0:10

Welcome back to the much loved podcast.

Today, it's my great treat to introduce you to Corey McQuade, Managing Partner at Northwestern Mutual Chicago.

Corey runs one of the historically most successful and innovative financial planning practices in the entire United States.

0:28

But what's more, Corey and his team are doing excellent work when it comes to DEI.

We're going to talk about a major motion picture that Corey helped produce and how Northwestern Mutual is leading the conversation on changing not just from the corporate we need to add diversity, but from a real We want to serve our community as best as possible.

0:52

Corey's also going to talk about some leadership lessons that anyone can find value.

I hope you enjoyed today's conversation.

Much love.

Hey Corey, it's great to have you on the show.

Thank you so much for being a guest.

Nate, it's an honor.

Appreciate you having me.

1:08

Absolutely.

I know that a lot of people, especially in our community, know who you are.

But for those of the people who are in my audience, who don't know much about Northwestern Mutual or who are coming in from all over the country, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Sure.

1:25

As I mentioned, as you mentioned Nate, I'm with Northwestern Mutual.

I grew up, I grew up in Ohio.

I went to Miami University and majored in marketing and finance there.

Did an internship in this line of work fell in love with this business and I've I started out in consulting but I've been with Northwestern Mutual started as a financial advisor to 20 years ago and have the great fortune of stewarding our historic network office Northwestern Mutual of Chicago the opportunity to lead as managing partner Mary De Jenny 17 years we have four boys.

2:11

Yeah so love love coaching my kids you know involved with my church and and have a huge supporter of pediatric cancer and finding a cure for that.

So you also, you know, we'll get into some other things I'm passionate about, I'm sure.

2:31

Absolutely.

And that's that's really a great place to start off.

I mean the idea of this show, the much loved podcast, it's not really meant to push any kind of business.

It's really more of I want to talk to people who I think are doing interesting things who clearly have a passion for what they do and further causes that I care about.

2:49

So in in thinking about that you know you were very humble in how you describe your role.

You do a lot more than just steward or branch.

You you lead in a lot of ways a story for people who might not know, they wouldn't know because they weren't there.

When you and I had our first real interaction, it was when you visited the Deerfield office over the summer and in the middle of chaos for Israel, there was rockets being launched.

3:16

A lot of Jews were passionate about Israel are going through turmoil and the first thing you said is, Nate, how are you doing?

I know it's been a hard time for your your community right now and it hit me right between the eyes, the level of awareness that you must have as a leader to know what's going on in the world and how it relates to the people in your organization.

3:35

It's just huge.

So I guess my first question for you is how did you develop this level of awareness and and what's it like to always be on in serving those who are part of your organization?

Yeah, well first of all, I just love the name of your podcast.

3:51

Much love for first and foremost.

I want to tell you that because I think it is actually it.

It is all about love.

And one of the things I want to talk about, you know, real quick, is just about the word love is just, 'cause you love something.

It's not always sunshine and rainbows, right?

4:06

So when I think about moving things forward and doing interesting things like being this leader, I always I I love my work.

But if you really think about love, it's not always sunshine and rainbows, right?

If you're serious about your vision and moving things forward, you have to love it.

4:24

And you look back at what love is, is like.

Boy, sometimes love is really tough.

So first of all, I want to mention that I think one of the things that's really important is, is emotional intelligence.

So I've worked really hard personally on my emotional intelligence.

4:40

I've worked really hard on empathy and I've really worked, tried to work really hard on understanding the world around us and what people are going through.

I mean, I think it's just really important to lead with empathy and really understand and take a step back constantly and think about what people are going through.

5:01

So I'm constantly trying to be aware of what's going on in the world so I can lead with empathy.

And I think that's what people want.

They don't want sympathy, They really just want empathy.

So that that you know me as a partner a lot of times like you Nate is, you know, I want to lead with empathy, but I also want to come alongside you and understand who you are and what your circumstances are so I can come alongside you to help you achieve your vision, just like we do, you know with with most of our advisors.

5:32

Sure.

Well, and one of the things you said when you just introduced yourself, you talked about Jenny and you talked about the boys.

To me, understanding why you're on the journey you love is one of the things that keeps me grounded in what I do in a given day.

One of the things that my wife and I have loved about being part of this community now is we went out to the premiere of the film I want to talk to you about today of the the Loyola Project.

5:57

And it was so exciting to see everybody from the office or from different offices with their significant others and and to see our community in one place.

I know I want to dive into a little bit more about that project, but for people who don't really know what the Loyola project is, talk to me at a high level, what is it and and how did you get involved?

6:16

What's your connection to the project?

Sure.

Well, first of all, it it it the Loyola Project, right?

It's a project.

I think that's the first thing I want to start start with is that that Word project, it's ongoing.

Projects are ongoing.

6:32

And so the Loyola project is the story of the 1963 Loyola Ramblers.

And in 1963 there were some serious unwritten rules in college basketball.

And of course, this was not that long ago.

6:50

But for example, there was an unwritten rule that you only played two black players in the court at once.

Yeah, right.

I remember learning about that.

I mean that's just right that you could not play the five best.

The most talented people in your organization or team weren't able to compete because of an unwritten rule.

7:10

So this is not that long ago.

So you know, you have this team, Loyola, that decides the coach, coach, coach Ireland, George Ireland decides to play the five best players, which happened to be 4 black guys and one white guy, right?

7:27

So that doesn't go over well, right?

That you're breaking this unwritten rule in college basketball.

You're the only coach in America that is doing this.

Loyola arises in the rankings, but they take trips to places like Houston, New Orleans.

7:43

It's in the heart of the civil rights movement.

There's hate mail.

There's bodyguards being hit hired.

The coach hired bodyguards for his daughters.

The players are getting hate mail from the KKK.

They're taking these trips down South and what these players had to go through, not staying together, riding in separate cabs, fearing for their lives.

8:10

So you've got this going on and Will is rising in the rankings and Can you imagine trying to perform at a high level?

They were performing at the highest level with this going on.

So then you have another story simultaneously happened in Mississippi.

No team from the Deep South had ever played an integrated team and there was rules in Mississippi against integration.

8:35

And Mississippi State had an elite basketball team who had never played an integrated team and won the SEC three years in a row.

And they had never participated in the incident of a tournament.

And behind the governor's back, the athletic director and the coach enter the NCLA tournament and everybody knows we're in the middle of bracket season right now.

9:00

The brackets come out and not only are they going to play an integrated team, well, when the brackets come out they're going to play Loyola.

That was a big deal.

It was a big deal, right?

And of course there's petitioning on Mississippi State's campus.

There's rioting.

9:16

The team basically had to sneak out.

They sent the team to two separate airports.

They sent a decoy team and lo and behold, Loyola was warming up and they didn't even know if Mississippi State was going to play.

So March 15th, there's a famous handshake and now forever basketball was changed on March 15th, 1963.

9:34

And this what's called historic.

They call it the Game of Change.

Sure.

No, I love it the.

Story had never been told.

I love it on a few levels.

I think the 1st is because a lot of times for myself, I grew up in 1993 so I've lived in an integrated society.

9:53

When I'm taught about these kinds of things in school and people who come after me, it's thought of as this nebulous, oh that was a before time.

But a lot of people from the story are still alive today and to see how they told the story and how they got involved I thought was really powerful.

10:09

From your own personal background, what made you motivated to help tell this story, and why was this project important to you?

That's a that's a great point.

This is the single greatest story in my leadership journey bar none.

And the reason is, and I got a little picture here, this is the 1962 team.

10:30

That handsome guy #32.

That's my father.

So growing up as a kid I thought things were normal.

My father went after Loyola, went on to be an attorney, moved back to our our small farm community, which was white, a white rural farm community.

10:49

But there was a neighboring black community and my dad was a lawyer for that community.

So I grew up often times getting his pickup truck and we would roll into a community called Spencer Sharples.

And my dad was the lawyer for that community.

Now I thought that was normal because I didn't know any different.

11:05

But as I got a little bit older, I'm like, I asked my mom, what's this all about?

And she's like, well, your dad was part of this team and it changed his lens on life.

I don't know if my dad would have saw that community, right?

He might have just went right back.

11:21

But because he was part of that community.

And that's why I believe in the power of story as he became the lawyer, because he felt like they didn't have representation and he saw that as wrong.

And so he became a pillar in that community and he put that story into my life, right.

11:41

And so I started seeing that.

And after I moved to Chicago, I was fortunate enough to be a coach in the near West Little League on the West side of Chicago.

And I, because I saw the injustice there.

I wanted to I wanted to participate you know in serving you know this community that was underserved and and hopefully be a light in that community and support this community.

12:05

And then as I got older and and I started growing my DNI journey I got to participate and in in a program and it was a white men as full diversity partners and I thought I really understood diversity and equity inclusion Oh my gosh I was humbled.

12:25

I thought all these life experiences I had would you know my dad played on this team like I get it.

I was, I was far from getting it.

And that that set me on another journey.

And then I was, I was sitting in this very office one day and I was a new managing partner, you know, was chosen as the stewardess firm.

12:47

And I was looking over the city and for some reason this picture, I locked in on this picture, I was thinking about it and I locked in on the coach and I was like, why did he do it?

Why did he play the five best?

Did he do it?

13:03

Because it was right?

Or did he do it because he wanted to win?

And then this calmness came over me And this is like, well, what if doing what is right is winning, and winning is doing what is right?

They're not mutually exclusive.

13:21

They're one in the same.

I love that.

I absolutely love it, especially because I I have a note.

I took notes because I wanted to make sure I hit on things that matter to me.

I took a note that said some of the players in the documentary said that they didn't even think the coach really wanted to be a civil rights leader.

13:37

You just wanted to win games.

And what I took away from that was kind of like what you just said.

But you know, sometimes you do the right thing for your own selfish reason, but doing the right thing ends up having the largest impact anyway.

So I almost had this thought of does it really matter whether or not he wanted to be the civil rights leader?

13:57

What he did is he pushed against rules that created opportunity for other people.

And I think personally, this just always been my own personal idea.

Is that racism is typically been negative on people's economic situation.

14:14

So you talk about Mississippi.

This is a state that prior to abolishing slavery had the 5th best economy in the country and since then has been towards the bottom, if not the worst performing economy ever since.

There's something that says when you don't give everybody the same opportunity to succeed as a whole, you will be punished.

14:34

So to me, I kind of took this lesson.

Inclusions in everybody's best interest, whether or not you you're this radical or forward thinking leader, if you just do the right thing, it's going to make a huge impact anyway.

I love what you're saying they.

And to go back to the coach, he is a very complicated figure.

14:53

And you'll see that in the film.

When when you see that film and it's going to be on CBS on April 2nd, it's going to stream on Paramount.

Plus there'll be, you know, we've had over 150 universities around the country or screening the film.

You're going to see the complicated nature of this entire story.

15:10

But what I realized in that moment, Nate, is that when I talk about doing what is right is winning, and winning is doing what is right.

Like we have privilege.

I have privilege.

And as a leader and as a leader at Northwestern Mutual, it's my, you know, what I'm supposed to do is use my privilege in an honorable way.

15:33

Yep.

And that's what you know.

You and I have talked about that often.

Is like using your privilege in an honorable way.

Absolutely.

And it's and it's all about the power of the end versus the tyranny of the OR.

And I think that's where people get all caught up in diversity, equity, inclusion.

15:48

It's like, Oh my gosh, this is less for me.

It's like, no, we're talking about making the pie larger.

You might get a smaller piece, but it's of a much larger piece of pie when in our world, right.

In our world we bring financial security to families.

16:04

That's what we do, right.

So it it's not only, it's not even introducing our, excuse me, introducing, we do financial security better than anybody on the planet, right.

So we're going to introduce and provide that gift of financial security to communities that don't know us, but we're also and we're going to strengthen communities that already know us, right.

16:30

So it's this power of the and versus the tyranny of the OR where I think people get all caught up in this thing.

Absolutely.

And that's to your point.

Inclusion is about the and.

Yes.

Well, in the best, the best educational description of DEI to me was the idea of diversity is getting people in the room, inclusion is allowing people's voices to be heard, and equity is giving them a stake in the decisions that get made.

17:02

And to that point, I don't hear anything about discrimination or having to pull somebody else down.

I just hear it's opening yourself to more voices.

That's that's what I've I've loved about the environment at Northwestern Mutual.

And it's what I, I think this, this story was the perfect vehicle to kind of tell that story going back to like the nuts and bolts of how you actually got involved.

17:26

How does somebody who's the managing partner of a financial service firm connect with help fund help coordinate a production of a huge motion like motion picture?

Yeah, that that's a great question.

Well, first of all, I have to start with this, I believe in a term called life by design, not by default.

17:47

And that the good news for you and I, Nate, and people in our career is that our career is an enabler to live life by design.

So it's like, OK, well, what does that mean?

Well, this is the kind of husband I want to be and this kind of father I want to be.

This is the kind of leader I want to be.

18:04

This is how I want to help clients.

This is how I want to be involved in the community.

So Loyola went to the Final Four a few years back, and I think it was 2018 in this story about the 63 team started to catch buzz.

18:20

People like Clark Kellogg, people like Charles Barkley, like, how do Kenny Smith later?

Like, how do we not know this story?

Like, we're basketball.

Like, how do we not know this story?

And so CBS is starting to talk about it half time in the Final Four.

And for years I was telling Loyola, we've got to make a film.

18:38

We have to make a film about this.

But like you said, how do you even go about making a film?

And so I was at I took my son Christian, his his basketball coach, to the Big 10 championship game and it was Michigan, Michigan State.

18:53

And he's like, man, why are you such a loyal fan?

I told him about the game of change.

I told him about my father's involvement, how this story changed my lens as a leader, single, greatest moment.

And I always throw out there because I'm always a very curious person.

I think a big part of being a leader is being curious.

19:11

I'm like, Can you believe ESPN has never done a 30 for 30 on this?

Can you believe there's never made a major documentary about this?

And he's like Corey, I have a good friend that's made 2:30 for 30s for ESPN.

19:26

And I was like, really is.

He A.

Good friend or just somebody, you know, He's like, yeah.

And so after a little back and forth and I had to nudge him pretty hard, I'm like send him a text.

He's like Corey.

He's like a major, you know, he's a major director.

19:44

His wife is producing Taylor Swift's documentary right now.

Like he's big time.

He's not going to be interested in your little old idea.

He gets pitched like two or three ideas a day.

And lo and behold, he sent him a text and he hit him right back with a text and he said put have him put my number in his phone and he may hear from me.

20:04

About a week later, I look on my phone, my phone rings, and it's Patrick Creedon, award-winning documentary director.

And he's like, hey, let's talk about this.

And after about two hours he said the conversation was be a Max 15 minutes.

And he warned me not to get my hopes up after 2 hours.

20:21

You said, man, if what you're telling me is true, this is like a needle in a haystack.

But I have a hard time believing you.

Sure, there's a lot of elements that are fantastic.

Yeah, there's.

I mean, you've seen the film.

I mean, there's so many elements.

He's like, I have a hard time believing what you're telling me is true, because the fact that there's never been a major documentary done about this is crazy.

20:44

Oh, sure.

Well, and one of the things I heard in that process, you don't live in the space of making films, but you had a great idea and you had the power of your network and you had the courage to ask for help and the persistency to follow through.

21:00

I think those those are traits that got you to where you're at today.

And that's what pushes the ball forward for what we are working on in terms of how we're trying to address diversity and inequality and and specifically wealth inequality.

One of the the things in the movie that I think a lot of people were surprised to know personally, I wasn't.

21:21

But to know how racist it was in Chicago, that there's a quote from Martin Luther King Junior where he says Chicago, he saw some of the worst race riots in the entire country right here in Chicago.

So where where people think we have this liberal tolerant incredible society, there were all actually a lot of really not so good things going on.

21:44

I know we're we're being a an example by setting up an office in Hyde Park.

We're doing other things to make our presence known on the South side.

I have clients throughout the South and West side.

What specifically happened at Northwestern Mutual that made us say as a company we want to address diversity and racial wealth inequality as a as a goal and and what are we doing to actually work on that goal?

22:10

Yeah, that's a that's a great question.

First of all, when I when I had that moment you know and I can talk specifically to Chicago, but you know globally Northwestern Mutual is doing a tremendous amount of things.

They they've created a state sustained action for racial equality Task force led by our CEO.

22:33

I don't know how many CE OS are leading that and it has four specific areas.

They've created an incubator for minority owned businesses.

A lot of, you know a lot of a lot of African Americans specifically have trouble raising capital.

22:54

So we've created an incubator for that here at the local level.

We launched a vision, it's I think it starts with vision.

We we created a vision in our vision statement.

There's three components to this to be a firm of enduring firms reflecting the communities we serve, multiplying our impact and influence.

23:14

So it's first it starts with vision and then you've got to take the vision and then like what strategies are you going to put around that vision.

And so we've partnered with organizations like the Greenwood Project who are the future face of finance.

We have an office in Hyde Park.

23:30

We have our own diversity, equity, inclusion organization.

We are leveraging the Loyola project's just a tool.

Let's just be clear, right?

The Loyola project in Northwestern Mutual, getting behind the Loyola project shows that we're not interested in being part of the conversation.

23:47

We want to lead the conversation and that's what the film allows us to do, is go into communities and have talk backs.

So those are the things, some of the things that we're doing.

I'm proud to say that twelve of our top 22 advisors we launched this vision five years ago are women or people of color now.

24:08

When I started 20 years ago, that wasn't the case.

Now I'm not declaring victory here, OK?

But our intentionality around this has LED us to the point where twelve of our top 22 advisors under 5 or women or people of color.

Now you might say, OK, but how productive are they?

24:25

We ranking productivity out of 76 offices the country, one or two in the three most important categories for advisors under 5, and 12 of the 22 are women or people of color.

Now, Nate, we have stumbled on that journey, but we are committed to stumbling forward and we've made a lot of mistakes.

24:45

We were recruiting diversity, but we weren't as inclusive as if we need to be.

So we've worked really, really hard over the last five years to do that because we know, you know, for every $100 of wealth in white America, it's $5.00 of wealth in black America.

That's that's how large the discrepancy is.

25:03

And here we are at Northwestern Mutual.

We have this amazing toolbox how to deliver financial security, but we're not reaching.

So we know our advisors and our leaders must reflect the community.

So those are some of the things that we're doing on this journey.

25:21

Does that answer your question?

Oh, totally, perfectly.

I mean, we so we had a call yesterday where we were talking about our 1872 leadership project and one of the things that I loved about our our video about it was you have to see it to be it.

25:38

You can't really, you can't see from the angle my camera right now.

But above me is actually a picture of The Notorious B.I.G and who you can see is Kobe.

Those two are really important to me.

But Biggie has a line where he says like and I correct.

25:55

I'm paraphrasing, but he says either you you get a jump shot or you sell crack rock.

And the idea was all he saw growing up as you play basketball or you sell drugs.

And he wasn't good at basketball, so he sold drugs a long time.

The conversation has been in the black community.

If you want to make it, you have to become an entertainer of some kind.

26:13

What I love is by partnering with organizations like the Greenwood Project, we've created a direct pipeline to talent that have often been overlooked or haven't seen it play out to do a thing that's often considered something for old white men.

26:28

And in our office, we have a lot of young people of all kinds of color and a lot of women that I think we're We've provided a real opportunity to show a whole generation of kids another thing they can do be and succeed in that will serve a community and elevate everyone collectively.

26:47

I I love what you're saying, Nate.

In fact, to your point, here's what I believe.

You know, like people talk.

So you and I are part of a historic organization, right?

Three of the greatest innovations in financial services were birthed in our walls, right?

27:05

Of of the organization that we are so blessed to be a part of.

People always say, OK, well and there was people that that led those innovations and people say, OK Corey, what do you think?

You know your innovation collectively with your team's going to be.

27:21

And I tell people they're like, oh, is it technology, is it this is it that I go.

The greatest innovation of our time will be, and I believe our mark will be, is that we reflect the communities we serve.

What will be any greater innovation of that?

Because if you reflect the communities, then you're driving financial security and closing the wealth gap.

27:42

So to me, the greatest innovation of our time will be reflecting the communities we serve.

What could be a greater innovation than reflecting the city of Chicago?

Because then we're driving, then we're creating financial security across our city.

27:58

So to me, like when you say you can't be what you can't see, right?

Some people see windows, some people see mirrors.

We're trying to create more, right?

We're trying to create more mirrors.

And that's one of the reasons we want to go, wanted to go to Hyde Park.

We're like, hey, if we're really serious, how can you say you're serious about the black community and wealth and not be in Hyde Park, which is the epicenter of black commerce and arts and business in the city of Chicago?

28:24

You can't sold that.

Got to be there.

I was just on the phone with someone I was calling a business owner I know from an incubator I went through with my marketing company and we're chatting and she goes, you know, I heard you're you're doing financial planning now I I have an advisor at Northwestern Mutual.

28:42

Awesome.

And we're talking a little bit more and I say did, did you know we're opening an office in Hyde Park?

And she was thrilled to hear that because she specializes in real estate in the surrounding communities.

So I told her I'm having an event in May and she said send me an invite, I'll be there.

So just from one phone call to hear how excited someone was to know we have a presence is huge.

29:03

I think we're really just at the tip of the iceberg of something big here.

I I know that we've talked a lot about the project as a, as a tool.

We've talked about, you know, what are we specifically doing to work on on the wealth gap.

One of the things I'd love to know is really what your structure is for creating goals and what what some of your goals actually look like.

29:26

I know goals are a huge part of our culture, and I love to talk to my guests about what they're actively working on as a tangible goal.

Yeah, that's a great.

That's a great question.

Well, first of all, it starts with vision, right.

So one of the things that I think is that first of all, I believe in a design statement.

29:46

I want to start with that.

You know, we talked about living life by design, not by default is like what do you, what is the future state you're looking for?

And I think you know, Nate, you know this, the great thing about the work we do is you get to reinvent yourself three to five years every three to five years in this business, which is really cool.

30:04

So living life by design, it starts with that is understanding the life you want to create and all the roles, right.

So it's not just, you know, you talked about goals and I'm talking about what not just business, you know, it's got to be goals on those roles in your life.

So for me that's, you know, this kind of husband I want to be, this kind of father I want to be a person of faith.

30:23

I want to be, this is what I want to do in the business and what I want to create.

So first of all, it starts with that, and then you got to start breaking those goals down.

And one of the concepts I talk a lot about is this concept of a microscope and a telescope.

30:40

And you've heard me talk about this.

Great leaders carry both.

And so let's talk about that telescope, right?

That's a vision.

Those are the things that you want.

Sometimes I talk about the telescope, that you can have a long range telescope.

So you maybe got these big audacious goals out there, but then you got to have a secondary lens where you kind of pull that lens back in and maybe it's two to three years and some things that you want to accomplish.

31:02

So that's the telescope.

The microscope to me is people ask me all the time, Corey, how did you become the managing partner?

Like, gosh, I wish I had something cool to tell you, but it was literally stacking wins, daily wins on top of each other, right?

31:19

It's just because, you know, a week or a month goal, like you got to have those goals and numbers and targets to hit and tangible things to do, but you got to break it down.

And and to me it's like day at a time.

Well, if I have the vision in the telescope and I know what I need to get done today, just today, like, I only feel like I have enough energy to execute on today and I can.

31:42

I'm clear on what my goals are for the day, those target measures, those tangibles that I can put my head on the pill at night and say, you know what, I'm one step closer to the vision.

But I think where people get into trouble, Nate, around goal setting is they don't carry a telescope and a microscope on their journey.

31:59

They only carry one.

Right.

So I see it all the time.

I got people with the microscope.

I'm like, oh, I'm going to do this.

And they wake up and go, why am I doing this again?

Right.

And then you got the people that just carry the telescope and it's like, oh, their head's in the clouds and get all these big ideas.

32:16

And we know people like that, right?

But it's the person that can put the telescope and the microscope in their pocket on the journey.

At the same time, those are the people.

And I'm.

I have a good fortune to be around a lot of top leaders, right?

32:33

Really good fortune to have relationships, you know, with with a lot of incredible leaders.

You know, I was with one of our ex president, you know, old presidents 41, I was with his, his brother-in-law and and we, you know, we're talking, it's very clear that great leaders carry both a telescope and a microscope on their journey.

32:59

And so hopefully that gives people, you know, and it's just stacking those daily wins.

It's like, I don't even know.

I just remember that I was just focused on winning the day.

And there's one other concept that I want to share that a great mentor, my John Mcteague, my predecessor predecessor told me, and he told me this, and I believe this to be true.

33:18

Be great where you're at and the next great opportunity will always present itself.

And if you're not sure what it means to be great where you're at, ask somebody.

Ask your mentor as somebody you work with, what is it truly naming great where you're at in the current season, knowing that if you are, great where you're at, trusting that that next great opportunity will always present itself.

33:41

Sure does.

That help?

Absolutely.

I I.

So I'm involved in a variety of organizations where I get to mentor people.

And what I always feel like makes the strongest organizations are places where you have somebody to look ahead at as an example of where you can go.

33:58

And you have somebody who's coming up behind you and you're an example for them for how to do it.

And what I find is that the example of where I can go, that's where I'm learning.

And where I'm providing the example is where I show myself how much I've actually learned.

And being this in the middle creates like this almost forced humility where you know exactly who you are and what you're capable of doing.

34:22

So when I when I think about that, sometimes I mentor people and I talk about if you want to get ahead in life, you have to think about physics.

In physics we have like X right, your position in time and then you have velocity, which measures your change in position.

34:39

And then we have acceleration, which measures how quickly your velocity changes.

So what happens?

For most people, they come into a job wanting to be in a higher role and they just do the bare minimum and they look around and they say why am I not getting promoted?

But the person who succeeds in an organization comes in and they work to learn so quickly their velocity is so rapid, the acceleration happens where now they have so much energy built up, there is no choice but for them to move to a new position.

35:07

I always try and figure out how can I be that way and I think you've created a culture that really enables that.

Yes.

Well, I appreciate you saying that.

And I love what you're saying because I believe in both of those concepts too, right.

So we, you know the concept of when I've seen people grow the most, they have three relationships in their life, they're running with somebody, right.

35:30

They're pouring into someone and then there's someone pouring into them.

So if you're wondering why you're not growing as a person, to your point, if you don't have all three of those relationships, you're not going to maximize your growth or you're, you know, you're not going to maximize that curve to accelerate to move up.

35:49

And the other thing too is just the law of just that like you're talking about this little incremental growth.

Like in our business, one of our measurements is you know the, you know, how do we measure impact in our business?

Well, we've got to see people, right.

So what if I'm able to go out and impact four people's lives a day versus 3 and I build that habit early in my career like, OK, well that's just one extra.

36:12

Yeah but one extra and you're working 20 days in a month that's 20 extra in a month 1A year that's 240 in four years that's almost 1000 extra people that you had the opportunity impact that little little and you stack that it's just amazing.

36:31

So I think we get too caught up and all these like oh you know all these there is just true and tried like you said physics where it just it just is and you just got to buy into it and try to quit beating around the Bush and trying to take the easy route.

36:49

Yeah, right.

I'm with you on that.

And I as somebody who comes from having already built a business, when I was working with my coach Kelsey, she goes, you know, going into this, I was a little worried about working with you because sometimes business owners think they have it all figured out.

37:05

But you came in and you were willing to learn and and see what has worked for other people.

And I just think that willingness and open mindedness are really core principles of of both.

When you think about in your your role, you're obviously like the the top when it comes to our organization, you're the head, but you surround yourself with an incredible team.

37:27

Who are you really getting poured into from and how do you continue to to make sure there's somebody above to look up to and take to receive leadership from?

Oh, that's that's, that's a great question.

So, so I would say there's a couple groups of people.

37:45

Number number one, I have a couple, I'd say individuals at like my leadership level that they're like my personal Board of directors.

Now one of the keys though with these individuals because you are so like for me, I am so busy at 4, you know, 4 kids running a large organization.

38:07

I have to schedule time with those individuals, so it's in my calendar to make sure that they're filling my cup and I'm filling their cup.

So I have a couple individuals like that, all right?

I have a couple coaches that I work closely with and they're constantly pouring into me and not just business coaches, but just kind of life coaches.

38:31

And so I've constantly have a couple of those relationships in my life.

My predecessor or excuse me, that you know, the gentleman that I took over for John Mcteague and others, I'm always reaching up to just because leadership can be lonely, you know, leadership can be very lonely.

38:52

And so I'm constantly reaching up to people and there's there's a, there's a group of individuals that have my role in the largest cities around the country, you know, places like Dallas and New York City and LA.

We have, we're in study groups together and we have to report and we share everything, you know, from our finances to what's going on in our families to what's working well in our business to what's not working well.

39:18

And we be transparent, we share best practices.

So making sure that you have those and it just having those folks in your life and having it set up, having it scheduled is really, really, really critical.

Sure.

39:34

Well, I mean what I'm I'm hearing there is that the learning and the growth never really stops.

It's just you might you might need new people to learn and grow with.

Yes, yeah, I I made that is so true.

I mean I think you know certain there's so many leaders out there.

39:51

We see him today, right, that they they're not leading well and we see it on the news every day.

We see leaders falling and I think it's because.

So a lot of things, they're not curious.

I'm you've got to be a very, very curious person.

40:07

Number one, they lack humility.

And you know I'm always learning like like you like I'm I'm asking you questions, Nate.

I'm trying to learn from you.

Like I'm just a very naturally curious person.

I think humility and curiosity is incredibly important.

40:25

This commitment to like I'm growing growth.

Like if you're not green and growing, you're dying, right.

I mean that's just, you know, there's no, you know, you climb the mountain, there's the next mountain to climb.

You know, you got to be one of the things I talk about is like, you know, you're not, you're not a a mountain climber, meaning very singular.

40:43

Like I'm trying to climb this mountain, you're a climber of mountains, right?

Which is there always will be that next mountain.

And that's what keeps life fun and energizing too, is being around, you know, like minded people, other leaders that that share the same values as you and values as alignment is huge as a leader, like you have to be around people that share your values.

41:06

That's another critical thought about being a leader.

Yeah, well, and to that there that brings up.

I know you're you're very busy and you've been very gracious to your time.

I've got two more questions I I'd be remiss if I didn't get to the first.

You've talked about a lot of qualities.

41:23

You've talked about a lot of things you've added to your life and in ways you've evolved.

It sounds like faith has been a cornerstone of your growth, and I know faith can be a very personal thing so you don't have to go into too much depth, but talk to me about how your faith has changed and evolved over time and and what stayed the same.

41:43

That's a great question.

You know, faith sure is not a a straight line, but I think what your faith allows you to do is being rooted in your purpose, right?

And for me, like the vision for our firm is really it's really not about business.

42:02

It's really about boy, if this is true, then then it we we have no, we can't pick and choose the parts of our faith that we like.

It's not like, you know, you know some sort of Starbucks faith where you go and you, you know you get to pick exactly what you want your, you know, what you want your drink to look like.

42:21

And you know, I'm talking about you hear so much, people walk in, but you know, you got to be all in on it, right?

You can't pick and choose.

And so for me, that just allows me to be rooted in the type of person and leader that I want to, that I desire to be.

42:38

And knowing that at the same time I'm not going to be perfect, you know, I'm going to fall short in each of one of those areas and just being OK with that, thank goodness for grace is that.

But at the same time, it's giving me so much clarity as I lead, you know, lead my family as I lead our organization.

42:57

And even the outside things I get involved in like the Loyola Project, like to me that's, you know, that's about justice and equality, right.

And so that's a big part of my faith is is, you know, you know, as a Christian, my beliefs, they're in alignment with justice and equality.

43:16

It's right there in the book.

It's right there.

It's not red.

It's not blue.

It's a third way.

So it allows me to lack into clarity about my purpose.

And so I just think over time, if you're serious about that part of your life that will just, you know, constantly keep you rooted.

43:37

You know, there's a picture behind me of roots and and and it's really cool.

Those are, you know, there's kind of like the Chicago skyline there.

And it's like the deeper your roots are and the more this organization can amplify you know, and make a difference over the over the city skyline.

43:56

So I don't know if we've ever talked about that Nate, but that's why that's here.

And so I think that's the biggest thing is your roots get deeper over time if you're serious about that part of your life.

I love that.

That's a phenomenal answer and that makes sense.

I I see that I found that even in this first year.

44:13

For me, my faith has been tested often of, you know, first it was figuring out will I be good at this And then it was will this be good for me.

And then it was will this be something that I can maintain while my stamina, you know keep up.

44:32

And then it became, well how can I do this the most authentic.

And so it's it's almost like every time I ran into a a stumbling block I went back to basics back to my core principles.

I I came to my foundation and then I I asked for help and I was able to move through it and then I experienced a period of blitz for a while and and then another a new challenge came.

44:55

So I I I just love hearing that and I think the roots need to grow deeper.

My last question for you, Corey.

Knowing that we live a life by design and that we create the life we attract, who are some people that you want to connect with who you haven't, Whether there are inspirational figures for you personally or their leaders you think can help further this mission, but let's put that out into the universe.

45:18

Who are you looking to connect with that you you haven't yet?

Wow, Nate, that is a great question.

Wow, that that's a that's a that's a fascinating question.

45:34

Holy cow here.

Who am I looking to connect with right now?

You know I'm I'm I'm definitely I'm definitely intrigued by team sports and I'm I'm I'm the Co chair of the coaches versus cancer golf outing and there are some really people like Roy Williams legendary basketball coaches that are involved in that Tubby Smith, Jim Bayheim.

46:08

I'm really, really intrigued to meet them and learn about you know just team and culture and you know you win a final four like you know Roy Williams went from Kansas to to to North Carolina.

46:25

So to me right now, that's incredibly intriguing.

You know, I have good fortune of, of building a relationship with our CEO, John Schlipsky and just getting to know John better because we have such great values alignment and I mean somebody that lives out his faith, his family and his, his firm.

46:46

And so getting to know John Moore has been really amazing because I mean I just remember things he was talking about 10 years ago and people's eyes were glazing over and he's like you know he's now one of the top you know CEOs in the in the world.

47:02

I've had a chance to get to know John Rogers a little bit who is the largest black money manager United States and we've started to build a relationship and a partnership and so that's that's that's been really fun but boy I I got honestly I got to I got to think about that a little bit more I mean that is an amazing question but those are some of the those are some of the folks that that come to mind I'm I'm so grateful through our work with the Loyola project we've had the opportunity to really you know I I this has been really neat because I think it's given us an opportunity to show that we're leading the conversation and when people see you leading something that's so important to the city of Chicago it's opened a lot of doors to connect with a lot of new folks in the city.

47:54

So I'm really excited about sitting down and thinking about who are those folks?

Oh gosh man, that's just an awesome question mate.

How about you?

Thank you.

Is there?

Anybody in your list?

You know my list.

That's it.

Thank you for turning that question back on to me.

48:10

I'd say who I'm really fascinated about connecting with are often times people who I think are asking, asking questions and giving a platform to interesting people.

Like, to me, one of the most fascinating people in the world right now is Joe Rogan.

48:30

Not just 'cause he went from Stoner comedian running, you know, a trial with his friends, accidentally turned it into the biggest podcast in the world.

But somebody who.

I think if you sit down and listen to what they're saying and you've seen their actions, it's impossible to miss their kindness and their love for people.

48:50

But when taken out of context, you can have terrible opinions of without ever having listened to a single minute.

So he's a person who I think has really been a role model of mine on, you know, he's a lifelong martial artist.

I grew up practicing martial arts from 5:00 to about 19.

49:07

Somebody who is multidisciplinarian, always working on learning new things and just wants to have interesting conversations with people to get to know who they really are, doesn't want to put out the click bait that's going to get the most views, but wants to get to the core of who they are.

49:25

So people like that fascinate me.

Somebody he just had on as his guest Assad guru.

I I never heard like specifically who he was.

I I follow a different yogic tradition that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar leads through the Art of Living Foundation.

49:43

And I I had the privilege of meeting him and it was life changing.

So I'd love to meet Sadhguru because he's doing some things right now addressing soil and addressing our agriculture system that I studied agriculture and horticulture at Clemson.

So when I when I dropped out of school, I realized I'm not going to make the impact with a degree.

50:03

I'm going to make the impact by growing a business, building connections and being able to open doors for other people.

So those those two people definitely come to mind and within Chicago, I'm not sure who it is I need to meet, but I need to meet with somebody who can help me with my long term vision, which is turning a lot of land that's currently underutilized into whether it's indoor or outdoor farming facilities and creating what could essentially be like the Starbucks of local fresh food and smoothies in.

50:38

The food deserts.

Yes.

So IA little, like a lot of people don't know this about me, but I I learned about urban agriculture as a concept in college.

I learned about how do you, how do you take an area that's not being properly utilized and revitalize it and specifically revitalize it with nutrition and with my wife's family?

51:01

Coming from the West side, I used to work on the West side.

I used to work on Lake in between Cicero and Pulaski.

And I remember I went for my interview there and I got there like an hour early and I'm like, let me stop to get somewhere, somewhere to get some food.

And the only place to eat was either the liquor store or a hot dog shack.

51:18

And I realized that isn't just, isn't just the thing I could say is a value of mine.

Like if I don't contribute to that in some meaningful way while I'm on this earth, I failed.

Because it's a problem I can easily see and I want to meet the people who can help me solve it.

51:35

So that's that's probably one of my biggest aspirations.

Well, I I, you know, I think I know somebody should talk to.

We can talk about that afterwards.

But I definitely know somebody that you should be talking to.

You know, the other person is that I've gotten to know recently is a woman by the name of Kathy Engelberg.

She is the WNBA commissioner.

51:53

And you might say, gosh, Corey, a lot of your stuff revolves around sports.

But a lot of times sports lead the way, like the Loyola project, that Loyola team, they, they, they, they they created change.

They're often times on the forefront of change and to see what she's done and we have similar backgrounds.

52:12

She was at Deloitte, I started Arthur Andersen.

She is an amazing leader and to see what she's done, you know in in her space and leadership, it's just she's out there in the forefront.

So I like to, I like to talk to leaders that have they're out there and in front a little bit, you know what I mean?

52:29

And I feel like sports, you know, sports and entertainment tend to be two of those areas that are a little bit further out on the forefront.

Yeah.

Well, I think they have to be.

I mean, by nature, what they're designed for is the people who are in them to and sharpen each other and empower each other to kind of push the conversation, become the best.

52:50

But they're also some of the biggest mass culture venues.

And if you're going to be mass culture, you have to make yourself mass accessible.

I think like what the NBA has done over the last five years has been incredible because they realize that their consumer base is not the same as the NF LS consumer base and their response to things needs to look much different.

53:11

And that's that's a thing that you wouldn't have seen in pro sports though the way they addressed certain issues over the last five years that that they've really taken charge of.

You're you're so spot on me.

That's why I like hanging out with you.

You're way smarter.

You're way smarter than I am, man.

53:27

I love it.

I I I love what you have to say.

You're amazing, man.

I wouldn't.

Necessarily say that together?

I'm grateful we got to spend the time.

What can people do to learn more about you, to follow what we're doing at NMCI mean, talk to us about how they should take this conversation and push the ball forward.

53:45

Yeah, I think you know what I mean, we have a a strong presence on LinkedIn.

I think it kind of keeps you updated on our firm's journey in the work we're trying to do.

I think it gives you a good sense of our culture, our vision, what we're building together, Nate, you and I and the others.

54:02

So I think that's that's probably a tremendous way to follow us and then also to you can see some of the work and partnerships we have.

So if you believe in our values and what we're trying to do and you'll, you'll get a really strong sense of that whether it's you know, leadership or our our support of childhood cancer or our work in underserved communities and our work around closing the wealth gap and and and our our commitment to to developing people.

54:32

You'll get a strong sense of that.

I think that's probably the number one venue to follow us on.

Awesome.

Well, if you guys, you guys found value in this conversation as always like and subscribe so you could hear more great conversations.

But please go follow Corey.

54:48

I'll include some links in the description and see what we're building at Northwestern Mutual Chicago.

Awesome, Nate.

You're a great leader, man.

Still grateful that we're on this journey together.

Likewise, it's been a pleasure to have you much love Corey.

Much love man, Appreciate you.