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In Ask Ashley, Founder, Thoughtleader and award-winning media personality Ashley Russo sits down with leaders who bring purpose and humanity to business.
Each episode explores how people navigate uncertainty, lead with empathy, and create meaningful change in their organizations and lives. Listeners gain practical insights on resilience, leadership, and financially confident decision-making amid disruption.
This podcast is brought to you by Ask Ashley. If you’re interested in building a confident, purpose-driven wealth plan, reach out to Ashley at ashley.russo@nm.com.
welcome to ask Ashley the podcast
where we shine a light on the unsung heroes
of the workplace I'm your host
Ashley Russo financial AI board member
thought leader and wealth management advisor
each week we sit down with inspiring leaders
exploring their journeys
motivations and the real challenges they face
from job insecurity to the evolving role of AI
in a world where many feel overlooked
these guests
are building hope and connection for their colleagues
join us as we uncover their stories
and discover how they're making a difference
one conversation at a time
hey this is Ashley Russo here and I'm with Chuck
who is an amazing human
I cannot wait for everyone to get to know him
Chuck will you please
share with us a little bit about yourself
your career your journey
let's start with a little bit about you
yeah absolutely
so Chuck Thompson I am currently the VP
of people and operations
for an engineering firm called Simutech
in Rochester New York
married I have seven kids
um and at last count
I think 13 animals uh
living in the house somewhere
somewhere around there uh yeah
I like absolutely love being a dad
uh pet dad as
as well as a dad dad and um
yeah family is life so um
just loving every second of it
I love that um
well I want to start off with a question to really help
uh everyone get to know you
I'd like us to
walk through the path that LED you to your current
leadership role
and were there any pivotal experiences early on
that shaped your purpose in business
or within community I'd love to learn more about that
yeah it
it in order to
to look forward and to understand who we are
I think a lot of times it helps to focus on
or at least recognize the past and what LED us here
and for me it was a
it was a really long long journey
um one of the things that I think
or at least I I would like to think
um my
my career is um
known for I guess
is just caring um
being transparent being open
being honest and connecting with people where they are
what LED to that are uh
are are items that I'm
I'm grateful for events that I'm grateful for
I was actually thinking about this when I was running
today in preparation for our conversation
when I was younger you know
I I grew up in a typical
you know middle class family
my mother had a bipolar and uh
schizophrenia and um
it was it was super
super challenging to kind of navigate that
a lot of times my
my dad would send me to my grandmother's house and uh
my grandmother kind of you know
for all intensive purposes raised me
um I got thrown out of uh
high school um
my own fault uh
and I got put into um
you know a group house
a group home um
and part of the the deal with
with going to the group home was uh
you know I had to have uh
family therapy and I refuse to talk to my parents
so I would just sit in this
on the chair and just listen to them
you know spew whatever about
you know how disappointing I was
and um
my therapist her
her name was Pat um
I'll never forget it
and there was one night in November and
you know
we were doing the family therapy thing and she's like
Chucky you gotta talk
you gotta say something and so I did
I just like spewed out everything that I was thinking
and kind of holding on to and um
I can I can imagine how that landed at that moment
apparently
it landed so hard with my mom that she just stood up
grabbed her keys and left and never came back
I was like and to me
you know being I think it was 14 year old
14 at the time um
what I internalized from that is
see this is why you don't talk
cause it just breaks everything
you just keep your mouth shut
deal with it and just that's
that's a better way to go because I watched my dad
you know go down a pretty dark path
you know for a little bit after that
and I listen to my
parents argue about who's gonna get me
who's gonna get stuck with me
is what they meant by that
and all of these things are kind of
just going on in my head and it all came to a head uh
when I was 15 and um
I I left home and I didn't have any place to go
I remember my dad telling me he didn't care um
where I went
I just had to leave home and just get out and just go
so I did and I became homeless
and I was homeless for a couple of years um
I got addicted to drugs during that time
and it was really really dark uh
you know dark period
and I saw a lot of my friends not make it out of
you know the similar situation um
people that I had met and known
became people that I knew
and you know all of this is going on in
you know my brain at
at such a young age there were two events that
that I think about that I'm again
I'm you know
grateful that they happened one
I remember sitting on the beach in Mississippi and um
you know just
just kind of sitting there just completely wrecked and
um you know
not sure what the heck I was gonna do and uh
I remember somebody walked up
I have no idea who it is but somebody just walked up
tapped me on the shoulder
and just had a conversation with me they
they looked me in the eyes
and at that moment I
I felt like I was a human
you know
and that was the first time in a really long time
that anybody had actually like
looked me in the eyes and connected with me
just for a couple of minutes to
and it it made a difference right it
it started to light something up inside of me
um shortly after um
you know I
I got into a situation where I overdosed
um and I remember being on the bathroom floor uh
in the the place that we were squatting in
and everybody else that was there left uh
they didn't want to be you know
there or get caught you know with
with what was going on and um
it was awful like
absolutely awful I can still remember
you know what I was thinking and
kind of going through at that moment
just not
thinking that I'd be able to pull myself up off of um
the the bathroom floor
um obviously I did'cause I'm here um
but I walked out to the front step
and when I walked out to the front step
across the way uh
from where I was there was an ambulance
and it was taking somebody out of uh
the place across the street
and they had passed away
I just remember thinking that that should be me
and I remember it just hitting me
that all of the choices that I've made LED me to
to that moment
and it should have been me and it wasn't
and I felt like it was a a gift that it wasn't
and I called up my sister and told her
I'm done I just
I need to get out of this and she bought me a uh ticket
a bus ticket back to New York
and I got into a rehab and then that rehab LED me to
living on a commune for a while
which is another story we can get into some other time
but I got straight um
and you know
within a period of time and a lot of missteps
I just got to the point where again
you know
I realized that I wasn't taking things serious and um
I wanted to I just wanted to do something different
and so I chose to take a different path and um
I think I got at one point I had three jobs
um yeah
I was sleeping for four hours
working for 20 hours um
to pull myself up and out of where I was um again
kind of thinking about you know
all the people that I've met along the way that
you know didn't have that opportunity um
you know they
they fell prey to you know
that that life that I was living
and I was given this chance
and I wasn't gonna waste it um
you know I
I leaned in hard uh
to that that
that work ethic and yeah it brought me a lot of success
I had the opportunity to go all over the world
um yeah
I had one point was a master coach for an organization
and I taught uh
leaders how to uh
sell how to motivate their employees
how to get more out of people um
you know that
that motivational aspect uh
it was was keyed in and it was mainly from
you know a place of I'm never going back to that period
like I'm gonna make something out of this and you know
I'm gonna do that through working my butt off to do it
um
you know along the way I had the privilege of
of meeting a lot of people
who gave me a lot of really good advice
that I probably never listened to in time um
so if I fast forward the chain
and I promise this has an ending um
I won't ramble for for too long um
but if I fast forward um
my wife and I uh
attempted to have um
you know a baby and um
she passed away that was uh
in 2017 and um yeah
and that was a
it was a period where looking back at that time
all of these things I'm teaching other people about
how to have conversations
how to make connections
uh how to motivate your employees
just how to be there and care for people
I wasn't applying them at home
and so
my wife had to deal with this basically on her own
while I went out and I started a business
cause that's you lean in
you do things I keep myself busy and I just go
and so I started a lifestyle um
you know company and
you know did really well with it ended up uh
selling that company um
you know later on but you know
it was my way of dealing with what was going on
was by not dealing with it
you know to be honest and leaving my wife to
you know
face that on her own later a couple years ago
my mom passed away and yeah
I didn't
I never corrected things with my mom
never really faced things
I still blamed you know
the way that I grew up for everything that was going on
right the the fact that I was homeless
the fact that I did drugs um
you know all of the hardships
all the people that I had lost
the the failed relationships
you name it it was because of
you know the way that I grew up
and because of that one event when I was 14
when she walked out you know
and I can't share any of this with anybody else
because it's not safe
and people are just gonna walk away right
all these excuses
um when she passed away
that opportunity to deal with it also passed away
um and so here I am I'm
I'm left what do I do
what I chose to do again is
is kind of leaning in um
and I started with kind of running from it right
um but I
I ran a mile for every year that she was alive
and I lived her journey through the miles
so you know
at each point along the way
kind of thinking about what she was facing
what she was doing
and I realized that she was just making choices
and that LED her to you know
give up on the family
and LED her to the life that she LED later in life
wanting to make amends but not being able to
those choices LED her there
and that it wasn't her choices that made me make
the choices that I made had nothing to do with it
but it was my choices it was my responsibility
and the fact that you know
I pulled myself out of the situations that I was in and
you know worked really hard to get to where I was
those were also choices
and if I wanted to do something different
then I could make better choices
and that LED me to a much richer
you know relationship with my wife
a much richer relationship at work and with work um
to the point when you know
Simutech called me um
you know last year and said
hey Chuck you know
we got this this opportunity to
to build something that could be a legacy um
you know would you like to
to come here and you know
put your hand at building a culture
and helping us maintain and
and grow as an organization
um I was like
hell yeah like that's
that's something I can get behind
cause that's really what it's all about
you know it's helping people make better choices
their lives so that they can make something out of it
and impact other people downstream
and I think that's just so super important
so when you ask a simple question like what LED you to
you know to doing the work that you do now man
there's so much there's so much that that LED to it
there's there's pain
you know
that helps me realize and see other people's pain and
and where they're at and respect their story um
there's struggle
there's also moments where you're sitting on a beach
thinking about you know
maybe ending it right then and there and
and that you're not gonna make it out
and somebody comes along at the right time and says
you matter
and now
I can be that person that turns around to somebody
at maybe the right time
that I don't even know what it is
I don't know what they're going through
but I can be that person to pay it back
you know that
that person has no idea that
who I am now can be attributed back to that moment
when I was what 16
17 sitting on a beach
you know a
a lot of who I am the fact that I'm here now
having a conversation with you
is because of that journey
and it's because of that person
it's because of all the people along the way that
that got me to hear
that's so powerful on so many levels
I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this
but just for for people listening to hear look
it doesn't always come easy
in fact sometimes it actually comes pretty hard right
I wouldn't
consider any of the thing that you went through
in your childhood lead
you know past childhood easy
but you decided to take that diversity and make choices
and that's really really powerful
and you continue to make choices
and someone who's in your position now
with so much wisdom and leadership
uh the fact that that didn't just happen
the fact that you went on a journey
to become this human
I think will give people the permit
the permission
to not feel that they're just supposed to arrive
at these moments of awareness
but it's life's journey the hardships
that really bring us to these pivotal moments
I'm I'm curious with that
so with the journey you shared
overcoming again
such personal hardships
stepping into an incredible role of leadership
how did that shape the way
you then support and empower others
so I I think that
leadership is changing what's required is changing
some of that is the intersection of technology with uh
you know the world that we live in
some of it is just a it's
it's a long time coming
what I mean by that is for decades
we've optimized organizations around efficiency
and now we have to optimize them around being adaptable
we have to optimize around human in the loop
it's much more complex and
you know those experiences that we have along the way
that I've had along the way
have provided for that adaptability and that um
you know an agile kind of creative um
way of approaching you know
different situations does that make sense
it makes sense and it
it it leads me to a question of okay
there's so much going on in the world right
the intersection between technology and then leadership
and that evolution of humanity
how does that in your perspective
how does that intersection tie together
hmm
I love that question I
I write a lot about that and I think a lot about it
I think maybe it's it's the way that I grew up uh
to to some extent
so I I grew up in a time when
phones were still connected to the wall um
so like it
and he had to like you know
turn the knob uh
we didn't our
our remote control for the TV
was literally a thing that was attached to the TV
that had a you know
there's something attached to it
and you just press a button and it changes the channel
you had three channels to choose from that was cable
but I also my father was computer engineer
and so he was working on you know
what we now know is like you know the internet um
you know
creating land and connecting different computers and um
language and all those pieces and you know
so I got to see you know
that side of it too so
I come from that analog into the evolution of digital
and and so maybe
maybe part of my coloring is is based on that
I don't know
but I think that if I think technology AI specifically
cause that's what everybody's currently thinking about
in terms of technology
I think AI is gonna change the mechanics of work
how we do our job but leadership
which is where the conversation should be
that's gonna determine
whether that change benefits people or replaces them
and I think that's where leadership development
inclusion I think that's where they intersect with
with the technology the organizations that win
I think are going to be the ones that use technology
to elevate human potential
not eliminated
so I think technology is going to change how we work
leadership is going to determine
whether that work becomes
more human or less human that's powerful and I'm sure
that's music to a lot of people's ears to hear
it's about expanding the human interaction
not limiting it that's
I love the way you put that
let me let me ask this question
just because
it is an interesting climate that we're in right now
so given all the conversations around diversity
and inclusion and again
those being hot button topics
what has been your strategy in a time like this
have you faced pushback
has technology helped that
what's been your experience
yeah so um
so I I have a certification in Safe Zone training um
which is a great entry into having a conversation
about marginalized populations
and you can define the marginalized populations
as you see fit cause there's so many um yeah
there's always a lot of pushback
I think when I first went to get uh
certified for a safe zone
I did it because um
my kids are in community
and I had no idea what they were going through
I had no idea what they were facing
you know um
when my step kids were um
coming to me and you know
one of them was uh
changing their name and changing their pronouns
I have no idea how to approach that
I have no idea like I
I don't have any context for that
but it's important to me to make sure
like I said before
that I'm meeting them where they're at
so I saw this opportunity in my home life
and I see it at work at the time as well where
you know this is a
a conversation that's becoming more prevalent
so I went to um
my leader at the time
and I asked if I could go get certified
like no
you can't do that that's
we don't want to get into that conversation
that's you're
you're just rocking the boat
it doesn't make any sense
uh and so I
I kept pushing and eventually said look
I'll give up my my
um annual like merit
you know forget the merit
just let me go get certified and then
you know that
that'll be it
and then I can deliver it and we'll see what happens
um and so they let me go and I got certified
I came back uh
and I started delivering the training um
back to the organization and opening up those doors
and opening up those conversations
and you begin to see changes in people
you begin to see changes in teams
the way that they work together
the way that they're listening
um the creativity that comes out of it
um the connective tissue between somebody in the US
and in Jamaica and in the Philippines and in um India
you know all working together
speaking the same language
having that connective tissue
part of it is because they've
you know gone through
you know this class and they know how to listen
they know how to define um
their privilege
being the life experience that they've lived
to this moment good
bad different we all have one right
for me diversity and inclusion
they're they're not slogans
they're leadership competencies
the strongest
teams are the ones where people feel safe
contributing ideas challenging assumptions
and bringing their full perspective to the table
when they do that
you're unlocking the value of diversity
what does an organization want at its core
they want value they want efficiencies
they want to be able to compete in the marketplace
I think that's a pretty good value add
open up the conversation you open up value
you open up productivity you open up profitability
so I can bring it back to metrics
you know and you can see the changes
you can see the changes
in the quality of the conversations
that people are having you can see the changes
in the way that people are showing up
your attrition rates um
you know your turnover starts to go down
people start feeling better
manager effectiveness scores go up
you can take it back to a lot of metrics
so when people are gonna get push back
and they always will
the key is grounding the conversation in leadership
and performance not politics
alright the this goal is simple
just create environments
where people can do their best work wow
what what kind of world would we live in right now
if people can just bring it back to that
I love that so I
this is this is running to my head
I wanna ask this question
I'm sure others are curious
so you're very obviously aware
it sounds like in your personal life
you're very giving in your professional life and aware
how do you practice self care then
to make sure that you can stay aligned with
your highest values deal with setbacks
deal with pushbacks deal with stress
how do you do that
as someone who's a leader and a parent
what are your your tips
hmm tips man
I wish I had that uh
I wish I had that down uh
to a lot of extent to a large extent
I think it's a it's a pause and reset
I I spend I
I mentioned running that's one of the things that I do
running working out
Slam just being active and being out
uh often when I'm doing that that's
that's me time I'm
I'm working through different scenarios in my head
I'm thinking about things
I'm having
this conversation that we're having right now
over and over again right
as I'm as I'm
you know
putting in some miles and kind of thinking about OK
this is you know
this is what I want to talk about
I can be comfortable talking about it
I can be authentic it's okay
and I'm kind of working out those things for me
so that's that's my
you know my time
um
to it
it goes back to finding what that is for the individual
you know that
that me time that that self um
time that I spend in the mornings
yeah that's super
super important to me to have that
I am not right if I don't
and my wife will tell me like
you haven't been out running
you haven't worked out in a while
like
you need to get the hell out cause you're being a jerk
and I will go out
the other thing that was me is community
you know
the community work and being involved in community
it reminds me that what we do in the conversations
we have
this conversation you and I are having right now
it's not confined to boardrooms
the the real goal is to expand that opportunity and
you know especially for
you know young people
who may not have those doors open in front of them
who might be on the same path that I was on
you know I
if there's an opportunity for that
that's super fulfilling you know
for me um
and then I think um
I think the other side uh
of the well
give a three legged stool
right is uh writing
um writing helps me process ideas
share lessons and just get it down on paper
um you know
one of the things that I've done um
fairly consistently for a man
I think about 14
15 years now is ask myself three questions
um typically at the end
of the day I'll ask what it what went well
what did I do right what went well
um where did I screw up or what went wrong
and what am I gonna do different tomorrow
I I think about that in my family
you know when I get into an argument with my wife
um man
it's it's not always her fault sometimes it's mine
I know it's hard to believe
but you know sometimes it's my fault
and so I think about what what I do
what I do right in that conversation
there's gotta be something
I gotta find that thing that I did right
what I do wrong how can I show up differently
what am I gonna commit to doing to show up differently
think about that at work right wrong
different
it's three questions that are so super powerful
and it allows you to take a step back and re
ground yourself to understand that yeah
things are gonna happen you know
the things are gonna go really
really well and you're gonna be winning
and things are gonna go absolutely horrible
and you're gonna be losing
that's okay just frame it around what went right
what went wrong what went different
whether it's a win whether it's a loss
and you're gonna walk away with something
that allows you to kind of reset
reframe and stay grounded
I love that I love that
that's great that's great
so let me ask this question
with everything moving so fast
with obviously
your perspective of being able to look at the moment um
and find the value in it
find the improvement that you can find within it
everything is going at lightning speed right
so if you can hit pause right now
if you just had a magical pause button
and you can hit pause on any trend
whether it's technology culture leadership
what would it be and then
if you could hit fast forward
with something that you're seeing
in terms of positive momentum
what would that be hmm
I like that question that's a good question
what you're asking is is two sides of the coin for me I
I think there's this uh
there's this idea of analog
and just being present in the moment
um there was a conversation
I was listening to earlier this week
where they were talking about um
a study that was done and in the study
the participants were texted a couple times
you know during the day
and they were asked what
what are you doing what are you thinking about
and how happy are you right
the ones who answered um
you know here's what I'm doing
here's what I'm thinking about it
separate from what I'm doing
were typically less satisfied
less happy than individuals who
this is what I'm doing and I'm thinking about it
I'm in the moment
so to me if I was to pause something
as much as I'm a proponent and advocate of technology
and I absolutely am to me
that would be the pause it would be to
to take a moment to get outside
watch a sunrise to
to see the way that the colors hit the landscape
to watch the clouds change
to be outside just before the first bird starts to sing
and then listen to the way that
that expands out to everything else
and then recognize that in a lot of cases
we're that first bird or we can be that first bird
and we can set that cascade off positive or negative
I'd rather be the positive one
so I think if there's a
if there's a pause and something that I'd fast forward
I I
I think it's digital and it's analog
right there's a place and time for both
but just embracing the embracing the moment
I think is what it what it comes down to at least
at least to me the world is changing fast
and it's gonna continue to change fast
being a part of that change
and being a part of that moment
instead of a part from is super
super important beautiful
I wanna ask this final question
if you can say something to your younger self
with everything that obviously you know now
what would you tell your younger self
hmm it's a really good question
I have to think about that for a second
if I tell myself too much
I'm not gonna be the person I am I
I won't have my wife I won't have my kids
I won't have a job that I absolutely love
like all of it would change if I say too much um
but there's also a case where speaking to that
that person and and letting him know that
you know maybe I'm the guy that
that walked up to myself on the beach
and just gave him that moment
you know maybe
maybe that's it I think what I would ask myself to do
you know
just just thinking about like walking up to to
you know younger me on the beach um
would be to think about you know
an epitaph the epitaph being like
if you had to summarize your entire life
into just a couple of words
words that are gonna fit you know on a on a gravestone
um what what would that be
and then admonish to
to live your life in a way that's consistent with
with that epitaph you know um
I think that's something that
that just about anybody could get behind
you know to
to just think about that eventually
that's what's gonna be left behind that
that epitaph all the rest of the stuff
all the hard experiences
all the crap that we go through all the failures
all the wins none of it's gonna be with you
and you're just gonna be
letters that somebody else is probably gonna walk by
and read maybe um
but if we can write that down
it's such a high level and it's
it's such a a calling that
you know we can aspire to get to
for me it's
you know I'm a loving husband
I'm a devoted dad
I'm a steadfast friend and an inspiring co worker
I lived with kindness LED with integrity
and I left a legacy of love and laughter
and so now
I can look at my life through that lens and ask myself
what's going right in terms of that person
what type of person is that
what am I not doing
that's causing me to fall short of that goal
and what can I do differently
to drive myself to that goal right
that that epitaph is super
super powerful
it helps you realize that there's a finite time
that you have to make an impact
what do you want that to be
what do you want your legacy to be
what do you want to leave behind
how can you show up today to leave that legacy behind
cause you are every choice
every interaction every conversation that you have
is a step toward or step away from
that legacy that you want to leave behind
hmm that's fascinating
start with the end in mind
and design your life
and your choices based off of that
that's powerful that's really powerful
Chuck you are getting to spend some time with you
such an incredible human
an incredible example of how we can approach this world
both with choice with awareness
with thought right
not just going through the motions
but actually experiencing the world
it's been an honor to connect with you
to share your voice with the world
um and thank you again for being with us
I appreciate it Ashley
thank you so much for being a voice and um
having the courage to ask the questions and
and put yourself out there
I appreciate it
cheers