Episode 312 – Unstoppable Leader Expert and Founder of FamiLEAD Management Consulting with Jessper Maquindang

Often I tell you about guests I first met at the podcast event known as Podapalooza. This time we have another such guest. He is Jessper Maquindang. He tells us that, although he doesn’t remember the event, his mother tells him that at the age of five he told her that when he grew up he wanted to be a leader. He tells us that he always had a fascination for leaders and the study of leadership. When he attended USC he attained an Executive Master’s degree in leadership. Jessper was born and raised in California and lives in the state today.
 
Since graduating he has experienced observing and working in large and small companies. A number of years ago he formed his own consulting company, FamiLEAD  Management Consulting.
 
During our episode Jessper and I talk a great deal about leadership. He describes what makes a good leader in today’s corporate and thriving world. His observations and lessons are quite poignant and I would say relevant to all of us. Jessper discusses how leadership has evolved and how today good leaders consciously work to build solid teams and spend much less time bossing people around and flaunting their power.
 
Another fact about Jessper is that he grew up with Asthma. Even so, he worked through the condition and today has run a number of full marathons. He also loves to travel and has visited all fifty states in the U.S.
 
Clearly Jessper is quite unstoppable and as you listen to our conversation he will tell you how you can become more unstoppable too.
 
 
 
About the Guest:
 
Jessper Maquindang, a seasoned leader with a rich experience spanning over 12 years, is the owner of FamiLEAD Management Consulting, helping leaders and managers build effective teams. His leadership journey is marked by his commitment to fostering workplace cultures that champion collaboration and innovation. Driven by a passion for creative brainstorming and continuous improvement, Jessper is always on the lookout for fresh ideas and novel approaches.
 
As an alumnus of the University of Southern California, Jessper holds an Executive Master’s Degree in Leadership.  His leadership impact has been recognized with the “40 Under Forty” award in Santa Clarita Valley, a testament to his significant contributions to the community.
 
Jessper’s influence extends beyond his immediate professional sphere. Jessper has served on the executive board of JCI USA (Junior Chamber International, USA), a national organization dedicated to providing leadership development opportunities for young people. He continues to guide future leaders as a mentor at his alma mater, the University of Southern California. Jessper has also served on the boards of an advanced Toastmasters club and the Southern California chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA SoCal).
 
When he’s not leading teams or coaching leaders, Jessper immerses himself in training for marathons, delving into business books, and traveling around the country. In spite of growing up with asthma, Jessper has become a 15-time marathon runner. His story is one of passion, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.
 
Ways to connect with Jessper:
 
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmaquindang

Website:
https://www.famileadconsulting.com

Jessper’s personal story:
https://signalscv.com/2024/07/once-an-asthma-victim-now-a-marathon-runner/
 
About the Host:
 
Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.
 
Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards.
 
https://michaelhingson.com
https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/
https://twitter.com/mhingson
https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/
 
accessiBe Links
https://accessibe.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe
https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/
 
https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/
 
 
 
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Transcription Notes:
 
Michael Hingson ** 00:00
Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I’m Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that’s a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we’re happy to meet you and to have you here with us.
 
Michael Hingson ** 01:21
Well, a pleasant hello to you, wherever you happen to be today. Welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected, which is more fun. Meet I am your host. Mike Hingson, we’re really glad that you’re here with us today and today, well, we’re going to what, what has to be a California podcast, because our guest jes Jessper Maquindang is from California. He’s a USC graduate. So was my wife. He lives in Santa Clarita, so he’s over the mountains from where we live. He has degrees in leadership. He’s a marathon runner, and that, after a story that he’ll tell you in just a little bit growing up, had some challenges regarding that, but nevertheless, he is here, and we’re here, and we’re glad that all of you are here with us. So Jessper, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We’re really glad you’re here. Michael,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 02:22
thank you for having me. I’m excited to join you today. Well,
 
Michael Hingson ** 02:26
glad you’re really here. Well, why don’t we start by you telling us a little bit about kind of the early Jessper growing up and all that sort of thing. Absolutely,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 02:34
it starts with a memory, and a memory from my mother, and she shared it a few years ago, and I myself don’t remember that memory myself, but she told me when I was about five or six, I went up to her and said, When I grow up, I want to be a leader. When I grow up, I want to be a leader. Now, when you think about it, it sounds really neat for a five or six year old to want to be a leader when they grow up, but when you reflect deeply, what does a five or six year old know about leadership? It’s such an advanced topic for someone that age, I might as well said mom, when I grow up, I want to study microeconomics, but that was my journey. I don’t remember that memory, but she had shared it with me a few years ago, but I realized over the years, various leadership opportunities just fell into my lap. I remember at a young age, serving the community, volunteering that was ingrained within me so supporting nonprofits as I grew older. When I went to college, I was involved in extracurricular activities such as student government and new student orientation. And after I graduated, I landed in a travel company where I was promoted to a supervisory role, where I did get first hand experience in leading a team. And then over the years, I was just so inspired by what I did, I went back to school, went to USC for my Executive Master’s degree in leadership, learn more about those best practices in the field. And after I graduated, I landed in a fortune 500 management development program where I had the opportunity to get a peek of what the operations look like for a larger company, and I can take those insights and pretty much share them anywhere. But overall, just looking at my background and the experiences that I’ve gained over the years, I’ve come to learn that leadership is really that opportunity to learn and grow from your experiences and share that experience with others. So I would say that’s the early journey of the younger Jasper McCune,
 
Michael Hingson ** 04:50
well, certainly relevant by any standard. I I love talking about leadership. I’ve been very deeply involved. With it most of my life, starting in sales and then sales management and owning my own company and being a senior manager for other companies as well. And one of the things that I love to say is and I’ve read about leaders, and I’ve read books about leadership and studied them and so on, but I love to say that I have learned more about leadership and teamwork and trust and motivation from working with eight guide dogs than I’ve ever learned from Ken Blanchard and Tony Robbins and all those folks, because it becomes very personal and the additional challenge that someone like I have is that I work with and build a team with someone who doesn’t speak the same language I do. And we have to learn to communicate, and we have to learn to build trust. The value is and the the wonderful part of it is working with dogs, they’re more open to trust than we tend to be, and so I can see how to develop a trusting relationship and then make it happen. Dogs love unconditionally, I do believe that, but they don’t trust unconditionally. And I was even asked yesterday, how long does it take to really develop a good, strong relationship with your guide dogs? And I’d say it takes a good year to truly develop the seamless, teaming relationship that one wants, and it takes a lot of work. So I stand by I learn more from dogs than I have from other sources. Michael, that
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 06:40
is such an interesting insight. I didn’t even think about the leadership connection between dog and humans, and when you brought that up, that gave me another perspective to think about.
 
Michael Hingson ** 06:52
And well, the the issue is that the purpose of a guide dog is to make sure that we walk safely. It’s my job to know where to go and how to get there. So we each have a job to do, and our jobs, although they interrelate, are different, and so someone has to be the leader of the team. And dogs really want us to be the leaders. They look to us. They recognize that value when we carry it out. Well, it works in a wonderful way. So for me, working with a guide dog and developing that relationship means that I need to be confident and tell the dog what I want the dog to do, like turn left, right, go forward, or whatever, and also recognize that the dog has some authority to do things such as, let’s say we’re at a street corner and I suddenly tell the dog to go forward, and the dog doesn’t go. I need to respect the fact that there’s probably a reason that the dog didn’t go. That is to say, very rarely do guide dogs really get distracted. And when they do get distracted, I mean, if a bird flies right in front of their nose, they’re going to see it, but I can tell that, and I know what’s happening. But primarily, when a dog doesn’t do what I expect it to do, it’s because of a service called Intelligent Disobedience. That is to say, the dog has the authority not to do what I want if it feels it’s going to put us in danger. So I’m at the street corner and I tell the dog to go forward, and the dog won’t go probably today, that is because there’s a quiet car or hybrid vehicle coming down the road, and I don’t hear it, but the dog sees it, and the dog going, on, I’m not going to get out there and get either of us hit, and they have the authority to do that. So as I said, we each have a job to do in the process, and we have to carry out those those processes well. And the dog looks to Me for guidance, to know when it’s doing its job well. And likewise, I have to observe the dog communicate with the dog when the dog’s not feeling well, or feeling unhappy, or whatever. I’m the one that has to interpret that and act as the team leader, the confess II, the spiritual guide, if you will, for the for the team, and so many other things. And there is also so much to learn from working with dogs like dogs don’t do, what if, when a dog works or does whatever it does, is doing it in the moment. So dogs don’t do a lot of what if, hence, they don’t tend to have the same kind of fears that we do, because we What if everything, and we never seem to learn how to be introspective and recognize that we should really only worry about the things that we can control and stop worrying about everything else, because it’s not going to do us any good. And so we worry about everything. And we develop so many fears that really are a problem. I talk about that in the new book that’s that I’ve written, called Live like a guide dog. It’s all about learning to control fear, but it’s about the lessons I learned in that regard from eight dogs. And it is fascinating. Yeah, there’s a lot to learn from dogs, if we would, but try
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 10:21
very great insight and leadership well, so you wanted
 
Michael Hingson ** 10:25
to be a leader from five or six years old, and you obviously did things to kind of make that happen or get attracted to it. So tell me about when you went to USC or your college days, and how did leadership interact or become a part of what you did there? That’s
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 10:46
right. So when I went to USC, I wanted to learn more about the field, because when I was a supervisor at my first job, I had the opportunity to really learn what works and what doesn’t work, and I wanted to expand on that. And when I was at USC, we were reading books from such great authors like Marshall Goldsmith, other sources that give us another perspective of what leadership really means. And in today’s world, we’ve moved on from traditional leadership, where you see a manager being very demanding and showing high levels of authority. We want to moved on to that today, leadership is more about empathy and really supporting the growth and development of the people that work for you, the people that report to you. It’s all about making sure as a team, we’re all working together to achieve our goals, instead of having one person send their demands and expect everyone to follow those days are not effective today and as we move forward into the future, what I’ve learned about leadership, and especially at USC, leadership, is being more adaptable and supportive with the people that we work with.
 
Michael Hingson ** 12:12
How many leaders or what kind of percentage of people do you think really understand that, as opposed to being a boss and continuing to just try to exert their authority. Based
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 12:25
on my experience, I would say more and more people are embracing this new form of leadership where we are supportive, there are still leaders and managers that are attracted to their power. They’re not effective as they could be. But on the other hand, the leaders who are embracing this constructive form of leadership where other people are getting the opportunity to share their voices, they’re getting better results compared to managers who are showing off their authority and being bossy and stepping on the foot of other people and not really giving them a voice. So I would say there are more people who are embracing more adaptable and supportive form of leadership.
 
Michael Hingson ** 13:13
What are some of the basic characteristics that you would define that exist in leaders today, what makes you a leader?
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 13:23
So with leadership, there are four Super skills that make a leader effective, and the four Super skills are public speaking, public listening, private speaking and private listening. So for public speaking, it’s what we do know about people going up on stage, not literally, but they can be in front of the boardroom at a meeting and really sharing the direction of where everyone needs to go. I know there are some people who are nervous about the idea of public speaking. You don’t have to necessarily like it. You don’t have to Love Public Speaking. You can even despise it. But as a leader, it does get to a point where other people look up to you to display and promote the vision and direction of where the team is going, and that’s where people will depend on you as a leader to really express that direction, and the next one is public listening, and that is where a leader has the courage to step aside and give other people the stage, and again, not the literal stage, but they could be At the office in front of everyone else or along the same table, but the idea behind public listening is to give your team members the opportunity to share their voice, share their perspectives, share their thoughts. Because when it comes to leadership, the leader does not. Really have to be the only one throwing all those ideas out there and perspectives demands. It’s important to give other people that opportunity to really share what’s on their mind. And then next is private speaking. And for that, I know, when people hear private speaking, does that mean a leader hides in the corner and start talking? Starts talking to themselves? No, not necessarily. What private speaking means to me is it’s a phrase I use for coaching and mentoring, those one on one conversations with your employers, with your team members, with your staff. I call it private speaking because those conversations should be held in private. Whatever you and your team member shares with you, for example, it’s it wouldn’t be fair to say, oh, everyone did you? Did you know what Michael told me today? He said, this, this and this, again, when it comes to coaching and mentoring, you want to respect the privacy of those conversations, because your employees will share information that you would not get publicly. And lastly, it is private listening, and for this, a leader is really spending the time to discover their capabilities from within. So for some people, that comes in the form of meditation, where they’re really being in the moment, present and just listening to the voice within themselves, also an effective way for private listening to occur and learn more about yourself is to take leadership development assistance, where you are seeing firsthand the strengths and the areas that you can work on, giving you the opportunity to really reflect and see how you can be a more effective leader. So the four Super skills of an effective leader is public speaking, public listening, private speaking and private listening.
 
Michael Hingson ** 16:56
I like the way you put all of that, and I like especially when you’re talking about private listening, meditating, and really stepping back and becoming more self, analytical and introspective. That’s something that we talk about a lot in live like a guide dog, because you will develop your mind. I guess the best way to put is heal developing your mind if you use it, and one of the best ways to use it is to look at what you do. Look at yourself. I encourage people at the end of the day to take a step back and look at what happened today, and look at what worked what didn’t work. Don’t ever regard something as a failure. It’s a learning experience. But I think we gotta get away from negativity. For years, I used to use the term, I’m my own worst critic, and I realized literally, just over the last year, wrong thing to say, I’m my own best teacher, because I’m the only one who can really teach me. Other people can give me information, but I’m the one that has to internalize it. And so the fact is that I would rather look at it from a positive standpoint. That is, I’m my own best teacher than anything else, and I should look at everything that happens during the day to see what I can learn from and even the things that went well, could I have done it even better? And look at how all of that comes together? And I think that it’s it’s so important that we deal with ourselves in that way, because that helps us develop a much better mindset of how to move forward in the future, and it also helps cut back on fears, because invariably, you’re going to think about things like, Why was I afraid of that today? Oh, maybe I really shouldn’t have been because I didn’t really have any influence over that. It’s just something that occurred, and people can start to learn that they don’t need to fear everything that they fear.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 19:06
That’s right. When it comes to private listening, it’s all about that self awareness and overall, over all awareness and turning problems into opportunities. So you did bring up a excellent perspective. Michael, yeah,
 
Michael Hingson ** 19:22
we should. We should really always look at what goes on and again. We should always look for ways to hone our skills and improve ourselves, because we’re the best ones at making that happen, if we’re open to really listening to our inner voice that is ready to guide us anytime that we will allow it to do. So it’s not a noisy voice, it’s a quiet voice, but it’s there if we would learn to listen to it
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 19:53
absolutely and when it comes to taking that moment to really reflect, you can come up with. So many ideas that you would not have discovered if you were in a rush and just moving in a fast paced world and getting lost in into it. But when you take a moment to step back, take a deep breath and really slow down, it gives you an opportunity to come up with new insights that you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise,
 
Michael Hingson ** 20:24
yeah, and it’s so important to do that, and the insights were always there, but you weren’t paying attention to them. You were just running around crazy. So you do need to take the time to stop and listen and learn. And it’s amazing what will happen. One of the things that that I’ve always felt as as a leader, my job was, and I would always tell people I hired about this, my job is to not boss you around. I hired you because I assumed that you could do the job. You can miss me, that you could do the job that I want you to do. My job is to add value to you, to help you. And what that really means is that you and I need to work to see how we blend our skills so that I can better enhance what you do, because I want you to be successful.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 21:17
That’s right, that reminds me of a quote that I was as I was scrolling through LinkedIn, there was a quote that I saw that you hired smart people, let them do their job, trust them to do their job. And it was something along those lines, but Right, yes,
 
Michael Hingson ** 21:31
but even so, you do trust them to do their job. But the other part about it is, can you help them do their job better, and that’s a that’s a skill that I think a lot of people still really need to learn. On both sides, I have had people who I’ve said that to who never really figured it out, and they weren’t really great listeners at sales, and they didn’t do some of the things that they needed to do to be more successful at selling, but they also weren’t willing to explore how to to better themselves and send and hence, they didn’t necessarily stay at the company as long as they might have. But the people who really got it and who discovered that I, for example, am very technical, I listen. I’m unique being blind in the kind of world where we were selling high tech products to Wall Street, I was was enough of a unique individual that it was worth taking me along and letting me do demonstrations and product discussions. Again, my master’s degree is in physics, so I’m pretty technical anyway. But one of the fun things that happened after one of those presentations was my sales guy, who was my best sales guy, said, How come, you know, all this stuff, and I don’t, and I said, Did you read the product bulletin that came out last week? Well, no, I didn’t have time. I said, there you go. If you had, you might have known more than what you would have known more than you do, which doesn’t necessarily, in of itself, mean that you’re would be better at presenting it. I didn’t say that part, but, but the reality is that it is what I knew how to do. And we fed off each other very well, and we were both able to make him more successful than he otherwise would have been, which is really what it’s all about,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 23:27
that’s right. It reminds me of the writings from Brian Tracy, where he would remind us that the people who really take an effective approach in their learning and personal growth, those are the ones who are more likely to succeed in this world,
 
Michael Hingson ** 23:44
yeah, which is very true. You’ve got to take responsibility for and take charge of your own growth and recognize that there’s always stuff to learn there. There’s always stuff that somebody else knows that would be helpful for you to get to know as well. And you should never resent people just because they know something you didn’t know. It’s cool when you get to learn it, and then you get to use it, and probably will impress them, because then they see you using and they go, I you caught on that, huh? So it is what we have to do that we don’t do nearly as much as we should.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 24:26
That’s right, that reminds me of the world of coaching and mentoring too. There are so many more experienced professionals in the world that when we learn from them, that gives us the opportunity to really take in their insights, and when we use their insights that’ll accelerate our process in becoming more successful in our journey of Professor professional development.
 
Michael Hingson ** 24:49
Yeah, our leaders, or should leaders be pretty resilient people?
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 24:55
I believe so. Because when you think about it, in today’s world of leadership, there’s. Just so much going on, especially in our fast paced society. When you look at working with teams, people have different perspectives. When you look at projects, there are so many items that just go into a project, and so many moving parts. And when you look at change itself, it’s disruption, interruption, you name it. It’s moving in all directions. And as a leader, sometimes something somewhere can knock you off course or knock you down. But you have a choice. You can stay down and worry, but that’s not very productive, or you can get back up again. And when you do get back up, you get another chance to really find ways to whatever you were working on. You can make that better. It’s a much more productive process when you’re when you continue to get back up and really challenge yourself to find new ways to move forward. So it is important to be resilient, because there’s when you look, look at change itself and how it’s just shifting so many things around. If you’re not as resilient, you’re not going to be able to adapt to that change. But if you continue to get back up, roll your sleeves up, you’ll be in a much better position as you really find new ways to build on yourself and move forward.
 
Michael Hingson ** 26:26
But a resilient leader isn’t someone who is so stubborn that they think that they’ve got the only solution. It’s really getting back up and looking at what happened and then moving forward in whatever way is the most appropriate to really make progress for you as the leader and your team.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 26:48
That’s an excellent insight, especially when a leader is so stuck in one way, it’s really going to present challenges. It reminds me of the quote we’ve always done it that way, if a leader sticks to that message, they’re going to get lost in the past, and they’re not really going to be able to adapt to the future, or at the same time, their team members might not really relate well to that leader who just sticks with one idea. Because in today’s world, if you want to be more successful in the projects and the processes that you’re trying to build. It really helps to get the perspectives and insights of everyone on your team, instead of that one person who’s just promoting one idea. It’s not going to get very far. I think
 
Michael Hingson ** 27:37
one of the characteristics of a good leader is also knowing when to relinquish leadership because someone else has a skill that maybe they are able to do something better than you, and you’ve got to allow them to help guide the team, because they’ve got the particular skill that’s necessary to do That.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 28:01
That reminds me of two things. The first thing is that leaders should not be intimidated by other people who have a skill that they’re lacking. They should actually embrace that opportunity, because our skills are complimentary when we work with our teams, someone has a certain ability or skill set that when we’re all working together, it’s like a puzzle piece, and when all the puzzle all puzzle pieces fit together, you’ll be able to solve whatever you were working on. And the second part that this reminds me of is the idea of servant leadership for a leader, gone are the days where a leader should be demanding and be the best in terms of thinking they know everything and have everything. In today’s world, a leader should be in a more servant leadership role, where they’re supporting the growth and development of their team members and accepting that other people have skills that they might not have, because, as I mentioned earlier, working in a team is like having different puzzle pieces, and when it all fits together, you’re solving that puzzle piece faster.
 
Michael Hingson ** 29:17
And you know, we talked about introspection and looking at the end of the day and analyzing what goes on. The more of that that you do, and the more time, as every day as you can and should do, every time you do that, your mind muscle develops more. And the more of it you do, the faster you’ll be able to do it, and the faster you’ll be able to then analyze and make decisions. So that the whole idea, though, is that you’ve got to train yourself to do that, and that’s not something that anyone can do for you, but you can certainly learn to recognize a lot of the different kinds of things that we’re both talking about, and you. Can work faster and smarter if you take the time to teach yourself how to deal with all that. That’s
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 30:07
right. And then I know one way for leaders who have implemented that idea is journaling, just that open flow of getting your thoughts on a page that really helps, because you’re getting the opportunity to really look at the ideas that you’re writing down, positive or negative, and once those ideas are on the page, you can reflect deeper on each item that you’ve written down, giving you a much better understanding of how you can really improve that process or project or task that you were working on. So journaling really does help in really building your perspective someone
 
Michael Hingson ** 30:50
who really does that well and who journals, or however you do it. I tend not to journal a lot, but I’ve got other ways of recording information. So, so I do that. But the point is, then five years later, you go back and look at some of those early journal things, and you go, Oh my gosh, look what I’ve learned. Or, oh my gosh, I forgot all about that. What a neat thing I got to pick that up and do that again, journaling and having a way to record and be able to look back at what your thoughts are is extremely important, and it again, adds another dimension and a lot of value to you as an effective leader,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 31:36
absolutely, because when you’re journaling, you’re writing down a lot of the ideas that have been on your mind. And for me, I use a more free flowing type of journaling where I’m really just dumping whatever I have on my mind and just throwing it out there. Because although there are no connections at that moment over time, I realized that there are certain themes that I can connect, and start to really see where all the dots are connecting, and find certain ideas and similar similarities and maybe even contrast, but working with those ideas and seeing what I can do and how I can actually use those ideas in Some of the future projects that I’m working on. So it really helps to get your thoughts out there. When
 
Michael Hingson ** 32:25
I was at UC Irvine, I actually went and took a course in transcendental meditation, and one of the things that they said is, when you’re meditating, you need to let your mind just flow. You don’t want to write things down, because it might very well be nonsense and and so on. But at the end, you can learn and remember and then write down ideas that came to you during the time that you meditate. And the reality is that the free flowing kind of technique that you’re talking about makes a lot of sense, because what you want to do is get the thoughts down. There’s no such thing as a good idea or a bad idea, they’re all ideas. You may find that it won’t work or some idea won’t work today, but that doesn’t make it a bad idea, because in five years, it might just be the way to go. But if you don’t write it down and you forget it, then you’ve lost it.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 33:17
That’s right, that also works with a team in the form of brainstorming, I’ve seen situations where someone leading the team, where another team member will share an idea, and that leader of that team will say, well, that’s not really realistic. When it comes to brainstorming, it is important to let all ideas flow. You don’t want to turn anyone down, because, as you said, maybe a unique idea today will be useful and valuable in the future.
 
Michael Hingson ** 33:45
My typical reaction when I even think that something might not be overly realistic, it means to me, somebody’s thought about something and I don’t really understand it. So my immediate response would be, tell me more about that. And a lot of times that request leads to insights that I never had that make for a better situation all the way around. And it turns out, the idea wasn’t really such a horrible and unrealistic idea at all, but you’re right being negative. That’s not realistic. That’s not a good way to support a team, and I think it’s very important that we recognize that it’s all about supporting the team. So tell me a little bit about your thoughts about unstoppable perseverance and why that helps to make a good leader. Oh, that’s right, I guess that goes into a little bit resilience. But, yeah, go ahead. Similar
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 34:47
with resilience. It’s the opportunity when you get knocked down. It’s that opportunity to get back up. And for perseverance, very similar for unstoppable perseverance, for a leader to not give up in. Keep pushing through, because with the situations that I shared earlier, the teams that you work with, the projects even change itself. In today’s fast paced world, it’s going to push you aside and maybe push you down. But if you’re going to be worried about all these changes, it’s not productive. It’s not going to get you anywhere. But if you continue to push through and really show your perseverance and take charge and just really push forward, you’ll get much better results when you continue to have that energy to just never get knocked down.
 
Michael Hingson ** 35:41
Of course, taking charge also means taking charge in a in a positive way, and not in a bossy way. That’s right, yeah, and that’s that’s really crucial,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 35:51
yes. So when it comes to taking charge, it’s really being proactive about growing and your well being, and really understanding what you can do better. And again, it’s not about that manager having too much power when it comes to taking charge. It’s about being proactive about your personal growth.
 
Michael Hingson ** 36:14
So kind of summing up some of this in a bit. What is the most effective style of leadership. You think the
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 36:21
effective style of leadership that I’ve learned based on my experience is servant leadership, and I’ve learned of two different major definitions. I like one better than the other, and I’ll explain why, but the first definition that I’ve heard about servant leadership is putting the needs of others above yourself. And the second definition of servant leadership is serving in the sense of supporting the growth and well being of others. And what I like is that growth and well being, because when it comes to supporting other people, you don’t necessarily have to lower your own priority of yourself. When it comes to servant leadership, you’re part of a team. You’re on the same level as everyone else. You want to share your voice, and at the same time, you don’t want to be the one taking all the all the power you want to share it. And when it comes to servant leadership, you’re really giving other people the opportunity to share what’s on their mind and what they’d like to do to become more effective in themselves. So servant leadership is supporting that journey of helping other people succeed?
 
Michael Hingson ** 37:44
Yeah, well, when we talk about leadership, and we’ve talked about teamwork and so on, in a sense, they’re, they’re equate, they’re not equivalent, but they’re, they’re related, but they’re also different. So the whole issue of building an effective team is a real challenge, and I’ve been involved in a lot of team building exercises and so on over the years. But how do you go about really growing a good, effective human team? And I put it that way, because I can sit here and talk about what I do with with dogs and and how we develop a very close bonding relationship. And what is really scary is it is very easy to destroy that or, or at least injure the relationship with the dog. If you don’t respect the dog, and you look down on the dog, and you don’t really realize recognizing the dog is doing its job, and they sense that, and they won’t always necessarily communicate it back to you directly. But you know, in the case of humans, how do we develop good human teams?
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 38:58
That’s right, the first part, I would say, is really getting a pulse on the morale. You want to make sure everyone is being heard and not being ignored or shut out as a leader. You want to ensure that the team member is really part of the team. And the second part is active listening, where the leader needs to intentionally and deliberately provide that space for other people to share their voice. Because if a leader is just taking everything up and doing all the talking and just doing all of the things himself or herself. It’s really going to cut off the opportunities where an employee could have shared a great idea, but then you’re just leaving it to one person to implement their idea of what needs to happen. So for an effective team to develop, one is. All about that morale and giving other people the space to feel like they are part of a team. And the second part is listening to the other team members and giving them that space to share what’s on their mind and maybe even provide great ideas.
 
Michael Hingson ** 40:17
And you know, the issue is that, once again, in developing the relationships, you’re going to have some ideas that are stronger and more productive than others. I’m not going to use the word bad, but still, everyone does have to have the opportunity to say what they think and to contribute, and when they have the opportunity to do that, they’re going to be much more productive, and they’re going to be much more willing to be part of the team.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 40:50
That’s right when you’re giving another person the floor, metaphorically, but when you’re giving them that space to share what’s on their mind, you’re really giving them those opportunities to share what the team can do to really grow together again, when there’s no such thing as a bad idea, you want to give that space for everyone to share, because, As we’ve learned earlier, maybe an idea that’s unique today will be useful and valuable maybe a few months down the line, or maybe a year down the line. But when you dig deeper into an idea, again, no bad ideas. When you dig deeper, you’ll get more insights into what that team member was sharing.
 
Michael Hingson ** 41:38
One of the best books. One of my favorite books that I’ve read through the years is a book called The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Have you read that I have? Yeah, I really like the ways that he discusses teams and teamwork and one of the most important things that he talks about in sometimes subtle but still very, very strong ways, is developing trust and allowing the team to be a group of people that learn to work together. But it is, it’s about accountability, which really is all about developing trust. And I mentioned that earlier, that dogs are open to trust, we have learned so much about not trusting on how not to trust because we think everyone has a hidden agenda. And how can we trust this person? How do we break out of that pattern?
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 42:33
Yes, so especially when it comes to the Five Dysfunctions of a Team in that book, Patrick Lencioni does start with trust, and to really build in that trust, you want to have open conversations with your team to really express themselves and give them that voice, because if you’re cutting other people off, they’re not going to feel safe, they’re not going to feel secure in their role. On the other hand, when you open up that space, you’re giving other people to you’re giving other people that opportunity to really understand each other. So that’s where it really starts from, that sense of understanding and building that time for that understanding in there, because if you cut off that understanding again, you’re going to make other people feel unsafe. And when people feel unsafe, that’s where trust starts to break down. But on the other hand, when you’re building a psychologically safe environment, people are more likely likely to speak up and really trust each other in how they want to work with each other.
 
Michael Hingson ** 43:40
So tell me, what do you do when you have a person who doesn’t earn trust, because trust is something that has to be earned, or some person who just really, I don’t want to use the term rubs people the wrong way, but maybe that’s a good term to use in some senses. But what do you do when you have a person that doesn’t seem to have any interest in really developing a two way trusting relationship? That’s
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 44:11
right? In this case, maybe the leader or not, I wouldn’t say the leader, but this member. Perhaps, maybe it’s ego. Perhaps it’s selfishness you want to really figure out what’s going on. Perhaps there are maybe problems at home or just outside the workplace, or maybe inside the workplace, what I would do is take this member and have a one on one conversation to really discover, is there anything that’s going on that’s really hindering their ability to connect with others are they just disengaged in general? That’s something you want to figure out, because when you really dig deep and discover what’s really happening, you can start to find ways to alleviate that situation and. Help the member find ways to cope and really work better together. So if a team member is disengaged, why are they disengaged? Is it the work that they’re doing? Are they not excited about it? Have that conversation. See, Employee Mr. Mrs. Employee, you’re not really engaged by the work you do. Can you tell me more about what energizes you? And then, from those types of conversations, you can discover ways to really find tasks that have more meaning and significance for that person. And then another way, another reason that an employee might not be open is maybe there’s some problems at home again to have those conversations say Mr. Mrs. Employee, just curious. You haven’t been very open to other team members. Want to know what’s going on is, is it something personal? Just want to make sure you’re okay. And then when you open these conversations again, you can discover what this person is going through, and then over time, find ways to alleviate that search situation, and then you might have an opportunity to really get that team member back on track and have them interact better with other team members in a more healthier and productive way. So it’s really about discovering what’s going on so you can look into that and find ways to help that team member. You
 
Michael Hingson ** 46:27
ever find that there are people that just don’t respond to any of that, though, and just won’t work to develop trust? It’s
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 46:33
possible, absolutely it’s possible. There are team members who are just completely not open, and again, it’s still very valuable to have a one on one conversation, sure, just to see what’s going on, and then if the team member is just completely shut out, that might be an opportunity to have a conversation with that employee and say, Jasper, I know times have been Tough in working with this team. Is, it perhaps, maybe, is there another role you’d like to consider? You know, it’s really about the giving the the member an opportunity to discover what’s going to work well for them. Because if they’re just not going to open up at all, it might be that. It might be a situation where that member wants to find something else, and again, have that conversation to see what’s on that mind of that employee. But
 
Michael Hingson ** 47:27
I think that no matter what you do, it’s important not to judge or be judgmental, because whatever is going on with that person is going on, and you as the leader, have to worry about the team, and if that person can’t be part of it, then you help that person. Again, it goes back to you’re adding value by helping that person find something else that makes sense to do, even if it’s somewhere else. And I believe that that level of being supportive is extremely important.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 47:58
That’s right, it’s very important to be supportive. If that team member is just not open again, you don’t want to call out that team member for being unsupportive. You really want to be that open leader who really lends in a hand to see what you can do to help that team member move forward and find a productive way out, or maybe integrate, reintegrate back with that team. But again, it’s all about giving that employee space to discover what’s really going on, how they can move forward in a more productive and healthy way, right?
 
Michael Hingson ** 48:37
It’s it, but you have to take ego out of it. That’s right. So switching gears a little bit, you haven’t talked about yet, the fact that you grew up having asthma and then you ended up starting to run marathons. Tell me more about that. That’s
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 48:54
right. I believe it was at the age of eight. I was in second grade, and I was diagnosed with asthma, and I just remember that my parents, I know they were trying to be supportive, but they were really protective, and I just remember that for my safety, they would want me away from pets so I don’t have a reaction to fur. They would keep me indoors just so I don’t get a reaction to pollen or dust or any other pollutants outside, and I would just get stuck indoors for a while. And over time, I fell into that trap of placing those limits on myself as well. And I realized over time, I don’t want my life to be defined by those limits, and I wanted to do something significant where I can overcome that type of obstacle. And the first thing that came up to my mind was something physical. And I just remember, for marathon runners having that big, major goal, I decided to add that to my bucket list. But I. Knew something like that would not be an overnight magic formula. I knew I had to take it one step at a time. So what I what I did is I started with a 5k of course, there were challenges along the way. Moved up to a 10k and then when I felt more comfortable a half marathon, and then when I finally reached the finish line of my first full marathon, that sense of joy and relief and really knowing that I could achieve something like that despite growing up with what I had as a young just throughout my life, it was a really meaningful goal that I had accomplished. So really, when it comes to having that marathon goal, for me, it was really a sense of not letting past limits define my life and really moving forward to accomplishing something more meaningful and significant for myself.
 
Michael Hingson ** 50:54
So clearly, there are symptoms that you experience that that indicated asthma. Did a lot of that dissipate or go away as you began to run more and more marathons and became more physical,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 51:07
so as I became more physical, I learned to manage it, and when I came to training, I didn’t want to overextend myself. And again, I knew I wasn’t going to run 26.2 miles in one night. I worked my way up to make sure my body understood what I was doing again. No rushing, no intense, no over and, no over extending myself, not going too intense, but reaching a more comfortable space, comfortable space pace that I can take throughout my training. That way, I didn’t put too much pressure on my body, but my body understood over time and managed itself to really reach that level once I got to that marathon and just completed it.
 
Michael Hingson ** 51:58
What’s the fastest you’ve ever run a marathon.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 52:01
So I believe it was either Las Vegas rock and roll or Santa Clarita, and it was about four hours and five minutes. Okay, so today not it’s not the same. I was a lot younger and more speedy back then, but it’s still a hobby I still enjoy well,
 
Michael Hingson ** 52:24
but still, that’s still over six miles an hour. That’s, it’s not too bad, but it’s, it’s, it’s fun to do, but you’ve done marathons in all states, I believe, have you not? Oh, no, uh, just 15. Oh, just 15. Okay, but I have traveled to all 50 states. You’ve traveled to all 50 states. So what caused you to do that just happened? Or what?
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 52:54
So for me, when I was younger, I had actually not imagined traveling to all 50 states, but when I landed my first job, it happened to be at a travel company, and the department I was working for, we created custom guidebooks for our clients who were traveling across the United States. And just throughout my time there, as I would flip through those guidebooks, I was just inspired by the landmarks and attractions that were featured on those pages, and I decided, one day, you know what, I will do some traveling and see where it goes. I had booked a trip with another company that provided bus tours, and I took one that took me through the southern states and the eastern states, and that was from Louisiana all the way to Florida, and from Florida all the way up to New York. And after that trip, well, actually, when I reached New York, the timing, unusually, I find my I found myself in the midst of Hurricane Sandy, so I did not get to do a lot of that full exploration and get that full New York experience. But when the storm was over, I still had the opportunity to walk around and take a look at what was available and what was safely opened. So again, I didn’t get that full experience at the time because of the hurricane, but I would return a year later with my siblings to get the full tourist experience. So just after that group, after that bus tour, I was really inspired to finally put 50 states on my bucket list.
 
Michael Hingson ** 54:36
I have fond memories of living in New Jersey, and my wife and I going into New York and touring a lot of people around Midtown Manhattan. We’d walk over to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and walk up Fifth Avenue and just have a lot of fun touring around and and visiting some of the restaurants, which was was really enjoyable. What are some of the the. Memories and life lessons you think you’ve learned from traveling to all 50 states.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 55:03
So the memories, I would say, starting with the memories is that first trip that I did with that bus tour, saw, well, I believe at least 12 states. So I really did get a great understanding of what’s outside of my home state of California, because prior to 2012 I had only been to two states, which was my home state of California and Nevada. Because my family used to enjoy going to Las Vegas, but after that, I really got to see more of what our country had to offer. Another memory, I would say, is the state of Rhode Island. It’s a small state, but I realized once I stepped foot there, there was a lot to explore. I remember seeing the Gilded Age mansions. Remember taking a walk on the Cliff Walk and just getting the view of the Atlantic Ocean from Eastern beach. So you can get a full day of Rhode Island when you plan accordingly. And then I would say another memory that I had with traveling was just really historic landmarks and attractions, the Alamo in Texas, freedom walk in Boston, well, the Freedom Trail in Boston, Freedom Trail, right? And the government buildings in Washington, DC. I’m not necessarily a history buff myself, but surrounding yourself with just artifacts that have been around for over 100 or 200 years. It’s just a really neat feeling. So I would say it’s just the history has been a great memory for me, and the lessons I’ve learned from traveling is, the first lesson is it’s important to be adaptable. Plans change, especially when it comes to traveling. And for me, I’ve been in a handful of either delayed flights or canceled flights. In that situation, you want to really give yourself that space to discover what you can do with your time to be more productive. So if there’s a delay, you have a choice. You can sit back and worry, or you can you can figure out ways to find another flight that works for your schedule, or you can find other productive ways to fill your schedule, maybe catch up on work. Maybe you can discover the airport, or if you have a lot of time, you can leave the airport and discover the city that you’re in. So in any case, very important to be adaptable. The second part about the lessons I’ve learned is to be curious. There’s a lot the world has to offer. If you’re at a restaurant and you’re ordering the same kinds of foods that you would normally eat at home, that’s not really giving you the opportunity to explore what’s out there. No, when you’re in a new restaurant, maybe try ordering something that you’ve never tried before, and then that really gives you that opportunity to see what’s out there. So be curious, and especially when you’re going to new cities, instead of going to the typical tourist spots, maybe take some time to figure out, maybe in the moment, that there’s an area that’s less discovered, and you might want to see and check those out to see what’s available there. So really be curious and explore the world out there. And then the last one, I would say, as a lesson that I’ve learned in traveling to all 50 states, is be present, be in the moment. I’ve seen many people where they’re on vacation in a new city, and they’re looking head down, staring at their phone, and they’re really missing out in the opportunity of really being in another destination, because when you’re in a different state and different city, you’re not really going to get that opportunity as frequently as you would. So when you’re at home, you know it’s it’s so easy to just stare at our phone and get distracted, but when you’re in a different destination, you really want to take the opportunity to really understand that you’re in a new situation. Be present. Be mindful. Be aware of the new things to discover around you, because when you are present, you’re really giving yourself that space to enjoy where you are in the world,
 
Michael Hingson ** 59:36
right? Tell me about your company, yes.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 59:40
So with the family management consulting, we help leaders and managers build stronger teams through team building activities, leadership development assessments and executive coaching. So for leadership development assessments, I find those really important, because it gives people that first. Experience of really understanding where they’re coming from, what their strengths are, how they can improve. Because when you’re getting that opportunity to learn more about yourself, you can find ways to be more effective. And when it comes to my approach, I believe in the power of teams, because when you’re focused on your team, you’re getting more work done than what an individual person can do by themselves. So I see value in promoting teamwork than having one person do all the work.
 
Michael Hingson ** 1:00:36
It’s interesting the so your company, the name of the company is family, F, A, M, I, L, E, A, D, interesting name.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 1:00:44
Yes, absolutely. So it is a playoff of the word family, because when it comes to a team, not necessarily believing that a team is the family, but when it comes to building a team, it’s about that sense of community, that sense of belonging, that sense of togetherness, which is the values of being part of a family. And then the lead part, it’s emphasized because leadership is an important aspect of bringing that sense of belonging, bringing that sense of togetherness, bringing that sense of community,
 
Michael Hingson ** 1:01:28
so people engage with you to come and help them develop better leadership styles or improve how they interact With the people in their own companies, or what correct
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 1:01:43
so it is having the leaders find more ways to be more effective, because when you have buy in from the leaders, and they’re working on becoming more productive, again, when it when you look at Leadership, it all starts at the top, and when you’re getting that productiveness from the leaders, that spills over to having a more effective team. And then once you have your team together, really finding ways to build them into just a stronger unit, and the ability to really open up that space to be more productive and working together and finding that strength as a team. Well, if people
 
Michael Hingson ** 1:02:24
want to reach out and and talk with you more, learn what you do, maybe engage you in your services. How do they do that? Absolutely.
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 1:02:32
So there are two ways. The first way is to visit my website, familead consulting.com, and if you’d like to contact me there. There is a contact form, F,
 
Michael Hingson ** 1:02:42
F A, M, I, L, E, A, D, consulting,
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 1:02:45
correct.com. Okay. And then the other way to reach me is through LinkedIn, search for Jesper mukundang, I absolutely enjoy conversations about leadership, personal growth, professional development. If you just want to have a conversation about those topics, I’m absolutely happy to have them. So feel free to reach out search on LinkedIn for Jessper Maquindang. Spell that, if you would your first last name, please. First Name Jasper, J, E, S, S, P, E, R, last name mccunding, M, A, Q, U, I N, D, A N, G, Jassper Maquindang, dang well,
 
Michael Hingson ** 1:03:20
great. Well, Jessper, this has been fun. We need to do it again. I mean, it’s kind of hard to really cover everything that we want to cover or can cover in an hour. So we should, we should have more discussions about this. I’d love to do that, but I really appreciate you taking the time to spend with us, and I hope all of you out there listening, enjoyed listening to Jessper and his many insights and his observations on leadership. I think there’s a lot to be said for all the things that Jessper had to bring to us. I’d love to hear from you about your thoughts concerning our podcast. Please feel free to email me. Michael. H, i, m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I, B, e.com, or go to our podcast page. There’s a contact form there as well. It’s w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, Michael hingson is m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, o, n.com/podcast, wherever you’re listening, we sure would appreciate it if you’d give us a five star rating. We value very much your ratings and your thoughts. Love to really get any insights that you have, and Jessper for you and for all of you listening, if you know of anyone that you think ought to be a good guest on unstoppable mindset, please introduce us. We’d love to meet more people to bring on to the podcast, because we want to help everyone see we all can be and are more unstoppable than we think we are. So again, I hope that you’ll do that. I really hope that you’ll reach out to Jessper and that he can help you with any leadership. Training and challenges that you need. So once again. Jessper, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely wonderful. Michael
 
Jessper Maquindang ** 1:05:07
leadership, is just a beautiful topic. I enjoyed today’s conversation. Thank you again for having me.
 
Michael Hingson ** 1:05:17
You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you’ll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you’re on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you’re there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.