5 Minutes with Calvin Jones, Consultant

Today we are spending ‘5 Minutes With…’ our resident music aficionado—Calvin Jones.

Calvin is a remote employee with a passion for change management, traveling, music, and Ohio State Football.

We don’t see him at Greencastle HQ often but he was recently in town for the annual camping trip. This year the trip took place on the Ohio State vs Penn State weekend. And even though he was in a sea of white and navy throughout the trip, he still wore scarlet and grey!

Keep reading to learn more about Calvin and who he is as a person past his military career and bio on our website. You won’t want to miss Calvin’s answer to his top three favorite songs—he spent a lot of time choosing JUST the right songs. Give them a listen!

Would you say you’re more of an extrovert or introvert?

Extroverted Introvert. In public settings, I am extremely extroverted. I place high value on friendships, traveling, and other extroverted tendencies. However, I do also gain energy and enjoyment from being by myself and shutting out the world. So, a mixture of the two.

What is your favorite board game?

It has, admittedly, been a very long time. But I will say “Risk”.

What are some of your hobbies?

Travel, fitness, hiking (assimilating to life out West), guitar, cocktail mixology, house plants, movies, TV series, Ohio State Football

What are your top three favorite songs and why?

First, I must say, that this question stopped me in my mental tracks. Music has always been a huge part of my life, and this question was extremely difficult to answer. Music is so integral in our day-to-day lives, and also changes for us in each chapter of life, or even year over year. There are so many different styles, genres, moods that exist in music that it is a daunting task to narrow it down to just 3 songs. However, taking a look at where I am in my life now, I came up with these:

Josiah and the Bonnevilles: Tennessee Song

This song has really struck a chord with me this past year. Earlier, I referenced “chapters of life”. Last year, I went through an unexpected and negative buy-out of a company that I founded and helped run for 5 years, leading to a bit of a life crisis. Ultimately, this is what brought me to Greencastle, and this company has been such a positive experience ever since. However, due to that buy-out, a new life chapter began. I left my home of Columbus, Ohio, and moved across the country to Denver, CO. As a part of this major shift in life, I have been able to embrace a new mindset and priorities. I now am fully embracing travel, new experiences, being adventurous, and soaking up the beautiful things in life. This song, to me, is about a part of that. To the artist, the song is literally about Tennessee, his home. However, to me, this song is not just about one place. To the listener, it embodies everything about your home, places that you have visited and experienced, and any place on this Earth that has impacted you in such a way that it lives with you, even well after you leave. The first time I heard this song was during a sunrise, on a beach on Kauai, and it has continued to embody those type of moments ever since.

Ray LaMontagne: Jolene

If someone were to ask me “Why is this one of your favorite songs?”, my response would be “How much time do you have?”. This song is about loss, longing, struggle, perseverance, and humanity itself. There is a line that the artist sings 4 times throughout, “I still don’t know what love means…”. That is quite a statement, and dives into life, the human experience, meaning, and purpose. This song has impacted me so much over the years, that my guitar has been rightfully named “Jolene”.

Michigander: East Chicago, IN

What can I say about this song? It is by one of my favorite artists and is just fantastic. As with the two above songs, put on some good headphones, close your eyes, and let this one take over for a few minutes.

What originally got you interested in your current field of work?

I feel very fortunate that the timing and business needs aligned for me to get involved with Change Management. It is an excellent fit for my personality and was something that I was involved with regularly while running a business and working in a variety of operations management roles. I enjoy working with different personalities, creating a tangible impact, bringing people together, and making my overall impact personal to those involved. Change Management is about people, and I am a people person, so it is a great field for me. Also, Change Management allows me to bring a level of positive energy to those that I interact with, and improve their day. That kind of positive mindset is contagious, and I enjoy helping it spread.

What career advice would you give your younger self?

My career has been through many stages, leading to Greencastle and consulting. As with any aspect of life, there are many things I wish I would have known along the way. As the band Ooh La La famously said, “I wish that I knew what I know, when I was younger”, but, such is the journey of life.

1. Coming out of the active duty military in 2015, I went through a brief transition course, but the resources were very limited. Over the next three years, I was faced with two rounds of layoffs, and struggled to find the right positions, even with what should have been a strong resume. The issue was resume writing and formatting, with a focus on getting through “screening systems”. It seemed that I would just send out my resume over and over, without an actual human response. It was not until several years later that I hired a professional resume writer, who explained that by simply formatting in certain ways, my resume could “beat” those automatic screening systems and reach the right individuals. This turned out to be an immediate game changer and led to future opportunities.
2. Not to be focused on “rank” or “level” during the military/civilian transition, and to be patient (coming out of military rank-type environment)
3. Find a veteran company like Greencastle. The culture difference is undeniable and I am thrilled to be a part of it.
4. My career has already been quite a journey. From a military officer with overseas deployments to 3 rounds of corporate layoffs, to warehouse distribution, to walking away from Corporate America, launching, growing and then losing a business, and now to consulting with a wonderful organization and team. Be flexible, be adaptable, be positive, and be open to new things. Nothing is permanent, good or bad. You never know what tomorrow may bring, and the negative is temporary. In the words of Ted Lasso “be a goldfish”.