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You're Allowed* with Rachael Barclay explores uncomplicating access to the dreams they never told you that you could have.
Rachael Barclay (00:12)
this is my inaugural podcast, You're Allowed, and you are my very first guest, which is so exciting and an obvious choice in my opinion. so first of all, let's go over how you'd like to be introduced as if I didn't know, but how would you today like to be introduced, Jessie?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (00:18)
I love it, I love it.
Jesse
Rose Jr.
Rachael Barclay (00:31)
Don't forget the junior, right?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (00:33)
Yeah.
Rachael Barclay (00:35)
And, okay, so we're going to do a couple of quickfire questions, ⁓ just to get it started. So what is the last book that you couldn't put down?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (00:39)
Let's do it.
Ugh, the last book that Kitten put down. Oh, it's a really good one. I forgot to name the title. It was, man, I'm telling you in a couple of seconds. up. I highly recommend this book. It was so great. It's like easy to read. It's called, here you go, Chop Wood, Carrie Water. Chop Wood, Carrie Water. That book by Joshua McCann is really good.
Rachael Barclay (00:56)
Yeah!
Eww.
Are
you an audible book person or are you a physical book?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (01:16)
both so
but in fact so for me i like to have the physical book and hear the audio at the same time i retain way more and it keeps me on pace and what i love is i can put at speed 1.25 or 1.5 so as you know rachel i love to hear as fast as i speak
Rachael Barclay (01:39)
Mm-hmm, which is pretty fast.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (01:42)
Yeah.
Rachael Barclay (01:42)
All right, ⁓
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (01:42)
Someone's slow-mo
podcast.
Rachael Barclay (01:46)
All right,
what is your go-to order when you're celebrating something?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (01:50)
my go-to order where I'm celebrating. But if I'm in the mood for meat, it's definitely a nice juicy fancy hamburger. Not those you get from like the, you know, grocery shops. Nothing against In-N-Out. I love y'all too. But give me a nice juicy $30 burger so I don't eat it too often.
Rachael Barclay (02:12)
Yeah, I love a good burger too.
And then the last one we'll do today, something people would be surprised to know about you.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (02:21)
Sometimes, I'm always surprised people forget that. But it ain't a surprise, I don't know. I'm always surprised folks forget that I have a daddy's eye. But I have two grown adult children, so they think I'm just single and running around, but I have love.
being a dad and being a dad to adults is different. And so I reflect that to my children when they're younger, I get usually emotional just the ties to it. so folks, that's what it is. See the emotional side, Jesse may not always be the thing that folks see.
Rachael Barclay (02:53)
I love that. All right. And this is how we we open every episode of You're Allowed. What is the most crazy, ridiculous thing that anybody ever told you that you weren't allowed to do?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (03:05)
I don't know if people told me much that could not do. I'm just thinking. I probably ignored them too, being the eldest child, but someone told me I could not do. Oh, perfect. Be a writer or author. They say, Jesse, you can't write. Now I wrote a book and I speak everywhere. Go figure.
I guess that was my motivation. me I couldn't write a second. Then I go write a book.
Rachael Barclay (03:33)
Right. Yeah,
so somewhere along the way, someone decided what you were allowed to want. And this, that's what this show is about is undoing that. And I'm Rachel Barclay and this is You're Allowed.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (03:44)
Mmm.
Rachael Barclay (03:46)
So, Jesse, take me back to before all of this, before Deloitte, before Amazon, before EY, that's what they call it now, EY. You can't get caught with Princeton Young, right? And we're both from Philly, so I know what the city does to you. What did Allowed look like growing up there?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (03:57)
Yeah
Man, growing up in Philadelphia, my house was right in the middle of the block. called them row homes, row houses back then, right? And it was like town homes. We didn't call it town homes back then. And so my house was right in the middle. And so I felt this responsibility to bring the crowd together, right? The friends in the neighborhood, the people around me.
And so I felt early on that I had to be outside and present. This is before social media. So you went outside and play, right? And every time I went outside and played, they say, where's Jesse? So I felt this obligation to not just go out for myself, but to go out for others. Since I was a kid, should have been forever, you know, playing basketball back in the house to in the front of the house. Now, it's so funny. The friend group in the back house was different than a friend group
in
the front of the They would think with the front of house connected to my house, had two streets that ran into my house.
Rachael Barclay (04:59)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (05:07)
We were on one side and it was two streets, one way she's coming this way in. So I have friends from different streets that will come from those two blocks that are here. But they wouldn't venture around the other side because the parents, got to see an eye view of the mom and parents, right? So that was their corner. The other side was to get a backyard with a driveway. And that other side back to another street of Roll Homes. And that's where my best friend Jamal, I him to life.
Rachael Barclay (05:15)
Thank you.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (05:36)
lives at and William and I would play suits together. We still were friends ever since, we were friends for 40 plus years. And so we would play back there on that street. And so the reality of I had dual responsibility growing up to entertain and be part of two different communities, even though it was on a different perspective of my home.
Rachael Barclay (05:48)
Mm-hmm.
Thank
Yeah. So you grew up in Germantown, right? And then you wind up, know, skip forward a little bit, but you wind up in these big rooms with these accomplished people, right? When's the first time along the way from growing up on the block that you walked in and you said, you know, this room wasn't built for me.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (06:21)
Oh, every room being a first to go to college, you know, being an eldest. I love my mom. She's always put me on the pedestal and I never felt like I could live up to those standards. And she owned it well. And so I always felt like I wasn't meant to be in that room. Right. I always felt this need to continue to do more to this day. I'm still that way. I'm always pushing myself harder and harder and harder and And
But the difference now I realize how to balance it to take a break and know to be going on a team and to balance things. But the urge is still present. It doesn't go away. And so growing up, the first to go to college came as a result of conflict. First got into a big fight in high school.
And as a result, my teacher said, progress, thankfully in the right direction. And my teacher said, no, you're pretty smart. You should go to college. about Drexel University? And so I did Drexel. Did not feel I should be in that space. It was a very different space, different community. I had to deal with different situations that I didn't used to deal with. grow up in an all-black neighborhood and then all of now I went to school, it was always diverse, but my neighborhood was all black. then all of sudden, I go,
Rachael Barclay (07:34)
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (07:37)
I'm living on campus and doing that perspective. But wasn't really into, I had a job offer or job interview with Deloitte where my mentor friend, family, Hassett, said to me in an interview, hey, you're smart, I see your GPA, you do a lot for your community on different organizations, we want you here. And just to hear those words that you belong,
want you here, you have the talent really shaped my mindset at the age of what 19, not 19, 21 to be going to one of the largest accounting firms. You know, it's still one of the largest accounting firms. And for her to say, we want you here, you got the brilliance, got the academia and you have the being a board chair. was president of one of my nonprofits called NABBA, which back then was called National Association
Rachael Barclay (08:14)
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (08:37)
of Black Accountants and she really took pride in that. So go figure Rachel, I'm still doing the same work 20, 30 years later.
Rachael Barclay (08:42)
Yeah.
Yeah, you're calling sometimes as they say, to have somebody acknowledge that they see something in you is great. But when you're in those rooms, what did you do when you felt like you didn't belong? And there's no right or wrong answer. Did you shrink or did you take up space?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (08:50)
Yeah.
⁓ man, I should go space. That's something I'm used to. So you go small and go home, right? And so for me and Philadelphia school, yeah, I was always this kid in between, right? I wasn't a cool kid, but I wasn't a dork eater, right? So was in this middle area and I have friends on the cool side. I have friends on the dorky side. I won't name either who they are. ⁓
Rachael Barclay (09:29)
Hahaha!
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (09:32)
And but it allowed me to navigate the integrator right of different worlds similar to my name of my street. So I went to Deloitte same thing. I had some colleagues that joined me at the same time. It felt familiar. My friend Will and my friend Reese and they felt it felt familiar to join with those two brothers and come into Deloitte. And so I had a sense of community and Reese still for instance I lost track of Will now and he reached out to him. Will if you listening love you bro.
Rachael Barclay (09:36)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (10:02)
not sure where you at in the world, but I'll look out for you. And Reece, my man, still close friends, little bad guy, used to partner at Deloitte. He never left Deloitte. He grew up there, stayed there, and then doing amazing things in that place. But that was my community. So that was one. Then two, having Debbie Hassen telling me at my interview, then found out she was an office partner, she was a partner from the department, a partner.
for the department gave me confidence that I was in the right place. And then my ⁓ close mentor, Frank Padovano.
He, himself, was also instrumental in just being that shepherd to making sure that I found my way around. So I am grateful that my first corporate career job was guided by some amazing humans. That each of them, Frank, Debbie Hassen, Reese Blair, all of them are still present in my life 30 years later.
Rachael Barclay (11:03)
amazing. Your network is your net worth, right? When we're recording this, we're on the other side of your corporate career.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (11:06)
Yes.
Rachael Barclay (11:15)
Yeah. So now we can get the real non-media trained corporate answers, which we love. ⁓ To a point, to a point. We'll keep it cute. ⁓ yeah, we love you. We thank you for the training ground. So you've been in executive rooms, some of the biggest companies in the world. When you were there,
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (11:17)
Thank
Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!
I still want these corporations. Just a 1099 vs a W-2.
Yeah.
Rachael Barclay (11:42)
What did being in those rooms feel like if and when you were the only person in the room that looked like
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (11:47)
Man, big sense of responsibility.
Didn't like being the one in the room. And I understood the responsibility of being the only one in the room. And I felt, hey, how do I open doors for others that look like myself? Now I mean just black and male. I'm talking about women of all races, all ethnic backgrounds. Everyone is not a white male, right? And so I saw that.
Rachael Barclay (12:04)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Thank
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (12:13)
responsibility, even our LGBTQ community as well, as saw in disability community military list continues, have always felt this responsibility to.
represent and be that advocate. Not the voice of. That's a lot of weight there. I always say this is the voice of Jesse Rose Jr., you know, but the responsibility to open, not only open the door, take the dangling door off the hinges. Because I'm grateful that people told me, right, to come in the door, and I know the door can be closed. And I've seen that door closed for people.
Rachael Barclay (12:31)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (12:53)
And throughout my career, I've saw moments where being in that room, I may have missed opportunities myself to seize the moment because I couldn't see the lens of the other person. Like, ah, even more irresponsible to make sure others in the room. So I became an immediate advocate of how do I get other folks in the room and lift them not just to where I'm at, but above me, right, and beyond.
Rachael Barclay (13:04)
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (13:20)
Good, so that one day I'm gonna need them. And it's so true. Now that I'm in the space of office speaker coach, guess what I'm calling? I'm calling my mentees. Hey, you need someone to come and speak? So I knew this will also come to a day where those same folks that have the power to grow and prosper, I too will need them for myself to grow and prosper. And I love that energy flow.
Rachael Barclay (13:24)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So at any point, and you don't have to single any of them out, but at any point at any of these companies, was there a moment where you felt like leaving? Where the cost of staying outweighed the cost of leaving?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (13:58)
Yes.
Rachael Barclay (13:59)
If these eyes could talk.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (14:00)
Yes, and I say yes, and I hold the responsibility of it, right? Why I tell people in corporate America, think about it this way, it's a dual contract. Being that you have skills and services you can bring to the company that they value. Awesome. Also, for yourself, it's an opportunity for you to gain skills and growth in that same area.
Rachael Barclay (14:24)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (14:25)
And I have this mind, I got this from an old recruit years ago. He always kind of had me go down this rubric and says,
Number one, I might be out of order. So sorry if you hear me quoting this, but do you have a community, right? You have sponsors and advocates, mentors look out for you. Okay, great, move to the next thing. Are you gonna learn something? Are you gonna grow in this role? Okay, great, move something, right? And then compensation comes last, right? Important, last are the big ones. But the sense of
Rachael Barclay (14:41)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (15:03)
Growth?
And they ensure you have advocates and allies around you are the most two critical things. Money becomes second or third because you can't be happy if you feel that you're being isolated, that your voice is not valued. You're not seen or respected. Right. Then why are you there? Right. For me, I've been blessed. Like I'll say Deloitte by far my number one company. Yes, I said it on tape. I love you too. Sorry.
Rachael Barclay (15:23)
Right.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (15:34)
Number one, Deloitte. Why? I started at Deloitte. Five years, then came back to another five years. That's a critical component of my career. And they gave me the ability to build family. I still have family level friends from Deloitte. My friend Shepa Pai Ivanik. Been friends with her for probably 25 years. That's family. Her baby's in my family. It's family. She was here in Seattle too. We met originally in Philadelphia. And so I share to say, they gave me
Rachael Barclay (15:46)
and
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (16:04)
access to to be my full authentic self. I love working with colleges and universities. Deloitte gave me that path to work with those kids at the university that built lifelong mentorships with them. When I worked for companies that didn't align my personal values, a lot of times I was at the company level, probably more at the manager level, right? They always say you don't leave a company, you leave your manager. So I definitely left a few managers, Rachel.
Rachael Barclay (16:15)
This is.
.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (16:34)
and I'm happy. Somewhere I should have left sooner, I'll leave it at that. But leaving them andriven could stifle my growth and I'm bigger than that. I'm bigger than them.
Rachael Barclay (16:34)
Yeah.
Ha
Thank you.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (16:44)
I'm not saying it from an egotistic way. I mean, I'm bigger in my space of knowing I'm to create in the world. If you can't be valued here, great, thank you, I love you, appreciate you, see you later. Nothing, no hard feelings. You just crowd in my growth space to make impact in the world. And so for me, I'm grateful to understand that early in my career, I've been punching, bruising, stabbing the back, you name it. That stuff is normal corporate America. That didn't bug me. What bug me more so was that you try
Rachael Barclay (17:00)
and
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (17:13)
and limit my growth and my impact to others. Now we got problem, you know, and so for me that was like, see you later.
Rachael Barclay (17:16)
anything. Yeah.
Yeah, I noticed that, and I'm not sure if you were aware, but you changed the word to manager instead of leader for those specific people. Yeah, yeah. And tell me a little about that. Yeah, right. ⁓
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (17:30)
Crap, crap. That's what you get for that. Yeah, you Cause
sometimes, man, they get in their own way, they think they gotta prove something. And the manager is the opposite, the leader is the opposite. Get the heck out of the way, let them evolve and grow to something.
Rachael Barclay (17:41)
Wait.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (17:47)
I don't need you to prove anything. don't even, right? For me, let's work collaborative. Let's see how we're gonna make it successful. Give me a clarity on your vision and your intention. And then if my team or myself is presenting a possibility, look at it, process it, give perspective, enhance it. That's a leader, right? A leader is comfortable not knowing everything. I don't wanna know everything. No.
Rachael Barclay (17:47)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Thank
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (18:15)
But clarifying where we want to go, the what and the why and the how, I'll lead to the team. And so you get those managers that want to micromanage you and want to, they have their own inferior complex and they start to project that on you or they're going through a tough cycle at work and then fear kicks in and now their fear is very present and they trust less and start to shut out the very people that got their back.
You're not an effective manager. And I think a lot of times in current corporations, we forget the value of training. We just put these folks into companies that come in from the previous companies and expect them to just go and run.
Rachael Barclay (18:42)
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (18:54)
And I always say, I'm blessed to grow up in the days of Deloitte and Ernst & Young, and even Walmart too had a really good training program to really build up their leadership team. And so, yeah, you got to have natural born skills, got it, but you also need to learn some fundamentals to keep your pencil sharp.
And it's a lot of times a lot of managers, they just sit in there going off of their own old tapes and not see where they're at a problem. A lot of times when Purpley's hiring me to do work around trust, clarity, and commitment, they often don't realize they are the one that's causing the conflict in the team. And so part of the work I do is, I'm saying to what? I'm saying to why?
Rachael Barclay (19:20)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
⁓ yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (19:41)
and I work with you on how to get to yes. And then for that, I say, okay, and then when I'm looking at a situation with the team, the dynamics and so forth, I have individual sessions with the management team of what's coming up. And sometimes that is with them.
Rachael Barclay (19:44)
Mm-hmm.
Do you think there's any correlation between, you know, it used to be in corporate America and everywhere that you stayed at your job with your career for 10, 20, 30 years. And there's, what's your, what are your thoughts on the gap now in training because, you know, it used to be trained and then you could count that on that person to stay with you for decades.
And that's changed, right? With the younger demographic, are you seeing that a lot in the work that you're doing? You know, I know you were at Drexel and you were professor at UW. What do they say? Goku, what is it? Huskies? Huskies. Closet, closet. Yeah, yeah. What are you seeing there? Is there...
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (20:30)
Yo, Husky. Husky! ⁓ you almost did! Yo, Husky!
Rachael Barclay (20:45)
That's because that's just my supposition. But are you seeing that gap in that? Does that sort of explain what's going on?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (20:48)
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a big gap and growing gap because that's the face of the big boomers don't wanna let go, right? I love y'all, but your time is up, right? And so, I got a lot of mentors in that department. I'm just kidding, kinda, not really. And what happens is big disconnect between the current Gen Zs, right, Millennials. And they actually...
Rachael Barclay (21:00)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (21:19)
Don't wanna have the patience to understand and learn them. Now I love that generation because they are vibrant. They're the generation that came up on computers, came up on dot com.
Rachael Barclay (21:28)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (21:30)
They came up on expansive possibilities and innovative, right? Also, in some cases, stuck and they think that everything is down, instant, right? I don't need training to get this balance, you have to work with them, but they're hungry. They don't want to go look for YouTube shorts and look at TikToks to get information. So how we train, coach and develop that group should feel different. Short fights, content, I can pull up and learn from.
⁓
and have a situational. So I love Amazon. We were doing some cool work around that area. They had like little short clips around leadership and so forth around diversity, equity, inclusion.
and beyond, was short little segments that people pick up. It was high adoption rate. I wasn't surprised. So I say on this day, because the younger generation don't feel supported generally by the corporate structure, they're less inclined to go there.
Rachael Barclay (22:19)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (22:31)
Including college universities. It's a bigger traffic dropping 30 % drop in enrollment of going to colleges. Why go to college? I got access to information right now within 30,000 year for it, and I still think college has a valuable Network benefit to it you at a university. I'm still connected my direction university They all doing great work executives I can easily attached to because of my association affiliation to Drexel and not just my year, but the years before and
Rachael Barclay (22:31)
Right.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (23:00)
after me that affiliation you really can't get by looking at YouTube clips right so I think it's the right there however that's the tug-of-pull between the older generation keep it the way we know it right we're trying to hold on to it desperately aggressively and younger generation saying no I go be an influencer I could go travel the world I can
Rachael Barclay (23:06)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (23:24)
and not have to go up the corporate ladder from staff to senior to manager to senior manager to director to director to senior director to blah blah blah blah blah blah. Now I'm 50 years old, I'm fine getting to where want to be. No, I don't want that life. I could be a director today at 23, 24, 25. And that's the dynamic we have to learn how to shift our model in order to adopt that brilliant talent. So we're in that crawl, bro.
Rachael Barclay (23:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, yes. Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (23:48)
And then you throw AI in there, right? Now you tell me even more reason why you don't need me, right? You automate my role. So I'm gonna go elsewhere, you know, and do stuff. So we had this cross role where.
Rachael Barclay (23:50)
Please.
Right? Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (24:01)
Trust between our younger generation is broken from the older generation. I'm grateful because I'm a dad. have children in those generations too. And just I love for human. I'm still a managed to stay connected to the younger generation. And that's my bridge to work between both. So that's why I do lot of my work. Let me help bridge the gap between the baby boomers and senior leadership to the workforce that you need, the human intelligence that's below.
to make sure you get to where you want to get to. The next enzyme is going to come from someone that gets that model and not you.
Rachael Barclay (24:38)
Mm hmm.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think I think that it's really important to note that you serve as a bridge, right? Because I think people know you as a speaker and you're on a board and and you certainly very accomplished. But I, you know, from my personal interactions with you over the years, you have this natural ability to connect people and it's less about what you have to say. It's more about getting
the two, three, four, five, you know, a boardroom full of 20 people to hear each other. And I think that you do a lot of that with humor and your smile. And so I just want to call that out because, yeah, because, you know, I think there's a lot of misconceptions about people who who speak and who are an author, right? I think I think people assume you're speaking at them when really you're trying to bring out the truth in others, right? You're the mirror.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (25:12)
Yes!
Thank you. Thank you.
Rachael Barclay (25:35)
and you bring forth the opportunity. And so I just wanted to call that out. ⁓
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (25:39)
Thank you. No, it's so
cool Rachel. Our mutual friend, Sanji, if he's listening when you watch this is I think it's so cool when I get invited and look forward to come part of Young Professional Network. That is such an honor and it's genuine. literally I get text messages from different folks. Will you be there? Will you be at the Young Professional Network? And when you hear that,
Rachael Barclay (25:52)
There we go.
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (26:05)
I'm not in the category of Young Professional Network, but I'm in the category of Young Professional Network. So for me, it's an honor that they asked and I hold high regard and high respect because I know that I'm doing something that's keeping that community active in the lot. I see them, I love them, I value them, I appreciate them, and to your point, I just mirror their brilliance that they bring out naturally.
Rachael Barclay (26:11)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, are, first of all, I just like on the record, I don't believe there is a cutoff for young professional network. And if there is, I reject.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (26:39)
you ⁓
Rachael Barclay (26:43)
And I will be a young professional until further notice. So a lot of people know that you've written your first book of many. So I want to talk about Leadership Unlocked with a very simple starter. What was unlocked?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (26:48)
Yeah, I love it!
Woo! Giveaway, giveaway. If a hole is a seed, go and look on Amazon. Look up Jesse Rose Jr. On the cover, you see a heart. So what's locked is that gate, that invisible gate barrier that's in front of your heart, locked. Now, in order to be as powerful as you can be, you have to literally unlock.
and let that heart do the work it's designed to do. And so for me, what's locked is the heart within your leadership work. Lead from within, and that's the heart. You start here first. You have endless possibilities. So the more you do your inner work, such as addressing fear, such as practicing gratitude.
Rachael Barclay (27:50)
and
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (27:53)
such as patience, persistence, work with people.
being present, establishing boundaries. Those inner works you do, so in a point of challenge, on a point of conflict, or at a point of working with others, you stay centered. Because when you do your inner work, which by the way, never ends into your no longer here, right? You don't arrive here, you don't arrive, you evolve, you don't arrive. When you're doing your inner work, then you can really connect with others about, hey, I hear you.
not listening to the respite or defend because I got anxiety energy or because I feel less than or I want to be, no, I'm present to what you're sharing. I'm listening to disconfirm my own beliefs. I'm listening to have clarity of what you're sharing. When you say you're moving that glass, what direction, how, when, why, right? Then only then I could align.
and move progressive forward and inspire you and others. So for me, I feel often in the space of leadership, we forget our humanity part of leadership. We're not robots. We are humans. We do human things. And our human things left unresolved.
Rachael Barclay (29:05)
Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (29:12)
is our own blockers of our leadership success. That is what I've been able to see in my career of 20 plus years of myself included where I got in my own way on my success as a leader. Because I didn't do as I work and I didn't do internally. And a lot of times, I remember when was at Deloitte, I had a partner that was going through divorce and he was sharing with everyone. Nothing wrong with that.
Rachael Barclay (29:16)
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (29:39)
What was happening was impacting his work as well. He couldn't separate the two. And I get that, so someone had been divorced as well. So he ended up getting let go. That stuck with me. So I was at Walmart, and I was going through my divorce. I said, I'm not telling no one anything. Now that was because what I saw and perceived to be was he shared with other folks he was going through divorce. And as a result of that...
Rachael Barclay (29:42)
Mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (30:05)
As a result of that, he decided to get let go. So I did it at Walmart. I said, I'm going tell two people. I'm going to tell my reporting manager and my skip that I'm going to divorce. And I asked them both to keep it private, right? Don't share it. But guess what, Rachel, what I did, though? It eroded my integrity because people would say, oh, you're here at Walmart. When's your wife and kids coming?
Rachael Barclay (30:24)
Yes.
Hmm. Hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (30:35)
They're not here. I kept like having to lie, right? Let's be real, right? So now my team is not really clear on how well time's going by and here I am, moved to Arkansas, but my family is not here. Then fast forward, I was there for a year and half, two years, and I never came complete. Even when I got divorced and was finalized, I never actually closed that gap.
Rachael Barclay (30:35)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (31:02)
It wasn't two years later, I was in a conversation with one of my friends that work at Amazon now. She is also a vice president at Walmart. And she said to me, oh, you were going to divorce. That explains a lot. I what do you mean? Well, people weren't really trusting you because you say your family was coming. Here we are in audit and they never came. And I think you just out there dance around with people. And I was like, oh.
Rachael Barclay (31:25)
Mm.
Mmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (31:31)
You think people you think you're hiding things from people but in your energy field says everything so my me be out of integrity on with my community around me about what I was going through block them from pouring into me which created a wall of separation between them my team didn't feel connected to me as much because I didn't let them in on a personal side of my life
So big learning for me as a leader of how you show up anywhere is how you show up anywhere.
And by me not being transparent in my healing journey, it took me that much longer to heal from my divorce. I didn't really heal from my divorce until I was here in Seattle and that was years later. went from Walmart to Target, from Target to Amazigh. I okay, enough is enough. I need to heal here. I need to dive into my healing work because it's following me.
Rachael Barclay (32:09)
you
Hmm.
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (32:26)
And following me and finally here in Seattle, I was able to heal and meet the right people. My friend, Veronica Berry, I give her a lot of credit to help me on my healing journey and make that transition.
Rachael Barclay (32:33)
Mm.
So in many ways, leadership unlocked is a key for people.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (32:45)
Ooooo
Rachael Barclay (32:48)
And what inspired you to write? Is it because you unlocked something in you and you wanted to share that? is it, because it's a frame, having read it, it's a framework, it's inspirational, it's, in a lot of ways it's very vulnerable. And so what sort of inspired you to finally put pen to paper and write it?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (33:11)
Yeah, well, my friend, Kaplan, which is also one of the contributors, gave me no choice. I mean, he didn't follow me since Deloitte, right? So he's worked at Deloitte too. And he wrote a book about the 10 K's of personal branding. And was really well, of course, me being an advocate, I got him into all my clients. So I got him to AstraZeneca. He resented to Lauren's rooms.
Rachael Barclay (33:18)
Hahaha!
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (33:39)
and got so both why I stood at Deloitte and he's always thankful for that is that you just you didn't have to do that but you always did it and my partner Debbie Hassett also is a big fan of him and so we really helped him promote his book and champion his book within Deloitte that's why love Deloitte because Deloitte was really strong they tried to take his book they supported him in that progress fast forward he said Jesse you inspire so many people myself included you need to write a book yeah yeah whatever
Rachael Barclay (34:01)
Mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (34:08)
ever kept and fast forward right I left Deloitte went to Walmart he said to me again then while I was here in Seattle we're at Columbia Tower Club and we were chatting he said no he put me to the side he was here visiting working with Boeing and also a contract with Microsoft and he said we gotta talk what he said no I'm serious you need to write a book I was like
Rachael Barclay (34:09)
You
Hahaha!
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (34:36)
Yeah,
why are you so, he said, your message should not just stay with you. That's not that you have to let your message get out behind you. And that's when it clicked. said, okay, fine, maybe. Right, so I went from like what note to fine maybe. Fast forward, I'm on the mountain top with Ryan Convary and some of the powerful individuals. ⁓ Philip Sharp, also another contributing author in the book. And he said to me,
Rachael Barclay (34:50)
Hahaha!
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (35:04)
I said, I've been told I should write a book. And what he did was, I have a publisher for you. So now he made it real. So if he was lives, when folks are aspiring, if you have an opportunity to hold a mechanical and elevate that, the actualization is that much greater. And so he did that for me.
Rachael Barclay (35:11)
Mm-mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (35:25)
So I reached out to Chris Vega and Chris Vega said, Chris, I heard about you from Philip Sharp. Chris said, I heard you would be calling me soon. said, OK. So he really did follow through, made a connection, and held me accountable.
Rachael Barclay (35:36)
Yeah
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (35:40)
And Chris asked me, hey, no, you a writer? I said, no, I'm not writer. They were like, OK, do you speak a lot? I said, yeah, I do presentations. Yeah, I speak on platforms. Yes, I'm on panels. I've done it. They were like, OK, well, how long you been doing this? I said, well, I've been doing this for 20 plus years. And then they were like, well, you've been writing your book for 20 plus years. And I was like, wow, got it. And as a result of that, Chris.
Rachael Barclay (35:40)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (36:09)
Because also, not only my publisher, but also a contributing author in my book as well. Because what I wanted in the book was saying folks that inspire me was a gift to have them share their story to inspire others. And so having...
the know, Kevin O'Bray, Philip Sharp, Chris Biggett, Erica Braugh, Stephanie Ball, as part of the project, it became large and to me of how each of us dealt with conflicts, movements, changes in our world.
and able to share our testimonies to inspire others to hear and learn from our stories to your story marriage too. So that's what inspired the book. What I did not expect though, Rachel, was as a result of the book, it helped crystallize my message, my purpose. No, no. And so doing the book as an outcome allowed me to find my center on my why.
Rachael Barclay (37:02)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (37:13)
So that's the part I did not expect to write in the book.
Rachael Barclay (37:17)
Yeah, I think and so what I find really fascinating too is that, you know, you're with Amazon, Deloitte, EY, Walmart, and then something seems like it just changed all of a sudden. Do you think that was the healing? Because a lot of people don't know. Or maybe everybody. I don't think everybody knows that you had a restaurant. Coco, right? Right. And did you ever think growing up in Philly that you'd be a restaurant owner?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (37:38)
Yeah, correct! Correct!
never! I wanna be a architect!
Rachael Barclay (37:47)
So you're teaching and you're speaking and then you're running a restaurant and that's completely different kind of room. So was there just one moment that shifted all of it or explain that, talk about that a little bit.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (37:47)
No, that's so funny.
Yeah,
yeah, the biggest moment is the realization that us as humans, have limitless possibilities. And so when I start to really embrace that I can do anything that put my mind to, now I have to admit,
Rachael Barclay (38:20)
Mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (38:23)
Going to school for accounting does help a lot. Because when you go to school for accounting, you understand the rhythm of money. You understand how businesses work.
And I was working at Deloitte, I got a chance to play around different industries, restaurants included. And I got a chance to see things in life science, see things in pharmaceutical, see things in manufacturing, got a chance to walk the plant, see the whole work in process, inventory management, doing my training in SAP, which is a pretty powerful enterprise resource planning platform that literally capsulates the entire company on a system level. That really helped my mind.
from a structure standpoint, know how to run a business, right? At least seeing how business run. So I would say that part because when I was presented the opportunity, I like to do this. So it wasn't like just doing it, but it was also the trade of the past and it was transferable skills. And for me, the restaurant was never for me. was for me, it was meant to be my son's college, right? And my daughter was entering into her college.
Rachael Barclay (39:18)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (39:31)
And he was heavily involved. He still is in the food industry. So I an assumption, ⁓ well, I can buy a business that then become the family business that he can run. Great. Now I did tell him no pressure because you may not like this. And he tried it. He didn't like it. And guess what? It was OK. Yes, I lost a lot of money in that deal. However.
I built a stronghold to show my son that it's priceless. So I look at the loan that I still have for that business, I think about my son. And equivalent is like the loan we have for colleges. And so it's a beauty. And guess what? That chapter is not closed. So why I was able to sell the physical restaurant and all the physical equipment, I was able to keep the brand.
Rachael Barclay (39:56)
Thank
Absolutely.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (40:20)
So already it was sell my equipment and my lease obligation.
Rachael Barclay (40:20)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (40:25)
and was able to keep the goodwill. And say that, the 2.0 is coming. And so for me, it's the evolution of that POCO, which stands for Purposeful, Organic, Captivated, Optimistic. That's the experience, right? That's the mechanism. And so for me, that lives beyond the walls of 1408 Pine Street, Seattle, Washington. So I'm grateful that that can now be a global, purposeful, organic, captivated,
experience.
Rachael Barclay (40:55)
I never got to go to Poco because I wasn't yet in Seattle. I think I might've been in California when that happened. So before we switch gears to how people can do what you've done and what you're doing, what was your favorite dish at Poco?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (41:04)
Yeah.
Ah, of course the mac and cheese. And yes, I kept all the recipes. I have the recipe, brand, the trademark, you name it. So Pogo 2.0, the mac and cheese will be back. That'd be one of the things. Very delicious. Can't say the healthiest, but delicious.
Rachael Barclay (41:17)
AHAHA
Mmm.
Yeah,
it's all it's all a moderation, right? So in your book, you have the five P's, right? Patience, purpose, tell me if I get them wrong. Patience, purpose, people, presence and persistence.
Yeah. So for somebody who is in their corporate job and they want to grow, what's the first thing that they should actually do? And, and not the HR thing, right?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (41:53)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah,
correct. So you're bringing in your career. And I'm going use a term that's been brainwashed me from Amazon. But really learn and be curious. Listen, when you're young in your career,
It's the best time to ask a thousand and one questions. There's no judgment. There's expectations for you to ask questions anyway. That age, that time you started out. So just be that sponge and record it. Keep it. Now you got technology like, you know, such as claw and things you can use to capture your notes and or just your Apple phone notes, whatever. but just learn to be curious. Ask a ton of questions. Number two.
Rachael Barclay (42:17)
Thank you.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (42:36)
Build your community. So you're in that place. had one of my good friends at Amazon that actually was part of the team that built AWS.
said to me when he started at Amazon, he made a point to not repeat a lunch with the same person for the first year of his job. He wanted to all these folks. So he was meeting folks in different, in his department first, they crossed departments. And he said, I could continue my journey. What I was doing was also see where and how I could add to them. Because if you add value, then you're more present to the conversation. So you learn about their department and you
He's
saying, well, here's what I'm gonna do as an engineer. He said, here's what I do. I can help build this for you. And like, oh, okay. that sense of giving and support, he was doing it. That really anchored him in. So for y'all starting out, ask tons of questions and meet a ton of people.
Rachael Barclay (43:26)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (43:35)
And then what's unique about this generation too, you come in with a large network from your universities, your community. Don't let that network go quiet. Keep it warm with interactions on it. Even as a direct message, just interaction, keeping that publishing warm, because they are also growing and thriving with you. So collectively, your community is uprising. And so keeping that warm, don't wait to become CEO to say, hey, how you been?
Rachael Barclay (43:43)
Is it?
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (44:05)
and it's inauthentic. You build your community so as they rise to see you, you say, congratulations, I support you, I love you.
I'm glad you'd make it good strides there. Let's connect and talk much warmer and make sure you support your community, not be jealous. Jealous is inward challenges, not outward, right? So how you make sure you see that their success is your success. When they win, you win. Because a collective view, we all connected fabric. We all literally connected at cellular level. So when they win, you win. Not you lose because they win. That don't make no sense. When they win, you win. Y'all came from the same
Rachael Barclay (44:13)
Mm-hmm.
Thank
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (44:43)
university, same community, same spot, and you're thriving. You are thriving. Why? Your pistol's getting sharpened. Just step your game up and see what you can do. You know what's possible. And so for me, learn to be curious, meet and build your network, and don't forget your network you already built. And support them, thrive with them, celebrate them. Do not be jealous of them. That's some inner work you need to do.
Rachael Barclay (44:54)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (45:08)
you feel jealous. Your success has nothing to with you. I use a Jay-Z quote because Jay-Z is a up here, we're social media lady. is, what they eat don't make you go to the bathroom. Okay? What they eat does not make you go to the bathroom. Clean up the verse that he said. It looked more explicit. So realize that what they eat has nothing to do with you.
Rachael Barclay (45:08)
Yes.
Yeah.
Mmm.
Yeah.
Mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (45:29)
Celebrate
them. They need it because they grow up and as they grow up the food chain the more isolated they become the more they need community. So be that community. Authentically. Not transactionally. But relational connections. That's my three advice.
Rachael Barclay (45:36)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and you know, I read an article the other day, I forget where I saw it, but it said something about the amount of the percentage of Gen Zers that don't have a mentor versus the percent that want a mentor, right? And I'm wondering, how do we not gatekeep that? What's the best way to find, you know,
a mentor and what should you be looking for?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (46:18)
Yeah, that's a good question. And I hear it too that I often wonder if the mentor term or how it shows up has a fall. Because I'll have a lot of mentors in my life that I don't know I ever named them as my mentor. And often I look back and realize they were mentoring me. But at the time, I didn't know.
Rachael Barclay (46:26)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (46:42)
So I always tell people again when you practice gratitude, those moments say, was, who inspired me today? Who was influential in my growth? Those are folks that are allies, advocates, and mentors. They all say it called action. You in a driving seat. You don't wait for someone to say, I want to mentor you. No, you say, hey.
I like what you're up to. You're in the area I'm looking to thrive in. Would you mentor me? And if you don't have the capacity, do you know someone who can't? Right? No, it's not bad. No just means next opportunity. No, this means that person you asked to mentor you now may become an advocate of you and say, know what, Johnny, I don't have the capacity, but I know Rick will be a good person for you. They just gave you most valuable advice. They told you they see
Rachael Barclay (47:08)
Thank
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (47:32)
you they value and they got so they know a line with you that remake you successful that is powerful and the key is you got to follow through but don't wait you say thank you honor don't get in your feelings because they said no to you no to get him advice it's a telling true you know that's capacity don't want to let you down three they probably gave something they knows buried themselves they raised meant to you that's a gift
Rachael Barclay (47:32)
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Great.
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (47:58)
is
learning today if you are fearful of the ask and so if you ask me and I do all the time I'm probably gonna ask me venture them I never say no right and I never say no that's a whole nother episode right but yeah I get the yes right yeah yeah yeah good point you wanna get the yes you gotta ask you gotta ask
Rachael Barclay (48:04)
Mm-hmm.
Hahaha
There's how to get to yes with Jesse Rose.
Right?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (48:26)
And guess what? You'll get more closed doors in your face than get open doors. That's okay. That's okay. If you never ask, they're all closed because you never asked. And so I think today the ask for mentors isn't there. So Debbie Hassen, I don't think I ever said to her, you're my mentor. She was by far one of my biggest mentors, that one growing up.
Rachael Barclay (48:30)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (48:45)
I'm blessed that I had a chance to invite her. She was living in South Carolina. I invited her to Philadelphia. We had an alumni event. And so I really would welcome you to be in this space. Beautiful woman, tall, blind hair, gorgeous ocean blue eyes. And here she comes to this little event we had at Drexel University. And the whole time she kept saying, I really appreciate you, Jessie, because she didn't realize how much of an impact that she had in my life. So I had a chance to be able to say you had a significant impact.
Rachael Barclay (48:45)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (49:15)
and who I am as a professional. And so I'm grateful to be able to tell her that. So I encourage all those who listening, reach back to those mentors and let them know, because themselves don't realize the impact that they may have on your life. Don't assume they know, they don't know. And so I think today we forget to acknowledge our mentors or request for our mentors, because they out there.
Rachael Barclay (49:26)
.
You know, it's interesting. I think you and I sort of took a hiatus from corporate, maybe a week apart from each other, right? And I think, you know, having been on the other side of it, you know, when I met you, you were sort of already talking about this big plan a couple of years ago that you had. And I just remember thinking,
I know if I could ever do that. I'm so doing so well in my career, this is the best corner office I've ever had and all of those things, right? And thinking, could I really do that? And I think it's really important for those who hear this to know that there's nothing wrong with staying at corporate in any way. I mean, life lessons and met people and...
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (50:24)
Well done.
Rachael Barclay (50:30)
It was my training ground for what I'm doing now. But I think, you know, if people have that little voice in the back of their head, like I'm sure you had, like I know I had, what advice would you have for them? You know, because there is there a time when you're ready? When's the right time? What would you, I know that's a big question, but just off the top of your head, what would you tell somebody who is in their corporate career, but they just have this?
this something in their heart, in the back of their head, what would you tell them to do?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (51:00)
Woo! Well, I'm gonna
say one more thing, now, you, cause it's not by a mistake that you are in a seat at this moment that's elevated above your previous office.
Rachael Barclay (51:07)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (51:16)
Take that in for a second.
Right? It's I acknowledge you, you have elevated literally in a physical, spiritual, all level mold.
Rachael Barclay (51:18)
Thank
Is it?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (51:26)
And I always tell folks when you know your calling is present and it's letting you know it's time to elevate. Now, again, I mentioned corporate. I love my skill building. And if you want to elevate up inside and me to C-suite, great. Go do it. Love y'all. Got mentors in that space. There are CFOs and CEOs. And they love it. CIOs, CTOs, actually all Cs, right? I always had this Auspnor spirit. Same with you, Rachel. And it's always been present since I was a kid.
Rachael Barclay (51:34)
Mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (51:56)
Right. And I see that my daughter, she's same way too. And so for me, like that's it's covering my door when she was younger. We were driving down her, her mom and I, my son in the car were going past their tutoring. They're not tutoring their daycare. And then my wife said the time said, Hey, Jessica, there's your daycare. And then Jason's like, he said, Hey, I would love to work there when I get older. And Jessica said, I love to own it when I get older.
Rachael Barclay (52:25)
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (52:26)
You can't teach that. can't. It was like the same car ride. My son says he wants to work there and she said wants to own it. And I think those callings are present since your youth. And so when you your skills, get your training and get that calling. I always tell people, do your work. What is, do yourself work. Get out your own way. Can you hear your assignment, which is your calling?
Rachael Barclay (52:28)
No. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (52:54)
When you hear your assignment, take action, clear the invisible barriers from ambition to execution. And so for me is when you got that calling, that means you've done your work. Go do it. It's never a right time. You always have folks telling you, oh, you can't do it. You'll be unsuccessful. Yeah, it hurts. It's painful. All right. Now look at my bank account. Oh my gosh. Right. Yeah. Yes. But I feel so fulfilled as a human while I'm out creating the world.
Rachael Barclay (52:57)
Is it?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Hahaha!
Yeah.
Right.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (53:24)
that is priceless and the impact that can make broader that I was making in my seat and my current, my previous employer, then you know it's time to go.
Rachael Barclay (53:34)
Yeah, I sometimes you really can't force it, right? It's and sometimes a lot of times life forces you around the same cycle until you learn the lesson, right? And so I think what you said about the healing is so important because if you're not healed, you can't follow your calling. You're not being your life is preparing it for you in some ways, right?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (53:45)
Yeah.
Correct,
correct. And the universe will keep throwing balls your way reminding you, hello, I'm trying to tell you it's time to go and you don't, you're gonna see it. And you start keeping having a cycle of like, oh my gosh, why am I here? This is not serving me. And you're like, because you should not be there. Oh, got it. Let me get out. Literally, I'm gonna get you out, right? Correct.
Rachael Barclay (54:05)
Yeah.
Or I'll get you out.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (54:27)
because you
don't listen, I'm gonna look at the web. So I always say, it speaks to you, you choose to ignore it, that's up to you. We all have that, we've got free will to make decisions and it can kick us in the butt. Not it can't, it does kick us in the butt. And so listen, do your work. Clear out areas where you're out of integrity.
Rachael Barclay (54:31)
There you go.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (54:51)
And that way you can expand your platform so you can do what you're ready call to do. And I always tell people when you lean into your possibility, that's the impact to the world that we desperately need. And so for me, listen to your calling. We need that from you.
Rachael Barclay (55:07)
All right. Let's talk about the money. How do you negotiate? Because that's what people want to know, right? They think, you know, I'm doing this. I've been here for three years. I know I bring a lot of value. I don't want to leave, but how do I negotiate for the value that I'm bringing to my role?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (55:25)
Man, so if you're in corporate world, good thing y'all have today is technology so you can do.
What's it called? Glass door, art school tools that kind of tell you where your role fits. Now it's more transparency now on role level salaries, states to stand behind. So there's definitely a lot of evolution in that space of transparency to break down those walls of those barriers, especially with women making much less than men and those types of painful realities. So I'm grateful for the greater transparency and we still have a lot of work in that space. And so for me, it's igno...
Rachael Barclay (55:31)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (56:01)
acknowledging your worth. First of all, you're priceless as a human. There's no real price for you. So you really just try to manage what is fair for that role and that responsibility that you're engaged in. And I always tell people, it doesn't hurt to ask. And a lot of times, especially you negotiating on a job offer, it's like a, it's a dance.
Rachael Barclay (56:04)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-mm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (56:21)
the cubbies not give you their best number, right? They have a budget for you, right? And so for the role. And then when it matched what you had compensation wise, you do your analysis, right? Run chat GBT or run Claude or whatever the other tools and say, here's where I'm at. Here's the role expectation. Here's my direct report. I'm responsible.
Rachael Barclay (56:39)
Thank
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (56:43)
Here's the impact on the financial statements that I have in the company. That's huge if you know that as well, right? Here's the revenue. Am I on a revenue generating side? Am I on a cost side? Understand that piece. Really does position you strategically and smart in the room. And here's the cool part. Companies expect you to negotiate with them on your salary. They actually welcome it. that here's, especially you on the sales side.
Rachael Barclay (56:57)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (57:11)
Hey, someone is fighting for a position to make more money. They'll be that same hungry person to work for us internally. Right. And they show they're raising the bar. You know, they work. There's never a I won't reject you because you offer you counter my offer. No, it's the counter. You never say never mind. No offer. Bye bye. See you later. And they did do that. You don't want to work there. Yeah, it's a gift. So that's not my advice. Outside of
Rachael Barclay (57:19)
Is
you
Right, that's what it, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (57:40)
structure, you know, when I speak, I do my speaking engagements, for example.
I had to come to this realization, same with you, Rachel, too, that while I'm in this new profession, I'm not starting at the bottom. I'm bringing 30 years of corporate experience in my network of connections that people want access to. So when I go speak, I'm not just speaking, I'm speaking on all my Amazigh, Walmart, Target, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and not just them, all my clients I work with, right, throughout my career at Deloitte, Ernst & Young, my speaking engagements.
Rachael Barclay (57:54)
Thank
Okay.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (58:15)
receive me. They realize it's not just Jesse, I'm getting access to a major network that has infinite value. And I know this. So as a result...
Rachael Barclay (58:22)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (58:28)
You're going to pay for this. And I think that's, understand your positioning, your worth based on that. And I love my I give a lot to my community. In order for me to give a lot to my community in philanthropy, I have to receive in order to give. That's like it'll go both ways. As I tell people, know, feel comfortable putting that oxygen mask on so you can inhale.
Rachael Barclay (58:29)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
You
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (58:49)
And breathe, I should imagine an airplane, right? Breathe and then exhale so you can important other people too. So know your position in the marketplace, understand your data analysis on what that means and what people are to pay. When you are a speaker and you are motivating someone's team to make millions of dollars, could you unlock them? Can you get a little bit of what?
Rachael Barclay (59:12)
Wait.
Yeah, it's a little thing we like to call ROI. Yeah, I think when you were just talking right there, I think a lot of people may not know that a lot of your work has to do with mindset, right? Because you need to be in the right mindset to lead and to be effective, right? And so
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (59:19)
Return on investment!
Yes.
Right.
Rachael Barclay (59:38)
There's a few ways to engage with you that I know of. You know, there's the book, you have the audible, you have jessie rhodes jr.com. I know you have a leadership reset, which is super cool with your mindset. What are some ways that people can engage with you beyond the speaking in the book and you know what you're doing next?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (59:58)
Man, so you're right. Definitely follow my fun social media stuff. It's raw, it's just me collectively, you know, LinkedIn, like you mentioned on Instagram.
Facebook, you name it. It's my name, Jesse Rose Jr. know, Rose, like R-H-O-D-E-S, you know. And then I'll say, too, I love community work. So you'll see a lot on the spaces where I'm doing things for my community. know, after school, I'll start near and dear and passionate to what they're up to and their inner events that they have to other nonprofit work that I do. I also work with a charter school here in Seattle.
Rachael Barclay (1:00:18)
Thank you.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:00:39)
know, Rainier Valley Leadership Academy. So either find me online, right, read up on my blog, read up on what's new happening around the world.
Rachael Barclay (1:00:41)
Mm-hmm.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:00:50)
You know, my bigger trip to Ghana, trip to S.Y.T. in South Africa, just follow me and learn and connect. And then also upcoming tours and retreats that you can participate in. So I'm about to do a trip to Ghana. I'm about to do a trip to Mexico later this year. So Rachel, you know, I never sit still too long. And so the best way.
Rachael Barclay (1:00:50)
Mm-hmm.
No, never.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:01:11)
is to tap me, join my mobile network, join my mailing list, my, pink it to my website. I think that's the best way. And of course, follow me on Instagram. Instagram is gonna be after the event, it already happened. So you can see recaps there, but if you wanna be plugged in before the event, go to my network.
Rachael Barclay (1:01:26)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Okay, so let's imagine that there's an eight-year-old boy or girl in your neighborhood that you grew up in, right? And they're listening to this, this part of the conversation. I want you to speak directly to them and I want you to give them that one final piece of permission that they might need. If maybe you're ever the only one.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:01:44)
in
So I talked to an eight-year-old, I'll pitch in my eight-year-old version of myself, right? If I could speak to you right now, one, I love you. Two, you are worthy. And three, the world is desperate to make the impact that only you can make.
So trust and believe that there's no copy of you but you. And it's true for any youth. That spirit that Angie brings, lean into it. Yes, the world's tough, but the world needs you and we love you.
Rachael Barclay (1:02:33)
All right, and the final complete this sentence. You're allowed to.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:02:38)
Ooh, you're allowed to be you. You are allowed to be you. All your quirks, all your silliness, all your whatever, all your imperfections, all that. Listen, a golf ball, the original golf ball was smooth and people would hit the ball, it wouldn't go as far. So we realized when it had little dits of imperfection, the ball traveled further.
And they studied it realized it was true. So the golf balls today has all these dits all around it intentionally so you can travel further. Your imperfection is what makes you go further. So be you in all your imperfections. That's beautifulness for growth and direction. So travel far, travel bright, and be you.
Rachael Barclay (1:03:26)
Okay. And so nobody really ever told you that you weren't allowed specifically, right? There were things along the way. I think they probably told you you can't leave corporate America, right? So, and now you've got a book out. There's 500 people or so that you've coached. You own a bar in Seattle. You founded
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:03:40)
Of course.
Rachael Barclay (1:03:51)
Drexel Naba chapter, right? Is that right? Yeah. After school, all stars are looking up to you. You went, you know, and you're on the board of Columbia Tower Club. And what I'd like to say is I, how's that for not allowed?
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:03:54)
Yeah, game over for a
And look, and look, Rachel, we're just beginning. We're just beginning. We're just beginning. That was a warm up. We're just beginning. And that's the problem of my life. When you're super present to what you're up to, every day is building that just beginning. So I'm just beginning, just beginning. And I'm excited.
Rachael Barclay (1:04:13)
Ahaha! Here we are. ⁓ huh. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:04:34)
full of joy, full
Rachael Barclay (1:04:35)
Yeah.
Mr. Jesse Rhodes (1:04:36)
of love, full of gratitude. We're just beginning. Woo! I'm excited.