foreign twenty three I'm excited to be in conversation with my next guest welcome in this is day 33 of 100 days of service now I'm Kali Alexander and today's guest he really does not need an introduction but he deserves one because he has had such a tremendous impact in our community and many of us learn from how he moves in the ecosystem I was talking to a new friend in service now and he said wow his story is so inspirational his word's not mine he came from a nobody person at a service desk in the Health Care system and now has become this huge figure within our ecosystem and we affectionately call him the mayor of servicenow so without any further Ado let me welcome to the stream Michael Lombardo Mike Lombardo welcome in Kali thank you for having me [Music] let's go let's go I am so happy that you took some time I know you're really busy so I don't take lightly your time happy to have you here and to be in conversation with you this is the second time that we've had one of these streams what I call Lombardo live love the alliteration and I wanted to bring you back because we just had knowledge23 and also Glide Fest was taking place simultaneously tell me some of your takeaways from those events oh man it it was just wild um you know to get all of our team first of all I apologize I'm a little sick I think knowledge caught up to me a little late here but uh hopefully I don't sound that terrible um but I mean knowledge in Glide Fest was just unbelievable I mean to come back after a couple you know a few years Hiatus from with covid and I love Tori at Glide fast calls it the blip so we came back after the blip and uh you know to see all you know servicenow employees customers the partners all get back together and celebrate uh this amazing platform that we are just obsessed with and we believe in so much it was just it was just refreshing there's nothing like it there's nothing like knowledge and then to have the whole Glide fast team there again uh for Glide Fest was just unbelievable you know I I talk a lot about people say oh so how did you like your it was your first knowledge how do you like it and to me it was just absolutely electrifying the energy it was like as I was approaching the Venetian you can kind of feel like the Venetian was sort of like kind of tilted because you felt like in the walking up to the hotel itself to the event space like there was something big that was happening there and it blew my mind just the enthusiasm there was an incredible sense of optimism in the air too even to the point where you would see like these big block letters yes throughout the event space I want to say to you please continue oh no I'm sorry I was going to say that I love Bill McDermott from like day one yes was his big you know three letters that you know we just saw from day one um and I love that as well sorry I just I just I love I love those I love that word in general and then to see that you know in such huge letters in the center of knowledge too was just was just amazing yeah well it's you know it's part I your optimism too is pretty infectious as well you know we talk about you say that bill McDermott his word is like yes you know that your your phrase is lfg let's go three letters another three letters three letters you fill in that third one and and you know that was pretty much it was kind of taking place at the Glide fast booth on the event floor tell me a little bit about for those folks who were not there in the the event floor tell me a little bit about what was taking place at the Glide Fest booth at knowledge23 yeah it you know it was it felt like the center of the whole conference center of the universe really as soon as you walk in you get the big uh servicenow display in the center and it's a big circle those those three big letters yes and and right next to it it's like Glide fast and I'll tell you I mean I I didn't even get past that I didn't see any other partners we had the biggest uh sponsorship uh a little expensive this year Bill thanks um but you know it was uh it was just amazing to see all the customers Pile in there and then we had an amazing swag uh the yeti bottles with everyone's name on it I think over 1200 people received one it was it was just it was just amazing and just just to reconnect with so many people who I've been friends with for so many years uh remotely right you know it's it's so strange how you know I don't know how many people can experience having such deep relationships and friendships over the airwaves right and rarely getting to meet together um and and so just to reconnect with so many Glide fast people so many uh servicenow community members um and then all to take place kind of at the center of the whole conference at the booth was just was just amazing yeah yeah you know I think about the time where I saw Chuck tomasi and when he was when he walked through the Evelyn floor it was sort of like there was just like this light that was over him and I think you all missed each other because he I saw him talk to him he and his wife Donna and he's like oh hey is Mike around I want to talk to Mike I said yeah he's right over there you literally were right behind me a few moments ago he comes over and he's like oh where's Mike but I understood that you all never got to spend that actual you know IRL time at knowledge this year is that right no we didn't I mean we're both so so busy I mean he is the most popular man in the servicenow space uh and I had a couple things going on as well so it was it was when we were dying to get a selfie with each other um but he Chuck is just such an amazing guy the the whole Community obviously knows him and knows this but we owe Chuck tamazi so much I mean he helped especially early on there was not a lot of content like there is today and a lot of us only had chuck and a couple other resources to to learn this platform because it was so you know powerful and to harness that power you need a lot of knowledge and you know Chuck just LED that way in in so many different ways so Chuck shout out we love you thank you for all you've done you know selfless selfless he didn't have to do any of that yeah well you know I want to take a a little bit of a journey so uh let's uh talk a little bit about some things let's get into some things oh no that's also tell me what's taking place in this picture this is the majority of Glide fast uh U.S Canada Mexico here um shout out our our India team is a little bit too long of a travel to get them out here but they'll have their own Glide Fest but to me this shows servicenow leadership the servicenow community how committed Glide fast is to the space yeah you know we spent a lot of money a lot of resources a lot of effort to get our whole team together um not just you know we had a great party obviously we had a lot of fun but and I know a lot of people saw those pictures but hopefully the next round of pictures that come out are around all the sessions that we hosted and and making ourselves better so we sent uh anybody that wanted to come those uh we have we have 400 us and Canadian employees um and we think we got about 350 here and we all just got together in in helping each other get better at delivery you know taking our best consultants and and having them put presentations together to lift each other up right this was just such an amazing bonding experience learning experience morale booster and I'll tell you there's not another partner out there that sent 10 of their staff to the to this conference or 10 of their staff uh together right other companies are chasing money we're chasing results we're chasing expertise we're chasing dominance um so this to me was in this moment was was probably one of the best in my life right yeah I got to sit right there dead center uh in front of the whole team and uh it's just such positivity yeah I I love it I love it so you know it didn't already always start this way right tell me about this so yeah this I think this was actually Orlando and you can actually that's my sister in the background there oh okay um but I think this is actually in Orlando and this this is just like a great definition of my childhood I just loved the computers and I always I I was just I just wanted to be involved with computers and technology and you know I grew up uh AOL you know aim AOL instant messenger and AOL chat rooms and and you know like doing weird hacky stuff and you know I when I rediscovered this picture you know after building a career in Tech it's just kind of amazing to see like you know the big smile on my face in front of a computer who knows what I'm doing there but you know anytime I could get my hands on a computer um I just I was just obsessed with it 24 hours a day yeah it was a great also meeting your sister Andreina too at uh at at Glide Fest so tell me about this picture oh man uh so that so that's my stepfather Neil Shapiro um it's a little weird and we're in a hotel room or something but he was really the light in my life as a kid um he I'm you know knew him based on my whole childhood since I was about two or three years old my father really wasn't in my life at the time and he was a teacher for for 25 years uh he passed away from cancer when I was 14. he was very young about 47 48 but he was such a positive uh role model in my life and he helped here's the most important thing he helped so many people in his life over the 25 years of his um you know High School teaching career and it really had an impact on me as at 14 years old you know to go to his wake and to see all of his um you know alumni and his students how many of them say you have no idea Neil changed my life he did this for me he saved me he did this he was there for me you know I think he was like the Cool Teacher where you could go and like just sit in his office and hang out and but he was just such a positive impact in so many people's lives and that is what I strive for and this is the reason why you know I try to do good out there and try to help as many people as I can because of him he really had an impact on who I want to be in life you often share a quote that Neil Shapiro shared with you coming up can you share that with us here today yeah yeah I was on my keynote um nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm and I really never knew what that meant um until some point in in the Glad fast timeline uh and you know I kind of say that's now lfg for us right because nothing nothing great is gonna happen nothing exciting is going to happen nothing magnificent is gonna happen if the people involved are not excited are not enthusiastic are not let's go let's let's win let's dominate you know if you're just like ah all right I got work today you know you're not going to exceed expectations you're not going to get to that next level so um it took a while for that to sink in but uh that's the quote nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm and that's uh Ralph Waldo uh Emerson I think right right on right on yeah yeah there she is my queen there this is uh so that's my wife um we're a little younger in this picture um so we we grew up together on the same street um my first love my my only love really and you know uh took me a while to convince her to to to marry me but this was us at prom uh and yeah just just an unbelievable strongest woman I know um you know she was there for me during the lowest point in my life when I was battling cancer and uh you know I wouldn't have made it without her I wouldn't admit she was you know yelling at doctors and nurses and you know just being there for me every single day you have to advocate for yourself uh in the healthcare world for sure and you absolutely do and it's so great to hear that she was there with you and advocating for you with you know going through that medical challenge Jessica is is phenomenal and I and I was so happy to have spent a little bit of time with her and your family and your lovely daughter Sophia and Olivia uh well we'll be seeing them in a moment I think I think I don't want to embarrass you here too much but tell me about this so this is my lovely mother um she is uh such an angel for me and you know she she raised me pretty much you know a single mother and um she always instilled you know the biggest thing she instilled in me was just the hard work um I think I drove her a little crazy growing up but you know she's just she's such such an amazing woman um she works so hard you know to to give us the best life we she possibly could and you know my sister and I we we didn't know that we had any sort of financial struggles or anything we just had a great childhood and um you know I wouldn't I would would not be anything I am today without her keeping me out of trouble hit me with a wooden spatula and uh just just always telling me to be successful work hard and do everything I can for people yes she Sweet Lorraine and she mentioned that she was named after the song Sweet Lorena so was my mother so when she said she was like wait a minute how'd she spelled her name and I was like she was like oh my God we spell it the same way and I was like yeah I know but you know having that mom as that foundational person in your corner can make a world of difference and it was so great to have been able to spend some time with her okay listen listen though so [Laughter] I'ma let you talk about this where do we start where do we start where do we start with that haircut maybe I mean you brought it up not me maybe my mother gave me this haircut I don't know got the bowl put it on the head I don't know a little I'm handsome that little cute kid I mean yeah you killed you cute whatever you know Celtics fans is day one don't call me a bandwagon fan yes my heart's broken yes yes I mean look I I was so look when I saw this picture and I saw you in it I was like I have to include this but you were a Celtics fan from day one apparently day one day I've always loved them always and how are you feeling about how your team fared in the in in this season this post season about the same way you do about your Lakers uh you know it's unfortunate but there's always next year you know to there's no wins without losses right and we've all had them and that's what makes the wins you know more exciting is uh is is experiencing the loss and experience and the failure and so you know that's just another thing and it's only a game you know what I mean like you kid we can't win at everything you know can't win in everything all right then so I I am not gonna be only because like you such a cute kid I ain't gonna go in too hard about that haircut but we're just gonna leave it right there okay I love this picture I have no idea what's behind this picture but this picture right here has so much emotion in it tell us about it okay so this this picture is really is one of my favorites so this was actually a newspaper clipping so my stepfather uh Neil we just talking about and that's my mother kissing him on the cheek there he died in 2001 and this was the year 2000 so he was a Drama teacher and they participated every year in the state championships you know they made a play he was a director made the play and you know participated never one ever you know in the 20 whatever years that they participated but in this year the last year that he he did it before he died of cancer by the way uh he won so they won the state championship uh it was an amazing play it was called bread and Roses it was about a woman from the Holocaust and um this this like I mean this captures all the emotion and just the poetic justice of of you know him winning it the year before he passed away it's like you know you can't you can't write a better script right I mean so this one is a special one in my heart um this is one of his students here on the right yeah yeah stay tuned because we we just now getting started over here we just now getting started so what's this all about oh Europe so Europe's uh an amazing organization if you guys listen to any Glide chats out there I'm always always shouting them out that's my buddy uh Joey giardino there next to me in the hat backwards but um so Europe is a non-profit organization um that basically helps uh Urban Youth and youth uh get college credits and they actually pay you to learn you know Financial Services in my case technology and then they give you an internship so it's it's a one-year program hence year up six months schooling six month internship and that's how I got my start in I.T I have a lot of people don't know actually didn't graduate high school I think after my stepfather passed away I started you know rebelling a little bit got a little bit trouble that didn't didn't make it out of high school but um luckily 18 19 years old found this program thought it was a scam thought it was too good to be true because like college credits and they pay you to go through this program so it was just an amazing concept I love absolutely love the CEO Gerald chartavian he's an amazing amazing individual um and he uh he's just doing so much good out there I mean I don't know the off the top of my head I don't know the exact amount of students they've helped but I want to say it's in the hundreds of thousands now I was a very early class class nine and is actually founded in Boston as well so just an amazing program so you can see this is 2006. um and they one of the events we were at was like a Red Sox thing and we got to uh go on the field and stuff it was pretty cool I want to talk a little bit more about that because you said that you didn't graduate from high school but that you got into you got involved with this program yeah what made you say okay I'm going to go in this direction like how are you able because I having two boys myself I think often about like how I can just get their attention just long enough to convince them to be able to enter into a program such as Europe what was the motivating force you had lost your your stepdad who was a huge force in your life what made you say I'm going to give this program a chance well I wasn't really doing much I mean I was like waiter in tables and busting tables and stuff like that in the restaurant world and um you know I I didn't have I didn't know what I was going to do you know I didn't want to uh I didn't want to be a waiter for the rest of my life right I didn't want to be a loser you know I got my mother in my ear what are you doing buy a house do that you know so uh you know I wanted to do something successful and once I heard it was it was Tech and I was like I love computers I'm like this is I'm like let me give it a shot it's a year I can get paid and I still work two other jobs by the way um you know while doing this but you know I said let me give it a shot and I'm telling you it was so positive I mean we were you can see dressing professional you know for the first time in all of our Lives you know all my peers um going into Boston getting on the train every day getting up early you know be making sure we're on time teaching us how to be professionals you know just as much as we learned you know the basics of of the tech world you know of troubleshooting you know for help desk job we also learned how to be professional how to how to talk in the workplace you know instead of how to talk on instead of how we're used to talking on the street you know um so it was just it was just so positive and you really immediately I learned or I realized how much of an amazing opportunity this was and I better not screw it up so I really just put all my efforts uh into it um yeah this came from a little scrapbook we had to make while we were there but yeah and like I just we we became like a little family we became like all positive people in each other's lives like we were all we're pushing each other to get better we all were you know encouraging each other to do the right thing stay out of trouble make sure you're on time make sure you know make sure you're making it to your second third job because a lot of us some of these people you know it was it's 19 18 to 24 year olds a lot of these people had kids at that age you know a lot of these people were the head of the household I was fortunate um where I was still living at home and you know so I looked up to a lot of the people that that were going through even tougher challenges than I were yeah I'm just kind of going through these photos now that you've given us that great context so this is this looks like it may be an excerpt for maybe like a yearbook or some type of uh kind of end of a program type of book is am I correct here yeah this was I think it was from like an event they had um and I I don't I think I made a little speech or something so in the in the pamphlet they they they quoted me but yeah I mean uh it's it's pretty crazy to to look back and and just this you know and and you know it's funny because like you you want to say like oh my god without Europe I'd be nothing which is absolutely true but what I love that Gerald always said that the CEO and founder is listen uh the Europe will provide you the opportunity it's what you do with it right and that's what I loved about like that this was the whole inspiration for Glide fast University was let's give people an opportunity let's pay them let's not say you know you have to suffer and live poor while you learn for that opportunity no we're gonna pay you but it's up to you to learn it's up to you to put in the effort it's it's up to you to okay we'll pay you nine to five it's up to you from six to six in the morning to to go above and beyond right and that's what I did once I got my hands on service now it was 24 hours a day um so it's more than just nine to five but we gave you the opportunity to get into the space to build something for yourself and that's exactly what Europe did for us you talk about Glide fast University and I know that that is sort of like the the educational arm of Glide fast Consulting with who qualifies to participate or to be a student of glyafest University um so it's it's an on-site program in uh based out of Cincinnati we also just ran uh a first class in Mexico as well uh shout out Derek moving out there uh he's amazing trainer loves loves sharing the knowledge yeah this is actually a picture uh from a few years ago going back to Europe to the class and uh we gave I think we gave like 15 laptops uh we always we always every time we go to the new class in Boston we give at least two laptops but this time we said I think we gave like 15 or something oh wait a minute but yeah if I understand correctly you're saying that this photo here is when you turned around and started participating in Europe too as as a sponsor no um well I I will I will be a donor this year my first um making a big a big donation this year really excited and I and I will continue to do that for the rest of my life but I go back to speak to the students uh there's a new class every six months and I'm still close at one of the teachers there there's actually one of my teachers and so I just go back and just you know here's what to expect on the internship here's a story about Glide fast and uh this I think this was 2018 or 19. um we just we just brought like 15 laptops with us after our speech and and gave gave one to almost every student um but yeah yeah ah here is Young professional Mike what's taking place here this is uh this was the first I was thinking about you actually um this was my first snug oh yeah okay yes yes yes yes yes yes yes okay so at this point you're now in service now you have found service now how did how did you discover service now so I I was working help desk for I think I was going on my fifth or sixth year so all my help decks help desk peeps hang in there you'll find your opportunity just keep keep looking for it um you know it's a tough it's a tough job answering phones all day right but um stick with I stuck with it and um you know I had taken some initiatives I built a knowledge base just out of a a website one day um because we didn't have one central location for all knowledge documents so I built it and we were using it for about a year and then uh the company I was at purchased service now and they said my boss came to me and said hey we don't do you want to be the admin you know you built a knowledge base do you want to you know try this it has a knowledge base I said sure So I got exposed once I got that admin role I never looked back and I just uh uh all in and then this was my actually this is my first snug as a partner I guess I went to a snug as a customer but I joined uh a choreo from LinkedIn um shout out LinkedIn uh they found me on LinkedIn joined to choreo I was one of the first employees there that's my buddy Tori she's at Glide fast now but I was a startup and I just loved it I loved uh you know built building something and getting the corporate chains kind of removed from me and just you know joining a company that had no idea even what servicenow was and uh you know so it was kind of kind of fun jumping in uh all at once now what's what's who are these folks oh my God [Laughter] this is not the most flattering picture here but this is uh this is my buddy Jared pippy he's he's our CEO um one of my best friends in the whole world got his wedding next week actually um don't do it no I'm just kidding um just a great guy hard worker crazy enough to to to uh take a shot on on glide fast and and me and worked out for him this is my pops my dad here big J Jason love him what's taking place at this day this looks like this is your wedding okay oh wait a minute let's see there we go oh who are these lovelies oh that's my two girls that was uh let me bring them back there they go that was my bald bald cancer time yeah it was a tough year was like I said I couldn't I wouldn't have made it made it through without my wife and my kids you had two little girls you had a family at this time um I'm sure there were some days that you know were pretty pretty challenging yeah definitely in the company in Glide faster and you had Glide fast at this time so how were you able to like not let the overwhelm of those things keep you how are you able to manage kind of getting into the right headspace in order to overcome to be sitting here right now you know it had so many people relying on me you know it's like still still it's the same thing that you know before and after this right you know it's as people relying on me people need me and you know I didn't we didn't have a choice you know it's like you just have to power through it I'll tell you though like the Glide fast team because obviously I couldn't be a hundred percent in in a hundred percent you know uh Mike right I couldn't be 100 me so just my not one person this is like an amazing thing not one person quit during this whole year of treatment um I had a lot of treatment radiation uh stem cell uh chemo obviously and not one person quit on me not one I mean it's just amazing and uh and that's why you know that's what still keeps me going today is just like you know I'm fighting for my whole team and and because I know they're fighting for me you know 100 a hundred percent no more ball picks I love my hair see I I wish I had the haircut then this is something that I know is close to your heart I've pulled this straight off of your social media tell us a little bit about this yeah so like when I was going through my cancer thing um shout out Mitch from Vivid charts he started a GoFundMe for me um and you know we were fortunate at the time Glide fast was doing well we didn't we didn't need the you know the the whole servicenow community in Glad fast they raised like I think forty thousand dollars and you know we we were like we don't need this money my wife and I were talking like imagine having to go through cancer treatment with struggling living check to check right and people who make hourly you know who are paid hourly how are they paying their bills how are they able to focus on getting better if they have to worry about bills and all this so my wife and I were actually talking about starting a foundation and one day we met a social worker and we were telling them about this and they said oh my God you got to meet the Joe and druzy Foundation this is exactly what they do they they don't donate to Dana Farber or anything they they give money right to patients and we were like oh my God they did all the work for us let's just give them money so we we took the whole GoFundMe we gave it to them uh I think we raised I think I my wife and I threw and we matched it and then the next year Glide fast um donated and raised I think a hundred thousand dollars all together I think we're up to 300 Grand and I want to just like add a zero to that number add 2 0 zeros to that number so I've just this is another organization that I will support for the rest of my life I was honored just like last week they nominated me uh to the board of directors Joe is an amazing amazing human gen uh amazing people I love them thank you guys so much for for all you do for cancer patients over 40 000 cancer patients in the New England area have received financial assistance from this foundation so please everybody do everything you can for these people and this Foundation they are help they are doing God's work so thank you thank you JF indeed indeed well congratulations on being nominated to the board that's that's fantastic and it's a really full circle moment too having gone through that in your entire life story and then to be like look I want to do this thing and then instead of you saying oh I'm gonna start this thing myself I'm going to pair up and link up with someone who's already doing it so you can immediately start adding values so that's great Before I Let You Go I do want to ask you this one question because this has been floating around in the ethers I understand that very recently there was a acquisition of Glide fast can you tell us a little bit about that and I ask you this because a lot of times when there's an acquisition companies change cultures or something is lost there's there's not that same little fire there's that same level of motivation and Magic that made the organization what it was talk to me about the acquisition and you're still here so talk to me about that yeah everyone's always like how much time do you have to stay I don't have to stay I don't have you know I've made a decision a long time ago I don't want to have to do anything um so you know completely heard Free Will and you know no plans on leaving ever um you know it's crazy because largest acquisition in the space Apec systems amazing amazing company uh it's been an amazing partnership that was uh almost a year to the day now um or 11 months actually amazing company you know so yeah largest acquisition of the space and you think when you the the large of the acquisition the more chance it's probably going to fail right and and I've seen a lot of um Acquisitions in the space and every single one of them you know at least almost every single one of them has has just not gone well we've seen a lot of companies the Brand's just completely gone a lot of these Partners were great leaders in the space and then they just evaporate right their talent leaves their culture changes um so that was the most important thing for me was because we didn't we didn't put the for sale sign up right we didn't we didn't say hey we're going to sell it Apex approached us they said hey we're sick of you guys beating us on all these deals um you know and but my thing was like listen we're not for sale we want to dominate this space and you know the the hardest thing with um you know growing to the scale we want to get to a billion dollars is not you can't it's almost like you can't just do great work right because a lot of servicenow platform owners would come to us to say we want to work with glide Fest so these larger companies we want to work at Glide Fest but we can't get you onboarded right Apex systems works with 75 of the fortune 1000 they have 3 500 customers active most important thing for us active paperwork deep relationships they've been in existence for 35 years we've been around for eight you know um they they provide great Staffing services to these companies so they came to us and and I just and said listen if you can get us access to more customers if you can help us on our mission to grow this company and most importantly do not mess with our culture I don't want to hear about synergies and making cuts um I you know we know what we're doing we have the right algorithm we have the right people we have the right culture we have the right relationships with with servicenow leadership um and and we made our our demands pretty pretty strong and they agreed and they kept their word and I think we've kept our ours so um that's the most important thing for me is just is keep it and then I was able to keep my words of the whole Glide fast team that we're not going to lose who we are in our culture right on right on okay so final question Mike the mayor of service now Lombardo what is your superpower oh man for power passion passion's gotta be it's Gotta Be it you know sometimes it's good you know sometimes it can be not so good you know um I I shoot straight from the hip you know there's there's you know I have very little filter I'll tell you how it is good bad or indifferent you know the thing I'm most passionate about is like from for so long is service now and then you know the Glide fast team I'm just so proud of them you know and uh I'm nothing without the team you know and so I'm just so passionate about helping people be successful helping our customers be successful helping service now be the dominant platform SAS company in the whole world um so I'd say if I had to choose one uh definitely passion right on right on but listen Mike I want to thank you so much for joining me and I cannot wait to do it again have a great day thank you so much thank you thank you everybody boom and just like that you heard it here right here on 100 days of service now that was Mike the mayor of service now Lombardo look look if you just caught the tail end of this not to worry because this replay is going to be here for you to watch again and again in fact be sure that you take this link and share it on your profile page let other folks know about this great conversation the great conversations that we're having over here and until next time y'all stay curious bye [Music] thank you [Music]