Rob La Gesse on being the opposite of risk averse

May 12th, 2021

David Cohen talks with Rob La Gesse about taking chances and helping people over his long career. Rob has reinvented himself over and over as a combat medic, neonatal respiratory therapist, programmer, and more — including helping to develop Wi-Fi. 

Rob La Gesse has had an interesting career. After high school, he joined the Navy and worked both as a combat medic and a neonatal respiratory therapist. He was a mayor in Hawaii. He taught himself programming and went into tech, just in time to help develop Wi-Fi. 

On this episode of the Give First podcast, David Cohen talks with Rob about how helping people has guided him at every turn. 

Rob tells the story of hiring a bartender at his tech company. Why this bartender? Because he was so helpful, and Rob saw potential there. “I can’t teach empathy. I can’t teach compassion,” Rob says — but he can recognize them when he finds them, and he can reward caring people with opportunities and assistance. 

Follow Rob on Twitter @kr8tr

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