The Place: Cherrywood Coffee

The Cup: Straight up coffee for both Tom and myself.

Background: Taking the gold medal for most strangers referred to the project…Cup 5, Steve Harper!  OK, there is no contest but if there were, Steve would be at the top of the podium and we’d be singing the Star Spangled Ripple. Steve sent an email introduction connecting Tom and I – suggesting we meet for coffee. You know I was game, and luckily, Tom is a very cool dude, and he was up for coffee with a stranger as well.

It turns out, I was lucky to meet up with him when I did, because Tom and his family are moving to Dallas very soon. After meeting him, I was so disappointed that we were losing such a great guy to Dallas, but when I learned he was currently commuting every week to Dallas and then returning To Austin on the weekends, I understood why it made better sense to move. Didn’t make me any less bummed out, though. Tom is not a stranger to moving or to new adventures. We’ll get to all that in just a bit, but first, let’s look at some:

Common Grounds

1. What is the best gift you ever got? A telescope that I’d wanted for a while.
   
2. What is your guilty pleasure? Watching sports.
3. How did you make your first buck? Mowing lawns.
4. Where is your favorite place to eat in Austin? Pappasito’s
5. If you could swap lives with a person for one day, who would you choose? Albert Einstein.
6. Who was the most influential person in your life? My father. His calmness, peace, happiness and wisdom. He never got flustered and was always happy. He never made much money, but he instilled a sense of curiosity in me. He grew up during the Great Depression and he didn’t even finish high school, but he always said things to me like, “When you got to college, you’ll be able to do…” Because of that, it never entered my mind that I wouldn’t go to college.
7. What is something you’ll regret not doing if you don’t do it? Starting my own venture. {Which he says he will do at some point in the next few years. And yes, he has a plan.}
8. What is a food you can’t live without? Sweets. {I tried to get specifics, but Tom told me he was agnostic on sweets.} Chocolate, lollipops, cakes, pies…
9. What is your favorite way to unwind? Spending time with my wife and daughter.

Tom grew up in a military family and lived on various Air Force bases throughout his childhood. Tom tells me that one of his early claims to fame was that he lived in eight states before he graduated from high school. Having spent my school years – including college – in the same town, the idea of moving frequently has always fascinated me. My home town, Grand Forks, ND, has an Air Force base 15 miles outside of town. In 9th grade, the kids from the base came into town and went to my junior high and then high school. Looking back, I am so grateful for the exposure to new people who “weren’t from here”.

As you might imagine, the Midwestern town I grew up in was pretty homogenous. I can remember someone from the Air Force base remarking about the people in Grand Forks, saying, “You all look the same.” At the time, I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. After college, I moved to Texas for an internship, which turned into a job, and then a marriage and a life. The first Christmas I flew back home, I got off the plane, looked around the airport and thought, “My God, we do all look the same.” The midwest is the land of blond-haired, light-eyed, round-faced people.

My friends from the Air Force base were varied in every way imaginable. There were different ethnicities, different religions (we had religious choice too; you could be Lutheran or you could be Catholic). My new friends had lived in cities not just all over the country, but all over the world. I remember everyone’s interest in a new boy who’s family had just moved from Turkey. His house looked like a museum, full of decor and memorabilia from exotic places. It was always so exciting when a new kid showed up at school – it meant new stories and a new outlook. I always wondered what it felt like being the new kid.

Tom knows exactly what it felt like. For him, sports was the key to making connections every new place he landed as he was able to use his athletic abilities to make new friends quickly in each new school. New was Tom’s norm. New schools, new teachers, new friends, new opportunities. This way of life didn’t stop after he graduated either. He went to college in Athens, Georgia, then moved to Ft. Worth, Phoenix, and finally to Atlanta, where he planted roots for 17 years while his daughter went through school. Once she left for college, off he went again, first to Las Vegas and eventually to Austin and as we know, soon he’s headed to Dallas.

In an interesting observation, Tom says his comfort with and expectation of constant change has proven to be both a help and a hindrance. Tom has built a career in the world of information technology – an industry that moves quickly with no sign of slowing. He’s found success by being nimble and anticipating change before it’s here. Also, he has learned to welcome change versus fearing it. The hindrance has been the fact that not everyone has a “Welcome” sign on the door when it comes to making change. As Tom says, “People say, ‘Change is great and it will be good for you.’ They aren’t as excited about it when it’s happening to them.”

Technology is certainly one of Tom’s passions, and he’s most interested in the intersection of technology and customer touch points and marketing. His career has been spent largely running technology for companies in the travel and hospitality industries – with companies like Delta Airlines, Caesar’s Palace and Holiday Inn, to name a few – and he’s always on the lookout for opportunities for innovation and disruption. When he first moved to Austin in 2010, he was curious about the social media trend that was gaining speed, and he knew he needed to learn all he could about this new media.

He did just that. He talked to people in Austin who were experts, he asked a lot of questions and he began using the tools himself so that he could best understand how to utilize them for innovation in his work. He tells me that the confusion he sees with social media and business is very similar to when the internet first came out and businesses didn’t know if they should let their employees access it. Or going back even further, he talks about when telephone first became popular and employers had to decide what access the employees would have to them. It seems a little absurd now, but I imagine one day we’ll look back and think that some of the policies corporations have about social media tools will seem ridiculous as well. I mean come on, who doesn’t get a boost of productivity after seeing the latest grumpy cat image?

Tom says, “When it comes to social media, companies can either get ahead of it, or they’ll find themselves chasing around trying to write policies and police what people are doing with it. Just like the internet, and telephones before that, the tools offer a way to streamline communication and offer a new way to build one-on-one relationships.”

There is no doubt that his vast technology and social media knowledge alongside his curiosity played a huge role in him landing his current gig – CIO of TopGolf. Having never golfed before, I had heard of TopGolf in passing, but wasn’t really sure what the place was all about. When I admitted to Tom that I wasn’t a golfer, he explained that a large percentage of their guests are just like me. So what is TopGolf? From the website: TopGolf is the premier golf entertainment complex where the competition of sport meets your favorite local hangout spot. I have to admit, golf has never really appealed to me, but I can definitely see myself getting a group of friends together for a night out at TopGolf. And if you find yourself in a city with no TopGolf nearby, chances are good you won’t have to wait long. The concept is so popular, they are experiencing tremendous growth and have fairly aggressive expansion plans.

How does Mr. Change feel about all this growth? “It’s exciting,” he tells me, “and we work very hard to maintain our unique culture as we grow.” With growth comes growing pains – as every business is painfully aware. Tom makes a point to get feedback from the people who know best – the team members working in the trenches. Each site has around 300 employees, only about 10% of which are in management. Tom walks around talking to the waiters and employees who interact with customers daily to get feedback and ideas on how to make the experience better for everyone. I don’t know about what it’s like where you work, but for me, the IT department has always been a closed door behind which could be hundreds of tiny elves for all I know. They keep to themselves and if you have to call for help with something, you’d better prepare yourself to be made to feel like a fool. And saying something like,”I just clicked on it because I wanted to get the $50 Red Lobster gift card I won.” will not help your cause. Tom’s brand of IT is all about innovative collaboration – a refreshing change from old school IT.

One area where “new” won’t necessarily impress Tom is in app design. He explains to anyone who does app design that the apps should not be too complicated and should be very user-friendly. Tom said, “I told them to pick up their iPhones and look at the apps they use most. People want to start from scratch when building a user interface. They just need to find apps they like, that work and that are easy to use and then build off of that.” He tells me about Yammer.com, which is essentially Facebook for use internally in a company. The beauty of it is that it looks very similar to Facebook. People understand Facebook, so adoption was easy. I guess it goes back to what he pointed out earlier on – that people aren’t fans of change. We like things that are familiar. So it makes sense to apply this thinking when looking at technology.

Innovation, in and of itself, does not equate to new. Tom makes this point even clearer by using Steve Jobs and Apple as an example. Tom says, “In 2007 when Steve Jobs presented the iPhone, there wasn’t anything new about it. The technology was not new. He just pulled it all together into one device.” That’s a simplified version of the story, or course, but I have to agree, he’s got a point.

I ask Tom about a book that had an impact on him and he names two. The first, The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck, is a book he read quite a while back. The book infamously starts with the line, “Life is difficult.” Throughout the book, Peck argues that life was never meant to be easy, and is essentially a series of problems which can either be solved or ignored. The second book was one he read more recently, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. Both are books I am familiar with, and know the premise of, but neither of which I’ve actually read cover to cover. I recently came across this quote from the teaching of Paramahansa Yogananda and I find it’s message to be powerful. 

Change your thoughts if you wish to change your circumstances. Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them. You will want to change them when you realize that each thought creates according to its own nature. Remember that the law works at all times and that you are always demonstrating according to the kind of thoughts you habitually entertain. Therefore, start now to think only those thoughts that will bring you health and happiness.  ~Paramahansa Yogananda

What is the first thing Tom does every day? “I say ‘thank you’ – because I woke up and get to enjoy another day.” As far as a daily practice that he feels contributes to his overall success, he names his meditation practice as the thing that grounds him. For Tom, the practice starts with a few minutes of stretching, followed by 15-20 minutes of quiet. He’s been at it – off and on – for the last 15 years or so. I am always so impressed by people who engage in this practice. I have tried countless times to get into the habit and have not been successful. But I may let Tom serve as my inspiration. He tells me it’s had a profound impact on his overall well-being and has led to a better sense of calm, acceptance and an openness to others’ situations. Sounds like it’s worth the struggle.

What would Tom change about himself if given the chance? “My impatience.” I ask him if this is something he’s working on or just something he accepts about himself and he says, “I accept it, I recognize it and I try to modify it.”

The best mistake Tom ever made was taking a new job for the wrong reasons – money. He says, “Making 50% more money, but being miserable is not a good trade-off.”

The best piece of advice Tom ever got was, “Be kind,” to which he adds, “Being nice never cost you anything.”

The thing Tom is looking forward to most is spending time with the people who matter most to him. Relationships are top priority for Tom. In fact, when I ask him what his greatest achievement in life thus far is, he tells me that he has five really close friends that he’s stayed close with over many years – through good times and bad. Tom says these are the kind of guys who he’d drop everything for if they called and needed help, and they’d do the same for him. If I could count family, I would come up with five. But to be honest, if family were excluded, I might fall short. I’ve got to work on that.

What would Tom say if given 30 seconds to make a speech to the world? “It’s not about you. It’s about the relationships that you have and the ways you can help other people. Through being kind and being nice, you’ll get that returned to you tenfold.” I ask if he’s found that to be true in his life and he said, “Absolutely.”

Change is good. New isn’t always better. Spend time alone, in silence and get comfortable with that person. Make people your top priority and if you can’t think of five people you’d drop everything for and who’d do the same for you, it might be time to invest in your relationships. Kindness isn’t always the easiest choice, but it’s always the right one. These are a few insights and reminders Tom shared in our hour together and I walked away not only happy to have met him, but inspired to make a few changes in my life going forward. I hope his story leaves you inspired as well.

To learn more about Tom, connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.

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