Inside RapidSOS: How to Save 5 Lives a Minute & Lead with AI | Jose Mejia (Podcast 580)

If we think of AI in terms of personalities, now you got AI as almost like your co-partner friend that is engaging with you and providing feedback and coaching and giving you insights as to things to think about. And even just saying, "Remember, Lindsay, you're pretty yellow, okay? You're gonna talk to these people and they're very green. And so I suggest based on the typical things you use that you change to this way." That's powerful.

Hello and welcome to today's episode of "The Second in Command." I'm Lindsay Smith, and I am so honored to have our guest with us today, José Meja. He is the president and COO of RapidSOS, which drives the world's leading AI safety platform, connecting 500 million+ devices to 911. Growing up in rural Venezuela, receiving a bachelor's of science from University of Michigan in industrial engineering, an MBA from Duke Fuqua, and an honorary doctorate from Arizona State, he has launched Fey Networks, Ariba, Grandata, and scaled Lucent's global operations to over 80,000 employees in 70 countries. With 48 M&As worth $30 billion, and as a founder of unimoss.org, which has served over 30,000 kids, José blends operational mastery with purpose-driven culture. Recently, he achieved 174% ARR growth while championing ethical AI in public safety through Harmony. He is also an Ellis Island Medal recipient, and we are honored to have him on our show today. Well, José, thank you so much for joining us here on The Second in Command today.

Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Excited to be here.

We're looking forward to sharing your story with the world, and one of the things that has to be said is that you've come quite a long way from your upbringing in Venezuela and having $100 in your pocket at age 16 to being a COO with quite an impressive resume. And one can say that that doesn't happen overnight. I'm sure that there was some hard work, but talk to us about that journey. How did you get from where you were to where you are?

Well, thank you. That was, um, it's, it's been a while, but, uh, um, I still remember a couple of things that are quite critical even in the culture of the places that I participate in. When I left Venezuela, we, I had never been in an airplane before. And we had paid for 2 months of English Language Institute so that I could learn English. So I did come legally. Okay. And then I had about $120. And so when I, I remember one of the kids that I would train that was going to high school with me, his family was pretty wealthy and he had traveled a lot. And I said, well, you know, what do you think I should expect? And he said, well Jose, just follow everybody. When you get in the plane and you land, follow everybody. And they're gonna take you to this place where there'll be this big, belts and the suitcases will come out. And then you're going to see these open sesame doors that open automatically and you're going to see this yellow car and it'll say taxi and just show the address you're going to and say thank you. And I said to him, well, I've been teaching you for 3 years, so if you could do that, I'm sure I can do that. So I went into that plane and I walked to the bathroom maybe 10 times. I'm sure people thought I was sick, but I was just memorizing faces because I figure I better follow the people in the plane. No, just everybody. And so I come to the conclusion of this, but the topic was, it was 11:30 PM Philadelphia time. I actually flew to Philadelphia. You're in Philly. Okay. And it was at a time when airports would close. And so around midnight, we were one of the last flights and my suitcase never came out. And it was one of my first crises, right? This is a big deal if you think about it. It's like, oh my gosh, what do I do now? And so it took a while to process it and think about how to get help and do it in a language that you did not even know how to speak it. And the next day in the morning, I think about 10:00 AM, my suitcase showed up and I remember hugging my suitcase of happiness. And telling myself, you know, anything is possible. You know, it's like I could go to China now. So one of the sayings I have in most of the places that I've run, and including at Rapid, is I tell people, I give them a license to execute. And the license says, if it's the right thing for the company, if it's the right thing for our culture, if it's the right thing for you and we don't get in jail, go see the Pope and call me afterwards. And so, and it comes from that beginning, you know, it was like this constant, and throughout my career, it's like I've been in technology for a long time and have seen some incredible, incredible magic happen in technology. And so it makes you like, wow, The impossible is always achievable if we could just get people focused on that problem solving because the purpose defines it and requires it. So yeah, so it was a difficult time. I quickly learned I didn't have enough money to last, and so I had to find I worked in, I think, 5 different jobs. The professor's cafeteria, the undergraduate library, the YMCA on the weekends. So it was like, there were many jobs and there was a lot of pasta and Parmesan cheese 'cause it was cheap.

That's the true American collegiate experience.

Cheap food.

Namely ramen noodles. Exactly. Well, two things are true. I'm sure you've been on plenty of planes since that moment in time.

Oh, gosh, yes.

Hopefully you haven't lost your luggage, but Philadelphia baggage claim is still awful. Awful, awful, awful. So who knows? All bets are off on that one.

Yes. I actually tend not to check luggage anymore.

No, I don't either. I used to spend a good deal of time on the road, upwards of 10 to 12 days a month, and would be in 6 different climates. And I refuse to check luggage for that reason. You quickly learn that that is time loss that you could be spending on something else.

Yes. Yes. I think that if we can— if you can fit as much as you can on your carry-on luggage, you're going to be in best position.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So you get off the plane, you follow the people, you take the taxi, you find your luggage, you work all of the jobs and eat all of the foods just to keep yourself alive and afloat. And when did your career really start to take off?

Oh goodness. I, um, probably during my first job, um, working at IBM in the Research Triangle Park. I felt I was so lucky to get into IBM. You know, it was like at that point in time, there were no other startups of today and People wanted to work for a place like, you know, I don't know, Ford or General Electric, and IBM was like the place to be. And so I felt very blessed that I had that opportunity. And then I was even more blessed by the team that I was with. I was with a team that I always use as an example of a great team because this team was asked, IBM sent to get our MBAs together at Duke University. And the team helped each other. We were working, we were getting our MBAs, we had a family. And so we would do our homework, the homeworks for each other. We would help each other if we didn't go to class. It became a unified team that over 40 years, we still meet. We still meet and have been in personal situations. And that team, —when you think about what that team has achieved, every one of the team has been amazingly successful. Amazingly, like truly amazingly successful. And so it teaches you what a self-directed team can do when they have a joint aligned goal, when they all like each other, even though they're different. When they learn what are the strengths and weaknesses of each and we help each other because we need to. It was very powerful. And so from that moment on, I think the connection with that thought process of that team and also some incredible mentors. I remember one of my mentors, his name was Charlie. I later created an award called Charlie. And one of the things Charlie would do is, you know, he would come and, okay, José, so what's the plan? And then you would go and give the plan and you say, okay, well, we think we can do 6, let's say, you know, 6 turns of inventory or something like that. And he'd say, are you sure? I think you can do 10. And you go like, you know, he would push us to, to think out of the box, to be, to, but he would push us. In an enabling fashion. So this actually triggered me on something else that I wanted to share with you, and is I've always thought of the magic, Merlin, Merlin with King Arthur, right? Yes. And I remember when I thought of Merlin, Merlin was always in the background, and Merlin yet was constantly enabling this King Arthur to be the greatest king there ever was. He's the one that convinced the king to dress as a normal human being and go into town and learn about the pains of the town. And I was so inspired by that in a way that I was thinking, you know, a great leader is like a Merlin. And nowadays even more so, like, you know, our job is to enable people to be incredible, to be the best they can be, to do things that they didn't think they could do. You know, hey, King, why don't you dress like a normal self and then go into the streets, you know, and eat their food and And so the other process of, I think that AI is doing, particularly for jobs like mine, is it's enabling us to be more like a Merlin, more like people who can make others be successful and be creative and do out of the box and go see the Pope and call us afterwards because What AI does, you know, most people would think about roles like mine about, oh, KPIs and measure everything there is and track everything and then goals. And so, of course, that's all needs to be done, but it's basic. And by the way, it's all trackable and done by AI. Yes. And so therefore, what is the role of leaders like us? And, and how do we then redefine I roll into this concept of being the Merlins that, you know, the world needs so badly. Um, and, and I feel, I feel very engaged with that, with that thought process, even in what I do with, uh, with RapidSOS. I, I love, I just, I'm in love with what I do today and the company I'm in part of today because very few times can technology help save 5 lives every minute. Right. I've done, I've been in 6 companies from very, very large companies, you know, $60, $80 billion companies to startups that have grown to be very successful and they've done amazing stuff, but none have had the amazing impact that RapidSOS is having so instantaneously. And so this purpose of saving, helping every human at their weakest moments and enabling those heroes to help them is such a powerful thing that for a leader is phenomenal because you look for purpose, right? It's like— Of course. That's another key point is there's the Merlin and then there is finding purpose because people love connecting to a strong purpose. And so it's a wonderful time.

I'm enjoying myself more than ever today. I think that's amazing. And I'm never going to think about a leader without them having on a magic hat like Merlin again in my life. And I know that sometimes when we're in a COO or a second-in-command role, we have to act like a Merlin with the CEO, right? To kind of keep them on track and tame in some of their visions and help things. Yes. So why don't you talk to us a little bit about your relationship with your CEO and how you use your magic to help him shine his best and the company succeed.

Well, so, you know, our, our, I also find myself probably in one of the greatest relationships of my lifetime. Um, and I, I say this with so much, uh, in a very emotional way. Um, the relationship I have with Michael, who is the founder of Rapid, is incredible. Trusting, connect with each other. We fight and yet we love each other. We argue, we connect, we align. We think he's coachable, I'm coachable. We're very different ages. Okay, so typically, I introduce myself as the senior citizen of Rapid S.O.S., but we are very different ages and yet we are so helpful to each other and we jointly lead the company. I don't think we see each other or he sees me as the president and CEO and I see him as the CEO. I actually see, I'm certain he would say this, we see each other as co-leaders helping navigate, helping find blind spots. We constantly have conversations when there is blind spots. I'm very quick, and he is also at connecting and saying, we got to talk about this. What do you think about this? There's this constant engagement. But even farther than that, we've come to a point where without— you know, when you're so connected with somebody that you can almost know exactly what the other one is thinking or doing. And so we are extremely aligned. I would say people in the company or even outside of the company that have seen us, they would say, wow, they're like one and the same in terms of their connection, how they come across, even though they're very different people in their words and their engagement and their energies different. There is, there's real strong engagement between them.

And when you have the opportunity to be so aligned with your co-leader, it really sets the tone for the organization because there's never friction. It's never, well, ops wants this and the vision wants this. It's, no, we are aligned, right?

Yes. And importantly, it's the role modeling for that organization, right? Because the organization is not sensing that there is Okay, you know, they're arguing or they're taking sides, or even if they see us arguing, they see us arguing in this really very engaging manner. You know, it's like more, we're almost co-creating or brainstorming together rather than, um, I'm talking at you or you're talking at me, or, you know, that kind of stuff. And, um, which I see quite, quite a lot more, unfortunately, in many companies. And so, No, I think it's tremendously critical. When we introduce ourselves, by the way, you know, he says he's the founder, I'm the father.

That's funny. That's funny.

And so, but anyway, yeah, that's, it's a good, you know, and we all bring our different points of view and, you know, obviously I've been around longer than he has, so I have potentially potentially a lot more things to, that I can share in terms of, uh, living life and, and being thoughtful about blind spots. And we have our different points of views. I think I tend to be more of a sensor about, you know, what's not being said. You know, we, I, uh, one of the things I've always done in companies is I introduce languaging. Okay. And, and languaging as part of the creation of the culture, right? And so For example, one of those languages that we have is there's organizations that are in the battleground, in the common ground, and in the underground. And when you're in the underground, is let's say you, Lindsay, and I are talking and your little voice is saying, oh, I don't know, I disagree, but you don't say it, you don't express it. So it stays in the underground. And underground is very dangerous in organization. It's what actually creates politics and it creates bureaucracy and there's lack of open conversation, which is, so we talk a lot about the common ground. Are we in the common ground? Oh, Lindsay, sounds to me like you're in the underground. Are you in the underground? And people actually even joke about this, right? And then the battleground is when two people actually hate each other, right? I mean, I've been in situations where there's two leaders that people know, be careful. Right. I don't think anybody really wants to be in that situation. So I, I actually see my role as a Marilyn that is focused on creating an amazing common ground. And then I think of a culture more as a human being. So, you know, if you think about like when we create companies, it's almost like, you know, they have a birth certificate, right? And it's like, you know, and so, uh, so it becomes an individual almost. And it has its own, uh, rules, et cetera. But yeah, anyway.

What's really interesting to me is looking at RapidSOS and all of the AI, most of your conversations have been around the human. And I think that there's such a misconception in the world about how AI is going to take over everything. But would you agree that there are some things that AI will never replace?

Absolutely. I mean, you know, I can't say the word never per se, but my view is like anything, AI is a very significant transformational tool and it's more than a tool. It is an enabler. And I think when I think about it for myself, for example, I use it, I literally use it constantly. Every single day. It does research, it does analytics for me, it does content management, it goes and senses what may be going on inside different groups so that I can get insights around, oh, you know, maybe I need to intervene or maybe I need to send a message there or maybe I need to help with here, right? And all within the context of this Merlin individual, not necessarily to to, you know, control, but more to enable the flow, right? And I think one of the things that AI provides us is a lot of that transactional, analytical, even insights work that actually helps me and enables me to be a greater Merlin. And I think the world needs to think of it that way, in my opinion. And I don't, perceive, you know, I think, you know, I don't know about you, but I always love when I call for help and I get a human on the other line.

Oh my goodness, my favorite thing is that.

You know, I mean, and what we got to do is help that human, enable that human so that AI is like, and we actually do this. We do this today with all of our customers where the, you know, the 911 operator or the first responder is listening to a call, an emergency call, and we're providing In the background, Harmony, which is our AI, is providing insights and is providing, oh, you know, you should think about this. Or maybe they're in a Tesla car of model from 19, you know, from 2020, and then there is information that they need to know. And instead of me having to go search, the AI is already giving it to me. You see what I'm saying? And so it's enabling me, right? That's powerful. That's a powerful way of using this. And absolutely.

Yeah. How have you seen the AI piece transform specifically this emergency culture in which you're working?

Oh, dramatic. First, I just gave you one of those examples, but, you know, we've had examples of emergencies that have occurred where, you know, one that comes to mind is a mother with 2 children. They're driving in an automobile. They have to get off the road because another car is coming at them. They go into a lake. The car is going in the water. The windows are closed. She cannot open the windows. The car has given us already alerts about what's going on. We get text messages. We get videos. We get camera. Phone calls, the lady calls 911. By the time she's calling, we already know where she is. We already know what's going— partially what's going on. And the moment she starts talking about the problem she's having, the AI has already researched a lot of this information. It's providing input to that 911 operator about what to say, what to ask, how to guide them, how to provide them with the right thought process. Is powerful. Inside our company, I use it to, for example, even just kind of monitor cultural alignment. And so, you know, track how we, when we do documents, when we do processes, does it connect to who our culture is? Are the words used by that process words that people would say, yeah, that's RapidSOS. That sounds like RapidSOS. Because what you see many times is people talk about culture, for example, and yet, you know, they go and create processes and structure or, you know, employee handbooks. And when you read the employee handbook, you know, on the one side you say, well, I want you to go see the Pope and call me afterwards. I want you to be like an owner. I want you to be like a Merlin. And then you look at the employee handbook and the employee handbook is like, very dis— you know, it's like, okay, you are that and we're here and, you know, we really kind of distrust you. So, you know, so I have AI check every one of those. And basically the simple question is, does it sound like us? Is it us? Do those words represent what we say we are in the world? Okay. And it's amazing. It's amazing the information that I get. It's unbelievable. Even studying and analyzing presentations to customers. And so you look at the presentation and you go like, is this presentation creating the impact? Not just in terms of the product itself, but in terms of the who we are as a person. Called RapidSOS, right? Oh, very powerful. So we use it extensively. Obviously, we use it for just tracking. We're a very huge data player. So we have billions and billions of data elements that we analyzing literally all the time. We've managed over a billion emergencies as of the middle of last year, almost 1.2 at the end of last year. And so that gives us tremendous amount of intelligence. And so the other thing that that AI does for us is it goes and understands the idiosyncrasies of these emergencies, of what happens, what the voice says, the content of the voice. And even internally, as my people are working through and the teams are working through, I can see the, you know, are they engaging in the common ground, for example. I can ask questions like that. We have this color scheme that I have everybody, something I remember doing many, many years ago. And, uh, there's 4 colors. It's like blue, green, yellow, and, and orange. And so, and these represent almost like, uh, personality traits. So think of it that way. So a yellow person is very structured. A yellow person likes to plan everything. And when I'm talking to Lindsay and Lindsay's yellow, she's already creating a detailed plan and she's already worried about it because it's like, oh my gosh, we're going to do all this. We're going to do this. We're going to do this. Yeah. And so they're worry people. Right. And. And they follow rules. Well, orange people are very different. They are entrepreneurs. They just like to go and they launch themselves and they trust themselves and they know they'll figure it out. Okay. Well, here's what happens. If you don't appreciate that, let's say I'm orange and you're yellow, you may look at me and say, José doesn't plan anything. Oh my gosh. He's a mess. Oh my gosh. I hate José. Right? And then I would say, Lindsay drives me crazy. She's always asking me for all these details and, and so the understanding that no, it's not that I hate Lindsay, it's that Lindsay, that's the way Lindsay is. And the question is, how do I help use her strengths in her, use my strengths? So in our company, we all know our colors. We literally all know our colors. And it's mostly, and we even talk about that when it comes to customers or partners and say, are they very green? Okay, they're very green. How could we talk to them in a way that they connect with what we're saying, right? Because even though I may be speaking English, you may actually be absorbing it in your own way, which could be quite different, right? Right. So, Yeah, it's, and we use AI again to help us with all of these traits and give us insights about how we're using these things.

Are you using a single AI platform for all of these different tasks or do you have different platforms?

Not right now. We're using different ones. Yeah, and so, you know, obviously we use different ones for a lot of our coding and product and engineering pieces. And even there we have different types. And we use some around the analysis, for example, of all of our Slack messages and, you know, Google documents and stuff like that. So there are different ones and this, it's an evolving space, right? I mean, one of the things that is for sure, it's very powerful and there's many, many of these companies trying to come up with it. We ourselves are an AI company in how we provide the information, how provide— the insights that we provide. And so, but internally, we use other tools to help us with this, yes.

Well, I think that goes back to the human element. Just like you and I may not be fit for the same exact role because our personalities are different, the AI tools all have their own personality. And so you need to get the right one to fit whatever the job might be at that moment. Totally.

And the other thing to think about is that if we think of AI in terms of personalities, right? And so let's say, you know, Lindsay number 2, and Lindsay number 2 could be the AI that is the best Merlin and partner for Lindsay. And so Lindsay has to, Lindsay number 2 has to appreciate what your colors are, how you engage, what the words you use, the background you have, the experience you have so that Lizzy number 2 can also coach you and provide. So this is a very interesting part of the equation, right? 'Cause now you got AI as almost like your co-partner friend that is engaging with you and providing feedback and coaching and giving you insights as to things to think about. And even just saying, Remember, Lindsay, you're pretty yellow, OK? You're going to talk to these people, and they're very green. And so I suggest, based on the typical things you use, that you change to this way. That's powerful.

Right. No, that makes a lot of sense. And I think that going back to the concept that AI is going to evolve and take over as many things as it can, when you think about it as an augmentation of the humans and of the team and of the processes, it really just gives us that ability, back to your analogy, to be greater Merlins, to have more cool skills in the toolbox to be able to create more of an impact.

It's like, this is what I was saying earlier, it's like, it's helping people like myself be a greater Merlin because now it's not just me helping Lindsay. Is there, we got, you know, in, in, in, in always we typically will have, you may remember, We would hire sometimes coaches, right, to coach people or coach some leaders, et cetera. Here we have this incredible powerful set of AI individuals that are getting insights and knowledge. And if we think about it as a way of now I have even more ability to make Lindsay and this incredibly amazing human being, right? The best queen there ever was, the best king there ever was, right? And I'm the Merlin to get— and now I have my group of supporters, which are these AI activities, which are also helping Lindsay not only on an ongoing basis, right? And that all then elevates my role. It actually puts more pressure on what I do and how I do the job as a key leader of the company. It is no longer like I am. I'm right now able to see instantly the status of things, the track, the trending of things, the analytics, the numbers, the KPIs. I can see them instantly because it goes and checks every single one of the systems we use and everything. And so Spending even a lot of time thinking through that versus what are the challenges that are getting in the way of people being incredible? What are they— are they using the license to execute enough? Are they in the common ground enough? Are they behaving in this culture of purpose? I wanna even go deeper into this side of purpose. I mean, in most, I think we don't appreciate as leaders the criticality of having a strong purpose. I remember when I was in, you know, in the case of RapidSOS, thank God the purpose is so evident. You know, it's like you're saving lives. You're, you know, there's 5 lives every minute. When I go visit customers, this is one of the only companies where customers always hug me, always. And it's incredible the emotional side of this. But the purpose itself drives the company. It's inherent inside. It's in the DNA of the company. There are places and times when you have to lead companies where it doesn't, that doesn't come across as easily and as openly. I remember one of my opportunities to lead was at Lucent, and it was, at a time when it was 2000, 2001, it's a tough time for all of these tech companies. There was a bubble problem. And I remember having people meet me at the laboratories where something incredible was created. Or we had this little space where we would show all the patents that Lewiston and Bell Labs had created, right? It was like the satellite or the transistor. And I remember I would have meetings there and I would ask people, let's just take a second to just see what surrounds us. And you go, can you believe the transistor was created here? Isn't that an amazing, incredible reason to make this place powerful? And so you looked for opportunities to create purpose, right? And so, because people, all of us, when we are, we have our brain side and analytical side and our pragmatic side, but when we connect that to this emotional context of we're doing it because it's the right thing, because it makes sense, because it's a powerful thing to do, that purpose will drive us to do the impossible. And so I see— I see that AI actually helps even more so elevate what I am and then figure out more how do I create— how do I multiply the opportunities, right?

If you look at RapidSOS, your purpose, as you mentioned, is evident. You're saving lives. And when you're involved in such a high-stakes business, there's a lot of weight on your shoulders, I would imagine, as you're making decisions because quite— they could be a matter of life or death. How do you navigate that inside your own role? And then how do you permeate that throughout the organization?

So, great question because it comes back to decisions and many decisions, you know, obviously we're a business and like every business, you wanna be profitable and make money and all that kind of stuff. But I do believe that there is a higher level question, which is very related to purpose. And so in a case like ours specifically, when you're saving lives and is in, let's say, a 911 center or a first responder or one of our people needs something and it's a no-brainer. It's like you go to your purpose. It's like we're here. To help every human in the world at their weakest, most vulnerable moments. Okay, if we're here to do that, okay, and you need that, well, go get it. You know, that's the point of go see the Pope and call me after you see the Pope. You see what I'm saying? It's like, you don't vacillate. You don't vacillate. And I actually rather take the risk that people may make some mistakes or or may decide something that maybe was overly. I'd rather they do that than not because the purpose demands it. And so we've done a lot of this conversation in our own companies, like, you know, how much of what we provide to these centers do we charge? Can we charge them? What we charge them, are they able to do it or not? What about the organizations that cannot charge, that don't have the money? What about the organization? You know, what's our purpose? You know, if we're actually after helping everyone that is in these vulnerable moments, then we need to do the right thing, right? And so that's when purpose becomes critically important and the organization is constantly looking at you and saying, is he talking? Is he deciding? Is he thinking? Is the strategy connecting to that purpose, or are they, it's, you know, like, the words and the actions don't connect, right? Huge. Really.

How many employees are there within RapidSOS? Over 500. 500 employees. And so I would imagine they're remote. They're not all together. We're very virtual.

There are areas of the company where there are more. In, you know, like for example, we have a lot more people in the New York area. We have a group of people in the Bay Area, but, but it's an extremely virtual organization. We have, it's an interesting question I'll ask you. You know, I've been, I've gotten a lot of pressure over the years to, you gotta come, you gotta come every Tuesday or Wednesday. You gotta come 3 days a week. And I remember telling myself, Why don't— if I believe in self-directed teams, if I believe that people are here for the right purpose, if I believe that they are like me wanting to be this amazing success, why don't we allow them to participate in that conversation? So some of the conversations we have is, you know, hey team, how do you feel when you are only talking to people on the video versus, you know, in person? You know, wouldn't that be cool if you actually And so, can I get them on their own to make the right decision rather than me becoming dictatorial and saying, okay, you all better show up every Tuesday and Wednesday, okay? And then, when in reality what I want them to do obviously is develop the personal relationship, but also problem solve together. And so, I'd rather that the self-directed team working on a particular solution jointly comes together and meets. And I'm more comfortable supporting that and even supporting the travel necessary to do that.

Speaking of travel, how often are you on the road? And are you visiting your teams?

Oh my gosh, a lot, a lot. I'm glad that I have two wonderful adult children and they're doing great. And I don't have a family set of issues, you know, but in a place like this— and well, first of all, I've always traveled a lot. The reason I travel a lot, to be completely honest, I remember thinking, how can you lead from an office and not go into the streets? So, think about Merlin and the king and the king going into town and eating the food and sensing the experience and, you know, what kind of trouble are they dealing with? And so, I love to experience the field, experience whether it's what the customers are sensing or what our own people more importantly are going through and, and, uh, and having to deal with. And, um, I spent a lot of time, uh, uh, appreciating that. And so I am on the road easily, oh my God, 9 months, 10 months a year, uh, for Yale, uh, easily, seriously. Uh, I think Since December, I've been at home potentially no more than a week.

Wow.

And it's not for— I'm not suggesting that's perfect, by the way. It works for me. But I love doing it. There are times when I do feel, okay, there's another piece because I've been around quite a while. I have friends everywhere. So, the other thing I do is whenever I travel, I don't know if I'm in Orlando or in Miami or Chicago or in Detroit or Dallas, then I take the opportunity to balance the stuff that I got to do in this incredible love job that I have with reconnecting with friends. I'm a very friends and social individual. And so, meeting, I haven't seen Lindsay in a while. Hey, Lindsay, are you around? You want to have coffee? Say, oh, José, you're around. And so, it's like this. It builds up this balance and thoughtful socialization that I think also provides you as a role model for the organization. Because you do want an organization that cares for themselves, that it connects with their family, that I am typically somebody that will constantly see if somebody's like, wow, okay, we got an individual that's working really hard. And, you know, I know that they maybe had just had a baby. I always know when somebody has had babies, and, or I always know when somebody has gotten married or their children has gotten married, and I send cards, handwritten cards, and then I'll send them, you know, special awards. And so I love doing that, love doing it. And I think partially is to provide the incentive that this is a place that cares. This is a human. RapidSOS is a human. It cares. And so we have to demonstrate that it cares. And in and of itself, the Merlin that is actually helping that king in the good times and in the bad times, or in having a complete 360 space of us as human. I think that's— these things become even much more critical in the AI world because it gives me You know, I have now more time to think about that, right? And so, yeah, anyway.

You have time to do the things that the AI can't do. The AI can't write the actual note. Yes. Right? They can't take it to the post office, at least not yet. And I think that those things are so important.

Or even calling somebody's spouse or somebody's daughter, right? Can't have the AI do that. And it's like to say, Hey, you know, Lindsay, I heard your, your daughter just got married. That's exciting. Wow. What a wonderful thing. Or you just had a grandkid. Oh my gosh. We have like a Slack channel, for example, with all the kids and all the babies and everybody shows them up. I love babies. I love children. And so I tell people, if you're having a bad day, if the black hole is getting you, I have two things that I say. If black hole is getting you, go have a margarita, Jose. If the black hole is getting you, go check one of those pictures of babies. Because the moment you see a baby picture, of somebody you care, you smile. It's like instant, right? And the smiling process, believe it or not, opens the space. It makes you be able to problem solve much faster. It allows you to even be more social because now the smiling, you're in a better mood. You're in a better space, right? And so if I can create every slot of smiles, it creates the opportunity to, uh, be a significantly wonderful company that problem solves, that is very focused on humanity, that, uh, we have to be human as a company, especially in RapidSOS. We, we're, we, we have to be a human company.

Uh, and I, I think the fact that you are virtual, right, with everybody spread out in all different areas, those human elements become even more important because when everybody was in one room, you could have a, a standup meeting, you could have lunch together, you could do all of the things. But when people are spread out over the country, you have to find ways to still connect with them. And Dale Carnegie said one of the most important things that a person will ever hear is their name. And the more you can recognize them on that personal level, the better off at the end of the day they're going to be, they're going to feel, you're going to feel, and then, then both of you are going to perform. So I really love those. Personal connections. Handwritten notes are a big one on my personal side.

Well, and again, the elevation of the leader to be more so than ever this Merlin. Now, think about Merlin also created magic, right? And so if you can create magic for the people that work with you and their loved ones, can you imagine? The power of that is powerful. And so I can't not overemphasize how much we more than ever have to think about the enabling of these incredible humans to do the very best things they can do. And I have children, and you have found, you notice when people go through a crisis and they being able to go through that crisis and they being able to Think about the little suitcase that I lost, right? And then the next day I go, I hug my suitcase and I go, I can go to China now. The power that comes from that process. And if I, as a leader, can be there as that Merlin watching José through that process, and then I'm saying, yes, José, like, you know, Powerful. Yes, you can now go to China. What I've now created is an individual or a team that feels so powerful that they can do anything. They can do anything. And that is power. And that is amazing energy. And that is an amazing culture.

Hey, it's Cameron Herold, founder of the Second in Command podcast. Are you a COO who's struggling to level up? Every COO or second command should join the COO Alliance. Go check out cooalliance.com and for just the cost of a few coffees a month, you can get world-class training, 12 monthly masterminds, and attend 2 live events a year with top COOs from around the world. For the last 10 years, we've been building and growing the COO Alliance to put the tools, peer support, and strategies in place to help COOs grow themselves and their companies. Backed by rave reviews from hundreds of COOs and their CEOs who've seen insane growth, we also have a 10x guarantee. It's your tribe. Go check out cooalliance.com, sign up for a quick call to learn more. Welcome home.

Jose, if you're looking at somebody who is saying, you know what, I think I want to aspire to be in a second-in-command role, I wanna be a I wanna be a president. I wanna be whatever it might be. What advice would you give them?

Yes. Well, first of all, um, certain things about you as an individual. Um, stay vulnerable. Uh, vulnerability is power. Don't try to show off that you are the knowledge of all. And in fact, your job is to create trust and to create culture or an environment where people can actually learn from their vulnerabilities. The second thing that I would say is be that who you want to be already. Like, and, and, um, uh, I am somebody who is actually opposed to the way most performance management structures are in organizations where a manager has to grade the performance review for Lindsay and Lindsay. I actually believe we should be self-directed people. My mother used to say, José, that your life is in your hands. And so I own my development. I own my future. And so act accordingly. And think of your boss more as the Merlin, more as, you know, and so develop your plan of attack, develop what you can do, take an action and actually think of the going to the Pope and make that partner, which is your boss now, now truly becomes somebody who is in with you in the creation of that uniqueness and powerful self. So I would say own your destiny. Don't wait for others to tell you what to do, but listen to them because you're vulnerable and engage them in the process of being a great human. And then connect with people. You know, I used to be, when I was young, 'Cause that's, you know, how I saved for the $120 is I would teach mathematics and physics and chemistry. I was a bit of a geek between you and I. Like, I really was more of a geek. And as I started learning to work with people and lead people and manage people, I became so appreciative of the connectivity. You know, I want Lindsay and I to have a trusting relationship. I want Lindsay and I to, Lindsay to know that I'm there and here for her no matter what. Sometimes that may be difficult conversations where I have to kind of share with her certain things about or difficult about me or difficult about her, but I do it in the common ground, right? And so the common ground is a place where you're still connected. You're still almost hugging each other in a way. So I think these individuals need to appreciate that. They need to connect. They need to learn about each of people, you know, whether you use the colors, you know, oh, Lindsay is very yellow. How do I engage with her? How do I get her to appreciate that I'm here for the best of both of us? So yeah, vulnerable, own your own destiny, act already as if you had it within that vulnerability. And create amazing trust all along, everywhere. Do it for the right reasons. And so I think if you do those things and you hug new stuff, like AI, for example, hug it. Don't look at things as walls. I always have this story says, the greatest talent doesn't see a wall. The greatest talent expects it, but it's not a wall any longer. It's a big, beautiful redwood tree, and they hug the tree and they go, okay, what's the tree? What's inside this tree? Who is— who lives in this tree? How big are the roots? How deep are the roots? And then it's just, um, so if you can do that I mean, I think that I would love to hire you.

I love that. I love that. So many of our listeners have those characteristics. Reach out to José, 'cause he would love to bring you on board. Yes, please text me. José, you are a very educated man. Is there a book or two that stand out to you that are something that someone should read if they're looking to continue to grow as a leader?

Yeah, you know, I had, um, a, um, um, old friend of mine is no longer around, but he was— he used to be the CEO of Intel, and he wrote this great book about, uh, you know, the, um, um, transformation and, and just kind of like doing things in, in, in always thinking out of the box. And I, I, um, I love reading books that are experiential and transformational. There is another one that comes to mind, and actually, there's a movie about it. It's called The Soul of Fire. And I remember reading the book, and then later I saw the movie, and then I decided to contact the individual. And the reason I loved it is because It was a story of crisis and how someone in the group of people that surrounded them created an opportunity for this person to be amazing. This is a person who had burns, his entire body, third-degree burns at the age of 9 years old.

Yes, I just watched this movie. I just watched this movie last week.

Oh, yes. It's powerful, right? Yeah, it moved me. Okay, so I remember reading the book and then I remember seeing the movie and then I see I sent him a message and I said, oh my gosh, you know, like, we should connect. And it's like, you know, he, he, uh, uh, they cut his fingers because they had to, and yet he plays the piano. Yes.

And his face is perfect because his sister put the water on his face. Yes. His face didn't burn. Yes. Isn't that powerful? Amazing. It was an amazing story.

I love stories. That connect the dots with all the things we've talked about. If you think about it, even in Dyer, there was the individual that was the radio person in the baseball stadium. And the guy would come and tell him, you will survive, you will do this, right? And he would hear the voice, the kid would hear the voice. He said, oh my gosh, I can't believe who's talking to me. And eventually, think about all the connected dots and how all these pieces connect to everything we've talked about, right? Yes. Love those books. Love those stories. Totally love those stories. One of the things I have shared with our organization is, can we create a book of an amazing culture that is not written by an ex-CEO or not written by a professor, but is in fact written by us. What did they say? And, and we're, we're on it. And it's like, and, and just like that, people want to read the stories, like stories, right? Because they, they, they, they give you experiences, right? I always, uh, thought, here's another interesting thought, like I did it with my children. I always remember asking myself, can I give them an experience that they can talk about when they're in their 30s or 40s? Like, if I was able to do that, I was successful, right? Because it's like, I remember we did this with Dad and we did this, and this is how I learned how to cook, and these are— those are powerful experiences. And now, if I bring this back again to the role of a leader in the world of AI, I even have a bigger opportunity to create amazing experiences, like huge. And so, yeah, when I bring our people together, it's about can I give them an experience that— recently, my leadership team, we were talking where do we meet. And I remember telling Emily, who's our chief of staff, Emily, I want to meet in Chicago. So you want to be in Chicago? It's too cold in Chicago. I want to be in Chicago. And so why do you want to be in Chicago? Well, there was a, uh, I went last July, I went, um, to the Magic Cabaret. And in this Magic Cabaret, it's like a speakeasy initially, and then you go in and then you experience magic, you know, and some incredible stuff. I gotta tell you, it's like, you go like, how the heck did he do that? How did she do that? Yes. And then the connected point was to me the Merlin. And then you think about technology, everything we've done in technology. I, I, I mean, I'm one of those people that there was no internet, there was no cellular phone, and I've been very involved in these things. I was involved in the company that created pretty much data networking, Brad Bay Networks, and I was involved in Lucent Bell Laboratories that created all the wireless bands and satellite stuff. I mean, but at the beginning, this is like magic, right? You think about it, it's like, what? You're doing what? It's like magic. And so I wanted them to experience magic and connect magic to Merlin and then connect that to our role, not only with our culture and our people, but with all those incredible people that we support, all of these customers who trust us, all of these, and especially in this role, it's like of saving lives. It's emotional and powerful. And so more than ever, we have to be able to do this. And so, yeah. Anyway, so creating experiences, right? It stays with you. You know, it's like How many companies have I gone or leaders have I gone that took me to a magic cabaret and then connected that on you? So I was thinking of that. You see what I'm saying?

It's like— José, it's like you are inside of my brain because my favorite word in the entire world is experiences. And every single thing that I do and everything that I say, I cultivate it into some sort of an experience, whether it is a trip or whether it's a staff meeting or whether it's a retreat, doesn't matter what it is, there is always some level of experience. So I really love that we share that in common. And having been all over the world as you have been, what would you say has been the most unique experience you've ever had?

In terms of, uh, uh, oh my gosh, so many right now. I mean, uh, uh, uh, I'm gonna— well, I'll tell you one. So I went to, um, San Pedro de Atacama, which is in the northern part of Chile. And the reason I wanted to go there is because the sky, the way you— it's the place where you can observe stars the most. And there's the largest telescope is there. The hiking is unbelievable. And I landed in San Pedro de Atacama. My intent was to go on these hikes and just sense the place and it also allows me to be creative and think about stuff. And the second night that I was there, there was a shooting in San Pedro de Atacama. Oh no. And about, I believe it was 4 people who got killed. And it gave me an opportunity to also go into the San Pedro de Atacama town and almost like, what do you use? Like, you know, do you have a 911 center? Do you have— what do your fire people do? How do they use that? And even that experience allowed me to come back and talk to the culture and the people of Rapid SOS about there are billions of people waiting for us to help them in this incredible purpose. But I loved the fact that when I went and did this, I had this opportunity to see things in the world that are so beautiful and unique. And people were very helpful and social, and the guys that were taking us through all these hikes, it was, oh, very much a place where I feel I grew up by being there, right? And so, oh, but I could tell you so many. I mean, like, you know, first time I went to China, it was the road from the Shanghai airport to Shanghai was a dirt road. That tells you, that tells you a lot. And it was like, and then just like, you know, how do I, and then being able to also speak with people that don't speak your language. Think, this is also interesting when you think about experiences because experience is more than just the language, right? It's like, what you did with me, how I actually engaged with you, where I took you, the food I provided for you, the smiles I gave you, the, you know, how I learn about who, you know, your surroundings. And so, yeah, I feel extremely blessed. I should write a book on that one, but it's, I think I've, I think over the years, I have traveled close to 11 million miles. Wow. And which is crazy. It's truly crazy to think about that. One of the favorite questions people have when they, when I'm talking to them is like, where in the world is Jose? Remember, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? That trip. Yeah. So I get that a lot. And I always say, well, I'm, if I'm in a car taking a call when I'm an Uber driver, You know, that's so fun.

That's— anyway. So José, what would you say to your 16-year-old self in closing?

You were blessed. Incredible family. Parents that cared and gave you an experience that you would have never thought was possible. You have been so lucky to meet such an incredible number of people worldwide that I want to thank. If they're listening to this, I really want to thank you for all the support and all the help you provided over the years. And just, yeah, just keep smiling, José.

Well, José, you are quite the Merlin, and it's been a joy to hear your story about what you've done and what RapidSOS is doing. So keep creating the magic, keep focusing on the experiences, and thank you for sharing your story with us.

Oh, thank you, Lindsay. I appreciate the invitation to do this with you. I appreciate it. You keep smiling. Thank you.