Episode 4 LatinX: From Entrepreneur to Education Scholar

Stephen Manassas, Associate Vice Chancellor of Technology and Business Strategy Programs for the City Colleges of Chicago, discusses the importance of agility and adaptability in leadership, particularly in the post-pandemic landscape. He emphasizes the need for confidence and the three Cs of leadership: confidence, courage, and another one he can't remember. Stephen's mission is to connect students, particularly those of color and from underrepresented areas, with technology and business careers to bring equity to the workforce. He also highlights the significance of communication and employee motivation in fostering innovation. Stephen shares his journey from being an entrepreneur in the financial leasing industry to his current role in higher education, driven by the opportunity to provide paths and careers for students. He stresses the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce, particularly in the tech industry, and the need for education and partnerships to c I'm your host, Laura Perez-Ehrhardt. Welcome to Coaching Honest Presents Podcast, a part of the ECS Network. I'm a certified executive coach, and I've been coaching executive and senior leaders for a couple of decades. This is the Art of Leadership series, and this is where I invite leaders from around the globe, from both public and private sectors, to discuss and share their personal career growth and journeys. Today, we're talking to Stephen Manassas, who considers himself an academic entrepreneur, and as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Technology and Business Strategy Programs for the City Colleges of Chicago, one of the largest community college districts in the country, with seven colleges and over 65,000 students, of which 65% are students of color and from underrepresented areas of the city. Stephen is currently creating technology programs that align with the current Chicago and national workforce tech ecosystem. The need for people of color, women, and non-binary in technology and business is essential to close gaps of equality in the current tech and business workforce. Stephen's mission is connecting these students with careers that will bring equity to the overall tech and business workforce ecosystem. How great is that? So Stephen, I'm thrilled to have you here with me as my guest. Thank you so much. So let's get right down to it, and let's talk about your career journey and your development over time as a leader. The pandemic has created obstacles, and it's also created a whole new set of opportunities in how we relate to others, how we engage, how we work, and even how we lead. So let's talk about the kind of confidence you need to check to lead in today's landscape post-pandemic. First of all, thank you very much, Laura, for bringing me on to your podcast. Talk a little bit about, yeah, leadership and ways that many of us have coped with moving ourselves forward and, you know, from a personal leadership standpoint. But absolutely, you know, the pandemic has brought about changes. We all, you know, one of the main attributes of a leader is agility and adaptability, as most of us know. But, you know, staying on the cutting edge as a leader, you have to be adaptable, you know, so from that perspective. And you mentioned the word confidence. There's, let me see if I can remember these. There's the three Cs of leadership. Confidence is one of them, courage, and I forget the other one off the top of my head. But there are three Cs. And having that confidence to be agile, an environment that may be unstable, to create that stability for those you're working with and those that look toward you in providing them with a view or a vision. I like the word that you're using, sorry, Stephen, about agility, because, you know, emotional agility, right? The pandemic that the, you know, challenges that pandemic grew to the entire world, you know, agility is, you know, having that agility, that emotional agility is definitely one of the skill sets that I think that leaderships really need to hone in on. Yeah, totally. Yeah, you know, and that's why I kind of mentioned it, you know, in relation to what you mentioned, obstacles and opportunities. Yeah, agility and adaptability are really key points in a leader. And, you know, from my perspective, you know, on my journey, I've had to be adaptable to the economic environments that this ever-changing world throws us all in. And having that open mindset of taking those steps, some are risky, and, you know, leaders have to take that risky step. But, you know, in a calculated way, for the most part, I think it's good to take those risky steps. But sometimes, you know, you just go for it and you make that jump and you have to be agile. But, you know, being agile, like we're talking about, and having that adaptability aspect of leadership creates innovation. And I think through this pandemic, we've seen a lot of creativity and innovation, you know, most illustrated, you know, with the work-from-home aspect of things. And as a leader, how do you adapt to that and still keep your followers or your team together in a work-from-home environment? So these are challenges, I think, that a lot of leaders, yourself, myself, and others that we work with on a day-to-day basis have to contend with, so for sure. Oh, absolutely. And so you're talking about agility, you're talking about creativity and innovation. Yeah, I agree with you. Post-pandemic and even during the pandemic, it really did. I'm just going to say the word force, it forced people to really come out of their shell, especially those that are maybe not so out there with innovation, but the creativity of pulling and drawing from, you know, what's inside of people and what they can do differently, even thinking smart and, you know, in a different way. Pandemic, that's why I started out saying that the pandemic, not only it gave us obstacles, but it's definitely given us many different opportunities of how we lead and how we work today. You're talking about innovation, and I think as a leader, that's really important to keep people inspired. What do you do to empower your faculty and how do you encourage innovation? Yeah, wow, loaded question, but a good question. So power, employee motivation, really key aspects. You know, there are studies done that to keep people motivated and boosting their morale is about keeping about one third of your staff invested in the organization or task that they're looking at. Obviously, you know, there's a financial aspect of it, but, you know, keeping your staff motivated is, you know, a huge, huge part. And, you know, how right now, as far as motivation, I oversee academic programs and work with many, many faculty from different locations within the city of Chicago. In order to keep them sort of intertwined with what we're doing or what my office is doing is, you know, quite simply, communication. I think to motivate employees or your team, you have to keep that flow of communication going. So many times organizations just move ahead and just assume that, oh, this is a better way to do it. But they really didn't ask deep down, even maybe go into the weeds and ask, hey, would this pathway be more advantageous for what we're looking to do and get that feedback. So that investment, I think, is really critical in employee motivation, for sure. You hit the nail on the head. Communication part of this is crucial to engaging staff. We don't engage them if we don't ask them those provocative questions. Like you said, how do we move forward with this? What do we need to do to look, to lean into your people, to provoke thought so they can come forward in a meaningful way and share their thoughts, their perspective. As leaders, we don't have all the answers. And I love the fact that you're pointing out that communication is one of the most crucial key components here to encourage innovation and empower your staff. Absolutely. I love it. So I'm curious. Yeah. Let's talk about your path, the path that you followed to reach your associate vice chancellor. I know you've been in this role for several months now. Let's talk about that. And I also want to hear about what kind of support did you have to help you grow those leadership legs as you evolved in your career path? Yeah. You know, everybody's passed a journey, you know, and it's always really interesting to... I really enjoy hearing people's journeys and how they get there and where they want to go. It can be very inspiring. And I really utilize some other people's stories and pathways to facilitate some of the successes that I've encountered during my journey. And some of my...I stubbed my toe hundreds of times along the way. And that's going to definitely happen. Well, you know, just to kind of let you know, I'm a native Chicagoan and, you know, yep, yep, first-generation college graduate. So I grew up in a household where, yeah, where my dad, you know, he was from Mexico. He always knew that education was great. But, you know, really nobody went to college. I think I had an uncle that went to college for a few years and that was really about it. But the old college story, you know, we were very limited on funds. I went to community college, actually to one of the city colleges of Chicago here. You know, in Chicago, I attended and then moved on from there. And I tell you, it inspired me. So, yeah, Steven, you know, OK, so we're both Latinx. Right. And, you know, we're the first or second generation of, you know, family members who went to college. So you went from being a successful entrepreneur who started your own financial lease, leasing marketing business back in 1998. Is that right? Right, right. And to become the associate vice chancellor now, I'm curious, how did you do that and why? Yeah, again, adaptability, pivot, a little bit of research, look where the market trends are. All of this comes into play. When I graduated from Gonzaga University, I with a degree in public relations, I stumbled across an organization that did financial leasing for the trucking industry. I had no clue as a young, early graduate what the heck a financial lease was and didn't know what a class eight truck was, let alone the terminology of, you know, the trucking industry. But I learned rather quickly. And but when I was there, I saw an opportunity on the process on how to help on how to help small business because truckers aren't business owners and they're small business owners. But it's a specialty. It's a niche. And I worked for a manufacturing finance arm, Mack Trucks. It was Mack Financial. But there were a lot of independent truckers out there that needed funding. Long story short and going rapidly, I took what I learned from Mack Financial and look and from there and decided to go into the neighborhoods around Chicago and find small businesses like a panaderia or a bakery or a auto repair shop. These folks always need to upgrade their equipment and they need money and funding to keep their doors open. And most of these folks are either first generation business owners and these are cash businesses, dry cleaners, you go in for two bucks, start shirt, do my collars, do my cuffs. When they want to get a loan at their local B of A or their Chase or some FDIC registered banking institution, I would say nine out of ten times they're going to be turned down because they don't have the financial statements that are audited, their cash receipts, you know, banks don't look at look for that. They look for financial statements. They look for good credit. So I saw this as an opportunity to take what I learned from Mack Trucks and Mack Financial and develop a financial plan for these smaller and mid-sized companies and really grew that and found the funding. So basically my company, we were the intermediary or a broker. I would find funding from a bank. I would sort of guarantee that and then they would give me a buy rate of, let's say, commercial buy rate of seven or eight percent. And I would give the customer, my customer, looking for twenty thousand dollars in equipment acquisitions, maybe a 12 or 13 or 14 percent rate. So my for profit would be the difference between the bank and what I sell it for. Right. So that's what I did. But what I really enjoyed about it was I was helping small business where otherwise they might go out of business. Absolutely. You know, so I was making money, but I was helping neighborhood businesses. I was helping small entrepreneurs stay, keep their lights on, provide for their families. And that was really what really motivated me. So as an entrepreneur, you have to have something that motivates you to keep going. Not only from the financial aspect, but from your mission and what your vision is going to be. Yeah, that was exciting for me. But kind of getting back to your question, how did I get to be in the higher ed arena as an associate vice chancellor, providing for academic programs for sixty five thousand students? Big change from the marketing finance arena. That's a huge shift. Yeah, big shift. Well, as we all know, there was a big recession in twenty nine, twenty ten and whatnot, which affected not only the real estate, but anything connected with finance. So again, adaptability, transitions, pivots, being passionate, you know, looking at what you learned as as the owner of that company, Continental Financial. I started actually over the course of 12 years, I funded seventy five million dollars worth of acquisitions for small businesses in all 50 states. So there was a lot, a lot of little companies I kept alive. Right. But what I learned was a couple of things. They were always looking for a trained workforce. They couldn't get enough of mechanics. They couldn't get enough chefs in the kitchen. Right. So I looked at that and they say, well, that's education. I went back, I found a program at the University of Maryland that actually was a doctorate degree that specifically catered to community college administration. And since I came from a community college, I thought and realizing that niche market, you can really make an impact instead of being a generalist. For the most part, I decided to enroll in that program, sold my business, went back to graduate school and entered the community college arena. Wow. Had to start all over from the bottom as a director over the last decade, work myself up to where I'm at today. What a fantastic journey. Yeah. Talking about twists and turns and we know that career pathing is never a straight line. I mean, hence your story. There's a lot of twists and turns and there's times where we decide to turn a different corner, right? Try something completely new. Which takes me to my next question. So as I listen to you, some leaders are driven by heart and instinct. I want to hear about what drives you as a leader. In the space I'm in right now, what really drives me is giving opportunity to students like I was sitting in a classroom. And in those days, you had to sort of fend for yourself. But giving opportunity to a student like myself that's sitting in some classroom trying to figure it all out, whether you're 18 or 24 years old or even 32 years old, right? We're all students, but finding that or offering opportunity for some sort of path or a career to really that that really motivates me. And working with organizations that have that same mission and vision, developing their workforce and their human capital into a driving force of diversity, including people of color, and giving opportunity to those that may not have that career opportunity otherwise. That's what really drives me in working with those types of organizations that are sensitive to the to the workforce environment. And just towards students, they have more options in life, you know, with inflation and the current economic eco-environment that we're all living in right now. I was just talking to a friend of mine. When they get out of college, they had a great job at making $16,000 a year. And that was with an MBA, right? And that was good money. And, you know, right. Compared to now, they would be impoverished. So if we look at how much inflation has grown in the last 30 years, we need to really help each other as a community from an educational standpoint, from an employment standpoint, and from a corporate standpoint, really needs to step in and really assist all of us in working together to provide an economic, just to provide economic stability and careers and really help us as, I guess, as a country grow. Because it's so difficult now. It's utterly amazing. I can't understand really how even some folks are coping with where they're at in their lives. So if you and I can help them offer some alternatives and some steps forward and pathways through our connections, absolutely. That tickles my heart. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, it does literally take an entire village to really help others wherever they are. And there's so much more resources out there. So I know that even more so after the pandemic, diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace has just been really, really accentuated. You know, so it sounds like you take a lot of staff, deliberate steps to ensure that the college system, your teams are very diverse and inclusive, right? Right. What else do you have to share around that? What else do you see as important when it comes to equity, diversity and inclusion? Well, a really interesting question. So I'm in a couple of committees and there's some organizations here in Chicago that are really committed to, because I'm in a tech environment and, you know, and you're in the tech arena, you're in the Silicon Valley. So you probably hear this as well. You know, you know, Chicago is a tech hub, not, you know, maybe is large or well known as the Silicon Valley. But we have the Googles and we have some major players here as well. For sure. Yeah, but they all want a more diversified workforce, right? We understand that. But how do we do that? How do we get that black male that is on the southeast side of Chicago, you know, into an educational or a certification course that will get them a job in Google, per se, where, you know, they have no concept of even hopping on a bus and getting into downtown Chicago and putting on a sport coat and going for an interview. There's a lot of education that we have to do starting, you know, all the way in the K through 12 system. But, you know, even from a curriculum standpoint and developing and introducing this type of person to this type of organization, right, and it's a long path. There are organizations, there's an organization, they're nationwide. You probably have heard of them and probably have worked with them, Latinas in Tech. Yeah. You know, they're committed to bringing the Hispanic female and giving them opportunities within the tech industry where, jeez, I think only 2% of females in particular, maybe less than that, that are Hispanic are even in the tech arena as cybersecurity analysts or even, you know, entry-level tech folks. Working with organizations, getting their feel, assisting them, offering, listening to them and developing coursework and curriculum around what the needs of the community are, and listening to tech organizations say, we need for you to alter this cybersecurity course because what you have is two years old already. Oh, we didn't know. So, really, coming together, again, you mentioned it takes a village, right? It never stops. It never stops. So, it's that constant communication as a leader. And you know what? At that point and at that juncture, those organizations are part of that leadership team. Even the big organizations like, I'm just using Google now, but those folks are part of the leadership team. So, as a leader, you adapt, there's adaptability again. You have to adapt their clauses into your clause, mesh it together so there's an end result of that black male on the southeast side getting that opportunity. There's a lot to do from that perspective, but... Yeah. It's just, like you said, it's engaging that communication, the partnerships within the communities, between the colleges and the tech organizations or any organization out there. So, to draw in those younger generations, they're our future leaders. So, it's our responsibility to help them to adapt and to provide a platform where they can grow and thrive and learn and become future ready when it comes to leadership. So, that's fantastic, Stephen. What's one of the most important lessons for you in your career journey that you learned? Yeah, there's a lot of lessons, but, you know, the lesson of failure for me. Really? Not being successful. You know, it's great to talk about our successes and, you know, where we're at and we all have journeys. But I learned, you know, and then when you're in an interview, they would say, so, you know, what are your successes? And, you know, how did you get there? Well, you know, yeah, so it's failing first and then really pulling yourself together and practicing on what you did maybe wrong and being, again, innovative, creative and adaptable to restructure yourself as a leader, as a thinker, as an innovator to put yourself on the right path that you envision yourself. Again, it's your personal vision and it's your internal grit and drive that are going to get to us, to the Emerald City. We want to get to Oz. We all want to. But like you mentioned earlier in this conversation, there's twists, there's turns. You bump into people, you bump into walls, you bump into mean people too, which is I've had bosses that have tried to stymie my new career in education and you have to go around them or throw a little water on them and move on, whatever it may be. But, yeah, you have to learn from those experiences so you get on the right path. But, yeah, failure for me or not finding the right answer right away is, you know, it kind of disrupts your train of thought. But that disruption sometimes gets you to realign and rethink where you're at. Disruption is pretty good and that's a whole other conversation, maybe for another one of our podcasts. But anyway, yeah, so disruption and failure are really key lessons that you can take into your account to move forward and to get you back on the right path to where you want to go. Yeah. And that's also having a good level of emotional intelligence, right? So failing and looking back, just reflecting on what the failure was and the lesson behind it, you know, and how you're going to use that going forward. So fantastic. My next question for you is that leads into this. What's one piece of advice you can share with some of my younger professionals that are listening to this podcast and aspiring to become a future leader or they're stepping into leadership roles right now? What piece of advice would you give them? It's really interesting, you know, where leaders sometimes are, there's different types of leaders. So I would classify myself as sort of a go-getter leader. And I learned early on that, you know, I would talk too much. Here's my ideas. This is my vision. This is what I want to do. Some advice I would give is just to, hey, you know what? Chill out. You could be that aggressive leader. But, you know, let's listen. You hear this all the time. Let's listen. Take note. Analyze. And then when you need to speak, speak with conviction. We mentioned the word confidence earlier in this podcast. Speak with confidence and with clear, concise content. And bam, you're going to be really recognized. Instead of jumping around all over the place, you want to do this, you want to do that, you had this idea, had that idea. That's one piece of advice. The other piece of advice, too, you're going to come across opportunities that you may think, oh, jeez, I don't have the experience to do this. Oh, my gosh, they're looking for somebody kind of above me. I don't have the degree. They're looking for an MBA or an MA or whatever. You know what? Hogwash. Go ahead and put your step into it. Step into it. Apply for it. You've got to put yourself on that path. So you're talking about taking risks. There you go. That's what leaders do. They take risks, right? You got to take that risk. You might not think you're qualified. And you're going to think, how am I going to lead this small group or project manage this project or whatever you have never done before? Okay. Try it. Do it. Practice being a leader. You got to practice sometimes. If this doesn't come to you. So, yeah, a little project management gig. Do it. To vault yourself into a higher leadership, possibly position or area within the organization or within your own. Taking on new initiatives. Having that confidence now that you've stepped into something that was maybe sort of dark to you in the beginning. So. So listen. So talk less and listen more. Yeah, for the most part. I think we've I think we've heard that from from from many leaders. But it's so true. But do they do that? Many leaders don't. A lot of people just talk too much and don't pause enough time to allow others to, meaning their direct reports, to lend insight and perspective. I think that one of the key elements here from your advice, not only taking risks, which is huge, number one, number two is talk less and listen more. If you want to if you want to make an impact, if you want to be an impact leader, for sure, like you had mentioned, there are leaders that talk, here's my ideas, here's my boom, boom, boom, boom. And because they're charismatic, that was the last C. Courage, confidence and charisma. You know, some are more charismatic than others. And those folks that are charismatic, maybe they don't have to listen as much because they're dynamic and their delivery and their and their intellect and people are going to follow them. But if you're not that type, that's going to stand up there and show that charismatic approach. Then, yeah, absolutely. You got to listen to be impactful in your own way. Find out who you are and how you can develop your synergy to lead your organization or, you know, your team or just even yourself. You know, so. Great advice. I love it. I have a question for you, Stephen. If you wrote a letter today to your younger self, what advice would you give to yourself? I could keep it simple. What advice would I give myself? Well, first of all, don't give up. Don't sit back. Keep moving forward. Your vision, you know, dreams or vision or whatever, but also to ask for help along the way. When I was younger, I think I was a little intimidated. And I thought, well, no one's going to really help me. And in those days, the word mentor was never even, you know, I'm talking in the 80s, right? 90s. Mentor was maybe just coming around in the 90s. But, yeah, you know, I would look for a mentor, someone to latch on to, just to observe. You don't have to, you know, meet with them. Just, you know, even if it's not officially. Find them on LinkedIn or something that you sound like, oh, I would kind of admire this person. You know, look, follow that person from afar. Not that you're stalking or anything, but, you know, look at what those actions that person is doing. So I would say, you know, ask for help or look for help. And I think it would accelerate your leadership practice and maybe the organization that you're working with or working for or your own a little bit faster. You know, you need coaching. Bottom line, people don't realize it. You need coaching. So I would ask for a coach, for sure. Fantastic. Well, Stephen, this has been a great conversation and I'm so thrilled to have spent this time together and truly appreciate you and your leadership. So thank you so much. No, thanks for the time. This has been fun. It's always great to chat with you and, you know, get your insights and, you know, what you're doing is great, sharing with others. Love your podcast and I hope you continue these things. Yeah, absolutely. It's been so much fun and I'm looking forward to continuing as well. So thanks again, Stephen. Thank you, Laura. Well, folks, we've reached the end of another podcast. In addition to the informational podcast, I also produce one-on-one coaching leadership sessions. If you're interested in being a guest or you're a subject matter expert, please go to my website, www.epiphanyconsultingsolutions.com and submit your request on the Let's Chat link. That's it for this episode of Coachonomics Presents. You can also find me on my LinkedIn or my website, Epiphany Consulting Solutions. Much gratitude to my listeners. And if you love the show and learn from it, pay it forward and share my podcast with your colleagues or your friends. I'm Laura Perez Earhart. Until next time, stay safe and be well.