THE BACK STORY
-TERRY SHEA
Terry Shea – Los Angeles
The Back Story monthly interview features ADAPTOVATE employees from around the world.
Our team is the greatest asset we have, and it’s a privilege to share just a little bit more about who they are. This month we feature Terry Shea from our Los Angeles office.
First up – how long have you worked with us?
I started in August 2021
Why did you join us? Were you in the industry previously, or looking for a new career direction?
One of the ADAPTOVATE partners actually introduced me to Agile, which we used to create a very successful customer service product. I had developed products and services before, but this was the first time I was able to bring a product to market within 3 months. It was amazing.
At ADAPTOVATE, there is an opportunity to practice, champion, and innovate Agile. When the firm began rapidly hiring to fill the increasing global demand for this expertise, I joined up as quickly as I could!
How has your previous experience and career helped define where you are now? Would you have done things differently?
I have been very fortunate to work at organizations with strong ethics and fulfilling purpose. I’ve helped parties in law suits find helpful ways to settle their disputes, improved healthcare for older adults, and now I help organizations achieve very difficult objectives.
Fulfilling career aside, I also valued the education opportunities along the way. I pursued an MBA degree 12 years into my career and the experience unlocked so much hidden capability. If I could do anything different — I would have pursued my MBA much earlier.
(Of course, I would still get my MBA from UCLA.)
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
When I think of perfect happiness, I think of how my dogs completely lose their minds whenever I come home from work. The magnitude of their joy cannot be contained by their little bodies.
Humans have a lot to learn from dogs.
What is your greatest extravagance
My 3 dogs are my greatest extravagance. I have an older cairn terrier named Clifford, a 4 year old maltese-mix named Gummy, and a 2 year old shih tzu named Panda. They all have Instagram accounts.
Last weekend was Panda’s birthday, so my wife and I went drove down to the seaside farmers’ market specifically because there was a baker that specialized in dog birthday cakes. We bought her 2 cakes.
Terry Shea enjoying some LA Lakers press time !
Which talent would you most like to have?
Magic.
I once travel to a friend’s wedding with a bus full of magicians and I was delighted the entire time we were together. Between picking playing cards, finding coins behind my ear, and never-ending scarves pulled out of random places in the bus, I was completely enthralled by the passion and dedication they paid to their craft!
What do you most value in your friends and in colleagues – and are they different things?
All of my friends and colleagues are highly ethical people.
As I progress in my career, I increasingly realize how important ethics is when you bring them into your life and workplace. It’s becoming the feature I look for first in making hiring decisions and the thing I most admire in my colleagues and friends.
We’re really lucky to have that in our colleagues at ADAPTOVATE.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Alexander Hamilton — because we’re both immigrants and “we get the job done!”
What is your motto?
There is an internet meme that always stick with me because I’m such a voracious consumer of news. It’s a picture of Abraham Lincoln saying “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet — Buddha.”
Finally – You’ve time travelled back to your 10- year old self – What advice would you give?
I would tell my 10 year old self to not quit piano lessons.
Bonus !
Something interesting and relatively unknown about me is that I’m an expert in bomb shelters.
I spent half a year in business school researching the topic, interviewing many experts across the world, and completing my graduate school thesis in bomb shelters.
I don’t own a bomb shelter, but I now have bomb shelter friends.
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