Marco Shepherd: Leading With Resilience and Candor in Hollywood

I.

Had a very difficult childhood.

And I truly believe.

That cinema and storytelling were my drug, were my way to escape.

The pain that I was facing and the atrocities that I was witnessing.

So for me to be able to provide.

Escape, but in the same way inspire people, I think that's really what makes what makes what I do really unique. And those are the stories that I really want to tell.

Welcome to the Pursue Whole Podcast. I'm your host, Andy Maurer, and in this podcast I share my insights as a leadership coach and former therapist. I sit down with some of the highest level leaders in business and entertainment and human performance to help you pursue wholeness in your work life and relationships. Thanks for joining me. Let's jump in.

I just sat down with Marco Shepard, who is the Senior Vice President, Production and Development at Syntropolis Entertainment. Marco is involved in overseeing all aspects of development, production, financing, licensing and marketing and distribution for the company's film and TV projects. The reason why I wanted to have Marco on the podcast is because the last couple times we talked, he got to open up a little bit about his fear of disappointing people and how he's been learning to lean in with candor to better build trust and growth within his team. We also talked about how to prioritize what's most important in life and how pressure and fear can most often get in the way of that. Marco gave a great example today of what a whole leader looks like and how he's pursuing wholeness in his life, work and relationships.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Pursue Whole Podcast. Today I have Marco Shepard with us. He is the Senior Vice President of Production and Development at Centropolis Entertainment. Marco, welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Excited to have you on the podcast and we've talked a couple different times over the last two years and connected. You got to share a little bit more your story with me and I was really excited about just some of the growth you've experienced over the last couple years, personally and also as a leader. And I wanted to make sure that your voice was heard. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your story and how you arrived at the role that you're in now.

Yeah, so.

I started at Centropolis Entertainment back in 2009 as an assistant, and in the last 10 years or so I have grown to.

I've basically climbed up the ladder, the executive ladder, to basically run the company now. For Roland Emmerich, a very successful director in Hollywood.

It was quite an interesting journey, a lot of learning. I think I'm very Grateful that I was able to do a lot of jobs before I became president of the company about three. Three years ago or so.

And yeah, it has been quite an interesting journey, you know, into. Into the position. Into the position that I'm in today.

Did you know, as a kiddo, you wanted to grow up working on movies and Interesting.

My. My whole career. Well, it all, really, my whole passion for film and television and. And storytelling was sparked when for the first time, I saw the Oscars. I was very young, and I fell in love with artists being rewarded for their ability to tell stories. And I thought, this is amazing, how wonderful it is to be rewarded for telling a story, whether it's through sound or picture or directing or producing. And so my obsession for film really started at a really young age. But what really.

Triggered my complete interest into getting into film and television was I saw the movie the Lion King in theaters. I was a little kid, and I walked out and I noticed people wanted to watch it again. And I realized people were paying money to come see it again. And that's when I realized, oh, there's a business here.

I'm obsessed with stories, but you can make money. And I came home and I told my mom, I think I know what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be. I want to make movies. I didn't know what, but I was going to make movies. I was going to be part of that industry. That really was. Sparked my passion for. For cinema.

Yeah. What stories or movies did you love to watch when you were growing up?

You know, I'm. I love stories that make us feel.

So growing up, I absolutely loved action and action movies. Made me feel a thrill, and I love tension. So growing up, I watched Broken Arrow. I watched anything that Michael Way would do.

I obviously watched the Matrix, which changed everybody's life, that film. I also liked Spielberg's, know, mega blockbuster films like, you know, ET Or Jurassic park, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, the very first one.

And for me were the ones that were really entertaining. And obviously that's where my passion for films that Roland's directed. It's in alignment with. With what I like to do. And Independence Day was one for sure as well.

So.

So is your. Is your whole kind of journey through entertainment and that world at Centropolis or is it started somewhere else and then you kind of moved into the position there?

Well, I went. Well, it starts back in college. I went to Virginia Tech from 2001 and 2005, and I went to school for Film theory. And what a wonderful experience that my homework was to watch films and write papers about them and study them. So my background is in theory.

I did not go and learn production per se. I learned a little bit about production in school, but really, production was on the go. When I first came to Hollywood in 2005, I started working.

As an editor, believe it or not. I learned how to edit.

When I was in college. And I got a job working for a very big marketing company. And from there I started looking for jobs in film. And a very good friend of mine happened to be very good friends with Roland Emmerich. And he said, you should meet him. And I met him. And I immediately told Roland, listen, I want to work for you someday, for sure. I mean, I love what you do. I want to learn the process. And I would love the opportunity to really start from the bottom and learn the craft of producing and directing. And it all started there. And then I started doing little jobs here and there. He hooked me up with my first job, working for Ross Heller, who was one of the very first female producers in Hollywood.

Female executives in Hollywood. She actually oversaw Taxi, Taxi Driver for Scorsese when she was in work, when she had her position in the studios. And so I learned a lot from her. And we shot a movie in Mexico City called Trade, about human trafficking. And that was a perfect. That was a perfect gig for me because, as you know, I speak Spanish. So that was really, really helpful. And from there I came back home. I started doing little jobs here and there. I ended up working for Peter Landesman as an assistant. Peter Landesman is a director, writer.

And then in 08, at the end of 2008, I got a call from Roland Emmerich's office that he was. He would like to meet with me. And, well, his team and I met with his executives at the time, and they said, hey, do you want a gig? You want to work for the company? And we know that you've been wanting to work here for a while. And after three, four years of having that conversation of, I want to work for you.

I started at Syntropolis. So that was a little bit of what I did right before going into Syntropolis. I've done a little bit of jobs here and there, working on sets, editing. Got pretty good at making coffee.

Well, you've worked your way up for sure, Marco, over the last couple years, and we've processed that a little bit together and gotten to talk about that. And I'd love for you to share as you've grown in your leadership position within Hollywood and specifically within Centropolis. What have been some of the biggest areas of growth that you personally have stepped into and are working on right now in your life?

Well, at the beginning, I had a lot of fears and a lot of doubts. I was very insecure. I had big dreams, but those dreams seemed unattainable. And I obviously.

Originated from the fact that I didn't have any experience.

Now that I look back, I realize that.

But one of the things that I really want to realize and I've learned now is that.

You are learning so much as you are working in whatever position that you're in. You're learning things not only.

You're not learning just things that you learn on a book. You're learning how to talk to certain people. You're learning how to talk to certain positions. You're learning how to navigate into this world of making movies, of production, how to talk to a director, a producer, a writer, an executive, a lawyer and an agent. Those are things that they don't teach you in school. That's one thing, is how to navigate through all the power players and different positions.

And then I started to realize that I know more than what I think I know.

And that has come from experience for being in the trenches from, from. From doing. And no matter how many years of school you have, you cannot attain that. And I think everybody in their own fields can attest to that. They look back and realize, yeah, I wasn't ready for that, and I'm glad I didn't do that when I was that age. So those are the things I would say that was primarily the thing that overcame over fears and doubt and teaching myself to say, it's going to be okay, one step.

All that experience, all that experience sounds like it actually gave you quite a bit of confidence to lean in and be agile and be flexible within all these different relationships and settings and dynamics. And what would you say maybe a couple of years ago, what was one of your big fears that you feel like you've had to grow in?

Predominantly, you know, we talked about this last time we spoke. One of my. One of my best traits is that I'm very diplomatic.

My parents have always said I'm always a pacifist. I always like to make sure everybody is. I don't like the words, use the word happy, but more content.

Being respected. I think for me, respect is very important. But I've always confused respect with, okay, in order to respect somebody, I need to then disrespect myself. And that's been something that I've. That I've been as I've gotten older, I need to understand that in order to be, to be in a healthy place, you need to draw boundaries. And.

Until last two years, I've been having to learn to speak truth and at times be direct, which causes uncomfort, particularly myself, because I know that the person or the entity that I'm addressing.

Perhaps is feeling very uncomfortable, very threatened.

Perhaps triggers fear. And that's something that I've always tried to avoid creating uncomfort on the other side. And so I've learned to start, not learn, but have to in order to continue to grow, to lean in, but to learn when to lean in. And I've always struggled with this because I've always felt I need to be humble. So I need to watch my ego. But humbleness and my ego, which one is it? I need to lean in this time, but is it my ego? And even when it's not my ego, while I'm leaning in, the others perceive you as who do you think you are? They think that you're being egotistic, but in fact you're in the search for hey, what you think your perspective is unfair.

On the issue that we're discussing. So learning to really lean in has been an interesting.

Skill that I've had to learn because generally I do care for people. And even if I feel that I'm not being treated fairly, I always try to keep my mind. This is business. I'm not running a non profit organization to help people with, you know, with whatever disability or issue they may have. This is a business. You need to get the job done.

So I appreciate you sharing that, Marco, because I think that relates to a lot of leaders, especially a lot of leaders that I talk to where they're either going to be better at that candor or they're going to be better at that compassion, that more diplomatic part of themselves. And yet what I find, and you're describing this as, they are diplomatic. They're really good at molding and meshing and fitting and being that chameleon to meet people wherever they're at. And there's a benefit to that. But one of the things that we lose when we do that is we lose clarity around what we need as a person. And we can become very bitter or frustrated or discouraged because we're not able to put out there what it is that we need or some of the hard truths that we want to communicate. And it sounds like you've leaned into that and shifted that. And what has that given you as a result, Just personally, as you've leaned into candor, what has that given you inside or professionally or personally?

I think what I've learned from this experience and leaning in and learning to speak truth and be direct at times, and I'm saying you don't have to do that all the time. What I've learned is to trust myself. But the biggest gift has been.

Is the experience. The experience has been so liberating.

That it truly allows me to do my work and to trust myself that even though I'm being misperceived by somebody else or I've been misperceived by what I've said and the way I've said it, that I truly know I didn't come from the, from, from an end, from a, from a negative or vindictive place that I was just speaking truth and this needed to be said. And that f. F the other person that, that I spoke to still perceives me in a negative way. I know.

That what I work, where I came from, came from a good place. But I'm not, you know, I'm not at the mercy of somebody else's opinion about what I, what I'm doing. And that's very liberating. And it's okay as long as you're doing your job and as long as you're doing it correctly and for the well being of the company and the people that you work for and you work with, you're going to be fine. And that's been a huge lesson I've learned in the last, in the last two years.

That's amazing. A lot of leaders don't lean into that area because of what you just described, that fear that they're going to ruffle feathers or disappoint people. For those leaders who are struggling to make that shift and actually be more candid and to step out and tell people what they need or what they want.

What'S their path if they don't change that? Like what's going to happen in their life, their personal life, their professional life if they don't learn how to speak up?

Well, I think as leaders we need to understand the people that we're leading.

Who they are. Some people are very secure, some people are very insecure. Some people are very good at something and some people are very good at something else. That assessing people, whether there is as a group or individually, I always say you're much more productive if you're able to assess everybody individually. If you're able to get the best out of them, whatever the case may be, even through motivation or through building a healthy business relationship. When they feel. When people you work with and you work and people that work for you, when they know that you truly have their best interest.

They learn to trust you. It's a survival mechanism by any living creature. If you trust an environment, they're going to open up. Some people don't open up fully. But to answer your question, when you assess that environment around you, assuming you're not in a toxic environment, you can lean in. When you're not able to, when you know that you have, I don't know, multiple sharks, they're trying. They're aiming to get your job. And there's a lot of layers of politics. And if you're in a toxic environment that doesn't let you lean in, you're in an environment where you're not able to grow. So if you can't lean in, you need to either think, I need to get out, or you need to lean in and change that environment, you're going to stop growing. So that is the biggest prize that leaders pay. You're not going to grow. You may feel safe because you're not going to lose your job, you're making your money, but you're not growing. You're not growing. And the company, the group, the entity is not growing itself either. And that's dangerous. That's a dangerous place because then that trickles down to productivity. That's really been my experience. So you need to be honest with yourself. You need to be honest with yourself about and assuming that the environment like the one. I'm blessed with having a very good company.

I can't speak for the amazing people that I work with. We can come in and we can scream at each other in a healthy way. Because at the end of the day, we're both fighting for the best idea, not fighting for each other's egos, and we hug it out. But those are relationships that I've built now for over six years. We've been through the trenches together.

So I'm grateful that that has. That. That comp or company has become that very healthy environment. We can speak truth.

Yes.

Although I understand some leaders, I understand it because I've witnessed it from other companies, particularly Berkeley corporations. A total different animal. Everybody's compartmentalized. And the culture in those companies is a culture of fear. They don't want to lose their job, they're afraid of losing their jobs. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges that we face in corporate America and is that hurting our productivity is hurting, you know, leaders, I don't know. But as leaders individually, be honest with yourself about, am I growing in this position and am I not by not being able to lean in?

And our leaders who follow our work at pursue whole. One of the things I love about our leaders is they actually really do care about their people. They care about team culture. They care about wanting to develop people and pour into them. They care about wanting to be better. And that's not a environment that you're describing with a bunch of sharks. They just need to. They need to move a little bit on the spectrum of what you're describing, of really building trust through candor. And I think that's an amazing point that you bring up. You. You. You said that in a really just excellent way. So thank you. Marco, I want to switch gears for a little bit here, and I want to talk about prioritizing what's most important in our life and how we do that, specifically in an environment like Hollywood where there's lots of money, there's lots of fame, there's lots of image, there's lots of. How do you. How do you work in that environment, Marco, and prioritize what is most important in life? Because there's a lot of distractions, and there's a lot of distractions for leaders in any industry. But how do you personally prioritize and stay focused on what's most important when there's so much distraction around you?

Well, I'm an. I'm a. I'm a workaholic. And where I am professionally is the result of a lot of work. Put in so much time and energy and work. But when I look back and I see. I know a lot of leaders are in the same position. We look back and we realize what happened to my 20s and my 30s.

We forget the time we lost with family. We understand the price that it takes to be able to be where you are now.

As I've gotten older, I am. Okay, what are we doing? I'm going to be productive today. It's important that we are productive as we're leaders. But now we have to reconfigure our mind in the way we work. I know.

I'm not going to generalize, but we know that as leaders, one hour of our time has a lot more value than one hour of our time 20 years ago because of our experience, because of all the knowledge that we have. So. Or time is much more valuable than it used to Be. And that's one thing as a leader that I had to learn. Looking back. Well, I gotta log in 12 hours a day of work today and I'll go. No, you don't. You have to log in the best work you can today to get things going and to get things, you know, being productive. But one of the things that I've really have made an effort for myself is to really make time for my mom, really make time for my brother, my family, but also for myself. So make that your focus, truly, because that's, that's the foundation of your own health. It's as if I got to go to work, I don't have time to eat. That's, that's problematic. You need to carve out time to go take care of yourself. If you're not taking care of yourself yourself, how are you going to lead? So I think that one of the things that I've learned is truly the value of family and truly the value of self care, both psychological, mental, spiritually. Really have to take care of ourselves, otherwise we're going to be very unhealthy when we lead.

Sounds like family is really important for you, Marco. And has it always been that way? Because I think for our leaders, they, they really do prioritize their immediate family, specifically kids. But what you're describing is kind of that extended family with parents and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles. And I think that is harder for our leaders sometimes to prioritize that because they're so focused on their immediate family. So how do you, I guess, why is that so important to you and how do you prioritize that?

Well, I'm schedule based, so I really look at my calendar and I carve out time, whether it's to talk to my friend in North Carolina or my family in Seattle. And when I mention family and friends, my word. The word family to me also means friends are very close to me. To make an effort, to really socialize, it doesn't have to be. And in person, but also just get on the phone and say a quick hello. Those are really important because we're able to be reminded of what really matters in life. I'm not trying to demean, what we do does not matter. What we do matters work wise and the people that we touch on a daily basis. Being a leader, you know, people go home and they're inspired and they're fired up. We want to continue to do that. But.

For me it's just really make time. And even for personal, like I need to go work Out. I will work out today. Well, I have a meeting. All of a sudden shifted. Great, then move it around. Make sure you log in time. And if you can go to the gym, just stop for 20 minutes and do a few push ups and little sit ups. Take care of yourself. And I think again, goes back to family, friends, make time, carve it out on the schedule. If you need to shift it, you shift it. I just don't know why we as leaders, oh, I don't have time today, won't be able to make it. Do we treat our business associates and our business partners employees the same way as we treat our own? I mean, if the call can make it happen today, we make every effort to reschedule it, whether the same day or sometime during the week. It's a bit of an extreme example. What I'm saying is we really cannot just, I'll talk to you later. Time flies and before we know it, all that time's gone and we didn't carve out a little bit of time for ourselves, for our families.

I totally agree with you. There's this immediacy, I think specifically around sales or networking or specific partnerships that we want to make where we will go after those relationships and we will create opportunity and space and availability for those things. But then a friend wants to get together and we push it and we push it and we push it and we push it. What is going on there just emotionally in your experience, maybe in your own life, but what you've seen with other leaders, what's going on there, that they would prioritize this kind of strategic relationship but push out this more personal relationship?

I mean, it's the pressure, right? It's the pressure of success, it's the pressure of financial pressure. You know, whether you have a very expensive lifestyle, maybe you have three, four little kiddos, you got to pay for school. I don't know what the. You need to be aware and be honest about where that pressure is coming from. Is, is, is, is the lifestyle, the family that's really pushing you to just be, I gotta work more, more, more, more morning in order to make enough to maintain. Or is it personal? Is it ego driven? You know, we, I, I can, I can confess.

I wake up and sometimes I fight insecurity. I need to figure out what my next show is going to be. I, something's not going. And, and all these thoughts, you know, come into your mind. You need to hold your thoughts captive and so, and be honest about, about, about all, all of that crosses your mind. So, so it depends on where the pressure is coming from. But I primarily think is, do you want to be the best of the best? So it's, you know, you, your, your own drive and also could be financial, you want to make more money, you want to keep climbing up, you want a better, you better, a better position. Or it could be that you just need to maintain the lifestyle and for, therefore you need to work harder. I, that's really my personal.

Yeah. And it doesn't sound like, I mean if, if I sat down with you, Marco, I think it'd be pretty transparent that, you know, that's a struggle for you to find the balance between there as it is for me to kind of find the balance between personal life and professional life and how those two mesh together. But it sounds like at least you are seeking to pour into what's most important and that helps you find a little bit more balance or fluidity between that high achiever part of yourself, but then that also very relational part of yourself. Is that fair to say?

Absolutely. Focus on yourself. There will be balance. I had the pleasure of training under very good spinning instructor Angela Davis. And what I like about Angela is that her classes were difficult, extremely difficult for me and challenging. And I had to show up at like 7 in the morning and just do. The class was like a 45 minute class. I came out of there completely drained and exhausted. But during that class she said, whatever challenge you're facing in this 45 minutes, remember the challenges you're facing outside. Take, just, just confront it, trust the process and face it. And what I liked is that by taking care of myself, it's a silly example. And it could be at breakfast with your wife and the kids before you go to work on a Wednesday or whatever. It may be that if you carve out time for yourself, you're going to go into the, into the workspace re energized in a way that you just can't, you're, you can't get it. You're not going to be, you're not going to be smarter if you stay on the street on the hamster wheel. You know what I mean? You have to get off the hamster wheel, do something for yourself and jump on it again.

So that's great. And that could be a hobby, that could be exercise, it could be family, friends.

Exactly, exactly.

It's amazing. Let's talk a little bit about just retrospectively looking back on the last, say 20 years of your professional career. What were some pivotal moments or painful moments? Because I'm a Strong believer. And we believe this at pursuit whole that pain is the doorway to growth. We often believe that it's through our pain that we achieve the highest levels of growth if we can let pain transform us and develop us. So I'm curious, what are some key pivotal moments of pain in your story that really shaped you as a person and helped you become better as a leader?

Wow.

So good question.

I think the biggest lesson that I learned, and it was instrumental in my career.

Was that I agree we all have to pay our dues. And paying our dues means we need to have a little bit of experience, learn and watch. But some of us are gifted. And that gift could come from birth, it could come from experience, or it could just simply come from just pure growth.

The growth that I experienced was where I sort of was not growing professionally. And I wasn't being given the.

The acknowledgement and the mis. The mistake I was making was to try and please those who I was trying to seek validation from. Until I realized, go do it yourself. And I went ahead and did it myself. And that created chaos. That created chaos where I was working.

And I was afraid that I was going to lose my job. And.

It completely went the other way around.

To the opposite. People said people were surprised.

The people that tried to belittle me didn't win to the opposite. The people above them acknowledge my contributions. They loved my contributions. And in that, I ended up working with some of the biggest. The biggest directors in Hollywood now.

And it was a big lesson for me because I learned that.

Once you earned your place at a company or in a group, if you feel that you have a great idea and people are shutting you down, you got to step out of your comfort zone and say, I really believe in this. Do it the right way. Understand you may need the blessing. A couple people, even at the top, go out of your way, circumvent them and say, I want to do it. Have a little bit of. Be a little bit of. Be a little bit gutsy, but also make sure it's all about timing too. And that was the biggest lesson, is that if you hit a ceiling, if you hit a wall, but you really believe in yourself and you really believe in what you have in your hands, which is whatever project my industry is about, the project that I have, go around those obstacles and don't be afraid of stepping on the wrong toes. Just do it right. You'd be surprised if you're a hard worker, you're going to employee, you'd be surprised the amount of support you'll get from the people. I think that to my point, we give too much attention and energy to the people that are not on our side for some reason. I don't know why it is, but we always do is the. Is the naysayers. We give them so much energy and so much power. You want to. You want to stop that, stop that right away. You have specialist leaders, but we don't confront them. You know, Jeff Goblin taught me a really great. He gave me great advice. He said, pick your battles. Learn how to pick your battles. And my. Again, I'm very diplomatic, so I'm able to handle uncomfortable situations. But when. When it comes to your. When it comes to my growth, I think that's the biggest experience, the biggest experience I've ever had where. But I learned that if I want to do something, I can do it based on people. Yeah, go do it to the opposite. You're going to have to go out of your way. Regardless of what people say about you say, no, you can't do this, you can't do that. If they keep pushing you down and down and down, they. That's the clear sign. Okay, I either got to get out of here or got to learn how to go around them to get the job done.

It's similar to that phrase of if you're doing something that everybody loves, it must not be very important or it must not be impacting the world. This pushback that you're getting, this pain that you've experienced forced you. It sounds like Marco, to have to decide, one.

How am I going to get back up? And I think that's a key quality of leaders, is they are resilient. When they get pushed down, they come back stronger. That is resilience. And then two, purpose, which is, why am I doing this and what do I want to do in the world? Resiliency and purpose. I hear that so clearly in that example that you gave is your ability to bounce back even stronger. But with the drive to know why you're doing what you're doing. Let's dig into that just for a second here. Why do you do. Well, why do you keep doing what you do? Because you probably get kicked down a lot. So why do you show up every day? What's your purpose? What's your drive?

My drive is truly.

My obsession with storytelling. I love stories. It's like saying, hey, Andy, so let me. Let me tell you a story. I got your attention, right? Full attention, right? We all love stories. We've loved stories since we were. I don't know, you know, run, you know, gathering around a campfire, you know, before we learn how to. How to make wheels, you know, So.

I don't know. I just like to hear stories. I like to learn people's lives. I always love anybody who overcomes adversity. I love the underdog stories.

Why? It's just. Is. I mean, if you look back to David and Goliath, right, we just love that story. That's an incredible story. And our history is a story.

So it really is my drive. I always like to look for new stories. Even if I read something, I just want to see them on the big screen. That's really my big passion. If I see a story that I like, I read a story that I like. I want to see it. I want to experience it in an immersive way. I want to see it in the movie theater, in my living room, on my iPad.

It's just an incredible drive. I can just drive. It's just. I. It's like. It's like. It's like water for me. Can't live without stories.

What story are you passionate to tell people in entertainment? I mean, for you personally, you have. You have a unique place in a unique time, in a unique role. What story are you trying to instill or tell the people around you?

I.

I had a very difficult childhood.

And I truly believe.

That cinema and storytelling were my drug, were my way to escape.

The pain that I was facing and the atrocities that I was witnessing.

So for me to be able to provide.

Escape, but in the same way inspire people, I think that's really what makes. What makes what I do really unique. And those are the stories that I really want to tell. I want to tell stories of.

Those overcoming adversity if I want to be silly about it. You can look at the story of. I mean, everybody's seen Game of Thrones, but if you look at the story of Jon Snow, this is a very humble character who's been facing adversity since the moment he was born. He's hated by his mother. His father shows a bit of love, but he grows, believing that he's a nobody and he means nothing. And yet, as he grows, he becomes a great fighter and still stays humble, but then later learns how important he. He truly is to the world that he's been born in. I think that's everybody's story. I think everybody, we all want to do something meaningful. We always want to. I really, truly believe most humans, we mean well. We truly mean well. And so if we can. If I can be part of.

An industry that can. That can tell stories of the underdog, of just a regular person and do good. That's really, for me.

The stories that really, I want to continue to bring to Hollywood, those are the ones that really move me. And even broken characters, too. I mean, I also have seen people. I also believe in redemption. I think that.

People. We give up on people all the time, but. But I. I think we shouldn't give up on people. I think we should at least give people chances and redeeming qualities. You know, seeing people redeem themselves, beautiful. It's a beautiful thing to witness as well, and in film as well. So those are the kind of stories that I want to.

Yeah, you're telling the story of what it means to be human, essentially, because we all have. You know, it's very interesting. When someone sits in my office with me, I know two very clear things about them. They have pain and they have power. They have the ability to change their life because they're there making choices to enact change. And yet at the same time, they have a pain that they don't know how to overcome. And that is really the story of humanity, is that we have this pain where we need people around us to help us grow and develop. And yet inside, we just need someone to help activate or remind us of how powerful and how capable and how gifted we really are. One of the stories that I will tell, kind of as my process is, you know, when I went through school, I was a horrible student. I probably had about 30 absences in high school. Just horrible student. I didn't care about school. I didn't have a vision for school. Then I got into community college, didn't know I needed to go to my midterms and finals. Then I thought I could still pass classes. And I failed all these classes. And I didn't just. I didn't know how to do school. I didn't think I was intelligent or smart. And I was sitting with a friend of mine, and I told him about a dream that I had of maybe going back and getting my master's. But I said, you know, that school is just not for me. I'm not very good at it. And he said, I don't know about that. He's like, I disagree. He's like, I think that you are good at it. And even that little statement made me realize the story I had been telling myself for so long is that I'm not smart, I'm not good at school, and I'm not good at Reading. And I actually went back and went and did my undergraduate degree, got a 4.0. Went. Did two master's degrees, basically got a 4.0 on both of those. Because somebody told me, my buddy told me that I have that in me to do that. And that's basically this redemptive story that you're describing of don't give up on people. All they need is a little bit of love, inspiration and care to let them know that they can be better is essentially what you're describing. I think it's.

It's. I mean. I mean, I love Joseph Campbell. Right. As the hero's journey. I do see it. And. And thank you for sharing because, you know.

Is what. Is what I love about. About what I do is when you read those characters.

Is overcoming adversity is, you know, is the hero's journey is the Zimbabwe. And, you know, meeting the Pumon, the Timon and the Pumbas. You know, it's your friends. And funny enough, I don't know if the person that said that to you is a family member. Probably was just a friend.

It was just a friend. It was just a friend.

Yeah. We, as humans, we think, oh, family. Family is blood. Right. But that's so ancient.

Look at us now, is. You know, I was adopted. I love my mother to death. And. But. But I also have adopted family. And I love my adoptive family. I love my foster parents. And so your family are your friends, too. You know, I might. I have my Timon and my Pumbaa, you know, and, you know, we all have to acknowledge that, and we all need that. And again, it's. Movies are a reflection of ourselves, and that's always trying. I was trying to find ways of telling the same story differently because we're not going to change. We're all going to have. You know, we can only reconfigure storytelling so many times. But at the end of the day, it's still the same story.

Absolutely. I watched this last year again a couple times, the King's Speech. And it's a beautiful depiction of, you know, recognizing the hard outer shell of someone who has a lot of insecurities, but someone who's able to enter into that vulnerability and help them feel safe and help them feel seen and give them, basically, in that movie, their voice, their capacity to step into the role. But he just needed that one person who created a safe place for him to. To be open and to be honest. So, Marco, this has been a amazing conversation with you. Just your vulnerability, your story, your influence. I Love being able to hear that from you. If there was one last thing that you'd want to share with leaders, one last takeaway, what would that be?

Last thing I would like to share with leaders.

Think of this one's a good one too. As leaders.

And I've said to, I said earlier, we really need to look after after ourselves.

Sometimes. And I say almost all the time, as leaders, we really have to deal with a lot of stress.

And stress is extremely detrimental to our health.

I sadly lost a friend of mine recently who we believe his cardiac arrest was triggered by stress.

Very, very unhealthy. I recently listened to another podcast that really brought this up and I agree. I think there is not enough push for people to really acknowledge the importance of mind and body.

And how important it is to really look after ourselves psychologically and make sure that that stress that we're dealing with is not affecting us, affecting our health. We love, our families, we love. And so if we love a lot of people, we want to make sure we still, we stay around as long as we can. And if we're dealing with a lot of stress, you really need to bring it up, seek some help, bring it up, definitely discuss it. Stress can be. Can be very, very, very, very bad. So just be honest with yourself regardless of what you're facing at work or at home.

Thank you, Mark. We have a saying here. Pursue whole. We say leaders change the world, but whole leaders will change it for the better. And I truly believe, Marco, that you are someone who is pursuing wholeness in your life, your work and your leadership. And I know that your team has been benefited by that and your friends and your family. So thank you for, for just being one of those leaders who leans into the discomfort to grow emotionally and relationally for the betterment of those you serve. So thank you. Thank you. You're a good friend. I appreciate you. If someone wanted to reach out to you and hear a little bit more of your story or ask you about what you do in the entertainment world, what's the best way that they can reach out to you?

Best way to reach out to me would be. Well, I'm very active. I'm not active on Instagram. I think Instagram will probably be the best place. I'm not active, but I, but I, but I do check my messages there from people I don't know. But if you have any particular questions or any advice, reach out to me through Instagram.

Perfect. And we'll, we'll link that in the show notes as part of this podcast. And once again, Marco, thank you for being with us today.

Thank you so much, Andy.

Thanks so much for listening. For more resources, links and show notes, visit pursue whole.com and click podcast. Before we go, it would be extremely helpful if you would please leave a review on itunes or wherever you find this podcast. This helps me understand my audience better and serve more leaders such as yourself. That's it for me this week. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or other social platforms, and I'll be back next week with another episode of the Pursue Whole Podcast.