CONTROL YOUR DESTINY By Doing This SIMPLE Thing | Richard Montañez

One time I was teaching a an MBA class and I remember one of the students said, "Mr. Montanez, you know, all my professors have degrees. Where did you get yours?" And remember, I'm from the hood, so I I I don't have a problem with confrontation, right? So, I walked up to him and I just said, uh "University of Cucamonga." Not such a cool right? It's just my hometown and he said, uh "Where's that at?" And I said, "Private school, never mind. You couldn't get in." And then I walked away and then all the other students were like, "Ooh." You know how that goes, right? He said, "Okay, I'll give you that, but the truth is all my professors have PhDs." And I I had had it by this time. I turned around and said, "Look, I've got a PhD. I've been poor, hungry, and determined." Everyone, this episode is brought to you by our sponsor BetterHelp, an online counseling company with a mission to make professional counseling accessible, affordable, and convenient. I hope you enjoy. Everybody, welcome to another episode of Impact Theory. I am here with somebody that I think is going to blow your mind, the one the only Richard Montañez. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Pleasure to be here with you. Dude, so good to have you. Your story is insane. Your new book, Flamin' Hot, uh is it may be my all-time favorite success story. It is so amazing the number of obstacles that you've had to overcome uh to get where you are today and just the sheer breadth of your career is really awe-inspiring. And I would love to just start at the beginning, man. What's What's the background? Why is the book called Flamin' Hot? Like, walk us through that extraordinary narrative. Well, thank you. You know, I I appreciate that you read it and you you understood it, you know, cuz people uh find out everything that I went through, uh the first thing they they say is, you know, why did you why did you stay there so long? It's hard to explain to people, you know, that's what pioneers do. They map out new territories and they come back and they bring settlers. So, that was one of the reasons I stayed because I knew that I was a pioneer. I was doing something new that a lot of people didn't understand. And the other thing people a tiny bit of context so they understand what you mean by pioneers. So, you your family, two generations, picking grapes. You guys are basically in a work camp. And whole family's picking grapes. You're sort of the first one that's going to have a career beyond that, go to Pepsico, get a job as a janitor. And end up, just to give people like the punchline so they see how powerful this is, you end up as an executive. From janitor to exec. It and it's it's really a pretty radical story. So, all right. So, now backing up to being a pioneer, when did you begin to see yourself as a pioneer? Was that right from the jump or was that something that occurred later? I I right from the very beginning. Now, I I didn't know what a pioneer was. But I look back on my on my childhood, even as a child I was a pioneer because you're right. Where where we grew up was a small town called Guasti, California. It was a farm a farm migrant labor camp. Everybody picked grapes. About 2,000 families lived there. My grandpa, my my my dad, my mom, my aunt, my everybody picked grapes and we would pick grapes as a family for one reason. Because we got paid by the box. So, the more a family went, the more they made. You know, it wasn't it wasn't by the hour in those days and so so it wasn't I wasn't picking full-time. You know, maybe on the weekends or maybe in the summer or you know, where there was no school or whatever. And it wasn't it wasn't as bad as as some of the other migrant communities. Because the the guy who built the the city, Guasti Segundo Guasti, uh he was in the town that came from Italy. Uh he migrated himself. So, he built he built this uh he built housing for us, he built the church, and he built the school. So, it was bad at first, but then, you know, as he was building it and building it, it got a a little better. And, you know, as where I started off, there was, you know, 10 children. I'm the second oldest. Um so, you know, we were we were really poor, but it was I tell people it was a fun kind of poor. What made it fun? I've heard you say that, and there's something super um beautiful about why you say that it was fun. Why what made it fun? Yeah, because uh first thing is, you know, there was a lot of a lot of children, and we had no toys, and we had no bikes. Um so, I remember one time we found uh one of the plow tractors, you know, they they changed the tire, and they threw the tires off. So, uh we would get inside the tire and roll each other, you know, like a Ferris wheel down down the vineyard. So, it was it was, you know, stuff like that. You had to make up your own imagination. We made our own uh we made our own, you know, go-carts and things like that. And and then the the the the rooms were like a more like a motel. There was no kitchen, there was no bathroom, just the one room. And it was a community kitchen, like a big restaurant. There was big stalls, and it was refrigerated. So, every morning, I had breakfast with, you know, eight, 10, 12 families. You know, and and for dinner, I was the same thing. So, it was the the community is just like I I sense to see him that again. A community where everybody, you know, one grandma here ran out of whatever eggs, and the other grandma would be right here. You had your own refrigerator, and you had your name on it. And no and nobody stole from each other. It was just like, you know, everybody made sure everybody had enough to eat. So, that's what I'm saying that it was kind of it was just so fun. I didn't know I was poor. We just, you know, there was a there was an old an old reservoir tank that they would fill it up for the watering the the vineyard. And we used to go swimming in there, you know. And and the owner never said anything cuz, you know, he knew he he was like, you know, these are my kids. So, that's why my dad and my grandfather were were very thankful. You know, for the start that uh you know, that family gave us. Yeah, that's one of the things about your story that I am so in love with is, you know, the the sort of classic American dream is that my kids will do better than we did. And when you first get the opportunity to go apply at I think at the time it was just Frito-Lay. I don't know if it was owned by Pepsi at that time or not, but and you go and you get the job and then they give you a pretty key piece of advice that ends up setting you up. When you got the job as the janitor, what did they tell you? Well, you know, that was an experience in itself. It was it was a dream come true because you know, after uh you know, picking grapes I I worked at a car wash and I was a gardener. I was pretty much working full-time when I was 10, 12 years old. Um I even had a fake birth certificate that my mom got me saying that I was 18 years old so I could work at the car wash and one day my neighbor said, "Hey, they're hiring at Frito-Lay." This is exactly what I thought. I said, "Oh my god, Frito-Lay." And it was owned by Pepsi. I thought, "If I could get a job at Frito-Lay, I could change the legacy for the Montanez family. I can go from the fields into the factories." And people like, "It's a factory job." No, no, no, it's an opportunity to change my legacy. They have benefits, you know. I I went from $2 an hour to $4.50 an hour. Double the pay with you know, with benefits. You know, I could I could start my family. I was just so excited and you know, and and at the time I could barely read and write. It was true. You know, I don't I don't have any school. But yet, you know, I need to remind people I didn't stay there. I educated myself. Um so anyways, uh my wife actually filled out the application for me. And I and I took it back the next day and I and I was really nervous cuz he the the manager looked at the application and he looked at me kind of funny like questioning me. He goes, "Did you fill this out?" And I scared, I said, "Yes." And he goes, "You have nice handwriting." You know, I've been taking Judy's credit ever since. So I I got the job. He says, "You're hired. You know, the janitor. Can you start tonight?" I said, "Absolutely." So it it was it's interesting that the plant uh the Frito-Lay plant was maybe about a quarter of a mile away from uh the labor camp. And in those days, Frito-Lay used to build plants out in nowhere. And that's where Guasti was. You know, it's kind of like industrial built around it. Um it's not the same anymore. So I was able to you know, catch my my my grandfather and and my dad and and my grandfather said something to me that uh I I say it's the reason I'm successful. And I love to tell young people this. You know, we've spoken at at Harvard, Notre Dame, some of the top schools in the country. And I always say this. And and he asked me, "What are you going to do?" I said, uh "I'm the janitor. I have to mop the floors." And he looked at me and he said, "When you mop that floor, you make sure that it shines. So when people see it, they know that a Montaño has mopped it." And my dad said, "Listen to your grandpa." You know, I actually took that on. And this is what I tell people. And and you know, maybe some people will get it and some won't. I said, "As much as I love the compensation, the promotions, Frito-Lay, Hot Cheetos, Pepsi. The truth is, it was never about them. It was always about my last name. You know, it was always about that, you know, and uh I'm mopping the best I could, and I saw that I was having an influence. And people say, "How can you have an influence when you're just a janitor?" And I told people, "There's no such thing as just a janitor. When you believe in your heart you're going to be the best. No such thing as a waiter, a bus driver." And what was happening was my job was to clean the bathrooms, the lunch room, and all the uh managers' uh offices before they came in in the morning. So, the workers would go into the bathroom, and the bathroom was spotless, and it smelled good, and they'd come out with a smile like, "Hey, who who cleaned that?" And then they'd go into the lunch room, and it was, you know, spotless. And I, you know, I wasn't complaining like, "Throw your own trash." I was just cleaning and it smelled good. And then in the morning the managers were opening up their offices and saying, "Wow, who my office is spotless. Who, you know, who did this?" And everybody pointed to that janitor and said, "Richard Montañez." And that's when I learned that I had a at a very young age that I had an influence. I could influence people without saying one word by my work ethics. I I influenced I put a smile on their face and never even said anything. And then I realized too, you know, some of these quotes quote that are ancient, exactly that are ancient. Somebody said, "You get promoted by who you know." I said, "That's not true. You get promoted by who knows you. You can say you know the CEO or the manager all you want, but if they don't know" And that's what was happening as a janitor, people were knowing who I was just because of my work ethic. I hadn't even spoken a word yet. One of the coolest things about your story to me is that 2 weeks after you get the job, even though you're doing a good job, they go to fire you. And one, why did they go to fire you? And then how did you turn it around cuz that that this to me is where you go from like a cool story to like woah, this guy really has another gear. That broke me. Uh you know, 2 weeks my my that time manager called me up. You know, the probation period was was was uh was actually 30 days. And 15 days had gone by and he said uh I got to let you go. Uh I can't tell I mean I didn't even have a hard time talking about it because it was so long ago, but what it did to me I was just totally devastated like you know, I I blew the only shot that I would somebody like myself. Cuz you have to understand you know, people say you don't make right choices when you're in the hood. Well, there ain't too many good choices coming through the hood. You know, I I don't frown on anybody who's from that area cuz that's where I come from, you know, I come from the ghetto. My leadership is from the hood. So, I just thought man, it ain't going to come again and I blew it. You know, so I begged him like man, you know, please, you know, let me let me you know, what did I do? Then he said, well, you know, you don't show any initiative. I didn't know what the word meant. And and here here's what he was saying is uh he told me to mop this this this. And I did it so fast and so good that I was finishing too early. So, I didn't know what to do. So, guess what I did? Is I mopped it again. So, I just I just kept cleaning the same stuff within those 8 hours knowing that I'd done it in 4 hours, but listen to this, no one had ever done it in 4 hours. So, he said, you show no initiative and I was I didn't know what that meant. So, I went I I begged him. I said, just give me 2 more weeks. I will be the most initiative person you ever see. Please, please." And and uh you know, it's part of my destiny. He said, "Okay, you got 2 weeks." So, I went home and Judy's been my teacher, my inspiration, you know. I said, "Judy, I almost got fired." She said, "What happened?" And uh I said, "He said I didn't have any initiative." And I said, "What is that?" And then she began to explain to me and it it hurt. I mean, it hurt inside and it hurt so much that it took me over the edge. I'm never going to hear that word again. No one's ever going to say that Richard has no initiative. So, what I started to Why didn't you get angry and say, "What does this guy know?" Like so many people their response is at that point they're like, you know, "F this guy. I'm out of here." Because I didn't have any other choices. You know, I I I knew where I where I was at at that time. I knew there was racial discrimination everywhere. You know, not to point any fingers, but you know, that that was the '70s, you know, we just came out of the '60s. So, I didn't have a whole lot of choices, you know, I couldn't go I didn't have a high school diploma. You know, I just saw that, you know, I was I'm a visionary. You know, and the problem with being a visionary is we're 5 to 10 years ahead of everyone else. You got to have patience to let everybody else catch up. So, I knew uh you know, I wasn't going to get mad. I I was hurt and broken because uh it was the truth. It was the truth. I didn't have any initiative. And that's why I I teach young people sometimes when somebody tells you the truth, you've got to learn not to be offended and use that because it is the truth. Even there's a scripture in the Bible that Paul even wrote that I love. He said, "Am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?" You know, and today people can't take that. Well, I'm quitting. I'm getting the hell out of here, you know, he can't talk to me like that. You know, sometimes I say, you know, don't get abused, but hang in there. You know, um build something. And that's how I felt like I didn't have any I wanted that job real bad. I I wasn't going to quit just cuz you know, it was true. I didn't have any initiative. So, he didn't lie to me. You know, he wasn't picking on me. You know, he probably one of the best things that anybody could ever said to me. So, how did you end up responding? Well, uh, I turned it around, you know, I I did my job in 4 hours and I was on There was a wall that separated production from the offices and the lunchroom. Cuz in production there was, you know, quality control. You couldn't go in there unless you had hairnets and, you know, the protective equipment. Um, so what I did I and I borrowed some protective equipment and I went in there and I started hanging out with the operators. The people that were running the lines and I started taking their trash outside. Uh, and then, uh, if they wanted This is cool. This is true. I don't know, you know, people will like it, but if they wanted a a cigarette break, you know, to go outside and smoke cuz, you know, this is this is 70s, right? You know, everybody smokes. Uh, so I would say, "Well, just show me what to do, you know, you're just be gone for 5 minutes." And they're like, "Uh, I don't know." I go, "Come on. Just I'm I'm a mechanic, you know, and I really am." You know, and, uh, so they would teach me, you know, uh, how to watch the line and they would go outside. You know, and I'd do that for a couple weeks and so so the other managers were were telling my manager like, "Hey, uh, the guy on your crew that mops in the night, man, hey, uh, I just want to thank you for letting him take my trash out. My guy is helping him." And then he would be like, "What? Who did that?" You know, and he was like he like, "Okay." He was like, "No one had ever done that." You know, you heard the old statement, "That's not my job." Okay. Well, after he told after he told me that I I I never said I said, "I'm employed here. That is my job." You know, that that is my job and and little by little I learned how to run the the Dorito lines. You know, how to and And is it is like being a pilot. It's not, you know, people say you just make chips. Oh, no, no, no, man. You It's like you got to go to pilot school to learn how to make Doritos and potato chips and Fritos. Believe me, it takes a couple years to be a master. Like it is just so extraordinary the way that you think. And the fact you had to go learn the word initiative. And then we're like, okay, cool. Yeah, I got it. Boom. And then I have the chills. Ah. It's such a cool story. Yeah. Well, that's how, you know, it happened is I I learned all the equipment. Uh you know, even I'm I'm proud, you know, many years later my CEO said, you know, you're the only person in the company who can peel a potato, put it in a bag, load the truck, make a marketing strategy and sell it in the store. No one else can do that. And that separated me as an executive because And you know that because we knew what the front line was going through. We knew what what downtime was. Like, hey, we got to get that going. I knew what safety was. We knew you know, all that stuff, you know, and it gave me an advantage. So, I learned all the equipment. And then one day, you know, um one day um one the uh the operators, one of the operators didn't come in. So, that meant that what they would do is they would double up the two shifts to cover the one shift for 4 hours. So, that meant that the guy on graveyard, that was my shift, he was going to have to stay till 11:00 in the morning. And the guy on swing shift was going to have to come in 4 hours early and then do his 8 hours. So, it was, you know, 12-hour, 14-hour day. And this guy had been doing, you know, the whole week and he he was kind of tired cuz this guy was off for a few days and And I remember I begged the uh the supervisor. I said, let let me have those four you know, 4 hours of overtime. Wow, that would be, you know, we'd be going to Disneyland that weekend, you know, and so I said, let me Let me uh Let me run that machine, you know?" And they're like, "You're crazy. What's the matter? You're not an operator." No, no, I've you know, Ruben's been showing me, you know, when he goes on breaks, I'm I'm giving him the break. And what? He goes, "Yeah." And uh And I had And at the time, I was writing everything down. I I I did terrible in school. But, putting in being put in my realm right? Yeah, yeah, right. You know, but being in my realm all that was It made me as though I was brilliant. I could I could solve math problems by saying, "Well, you know, we need 30,000 lb of corn, you know, 20,000 gallons of oil. I need uh you know, six people to pack." You know that, right? I was able to calculate where it's very efficient where we were making money. So, I I begged him to, you know, let me do it. And and sure enough, you know, I I did it. And by this time, I had I had been tweaking stuff to you know, see how this all turns out. Um That day, the next day, the the the the the main boss of production said uh "Who ran, you know, line number one in Doritos?" Because uh that 8 hours, you set a record for most pounds produced. And they told him, they said, "What? A janitor?" Said, "Use him anytime." I didn't have that official job, but I was you know, I was filling in for vacations. I was doing more of that than I was you know, mopping. They could get anybody to mop. You know, and then uh I really started uh tweaking things and writing things down because when I started there, uh they told you how to uh how to make a Dorito. Okay. And then, I started saying, "Well, you know, how do you make the best Dorito possible?" So, I was tweaking things and I was writing things. It's like a laboratory. I was writing things down like a pilot would. And I said, you know, I I presented it to my I took it home to Judy. And Judy wrote it up like a presentation and I gave it to one of the supervisors. And he said, you know, again, you did this? I said, yeah. And he shared it with the production manager who shared it with the plant manager. Next thing you know, they're using those specs for the whole plant. And later on it grew into the into the into the nation. You know, but the only thing that I that I'd like to tell young people is this is make sure that you write your history down. Because no one was recording it because of who it was coming from. Because I wasn't an engineer. I wasn't a PhD, you know, research and development person. So a lot of that history was never celebrated the way it should should have been. So I'm teaching young people. I made it That's why I wrote the book. I wanted people to know the true story how I overcame certain things, but not to make the same mistakes I made. Get yours. So that's why I said, you know, young people say, well, I I I want to I want a career just like yours, Mr. Montana. I said, no, time out. I never had a career. I had a calling. You know, um the stuff that I went through, I don't want you to go through it. You know, but you know, I'm telling people you know, that now, you know, write down your history. Make sure, you know, cuz the people say it's about Not too many people will understand this. Uh you know, we're always told that it's about the team. And yes, but sometimes it's about you. You know, don't don't pass the ball. You know, Michael Jordan would never been Michael Jordan if he would have continued to pass the ball. Kobe Bryant, my hero, I'm taking the shot. So I learned, you know what? The ball's in my court. I'm not going to pass it. I'm going to take the shot. So, I tell young people, don't pass that ball. Take the shot. And then they say this, too. You know, I'm an old corporate guy, okay? You know, I got years of, you know, in the boardroom and all that. It's just I I'm looking back now and some things were incorrect, you know? I need I'm trying to change the culture. I changed the culture in corporate America once. I'm trying to change it again. You know, um so, I'm saying, you know, there's an old quote. I don't know if it was Winston Churchill or somebody famous said, "You'd be surprised at how much you can get done when no one gets the credit." And I'd quote that like, "Wow, that's so true." But then I said, "You know what? That ain't true. Somebody's going to get the credit. And it's probably going to be your boss." You know, it's a really interesting concept though. So, um and look, you leveraged it and you're you're right to say, you know, for people to be really shrewd about how they play the game. But the way that you played it is also quite brilliant in the sense that what I'm always trying to convey to people is if you're indispensable and somebody's stealing your ideas, they still know they're stealing your ideas. So, you still have leverage. Right. The fact that you were able to keep climbing, obviously you, you know, learned how to use your leverage extraordinarily well. But I want to go back to this idea of I didn't have a career, I had a calling. Talk to me about your PhD. Okay. Well, you know, I actually you know, earned my PhD is one time I was teaching a an MBA class at a real pres- prestigious university. I can't give you the name because, you know, I don't think they want anybody to know that one of their teachers doesn't have a high school diploma. But we were teaching and um I remember one of the students said, cuz I would say, "I don't care what room you're in, there's always somebody in that room going to try to steal your destiny. Your job is to be ready not to allow it." So, he said, "Uh Mr. Montaner, you know, all my professors have degrees. Uh where did you get yours?" And remember, I'm from the hood, so I I I don't have a problem with confrontation, right? So, I walked up to him and and I just said, "Uh University of Cucamonga." No such school, right? It's just my hometown. And he said, "Uh where's that at?" And I said, "Private school, never mind. You couldn't get in." And then I walked away and there all the other students were like, "Woo!" You know how that goes, right? He said, "Okay, I'll give you that, but the truth is all my professors have PhDs." And I I had had it by this time. I turned around and said, "Look, I've got a PhD. I've been poor, hungry, and determined, you know?" And that's how I earned my PhD off off the streets, you know? So, um but then I realized, you know, as uh things were happening in my career, as as you said, you know, I found a way Uh and here's here's how I did it, you know? People say, you know, I'm trying to influence. And I said, "That's true." And but I realized this, I made it specific. I'm not trying to influence everyone, only the right ones. Who are the right ones? Those who come into your life that can help you and you can help them. So, I recognized that. I mean, it was this was before, you know, Tony Robbins and all that. So, I was just I was just doing it because I knew that I had a calling. So, I was leveraging uh some of the managers that I saw were were different, were visionaries, to help me learn, you know, the computer, to help me learn this. And they were they were so happy to to be able to teach cuz you know, this this is during when corporate America is in command and control. And what is in command and control? It's well, exactly that. I command and control. I didn't hire you to think. I hired you to do what I tell you to do. So, these new these new generation of managers coming out of college in the '80s were a different breed. They wanted to teach. You know, they weren't uh you know, from the old school where, you know, it was it was to manage it. So, when somebody like me would come up to a person say, "Can you teach me how to use the computer?" They'd like, "Yeah, absolutely." So, that's what I'm saying. I didn't have to influence everyone, only the right ones. And I concentrated on who are the right ones in my life. And the other thing that I never did and I teach this, I never let anybody know what I was thinking. I was smiling all the time, even when I was upset. You know, cuz they would hold it against you. So, it's just like, never let them know what you're thinking, you know, if they give you a dirty job, smile, you know, if they're whatever. And And that's what I did and it worked for me. Everybody, it's time to talk about all of our favorite subjects, mental health. Is there something holding you back or preventing you from achieving your goals or even just interfering with your happiness? Do any of you suffer from depression or anxiety? As a lot of you guys know, I've suffered from anxiety for years and trying to tackle something like that on your own is not always the optimal strategy. But a lot of people are super nervous to try out therapy or they don't really know where to start or they're just plain embarrassed. 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BetterHelp costs just $65 per week, and financial aid is available for those who qualify during the sign-up process. As an Impact Theory viewer, you can get 10% off your first month. So, visit betterhelp.com/impact and get the help you need today. All right, guys, if you need this one, please give it a shot. Take care and be legendary. Yeah, it's It is so amazing the way that you never let anybody slow you down, stop you, no matter what obstacle they put in your way. So, this idea of command and control, you get this new CEO, he comes in, he plays a video for you guys, and he says, "I want you all to act like owners." Now, it's a speech I've given myself a bazillion times. It's a speech I was once on the receiving end, and when I heard it, it changed everything for me. And I was always startled that it didn't seem to change anything for other people. What did you hear, and then what did you do? Cuz that moment really becomes sort of the pivotal moment in your trajectory. Life life life changing. And again, it was a video because that was the communication. There was no email. Uh it was either a fax or somebody would send out a video. Uh but I I say this to you tonight, and I need to say this that, you know, uh I'm a firm believer in revelations. And people say, "What if What's a revelation?" A revelation is something that was always there, and it's been revealed or unveiled to you. You know, revelations are always there. They should be unveiled to you. So, when Mr. Enrico came on and he said, "Hey, I want you to act like an owner." I got a revelation. And here's the beauty of revelations. What do they do? They lead to revolutions. One revelation will lead to a revolution. And that's exactly what happened. I got a revelation. And led to a revolution in my life. And what was that? Act like an owner. Now, every everyone in there didn't take it seriously. Uh but again, you know, I'm trying to tell them, "Did you just hear what he said? This is the CEO inviting us." You know, so I looked at it like this. "What am I going to get an opportunity to act like a CEO? What am I going to act, you know? I'm a janitor with no education." You know, during a time when we're we're trying to get diverse. It's just, you know, my skin color just blows it away, you know? Tells you a mile away who I am. So, when am I going to get another opportunity? I said So, I tried to convince and I gave up. And I tell people, sometimes you just got to let go and just break ranks. I've been breaking ranks my whole life. You know, so I went home and I told Judy uh "Hey, the CEO said, you know, hey, company's in trouble. Uh we're losing market share and he wants us all to act like an owner cuz he can't do it by himself." And she said, "Great, act like an owner." And I said, "Okay, but I didn't know what that meant." You know, um So, uh right next to the plant was the uh the sales office. I just randomly went up to a salesman and I said, "Hey, uh will you teach me your job?" I said, "I'll go with you. I'll load up the truck. I'll do the work. You don't have to pay me. I'll I'll come on my on my day off." He looked at me like, "Man, you can come on your vacation? Free labor?" So, he said, "Uh meet me at 5:00 in the morning." So, my first day off came and uh you know, he taught me how to how to uh write up an order. He taught me how to uh fill up the trucks so that we could maximize the space. And then when we went to the store, he taught me how to maximize the time in the store so we could get, you know, you want to do as many stores as possible. Then about the third store, I was racking it, I I just took a a glance and there it was. What What was it? It was a revelation. What's a revelation? Something that was always there but been revealed, unveiled to you. I saw and I looked at him. He couldn't see it. You know why he couldn't see it? Because he was an expert. Been doing that job for 15 years. So, I tell people, don't become such an expert that you can't see things anymore. People that work for me, I say, "Don't bring me ideas everyone can see. Tap into the unseen and together let's pull it out into the seen and make it a reality." So, what did I see? I saw people buying spices. I saw people buying bags of chilies. And then I looked at our products and remember, this is a long time ago. I can send you a picture. I have a one the original picture, it was uh Lay's, Ruffles, Fritos. Lay's, Ruffles, Fritos. Everybody over there is buying chilies, and I look, we don't have any spices. That's a revelation. It was always there, but it was revealed to me. So, I went home excited, and I told Judy. Judy's that road dog, that partner, that she'll line up with me wherever we got to go. And uh I said, "I got it." I said, "She's a great cook." I said, "We're going to put your salsa on a chip." And she said, "Great. Let's do it. Which chip?" And I go, "I don't know." I really didn't know. So, uh on Fridays, on the weekend, we would go shopping at the neighborhood grocery store. And we would go there because I didn't have a bank account. I didn't know how to write checks or anything like that. So, he would he would cash our check and let us buy groceries. That's why I love neighborhood stores. You know, that's you know, they helped each other. You know, things like that. So, you know, we'd buy he knew us, you know, and cash my check and buy our groceries and uh Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there was a a young man, his wife, and two kids. He was street food vendor. And he'd be selling elotes, corn on the cob. And for a buck, he would put whatever you want, mayonnaise, butter, chili, lime, lemon, cheese, however you he had everything. And he used to inspire me because I I'd look at him, and he'd be standing so proud. You know, nobody ever told him he was a street vendor. He acted as though he had a five-star restaurant. He was a visionary. He was an entrepreneur. And that inspired me. I saw that, you know, I was like, "Wow, check him out. He he really thinks this is a business." You know, and it was, you know. So, I grabbed two, one for me and my oldest son, and you know, uh took a bite. And then I took a second bite. Revelation. What's that? Something that was always there. I looked at it and I go, "Oh my god. That looks like a Cheeto." And I said something that I believe every entrepreneur, leader, great inventor says at one time in their life, and that is, "What if?" What if I put chili on this Cheeto? What if I go to that meeting? What if I do try to launch a a new company? What if? So, I went and told Judy, I said, "I got it, Judy. We're We're going to put your song on on Cheetos." And she's like, "Okay, go do it. Um you know, go to the plant and bring some Cheetos with no cheese, you know, just plain." So, I remember I got a trash bag and I filled it with a Cheetos and you know, I put it over my shoulder and I walked out the plant. And And you know, people know me by by now, and you know, they kind of like, you know, "Richard, you are so ghetto." And I tell people, "You know what? I'm ghetto, but I am ghetto rich." You know, so we get home, and after, you know, a few tries, we get it right. And she takes some to her her work. She's working at Target warehouse at the time. And you know, by the way, the Target CEO, Brian Cornell, is a good friend of mine. Um he used to be part of the PepsiCo family. And he just a wonderful leader. Um and so, they liked it. And I took some Doritos, they liked it. So, everybody was saying, "Tell Richard to call the CEO." So, Judy said, "You have to call the CEO." Now, remember, command and control, vice presidents don't call the CEO. A president does. And at the time, we were we were in every country that the government would allow us. So, there was a you know, there was a president of Frito-Lay in Russia, a president of of of Pepsi in China, you know, Mexico, you know, where wherever, right? So, you know, it might have been a couple hundred presidents. They would call the CEO. Not a vice president, so you know, I uh I went and I found the uh uh corporate directory cuz there was no email. Every company had a little phone book. You know, I I'm sure they still have it. I'd look and you could find whoever you wanted anywhere. So, of course, first one was CEO. So, I went into the the office where all the uh secretaries were at and I picked the main one, you know, the head, and I said, "Can I use your phone?" And she started yelling at me. She said, "No, you No, this is not for private use cuz after all, what would the janitor be using it for, right?" Company time, you know, so I said, "No, I I'm going to call the CEO." Her attitude switched. And I found out later that she had an audience. Because in her mind, I was going to get fired on the spot and she never saw that. That's terrible. She's like, "Hey, look at Richard. He's calling the CEO. Oh my god, he's going to explode, you know, and uh So, I called and you know, I was really nervous and um his executive admin answered and she was just that. She was an executive admin. She was a visionary. And uh the conversation went like this. I said, "Hi, I'm Richard Montanus. Can I talk to um the CEO?" And she said, "Well, I don't recognize the name. What area do you run?" And I said, "I work in California." She said, "Okay, you're the president of California?" I said, "No, I work in Southern California." She said, "Okay, you're the vice president of Southern California?" I said, "No, I I I work in the plant." She said, "Oh, you're the vice president of operations?" "No, I really work inside and side." And she said, "Are you the director? No, you're the plant manager. No, what are you?" I said, "I'm the janitor." And I began to tell her I saw this video and and you know and said act like an owner and I just like well she said um hang on Richard. I love how she said that. Hang on Richard. Let me see if I can hunt him down. And this is where I say that you don't have to influence everyone. Only the right ones. She was one of the right one because when Mr. Enrico got on the line he was pumped up. I didn't do that. She did that. I'll always be thankful to Patty. She did that. Like I I don't know the conversation. She must have been saying you got this janitor on here with this idea. You need to pick this phone up. You said act like an owner and guess what? You got an owner on the You Yeah, so it's like we found out later we needed each other. He needed me as much as I needed him. Mhm. You know, and uh so he got on the phone. He's pumped up like and then he says something that just shook my world. He said, "I'll be there in 2 weeks. I want to hear it." So I'm like, "Wow." Hung up the phone and I'm floating. I did it. He's coming to see me. Uh by this time protocol goes into action, right? You know, they call the president. President calls the senior vice president. Calls the area vice president. Calls the director. Calls the plant manager. Conversation was all the same. Who let the janitor call the CEO? Who's this Richard guy? So by the time the plant manager got it, he was on fire. Now, keep in mind this is during a time when managers could cuss workers out. Okay, you know, you can see that in the old movies and stuff like that. But that was a reality. You're not going to get away with it today. But in those days it was normal. Um so he came and he cussed me out. He says, "What do you think you are? You realize what you've done? Everybody's coming." You know, he's all weird and telling me, "Now I got to paint the place cuz everybody's going to see it." And so I And then he said he walked away and goes, "You're doing the presentation." My heart sunk. I said, "I'm doing a presentation? I've never even done homework." You know, so I go home and again Judy could see that I was uh disappointed. And she said, um "What's the matter?" I said, "I'm going to get fired." And she said, "Why?" And I said, "Because you told me to call the CEO. Now I'm in trouble." That typical leadership of a woman, she says this, "Calm down. It's not that bad. We're going to go to the library and check out a book on marketing." You know, there was no Google, we had to work. But I I've always been amazed at the leadership of a woman because of my grandma, my mom, and my wife. That uh you know, yeah, I consider it to be the best. You know, my leadership is because of the leadership of a woman, you know, and Judy calmed me down when I was panicking and she took me to the library and we found a book and we literally copied uh three paragraphs of something that just sounded good. You know, I didn't know what the truth that is. I mean, of course I know what marketing is. I don't think there's anybody better than me, but I didn't know what it was. Wrote it down and and I I I don't know if you can see this, but just just for your own eyes, but I have some of the original bags that I Wow. that I created. You know, um That's so cool. Did you make the logos yourself? Yeah, I I drew all these uh logos. But this is why your story is so nuts. Like the number of people that complain that they're not getting where they want to go in life, but you go get the the unseasoned Cheeto, take it home, create your own seasoning, create your own bags, your own logos, when to try and get you fed to the wolves, they tell you you have to do the presentation, you go get a book on marketing from the library and put together a marketing presentation. I mean this is great this this is like in in a one person's life exactly what I want for everybody to figure out that at the end of the day boos don't block dunks. You said you love Kobe Bryant. That's his famous quote. I love that quote so much that you can get so good at something that people can't stop you. And they try Oh, absolutely. can't. Absolutely. So, you know, that was the these were the presentations that I used during a and and you know any any sixth grader could have done them. Um you know, so it's hard for an intellectual you know, executive to come down to sixth grade level, but a lot of time there's a lot of imagination at sixth grade level and the things that you could you know, if you could think like a child again without being afraid, but I didn't know any better. This is just what I was you know, I was just going to go for it. So, we made we made a 100 bags like this you know, and I went I went to the Goodwill and I bought me a suit. That day came, you know, we we put this on transparencies. You know, put my tie on. We made 100 bags. I mean you couldn't tell that it wasn't going to the market, you know, it was that's how good it was. A little bit of an artist not much enough and and again all all the tricks that I used you know, was by watching people the survival tactics that I that I was like how did you do this man? I was I was cutting pictures out and you know, like third grade all over again, you know, and but but as as an executive as an adult. And what I used to do before this when I'd get off work I'd I'd put on my old suit and I'd go into you know, a makeshift office at home and I would practice being an executive and my wife would never say anything. She's like yep, someday and I would I would I picture that literally be drawing things and writing strategy, you know, I couldn't even spell strategy and you know, writing it out and but here comes the day and I'm walking out the door and I and I've got to say this part because it's the leadership of a woman. There's three things that Judy did in my life and these are three things that, you know, I speak all over the world that I will always concentrate on doing in three. She inspired me, she encouraged me, she reminded me. The word inspires that comes from the Greeks and simply means to breathe life into someone. To encourage someone comes from the Greeks also. It means to place courage in somebody's deepest being that they stand up and they're never the same again. And the last thing she did was she reminded me. So she inspired me by saying, "I don't know anybody smarter than you." I'm like, "What?" I don't know anybody smarter than you. Then she she encouraged me and she said, "You're the most courageous person I know." And then she reminded me, she said, "Don't forget what your grandma told you. Don't forget who you are." I walked out with the inspired, encouraged, and reminded and I used that with my team and I realized, man, when somebody's inspired, encouraged, and reminded of their value, they'll conquer the world. So I got to the plant and uh sure enough, anybody who was anybody was there. You had to be there. You know, it's like the president coming in, right? So every everybody's got his senior vice president, chief marketing officer, chief financial, everybody was there for you know, even even executives from a 500 mile radius needed to be there. One of the biggest meetings of the year and I walked in and everybody's mad. You know, and uh they're letting me know that they're mad. You know, the the thing was to let me produce my own presentation and hang myself, you know, and stop what Mr. Enrico was trying to accomplish. But they're wondering, why did he bring us to small little town in Guasti, California to hear an uneducated Latino talk to me about marketing, talk to me about building new products when I have 300 food scientists that work for me, you know? So, I had the stairs and you know, and that whole thing and so, I got up there and nervous and then it's the first time I ever did a presentation. I remember doing the I don't know if you've ever done transparencies. If you're not an expert, they they will they'll make you look ridiculous. So, I put it on there and it was upside down. I'm like, "Oh, man." Turn it around and it's still upside down. I finally got it. I was so happy. And I started doing the presentation and and guess what? I had their attention. You know, I even I even had one of the original elotes that I had bought the night before and kept it in a bag and I said, "This This is a uh uh I told him, "This is a a meal. I found a way to take this meal and turn it into a snack. Never been done before." You know, and they were like, "Wow." So, I had enough just speaking from my heart, you know, no big words whatever. And then uh one of the marketing executives, the vice president, raised up his hand. And I intentionally, this is the truth, I intentionally turned around and looked the other way cuz I thought, you know, Judy didn't get me ready for questions. She just said, "Do this do that." And you know, he's like, "Well, I got a question." I said, "I'm sorry, sir. Um we don't have time for questions." And he said, "It's just a simple." You know, I didn't realize you don't say that to executives, right? I mean, that's that's you know, I've never done that. So, I'm like, "Well, we don't have time for questions. Let's go home now, you know?" And he said, "It's just a simple one." So, I just I thought about it and then uh I said, "Okay, sir." You know, I said, "I'm I'm really nervous, you know." Um He said, "Well, how much market share we're talking about?" I almost fainted. The first thing I thought, market share, we haven't read that chapter yet. What the heck they're talking about? So, there was a door that I thought, you know what? I'm just going to run out that door. After all, I shouldn't even be up here anyways. You know, that's it. You know, I'm I'm I'm done. You know, I I made a fool of myself. You know, so my entire life, you know, I'm going to continue to look ridiculous. I just I I was really done. But then something happened that it's inside of me that I tell young people, you know, as as scared as I was there's a there was something inside of me that was greater than the fear that was outside of me. So, let's let let's go to the '60s to my childhood cuz many times I say, sometimes in order to find your future, you got to revisit your past. Well, my English was really bad. So, they In those days they brought in after-school reading program. Two trailers. One trailer for Spanish, next trailer for English. So, every Tuesday uh listen to me. Every Tuesday I got into the line I was told to get into. It wasn't my choice. They said, "That's your line. You belong in this line." Well, what do you think I did in the third grade? is I broke ranks. And I got in the English-speaking line where everybody just so happened to be white. The two teachers were two beautiful blondes. And as dark as I am, I'm thinking, man, can they tell I'm not white? You know, and and my friends were over there saying, "Ricardo, you're loco. You're in the wrong line. You're going to get in trouble. Come back." But there was something inside that trailer that I wanted. And I looked at my friends and I said this, "They have cookies inside. I'm going to get us some cookies." So, I got closer and closer and scared. Remember, I I I'm really scared. I'm I'm not exaggerating. Those two white ladies greeted me and filled my pockets with cookies. Now, when people hear that story, they say, "What's the moral of that story?" There's two parts, and it goes along with the end of my story here. It's um There's a cookie that's been baked for everyone. Young people need to understand this. There's a cookie been baked for you. Your job to get out of that line they told you to get into and get into the cookie line. The line is your choice. How dare we tell a young person, "That's your line. That's your line." Get into the line of your Get out Get out of the poverty line, get into the prosperity line. Get out of the job line, get into the career line. Uneducated, educated. Every child should know it is their choice. No one should ever say, "That's why I I teach parents never let a test score determine which line your child should be in." Because I flunked every single test. You know, but yet I came out here. So, that's the first part. The last part is what I say, "This is the antidote to fear." I I know that you have it, you know, and some people don't have it. When you get this, you'll never be afraid again. So, what is the antidote to fear? Why did I break ranks as scared as I was? I was hungry. Hunger is the antidote to fear. When you're hungry to start a new business, fear will leave. When you're hungry to oh you know, run for a political office, fear will leave. So, back to that question, as scared as I was, how much market share? Scared as I was, I was hungry. I was hungry for more in my life. I was hungry for something different. So, I got a hold of myself, and I remembered the the racks, how big they were, you know, and I I got it. Market share. And I most ridiculous thing you can imagine. I stuck my hands out to the sides of the racks, and I said, "This much market share." And I could hear the executive, you know, kind of gasping. Like, "Ish. Oh, did he just say market share?" But, my CEO was a visionary. And he stood up and he addressed his team and he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, do you realize that Richard just showed us how to go get that much market share?" And there was a young man who later became the president of Pepsi. Good friend of mine, Al Carey. He was leading us and did the same thing. He told his sales team, "You guys think we can go get that market share?" Now, here's what I have to say, you know, in the end of the story that many times greatness will come in a ridiculous form. And if you're not willing to look ridiculous, you will never achieve your greatness. That ridiculous statement made me a legend in my company. As I got older, young executives, "Mr. Montanez, will you tell me that story?" It It was a game changer. It was, you know, So, I So, I realized I was not any longer going to be worried about looking ridiculous or worrying about if I said something right or if I spelled something right. I was just going to go with me. And too, you know, there was a lot of a lot of uh adversity uh coming from everywhere because the uneducated janitor just introduced a billion-dollar, actually two-billion-dollar a year product for pennies. And guess what? They were pennies out of his pocket. But, I never So, that was very offensive to a lot of people. I was very offensive to a lot of people. Even though I wasn't, you know, doing anything wrong, it was it was just I just offended you because you went to college and I got more done. So, when I realized when, you know, very few people All of the great ideas and then I I shook that company all of the great ideas very few people ever said, that's a great idea. And I finally realized this is what young people need to understand. It wasn't that it wasn't a great idea. The idea was great. The problem was where the idea was coming from. Because again, I was told this is the line I been you know, you're not an inventor. You're not a PhD that's this is our line and and the PhDs would would you know, would meet with me and say, you know, you can't be doing it. We went to school for 10 years. You know, but I was able to do it. So that's how I was able to overcome so much adversity and two I I knew that I never wanted to be a victim. And I also had three boys at home and I wanted my boys to know that pops took care of business. I was there if I was going to mentor anybody, it was going to be them. And I knew too that at some point we would be where we're at today. I knew that I would be writing books. I knew that there would be a movie about me. I knew that I would be influencing the world. I knew that and some people say calm down. You just created hot cheetos, but if you got to put hot cheetos out of the way. You know, it's opened up these doors. That's why young people need to understand. Fall in love with yourself because when you fall in love with yourself, there's a freedom to be yourself. As as a kid I hated myself. I hated living so poor. I hated my color. I hated my language. I hated my food cuz I wanted to fit in and be like everybody else, but I I realized at a young age that none of us were ever created to fit in. We were all created to stand out. That's why you I I'm sure you went through a lot of it mayor cuz you know, you're pretty brilliant guy and you probably didn't fit the mold and you know, and you probably have a lot of friends that just didn't fit the mold and you know, but I think we're seeing that more and more. You know, you know, I have I have tattoos, you know, and I was always told hide my tattoos and I was always told to shave my I never once shaved my mustache. I did it my way. But today you're seeing that becoming a form of art now. Everybody has a beard, everybody has tattoos. Well, you know, somebody had to pioneer all that stuff. You know, it's got to be in somebody's history book. Well, it's in my history book. You know, I was the first vice president with tattoos. I was the first vice president with a beard. I was the first vice president with hair slicked back. You know, that that was me, you know, um I was just going to say that, you know, where you've done such an extraordinary job of walking people through your story, but you know, in an hour there's so many other things, you know, the fact that the food scientist tried to shut you down. So, you fight you get the yes from the CEO, but then the food scientist do everything they can to kill the project and you had to fight through all of that. And honestly, I think one of my favorite things about your story, because courage is not the absence of fear, right? The the famous quote. It's rising up in the face of fear. And the story of you flying on the corporate jet for the first time and sitting in the CEO's seat, and you know, everybody has a chuckle about it. And then you're crying on the you know, the commercial flight home, like when am I going to stop embarrassing myself? And the fact that you had to struggle, the fact that you had this inner conviction to even though you were sick and tired of embarrassing yourself, even though you still don't like to talk about where you dropped out of school, like that you still kept going. And you know, your work ethic, your refusal to be a victim, your willingness to just keep pushing to break ranks, to get out of line, to just outperform people. That to me is is what makes you so extraordinary. Thank you. And and and again, it goes to what I said at the beginning. I I realized that I had a calling and I don't think we teach that enough to young entrepreneurs. Is this a career or is this a calling? Because I believe your calling will take you further than a career. And so, I I teach that. You know, figure it out. You know, you'll do more in your calling, but there's more pain, but you'll have more strength and courage to endure. That's why I was able to you know, people would tell me today like, "Why did you do that? Why don't you just sue? Why don't you know, everybody was hating on you?" Cuz it was a I knew that someday I was going to be right here. I knew that someday, guess what? Guess who's flying the plane? Yeah, that's him. You know, I knew it would just like and if again, a visionary. You know, it wasn't going to happen overnight. You know, it's going to happen years and years and years down the road, but here we are. And now now in a position to give back. You know, we have a nonprofit where we feed hundreds of thousands of people every year. We buy 50,000 pairs of new shoes and give them to kids that can't afford them. And and we don't collect a dime from anybody. It comes off of our dime. That's our way of giving back. I knew that someday I was going to be in that position and so again, it's part of a you know, your legacy as I said, you know, my grandpa said, "Your legacy is in how much that thing shines." You know, it's not about it's not about anything it's not about how smart you are. It's about how are you smart? There's a big difference. You know, some people are smart this way and then other people, but yet the people that are giving the test, they're giving the test and define it on their smart. So, people like me will be mislabeled because no, he didn't you know, he didn't do the IQ test. I you know, high IQ just means you have a good memory. That's it. It It mean you you know, you can get things done. So, uh you know, I know I know so many people that, you know, they're so smart at building cars, you know, at putting stereos in. And we don't give them enough credit, you know, they have businesses, you know, the these entrepreneurs, you know, they built America and they stimulate our economy. Small business Small business does more to stimulate the economy than big business. You know, and all these millions of little shops, you know, uh the person, you know, having a dress shop, a shoe shop, whatever they may be. We have to look at them like, you know, how are they smart? Well, they're smart in this. And that's what an entrep- entrepreneur is. And you know, and and and uh those are the things that I learned it as a young man and now I carry them as, you know, as an older man. I'm able I'm able to share that. I used to say that, you know, I'm going to be a professor one day. You know, I'm going to I'm going to teach. And you know, I I don't have an official title anyways as a professor, but you know, I knew I could if I wanted, but you know, I'm having so much fun just speaking all over the world that um Yeah, it's so crazy to me. And I'm sure, look, the vast majority of people that you've taught drink in your knowledge and recognize it for the brilliant map to success that it is, but it does make me laugh and cry sort of at the same time that, you know, somebody would worry about whether or not you actually have a PhD. It's like, I've done it. Uh that to me is the the hallmark of somebody who um has done what I think is important in life. And that's to take your potential and turn it into actual usable skill set, um which you've clearly done an extraordinary job of. Richard, where can people find the book? Where can they keep up with you? You have so much to offer. Um how do people stay in connection with you? Well, I mean, they they can, you know, I I use uh social media, you know, and uh you know, I post uh I post some crazy stuff on Instagram, you know, it's What's your username? Hot Cheetos RPM. Nice. Hot Cheetos RPM. And RPM is my initials. It's Hot Cheetos RPM. And I'll show a lot of where I came from. Cuz I'm speaking to everybody. I'm not speaking to a certain you know, group of people. I'm speaking to everybody. I'm trying to find ways to speak in your language. You know, to educate you and to give you something that could help change your life. It's a great place to end. Richard, thank you so much for your time and for sharing that absolutely extraordinary story. Guys, dive into his world. Read the book. The book is phenomenal. It's called Flaming Hot. Check him out on social. You won't regret it. And speaking of things that you won't regret, if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. There's this thing people think that like I'll be happy when. Once I get like this big amazing home or once I get this car or once I get this relationship or an amount of money, then I'll allow myself some happiness. The problem is the the finish line always moves. You never arrive there, right?