Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet (Ret.)
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah, well, rear Admiral, Tim Gallaudet. Thank you for joining us. We’re here on the DC local leaderโs podcast. We’re recording today in the office of LMI and Tim, thank you for joining us. It’s great to be here, Phil. Yeah, I appreciate you saying, uh, saying yes. I know that you’ve got your own podcast that you do as well.
And we met at sea air space convention this past year for the first time we were introduced by collaborative. Yep.
Tim Gallaudet: That’s right. Rahul the CEO, a good friend, uh, as my former position at the national oceanic atmospheric administration, which his team supports in a really big way. I felt like it was a, the right thing to do to connect with a friend of his, because he’s a friend of my former agency Noah.
And so, I’m wanting to make sure I had a chance to meet you. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. Well, that’s a great place to start. I mean, you were at NOAA, but you started your career in the Navy. You went to the actual Naval academy, graduated and you served in the Navy for how
Tim Gallaudet: many years? 32 years. If you count that time at the academy, which I do because.
Subject to the uniform code of military justice. Um, I that’s a joke, but ultimately yeah, 32 years loved it, loved the Navy, you know, joined the Navy, see the world. That’s what I did and my specialty was oceanography. So that kind of set me up really nicely to join a NOAA. Do you come from a?
Phillip K. Naithram: military
family?
Tim Gallaudet: I do. Um, my dad was mostly in the reserves, so it wasn’t that I moved from base to base like so many other families. He just did one weekend a month and then a two-week active duty training each year. Uh, so I didn’t see a whole lot of the military. And in fact, when I joined and went to the Annapolis, I was pretty ignorant about things and had to learn quite a bit.
But, uh, that probably was for the better. Are you from this area? No, I’m from Los Angeles area and that’s why I love the ocean. I grew up on going to the beaches in Southern California and that’s really why I chose the Naval academy not to join the Navy, but because they had a great oceanography program.
And that was my goal is to study the sea and work on it. And in the Navy, that kind of works out. Yeah. I was
Phillip K. Naithram: going to ask like, why specifically the Navy, but that answered the question. Right? So, because you could have, well, why not the coast guard then?
Tim Gallaudet: Well, yeah, my dad had been in the Navy and so I was li I leaned towards that naturally.
Uh, and really the, I didn’t, I, I looked at the Naval academy, uh, mostly because of the, you know, the, the sort of world travel component of it. I just loved, I had, I wanted to go all around the world and that, that the coast guard actually now does that quite a bit. They to make deployments to the Arabian Gulf and to the Western Pacific, but back in the eighties, it wasn’t much, they didn’t do that very much.
And on the Navy naturally offered that.
Phillip K. Naithram: And so, your grad school worked, is that what led you to meteorology and oceanography and starting to pay attention to a lot of that
Tim Gallaudet: stuff? Well, right. Actually, it all started during my undergraduate experience at Annapolis because they offer. Major an oceanography bachelor’s of science degree.
And there actually, I, one of the other reasons I applied there is because I had a, um, I knew about this grad school called Scripps institution of oceanography, which is, you know, one of the premier graduate schools, no sonography, like, like woods hole it’s an in LA Jolla, San Diego. So, you have really scripted in woods hole are really the best, the best there are in the world.
And having grown up in Southern California, I learned about scripts and that somehow got into my head. I wanted to go there. I wanted to get a doctorate in oceanography. It was just one of those things. And, uh, the academy offered a graduate scholarship, uh, two scripts each year. There was only one. And I, that’s kind of why I applied is hoping to get that.
And it turned out I did get it after working really hard, uh, and just really focusing on. And, uh, and so I did that. I went and did the master’s degree program, a two-year program, right upon graduating from Annapolis. And I was at scripts and, um, and long story short, I came back to get the PhD in the middle of my Naval career, which was a rarity.
Uh, but thankfully I was able to knock that out too and enjoy the heck out of it and learn something and kind of the rest is history. Yeah. I forgot to
Phillip K. Naithram: Betsy you’re actually, so you’re is it, so what would we say, rear Admiral, Dr. Tim Gallaudet,
Tim Gallaudet: you go, you go pick and actually being an assistant secretary of commerce, right?
That makes me an honorable someone, my good friend, Admiral John White, a former oceanographer of the Navy, like me. He, uh, has been my mentor, uh, forever, or as long as I’ve known him. And he would introduce me and say, well, you could either pick Admiral or doctor or honorable. And if you include his devotion to the service of our country, it makes him an ADHD, uh, servant leader.
Phillip K. Naithram: I love that. Yeah. Cause you’re, I I’m looking at I’m at something here that it, it has all of it on there. It’s the honor roll. Tim Gallaudet, PhD rear Admiral, us Navy, retired CEO, ocean STL
Tim Gallaudet: consulting. That’s my company. But all that really means is that I had, you know, every title is just another indicator.
How many great people carried me along the way? And that’s what it’s about is, is, uh, you know, the higher you go, really, the humbler you should become because that’s how many more people are carrying you. Yeah. Well,
Phillip K. Naithram: that’s a lot about what we want to talk about today is that, that development, the leadership development, all the skill sets, because I know that you have, you have something that you’d like to say it’s all in all good, all for one, right?
That was something that you put together. And I know you shared that with me before. Um, but that has just been an accumulation of all your experiences. Right? And you, you mentioned you were at the department of commerce, um, and then later, no, all of your experience in the Navy, I’m sure that there were a number of different lessons you’ve learned.
I’d love to just talk about that because we can all use that. I think anyone, no matter where they are in their career can benefit from some of those lessons and looking at you. Cause you, you have this great career, but it is not unattainable. It’s not like, you know, it’s not Michael Jordan. You can become better at basketball, but you may never ha you may never have his level of success or do the things he’s done.
You’re doing something that with the right mentoring and with the right coaching is attainable. And like you said, it’s because of the people you surrounded yourself with.
Tim Gallaudet: Well, right. You have this band you gave me here and what does it say? It says, uh, believe you can, and you will write very good. And so, I’m wearing it and I believe in it.
Yeah,
Phillip K. Naithram: absolutely. Well, so how did you come to, so this, that you put together, their personal leadership philosophies, philosophies and principles. Yeah. How did you come to?
Tim Gallaudet: develop that? Is that right? So, this is a one-page document that I developed really integrating everything I learned in the Navy about leadership and the, the basis of it is this, uh, in the Navy, we’re all taught, uh, to develop a leadership philosophy.
When you take first take command of a may become a commanding officer, everyone does this and it’s like barely their own personal approach to leadership. And you’re the, you know, your w you, you promulgated that you send it out to all hands and you say, this is what I’m about. This is how, who I am as a leader.
So just, they know what to expect, and that there’s some transparency and understanding, and then therefore that develops trust and respect and has so, so really just telling people who you are as a leader, and this one pager is, is my, uh, kind of latest version of that. I’ve done this at every level and command and higher.
And, and at this point, this, this most recent version, this, this one pager, I have it, uh, it kind of culminates everything I learned in the Navy. And I developed it because when I went to Noah, a civilian agency focusing on environmental and ocean and atmospheric science, I saw a lot of really interest interested people interested in leadership, and they were hungry to learn more about it.
And seeing someone who had been an Admiral in the Navy, they always came to me thinking I’d know something which I did. And I thought, well, let’s make it easy rather than write a book. I put it on a one page. And, uh, and people really embraced it. I’ve sent it out to probably hundreds of people and they have hung it up in there, their offices and, and training centers.
And, um, and it was, it was nice to see that kind of response. Yeah. I loved
Phillip K. Naithram: it right away. So, you know, what does it mean to be a rear Admiral in the Navy? Like, let’s talk about the responsibilities that come with that and your journey to, to gaining that responsibility and the things that you learned along the way there.
Tim Gallaudet: Well, sure. The, the Navy is like any organization has a hierarchy and, uh, like the other services there are ranks and, um, there are enlisted ranks in the beginning, you know, the Navy with a seaman and the highest rank is master chief petty officer. And then the officer ranks, uh, which are more of the managers, if you will.
Uh, but not entirely, uh, they’re, uh, begin with Ensign. And so, when I graduated in 1989 from Annapolis, I was an Ensign and the highest rank is four-star Admiral. And so there you go, everybody, you go up the hierarchy, you go up the ranks and, um, and you go through a, a competitive promotion process at each level, kind of like a company even.
And, um, but a little more, a little more tradition and, and, um, whatnot. And so, uh, and at the Admiral level, it’s, there’s, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4-star Admiral that, that, uh, that’s just sort of a, it’s like an executive, it’s being an executive in terms of a corporate analogy where, um, and you have greater responsibility and you’re given larger major commands.
And, and that’s just, that’s just, it it’s 4-star to high executive level of leadership in the Navy, but what
Phillip K. Naithram: were the other incremental responsibilities that led up to your ability to be. In that position and I want to really dig into, because I can’t see going from being an Ensign to where you were, how many years did that take?
What did you have to do? And how painful was that in terms of like realizing that there may be a skill set that I just don’t have. And what did you have to do to learn that, to get to where you are, because that didn’t just happen, right? They didn’t just say, you know what? I really liked him. I think I’m going to
Tim Gallaudet: now know there’s, there’s a couple of things involved.
There’s a career path. So, for your specialty, whether, if you’re a Navy seal or you’re a pilot, I was an oceanography officer. You have a career path, they call it where if you, you know, you and it’s, it’s designed for a purpose it’s designed so that, you know, when you do promote, um, you have all that you need to do to do your job at the next level.
And so, for example, uh, you know, as a younger officer Lieutenant, I was managing like a division on a ship and also watched standing watches on the ship where I was an officer of the deck driving the ship. And then you go higher. Uh, as Lieutenant commander, I was again, a division officer, but also a deck watch officer of an aircraft carrier or a bigger ship and did that when we flew the first strikes into Afghanistan.
After nine 11. And that was the USS kitty Hawk and did the same, uh, in 2003, uh, flying the first strikes into Iraq. And so, the little higher level, then I become a commander, for example, that’s the fifth officer level. And that, that time I was commanding an actual, um, command a unit in the, my unit was a bunch of weather and oceanography specialists that were deploying with seals.
And so, I was commanding a unit. And then of course you go to captain, captain’s a little higher, a bigger command, uh, some, some Pentagon staff so, jobs that are pretty high, high responsibility, big budget, and then you can become an Admiral and it all gets bigger. So, commanding more forces and, uh, overseeing bigger budgets in the Pentagon and so on and so forth.
Phillip K. Naithram: Did you have to be put yourself in for these promotions or where they, I guess what I’m getting at is, is how did you know you. Like, what did you have to do for yourself individually? Obviously, there’s people around you that see the great work you’re doing and probably believe in you. But I think a part of a part of, for all of us, you know, we have to believe before we can achieve it, believe you can, and you will.
But what did that process feel like when you were doing it? A lot of people that you probably know pretty well that weren’t chosen to do
Tim Gallaudet: that’s right. And there’s two kinds of aspects of it. One is you do, you have to look after yourself and, um, and know, you know, make sure you prepare your record, for example, the, your, your electronic record that gets briefed at a promotion board.
Uh, so you have to do things and you have to make sure you go to the right schools and get the right qualifications, et cetera, et cetera. But at the same time, uh, I was fortunate. The Navy oceanography community really takes care of their people. So, I had many mentors and it was, it was institutionalized on how to do these things, to prepare yourself.
I had known there was so much, much, much training was, um, conducted to help us do those things. So, I didn’t do it in a vacuum. I had tons of help. I mean, great people. And then of course, you know, you may just decide, you know, I’m not ready for that level or I don’t ever even want to have that level, uh, is some people don’t necessarily, um, put their names in to get command.
Uh, and that’s, that’s, that’s a, that’s a personal choice and that’s just fine. Um, and, uh, and so the that’s how it is. You have to have the desire; you have to do the preparation. Um, but there’s also just a great family around that has helped. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: You mentioned mentorship. Do you still have mentors in your life today?
to
Tim Gallaudet: do?
Oh, of course I do. In fact, then when I mentioned animal John White, I love the guy and he’s a great friend of mine. I still turn to him for advice. Um, and, and I worked at pay it forward and I’d never say no to her request to mentor people because it’s enjoyable and it’s just doing the right thing after so many people did good things for me.
How do
you
Phillip K. Naithram: normally mentor another person? Is it, do you try to do something formal or do you just meet with them casually? Allow them to sort of drive, drive the conversation and just answer
Tim Gallaudet: questions a bit of both, you know, it’s just, I, I, I opened my kimono, if you will, and say, what can I do for you?
What open the door and say and ask, how can I help you? And then, and then, you know, just usually there’s just natural conversations like we’re having here. Yeah. How many
Phillip K. Naithram: mentors did you, do you have, like a lot of leaders have said that. You know, no one person is going to fill all your gaps. So, they have a mentor that helps them make better decisions.
You know, maybe with accounting and finance and another mentor that makes them helps them make better decisions when it comes to career choices and then in their personal life. And then, you know, everything else. Are you similar where you have just a wide array of people that you ask for help from based on their experience?
Tim Gallaudet: Eh, because I really in part of my leadership philosophy and principles, this one pager is about making every experience positive. As a leader, every human interaction I believe can be a positive experience should be, and you should always use. But go into that as a leader, you know, with your subordinates, with your superiors, with your peers, as a deliberately and mindfully thinking, how can I make this positive?
And even if it’s going to be, you know, something negative, like a disciplinary action, um, there’s ways to grow from negative experiences. And so always trying for that experience to be positive. And generally, I’m just an optimistic person and, um, and I like to have fun. So, it’s, it’s, uh, you know, thinking about ways to make, uh, if you’re having a meeting and making sure there’s some humor involved, you know, and, and having some fun with it.
And I think, I think just being positive and trying to make everything, every interaction, a good interaction where you grow from it, or just, um, connect and build your, your, uh, your connection with your people is something to strive for. And we’ll make you a better.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. You mentioned something. We grow through pain.
I think Mo at least in my own personal experience, I haven’t grown as much from the positive experiences that I’ve had as I have from the negative ones.
Tim Gallaudet: All true. Absolutely. In fact, um, there’s, there’s one of my principles in there is about, um, managing a crisis and, and sort of what I’ve learned is that, um, first off you should not treat every challenge as a crisis.
Uh, there’s challenges that we get through them. Um, but when you have a legitimate crisis, it’s important to learn from them and get better and avoid repeating them. And so, right. And that’s how that’s really often how we learn the most. So, you know this and I can think, and here’s, I’ll, I’ll share a good example with you.
Um, one of my, uh, most, uh, impactful leadership experiences, um, where I was more on the receiving end was when my, the CEO of my aircraft carrier, the commanding officer was fired. His name is Tom Heil, and I’ll tell you, I. There’s he, I probably have more respect than him than anybody that’s ever mentored me.
And you would think, well, how he got fired from this job, a major job too. It was all over the news. It was in every international paper, getting fired from an aircraft carrier in command is what is that? And, uh, but what I learned from him is that first off it wasn’t because of personal misconduct. It was because the ship was old, the kitty Hawk.
And we had just finished that Afghanistan deployment and we had to get ready for the Iraq war that was coming on the horizon. And there were a lot of things that weren’t happening. Like the engineering plant was broken. It wasn’t getting fixed. We were failing inspections and several things happened, right.
Uh, captain Heil probably could have taken more severe action firing people and doing that kind of thing. And it wasn’t really his approach to do that. And ultimately the seventh fleet commander got really lost his confidence in him and fired him. And what I learned from that though, is that the way Tom carried himself most when people are at such a high level and they are, uh, you know, their dignity, their identity is sort of destroyed if you will.
They often, uh, they fight it. They could hire lawyers to defend themselves, or they might put out press releases, protesting the action and defending themselves. Or, or they might just sink away entirely because they’re ashamed. Right? Tom never said a word of the press. Never, never, um, protested it. And he continued to serve in the Navy.
He went back to the states and then ultimately, uh, became the, the chief of staff of another carrier strike group. And I mean that just the total humility of that action saying, Nope, nope. It’s not about me. And this is my boss made a decision. I accept it. And I’m going to keep serving and our great Navy.
And that’s what he did. And I can tell you that that’s what I learned the most from nobody, no heroin, in any of the con it was, it was him when he got how he carried himself through that and showed. Putting heroin, the service for himself, like nobody else. And it actually, it, it, it, I use that later in that lesson and several other ways when I had some challenges and I just tried to remember, it’s not about me, it’s about others and about serving.
Yeah. You’d let go of the
Phillip K. Naithram: ego. That’s right, right. The ego is not our amigo,
Tim Gallaudet: as Ryan said
Phillip K. Naithram: there, you know, and it’s, but yeah, but that’s hard, you know, pride and, um, the selfishness of like, what will people think, right. Selfish is one of those words that it doesn’t always mean that we step on other people to get what we want when we’re self-absorbed or we’re thinking about, you know, what, what does this mean about me?
Or what are they going to think about me? Or how does this affect me? Even if we’re doing something nice for the other person, you know, if you’re doing it to hear them say, thank you, Tim, you know, that was more for you than it was for them. Um, but, and, and then that’s a natural human tendency. I mean, that’s not a good or bad thing.
I’m just saying that, you know, the human condition and, and what I just heard you talk about was that, you know, he didn’t let his ego and his pride, um, of trying to fight what was happening, get in the way he simply accepted it, took responsibility for what was happening and ultimately continued to serve and did something incredible.
He did that. He would have been robbed of the experience of had he done the other thing probably we’ll never know. Right?
Tim Gallaudet: Yeah, no, absolutely true. And yeah, so that was, and I have many, uh, examples, uh, that, that have influenced this, this leadership philosophy and set of principles I have. Uh, and he, he’s definitely one of them.
Yeah. That’s great to hear. And one of those is about showing humility as a leader. So, it’s a, and as you, we have it here in front of us and it’s, it’s three mains, uh, kind of, uh, sets of principles all in, uh, is about being committed. All good about being positive and turning adversity into a growth. And then an all for one is about teamwork and humility and, uh, and all rowing in the same direction.
Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: Have you, so I want to talk to you about you. And growing up with a father that was in the military. Do you think that a lot of what you’ve learned and what you’ve done has been influenced by the fact that he was doing what he was doing? What are some of those things that you remember? What’s eight-year-old, Tim remembers about dad coming home
Tim Gallaudet: and well, dad and mom together.
Uh, both my parents. Uh, and again, I, I wasn’t in necessarily a military family per se, and that dad had really only drilled one weekend a month and he’d go away to do it. So, I rarely saw him in his uniform, but what I did see around the house, you know, every day. It was the, the, the value of service that my parents instilled in us.
And it was just something they believed in. You know, I remember it was like watching the army Navy game every year. This was, I mean, this was more important than a tree during Christmas time. You know, this is watching the army Navy game was a big deal because my parents just really, uh, they, they grew up in that generation right after World War two.
So, they had met. And then my dad, my dad actually deployed right before Vietnam on an aircraft carrier. And he, when he got out to raise a family, a lot of his buddies stayed in and they, some of them were shot down or Vietnam. These are all aviators. He was in an a, in a squatter and he was an aviator. And then a and some of them were POW’s.
And so, this whole, this was all in the background of our family about respecting the service and those, those in the military that, uh, defended our country. And then there, and their examples of mentors were all those from World War II. Uh, and so, uh, that just was an important, and interestingly, my parents didn’t force us in any path that the way it worked out as my, I went to Annapolis, my other three brothers enlisted in the Marines, the Navy and air force.
So, we had every service covered. So, there’s four of you total,
Phillip K. Naithram: each pick one of, but no, one’s in the coast guard.
Tim Gallaudet: No, no. And I, uh, you actually, you could, I, I’m kind of like an honorary coast guardsman because of the fact that I, uh, Noah was their biggest partner and, uh, a gracious gift by common on Schultz was at the end of my time at Noah where he did give me a coast guard, distinguished public service award.
I did I. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. And, and so you have, how many, you have three daughters.
Tim Gallaudet: I have three daughters. That’s right.
Phillip K. Naithram: Daughters. When did you get married? Because you had a 30-year career in the Navy. I’m assuming you were in the Navy when
Tim Gallaudet: you got me. Well, there was a good story there. I met my wife at, when I was getting my PhD the second time at Scripps institution of oceanography.
Karen was also a Naval academy graduate two years behind me also studied oceanography. I had never met her before and what happened to her and we have this interesting kind of dichotomy of careers where everything clicked for me. But when my wife went into the Navy, 1991, she was a Navy diver, went to Navy dive school and then went into a salvage ship and think about Navy diving.
It was Navy divers, big hardcore job. Well, this was 91 when, uh, there were still a lot of men that were not accepting of women on ships. So, it was her first deployment was basically every day. Institutional sexual harassment against her as the only woman officer on the ship. Very bad negative. It, it, uh, she left that commanding officer was court-martialed and, um, and therefore the Navy just lost, uh, what would have been a much better animal than me.
Uh, she, she had so much potential. Um, and the only, you know, the only good that came out of it is that allowed us to meet because I probably would’ve never met her in the Navy. And she got out and decided to follow what she really loved, and that was studying the ocean like me. And so, we met at graduate school where she had gotten out of the Navy and then I was still, I was in the Navy, but going to graduate school.
And then that’s how we, we connected. She actually avoided me for a time.
Phillip K. Naithram: I was going. Did you, did you being in the Navy almost hurt you in terms of her impression of who you may have been?
Tim Gallaudet: Totally. Yeah. In fact, well, we had the same advisor and when he did. Karen, my wife’s, uh, about me. She avoided me for about six months and had no intention to meet me, but the homework was getting hard and she thought, well, I’ve heard some good things about him.
Maybe, maybe he’s not like the others. Yeah. And, uh, and it worked out, were
Phillip K. Naithram: you always a good student? Like, is it because you had good grades and she’s like, well, maybe I, should I,
Tim Gallaudet: no, no. I was not a great student there. Uh, but I had taken the classes. So, so you had the experience. I was ahead of her, but the, the great, the, the sort of takeaway from all of that is that, uh, I tried to take care of and story, uh, about, um, her, uh, treatment and in the Navy mistreatment.
And, uh, use that to empower the women under me in the Navy when I was an admin role, as well as it. Um, and just to show that I understood what, um, inequity sexual harassment was about. I mean, it was close to home with Karen and I, having three daughters, uh, was committed to never allowing that to happen in the workforce.
Any of the workforce is under me and I was, I was very vocal about it. And, and, and people like to know a leader when they don’t just sit there and recite bland talking points, but actually talking about personal, um, concern and firsthand experience. And I did that because I wanted people to know I was serious about supporting that.
And it’s important today, like never before. Yeah. And it
Phillip K. Naithram: doesn’t, you weren’t just checking the box because this was one of the line items on the, uh, the training seminar that you took the nonsense, you know, not that those are nonsense, but just that you had a personal investment in a passionate about you, because not only did your wife experience this, you now have three daughters.
Tim Gallaudet: Right. And, and this is one of the principles in my, my leadership approach about diversity and inclusion. And again, it’s not just. A kind of wrote talking point that checking the box. This is that I know about this. And I know, because I know what Karen has. Um, her, her talent and potential are that it’s good to have diversity on a team.
You know, not every player should be a quarterback. Uh, and, and that’s, that’s how you need to approach diversity and building that if everybody
Phillip K. Naithram: came from the same place and thought the same way, then, I mean, you know, all you need is one extra person in there that thinks that a solution to a problem, slightly different to get you further ahead.
Yeah. Um, you’re all using the same tools if you’re, everyone’s using the hammer, but what you need is an ax. What are you going?
Tim Gallaudet: to do? And there you go. Well said,
Phillip K. Naithram: you know, um, what do you think? So how old are your daughters?
Tim Gallaudet: I have a 12-year-old, a 14-year-old footnote, 15-year-old and a 21. She just turned 21.
Yes. And
Phillip K. Naithram: she’s in college. Yeah. Um, what do you think your experience in the Navy and getting out and doing some of the things you’re doing? Is having on them for what they think is possible, right? Because we’re an example one way or another, but that’s just it,
Tim Gallaudet: the this is a great point, Phil, that this is a great leadership point you’re making, because when you reach higher levels of leadership, everyone looks at you and they no matter, you know, no matter what you say, where it is, what you do, you are getting looked at and people, uh, and so first off, some people might think that’s a little, um, scary, you know, or, or, but actually, I, I, and this is part of the, the philosophy part of this leadership approach.
You know, this is as a leader, you have a chance to transform an organization and you shouldn’t go into a new leadership position thinking, you know, status quo is good. Yeah. I believe that that take that opportunity that leaders have and do. Make the team better do something that has never been done. Um, and that that’s your chance as a leader, that’s your awesome opportunity.
And, um, and, and you do that through just being in your position and, and deciding on a direction. So just like my daughters in the family, you know, it’s, they’re all watching you. And, and so this is your chance to do some great, good for whatever it is, your family, your organization, your agency. And so, take that opportunity, take it seriously, think about it.
And, and then that, then that happens to everything you do. Everything you do and say, gets looked at. And so, wow. Think about this. So, at NOAA, 20,000 people, about 12,000 feds, 8,000 contractors. And, you know, I knew that, uh, when I was the acting head of the agency and I was the deputy for the remainder of the time, everyone was listening to everything I had to say, they’re watching me.
And I took that as a great opportunity to put out good messages and inspire and, and uplift the workforce at a time when it was pretty challenging for them view things through things like the government shutdown and other, other, other things. And so, it takes, I just viewed leadership as an opportunity to good and, uh, and, and really, um, that’s just a great gift to have leadership should value that and take a seriously.
Phillip K. Naithram: Where did you get that idea or. It’s very, I mean, you could have gone either way, but why did you go in the direction of looking at leadership opportunity versus,
Tim Gallaudet: you know, uh, I, a lot through my upbringing, my parents, uh, I, we, we were, I was raised in a Christian household so, if you will. And I’m brought into my, I guess my, my views on faith a bit, uh, beyond one denomination, but ultimately that Christian ethic of, um, you know, do unto others, what you would have them do unto you, uh, that when you really think about that, that, you know, that transcends every religion, faith, uh, nation society of that that’s, that’s what humanity is about.
And, and that that’s really, you know, thinking deeply about what it is to be a good person and do the right thing. That’s what led me to, you know, my leadership. You have an opportunity or you, someone, you have some gift that you are a leader now, why not? Why not? As they say, why not have your light shine, you know, shine your light to all who can see, but isn’t
Phillip K. Naithram: that terrifying also.
Cause what if you would, if you don’t do it well, or how do you know that you’re doing well? How do you, or the real question I have for you is how do you deal with that? Fear? Fear is inevitable. You’re going to feel afraid whether you’re starting a consulting firm, like ocean STL, right? Yeah. Or you’re doing a podcast or you’re just, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re out on your own doing something.
If you’re thinking about making a step forward in your career, whether it’s a military career or a private industry career, there’s fear of the unknown fear of the unknown is scary. Right? Uncertainty feels weird. It’s like. What do you, how did you learn to deal with that, to do it anyway,
Tim Gallaudet: to take the extra very good.
Now in the Navy, you take command and you have an all hands call. Usually initially I did this at Noah. When I first took over in 2017, I had an all hands call and it was the first one the agency ever had. We remoted in all the sites and it was, um, but it was also people really responded positively, but you have to look at the sources of fear.
And what are those sources of fear? Well, you know, if you’re a failing, of course, Uh, well, uh, you’re not prepared, maybe that’s it, or, um, you’re not experienced, uh, you know, you’re, you’re only in the job a month though. You never, haven’t done this before. Um, and they’re all and just, and get, and then you address them.
Now, one of the beings prepared, let’s say, you, you feel like you’re not prepared. Well, one of the things is take the time to prepare, you know, if you’re going to get there and talk and do something prepare, and that’s one of my principles, commitment to excellence. Take time to learn about your organization, learn about the people, know their names, know what they do.
Remember them, look them up every time before you meet with them. So, you know them and can say, buy an in their name and a meeting, things like that. So, prepare. Yeah. The thing is, um, well, if I’ve only been in this job a month, or I know nothing about fisheries, like at Noah, for example, well, no, it’s that, you’re still part of a team.
You know, that it’s not just you in an ivory tower alone, or it should never be as a leader, you have a team. And so, show some humility, another one of my principles and ask your teammates. Hey, I don’t know anything about this. And that then you can go into it. And just, and when your honest show some humility work as a team, these are all in this approach here.
Um, then, then that sort of just breaks down all the fear. And by the way of being positive, another one of my principles, I generally just don’t look at the negative. I look at the positive, like, wow, I have a chance here. Do an all hands call to really make 20,000 people’s lives that much better. How wonderful is that?
I’m going to take some time and make sure I nail it. And that’s kind of how I approached everything I did. Yeah, there was
Phillip K. Naithram: there you’re reframing. You did a great job of reframing the fear, right? This isn’t something that’s scary because it’s unknown. This is a great opportunity for me to help a lot of people.
And you also mentioned something that I think a lot of people that have been on this podcast and other people that I just talked to that are in a leadership role, it seems like the best leaders are the ones that ask for the most help, not necessarily the ones that have all these.
Tim Gallaudet: That’s absolutely true.
Now it kind of goes both ways. Uh, so know, being humble, acknowledging what you don’t know, working as a team and asking for help. But at the same time, you know, you’re often picked to be a leader, hopefully because, because you do have something, you do know something. And I that’s you were always fun for me too, in that, um, you know, even in the civilian agency of Noah, I often brought in a lot of my Naval experience, like with this leadership philosophy because, um, you know what I mean, I knew it could add value and, and one, you know, there’s just certain times where, uh, we were, uh, we, we would go into something and knowing I had worked on oceanography issues and, and a lot.
And so, when we were Noah’s ocean service was pushing forward, something like our effort to map all the U S exclusive economic zone. Well, I had a lot of experience there. I’ve worked on ships that did hydro graphic surveying and mapping. And so, I, you know, I took, I took, did try to build on strengths and bring them.
Um, and, and people like when they have an authority or a boss that our leader that does have credentials. So, you, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s important to kind of look at both ways, acknowledge your deficits, but, you know, make your credentials kind of elevate them and use them to advance the team. You know?
And, and so I that’s, you know, having a PhD, being retired Admiral that that was something I knew would open doors when I was trying to advance Noah in the inner agency. A good example. Uh, one of the things that we, that we did is we contributed to a national artificial intelligence strategy. And, uh, and I want to know, uh, you know, at the table there, because we were doing so much good AI for weather, for, for coral mapping, for ocean science and prediction and, and, and fisheries management.
And I thought this, this is good work. You know, this isn’t just a bunch of R and D. This is applied AI benefiting the American people in a. Let’s because get up there and, you know, and that, so I would get, I would, I’d use my title and rank and if prior experience to open doors. And when I, when I, when I was in the white house briefing officials in trying to advance our role in a given strategy or plan, uh, people will listen.
And so that’s, that’s, that’s kind of it, you want to use what you have, but also want to acknowledge what you don’t.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. Yeah. How do you sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know? So how do you know that? How do you determine whether or not you need to, that you don’t know what you don’t know? Right.
Sometimes we can believe our own, you know, if I believe it, it must be true kind of thought process or like, you know, and it turns out just because I happen to believe it doesn’t actually make it true.
Tim Gallaudet: Yeah. Well, this is important part of, of leading and that is, you know, you leave my personal interaction and, uh, it’s important to listen and that, you know, as you have meetings with people, um, it’s really important, you know, like, just like this is kind of, uh, meetings 1 0 1.
Uh, again, I mentioned it’s really important to me at least to have positive, have it been positive? Well, how do you do that? But we’ll make sure you know, everybody in the room, you know, there’s a lot of times where you come into a meeting and you don’t know everybody. I, this happened all the time at NOAA because they bring in people sitting around the sides of the wall, right.
Or. And will I try to look up before every meeting, you know, on LinkedIn, everybody. Oh, they got a degree over here. I got, I know people who went to that school and I just was trying to learn a little thing because first of all, I love the people that agency, they all were. So like-minded, they’re ocean people like me or weather environment people.
And then, um, and then I’d make a point to kind of bring that out in the meeting. People would talk and have not have it be just total business, but ask about people and
Phillip K. Naithram: including, um, into the story and into the meeting. But they’re personalized. It sounds like we’re just something about them being people
Tim Gallaudet: first.
Absolutely. That’s little thing how things get done. That’s exactly right. Well, so look them up. Let make sure you know, the people in the room, if you don’t ask them, Hey, oh, you’re new. I don’t know you, what’s your name? Th the that’s just being a, you know, that goes so huge in terms of. People just like to be acknowledged and valued.
And it’s simple. So, no one’s invisible. Everyone’s important. You know, even the janitor cleaning the restroom, if it wouldn’t, you wouldn’t have a safe, you know, hygienic environment, a foreign for them. So, make a point to thank them. But ultimately in a meeting, you know, and other people know the agenda, do the homework, don’t make it a, hey, brief me on this.
I know nothing about it. Uh, it should really be that you take discipline time, commitment to excellence again. And one of my, my principles, so that, that you, you show some mastery, some serious study, some effort that then, then that way you can just have a discussion and not take time to be educated. You can actually say, well, here’s what I know.
And then beginning to your point about, uh, is listening. So, you may think, you know, everything having read the brief, but then that’s where you want to take that time for the meeting to listen. What do you all think about this and go through and ask everybody, make sure you ask anybody in someone who hasn’t volunteered?
Make sure you ask them by the end of the meeting. Hey, you haven’t sent me. Joe, what do you think? And, you know, it’s just important to listen. Cause then, then you realize, oh, I never knew that. Cause you’re always never going to know anything. Life learning is a lifelong process. If you can always remember that, uh, then, then I think you’ll, you’ll be able to find those things.
You, you didn’t know, you didn’t know. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: And you’ve taken the transactional nature out of every conversation out of it. Right. And you’ve included everybody, you know, asking, I think that goes a long way, asking the person that hasn’t said anything in the meeting to actually say something probably does so much more for that person as an individual, even if what they say or do doesn’t actually help or contribute in a major way, you got them to speak in the meeting.
So, the next time around they may cause who knows when they’re going to be able to actually add the biggest value of something that you may not even be thinking about and how much confidence did you build in that person, that young woman or guy that, that they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to get to be in a room with someone, you know?
Cause there’s all the hierarchy. Of status and of positions and this feeling of chain of command. And like maybe I shouldn’t speak in a room full of these kinds of people, because they’re going to think I’m, I’m not, I’m dumb or I’m speaking out of turn or something like that to take that out of it. And now, you know, who knows now, you’ve, you’ve introduced a whole mother set of
Tim Gallaudet: thought, right?
And, and as I mentioned earlier, you can encourage that, um, that comfort level, you know, for people to contribute by being just human, by being personal, you know, and knowing their names. And it here’s something I did. I focused on a lot in people that Noah would remember it well that I got a lot of comments on this, but.
It should one of your highest priorities in a meeting and just in leading is knowing people’s names, remembering them, people would think I had this like crazy photographic memory. Cause I would, I remember most people’s name on it at certainly everybody in the agency. Um, and that’s only because I worked really hard at it.
I knew the value of it. So, if I saw someone in the hallway that I’d seen only once in a meeting six months earlier, I usually remember their name because every time I had a meeting, I’d go back and either I’d reinforce it by just studying their background, looking at. Or sending them a personal message to reinforce the connection in my mind and saying, Hey Erica, you did a great job in this meeting.
Thank you for your contribution that people would just be blown away by that, you know, from some senior executive cause no one ever did that before. And it takes some time and work, but you also find it’s incredibly beneficial for the or agency. Cause that stuff spreads like wildfire. I mean, people would, I would, uh, routinely, if I, if I read the name of anybody in the agency, in the news and national news, like LA times wildfires this forecaster at the weather office in LA, you know, said that the wildfire, the winds are going to shift in something and it wasn’t a big, I would write that person email that day.
I always junior forecast or great job you showed well on the LA times national news, these are just people on the TV. Yeah, no, if it was, if it was a no employee, if it was a NOAA. Uh, forecast or for example, at the weather service that at any time, anytime they were in the national news, I always wrote them an email and I do this every day, probably every day there.
And then someone’s going to, news can be, it could be a fisheries biologist talking about Marine mammals and Invesco. Are you still doing that now? No. No. I mean, I don’t work for the agency anymore, but, uh, it’s not appropriate really. I mean, sometimes I do, but that
Phillip K. Naithram: there’s when you were there and it didn’t matter if they directly reported to you or
Tim Gallaudet: on your team or not.
I was the deputy administrator or the acting administrator. I mean, I was, I didn’t. Yeah. And sometimes the chain of command would get a little ruffled because they were just worried that they’d have to staff something, but it wasn’t about that. It was just about recognizing individuals and, and this was a deliberate, it wasn’t just about being a cheerleader, you know, because first off, every time I did that, I learned a little more about the agency, you know, oh, there’s this person in office doing this.
And so, by reaching out to them, it would just reinforce in my mind. And I used all that. I mean, not a stuff I’d use during congressional hearings. Just that knowledge of what. The second thing is, as I mentioned, I know people I’ve learned this and when, uh, when someone junior gets the CEO reaches out to them and says, you did great, what do they do?
They tell their 10 friends. And then they tell the chain of command and th and th and that gets, gets around and people to go, you know, um, this is, uh, I’m really, this is the kind of leader I want to be, or, and that’s what I try. I deliberately tried to, to achieve that effect.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. I think that’s huge. It’s, you know, people will learn more about you before you haven’t, before you even met them when you’re doing things like that.
Because that, person’s going to say, you know, when I worked in this group, that person did this thing for me, and I think we respond to that. We respond to the way that people make us feel way more than, you know, um, anything else it’s that’s right. You know, you want to work for a team that you can see yourself in that you both belong and fit in.
Cause anyone can fit in. You can wear the right. Uh, that’s probably the easiest thing to do.
Tim Gallaudet: This is something I’ve read often. You said it really well filled is most people may not remember what was said, uh, you know, by leader or in a meeting, but they do remember how they felt. Yeah. And, and, and know it’s a very, you know, feeling good and valued versus not is a big contrast.
Yeah. We all want to
Phillip K. Naithram: feel significant, right. That doesn’t mean we have to be the most significant in the room, but we want to feel that there’s value to us being there, especially in an organization. Exactly. If you just blend in with the furniture or you’re treated as if though you’re blending in with the furniture, you may not stay there very long and you definitely, you know, I don’t know what your feelings would be towards the leadership there, but they probably wouldn’t be great or they may be nonexistent, which I think is even worse.
Tim Gallaudet: Yeah. I’ve seen that too. Right,
Phillip K. Naithram: right. Where they just feel like, you know, w where they don’t even have anything to say about, they may know.
Tim Gallaudet: Right. And actually, this goes to this leadership principles and approach I have here that, that I’m transforming organizations that, that, that, that my philosophy of being a leader, you have this opportunity, you should take it.
And, and that’s, that’s one aspect of it is making the organization better in function and also in, in, um, in spirit. Right. And that, that people leaving saying, you know, I really felt valued under that leader. That’s, that’s what you want. That’s a transformation for a lot of organizations that would be,
Phillip K. Naithram: you know, so Tim, what are some of the things, I mean, we talked a lot about your experience with the military and I’d love to, I’d love to understand some of the things that you learned in the Navy that still apply to your everyday life now, and it, maybe it’s not business.
What’s your morning routine. Like what do you do every day that maybe you learned there or what’s different about it now?
Tim Gallaudet: Hi, it’s actually the same. I kind of. Taught me a number of things, or I learned from them. And, uh, ultimately in a lot, this is related to my whole leadership approach because it’s really a life approach.
I personally like to prepare for the day. You said you take a cold shower at four 30 every morning. I do. I like to get up, get some exercise in and do some reading and just, I like to, um, I like to be prepared for the day. And so, preparing for the day is something I’ve always kind of done. And, uh, I, I’m not one to stay up late and sleep through.
I like to, you know, get energized and have a productive day, whether it be kayaking with my family, you know, or taking care of my consulting business right now is just, um, getting up early. I like to stay fit. I think, I believe in a mind, body spirit. Kind of approach to life. It all works together. And so physical fitness is a part of that.
And that’s, I like to hit that in the morning. I was a swimmer, by the way. Yeah. Swimmers usually doing two a day workout, uh, my entire, you know, um, upbringing and high school and college. So, I have to take in that discipline in sports. Yes.
Phillip K. Naithram: But swimming isn’t necessarily a team sport, is it? It’s So,
Tim Gallaudet: yeah, but it is, you know, you go look at the recent Olympics team USA, swimming just crushed it.
And they’re working together. There are relays, everyone’s cheering for each other. It’s a team sport because at the end of it, you know, it’s a team. It ultimately is a team competition. Not so dynamic like soccer or hockey, but ultimately it is, it can be, I guess it can be.
Phillip K. Naithram: Do you think that some of that, so I want to talk a little bit, I want to see how regimented your morning routine is.
Cause that’s, that’s something easily that that’s something that someone can easily replicate. If they want it to be a little bit more disciplined and learn from your discipline, they can practice that discipline. Um, but, but swimming in particular that’s come up a lot. There have been multiple leaders that have told me they were either a triathlete or swimming, a long runner.
There’s something about that individual time of doing something hard and getting better at it. That translates to something. That’s sure what I want you to tell me what you think that is? Oh,
Tim Gallaudet: absolutely. Gosh. I owe so much to the sport of swimming for my success. Because of that, you learn about goal setting.
You do learn about teamwork because you’re with a team you are working with a coach and a coaching staff and, um, and all that’s part of a team. And then. And then you also learn about discipline. You learn about failure. Trust me, uh, you know, I was a distance swimmer, so I sweat on the mile for example, and I had a lot of bad, bad races.
It’s a hard race, you know? And so, but also some great victories and good, good wins. And so, um, uh, you know, th that all just helps you become a stronger person through that process. And, um, and then you also benefit as a culture of fitness, physical fitness, and, um, you know, and so that’s a kind of, uh, an, you know, a lot of people, I think when they go.
I approached careers. Um, there has to be balanced, you know, and, and, uh, uh, family life work balance. And, and so playing sports, being part of the team, physical fitness is an element of that. And I, I, uh, that’s why I kind of religious about, um, getting my exercise in every morning. It just kind of, and sometimes, you know, I’ll do a noon time kind of run again.
That’s where I get my best presentations and thoughts done is when I go on a long run. So that’s. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: Is it the same every morning? Are you waking up at the same time? Are you doing the same? Well, what’s the routine.
Tim Gallaudet: It’s good to you ask first, really the bigger picture here. Generally, it is for me. Um, not always because sometimes there’s evening events will make me say I’m going to sleep in, but, but ultimately the, the, and this is in my, my leadership approach.
There’s no formula for leadership or career success. I believe it’s, it’s very personal. And you have to find the leadership approach that works for you. You know, I have a personality that’s positive and generally, um, uh, you know, I’m, I wouldn’t call myself like a great Santini type of leader. Uh, look, look it up for our listeners.
Who’ve not heard of that movie. Uh, but ultimately, I’m not like a super autocrat or disciplinarian. I don’t like to discipline people. I like to motivate and inspire and, and really. Uplift. Um, but I’ve done it. I’ve fired people. It’s not fun, but tempos, you have to, but I I’m, my approach is a little more on that positive side, if you will.
Um, and, and that’s worked for me as no Schneider for, I wasn’t like, you know, special forces or anything,
Phillip K. Naithram: um, journal or write down affirmations. When you talk about that, positivity is gratitude list. Um, I can think of a number of things I don’t
Tim Gallaudet: want to. Yeah, that’s what I did at Noah. You know, that was my method of doing that, that kind of affirmation to sending emails and, or mentioning people in presentations.
My ammo for presentations was always to tell stories. Through the agencies, people, you know, for example, this leadership approach, I have, I created a presentation and it was during an all hands, a big leadership seminar attended by like a thousand people virtually. And, uh, and I went and told the story of all my leadership, the, all these principles, all in all good, all for one through all the different offices at Noah.
And I used pictures of them, pictures of them, groups of them meet with them. And I, and all of the different ones, satellites, you know, people who were flying the satellites, people who are catching fish and, and studying them, people who were, uh, diving on shipwrecks that I joined, which I loved and, or coral reefs.
And, and I tell, and I mentioned them by name and they’re there. And they loved it because they were seeing themselves and they’re seeing themselves. Uh, so much so that the agency’s leadership would talk about them. And, um, ultimately, but that would, that kind of gratitude and affirmation, and that goes both ways.
It would just uplift me. It’s ultimately, you know, that there’s for those listening, there is a really good, uh, Ted talk by a guy named Shawn Achor, a C H O R. And, uh, it’s called the happiness factor. I think happiness, Shawn Achor, you’ll find it. And it’s all about that. How people perform so much better when they’re feel valued and, they’re positive.
And, and one way to generate positivity. It’s doing that thinking, you know, either journaling or sending messages out to people saying good job today and, and generating positivity you’re in your, in your world. And that just ends up leading, elevating you as a person and your performance. So that’s a really good one that you get out here.
And I, everybody has a different way of doing. And, um, and I like to do that through, you know, reaching out to people in the
Phillip K. Naithram: agency, but you’re saying, taking those actions does something and it sounds like it does something for both you and the other person. Exactly. Right. So, you’re being of service, but you’re also, and that’s a, that’s something we can all replicate.
That’s a doable thing. If we want to, if we want to mirror some of the characteristics of your career, not even just the career, just, you know, how to build that discipline to, to be better, right. To continue to improve. We can just take that action and it will do something. It probably did it feel weird when you first started doing it?
Was it uncomfortable?
Tim Gallaudet: Oh, no. I mean, just, it evolved over time. I mean, it’s my natural personality by the way, thankfully. And, and seeing how it would work. I did, I kind of did a lot of that in the Navy and I really elevated it at Noah because of it. It was natural to me because I really did enjoy the people and their work so much that it was just, I was wanting to do that.
And, uh, and it worked out. I mean, it really, I know a lot of people were affected. When I left. I, no kidding. I probably that last day I received at least 300 emails from employees and I actually just forwarded them all to my personal account and then answered each one after I left, um, and thousands over the years, over the four years of social media messages and whatnot, uh, just thanking me and, and of course it was rewarding, but it was nice to know, like leaving the, the organization in a better place that we all should aspire for that.
But it’d be your family or, or the corporation or the team, the sports team. That’s just, that’s something I think this worthy.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. Here’s something that, so we’ve talked a lot about your positive nature and I can see it. I can feel it. It feels great if you know, we’re doing this live and in person. So, I’m really glad we were able to do that, but I can see it.
I can feel it, but what I call it, the jumping off point. Where you can no longer keep doing what you’re doing, but you may be unsure about what to do next you’re at that crossroad, that inflection point. It might even be a very fearful or hurtful experience that you’re now grateful for, but at the time was a struggle or a painful experience.
What’s one of those things that you can look back that it really changed you as an individual.
Tim Gallaudet: Well, there’s, uh, many, but maybe we’ll just use this point in time as an example. So, for, for, uh, so I was a, uh, a, um, government official, if you will, at NOAA. And, um, I was not asked to stay and being a political appointee is what I was fine.
I wanted to stay, I asked to stay, but that’s just not how Washington works as you know, that’s okay. Uh, and so, uh, I basically had to decide what to do with myself and ultimately, I realized I probably can contribute. As a private consultant, uh, because of my connections and experience. Now that was total new territory for me.
I had been in the government for 36 years. So, this is just as definitely uncharted waters. Uh, but my wife and I, you know, we, we worked together and I had some really great mentors, uh, a really wonderful, uh, um, company called EMT connects. I worked with a woman named my lean tar, Jan, who a consultant does life coaching.
And she helped me kind of learn and navigate starting up my own business. And, and then I had a mentor, a number of other mentors, and I ultimately, we, we have a business now and now I, I work too, uh, with a number of different ocean and weather and environmental tech companies that are contributing in a giant way to the Navy, to Noah, to others.
And, uh, and I’m having a lot of, really a lot of fun. And, and so I believe me, this was definitely having done, you know, been living by normal government protocol and process for 36 years. This is a tough break. It, it feels like. No, I wouldn’t say, well, he
Phillip K. Naithram: wasn’t what you wanted. And it felt like
Tim Gallaudet: disappointment.
It that’s actually very true. I did want to stay. I wrote, and I asked why I asked, I asked for a reason, so it was a little bit disappointed, but then I realized it was really a good break. It was the right time. And
Phillip K. Naithram: that was something else doing for you? What you wouldn’t have otherwise
Tim Gallaudet: done for yourself?
No, if I, if they said, Tim, do you want to stay? I would have stayed. Right. But, but now I’m glad I, I, you know, it also was a lot of work. So, um,
Phillip K. Naithram: I, um, but looking at how different you are now because of that work, oh, you now know how to navigate and do things that you didn’t know how to do, but then you wait for.
To learn.
Tim Gallaudet: Sure, sure. No, very grateful for it. So, and now it’s just a different, a different path and it’s really fun. And I do believe, I really believe our private sector has so much to offer, uh, you know, governments move slow and our government, especially so public private partnerships are something I preached all the time when I was with Noah and the Navy.
And so now I’m on the other side of it. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: I met you, uh, at the IIX blue booth. Give them a little bit of a promo there. They had the cool, uh, underwater drone. It’s the first time I saw I’ve never seen a drone submarine before.
Tim Gallaudet: It’s actually a surface drone. It’s like, oh yeah, it is. It is. Um, but it’s like this, this is called the drinks it’s I do too, actually, I think, and I want the Navy to want them because they are, they’re really awesome at hydrographic serving the best in the business, by the way, in terms of stability and all sorts of other potential applications as we need them to keep our competitive advantage against Russia and China right now.
Yeah. We talked a
Phillip K. Naithram: little bit about China kind of off air, and I didn’t realize I was, I was able to learn a lot from your podcast, right? The blue economy,
Tim Gallaudet: the American blue American blue podcast on, on coastal news today.
Phillip K. Naithram: Yeah. And if you don’t know about this podcast, check it out. That one episode, you know, we had talked a little bit about, uh, China and, and I had kind of boiled it down to being well, they’re the number two economy.
They want to be number one, but it’s, it’s a little bit different from that. And I didn’t realize how much, like fisheries in Alaska played a role in that. If you would’ve asked me. You know what it meant to compete for two, two economies to compete? I wouldn’t have thought about fisheries in the
Tim Gallaudet: lab. Oh gosh.
Laska fishery is the largest by volume fishery in the world. It’s huge economic contribution to our GDP. And you know, it was just actually Senator Sullivan of Alaska was on my very first episode. And, uh, as were others, uh, that former head of NOAA fisheries, Chris Oliver was on that first episode too. A big part of our, of our prosperity and our competition against China because China is really just ravishing the seas.
They are through illegal fishing. They are depleting fish stocks and doing great harm. And that is a difference between China and America. So, China, you know, it’s not just number one. And number two, it’s the fact that. Values that we S positive values that we read across the world, like democracy and freedom and Liberty and there’s are not.
So, they, they are destroying the environment on the way they have predatory lending practices with other nations and there. So, there’s, there’s a lot of reasons why, um, that we could go into on a whole separate episode, but ultimately,
Phillip K. Naithram: or they can tune into the American blue economy because you get into a lot of those
Tim Gallaudet: things.
Do we talk all about that? In fact, the American blue economy podcast on coastal news today is a really not only fun for me, but, um, we’d start showcasing some superstars. I’ve had, uh, Peter demonical, the, the director of woods hole oceanographic institution, Jim Riley, the former us geological survey director is on that last episode.
He’s also a three times shuttle astronaut, five times spacewalk, uh, experience and, um, and others. Uh, Ian Karnes, the founder of pro surfing was on an episode and Megan Haney Greer is a, a champion free diver, a female freedom. And so, we just, we have a grid and several other senators, Senator white house and Senator Wicker on two previous episodes.
So, it’s a lot of fun and there’s some great people on it. So, I encourage everybody to check it out. Yeah.
Phillip K. Naithram: So, once you, um, you know, our community, you know, that this podcast is to help anyone who wants to make a change to their life. Anyone who wants to become to keep it, if someone wanted to reach out to you to get in touch, to work with ocean STL, or find a way to just communicate with you, pick your brain, and maybe you can help them come up with an idea that they wouldn’t have otherwise had.
How do they reach out to?
Tim Gallaudet: ocean stl.com? It’s that easy? Yeah. All right. Well, great. Today. I feel like I could talk to you all day. I would have a good time doing that, but, um, I know we both have things to do. Just thanks to this great, uh, hour long experience. It’s been wonderful.
