Anthony Marinos  
When it comes to developing strong partnerships, this has always been the case for me. It is a relationship like you have to form a friendship and a relationship first, to have like the most effective partnership

Jeff Ma  
Hello and welcome to Love as a Business Strategy, a podcast that brings humanity to the workplace. We're here to talk about business, but we want to tackle topics that most business leaders shy away from. We believe that humanity and love should be at the center of every successful business. As always, I'm your host, Jeff Ma, but I have a special co host followers of this show will recognize of course, but not as often as I'd like. Nowadays, I'm joined by Chris Pitre Hey, Chris, how's it going?

Chris Pitre  
Thanks, Jeff. You know, I always need a special invitation. I can't just show up so people don't see me because you don't invite me. Well, kidding, listeners kidding, listen,

Jeff Ma  
whether Chris is here or not, we are always here to have those conversations and hear stories and anecdotes from real people in the real world talking about the realities, right of business and life. So my guest today is Anthony Marinos and since 2017, Anthony has led business development and creative relationships at charity: water, he has been crafting and executing various partnerships and fundraising campaigns to help bring clean water to more people in need. He spent the earlier years of his career in marketing and sales roles at different startups, most notably Zipcar, before realizing that his talents would be better utilized at an organization dedicated to actually changing the world, widely known by those close to him, which will test later for his unshakable optimism and endless energy. Anthony is excited to see the day when every person on this planet has access to clean water once and for all. Welcome to the show. Anthony, how are you?

Anthony Marinos  
Thank you so much, Jeff. Yeah, it's great to be on the show today with you and my old friend, Chris. Here we are. Yes, yes. Yeah. And what a bio, it's like I wrote it for myself or something.

Jeff Ma  
Oh, man, it's almost almost see if you see if you catch the minor tweaks that I've made. Let me let's get this out of the way. So Chris, usually when I when I invite you onto the show. It's for good reason. So why are you here today, Chris?

Chris Pitre  
Yeah, well, so sort of plot twist, you guys. Anthony and I went to college together. Close friends in college. But more importantly, we had this shared experience where we were both on the freshman orientation program, and our alma mater, the George Washington University. And that's how we got connected. And that's how we got close. It was about 30 of us who sort of were representatives of the university to incoming freshmen. And it was the most, I think, critical summers of our college careers, but it just taught us so much just about leadership was foundation. But I will just say, personally, I also got to meet the parents of Anthony Marino's who are just as awesome, if not a little bit more awesome than he is and the funny story there, which is a little bit embarrassing on my part. So when we were actually roommates that summer, and Anthony had this family photo of him, his sister and his parents up and his dad had this like really intense mustache. His mom had that sort of 90s hairstyle. And you know, I just started calling them Stavros and Helena because they were like, you know, this quintessential Greek statuesque family. And I was around the room, I would call them Stavros and Helena . And like I was joking. I didn't think that he would actually go back and tell them but I made up nicknames for them. He did. And so they came to visit us. And they introduced themselves that Stavros and Helena to me. And I was so so sorry, but they have stuck with that. They insist that I call them that. So now I refer to them as Stavros and Helena. Oh their names are Paul and Lynn. So Hi, Paul. And Linda, if you're watching

Anthony Marinos  
Yeah, they they loved it. I know they loved it. And also that photo you're talking about my favorite family photo. It's such a funny photo.

Chris Pitre  
Yeah, so that's a little backstory about Anthony and I, but yeah, we were on this freshman orientation team, which to be honest, solid team. Probably not the best from a leadership experience. But it's a great team. Yeah.

You're gonna talk about that, Anthony about that incident.

Anthony Marinos  
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's gonna be really relevant to our conversation. Today, I think but it was one of those things where the team bonded so well together. And I think we really understood what it meant to create the right types of relationships really leading with love. But even with friendship, before anything else, I think that's pretty common amongst students. Like, obviously, when you're thrown into a group of people that are like minded and your same age, that's going to naturally happen that way. But yeah, exactly like Chris was alluding to, there was not the same type of sentiment from the leadership, that, you know, the faculty, leaders and even even our student leaders at that time, it was like, pretty odd power dynamic, and probably would have benefited what from this type of podcast or the lessons in the book, you know, so,

Chris Pitre  
ya know, we had some early learnings about, you know, how to handle you know, forgiveness, but also when people make a mistake, what do you do? How do you not sort of treat them like they are, you know, second class citizens and sort of create environments where they are ridiculed and humiliated every chance that you get, right, like that was, that was our environment, but we still sort of banded together. And something I call it trauma bonding. But you know, I find effective bonding, but we just became a really tight knit crew, so much so that we are still in contact with each other today, we're part of each other's lives. I was just telling Anthony, I spent some time earlier this week with one of our other peers who was a part of it, he just had some twins. So I mean, it's just it created lifelong bonds. But it was, unfortunately, under the guise of not the greatest leadership, or the great behaviors that leaders didn't model. But yeah, 

Anthony Marinos  
But how many monument tours have you done, Chris? That's a callback. That's a good example of like we would get publicly, I think it's a great example of how not to treat team members when maybe they haven't met your expectations is like they were publicly shaming us for not taking groups of students and their families on tours of the monuments. So they would night at midnight. So that was a joke amongst us of, but how many monument tours have you done? It was like, we were getting very, very much like a What have you done for me lately? attitude in, in kind of a shameful way. Which was odd. ,

Chris Pitre  
Yeah, we each had to stand up individually and answer the question. It wasn't. It wasn't just a broad question. Like we literally each had to stand up and answer how many tours had we done the previous orientation? And, of course, the people who are early to bed like me, absolutely zero. That was always optional. Like, never required. It wasn't something that I agreed to do. It was an optional, like, nice to do thing. But it was one of those environments where it was just like, Wait, where? And so it became this like laughing joke among us that like, whenever we saw each other, even after the orientation, like, how many tours did you do? Did you do any

Anthony Marinos  
kind of a good mantra that you can have with friends? Yeah.

Chris Pitre  
Well, good, cuz I was gonna ask him, I'm really curious, like, after we graduated, so Anthony, you know, went into marketing. And by the way, Anthony was always the life of the party, no matter where he was. I know what room he was in. So that optimism and energy has followed him ever since I've known him. And so I'm curious to know, like when you got into the working world, and having that taste that GW, just in terms of that orientation program, what else? Or what did you see in terms of the behaviors? And now leading partnerships, like what, what has helped you? or what have you sort of avoided learning or repeating in your early career?

Anthony Marinos  
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, it was it was almost immediate to that I witnessed stuff at at Zipcar, which was my first real job out of college where I was working there as a street team marketer, part time when we were seniors. And then I moved right into a full time marketing coordinator role. And our, our boss, our GM, for the DC area at the time, was really an amazing leader like he, he really, he led with compassion and love. And we had such strong personal relationships amongst our small team in the DC area. But he was also really irreverent. And you know, that wound up getting him in a bit of trouble and ultimately him and Zipcar parting ways, even early, like very early in my career. And I remember thinking like, Man, I can't believe that this happens so often. That like, I'm, it's my first job out of school, and I'm old Are you witnessing someone who had such respect and loyalty from his team get removed, because he wasn't like playing by the rules or was trying to push back on leadership. And it was definitely it was something that has stuck with me ever since I like I, I feel like I have that in my own family values also about opening, you know, not staying quiet, always trying to point out when things can be better change and defending those that you are responsible for. And I felt like he had done such a good job of that and was punished for it. But ultimately, in the end my time there like, almost right away, we, the the new person that joined, she became a really close friend and an incredible leader as well. So I was I felt very lucky that we replaced one good leader with another. And it wasn't like we just got a some cookie cutter, you know, GM who was gonna abide by all the rules, she she she arguably is maybe more irreverent than the first boss. So I took a lot of lessons from them right away as a new college grad. And I feel like it's continued to carry with me through everything I've done. For sure.

Chris Pitre  
I don't know, one of the things that I have always admired about you is that you have the right amount of levity that you bring into very awkward situations that make them less awkward. And I know for me, personally, like that has always been my inspiration when I'm in those awkward situations, especially with clients. I try to think like, what would Anthony do in this? And I try and sort of like, you know, embody Anthony inside of those meetings and conversations, but it's just something that I've noticed, and I've always admired Yeah, is that you just, you have that perfect sort of just tip towards, you know, levity, and it brings everyone back to a place of common, you know, good, but also the ability to empathize with one another, but or just take a break, and step back in and rethink what we were trying to achieve.

Anthony Marinos  
I would bet that some of the senior leaders at the places I've worked with tell you that sometimes it's too much levity. But I think the best, it's very nice of you to say, Chris, I really appreciate it. I mean, I've always felt that you should be yourself in everything that you do. And I never understood the idea of a work self versus a like a personal at home version of you. That never computed for me, that's always been the case. You know, I've been wearing high top sneakers to meetings with presidents of companies before it was cool. So you know, like, that's, I've never understood the dress code thing down to like your, your personality changing like you are who you are. And that's what you should be in every situation. I think the the area that it's most visible in for me still to this day are my out of offices. I'll have to forward you some of my out of office messages. Please do. Yeah, where it's like, it's personal, like, their personal I actually tell you where I am, what I'm doing, why I'm there. And the responses that I get from people are always like, wow, this was like, amazing. This made me realize I need to go on vacation like stuff. Like,

Chris Pitre  
I actually had no idea that you did that. Because there was a period. This was before Softway where I would put creative out of office messages. I would like to do a rundown on what happened on The Real Housewives that week. So what happened? I've written lyrics and poems I've done so much. And it used to actually it was more for there was a customer that I worked with in London. And I would do it specifically for them because they would always reach out and stay in touch with me hoping to get an out of office message that

sounds in the US it was like the only way to stay connected because I couldn't be visit them every single week. Yeah. And so and then they will Ford my audit offices to their teams across the company that they worked at. So it was it was the way that I built a report even though it wasn't on the graph.

Anthony Marinos  
I love that. That's, that's awesome. Yeah.

Chris Pitre  
Yeah. And then my, my CEO at the time told me to stop so I had to stop. So that ended that

Jeff Ma  
Anthony because I don't know you as well. I'm feeling jealous right now a little bit of FOMO. But um, can you just I mean, I'm always curious. I always want to know, you know, where your passion is today. Like what what are you passionate about in life? Yeah.

Anthony Marinos  
Well, I always like thinking about when my dad He's still kind of asked me this, but not as much anymore. But I remember when he asked me in college, like what my five year plan was, and I said to have fun, and I feel like he was just like, was like, I'm so tired of this. Like, I was like, what other? Oh, that was like what other answer is there, you know. So when I think about what I'm passionate about, or where you know, where I get my passion from, honestly, when it when I look at my current role at charity: water, which I've been at charity: water now since 2017, overseeing this development, on the partnership side of things, so working with brands of all different shapes and sizes, to create partnerships that generate revenue and awareness for what we do. And I don't think I'm speaking out attorney or when I say my team would tell you the same thing that I'm just so incredibly passionate about the org , it's one of our values, actually. And it's one that I think is the most important, because if you don't have passion for what you do, who you're with, even the food that you're eating, it's hard to like pretend that you're enjoying it or being genuine in it, you know, it's why I've appreciated that these last, it's happened a lot more in these last few years where people are becoming, or getting more comfortable with being honest, when maybe they're maybe they don't like the newest show that's out. Or, you know, they don't have to pretend like I'm sorry, like, I don't like that album. You know, it's like being able to be able to admit what you are and aren't passionate about, I think is a huge benefit to the way the direction that we've been moving in. But I would say like, charity: water is something I'm hugely passionate about, like being able to solve the water crisis in our lifetime, is something I care so deeply about. I still am very passionate about having fun in everything that I do. You know, I just I'm so passionate about life. You guys think that life is amazing that most things are amazing if you have the right perspective. And it's, it's easy for me to become excited about something and stay excited about it because of that.

Jeff Ma  
Nice shout out to life.

Anthony Marinos  
Passionate about life, baby. That's it.

Chris Pitre  
Great. And so yeah, he's so passionate about life . I know that sometimes my crate what some might call procrastination. Do you want to talk about your wedding invitation story?

Anthony Marinos  
Yes, that we just you know, maybe I'm having too much fun that I know that operational operational excellence is important. It is not my strong suit on the that side of things. But yeah, we did. We we were my wife and I both suffered from this a bit where like, it was hard for us to rally around all the logistics of the wedding planning to the point that our guests were becoming disgruntled and wanting to know like, what is happening, like, where were we staying? We're like, guys trust us. And so we wound up, we wound up making our wedding URL. We are procrastinators.com. And people didn't think it was real. And then they went to it. And they were like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe you bought this. And they asked us how is it still available? And we were like, well, I guess they never got around to buying it. So now we have and we own we are procrastinators.com. We feel like we're going to use it for the rest of our lives to like one day, like a highlight. Highlight, like a baby announcement that's a year late or something, you know, being like, hey, we realized we didn't tell you that we had a child like, here they are, wouldn't it?

Jeff Ma  
Would it be more fitting if you never do anything with it?

Anthony Marinos  
Actually, you're right, we should make a really good graphic that says like coming soon. You know? Give us a moment. We're still working on it. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Jeff.

Jeff Ma  
You're welcome. So let's, let's talk about partnerships in particular, because I think I think I mean, there's a lot there's a lot to it that people may not even understand like, can you like or maybe even Chris, you can lead us off and like this topic in general.

Chris Pitre  
I mean, I I'm interested to hear what Anthony has to say. But I know that in my world and what I've learned is that with partnerships, it does require a relationship right. It always starts from relationship for me. And relationship starts with connection. Right so In the first meeting, I'm actually not looking to build a relationship right away. I'm looking to make a connection. Yeah, that's something that I told myself. But Anthony, I'm curious to know, like your formula and or like your perspective in terms of partnerships.

Anthony Marinos  
No, you nailed it like so we this is very relevant to the week I'm having, because just yesterday, I went to Boston College to speak to some students that are members of a club there that supports charity: water. And I was really excited to get to speak to them in person. And we had a really great q&a After I gave them a presentation. And the first question that really stuck with me was a student asked, what are some of the skill sets that your team has that makes brands want to partner with you versus other nonprofits? And like, not like how the organization is structured? But like, what are the skills that, you know, you need to have to be on charity: water's team to be effective in those roles. And it came to me right away, it was like, oh, it's all about the interpersonal skill set, like we, at charity: water, whenever we ask our team, like, what's their favorite part about the organization, the mission is the is obvious, like everyone loves the mission, but it's the people that work at the org. We're all very like minded, like, we have different personalities, but we share so many characteristics that are recognizable, and people that are warm, welcoming, you know, friendly, active participants in conversations, things like that. So when it comes to developing strong partnerships, just like you were saying, Chris, this has always been the case. For me, it is a relationship, like you have to form a friendship and a relationship first, to have like the most effective partnership, and I have examples of it on both sides, where you can just feel when someone is in it for the transactional elements, it just doesn't go good. Like it doesn't go well. It's like, it's off from the beginning, you know, versus where when we have a relationship that starts perfectly, and is centered around getting to know each other. And maybe we're talking about like my wedding that's coming up, or they're telling me a story about their kid and like all of a sudden we are developing this more personalized friendship. And the partnership is so easy to come from there. Because I think it's trust. You're building trust, and not in a way that's like, Oh, you got me that invoice paid on time. It's like, No, you're building trust, in a, in a more familial way, like in a, in a less like, data driven way?

Chris Pitre  
Yep, no, I agree. Jeff, do you have any thoughts? Have you heard anything? About anything that you do?

Jeff Ma  
I'm learning a lot of things about you two for sure. But yeah, I mean, obviously love as a business strategy. We're talking about trust all the time talking about relationships, but I know like, for me personally, like sales, and marketing, and these types of things have always been my, my, I guess, weakness, if you will, like I don't like feeling like I'm selling anything. And one of the things that I've been personally working on has been around, focusing on relationships, and really nothing else, no matter what context I'm trying to work in, and removing the element of like, oh, I need to close a deal or, you know, pitch something, and just treating every single person I come across, regardless of context with an element of like vulnerability, and, and just starting in that place. And that's what I'm, I'm kind of resonating with in what you guys are saying in terms of partnerships, no different or it's if you come with an agenda, it's, you know, humans are very attuned to picking up on like, what you're, like read between the lines. And so just having that ability to be genuine, and coming forth with with, you know, no agenda for the most part. Because, I mean, you scheduled the meeting so the agenda already is known what is going on, but you don't have to kind of just dive right in and just sell and so it's something that I'm personally still working on quite a bit. So it's it's something that I aspire to kind of pick up more tips from you, Anthony, on how to truly build some good partnerships. Yeah, I

Anthony Marinos  
think I mean, it's, we're, in a way we're almost always selling something like you're selling yourself a lot when you're meeting new people or you're I don't even know anymore. I don't know how much that story just blended into who I am at, that's how it feels oftentimes. So like, it's there's a certain level of enthusiasm even that goes into it like you're, you're demonstrating interest in the other person, or the other company, the other entity in a way that isn't just in my case, atcan charity: water case, it isn't just me being like how much money you're gonna be able to donate. It's, it's also figuring out like, well, what works for you guys and tell me more about like, how your company got started? Or why did you? Why are you reaching out about wanting to support us? Like, let's, let's find that common ground and like, share those those, you know, like minded thoughts of, of why we should work together, you know. But yeah, that's another piece of it is the enthusiasm from both sides, like you can tell when one is more enthusiastic than the other. And then it doesn't always work out that way.

Chris Pitre  
Yep. And it sounds like some of that enthusiasm comes from a place of curiosity, coaching with the desire to want to get to know and the commitment to stay in that conversation until you find out. And I think sometimes that is not always present in certain sort of newly formed or potential partnerships, where one side is just not curious about the other, which makes it harder, and it's like pulling teeth to get information.

Anthony Marinos  
I love I love that you brought that up, Chris, because curiosity is something that I remember when I was younger, in, like you're trying to connect with different companies that maybe that you want to work for, you know, or people that you would would hope to just chat with them to learn from them from like a mentorship space. And it can be challenging, like a lot of people's favorite word is no, or that they're too busy. And I found that even still, like they're oftentimes where there are brands that it were not the right fit for them from a partnerships perspective, at the moment, but I am so confident in like, my ability, our team's ability that if we were to, if we were just able to establish a relationship where we have more of a personal relationship or friendship, and then later on something can happen. Like that is such a good entry point. But it's hard to get them to say yes, it's why I personally try when we get reached out to by brands that are maybe too small, or like where they can't fund a water project just yet, or they're just getting started or, you know, students or even recent grads that want to talk with someone about about charity water, and they want to learn and hear, you know, get feedback on like how they're thinking about it. I try to say yes as often as I can, because I know what it feels like to be on the other side, where you're getting kind of stonewalled, and you don't know why. There isn't always a good reason. And I have had so many conversations with people where I'll go into it being like, Okay, I really don't have time for this right now, like I this is this is gonna take up 30 minutes that maybe I should be spending doing something else. And then I leave the conversation being like, that was incredible. Or we talk for an hour instead of 30 minutes. You know, that would be one of my recommendations to other people. It's just like, you don't really know where opportunities are going to come from. And you have to have that curiosity. Like you said, I think that's so important. Agreed.

Chris Pitre  
When you were talking to you reminded me of a back in college, it was a marketing project that I did, and I chose the client was seven for all mankind. And this is like, you know, the luxury peak peaks. But it was still so new. So it was less than a 10 year old brand at that time, right. And I couldn't find information anywhere. And I needed it for my marketing class. And so I will call the company directly. And I call like four times and got nobody no, no, no one. And then a Friday evening, I'm walking into my dorm room. And I picked up the phone, my cell phone, which was like a Motorola Razor. And on the other side of it is the VP of Marketing for seven for all mankind. Wow. And he spent an hour with me to talk through everything, all their strategy. I ever I was like, oh my god like this. I can't believe he did this. And yeah, of course, he's like, I've been a student before I know exactly what you're going through. Exactly. And it was just like the most amazing experience that I've ever had. And that reminded me in what you just said reminded me of like that small little gifts that you give someone can carry them for career even

Anthony Marinos  
it sticks with you, right like you know, you'll always have that story. You always tell that story of like, wow, this person like they did this for me. It's a great it's also something that motivates you don't want to pay it forward, at least that's what it does for me. Like I think about anyone that took time with me, not just when I was younger, but even as when you're struggling to figure out what your next step is, you think about people that were willing to invest their own time or energy in chatting through something with you. It means a lot. And it it. It certainly results in just stronger relationships and better, better business.

Chris Pitre  
You know, no, because I bought a whole bunch of seven sheets. And I was like, Do you like this accurate? Cuz, you know, the back pocket design is called an accurate, which is what he taught me. And I was like, No, I didn't know that was called an accurate

Anthony Marinos  
day when they knew what they were doing. They knew they were gonna sell some jeans.

Chris Pitre  
However, the VP of Marketing time, and they got some sales out of it.

Jeff Ma  
All right, coming up on our allotted time. Chris, do you have anything else or Anthony, anything else to add? Before we close this out?

Anthony Marinos  
What do you think, Chris?

Chris Pitre  
My thing is just want to thank you. But also just to tell everyone that one of the things that I feel Anthony does extremely well, aside from of course, bringing levity into situations. But I think you are a great connector. And you've always been welcoming and inclusive of everyone who comes into your orbit. And I've known that about us since we were in college. And I think that if someone were to come and tell me that Anthony yelled at me, I was like you did something, I would immediately assume they were the enemy. Right? Like, It's that serious for me. Like, that's the way I see the way that you carry yourself. And so I think that I'm just one glad that you're able to join, but I'm just proud of all the things that you've been doing in your career, but also to see what you're doing inside of charity: water, which is an amazing organization. And that's changing the impact of the world really, especially when it comes to the water crisis. I just, I'm just proud to be on this call with you today. So that's all I want to

Anthony Marinos  
sort of wow, I don't know, how am I supposed to follow that up? Jeff, he really got me with that. But it's, I appreciate that. It's also it's, I'm hoping that listeners can tell like that we just have a love for each other that comes from, you know, so many years of friendship. Now, some horrifying number, probably at this point, you know, like, what, 18 years or something? We, but it's, I would say the same thing about Chris and even that we clearly share these common these common viewpoints about what it means to build relationships and, you know, leading with love and everything that you do, including business, obviously, which is, which is the main theme here, everything that you guys do, but yeah, it's, I've always felt like, maybe that comes from when you're growing up and everyone, everyone was in middle school at some point. Everyone knows what it's like to feel left out or on the outside. And it's such a like, bad feeling. So if you win, you have the ability as you grow up to not allow for people to feel that ever again. Or at least you can control how you're making those people feel. I've always wanted to do it in every aspect of life. Like it isn't about just my friendships, my personal relationships, but at work, like how can you help include some of your colleagues who are maybe less involved in a project, but you can tell like they would love someone to ask them a question. You know, I think about that with like interns sometimes too. It's like, you have interns in a meeting. Turn to them and ask them what they think. Like, they might be shocked in the beginning. And then they're like, Wow, it's cool. Like you guys actually want me here. It's like, yeah, that's why we that's why we have you in this meeting. It's not just to like, take notes. And I think that's something we do a lot with our partners like we we asked them a lot of questions we want to welcome them in and welcome their perspectives in. And it's it's worked out really well for us so far. And hopefully, we'll continue to see the type of growth that we've experienced at charity: water and ultimately see the water crisis and in our lifetimes.

Jeff Ma  
That'd be amazing. Anthony, thank you so much for taking the time today. It's been a blast, Chris, thanks for being invited

Chris Pitre  
for being invited. Yeah. Thanks for having me, Jeff. Invited but

Jeff Ma  
I'll let this episode standards record to show that you have a standing invite. If you go back to our early episodes, he was in every single one so he left. I didn't kick him out. Just saying but no, all jokes aside, it was great. It's great being present for you guys connecting on here but also feeling much closer to you, Anthony as well because you really are living up to the hype of an unshakable optimism and endless energy as someone once wrote.

Anthony Marinos  
I'll take it. Thank you guys so much. Thanks for having me on here. And, you know, again, we, we just we'd never be able to do the kind of work that we do without this type of interest and support in our mission. So just thanks again for helping spread the word and appreciate everyone that's listening.

Jeff Ma  
Absolutely, to our listeners, will will drop a link for charity: water in the notes for you if you want to get involved. But as always, appreciate your support. Thank you for listening and tuning in. If you haven't checked out our book yet, say it every time love as a business strategy you can find on Amazon other places. But please do check it out. Tell your friends, subscribe, like, rate, do all the things. And yeah, thanks a lot and we'll see everybody back here next week.