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The Legacy Series Podcast
On the Legacy Series podcast, we explore the world of funeral services with trailblazers in the industry. Through in-depth conversations and interviews, we gain insights into both the modern and traditional practices of this field. By studying the leadership, experiences, and effective strategies of our guests, we can inspire progress and innovation in funeral services. Let's learn from these game-changers to push the funeral profession forward.
The Legacy Series Podcast
Re-Imagining Funeral Services: Insightful Conversations with Visionary Leader Lee Longino
Join Mila Minotti in a transformative discussion alongside visionary and seasoned executive Lee Longino, Senior Managing Director with Service Corporation International. Through his innovative approach, Lee has revolutionized the conventional funeral service model by having the courage to try new ideas and a willingness to challenge the status quo. We will delve into the specifics of this pioneering shift, exploring the obstacles encountered, the insightful lessons learned, and the unforeseen impact it has had on bereaved families. Be prepared to uncover the transformative power of Lee's exceptional viewpoint, as it has completely revolutionized the profession.
Delving into the heart of our discussion, we explore the concept of leadership and the importance of fostering creativity within a team. Lee shares his insights on team building, recruitment strategies, and the value of embracing failure, drawing from his extensive experience in leading large teams. We also steer the conversation toward the evolution of the funeral profession, examining how Lee and his team have successfully transformed a traditional, solemn ceremony into a unique, meaningful experience for each family.
We touch on more personal aspects of Lee's life, discussing his passion for playing piano and his love for the British Virgin Islands. Together, we reflect on the role of self-care and well-being in personal longevity and the legacy he hopes to leave behind in the profession. Join us for an enlightening journey through the eyes of a game-changer in the funeral profession. This is one episode you don't want to miss.
Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining us. I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for the support and encouragement you have shown us throughout our inaugural season of the Legacy Series podcast. You know, when we launched this podcast, we were filled with both excitement and uncertainty. We weren't sure if our message would resonate with our intended audience. However, thanks to your incredible support, we have not only exceeded our expectations, but have also reached a global audience, with approximately 750 downloads from across the world. It is truly awe-inspiring to see the wide-reaching impact of our podcast, with listeners from North America, europe and South America. Your support has become a true blessing. It is thanks to you and your faith in us that we were able to bring the stories of our incredible associates that have helped shape our profession, with the sole purpose of inspiring, encouraging and educating, while propelling the funeral profession forward. Each time I introduce our next guest, I am genuinely excited and I eagerly anticipate the lessons and insights that they will bring. However, as we approach the final episode of our first season, I knew we needed to conclude with someone extraordinary, a visionary, who has truly pushed the funeral profession forward with a focus on the infinite game versus the finite. Realizing we are in this together and our goal to keep funeral service relevant while taking the profession to new heights. Lead Longinot has been a visionary in the profession, serving on several boards, and is known throughout our great profession as someone who is able to see around corners, predict the future while leading us there with his unwavering dedication to the profession. Once again, I extend my deepest gratitude to all of you for your unwavering support, for sharing your valuable stories with us and allowing us to learn more about the amazing individuals that serve families, putting service above themselves. Together, we are making a difference, one episode at a time, and now it gives me great joy to present to you episode 8 with Lead Longinot.
Mila Minotti:Welcome back to the Legacy Series podcast brought to you by John Guelde, David Luginbuel and Mila Minotti, where we have conversations and interviews with game changers in the funeral profession about the funeral methods of today and yesterday. My name is Mila Manati and joining us today is Lead Longino, senior Managing Director of Major East with Service Corporation International. Welcome, lee. Thank you so so much for coming down and meeting with us today. I feel like I start every podcast saying how excited I am, but truly right now, I'm very, very excited for many reasons to be sitting down and talking to you today. One of them, of course, is because I've heard of Lead Longinot, I've seen Lead Longinot, but today I get to actually know who Lead Longinot is, and our listeners as well. They're going to get to know you a little bit more, and so I'm very excited. So thank you again for coming and agreeing to be with us on the show today.
Lee Longino:Glad to be here.
Mila Minotti:Your day going okay so far. So far, so good. So basically I usually begin this with asking how we got to where we are today and I'd love to know your story and your professional career and how, basically, you've gotten to the position in which you are today. Take us down the road and how you got to becoming the Major East Managing Director.
Lee Longino:Well, it always takes a village to get to a point like this. My career started well. My lifetime basically started. I grew up in the funeral business. My dad owned a funeral home, a little small town in North Central Texas, a town of about 2,000 people. He had the only funeral home in town. My mother had the only flower shop in town, so I knew funeral service from a very early age. Matter of fact, before my dad bought the funeral home when I was born, I lived above the funeral home when I came home from the hospital. So sometimes I wonder how people get in our profession. I don't think there was ever going to be a choice for me.
Mila Minotti:You were literally born into it.
Lee Longino:I was born into it and as a teenager in my younger days I had visions of maybe being Quincy, a medical examiner and a veterinarian and funeral service always kept circling back around. So when I graduated from high school, at 17, I went to work for Stuart Enterprises. My dad had said to me he said you go up to Dallas and work for one of those big outfits up there and get you some experience and then you can come back and work with me. And I left and I never came back. Really, that's correct. I stayed with Stuart eight and a half years, through Mortuary School, right out of the gate, and then through college and grad school, and left Stuart in 1995 and joined or into 94, December 94, joined SCI in February 95.
Mila Minotti:Growing up in the profession, especially having done so with your father and your family being in the profession. What would you say was one of the best memories you have?
Lee Longino:The caring nature of my dad. He cared for a community. He sold his funeral home about I guess it'll be five years ago, october and he cared for a community in a way, not just when someone passed away, but they could call him for anything Bury, a horse that died on a farm, some family who couldn't afford to replace their septic system he would go, use a concrete box and put a septic system in for him. He just cared for people. Somebody need to ride to the doctor, they would call him and he would take him to the doctor. So much so that in 2021, they honored him with an elementary school named after me.
Mila Minotti:Very nice. What's the name of the school?
Lee Longino:Lee Longino elementary, and where is that? In Ferris, Texas.
Mila Minotti:Okay, very good. Sounds like definitely a very honorable man and someone to look up to For sure. Who else would you say have been influential in your life?
Lee Longino:There's probably two people that I'll point to outside of my father. One was my ag teacher in high school. Murrell Hammock was his name, and Mr Hammock taught ag in my hometown for four generations. Matter of fact, my senior year, a friend of mine in my senior class, his granddaddy, was in Mr Hammock's first class.
Lee Longino:So it was this man was the smartest man I ever interacted with. He would never give you the answer to a problem. Actually, he and I use this with my kids today. He would say goofy, be smarter than what you're working with, and it would make you step back and look at things just differently, you know, and how to fix whatever you were working on. He has a lot of reasons. I look at this profession today differently, and the other person would be Steve Mack. Steve Mack was a gentle guy. He had the heart of the associate always in mind first In anything we were ever doing or thinking about. It was always the heart of, or his heart was always for the associate first. And of course, that guy put many, many bricks in 1929, allen Parkway over his time with our company and when he died it was a great loss to our organization.
Mila Minotti:That's certainly a name that I think everyone has heard of as well, and I know, not until really recently did I really get to understand who he was as a person, the legacy and the life he lived, and how important of a person he was in our organization and, of course, still is today that he continues his legacy so very good. Steve Mack is certainly someone I think we can all look up to in our everyday lives beyond the profession as well. You know you are an incredibly busy man with a lot of responsibilities and a lot of people that look up to you for help and for guidance, and so I want to know, on an average day, how do you start your morning to set for the day, considering all that you carry?
Lee Longino:It hasn't always been this way. You know, kind of things change over time. But I Get up at four o'clock in the morning. Oh, I'm in the gym by five. I use that hour to have coffee and kind of gather my thoughts. I do the world, I always do the world every morning and a crossword puzzle before I go to the gym. And I'm done with the gym at six and usually in the office in time to watch sunrise. If I'm not traveling, I love that time in the office by myself. Like most people don't arrive till 8 8 30, so I'm in the office, you know, good hour and a half most mornings and it's just a time to prepare yourself for the day and get ready for whatever you're gonna have to face during the course of the day.
Mila Minotti:I agree with that very much. When I was in the the care center, that's something that I tried to do as well, because I believed it of course, prepared you for the day, but it gave you that moment to collect yourself and and plan before anyone showed up, so that you were prepared for your huddles and and really just Letting your team know that, that you know I'm here, I can do it, you can do it too, and together. Essentially is how it all gets done. What is your current AOR?
Lee Longino:So currently I go it's kind of a unique space, but I have all of Maryland, I have DC, where galler's funeral home is, and then I have northern Virginia.
Mila Minotti:Then we jump Because we're major markets and there's metro market areas, the Carolina's, tennessee, what have you and then we jump to Alabama, mississippi I have one location in Columbus, georgia, which is close to Montgomery, alabama and then all of Florida, with exception of the hispana Markets in Miami and just to put that into perspective, of course I I always try to have my notes ready to go, but that is overseeing approximately 2000 associates and with those locations that serve approximately 40,000 families each year, and so I mean that really is a large area and I commend you on being able to connect with associates and all levels of course to To let them know that you're there and and not just a name that we know.
Mila Minotti:You know, I think that you are very much involved with the associates and even I can say for myself, I remember the first time I had posted on the insight channel and I got all excited because there it was, it was a like from Lee Longinot, and you know that really does mean a lot to to everyone, and I mean I can say it for myself, of course, but it means a lot. The little acts like that of support, essentially From from someone in your position, it, it goes a long way.
Lee Longino:Yeah, it's, it's gotten. You know, obviously we had COVID and those kind of things that existed, but it's really the bigger you get, the harder it is to get around and to meet everybody and to see everybody on a regular basis. And those are the parts of this that I really enjoy. You know, years ago, when it was a smaller a or you really knew everybody, and it's just gets harder and harder as your spandex control increases. But I try the best I can to get around as frequently as I can.
Mila Minotti:In your opinion. I want to know what makes a good leader in today's day and age.
Lee Longino:Well, I think it's a lot of. It's pretty simple in a way. Is you know, how do you like to be treated? Do you want to treat others the way you want to be treated? I've never ran from my roots, so to speak. I always remember the impact people made on my life growing up teachers, sunday school teachers, you know. Parents, friends, parents, you know again, it's a village that builds you up. And then the other thing is is always surround yourself with people better than you. If you have people better than you working for you, they're striving to grow and to be the best they can be. There's no stopping the organization and what we're going to accomplish.
Mila Minotti:That's a really good point. Sometimes I believe that people and it's not to say for everyone, but sometimes that intimidates people to have someone who knows more around them in their circle, and that's why I say it's a really good point you bring up, because every single day we should be learning something new, no matter how small it is, and having those people around supporting especially, and having people that turn to almost like a human encyclopedia or, I guess today's day in Egypt, a human Google to keep it relevant, that's incredibly important. And so, on the other side, what do you think is the best way to build a great team?
Lee Longino:Again, it is that you know I use the term arms-length recruiting A lot of times we'll have an opening and a position and it doesn't matter the level, the location, and instead of taking the time to find the ideal fit, we try to plug.
Lee Longino:And that happens in every organization. It's not unique to us or anything else. But if we take the time and search out that right key person for example, when I interview for a role that's going to report to me, I will go through the interview process. But then the very next thing, once I've narrowed it down to two or three candidates, I turn it over to my team. They, without me on the phone, I get their peer group to interview them and have them make the recommendation, mainly because we don't want to be disrupt what we've built and we want camaraderie and people to be able to work together and and create together and be innovative together and bounce ideas off one another. So it's, that process has been a really incredible way and I think well, I know that you know Steve Miller and Ralph DiStefano and Paul Campbell and Michael have all used that method, as they're replacing people at the next level.
Mila Minotti:Now I don't know if this kind of ties back into what you've said in leadership and a team in general, but if you can say one component, one ingredient, what would it be that is needed in having a successful team?
Lee Longino:Allow them to fail. Allow them to try new things. Don't be risk averse. I get concerned. It's in any business right, not just our profession, but this is all I know. So you relate to this.
Lee Longino:We have people that have reached leadership roles at various different levels of leadership and they kind of know the ingredient that helped them get there. But it's not hard to see our business and the changes that are taking place with the cremation rates, direct cremation, and it's been happening for decades and that we got a real problem if we don't change what we offer and how we offer it right. And because I truly believe when someone comes and many people have heard me say this, some of this is going to be repetitive, but it is that when someone comes in and says, mom, let's be cremated in those services, they just don't want a funeral, but that's all they think we offer Now not in our group anymore, but it was that way when we started. And we still have people even in our group that don't quite believe that this is the way we should go, even though we have so much empirical evidence that shows absolutely it's the way we need to go and people get into a successful role at whatever level location leader, market leader, managing director and they're too afraid to make that big step that really fundamentally changes what we do. And that's where we struggle is, how do we convince them as well? Now, in our group we're good, but in other areas, not just in our company but as a profession, because where the profession goes, so goes company right, and so we really need to work on new ways. And there are some new ways that are coming up, and some I never would believe that have come up. That are new things that are being out there, but who knows, who knows where they'll go. But at least we're doing something in some areas that are new and we just got to continue down that path. And I do believe we're onto something material in major East, and not just from a revenue standpoint for our company, but for the experience these families get to have the opportunity to have.
Lee Longino:Every life is unique. I used to go into a room and we first started this and would say everyone who's had the same life stand up, the same experiences stand up, and none of them can. There might be somebody has some similar experiences, but they're surely not the same experiences, right? What's happened to them? Great, and what's happened to them not so great, alters them right, and they're all uniquely different, so why should we put them in the same envelope? You know I have a presentation that I've done a lot and says we're responsible for the longest running Broadway play. And it really was that way. Depending on your faith, right, we use a Baptist, funeral or assembly God or Catholic or a Jewish service. It was the same, depending on that, and it should be uniquely different.
Lee Longino:And I draw a relation to growing up in a small town. There are so many people in my small town that impacted a lot of people in a really amazing way. Mr Hammack was one of them and there were teachers Jackie Baxter, mary Lou Wester. I can see them today. I remember how they impacted me and others. But yet when they passed away, I stood by my dad and it was the same thing. It was three points, two songs, and we went to the cemetery and they were so much more than that.
Lee Longino:They deserve so much more than that. We didn't know that then, but we know it now. Right, we know it now that we can create a very unique experience where people go out and even if they were just acquaintance of the person they came to their event, when they leave, they know so much more about that individual because they came.
Lee Longino:And it's a really amazing what our team is doing on a daily basis and they finally have gotten to a point that this is kind of what they want to do and it's becoming more and more the norm versus the traditional event.
Mila Minotti:So a couple weeks ago I had Tony Ms Tony Jay was on our podcast and we discussed the life stories and I think that's something I shared with at my grandmother-in-law's funeral, as well as my grandfather-in-law. They unfortunately passed away a few months apart. But what I remember most was exactly that walking into the venue and seeing everything before I even really saw them. I saw all of the memories that were displayed and, of course, they were grandparents. They were great grandparents even at that point. But, having worked in this profession and I was around when that started to roll out those ideas and it's something that I'd heard about. But it's so different when you actually experience it firsthand, because it truly does tell a story, and I couldn't agree with you more. We could have just kept it traditional and gone to the Catholic Church and, like you said, there's the songs you're going to sing and then that's it. And what a difference it makes when you have that opportunity to showcase who they were and the lives that they lived, especially.
Lee Longino:And you don't have to give up one to have the other. Right, if you have Catholic traditions, you can have your Catholic mass and then have your celebration. So we don't have to give up one just because it's our family tradition to get the other. They both can work harmoniously together.
Mila Minotti:Absolutely, and something that was sort of new as well. I would love to know how your vision with catering came about, especially how you were able to sell that vision, because it's something that it had been done, sure, but not to the capacity that we are doing it now.
Lee Longino:Well, you know, back then and back earlier time period, usually it was the church ladies that brought food and so, yes, there's always been food associated with funeral service. Lord knows, as Americans we don't get together in big groups not eat right, part of our culture overall. But it is kind of a humorous story. Actually I was reading one of our trade magazines or maybe it was a news article. I forget that part, but it was. Rodney Dangerfield had died. Okay, and Rodney Dangerfield was a long time comedian. He was known for. The movie Back to School was one of them. The triple ND was the dive that he performed. No respect, that's right.
Lee Longino:And they had this incredible event at Westwood Cemetery in Los Angeles and it was a white tin event with market lights and flowers and catering, and I don't know what all else was there, but I remember seeing it and I called the president of California at the time, rich Sales, and I asked him. I said, rich, I said that was an incredible event that you guys did for Rodney Dangerfield. I said, you know what kind of something like that cost and what kind of revenue does that generate? And he says, oh, the family organized the whole thing. We just let them do it and let them use our park. And I got off the phone with him and I said there is something there. I mean, that's in our cemetery, there's something there. And so I got with a few of my guys oh well, pam Argue was one of them, keith Grundel was another.
Lee Longino:He was running South Florida at the time and we just started brainstorming a little bit and we decided you know what, we're gonna try this at Woodlawn in Orlando and we're gonna hire two event planners to help us with this. And we had meetings with the staff, we hired these two event planners. It just came out of Rosen School of Hospitality. They were aggressive, it was all new to the funeral directors, and so it just failed miserably. Oh, really it failed miserably. We were talking to some of our staff like, oh, the kids serve alcohol in the funeral home, and you know it just on and on, like we're gonna do it very respectfully, everything we're gonna do, we're gonna do very respectfully. And so it just probably maybe it was about a year, maybe that we gave this a go and it just we finally had to part ways with our event planners and rethink this whole thing. And this is where that hope it's okay to fail comes into play and we found another event planner, one that was more experienced, little different demeanor about her as far as interacting with other associates, not near as aggressive Because our great funeral professionals are caregivers, right Used to aggressiveness, right and we brought this event planner in and she won them over. She won them over and we started seeing it with Maughan, you know.
Lee Longino:We started seeing some traction with the catering to the point where we expanded to the rest of the market in Orlando and then we said, okay, we're onto something here, and so we started looking for event planners. Kim Weiss is one of them, she's one of the OG, yeah, and who serves now all of major East, but was in Southeast Florida. And we just started slowly building the program and we got up to about I think it was about three to three and a half million dollars in revenue, and just then I just had Florida, I didn't have the panhandle and I didn't have Miami, except for the Jewish locations, so much smaller group, and we were at three and a half million dollars when the company says, well, wait a minute, they might be onto something there, and then began to expand it to the rest of the company and you know it's going to be close to a $50 million revenue stream today for our company. That's amazing, but it also is altering the experience Again. It's part of that experience that the families are seeing in the locations.
Mila Minotti:And I could say I've sat in on a couple of arrangements before where, when that is originally introduced, culturally speaking it's so different.
Mila Minotti:Of course, right, every culture has different practices and beliefs, but I remember sitting in with a family I needed to translate for a Brazilian family, so I was assisting on that part and the first time that it was brought up traditionally in Brazilian culture usually that's not something that's very common, and so they were really hesitant at first, and then we began to explain a little bit and you'll have people traveling from so far away and your visitation times are scheduled from the pretty long hours and slowly they began to understand the concept that not only is this you're providing something as well for the families, but it's taking away the responsibility as well for them to worry If everyone there is, if they're fed, if they have their drinks.
Mila Minotti:It encourages too for the families and the loved ones to be able to stay and talk a little bit more about that person and the life that they lived. And it's amazing to see how, if you really explain it and take the time to explain to a family how much it actually helps them to be able to do that, it goes a long way, because sometimes they don't see that vision very much like when you were trying to introduce it and explain it to people, and so I think it's come a long way, and now our menus, especially, are what we have available to families, we have for the Caribbean families, we have things that cater to their needs and so many different options, and so in that short period of time, what an amazing accomplishment that has been.
Lee Longino:And in many cases even customized right. So my mother-in-law died and I became my father-in-law's funeral director and when we did her celebration at the house, they were building their dream house. When we got to talking about catering, it was like her favorite meal and her favorite thing was nochowena and so well, I didn't know if the caterer could do it. So we reached out to the caterer and, sure enough, we had our mojo pork, our plathenos and our black beans and rice and the 1905 salad and it was absolutely perfect. It was delicious, but it was Vicky and everybody knew it. Everybody was always invited to nochowena, right, and so it just. Personally, I got to experience the impact of that. So it was a springboard. Catering was a springboard. It was something that we started and when it started to work, all throughout the organization at that time the Southeastern Business Unit, as it was called people started killing ideas, people started being creative, and I give Jeff Oliver credit for this. He's up in East Florida.
Lee Longino:I was a GM at Florida Memorial for a lot of years. One day in a meeting in Jacksonville he goes why do we wear ties when we're on the in suits when we're on the coast, and everybody comes in in shorts and flip flops and it was like I don't know he goes, we ought to dress more like Tommy Bahamas and slacks. And I said, let's try it. And so they did and we had no issues, none. Then they moved it to Florida Memorial, on a couple of other locations on the coast, but we knew that that wasn't gonna work at a wood lawn. We knew at other places that attire wasn't gonna work and so, because we didn't have any issues, I ended up hiring an image consultant and that image consultant wrote a very good report. The guys all have it, the whole team has it on, not just our attire, but it went on to the complete disconnect of our environment and how the families are feeling.
Lee Longino:She met with families, she met with funeral directors, she toured our facilities and because of what we got from that experience, let us down a path to start remodeling these facilities in a different way to make them look different. Instead of sitting and standing at the back of somebody's head, somebody mentioned hey, you ever thought of doing round tables? Well, let's try it. That's what it is at every other event and these kind of events were trying, and round tables are conducive for a meal. So let's give it a go and boy you talking about some pushback on that.
Lee Longino:That was people setting up chairs in the front and tables in the back. Oh, my family selected that and it's just a comfort zone. I think, for most, that we're struggling with it, but now it's become commonplace. Even traditional families who have been to an event at our facility in many cases keep the round tables in place, because it's not about just being different, it's about what round tables do the sharing of stories and memories, and you could be sitting next to a complete stranger, but you have one common thing, and that's the unique person that passed away and you get to really start interacting there.
Mila Minotti:That idea too. That's something again experiencing firsthand what a difference that makes from sitting looking at the back of someone's head to actually face to face with people that maybe you haven't seen in so many years and or maybe you've never met at all. And, exactly like you said, you have that opportunity to share stories and discuss who that person was and the great tales you have and the great memories, and that I can say for sure is one thing I can correlate with you is when I think of that setting in the round tables. I think of that setting, think of Lelan Jeno.
Lee Longino:Well, it wasn't my idea, but I was a guy just stood out of the way and said, let's give it a try. I was always not opposed to taking the risk to try something new, and I used to. I was telling him let's just fail fast. If it's not working, let's just fail fast and let's rethink it. And it's been in them again. It takes a village Sure. None of us are smart, as all of us right, and I'm always open to ideas and thoughts that can make this great profession better.
Mila Minotti:So you've said now a couple of times on not having a fear of failing. I wonder, what do you do to motivate people to go the extra mile when sometimes some people are so hesitant to go outside of the box, so to speak?
Lee Longino:And talking to funeral directors and John's been a part of this and David our entire teams when you're face to face and you're trying to get them to do something that is uncomfortable for them and that stretches them, we have to let them know that we're your net. We know that you're going to make mistakes. We know you're going to stump your toe and our response is going to dust you off. Let's talk about what went right. Where could we have done better, and then we'll push you back out on the field because we don't get better if we don't figure out, kind of, where things break and there's been some. I'm going to tell you there's been some.
Lee Longino:That's put me out of my comfort zone.
Lee Longino:Some of these events we've done when they did the horror film thing in Orlando, where our entire staff was made up as zombies, where they do the universal hollow scream or whatever it's called, and they're sending me pictures and I'm like, oh yeah, right and so.
Lee Longino:But you know what? That experience was perfect for that family and I applaud Kelly DeWitt and that entire team at Woodlawn for having the bravery and the courage to take it the extra mile, because, if not, it might not have been the same experience, and what I mean by that is when that was over, when I got those pictures I sent them to Jay Andrews in our corporate communications office and he goes hey, we're going to do a story on this one, this one's something. And Kelly told them the wife I believe it was of the deceased that we were going to do this and she goes I want to be a part of that interview. So to have somebody lose, someone tragically, having an event that was so creative and so well done and so well thought out by our vent teams and that whole Woodlawn team, to then turn around and it was such a great experience that that wife wanted to interview someone who's going to benefit internally in our company, so more people could experience a unique event for them.
Mila Minotti:You have no idea how important that is in that culture of what you just stated, that we are your net. That is speaking for myself. I've always been very fearful of stepping outside the lines and trying something new. A lot of times I found that it's just easier to be content because if it ain't broke, don't fix it, kind of mentality. But in the same way you don't grow as an individual if you do that. Of course, you can do that for the rest of your life, but you just can't develop and grow in that kind of mentality. And having said that, I think that's something that is so important for so many people, especially professionally speaking to go ahead and make that mistake and when it happens, if it fails, you raise your hand and you said oops. And then you have the people that say let me help you rebuild. Let's see what happened.
Lee Longino:We just think about what we wouldn't have today if everybody just stayed status quo. Exactly. Probably still be riding horses Right.
Mila Minotti:No, you're absolutely right.
Lee Longino:When you look at some of the people that came before, some of the greats the Jeffersons and Ben Franklans and the Edisons and some of the modern day, to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg and the things, how they've changed exactly our life as we know it. We wouldn't have any of that if people couldn't see beyond the lines they're walking along.
Mila Minotti:That really changes how a person thinks, when you allow them to fall Because you tell them, I'll catch you.
Lee Longino:And so many times, mila, they'll say I'm not creative. And I read a book one time and it was probably a very inspirational book to me, but it opened my mind up to things, and it was actually called Orbiting the Giant Hairball and it was written by Gordon McKenzie. He was a 30-year art director for Hallmark Cards and so in that book it talked about creativity and obviously in his role he had to have creativity. You mentioned writing that many cards, right. So he says everybody has creativity, everybody has it.
Lee Longino:And you can tell when you go into a first grade class and ask them how many artists are in the room and everyone is going to raise their hand. But you walk into a freshman high school class and you ask the same question maybe one. And that's because over the time they've been told to color within the lines, play the music as it's written, do follow all these boundaries. And it limits the ability to think more broadly and more creatively. And that was really something that set in with me.
Lee Longino:So when we embarked on this journey, it was like you all have it. You all have that creativity and don't let the creativity cartel tell you you don't. You do have that creativity. And it was really awesome because then you started seeing people really, as this thing has progressed, really flourish in what they can do and what's possible, and I don't know that there is a limit to what can be done based on what we've seen and it sure is for me it's exciting for our folks to grow. It's exciting to watch our profession grow in a way that's beyond tradition, but it's also a real really. We got in this business to care for people and it's that experience that we get to provide that family that walks in our door.
Mila Minotti:With all that you know so far, what would you say is one of life's greatest lessons that you've learned?
Lee Longino:I would say just trust people. Same way you build a good team, you trust them, you trust them to lead, you trust them to grow and help them grow. But again it goes back to that same philosophy as treat us the way you want to be treated. And again that's kind of how it was brought up and I've tried to carry that on. Do we bite 1,000? No, we don't bite 1,000. We're human. But that's been the focus of trying to make sure you treat everybody well.
Mila Minotti:Also now one piece of advice I try to ask this to everyone One piece of advice that you'd give to someone that is just starting their professional career in this profession.
Lee Longino:Well, I actually have a daughter that's fairly new to our company working in our profession, and my middle daughter also works part time in our company as she's going to college. But my oldest daughter has professionally decided to do this work and what I can say is, if you're coming in, make a difference. Don't come in and get sucked into the status quo of tradition. Yes, we're always going to have traditional families, we're always going to have those things, but we have to keep this profession viable. We have to continue to create and we have to continue to find those things that are value added to our customer's experience. Regardless of what that is, I don't know, but I think that's the end, all be all, john will tell you.
Lee Longino:I said it's not catering. It's an event when really all it was was catering. We had nothing else. We were still sitting in rows of chairs and peonies and wearing ties and it was just food. As one of our managers in Jacksonville said, it was groceries. I don't want to get involved in these groceries. So, always and now, look where we are and you look back and see all the different iterations of creativity that's come about and enhance the customer's experience. And we've made mistakes along the way we surely have. We have some things that just didn't work, but at the end of the day, if you're coming in, this be part of the future of this great profession and this profession will do a great thing for you throughout your career.
Mila Minotti:I have to know, lee, with everything you've discussed so far and how you began in this profession and to where we are today and all of the innovative ideas that you've had With all that, how do you prioritize self-care? You've told us a little bit about your mornings and how you make sure to have that time for yourself, but with everything that you have to do, how do you make that a priority in your life?
Lee Longino:Well, I do it early. I usually am in bed by 8.30 and up by 4. And it wasn't always that way. Sometimes you just bore the stress and dealt with it. But yeah, I'm up early, I do it in the morning, and then I am a pretty rigid guy on the weekdays about being in bed between 8.30 and 9. And it's just something that's a must. And as big as this thing continues to get and I'm getting to an age I'm not the young whippersnapper anymore and so it's also personal for longevity.
Mila Minotti:Right. Is there a specific place you like to go? Is there when you think of just peaceful and serene and being able to meditate and let go?
Lee Longino:Well, if you're talking about if you're talking about each day, it's just the quiet time If you're talking about like to get away and really unwind, probably my heaven on earth would be the British Virgin Islands. I actually was there in June and I told my two daughters were with us and some of their friends and I said I said if the Lord's coming back, he's coming back right here.
Mila Minotti:What is it about the islands that's so special to you?
Lee Longino:Well, it's just you know they're not crowded. You can go off somewhere and be by yourself. The people are amazing. I'm a water guy. I love the water. The water is absolutely beautiful. It's just my place. When I die, they're going to cremate me and I'll have a permanent place, which I think is very important to have, a place that says I existed, right, but a little bit of my ashes are going down the British Virgin Islands.
Mila Minotti:In which you can become one. What other things do you do? Are there any other hobbies that help you unwind and kind of let go of the everyday stress?
Lee Longino:Yeah, I play the piano, you do I.
Mila Minotti:Self-taught or.
Lee Longino:Well, mostly self-taught, but in my younger life you know lessons I've been playing since I was six years old Fantastic. I've played for numerous bands and things of that nature and probably will be part of my retirement gig at some point in the future, but that's the one thing I can sit and do for hours at home and fade the world away.
Mila Minotti:What's the favorite song to play? I guess there's probably different settings, so your favorite song to play in a big group setting?
Lee Longino:Oh, I don't know, there's a bunch of them. You know, if I'm going to sit down and play one song and just make it fun, it would probably be Great Balls of Fire or Piano man. I like to play things that we can all sing along to, stuff like that. But when it's my youngest daughter is the only one at home anymore, and when she's gone to cheer and everybody's gone and again the afternoon or the evening is quiet, I'll sit and play for almost a whole two hours. She's gone to cheer. So it's just something that's very relaxing to me and still challenging to me. I always push myself to see if I can just get a little bit better. Maybe that song I always wanted to learn has gotten a little more difficulty to it. I'm not a classical guy.
Mila Minotti:Okay, I was going to ask that next.
Lee Longino:I always say I don't care for the dead guys. And now they're on Great Balls of Fire. But I had a piano teacher that she wanted me to play classical wanted me to play classical when she gets so upset when I wouldn't play it the way it was written Again part of that creativity cartel. But apparently you can't mess with those guys. So I just never really had an interest in that kind of music. I want to be Fats Domino and Floyd Cramer and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Mila Minotti:That's amazing, are there?
Lee Longino:any other instruments you can play, I do. I play the guitar, bass guitar, little bit of the dobro and a little bit of mandolin, but very little.
Mila Minotti:So does anyone else in your family play in the instrument? All my girls play.
Lee Longino:All my daughters play. My middle daughter is getting really, really good, and my youngest daughter is starting to show she's about that age that all my girls started showing a little more interest, and so she and I now sit at the piano together. Oh, that's sweet, and try to start building her skillset.
Mila Minotti:Is that sort of the setting around the holidays? Are you that family that will also sing along?
Lee Longino:We will, because we usually have if we're at a place where there is a piano. But yeah, if we're at home and celebrating Christmas Eve or maybe we'll have a neighborhood gathering with some of our friends in the neighborhood, we'll sit around and definitely carol.
Mila Minotti:So, knowing all that we know so far, one question that I really like to ask everyone is what do you want your legacy to be in this profession?
Lee Longino:You know, it's something I've always said and I've said it a long time, and it's truly my heart to say I want to leave it better than I got it. I want to look back on my career and say we changed a profession for the better. We started this kind of progress and we're trying to convince people to change. I would say, why would you want to give a lifetime career to something? And when you walk out of the building with your retirement gifts and you look back and you see that it's collapsing like Rome, what was it for? And I don't want that experience. I want to look back and know you know what. We gave everything we had to making this a better place. So when young people like my daughter and the many young ones that are coming into our great profession today, I want them to see a bright future ahead in the way that we honor and celebrate the uniqueness of each existence.
Mila Minotti:It's beautiful. It's a very important legacy to leave behind, especially. But where do you see this profession even 10, 20 years from now? Where do you see it going?
Lee Longino:I well, if it's up to my group, it's going to be an incredible place. It's going to be an incredible place and there's many other creative professionals across our company and across the profession itself. And as long as the profession continues to strive to not eliminate tradition, to move more away from tradition, more people are less religious. Today, again, a lot of people are crematin and say we don't want to service, but you don't lose someone you love and not celebrate who they are. So if they're just they're doing it somewhere, they're just not choosing to do it with us. How do we get them here?
Lee Longino:And I think it's by changing our facilities, making them brighter, making them not look and feel like funeral homes, having unique spaces like our Speak Easy in Tampa, our Wine Room in Naples and Gawlers Having these spaces and continuing to kind of say what more can we do? I mean these buildings that we're building today. I mean we're hosting all kinds of events in these buildings, not just celebrations or the death event. And I've said for many, many years that if we can be a part of celebrations that aren't just the end of life celebration, we're guaranteed to get that one right. If we're celebrating birthdays and we're celebrating anniversaries and we're doing weddings and we're doing those kind of things in our facilities and our folks are helping families do those different types of events. You can bet, when they lose someone they love, that we're going to be the people they call to do it.
Mila Minotti:It's an interesting point you make because I have a daughter who will be three years old next month, so I was pregnant during the pandemic. I found out I was pregnant in February of 2020 and a month later, essentially the world shut down and the one thing that at the time I sort of felt robbed of was being able to have a baby shower, a traditional baby shower, although at the time I said I just I don't want one. No, that's okay, that's important. As time went on, I felt like you know, if only I could.
Mila Minotti:And I can say that Wayne Jarvis and Kim Weiss set up on Sample Road one of our venues there. They set it up beautifully and it's one of those things that sometimes people really can't get behind that idea that you can host a different type of event at a location such as that. But I was so fortunate to have people that it was a complete surprise to me as well. But walking in, you completely forgot that it was a funeral home. They did such an amazing job and I'm forever grateful that they were able to give me that gift, because if I had, if it were up to me at the time, I would have said absolutely not. But you make a very valid point that the possibilities are endless and with the right people there we can really make a difference and change the way that we all view the profession and what we are capable of, essentially.
Lee Longino:We really we are hospitality now. We are a hospitality business, and so why not be a part of all of it?
Mila Minotti:So our last question I have for you If you could speak to Lee, a young, young Lee just starting out, when you were still in high school even, what advice would you give him?
Lee Longino:That's a good question. Again, it goes back be bold, don't be afraid. Treat people well, surround yourself with excellence, put people around you that are better than you Kind of all the different attributes that we've talked about. Those were the things you know, I would say, for if you're coming into this profession, you're thinking about it. There's a lot to accomplish and the sky's the limit. Don't sell yourself short.
Lee Longino:I remember when I got hired at SCI by a dear friend of mine. I'd known him since I was seven years old. My dad had dug his graves for many years in Plano, texas, but Ted Dickey just sold his business to SCI and hired me. And I remember Ted is a great developer of people and he brought me into his office and set me down and said you know, I mean just graduate from grad school. I've been in the profession eight and a half years. And he said to me he says where do you see yourself? I said to the president of this company and he kind of chuckled. He said that's a lofty goal. I said, well, maybe not this company, but maybe a steward or maybe an ECI these were police companies that were still around at the time and he goes OK, I can probably see you accomplish something like that. And then he gave me this great advice, one of those people that would be placing your life in these nuggets of wisdom, and he continued to coach and guide my time with him.
Lee Longino:But I would have never thought my wildest dreams, coming from a town of Ferris Texas. I remember when I got my first market job, I was covering Louisiana and East Texas and parts of Arkansas. I remember looking at the financial statements and seeing that I was responsible for $15 million worth of revenue and I thought, mila, what are these people thinking? Giving this board from Ferris Texas is much better Responsibility, right. And I was 26 years old. And so you can accomplish anything If you put your mind to it. Treat people well, hire great people and don't be afraid to fail to win in combination. And when you make decisions and I've said this since forever when you're in a place of authority and you're making decisions, there's three components Is it good for the associate, is it good for the family, is it good for the company? And if the answer is yes to all three, it can't be a bad decision.
Mila Minotti:Very good. Well, I thank you again. It has been an absolute honor to be able to sit down with you and get to know you and have this time for a one-on-one. I really appreciate you coming in, and I'm sure our listeners do as well.
Lee Longino:My pleasure Mila.
Mila Minotti:And thank you very much for having me. That'll do it for us today. Thanks again to our listeners and guests who made season one possible. We have some incredible guests lined up for season two and we're really looking forward to bringing that to you. Please remember to subscribe so you don't miss any updates. We'll see you real soon.