Scott Schimmel (00:00)
yeah, we're gonna get into jobs in this episode. Look at this, look at us. Because it feels like a part of a conversation that I'm having a lot lately, being a dad of a kid who's about to go off to college and seeing the disruptions, I think most notably because of AI, that the idea of what jobs are gonna be there.
Joe Lara (00:02)
You
Mm-hmm.
Scott Schimmel (00:23)
in, let's say four years, if he graduates in four years, I just listened to a podcast about Gen Z and the workplace, what's happening to our jobs. And it was interviewing this young woman from San Diego State who applied to something like 700 jobs the course of 11 months. And it took and it wasn't until 11 months that she finally found an unpaid internship, all because the feedback she got was in order to get this entry level job, you need to have one to three years of experience, which is always the
Joe Lara (00:51)
kicker.
Scott Schimmel (00:52)
check her the egg conversation, entry level job, needing one year of experience makes no sense. ⁓ So it was a bleak, I think perspective in some respects, but then it was ⁓ highlighting, I just had a conversation with a guy whose son really got dialed in when he was a junior lifeguard.
Joe Lara (00:59)
Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (01:12)
to this career that he could have in the water. And so he's essentially serving in the special operations in the Coast Guard to search and rescue through hurricanes all across the country. It's the small team that goes in and you think that's, I don't, I think that's AI proof. I would assume. Unless a little drones come in, like pick people up. I could imagine that.
Joe Lara (01:33)
Yeah.
Yeah, large drones, right? For larger people? I don't know.
Scott Schimmel (01:40)
Remember those games at like pizza parlors where you like try to grab them? Yeah.
Joe Lara (01:45)
yeah, they're still there. They're still there, but they're,
they're giving out iPhones now. They're it's like crazy. Have you seen them? They're like, yeah. Yeah. Now the AI questions, the AI question is, something that's fascinating. the reality is it's not going to go away, right? It's, it's, it is here to stay. ⁓ and I think I've shared this quote with you before. I had to pull it up cause I don't want to screw it up, but I wrote it down as I am starting to explore my further my education.
Scott Schimmel (01:50)
yeah. So I can imagine a big group doing that.
Right. Yeah.
Joe Lara (02:15)
I'm zeroing in on this phrase. Everything I'm doing, Scott, is on this quote. Everything I'm doing. Everything. All the chips, all in, going in, right? The person who shared this quote is Manusha Shafik. And Brandy Browns quoted her. A bunch of people have quoted her, because this quote's pretty amazing. In the past, jobs were about muscles. Now they're about brains.
Scott Schimmel (02:22)
Okay, drumroll.
you
Joe Lara (02:44)
But in the future, they'll be about the heart.
Scott Schimmel (02:47)
Ooh, I've not heard that before. would remember that.
Joe Lara (02:50)
No? Dude,
it's such a good...
Scott Schimmel (02:54)
It's good for you and I. We're gonna cling to that. I have no muscles, very little brain. I think I had a lot of heart.
Joe Lara (02:56)
It's so good.
But I mean, think about it, dude, industrial revolution, right? Like you had whoever the biggest guy sitting in your corner and sew that or make that or pound that hammer on that metal or whatever, you know, or I'll pound you in the face. Yeah. No breaks. Right. And so it was all about the muscles. then today, right. Whoever had the engineering degrees and technical degrees. And it was all about degrees, right. Getting into the elite colleges and a lot going on there.
Scott Schimmel (03:15)
As quickly as
Yeah.
Joe Lara (03:34)
⁓ but minutiae Shafik, you know, the future will be about the heart and it's fascinating to think about that. And, ⁓ Mike Roe is really about getting people into trade jobs, actual real hands on type work. He's been on that mantra forever. Like as long as I've ever known who he was, he's been talking about that forever. And the reality is there's good money to be made in and in trade. ⁓
Scott Schimmel (03:48)
Mm-hmm.
yeah. Yep.
Joe Lara (04:03)
One of my sons is actually blue collar driving big boats on ships and stuff and hard, hard work, but he's paid really well. so there'll always be work for that because we need, we need stuff to be built. ⁓ but the heart question is really interesting because I don't know when you, when you, when I read that quote, what comes to mind for you with the heart piece? what, what
Scott Schimmel (04:16)
Mm-hmm.
I was gonna ask
you. I think, well, it leads me to art, artistry, wisdom. think something I was reading yesterday in the Wall Street Journal about AI. Doesn't that sound cool? I was reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Just a little subtle ego flex there. Talked about how you might have AI be able to be the brains, but it cannot.
Joe Lara (04:39)
Mm.
Scott Schimmel (04:56)
necessarily understand what's wise. So you can ask it to analyze everything, but what is the wisest course of action? That's where you need humans to do it. So when I think of, know wisdom is somewhere cerebrally, think that most of us think about it, but it's, I think, directionally is closer to the heart than it is the head.
Joe Lara (04:59)
Mm.
Yeah, it's fascinating. I never really thought about the wisdom piece because wisdom is based off of people's experiences, right? And so lived experiences. If AI is not quite living, it's just observing other people's experiences. Can it really give true wisdom or is it other people's wisdom that it's collecting and gathering, which could be totally misguided? The thing interesting too, I just did a quick search. Where is most AI getting its knowledge from? And it's from the Western world.
That's mostly what populates the internet, right? That's what's mostly accessible is Western knowledge, Western thinking. We're in a pretty large planet. The rock is pretty big with a lot of people on it. There's a lot of people out there that have no clue ⁓ what any of this stuff is, but they're still at work. They're still doing amazing things and they're doing it differently, not quite the Western way. there's so much to dive into when it comes to AI and...
Scott Schimmel (05:53)
Yeah.
Joe Lara (06:16)
how to use it and leverage it, but this whole piece of the heart, I love that you said art right away. So my other son, he's in the arts, he's actually a musician, and there was a call, dude, I shared this with you privately, but I'll go to share it now. He was freaking out in his second year of school, because he went to, I think it was like an open discussion at one of the schools in Boston. He went to Berkeley School of Music, so he's there to be a musician and write music.
But he went to this open discussion at like MIT or Harvard or whatever. And there was this, they were talking about AI. And the person who spoke said, if you're getting into the music industry, like get out now because it's AI is going to take over. And, and, and my son is like, my gosh, what am I doing? I'm wasting my time because AI can easily create a song and I don't, I'm kind of it's point. What am I doing? So.
Scott Schimmel (06:57)
Really?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Joe Lara (07:14)
Luckily with not just my voice, but other voices, we walked them in the right path to finish. so, you know, happy ending, right? We finished school, but it was really about his realization that, okay, AI can it create music? does. It's on Spotify right now. It's on all the, know, some people are listening to it and don't even know that it's AI. Like it's everywhere and it's going to get worse, right? However, like I just told you, like my sons, we're going to go to a system of a down concert September 1st.
Scott Schimmel (07:19)
Yeah.
Really?
Joe Lara (07:42)
Like we're going to see live musicians on stage. We're not going to see AI perform. I'm sorry, but I want to see, you know, and you put that in any other place. I want to see somebody put their brush to the canvas. And maybe that'll be a thing where we're actually watching paintings created versus just the final product, right? There's going to be all kinds of new ways to showcase the human side of things, the heart, right? So I think, I don't know, it's fascinating to talk about it.
Scott Schimmel (07:47)
Right. Right.
Right. Yes. ⁓
Yeah.
Well, back to me reading the Wall Street Journal, there was another article yesterday about summer camp for adults. And it was this long article about, they highlighted, I think, three different summer camps across the country that you can go to as an adult. I think it was mostly mid-20s to mid-30s. And one just, it zeroed in on the business model. It's, it's...
⁓ sponsored by these big companies that come and do showcased events at these summer camps. And what do they do at summer camp they have? ⁓ They match you up with like age groups, and you have bunk mates and you do like lanyards and canoeing, and axe throwing. And it's just like a kid summer camp. But there's, I don't know if it said in the article, but it reminded me I think of what you're sharing about heart. It's like, someone came up with that idea. And then someone
Joe Lara (08:50)
my gosh.
Scott Schimmel (09:03)
I mean, I'm sure many people have done that. think I've even been around a group of friends where like, know, be cool. But, someone took that to the fullest extent of creating something like at some point someone said, you know, we should do, we should actually rent out a place and then we should tell our friends about it. And then you have to have a place for them to pay and how much should we charge? So they created a business out of it. And now it was, it was profound. These people that become best friends because they met someone at summer camp two years ago and they're like 32.
Joe Lara (09:13)
Mm-hmm.
That's wild.
Scott Schimmel (09:32)
And it's not just for kids who are 10 years old. So what you're talking about is it is heart. It's people with a heart seeing a need, being drawn to something, and then having the gumption to go and do something about it, which I know there's kind of like what you mentioned, Mike Rowe, to as many versions of people pursuing the trades. There probably are also people who are pursuing small businesses because of a passion project.
Joe Lara (09:35)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. And it's, you know, it's funny that you and I are talking about this, how, what does this have to do with veteran transition? It's so funny. ⁓ but well, what comes to mind automatically, ⁓ another vein, which is where Renee Brown comes in with quoting Manuja Shafik. Renee Brown is all about the heart. mean, ⁓ a lot of what she writes is about vulnerability and showing up as an authentic version of you. Imagine if the world showed up authentically instead of projecting that they have it all together.
Right? Right. Life is not Instagram, right? It's actually there's real, real people behind us. ⁓ what's neat is the leadership aspect and, and, and so, you know, there's a lot of managers in the world. I've witnessed them in businesses, a lot of managers, not a lot of leaders. And I think, I think it's kind of safe to say we see it all the time. We have people that claim to be leaders. ⁓ but that term is used rather loosely and what
Scott Schimmel (10:28)
Yeah. Yeah.
yeah.
Joe Lara (10:58)
seems to be more apparent as managers. And the reason why we know that is because the data that Gallup collects every year shows there's a lot of people that are disengaged at work. Well, if leadership is really taking root and really out there, then there shouldn't be any negative data that Gallup's collecting. should all be positive. People should love going to work. They should be really motivated and inspired and excited on Sunday night instead of, God, I got to go to that place again on Monday with so-and-so and do what again?
You know, so, ⁓ think veterans, those that have spent more than a few years in that environment, if they haven't even led because maybe they're too junior, they've at least been around leadership and service and this component of other people matter. It's like the number one resource, right? The military says that our number one resource is people. Find a business that says that.
And not too many businesses will say that. They might have it on their web page, but I don't know if they actually live it out.
Scott Schimmel (12:02)
Right. Okay, so
tell me about this. I, I think if I were to step back having again, if you don't know this and you're listening, you're watching, I'm a civilian. ⁓ Once a civilian, always a civilian at this point. I don't think I can even unless I don't think it'll take me, but I've now worked with veterans for the last 10 plus years. And I know my perception has been skewed by my upfront experience. So let me, let me try to go back in time and
Joe Lara (12:15)
Hahaha
Scott Schimmel (12:31)
if I were to hear this before I started working with you all, you people, ⁓ I would have probably had, I would have easily had the perception that being in the military doesn't yield leadership the way you're talking about it. It yields like, because it's a big bureaucracy, it's cogs in a wheel, it's people that know how to check followership, yeah, so tell me why that's wrong.
Joe Lara (12:35)
us.
followership.
Yeah.
You know what? It's interesting.
A lot of non-veterans will have an image and it's veterans are robotic. They follow orders. They do what they're told. ⁓ I think what people fail to see is that there's still this human element, right? Yes, we're individuals that belong to this organization and we're there for a reason and for a purpose. But what's interesting is where I've noticed and experienced it's the human side comes out way more.
when things are really challenging and difficult. And when the stress is really high, when the stakes are really high, ⁓ that's where I've seen leadership really come to light and care. And ⁓ even during those horrible times where there's loss of life, you really see ⁓ love and care come out.
where I don't think you see that too often. Like in a business, if somebody loses a coworker, there might be some bouquets of flowers, some, I'm sorry about that. In the military, it's way more intrusive. Like, hey, we are going to embrace this family, like our family, and we're going to have lifelong connections with this family from here on out. ⁓ Because there's so much at stake and it's different.
And I think that molded shapes individuals like you would not believe. ⁓ And so now pulling that wisdom, that experience of wisdom forward into civilian life, there's a lot that a business can gain from and bringing these individuals in and maybe that attitude bleeding a little bit into their organization and influencing the organization to be more.
Scott Schimmel (14:41)
Yeah.
Joe Lara (14:59)
authentic, more caring, ⁓ where we show up for one another.
Scott Schimmel (15:04)
Is it, I guess I'm, I wanna know more about why that is the way it is in the military. Why do people care for, is it like you say, is it because the stakes are so high sometimes? Is it because people are more in need? I'm just imagining people moving their families to a new town, to a new billet, to like.
Joe Lara (15:18)
Mm.
Scott Schimmel (15:31)
And all of sudden you're, there's there's a vulnerable inherent vulnerability that everybody like, yo, we just moved. don't have. And everyone has had that experience recently, not 20 years ago, but like a year and half ago. We know what it's like to be the new people. Like is that, does that then like translate into people who just are humans, better humans.
Joe Lara (15:32)
Yeah.
Right.
I think so. ⁓ You know, you bring up something that, you know, the constant rotations of orders, right? So army, Navy, Marine, everybody, we kind of go through this transition of, if you stay in long enough, you're going to get new sets of orders, which will take you to maybe not a different city right away, but a different command, different group of people. And you're caught, there's this constant churn and burn. And, ⁓ and so you think it'd be actually opposite. You don't really build relationships. You're kind of.
You're kind of just, you're there, you do your job, an individual contributor almost like, and then you go to the next thing. ⁓ but what allows it to happen and take root, think it's the organized structure of things. let's just say, I might not know the people that I'm going to work with, but I know they're military and I know they're vetted. I know we speak the same language, right? So I know without knowing them, there's a sense of belonging. I belong to this greater thing, right?
And that's kind of work that you're in. Scott is helping people figure out who I belong to. Well, the boot camp, when they shave your head and they get rid of your first name and you just go by last name and you wear the same uniform, you're like, man, I'm getting assimilated. I'm getting whatever you want to call it. Like I am in. ⁓ Once you get over that phase and you start getting used to the military way of doing things, there's just a sense of belonging. ⁓
Scott Schimmel (17:06)
Yeah. Yeah.
Joe Lara (17:20)
And I think veterans that are listening with, this makes sense. If, if you have to go wait in the DMV and you see the whole diversity of the DMV, but you see a couple of folks in uniform and there's a couple of empty seats sprinkle throughout, where are you sitting in the DMV? You're going to go to your people, right? Why you don't know them. Well, they understand you and you understand them to some extent, right? It's your tribe. And I think that's a, that's a powerful word tribe, right?
Scott Schimmel (17:26)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Joe Lara (17:49)
biological, it's goes, yeah, it's in our DNA and military kind of creates that in you. And that, that structure is so familiar. And, ⁓ and it's funny because being on this side of it, now that I've been out almost, dude, 20, 2026 would be 10 years. So, I went to the USO this year, one time just stopped in the USO for like a, a free bologna sandwich and, and the old timer said behind the desk, he's like, yeah, I served in 1970 something and.
Scott Schimmel (17:56)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Joe Lara (18:19)
got out after four years, but, non-volunteering here and like, okay, cool. Everybody inside was all different ages, but it was the same conversations that you have with your military. It's like about politics and, ⁓ the basis shutting down or a disability. You it's the same. It's just so funny, man. It's so familiar. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Schimmel (18:26)
Yeah.
So cool.
⁓ huh.
I'm so jealous because
I come from like the most boring, low, low identity tribe, Waspie, Southern California. Like I got no people. I'm all on my own.
Joe Lara (18:52)
you do me. Kelly's now Cal.
So Cal survive, man. So Cal is a is a track.
Scott Schimmel (18:57)
That's
true. Yeah. Yeah. If I was in like Missouri and I saw someone wearing like rainbow sandals, I'd be like, that's my, I'm going to go sit next to them at the DMV. Like, what's up, dude? California burrito, anyone? And then we'd be homies. Well, it does. I mean, what we're talking about does circle back, of course, to the self discovery process that Vector guides people through veterans through to distill some of that stuff. ⁓
Joe Lara (19:06)
Yeah.
Calibrito, Asada, Karate Asada.
Mm-hmm.
Scott Schimmel (19:25)
I just was, ⁓ what was I doing? ⁓ shoveling horse poop. Here's the best analogy. Yeah, I a horse. See, I read the Wall Street Journal, I have a horse. whatever your perception of me is. Yeah. But I was, there's this, these shavings that we've paid money for in our horses stall, and then there's poop. So I have a rake and I'm trying to sift the shavings because that to me represents dollar bills.
Joe Lara (19:32)
You have horses, right? You have a horse.
See where this is going, see the trend.
Scott Schimmel (19:54)
and the poop I want to get the out. So that is what vector accelerator is. We want to sit through and let the good stuff drop to the bottom so you can see it. And then we know where the poop is and we know what to do with that. So we're going to take the good stuff, lead the bad stuff.
Joe Lara (19:54)
Mmm.
I have a slightly different
analogy, which ⁓ I'll never forget, man. It's a great analogy. It's like it, but it's different because it doesn't say poop. This one veteran was going through the same questions that are inside Vector Accelerator. And he went through those same questions. And on the other side of it was story night. So he got to tell a story. And what he shared was...
Scott Schimmel (20:21)
You
Joe Lara (20:38)
It's like carrying a heavy rock. And every time I tell a story, I can take a rock out of that heavy rock and put it down on the ground. And I was like, holy cow, that's incredible. Like it's just, he's like letting stuff go, but he's keeping what he wants to keep. You know what I mean? So he's like, you know what? I've never made space because I'm just loaded. I'm heavy, but I'm going to make space. I'm going to put that down. And actually I want to go over here and pick this one up and carry this one with me because that matters more, right?
Scott Schimmel (20:55)
Yeah. Yeah.
Joe Lara (21:08)
So you still carry a load like just going through this process doesn't mean life's gonna be easy, right? We're not trying to talk and paint a picture that life is perfect. No, we still got to work We still got to do things. We still need to move forward But having this choice to put things down and pick things up and sift through ⁓ What needs to be sifted Dude that was a gift like it's a gift and I think that's what we're trying to offer. So many people was this gift Yeah
Scott Schimmel (21:13)
Right.
Get the poop out. mean the rocks.
Joe Lara (21:40)
Take the rocks out. Well, sometimes it's hard like rocks, you know, but
Scott Schimmel (21:41)
Well, in case ⁓ you're listening, you're like, man, these guys, they just lead with heart. I don't know if there's any brains behind this or muscle. In a few weeks, September 29th, actually, we're hosting a webinar and inviting one of our brains, Dr. Evi Trevino, to come and share about the robust research that sits
Joe Lara (22:01)
Mmm.
Scott Schimmel (22:05)
behind and underneath Vector Accelerator. She brings along as a quantitative psychologist, a researcher, she understands how to help us make sure that what we're doing actually has weight. It actually impacts people's lives. And she's gonna come and share. If you're curious as a veteran, if you should start Vector Accelerator, come to this webinar and you'll hear from her if this actually works, not just sentimentally, but actually in real life. And then also if you represent.
another veteran service organization that we love to partner with. And you've probably struggled with how do we measure what we do beyond, let's say, getting a job and finding employment? Like what else? Because we obviously we all care much more about that. But how do you do that? She'll come and share the secret sauce for how you do it. And finally, if you're a corporate leader, you probably want to know if the people you're hiring are the right people. So how do you also understand that they've been through a program that actually helps them yield towards all the good stuff that we've been talking about? So stay tuned for that.
We'll probably be announcing that in a week or so, but just designate your calendar. Nine a.m. California time on ⁓ September 29th. And we'll be back more with more info. Joe, thanks for thanks for jumping on.
Joe Lara (23:18)
Yeah, too easy.
