Speaker 1: 0:30

Well, if I introduce myself, I'm Joe DeMatos, but if I'm listening to my grandparents, I'm Joseph DeMatos and I'm listening to my dad, I'm Joseph DeMatos Jr, but for the purposes of our discussion today, you can just call me Joe DeMatos. Call me Joe.

Speaker 2: 0:46

Okay, love that. And what is the name of your business and what services do you provide for your clients?

Speaker 1: 0:53

So for about 10 years now, kind of as a side gig that's now full-time. I've had a business called Triple Latte Leadership and it's an executive coaching, strategic advisory, organizational development firm and the idea around the name is that I've been around some incredible leaders. I've been able to observe presidents of the United States, the emperor of Japan, ceos, governors, and I really want people to have access. My mission really is for people to have access to that information kind of not much more for than the cost of a triple latte right the leadership that I've been so blessed to observe professionally over the course of my career. I just feel a calling to share that, to help people to be better leaders. So triple latte leadership has been around for about 10 years. And then recently I formed D'Amato's Strategic Advisors and that's a bit more focused. That's healthcare policy help, government affairs, community affairs help. That is public affairs of console, where I partner with other organizations and provide the best possible public affairs to organizations who are the best at what they do. Yeah, so that's what I'm about.

Speaker 2: 2:23

Wow, you've got some important clients there that you kind of name-dropped there, not by name, but like by Well, people I've worked with.

Speaker 1: 2:29

I've been really, really, really blessed to be able to observe leaders really from a very young age and, yeah, it's definitely shaped my life and I feel like it's really important, especially at this time when there's such a need for leadership. I'm not talking about partition leadership. I'm talking about in everything we do in life, we have the potential to be more effective leaders not good leaders, not bad leaders more effective leaders at home, in community, in our jobs, in non-for-profits. So, yeah, I've learned a bunch from other leaders and I want to convey that.

Speaker 2: 3:10

Absolutely, and I think you are doing that. I'd like to know a little bit of a backstory about yourself and how you got started in your industry. Is this something that you've always wanted to do or did something happen? Like you know how plans change sometimes and it's led you to steer into this direction.

Speaker 1: 3:27

So I was actually really, really fortunate. I grew up in Hawaii. My family immigrated from Portugal to Hawaii in 1883. My family immigrated from Portugal to Hawaii in 1883. So they moved from the kingdom of Portugal to the kingdom of Hawaii in 1883. And fast forward just a few years back. When I was 16 years old, I really wanted to be a doctor. I was like I want to save lives, I want to make a difference in people's lives, and I kind of came to this conclusion by myself that I wasn't smart enough to be a doctor. No, yeah, maybe I could have been. I don't know, you probably could have.

Speaker 1: 4:03

It doesn't really matter now.

Speaker 2: 4:05

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:05

But it's funny. What happened as a backup was at age 16, I lied about my age and wrote to the lieutenant governor and I got a meeting with the lieutenant governor of Hawaii. So when most kids are focused on running for student council president, you know when they're in the eighth or ninth grade or 10th grade. I wrote a letter to the lieutenant governor of Hawaii and I got the meeting and the first thing I did when I went in is, like, lieutenant Governor, I lied about my age. I'm really sorry, but I really wanted to meet with you and that got me on a track of politics and government policy and so, yeah, I've been on this road a very, very long time.

Speaker 2: 4:54

Yeah, I'd like to ask, because you said that when a lot of kids are running for student council, all that stuff, what planted the seed in your mind to want to do that? Go a step above and talk to an actual like leader. Leader not just from school you know, Were your parents like.

Speaker 1: 5:15

No, I mean, I was really, really blessed. I grew up pretty poor in a rural community of Hawaii, a culturally very proud, mostly native Hawaiian community in the country, but economically very disadvantaged. And so my mom was a cleaning lady. She cleaned rich people's houses and you know, in Hawaii too I think it's a little different than maybe possibly other parts of the world or other parts of the United States there's pride. You know, there's no disconnect between my mom cleaning rich people's houses and the people. People were very approachable, they were nice to me and to my mom and to our family. They weren't all oh, she's the cleaning lady, you can't speak to her kids or whatever. So one, I think Hawaii is one of those unique places. So that's point one.

Speaker 1: 6:15

My dad was brilliant, but he never went to college. He was a brilliant, accomplished journalist and he learned it as a trade. He learned it from other people, from doing it, and super, mega smart, super brilliant writer. I'm a writer. I'll never be as good as he was Don't say that, it's true and he was just fantastic. And so you know, I think what motivated me to approach the lieutenant governor and to get involved in that way was this mission to make the world a better place, even at 16,. You know, to try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Speaker 2: 6:57

Yeah, yeah, that is awesome At 16?. Yeah, kudos to you.

Speaker 1: 7:00

Now, I did student government also, just to be clear Both. But I started in capital P politics with like real leaders before I did student government.

Speaker 2: 7:12

Okay, Very nice. Thank you for sharing that. That's awesome. And now you're are you moving out of this where you're CEO? Healthcare association and now you're going into coaching and advising companies. Before that, can you talk to me a little bit about your previous history and that and what made you want to, I guess, shift gears?

Speaker 1: 7:31

So I was super blessed to be the president and CEO of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. It was really, honestly, a dream job. I did it for almost 15 years and HFAM was the oldest nationally affiliated health care association in Maryland 76 years old, I think. You know it was just time to move on and do something else. As I said, as the president and CEO at HFAM, I was given the latitude from our board of directors to do triple latte leadership on the side, as long as it didn't impact my day job. Yes, and thankfully it didn't. But I was able to maybe help a few people along the way. And you get to a point where you want to ramp things up and make a different kind of difference. Yes, hit the pause button, continue to make a difference, but do it in a different way. And so, yeah, I'm doing Triple Latte Leadership full-time now.

Speaker 1: 8:37

The motto Strategic Advisors is because I wanted to replicate or try to take the success we had at HFAM and help world-class organizations predominantly healthcare, but not limited to healthcare to achieve the success we did at HFAM. You know, when I started the job at HFAM was the Great Recession and it was an incredibly challenging time to be in health care because government budgets were cut massively during that recession of 08, 09. And it's not like people got incredibly healthier and you didn't need hospitals and nursing homes, right, they weren't cured instantly. So to help health care providers to navigate that and then all the way to the pandemic in 2020, and helping nursing homes to navigate the worst pandemic in 100 years, we got a lot accomplished in that 14 or 15 years. I'm really proud of it, and so I just wanted to do that privately, know, privately, you know I will say you asked about my career. I will tell you with all humility there's definitely a higher power in my perspective, involved in my life and in the world, and I'll tell you why. I believe that I got countless examples of that. But we're talking about work today and we're talking about professional stuff today. That's right. So here's why I believe that Going back to age 16 and lying to get a meeting with the lieutenant governor right and then that leads to an internship with a state legislator in high school, and then that leads to an internship with a state legislator in college, and then that leads to a job for a state legislator, an actual full-time, paid job at a very young age with a state legislator, and then that leads to work with a labor union, and then, following that, it leads to work with an attorney general a state attorney general and then to work for a governor, and then the private sector, and then Washington DC.

Speaker 1: 10:40

And so when you look at the pandemic in 2020, there were very few people that had that kind of a background. So I understood what Governor Hogan was going through and I mean literally, having been an employee of a governor and I understood what our legislators were going through. And I understood, because I'd been on the job for a while, what nursing homes and hospitals were going through. So, with all humility, I could never have prepared myself the way I was, I think, very well prepared to navigate through the pandemic, if not for a higher power. You know, I was, I think, part of the right person and the right team at the right time, and I feel very fortunate and blessed by that. Having said that, I still have really bad days, you know. I know people that died and I wonder, you know, I wonder a lot about that time.

Speaker 2: 11:43

Oh yeah, that's life. Sometimes it has its ups and downs, but the most important thing is that you get up and you want to make a difference, a positive impact.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Yeah, I was telling that to one of my mentorees yesterday. See, I was I, I, the, the, the um. That's so incredible that you hit on that.

Speaker 2: 12:00

Look at that.

Speaker 1: 12:00

I told him three things. I said have a plan with measurable goals. Have deadlines in the goals. Make sure you can measure them. Um, remember that your biggest tool is resilience, that idea that you just get up. Get up and one foot in front of the other and that you take action daily. So that was literally his homework from yesterday.

Speaker 2: 12:21

Yes, I love that. And now, what have been some of your favorite moments or projects that you were able to be a part of in order to help your clients? You probably have a couple, but if there's one that sticks out where you're like, you know what I came out of this, learning something.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Well, you know it's funny. Here's a small one. I came to this part of the world to lobby to get a prescription drug benefit in Medicare and we were successful with that in 2003. And so I was part of that team that lobbied and you know it took a whole team to get a drug benefit in Medicare, so our seniors have a drug benefit. But then after that I became AARP's senior state director in Maryland and I remember I was meeting with Governor Ehrlich and I, you know it was sort of like a hello, how are you meeting with Governor Ehrlich? It wasn't like supposed to be an in-depth meeting and you know we weren't exactly the same types of people. Ideologically we were different, and he's an incredibly gifted guy and I'm so proud that I built a relationship with him. But I didn't go in there like with a plan, you know. And so I'm sitting there with Governor Ehrlich and the meeting's going really, really, really well and I'm sitting there really freaking out in my brain.

Speaker 2: 13:45

Oh no.

Speaker 1: 13:45

Because I don't have something to ask of him, right, like I'm like, wow, this is the kind of meeting you're with this really powerful guy. It's going really really well you should ask him for really really well. You should ask him for something. And I didn't have an ask and so right there, in the spur of the moment, I came up with an ask. Yeah, and he did it. It was a public policy ask and he did the ask. Whoa what? Yeah, he like totally did it. So have a plan, you know, go into a meeting, have an idea of how you want the meeting to go, whether it's a meeting with your spouse, your kid, at your church, your synagogue, your mosque, at work, if you have a meeting. Before you go to the meeting, take a couple of deep breaths and have a plan. What do you want to share, what do you think you'll hear and what will be your ask?

Speaker 2: 14:41

Ask that question.

Speaker 1: 14:42

Yeah, ask that question.

Speaker 2: 14:43

Wow, that's crazy that he was like okay.

Speaker 1: 14:46

Yeah, he's like okay, yeah, we can do that. And you know, thank God, I came up with some warped public policy idea right when I was sitting there. Your mind he did it and it made a difference. It actually helped people.

Speaker 2: 14:58

Yeah, you got the ball rolling for that.

Speaker 1: 15:00

Yeah, so that's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:02

Not a lot of people could say that.

Speaker 1: 15:03

Yeah, so that's a real small, tangible one. I got a bunch of them, but that's a small, tangible one, that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 15:08

Thank you for sharing that. I'd like to ask you when it comes to marketing your business and yourself, what tools do you like to use? Are you an avid social media user? Do you find that that doesn't work for you? Are you more of talking and being face-to-face with people? Is it a mix of both? What's working for you?

Speaker 1: 15:24

You know I'm a huge fan of LinkedIn and I hope people will look me up on LinkedIn. Okay, very actively engaged on LinkedIn, so I'm a big believer in that platform. I do speak. I'll look for any opportunity to have a roundtable discussion. In Hawaii, we have this concept called mana'o, mana'o, mana'o Very good, you speak a little Hawaii very well for somebody who doesn't speak. Yeah, mana'o, that's like your knowledge, your insight, your wisdom, right? So I find that there's power in getting people together and asking what's their mana'o Like. I'll share my mana'o. I'll share my perspective. I'll share what I their mana'o Like. I'll share my mana'o, I'll share my perspective. I'll share what I think is my wisdom. But before I need that, before I try to do that, I'd like to hear what your mana'o is right, what's your insight, what are your thoughts? So I love roundtable discussions. I love mastermind groups. I've had a number of them throughout my career.

Speaker 2: 16:29

So that's how I do it. I love that and I believe it too, because right when we're sitting here, you literally flipped the script on me and you were asking me all the questions I was like what. I think you're one of the few people who did that, so that was cool. I was like, wait a minute, this isn't about me, it's about you.

Speaker 1: 16:41

It is about you.

Speaker 2: 16:42

It's about us.

Speaker 1: 16:43

Okay, there we go, there you go, right yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:45

I'd like to ask you do your bracelets stand for anything?

Speaker 1: 16:48

Yeah, so you know these are Buddhist bracelets. Strangely enough, this larger one is one that I got in Tokyo this year. Cool, I went to Japan this year and sort of a life bucket list trip and yeah, it was great. I went to a bunch of shrines and temples and it was very powerful. And then this one was given to me by the smaller more this is wooden was given to me it's appropriate by an actual Buddhist monk, so it's kind of very you know it's real, like it's all worn out. Right, it wasn't worn out when I got it, but this is wood and this is mineral and that's why I wear them. That's awesome when you go to the shrines.

Speaker 1: 17:46

Do you know Japan? You know, like most countries in the world, has a very proud spiritual and religious tradition and I just have been influenced a great deal by some university professors that studied there and so I've been rooted in that tradition for a long time. But you know it's the same thing. If you go to Jerusalem, where I've been twice, you know it's the birthplace of the three major religions of the world. You know Islam, judaism and Christianity all incredibly powerful faith systems, and I do believe that belief systems are very important in individual and collective success. I don't really care what an individual does in their faith tradition, but I think it's important that people have a faith tradition or a spiritual practice.

Speaker 2: 18:54

Yeah, and it seems like you're very tapped into many different. You're very culturally aware of different, I want to say practices and people, and just being in different places Do you feel like that has helped you, like just living in Hawaii?

Speaker 1: 19:09

having a.

Speaker 2: 19:10

Portugal background.

Speaker 1: 19:12

Yeah, I think people. So I think you know it's funny. I think people really underestimated the strength that was created in President Obama by growing up in Hawaii and also living abroad. I think living abroad and or living in places like Hawaii that are diverse, that are culturally rich, you know there is no. So there's no ethnic majority in Hawaii. So think about that for a second. If you put together all people that are Asian which you really wouldn't do because you know Vietnam, korea, japan, okinawa, they're all different cultures, right, and they all came at different times in Hawaii If you put them all together, that would be a majority. But there's no white majority, black minority, black majority. There is no ethnic majority in Hawaii without combining people that are kind of cousins and similar. I think it's really a major advantage for people that grow up there and who then go someplace else.

Speaker 2: 20:25

I love that. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. In your industry, do you find that there's any misconceptions or anything that people often come to you and they're like, no, that's actually not true. Would you like to share that and kind of debunk some of those things?

Speaker 1: 20:38

Well, it's not misconceptions, but I'll share a couple of things. You know I worked with nursing homes, assisted living and other post-acute long-term providers for almost 15 years and people think that their friends, relatives, people go into these places to die, and they actually don't. They actually go into these places to get stronger and live. The vast majority of people that enter post-acute long-term care go home stronger, and the people that don't are there because they find themselves at the intersection of high medical need and high safety need. You know, if somebody can be cared for at home in the community by family or professionally, safely and medically appropriately, they should totally be in that setting. But if they can't, thank goodness we have these post-acute long-term care settings. So one misperception is that people go to these places to die. They actually go there to live and the vast majority go home stronger.

Speaker 1: 21:44

And then the second thing coming out of the pandemic was everybody believes that the pandemic caused the current workforce shortage. We had a huge workforce shortage before the pandemic and the pandemic just made it worse and we need to pay attention to that. It's not going away without special attention. And again, this is why we need more leaders. We need to figure out how do we attack this problem of we're producing too few nurses, too few physicians and too many are leaving also? It's a big challenge.

Speaker 2: 22:22

Why do you think that reason is that we are lacking some nurses and doctors? Do you feel like maybe they got overburnt or they saw all that COVID stuff going on?

Speaker 1: 22:30

Well, even before great question. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

Speaker 2: 22:33

No, you're good.

Speaker 1: 22:34

Thank you, we're free flowing but, I, didn't mean to step on your question.

Speaker 2: 22:37

So I apologize. No, you're so good.

Speaker 1: 22:39

So here's the deal. We have thousands of more applicants to medical schools in this country, individual medical schools. We're not talking about all of them, you know they might be several thousand students that apply to one medical school that has 200 slots.

Speaker 2: 23:00

Yes, right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:03

So we got way, way, way more people that are interested. We don't have the capacity to educate them With nurses. It started out that we didn't have enough lab time, so we increased the lab time and universities got creative. But what's happening with nursing is that when a person becomes a nurse and they earn well in the private sector at a hospital, a doctor's office, somewhere else where they practice an insurance company, law firm they make way more than they would as an advanced nurse teacher. So we don't have enough nurses with master's degrees and PhDs, so we have a shortage of nurse educators. We don't have enough.

Speaker 1: 23:50

So I mean, it's really kind of a basic math problem. You know, we need to find a way to incentivize nurses financially. Yes, to say you know what? I'll go get that master's, I'll get the PhD and I'll go back and I'll teach. Yeah, go get that master's, I'll get the PhD and I'll go back and I'll teach. And then we have to find a way to expand the slots in medical schools and try to take more of those thousands of applicants rather than just those 200 people per class per year.

Speaker 2: 24:18

Yeah, what happens to the rest of them? They give up their dream or move on to something else.

Speaker 1: 24:22

They move on and do something else medically and we need them. So it's so important.

Speaker 2: 24:26

I'm glad you brought that to light because I really was like, well, was it the pandemic that scared it? But I did.

Speaker 1: 24:31

I think the pandemic did scare some people because for the first time you really could show up to work and, as a result, perhaps die of a virus. People did.

Speaker 2: 24:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 24:43

But no, we've had those workforce challenges since before the pandemic. Pandemic just made it worse.

Speaker 2: 24:48

Yeah, it's kind of like a bridge that was already like falling down and then that was just a great image. What made it just all tumble now?

Speaker 1: 24:54

Really great image, yeah it did, so we're going to need to do better.

Speaker 2: 24:57

Yeah, and what do you think we could do besides like helping people get more accepted more than 200 people and having more nurses who have that master's degree in education to help teach? What else could we be doing in other sectors?

Speaker 1: 25:13

Well, I think we have to start younger and I think we need to target underrepresented communities. We have communities like the one that I grew up in, you know, in Hawaii, the one that I grew up in you know in Hawaii the Leeward Coast, the Waianae Coast where you have still a lower than the statistical average of people that go to college. So me personally, I would target those communities where we're not necessarily having the average number of people go on and study. You know you can do nursing with an associate's degree and work your way up as you go. Yeah, so first thing is target underrepresented communities.

Speaker 1: 25:55

Yeah, I don't think in the near term you solve the problem without a comprehensive revamping of our immigration laws. Yeah, we have people, really well-educated nurses, from around the world that have been hired by US companies. They're hired, they meet the licensing requirement, their education is just as good, but they can't get an interview to get their visa to get into the country. So we literally have thousands of nurses abroad from a number of different countries who have jobs. They have been hired by US hospitals, us nursing homes. They're ready to go.

Speaker 2: 26:37

It's just that roadblock with the visa. They can't get the visa.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Can't get in the country. So we have to acknowledge that and put more resources at that, and we've always in this country relied in the short term on legal immigration to augment our workforce. We've always done that. Healthcare is probably the area where we need to do it now and then grow more at home. Grow more at home.

Speaker 2: 27:02

Absolutely. Thank you. I'd like to talk to you about your Lifetime Achievement Award in Maryland.

Speaker 1: 27:07

How did that I can't believe. You looked that up, I did. I have it here right in my notes. I'm watching you. Super blessed to be named by the Daily Record and Icon Lifetime Achievement winner. It just means I'm old.

Speaker 2: 27:20

Oh, stop it, that's what it means. You've got wisdom and tenure and experience.

Speaker 1: 27:25

Yeah, I use the word tenure also. It's a nice way to say old tenure.

Speaker 2: 27:29

Oh my gosh but you know.

Speaker 1: 27:30

look, I've been super blessed. Like you know, every opportunity to serve and make a difference I count as a blessing, so it was really nice to be selected by a major news organization as an ICON Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Speaker 1: 27:47

And I guess they looked at. You know all the things that I've done in health care policy and you know, I guess they're like me, right, health care policy. And you know, I guess they're like me right, when I think of health care policy, like if I'm meeting with a governor or a senator, I'm not really thinking about the policy, right, I am. I'm seeing the face of the person who's going to be positively impacted by that policy.

Speaker 2: 28:11

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:12

And I guess what the Daily Record did is they were kind enough to look at that also, yeah, and so I'm humbled by that, yeah. So, thanks for bringing it up.

Speaker 2: 28:20

You're welcome. That is so great because I feel like a lot of people get that title or award. I actually had somebody come in here and they were like I got an Emmy. I was like I've never interviewed someone who got an Emmy Like all these people that Huge Right.

Speaker 1: 28:31

I'd like to get an Emmy.

Speaker 2: 28:32

Me too. How do we get an Emmy?

Speaker 1: 28:33

We should work on that. Who do we got to talk to around here? Let's you and I talk about that. Let's do it. Yeah, let's get an Emmy, because I know what I'm going to wear when I win the Emmy.

Speaker 2: 28:40

Really, I haven't planned yet, yeah yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 28:53

I think you know. So the number one thing that drives me is the fact that I have a wife and two boys. So I see myself in the next five years, healthy and continuing to be incredibly engaged in the life of my two young boys and my wife. I've got a high schooler and a young college guy, so there's a lot happening in their lives right now.

Speaker 1: 29:17

So number one is that. Number two is still actively involved in the community and trying to help the community through community organizations and then, I think, just continuing to be a go-to leader. I was waiting here this morning. I got an email from a Maryland legislator, a Maryland senator, about policies that benefit veterans, and you know it's great that I still get emails like that. You know, can you help me? Can you help me to get this bill passed honoring Maryland veterans?

Speaker 2: 29:55

And.

Speaker 1: 29:55

I was like, yeah, of course I'm emailing back. So so five years from now, you know, continuing to be a go-to leader, not just on issues of public policy, but on issues of leadership and leadership development.

Speaker 2: 30:07

Yeah, no, I'm all about making positive change, and it sounds like you are also, so you're going straight in that direction.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Yeah, yeah, I've got a lot, a lot of thread on the tires. Still, I can run a lot longer.

Speaker 2: 30:18

I love that. Good, we want to hear that. Is there anything that I have not touched on, perhaps that you would like to talk about, whether it's about yourself, your business, your family, your background, maybe more stories?

Speaker 1: 30:31

You know, the one thing I just want people that are listening or viewing this podcast to remember are is what I want them to remember is that they're leaders. They might not think of themselves as leaders, but they are. I mean, like literally whatever they're doing professionally, from cleaning the jets when they pull up to the gate or flying the jets when they leave, they're everything in between. They're all leaders, and we're living at a time when we have so many challenges and so many opportunities that we need these leaders. We need you to lead where you are and to recognize that you're a leader. And so, number one, you're a leader, everybody's a leader. Number two we all have the potential to be more effective leaders Not perfect, not good, not bad more effective. And three, none of us are perfect.

Speaker 1: 31:35

So, we're going to make mistakes and hopefully we'll take those mistakes and we'll learn from them and we'll be more effective leaders. So we'll end this podcast where we began. You said you know you turned the tables on me because I was trying to interview you. I thought I was doing a pretty good job.

Speaker 2: 31:50

You were, you got me.

Speaker 1: 31:51

Yeah, but then you responded well, it's not about you, it's not about me, it's about us. Let's end on that, it's about us.

Speaker 2: 31:59

I love that. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to be here and sharing so much of your experiences, your journey, what you're able to do and what you have done. It's been a pleasure getting to chat with you.

Speaker 1: 32:09

Good to chat with.