274 - Conflict Resolution in Business: Lessons from a Military Veteran with Visual Connections' Frederick Deese

Welcome to Listening with Leaders. I'm Doug Noll, lawyer turned peacemaker. I teach executive leaders how to listen to emotions rather than words so that they can become the leaders everyone wants to follow. And I teach those same leaders how to be authentically present, available, and connected to their families despite being insanely busy. I have learned that we are 98% emotional and only 2% rational. Learning how to listen to emotions is, in my experience, the foundational skill of life. Stick around to the end of the show, and I'll reveal how you can be on our next guest in 15 to 20 minutes. So let's get started.

Fred Deiss, welcome to Listening with Leaders. You are the CEO and owner of a company called Visual Connections. Which can be found at visualconnections.net. It's based in Maryland. You live in Denver. I think there's a story there.

Welcome to the show.

Definitely. Thanks for having me, Doug. I really appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Let's just start off with your backstory. I looked at the website. I get a sense that you guys do government consulting work in a couple of different areas. And I'm really curious about the Denver-Maryland connection.

Yeah, definitely, definitely. So I'll give you a quick thumbnail of my background. So I'm an Alabamian, so originally born and raised in Alabama, what we call LA, Low Alabama. For those out there that's listening and knows where Mobile, Alabama is at, I'm about 40 miles east of Mobile. So I'm a country boy. So just a heads up, you may see some little bit here, a little bit of a twang. It's getting late in the evening. The later it get, the more twang. So originally from there, I immediately went at 17, I immediately went into the military, was in, came into the military as a very low grade, what's called deck seaman, essentially cleaning up, swabbing the decks, different things like that. And through my 8 years being in the Navy, I got outta the military as a cryptologist, which is considered one of the highest rates that's within the Navy. And through that, process as being a Navy cryptologist. That's how I started my business in 2007. I got out in 2004 and I started my business doing IT work using my Naval background as an IT specialist and a cryptologist.

And so what does a Naval cryptologist do?

So we do a couple things. There's an operational side of the house where we basically maintain the computers, maintain the websites, different things like that. There's the linguistic side of the house. And then also too, there's the cool stuff, which is the type of stuff that I used to do, some of that hacking, intrusion protection and detection, and different things like that for our field service members.

Wow. And so when you formed Visual Connections, what was your idea about the purpose of the company?

Great question. So the idea of the company, so part of being a cryptologist, maintaining the websites. I picked up a skill that's centered around Section 508 requirements, which was a new requirement at the time that really— the law is basically is any IT service product like a website needs to be compliant to disability rules and laws. So someone who's disabled, who's visually impaired, can be able to use the website just like someone who's not visually impaired. So as I was doing a lot of that work, I found that there was a unique skill set for programmers who could also make the websites 508 compliant. There lies the Visual Connections, uh, visually connecting people who have disability to being able to do their work using IT computers and websites and different things like that. So that's our visual connection. So I created a company doing Section 508 work.

And it looks like you've expanded the scope of the things that you offer.

Yes, sir, we did. We, after, after creating a company on that type of work, within months I start working for a company called VIPPS that's now GDIT, and it was working on contracts with Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services. And through that contract, I start getting into fraud, waste, and abuse, building data models, working as a solution architect. Building bigger applications and start to get into the health IT and health informatics at work, data analytics, data science, machine learning, AI, specifically around fraud models in auditing within Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

That's a massive amount of data.

Yeah, it is. It is a lot.

And wow, that sounds crazy. So how would you define your client mix today?

Today, um, so as you mentioned, we're federal contractors. So, um, we're about 60% still health IT, um, background dealing with Health and Human Services, CMS. And then the other side of the house, we deal with agencies like IRS, DCSA on the DOD side. We're still primarily health IT-centric, and we're looking to continue to help serve more of the DOD side and other federal civilian agencies.

So the company is based in Maryland, but you live in Denver. There's a story.

Yes, sir.

What is it?

This is not that big of a story and not that exciting. Uh, my kids, when my wife and I, we had visit Denver and we fell in love about 6 years ago. And we have always said that as soon as the kids graduate in Maryland, we was gonna move outta Maryland. It just, it, it was a way to be able to get away from the hustle and bustle of federal contracting. And also too, is I was looking to sell and move into the commercial space. So I was like, Denver will help me because that'll help me transition. And I moved there. Then as soon as I moved there, we won a big contract back in DC, and then COVID happened, and then so on and so on. So I am still here but didn't end up selling because of that contract. And now I commute, and I've been commuting ever since. During the COVID days, I've been commuting. So not that big of a story. We just wanted to get out of Dodge to have of better quality of life. And we was hoping also to leave our kids behind, but then they followed us to Denver. Wasn't as bad as we thought it was gonna be. So all the family members are here.

Maybe you have some grandchildren now, right?

We'll see. They got time. They need to slow down a little bit. Maybe here soon. Here soon.

Good for you. You've been doing this now for a long time. You were in the military for 8 years and you founded the company in 2007. What is it that gets you up in the morning and gets you excited to go to work?

There's a— so what gets me up and then what gets me excited is two separate questions for me. What gets me up is really in my employees.

Every—

when I hire someone, and typically 7 times out of 10, as a CEO, even if it's a business analyst or a data scientist, I'm involved in the hiring process. Um, when I hire an employee, I take them on as essentially a family member. So what gets me up is, you know, knowing that they have bills to pay. And as of right now, being their employer, they look to me to assist them in paying those bills by— they provide services to my client and I reward them for providing those services through my company. What gets me up is making sure that my employees can be able to pay those bills that, as we know, don't stop coming. So that's what gets me up. Now, the side of when it comes to what makes me excited when I get up is really working with clients like Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services and being able to showcase the type of work that I do when it comes to auditing and fraud, waste, and abuse, and to be able to help make those programs more solvable. My grandmother, my mom, is all on Medicare. I have a lot of family members that's on Medicaid. I grew up on Medicaid, and now knowing that I'm part of the process to make sure that Medicare, Medicaid Marketplace is is a viable program and we're able to catch some of the frosters to keep the program available for others who are like me, that may grew up that need access to Medicaid. That's like my mom and grandmother who's on Medicare. That really makes me excited every morning when I'm working with that customer.

How, how many employees do you have in the company now?

Currently right now we serve about 55 employees. 55.

So it's a, that's a pretty good size outfit. And is everybody based in the Washington, DC, Maryland, Baltimore area?

No, it is, it's pretty remote now. Working with CMS and other government agencies about, let's say, 8 to 10 years ago, they start phasing out the requirement to work at the agency itself. And remote became a big thing. And then of course, after COVID, it was pretty much everybody decided to disperse and to move to cheaper places or move closer to family. So everyone is dispersed, but the headquarters is there. And my primary leadership is on the East Coast.

Okay. And so as you think about this, you've been at this for a while. What is it, do you think, Fred, that is unique about you as an individual that you bring to the table that's made you so successful?

Um, yeah, that's a, so I, I, I can name a couple things. I feel that I have a unique eye at surrounding myself with people who complement my strengths and weaknesses. That's— I can identify a person and within 5 or 10 minutes know if that person should be within my ecosystem or within my leadership team. I can spot a crook a mile away. And also too, is I can spot someone who's going to be helpful to my organization. So that's first and foremost, I really know how to identify the type of talent that can surround myself because I can't do it all. There was a time where the company was less than $1 million and all the contracts was essentially centered around me and there was only 2 or 3 employees. That day has came and gone. So I need very strong people that's around me that's gonna be able to help me run the company. Identifying the type of talent that needs to be within my leadership or within my ecosystem, I think is one of my strong suits.

Yeah. The, you're not alone in, in, in the many founders and CEOs and executives and entrepreneurs that I've interviewed on this show, I would say the vast majority have the same attitude that you have. It's the people that make the difference and the right hire is the most important thing you can do. Wrong hire is a bad thing, but it's the people that make the organization go. And I think that's almost universal from all the successful people I've interviewed.

Yes, sir.

So I'm curious, 8 years in the military and now you've been doing your Visual Connection for what, 14 years?

Almost 15 years.

Almost 15 years.

Mm-hmm.

How important has listening been to you as a skill in developing yourself as a successful entrepreneur?

It's very important, especially, uh, you know, so in the federal contracting business, uh, typically work, uh, we bid on opportunities. So the government will post a, what we call a solicitation., a request for, um, you know, proposal. And typically what you would expect is that your particular client, you have known or, and or heard of the opportunity before it's actually posted. So that's one of the first and foremost things, listening to your clients about future opportunities, um, that may or may not be coming out and being able to ask those questions before those opportunities are live is extremely important. So you have the money side of listening, Uh, which is listening to your customers and making sure you're there where they're— is going— where they're going to arrive. You don't want to be constantly chasing the work that they're pushing out. You want to be there before it's being posted. So listen to your customers about what their needs are is the money side of the house. And then when it comes to listening with working with my employees and my senior leadership is extremely important. And I would say tying together listening and empathy. Is extremely important, you know, because the whole thing around listening and hearing, so on and then hearing and listening, but being able to, as a leader, being able to listen to your leadership and listen to your employees for whatever it is. They may be listen to telling you about a particular personal issue that we need to understand to be able to modify their work schedule or listen to them about something that may be challenging about their work environment, good or bad. Is really important. But then when you add that empathy part to it, where you actually understand where they come from and what they're trying to tell you, is the important piece so you can be able to respond. I don't think without that empathy piece, your response could be lackluster.

Where do you learn these skills?

I would say from my mom. My mom is— yes, my mom is— she's old school Christian Pentecostal. Dirt road Alabama. But she is an extremely, really well-qualified listener. And just watching her and just being around her as a young kid, I was considered what they call down south a sicky baby. I was born with asthma and being on Medicaid and having access to the equipment and the medication was really hard to find. I remember my mom going to garage sales or what we call rummage sales, but garage sales, and she would find used inhalers that had 5 or 10 left and she would buy them. And I've also too seen her take a zero and put water in there and shake it up and get a couple puffs out of it. Just, I spent a lot of time with her as a young kid and I watched how much she listened. So I have 4 siblings that we have in all, okay, brothers and sisters. And so, and single mom, my dad wasn't around. When you have that many kids, you have to be a good listener. Especially when you look fast forward on how successful all 5 kids— our mom was everything to us. So I learned everything from her.

Wow. What a blessing to live in the poverty that you grew up with and to come out the way that you did with says a huge amount about your mother's power and her love and compassion.

Yes, sir. It does.

Amazing. So do you, do you, what happens when you hit messiness? At work, either within your organization or maybe with a client customer where there's upset. How do you manage that? It happens. How do you manage it?

Great question. Yeah, it does happen. And there are trained remediators and I would consider myself an untrained remediator. Remediation, I am, I really, that's one of the things that, okay, Fred, what do you think you're really good at? I would say remediation. I have a very unique ability to be able to listen to both sides, cuz typically remediation, there's that one side of the coin and the other side of the coin. Being able to listen to both sides to be able to understand. And, and because of my experience and being able to, I, I pretty much done every job within my company from taking out the trash to all the way to CEOs. I kind of have a sense of what really happened. And back to what I told you is that I hired the people. So I got a sense of typically the way their mannerisms and it said their families. So it's like when your kids come home and the, the teacher says, one of my sons named Elijah, teacher says Elijah was disruptive in class. Be like, yeah, yeah, I, I, I can see that. And I would do what I can to work with it. But if they say Darius, my other son, was disruptive in class, I'm like, mm. I don't think so. Maybe you got the wrong kid. Similar to some of my employees that I work with, I understand and have a sense of what happened, but I use my remediation skills to be able to help get down to what happened and allow them to be able to take a second to calm down, to listen to what each other are hearing, to be able to come to a resolution. And not always successful. Sometimes it has to go to HR, I'm batting a pretty good record when it comes to remediating that messy type situations.

So it sounds like you're a peacemaker.

I definitely am a peacemaker. Yes.

Yes.

As they say, my lover, not a fighter.

There you go. Do you find that you have to engage in, in the mediation work with clients at times?

I do. Yes, I do find that. It, it, it, and it's, it could become challenging. A lot of clients don't like to be handled, and sometimes they pick up on that you're trying to handle them. But I do find some situations with the client where we have to bring in remediation. A lot of times it happens where the program is looking to be, say, phased out, and they're trying to understand and help to figure out, okay, we really like you, but your work is going away. What do we do? And it's typically another side of the pond where they're saying, hey, we can use those dollars, defund that contract. And sometimes I have to work remediation between the two customers and saying, hey, how about I handle this piece and we defund, and then for you, I handle this piece because of our past performance and experience of working with this exact client. So you can keep the money, keep the contract, and you both can be happy. Again, don't always work, but I got a good bag.

You basically figure out a way to renegotiate and make a, make a good business deal for everybody.

Exactly. And goes right back to the listening piece. I've typically heard what each other, each of the two customers are doing. I've read about what they're trying to accomplish within their program, and I leverage that to be able to help remediate the situation.

Are you engage in a process of teaching these valuable skills that you've developed from really early childhood to the rest of your organization so other people can do what you do?

I try.

Not everyone are interested and not everyone has the patience. My mom always say, my middle name is Antonia. She call me Anton. She say, Anton, you have patience like dough. And I say, okay, how's that gonna benefit me? And so it does benefit me having that patience.

Yes.

Those who are interested in learning, a lot of my senior leadership program managers and say, Fred, how about you come in, not as the CEO, to help us remediate this? And the reason why is not because I want you to do my job, but I want to learn to not have to come to you again. So there are some that's interested in that skill set and some just not interested at all.

Yeah, you've got a lot of IT engineers who really don't like the messiness of human interaction. That's why they're IT engineers, right?

That, that is correct. Yes, sir.

Yeah. So they'd rather keep their heads buried in a screen than deal with a relationship problem. Definitely.

Yes.

And I understand it.

I definitely understand it. Yeah, absolutely. So where do you see the future of Visual Connect? Where, like, Visual Connection, where do you see, where do you see the company in the next 10 years?

Yeah, next 10 years.

Yeah.

I, I, I would definitely, so one of my big things I would say over the next 3 to 5 years to continue to support of public services that I've done on the Medicare side, I would like to be able to continue to grow on the Department of Veterans Affairs, being able to take some of those same skill sets to be able to help some veterans within that space when it comes to TRICARE and the Medicare claims and the fraud and waste and abuse that's happening on that side. I would like to be able to leverage my experience with Medicare into the TRICARE and the veterans health side of the house. I think that's really the future is being able to stay within health IT because numbers are getting younger and there's a lot of veterans that's been, you know, getting retired and need access to those medical services. And as you see, whether you like it or you're not, IT and AI is here to stay. Being able to continue our advancement as a company, as an AI machine learning shop, and to be able to get more involved in the Veterans Affairs type contracts is really where the future I would like to continue.

And where do you see yourself going personally?

Living in Denver. I would really love to retire at Fitbee. Uh, this year I'll be 46, and so I would like to do my first and official retirement. There's someone in the company that would like to take over., they could take over. If not, I may, you know, end up selling it to a large strategic partner. Uh, but, uh, this part of my life, I would like for it to come to an end over the next 4 years, be able to move on to my next career, whatever that is.

And you don't know what that is yet?

Oh yeah, I do.

I do.

I'm a big— so I would like to be able to go back to rural areas like where I'm from. And create T-Centers, basically hacking centers, computer labs, to be able to identify the type of skill set that's in the rural areas that can help advance the— our entire community. Wow. So, you know, they don't get an opportunity being down south to get experience working on a laptop, experience building websites and doing different types of works. I would like to be able to create workshops and places in rural areas looking for talent like myself, um, to be able to help agencies, you know, like CMS and the VA and large companies like Booz Allen Watson and Salesforce and Microsoft.

Wow. Good for you. At 50, I made a radical shift. I stopped being a lawyer and became a peacemaker myself.

Ah, congratulations.

That was a long time ago, but I never looked back. It was the best decision I ever made, leaving the practice of law to become a lawyer turned peacemaker.

Yes.

I help more people. I help more people in a week than I helped in 22 years as a the trial lawyer.

Yes, definitely.

One more question, Fred, and I'll let you go. What's one thing about yourself that we would never know about unless you reveal?

That you never know about?

That's—

and I thought about this question, or, or some version of it, that never know about. I was at one point, um, in Escambia County the fastest pizza cutter at Pizza Hut.

Ah, I love that. Yes, you were working in a Pizza Hut as a kid and you were the fastest pizza cutter?

Yes, I used to have a whole crowd of people that used to watch me cut pizza, um, at Pizza Hut.

Wow, I would have never guessed. Oh, that is great. I think that's probably one of the best answers I've ever had on this show. Yes. Oh, Fred, it's been great talking to you. Thank you so much for your time today.

Definitely. I really appreciate it, Doug, and I hope your audience learned something from this.

I hope so too. I'm sure they will.

Doug Noll here. Thank you so much for listening to Listening with Leaders. If you are a successful executive leader who would like to be on this program, please visit podcast.dougnull.com/podcast. If you got something out of this interview, would you please share this episode on social media? Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend or post it on the socials. If you know someone that would be a great guest, tag them on the social media to let them know about the show and include the hashtag #ListeningWithLeaders. I I love seeing your posts and guest suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content. To make sure you don't miss any episodes, go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show and mean a lot to me and my team. Want to know more? Go to my website, DougNoll.com, or follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. That's @DouglasEnoll. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next show.