? It has to be observed. So like Marc, if I was “Marc, are you honest?” What do you want to say? Of course.
No, no I'm not. I mean, yeah, course, I think some people are introspective and self-aware enough that they could, but most people like in a job interview scenario, they're not going to be able to say, yeah, I'm not honest or or I don't treat people with respect. So whatever you tell me, I don't believe so, you can't credibly tell me about that, about yourself. It has to be observed.
So our company figured out a way to tap into those people that do know your character and are likely willing to share, and those are the people that you've worked with in the past, previous, or current coworkers. And they have an opportunity to weigh in on something important like your character. Here's how it works, right? You can, if you're looking for your own professional development, go to our website and register for an account. We make everyone log in with their LinkedIn credentials.
We want to verify that you are who you say you are, and then when people review you that you have a viable connection like overlapping work history, whatever that means. You can create an account and you can say, can we get started? Our magic is we find your coworkers. We don't let you go and tell us who they are. I mean, you can invite people that you know, that's all weighted right through. We go and find your previous coworkers, and we ask them to give a character assessment.
And it's very simple. And we take that data, run it through our algorithm, put all kinds of relationship data on top of how they respond. And we come up with some insights that tell you kind of what people think your character is. So it's observed by people who are qualified to observe you. What are your thoughts on, well, I mean, that's something I come across all the time, right?
Because one of the things that I do is I go and I try to interview people and get to know them for who they really are. And some people, you can tell they're introspective enough. They're being candid enough. They're willing to accept, things where they're not strong, but the majority are really trying, to paint themselves in a decent light. So having that ability, which is also something I do all when I work with a team, I'll say, okay, tell me the strengths and weaknesses of your team members.
It's not going anywhere else. But this is something we didn't need to know. Having that type of opportunity to have that unbiased feedback is huge, right? There's no like you said, there is no way, no way to assess character, but by observation. And the more someone's able to observe you, especially when they know they're not, in the limelight, they're not being watched. Yep. You can't get that information in any other way. I love that. I think that is so powerful.
Yeah. But it's also mind bending. So think about this for a second. If I said to you I'm going to do reference check. Right. And you know who your three people are. These are your champions. Easy. I can predict what they're going to say. And here you go. Done it. I can check that box and move on. The challenge is getting them to actually do it and follow up. Okay. That's the challenge. Now, if you are asked to say, hey, I want to see your your Kanny report, right?
All of a sudden you give up control. Right? It's your consent. You have to consent to do this. It's not done to you. You have to consent, right? You give up control and you're like, what happens if they find someone that doesn't like me? So I had to run this on myself. And I want to tell you the story because to me it's fascinating. And so I had the unique opportunity to look at the list that we generate. So, so we run it through our algorithms.
Our system generates a list of people to reach out to. And I look at that list, I'm like, oh, geez, there are some people that do not like me on there for valid reasons, right? Like these are not okay. And so I was like, okay, here we go. I don't know who got reached out to I have no idea who filled out reviews. I have no idea what they review. Like our system is super. Privacy is paramount. Right.
And and to reiterate that my last company was in health care and life sciences, and I've been audited by almost every pharmaceutical company on the planet for privacy and compliance. We use the exact same technology to protect privacy at Kanny as we did at Thread, which is our clinical trial. So privacy is paramount. So I have no idea who reviewed me. None of that. But when I saw my report and this goes back to what you're asking, what do you do with that?
I saw that I was low on two of the character traits. When I say low below average. Right. So we have average and above and below. Right. And that's how we're measuring right now. As we get more sophisticated, it'll change. Right. But I below average on humility and integrity So think about that for a second. Right. I've I feel like I've worked my whole life that way. And so at first I like I went through the whole cycle. Marc, at first I was like, what do they know? Right, right. Denile! Denial!
Then I justified it went through justification. I was like, I've been an executive for so long. I've made tons of decisions, good and bad, that have helped people, that have hurt people, that, you know, people maybe not understand why I made them. So I justified it like I'm an executive. But then I was like. Maybe there's something there like, don't be an idiot, Shawn. Maybe there's something there.
And I'll tell you, since that moment, every interaction that I've had with another person or another thing, whatever it is that has been top of mind, I'm like, am I humble enough? Am I acting with integrity? And so our vision is that we want this to be a redemption story, right? Right now you're able we're able to give awareness and show, hey, here's some things.
But as we move forward, we're hoping to give resources, tools, assets, people and connect them to be able to improve on the things they want to improve. There's another really crucial element to what you're offering. And that is, say, I'm bringing in someone, right. If we are operating based on this report, there isn't this false expectation of, oh, you're perfect like you painted. Now you got to live up to this false expectation, right? And maintain the fiction. It's actually really empowering.
Say, you know what you're getting. You're choosing this. And we can also make a plan of how we're going to, address this going forward. I mean, what what a relief being hired if I knew that they hired me. Knowing this stuff, knowing that. Wow, how empowering is that to walk in that door feeling like you can truly be yourself. You can truly be yourself. And and one of the issues that we're playing with right now is think about having that data and how that can create a development plan.
So if I have a job description, I have a person's resume and then I have their character traits, I can throw that into a LLM or, any kind of AI model that we're currently training. Right, right. And develop a development plan for that human, that's that job around character first. Some of the development plans we put together and we're validating and I have some great advisors that are really paying close attention what we're doing. And we're validating some of those development plans.
And it's legit, like it's legit. So anyway, you're right. This crosses the bridge between hiring and development in a way that is actually meaningful. Like you get your references back, I put them in a drawer, I attach them to your your file. I never look at them again. But I get your character, you character information back. I'm paying attention to that. And that is the foundation for my development plans for you as an employee forever. Yeah. Wow. That's phenomenal.
So we're we're coming to the end a little bit here. And there's there's another topic that I want to give some time to. Yeah. So when I was looking in your background, I see that you have this foundation that you run. So can you tell me a little bit about that? Yeah. No, I'm happy to. As I mentioned, you mentioned earlier, like, I'm a from the ashes kind of guy, right. You know, I jumped into, Operation Underground Railroad and helped to do that turnaround.
I didn't get to tell the story about my company that I exited a year and a half before we exited. You know, we got hit with three different business ending catastrophes, and we were this close to closing our doors, and that would have been just super detrimental for people. But we made the commitment to pay everyone back and and do the right thing. In a year and a half later, we sold so I've been through these ashes. And so I'm like I said earlier, I'm the father of four amazing children.
My second daughter, her name is Haley Mays Vasillaros. She was born with a condition where her esophagus or food tube didn't connect to her stomach. And so it connected in, in a pouch from the mouth and then from the stomach up it connected to her trachea. So she would breathe in and it would fill her stomach with air. Right. So nine months came super early. Nine weeks. And the new six surgeries, whenever they repaired it, it was now just a physical repair. But she was developmentally behind.
So she spent three years getting physical speech, occupational therapy. Amazing. Throughout that process, throughout those three years, there probably dozen times where she had we had to call 911. She got life flighted, like, I mean, she had a really rough life. Yeah. And lots of times when she should have, she should not be with us anymore. But on her third birthday, we were getting ready to travel. We got a clean bill of health. Like, we took her to the doctor.
The doctor's like, she's eating great. She's talking great. She's walking great. She doesn't need to do therapy anymore. Everything's great. We just need to check on her once a year. My wife took her to to lunch, came home, put her down for a nap, and she choked on some food in her sleep, and, And that was, I mean, that is a moment in my life where I was like, what am I going to do? What are my choices? How am I going to keep my family together? Like this tears families apart.
And so I'm going to go a little faithy here. But I like I said a prayer and the answer I got was that moment. It was serve. And that's where I got my purpose is to help people. So we started a foundation. We raised some money. We helped a ton of families with special needs kids that couldn't afford care or couldn't afford these things. And then, the therapist who actually treated Haley, they taught her how to walk and talk and eat and speak.
We met them up at a at some, some memorial service and they said, hey, we want to start a clinic in her honor. And so we raised money and we started what's called amazing kids. So her middle name was Mayz - M A Y Z. We started, a mayz ing - amayzing kids. And you can see it online. It is a, clinic here in Southern California. It's been around for about 13 years, and we have helped thousands of children in her honor. And that is one of the things I'm the most proud of.
And, I mean, it is the most amazing thing. I kid you not. A year ago, my daughter went to school and one of our new classmates found out who she was, was like, I went to amazing kids. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for them. They taught me how to eat and how to do all these things and and we get those stories all the time. And so from this tragedy that I mean that you we're in this club, we see it happen all the time that tears families apart. We found a way to get purpose and to help others.
And so, I mean a defining moment. and I just helped me and my family heal in a way that I don't know what else could have gotten there. So I really appreciate you asking. And I love talking about her and what we do. And so, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about it. When I'm working and talking with people, one of the biggest challenges I see is this lack of purpose. A lot of times, finding your purpose comes from really painful moments. That can be devastating, right?
But again, finding that purpose is life changing. It can turn that pain into a really beautiful result, right? Something that really impacts the world in a tremendous way. So thank you for being willing to share that story, because I think that is that.
And all the stories you're sharing with us today help us understand these six characteristics that you're teaching us about why they're crucial and how it's not just about making money, it's about changing the world and not just changing the world for everyone else, but also changing our own internal world. Right. So I think such powerful messages. So I appreciate that. But, that's my honor. Thank you. Thank you for giving me a platform to share. Yeah. About my daughter.
Is there any last bit of advice or thought that if you could put into anyone's head, just the world's head, just go bloop! There you go. Here's my gift to you that you would share. There is a concept that I'm championing now called character intelligence. Think about that for a second. We've had all the other intelligences out there. Think about emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence without character and intelligence is a very dangerous and powerful tool.
Artificial intelligence without character. Intelligence is a very, very dangerous tool. I could go down the list, right? Yes. So let's make a world, all of you executives out there that are listening to this and HR people, where we reward character, we make tough decisions on bad character, and let's show our people, the people that work tirelessly day in and day out to help us reach our goals that we care about character and that we're going to reward people that show character intelligence.
That would be my message, like, let's change the world, and let's go back to a day when a handshake meant something where a your word meant something that would. I would love to see that. I would love to see that too. And from what I'm seeing and my interactions with you, you are changing the world right through all these different organizations, through the work you're doing and who you're choosing to be. So thank you for that. That's awesome. Thanks, Marc, I appreciate the kind words.
Everybody, thank you for joining us today. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've been able to enjoy talking with Sean here. Hope you have a wonderful rest your week. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, Marc.