This week, Michael Morey, President & CEO at Bluebird Network LLC, joins Nabeel Mahmood and Phillip Koblence on the Nomad Futurist Podcast to discuss his impressive career in the digital infrastructure industry. With more than 37 years of telecommunications experience, Morey has served as President & CEO of Voxitas, Senior Vice President at NuVox, Regional Vice President of Electric Lightwave, Inc. and held various management positions within his 13 years at AT&T. During his tenure at Bluebird Network, the company has more than doubled in size and was named as one of the fastest growing companies in Missouri in 2015.

Nabeel kicks off the episode by asking Michael how he got exposed to science and technology and landed in this industry:

“Like a lot of people out there, I just like to learn. I still love to learn. I'll watch anything. And so, science was the coolest thing to learn in school. It was the most difficult thing, and so I always tended towards whatever was the hardest, the most difficult. I saw it as the most challenging.”

Phil and Nabeel are interested to know what lessons Michael learned that made him who he is today:

“I would say some of the best lessons are listening. A lot of the top people in the industry are former salespeople and you know that the best salespeople are the ones that listen. So, listen to the people around you. Listen to your employees, to your investors, to your customers, to your friends, to your family, and try to make a difference.”

Michael shared a lot of great insight in this episode, but Nabeel wants to know what advice he would give to the younger generation:

“Nowadays, I think that if you spend more time trying to figure out proactively where you should go and what can make things happen for you, you are going to find the right place more often. You are going to be happier in those places and you're going to move up because moving sideways doesn't really help you much.”