Ronderings

Ask Why, Then Act: From a High School Newsroom to New Leaders and the Good Jobs Economy with Jon Schnur

A high school sports editor watched a fellow editor dismiss a brilliant Black student's writing. The question that moment raised never left him. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Jon Schnur, cofounder of New Leaders and CEO of America Achieves, for a conversation about leadership, education, and economic mobility in the age of AI. Jon grew up just outside Milwaukee, the son of a mother who co-founded one of the country's first children's museums and the city's first racially integrated preschool. He went to that preschool. So when he later sat in segregated Milwaukee classrooms as a teenage reporter, he already knew another way was possible. That gap between what is and what could be became his life's engine: ask why, then ask what we can do about it. That question carried him from a Chicago campaign volunteer job (he started as Bill Clinton's airport driver) through seven years in the Clinton administration, advising Al Gore, and co-founding New Leaders, which has since developed 8,000 school leaders reaching more than a million students. Ron has his own New Leaders story, and the two of them trace what made that community what it was. Then Jon turns to what is next: the good jobs economy, and how states can prepare people for meaningful work as AI reshapes entire careers. Tune in to hear why Jon believes the future is not something to predict, but something we decide through what we choose to do.   Chapters: * 🎙️ 00:40 Welcome to Ronderings, and a full-circle reunion two decades in the making * 🏛️ 04:24 Growing up in Milwaukee, and a mother who built museums and integrated preschools * 📰 09:39 The high school newsroom moment that turned a sports editor toward education * 🚗 20:26 From Clinton's airport driver to seven years in the administration * 🏫 24:19 Why every great school had a great principal, and the idea behind New Leaders * 🤝 31:15 Twenty-five years of New Leaders, and the people who built the community * 🌎 38:12 How a search for an executive director led to Barack Obama * 💼 53:30 The good jobs economy, and preparing people for work in the age of AI * ❤️ 58:30 The Ronderings question: equal dignity, asking why, and taking action * 📬 1:00:18 How to reach Jon, and a final word on responsibility over grievance * 🎧 1:04:36 Closing reflections, and Podcasts That Matter at www.podcaststhatmatter.org [http://www.podcaststhatmatter.org] Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jon-schnur [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-schnur/] America Achieves: linkedin.com/company/america-achieves [https://www.linkedin.com/company/america-achieves] Email Jon directly: jon.schnur@americaachieves.org [jon.schnur@americaachieves.org] Reach out to Jon to talk leadership, the good jobs economy, and how states can prepare people for meaningful work in the age of AI. If you are part of the New Leaders community, he is genuinely inviting your ideas on what the next twenty-five years should look like. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo] Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 [https://www.amazon.com/LEVERAGE-People-About-Personally-Professionally/dp/1613431473/]  Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com [https://leveragepublishinggroup.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com [http://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/]

Stop Gatekeeping, Start Gate-Opening: Why Nonprofits Deserve Endowments Too and How to Change Philanthropy from the Inside with George Suttles

George Suttles followed the money. Not for status, for impact, and from inside some of the most powerful funding institutions in the country, he is trying to redesign how philanthropy works. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with George Suttles, Executive Director of Commonfund Institute, Harlem-born and New York City-rooted, for a conversation about power, repair, and rebuilding the system from the inside out. George traces his path from a father who coached every neighborhood team and a mother grounded in faith and service at Convent Avenue Baptist Church, to direct youth work across the city, to tech policy at the National Urban League, to philanthropic advising at U.S. Trust, and now to leading Commonfund Institute and chairing the board of the New York Foundation. The through line he names is older than any of it: generosity, abundance, and taking care of your neighbors, learned long before he had words like "nonprofit" or "philanthropy." The conversation gets honest about the professionalization of philanthropy and the way metrics quietly became a gate. George unpacks the myth of merit-based funding, why the 5% payout was never built to be transformational, and the question he keeps asking in mainstream rooms: if foundations believe endowments are good, why not endow their grantees too? He and Ron also talk about how to actually move an institution, why change starts at the board level, and why nobody is coming to save our communities, so we build our own things. Tune in to hear why George believes radical love and radical imagination are the tools the moment demands.   Chapters: * 🎙️ 01:40 Meet George Suttles: Harlem-born, NYC-rooted, and how he and Ron first met * 🏙️ 02:27 A New York City kid: family, kinship, and a love story across the boroughs * ⛪ 06:40 A father who coached the neighborhood and a mother grounded in the church * 🤲 08:10 Generosity and abundance before he had the words for philanthropy * 🚪 09:46 From frontline youth work to tech policy: seeing the cracks in the system * 🔍 15:40 Peeking behind the curtain: gatekeeping versus gate-opening * 📊 18:00 The professionalization of philanthropy and the myth of merit-based funding * 🏛️ 26:33 Moving the institution: why real change starts at the board level * 💰 43:29 Why nonprofits deserve endowments too * 🔧 50:09 Repair, chronic under-resourcing, and building our own things * ❤️ 55:31 George's Rondering: radical love and radical imagination Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgesuttles [https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgesuttles] Email: george.suttles@commonfund.org [george.suttles@commonfund.org] Donate: NYC Racial Equity Endowment Fund [https://d1075f04.na1.hs-sales-engage.com/Ctc/W2+23284/d1075f04/Jl22-6qcW7lCdLW6lZ3mzMlln9Yhj-36W4KkZj87yTVjdW1RSRyq3yZZbNW7z6zQW8NjB5VW843RjZ2j8xY-W8kS6Ct4dRHkqW38y5HY4BrtsfW5NDdZR3QQQb7W7XN2T050tH0kW9bG6nj8_BkylW2M0PSm1s_cV7W3whsCF6x9VmQVPjBRc6PYMDVW3nSsk93DSV1RW1XRXq-7_dVkgVfjV0h4R47YqW6N-_zH6Nl56BW8D1g3r7mB2wjW7m7JCV2mdq7NW98f9zR1cQjMHW3_hcHW79RfsRW3GLyFV1Pjb28W6GzmWT7x4vwvW6pbfkd3SPyRGf1qldwT04] Connect with George Suttles to talk philanthropy, fiduciary duty, and values-aligned investing, or give directly to the NYC Racial Equity Endowment Fund and put the endowment idea he champions into practice for the communities that need it.   Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo] Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 [https://www.amazon.com/LEVERAGE-People-About-Personally-Professionally/dp/1613431473/]  Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com [https://leveragepublishinggroup.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com [http://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/]

From Automotive High School to Wall Street: Mentorship, Resilience, and Impact Investing with Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson, CFA, went from training to be a mechanic at a Brooklyn vocational high school to managing over a billion dollars on Wall Street. The thing that changed his trajectory wasn't talent. It was a math teacher who told him he was good at something he couldn't yet see in himself. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Chris Thompson, impact investor, executive coach, and JP Morgan investment banking alum, to trace one of the most improbable career arcs the show has covered. Raised in Crown Heights by his Jamaican immigrant mother after his father died when Chris was two, Chris enrolled at Automotive High School for one reason: to learn a trade fast and help put food on the table. Junior year, a Jamaican math teacher and a business teacher saw something in him and redirected everything, pointing him toward college credits, a JP Morgan scholarship, and a path nobody in his world had a map for. Chris graduated valedictorian of Long Island University, earned an MBA from Duke and the CFA designation, and worked corporate credit through the 2008 financial crisis. He also carries a loss that reshaped everything: his mother died suddenly in front of him at 43, just as he was planning for business school. Today Chris ties his finance skills to something bigger, deploying capital into affordable housing and community projects, and coaching the people coming up behind him. He and Ron, both children of immigrants who lost a parent young, get into mentorship, legacy, survivor's guilt, and the discipline of putting one foot in front of the other when you want to stop. Tune in to hear why Chris calls that JP Morgan scholarship an impact investment in his own life, and what he'd ask his parents if he could. Chapters: 🌱 01:47 Two island kids, children of immigrants, meet through a mutual friend 🍽️ 02:53 No vision, no path, just trying to see the next meal 💔 04:27 Losing his father at two and growing up with a superwoman mom 🔧 08:21 Choosing Automotive High School to learn a trade and help fast 📐 09:51 The math teacher who said, you're good at this, why not pursue it 🎫 13:18 The JP Morgan scholarship that changed everything 🏆 17:09 Graduating valedictorian and earning a seat at the investment bank 📉 20:08 Reading the warning signs before the 2008 crash 🕯️ 25:25 The hardest part of the story: losing his mother at 43 🤝 28:59 The village that carried him, and a sister he leaned on 🌍 31:42 Tying finance to purpose through impact investing and coaching 🌺 36:00 The question he'd ask the parents he lost 🚶 43:49 The Ronderings value: find a way to keep going, one step at a time 🔗 46:41 Where to find Chris and the work he's doing now Links: Email: chris.d.thompson12@gmail.com Reach out to Chris Thompson directly by email to learn more about his work in executive coaching and impact investing. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo] Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473] Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com [http://www.leveragepublishinggroup.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com [http://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/] For more great podcasts like this one, visit: https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/]

Referrals Are a 20X Advantage: How Networking, AI, and Smart Strategy Create Luck in Today’s Brutal Job Market with Jeremy Schifeling

Career expert Jeremy Schifeling says a referral used to give you a 10x edge in hiring. In today's AI-flooded job market, it's now 20x, because trust is the one thing a machine can't fake. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Jeremy Schifeling, founder of The Job Insiders and best-selling author of the top LinkedIn and AI job-search books on Amazon, for a conversation about how to actually get hired when applying online has stopped working. Jeremy's story doesn't start with success. It starts with him, by his own admission, sucking at teaching. A kindergarten teacher in Bed-Stuy who once tried to win over a room of eighth graders with a Jeopardy game and got laughed out of the room, he learned the hard way that you have to understand people before you can lead them. That failure pushed him from the classroom to Teach For America, to Echoing Green and iMentor, to LinkedIn, and finally to building his own company helping the next generation find meaningful work. Ron and Jeremy compare notes from both sides of the table: what Jeremy hears from buried job seekers, and what Ron sees as a recruiter watching a thousand applications land in three days. They get into why referrals now matter more than ever, why introverts should reach out to geek out instead of network, and why social connection is as essential as a good diet. Tune in to hear Jeremy's challenge to treat 2026 the way the best of us treated 2006: go build your own luck. 🎙️ 00:39 Jeremy Schifeling on sucking at teaching and why that failure built his whole career 🧠 03:17 Why the people who pick the hard path tend to run everything later 🎒 10:18 The eighth-grade Jeopardy disaster that taught him to understand people before leading them 🛠️ 12:08 How running a school blog in Bed-Stuy quietly became a tech superpower 🚀 18:42 Leaving the safe path to bet on himself, ten years of mistakes and all 🪄 22:49 Turning workshops into a magic show instead of a lecture 📉 25:00 Two career experts compare notes on the toughest job market in years 🤝 32:44 Referrals jumped from a 10x to a 20x advantage, and AI is the reason 🌱 39:07 Why social connection is as essential to your life as a good diet 🧲 40:15 Reach out to geek out: networking advice for introverts who hate networking 💡 53:37 The Rondering: build your own luck and make the world a better place Links: Website: thejobinsiders.com [https://www.thejobinsiders.com/] LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schifeling [https://www.linkedin.com/in/schifeling/] YouTube: youtube.com/@jobinsiders [https://www.youtube.com/@jobinsiders] Books: Jeremy's best-selling LinkedIn and AI job-search books on Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeremy-Schifeling/author/B00AB7IEX2?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true] Reach out to Jeremy Schifeling, fellow LinkedIn nerd, to talk job searching, AI, and how to build your own luck. He would genuinely love to hear what you are seeing in the market, so connect with him on LinkedIn and keep the conversation going. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo] Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473] Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com [http://www.leveragepublishinggroup.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com [http://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/] For more great podcasts like this one, visit: https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/]

Teamship Over Titles: Leading 150,000 People, Bringing the Human Back to HR, and Coming Full Circle with Dr. Patrick Fagan

Some leaders climb out of a system and never look back. Dr. Patrick Fagan climbed out of New York City Public Schools and came back to lead it. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Dr. Patrick Fagan, Chief Talent and Human Resources Officer for New York City Public Schools, the largest school system in the nation, for a conversation about what it takes to lead people at a scale most of us will never touch. Born in London to Jamaican parents and raised in East Flatbush, Patrick is a K-12 product of the very schools he now serves. He walks Ron through the full arc: playing trumpet at JHS 285, learning a trade at William E. Grady, and the doctorate in industrial-organizational psychology that taught him to read workplace behavior like a scientist. Then he gets into the leadership. Why he traded "leadership" for "teamship" across his 10 executive directors. Why he refuses to be the bottleneck every decision runs through. Why he says you have to love people, not just like them, to last in HR. And how faith and a 5:30 AM gym routine keep him grounded while he oversees HR for 150,000 employees inside a $44 billion system. There is also the line he tries to live by: every day is an interview. Not for the next job, but for trust. Tune in to hear how Patrick brings the human back into human resources, and why he calls leading 150,000 people a privilege, not a burden. 🎙️ 00:16 Welcome to Ronderings, and a full-circle homecoming 📚 01:59 Want to publish a book that matters? Check out www.leveragepublishinggroup.com [http://www.leveragepublishinggroup.com] 🎺 06:38 From JHS 285 to a trade school, the path was never straight 🏢 17:19 The real scale: 150,000 employees and a $44 billion system 🛞 21:21 Teamship over titles, and why he refuses to be the bottleneck 🥧 30:12 The PIE framework, and bringing the human back to HR 💡 36:38 Got something worth saying? Talk to Dr. Kent at www.talktokent.com [http://www.talktokent.com] 🙏 37:18 Faith, wellness, and every day is an interview ❤️ 45:37 The Ronderings question: leave it stronger for the next generation 🎧 48:52 Podcasts That Matter, and a Stronger Podcast shout-out Links: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/patrick-d-fagan-ph-d-mba [https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-d-fagan-ph-d-mba-072a335/] Reach out to Dr. Patrick Fagan to talk teamship, building talent pipelines inside the nation's largest school system, and the many careers in New York City Public Schools that don't require a classroom. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo [http://www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo] Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473] Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com [http://www.leveragepublishinggroup.com/] Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org [http://booksthatmatter.org/] Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com [http://podcastsmatter.com/] Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org [http://geniusdiscovery.org/] For more great podcasts like this one, visit: https://podcaststhatmatter.org [https://podcaststhatmatter.org/]