004. Michele Scotto | Having Options, Having A Backup Plan, Revisiting A Past Failure

Michele discussed his career path, which involved working in finance on Wall Street before transitioning into his family's business, the Villa Restaurant Group. He emphasized the importance of having options, a backup plan, and revisiting past failures as key factors for success. Michele shared a valuable lesson he learned about taking the opportunity to get a foot in the door and having a seat at the table to ultimately achieve his career goals.

Michele and Sal also emphasized the importance of passion and motivation in achieving success. They discussed how to overcome obstacles by being persistent and prepared for setbacks. Additionally, they talked about the importance of staying updated and continuing to learn in their respective industries. Both agreed that hard work beats talent and that constant learning and evolution are crucial for success.

Connect with Michele:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-roberto-scotto-b748384/

Connect with Sal:
https://908enterprises.com
http://linkedin.com/in/salliberato

Transcript

Sal  
Welcome to 908 ENT the podcast. I'm your host, Sal Liberato. We're here to help you take another step towards success. Now let's get ready to learn the basics from the best. What's going on everyone? Thank you for tuning back into another episode. Today we have a special guest Michele Scotto. Michele, thank you for coming on today.

Michele  
Absolutely. Thanks for having me Sal. Happy to be here.

Sal  
You got it. Michele is the Vice President for Corporate Development for the Villa Restaurant Group. He's also a member of their leadership team. The Villa Restaurant Group has been in business for over five decades and have developed over 400 restaurants. Michele, this is all public information. Is there anything you'd like our listeners to know about you?

Michele  
No, I just add to you know, the Villa Restaurant Group was kind of started by my grandfather kind of a long time ago. And I'm sure this will be part of some of what we discuss, but the business itself has kind of evolved to also include the pretty sizable real estate portfolio, which goes under the name of Scotto Properties, which is also part of what we do here in Morristown.

Sal  
That's awesome. So just to start off the show, what are the three simplest things you think lead to success?

Michele  
I think that when you break it down, it's, you know, having options, having a backup plan, and revisiting a past failure. So you know, any, anything any problem that you approach, especially more difficult problems, you're never going to have a straightforward answer. So, you know, having the ability to have options and different ways to kind of figure out a way around that problem and solution is very important. And the answer is not necessarily always going to be the one that you set out, originally thinking was the right answer, so having options is very important. Having a backup plan, as part of those options, kind of ties hand in hand. Again, things don't always go as planned. So what is my backup plan if A doesn't work? And you know, what is B, C, and D look like? And just because something didn't go as planned on the first try doesn't mean that you shouldn't try 2, 3, 4, or 5 more times because eventually, that'll lead to success.

Sal  
Yeah, that's awesome. That's definitely great advice. So can you share a moment or experience that inspired you to pursue your career? I know, you kind of took a different path to get there. So if you want to touch on that a little bit.

Michele  
Yeah, sure. Villa Restaurant Group, as I mentioned, you know, was business started by my grandfather, when he when he came over from Italy, in the 60s. Started out with a single pizza place in New York and it kind of grew and evolved from there. My father got involved after he graduated from college, my uncle got involved after he graduated from from college, and each one of them kind of put their stamp on the business and grew it in different ways. My dad and uncle are still involved in the business. And my grandfather, still, you know, who will make a visit and kind of walk through the office every now and again. But for me, it was really I grew up around it, you know, so I've kind of always had that, in me. It's in my blood, if you will. But you know, I always kind of saw myself as working in the business just didn't really know how. Then once I got into high school, I really became interested in finance, took that with me to college and studied, finance and economics became interested in Wall Street. And so kind of my path went a different way. And really, what I wanted to do coming out of school was working at a hedge fund. And so I kind of got into that space and lived in that world for a while, for about 10 years. Until at one point, I just realized that I was no longer I was doing the same thing every day, I wasn't satisfied anymore, I was at a very good place in terms of, you know, the firm I was at, I worked with great people, but I just wasn't mentally really satisfied anymore. And so I did some soul searching at that point and, you know, stay within the industry and look for a different place, maybe make a move within the firm I was at and use, you know, to a different role. Ultimately that soul searching led to alright, let me have a conversation with my dad and see what kind of that would lead to in terms of transitioning into the family business. So that's kind of how I got to where I am today. When I started here about seven years ago very different place than what it is right now. You know, we've it's been A seven years, three of those seven years we've lived through COVID and COVID was not very nice to the restaurant industry. So we've had to change and evolve. But you know, we're still here today. And it's been quite a journey, those those couple COVID years are like, it's like a dog year, each one year is like seven years in reality. So it was an interesting kind of ride. But we're still here today. And I look back at the experience I had in the hedge fund world, and I wouldn't have done anything differently. I learned a lot. I worked for different people, that kind of gives me a very different lens when I brought that to the restaurant industry. And so I think, you know, in terms of my experience and how I got here, that's kind of the short, short story to it. 

Sal  
Yeah, no, that's awesome. I feel like a lot of people do hit that point, though. Whenever it's young or older about having that, like, you're not mentally satisfied, or you feel like you're doing the same thing every day. And you're just looking for more or you're looking to shift. So yeah, that you saw that, and were able to do that early on is great.

Michele  
Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, some people are happy with that. And, you know, there's there's nothing wrong with with that kind of career. But you know, I was, I wanted more, and I have certainly got what I was asking for, with the transition here.

Sal  
Yeah, that's awesome. So can you share a valuable lesson that you've learned from whether that's just in the Villa Restaurant Group, or in your previous work?

Michele  
Yeah, sure. So for this, I was really thinking about, you know, what would be a good way to highlight some of these themes that we're talking about, and I kind of go back to my first job out of school. So I didn't have, I didn't really know what to do coming out of school, I just knew I wanted to work in the hedge fund industry. And I can't even say that I really knew what that meant at the time. It just sounded like the cool thing to do. It sounded sexy. And I was like, yeah, that's what I want to do. I had done some internships in finance in high school and college. So I had some connections in that world. And, you know, someone at the time told me who was a CPA, he said, This is a firm that I've done work for, here's the contact info, if you need me to put in a word I'll do it absolutely. So I reached out. And he said to me, at the time, he's like, you know, your goal should be just to get your foot in the door. And so I kind of really, I took that I, you know, the biggest thing is getting my foot in the door, regardless of what that position was, or with what firm it was with. So I got my foot in the door, I did a lot of, you know, after a lot of applying and interviewing, I finally got the break. But it was an accounting position with the firm. That was not really what I was looking for, ideally, you know, it was smaller was a little older than what I would have really hoped to be in terms of the people I was working with. But I said, You know what I'm sure I can make the best of this situation, I wanted to be not on the accounting side, I wanted to be more on the trading side. At least that's what I thought at the time. But I took the opportunity and, you know, over the next few years, my career really evolved in that, you know, I moved to a different firm that was a little more of what I was looking for. I moved from accounting to operations, and then from operations to the trading desk. Ultimately, you know, achieving what I originally had set out to want to do. It took a few years, but again, along that path, I feel like I became a much better, more well rounded person, having experience working within different departments, different people, different firms. So you know, it's, for me, the valuable thing there is learning that the most important thing is having a seat at the table. You know, if you're not, if you don't have a seat at the table, there's no chance of you winning or getting what you want. So that's really important. And, you know, you got to take the opportunities you do get and, you know, figure out how to ultimately get to where you want to get to.

Sal  
No, that's great advice. I feel like that can apply to anybody that's listening too. I mean,  across any industry, whether that's business, sports, life, anything. That's great.

Michele  
Yeah, absolutely. You know, people, you got to seize the moment, seize the opportunity. And again, having having the seat in the table is a lot of times more important than having the right answer or having the perfect scenario because you know, those things will work themselves out if you plug away at it. 

Sal  
Yeah, I like that, got to have a seat at the table. So within the business now family's definitely, you know, a big part of what you guys preach, and what you guys are about, is there a favorite quote, motto, Mantra kind of code that you live by, or that you try to instill in your employees?

Michele  
I mean, we definitely yes, we like to talk about family a lot we like to talk about, you know, integrity is very big, passion is very big for us. You know, these are some key words that you'll hear a lot of us talk about and even if you live the day in the life within this office, or one of our restaurants, you'll feel some of this. There's a lot of passion that our people have, we have a lot of people that have been with us for, you know, five years is nothing, 10 years is almost nothing, you know, 10 plus years, 15-20 years. There's a lot of people both on the corporate side and at the operational level that had been with the firm for a very long time. So, you know, those things are important, we like to think we like to behave as if we are, you know, one big family, but we also like to think, much bigger than a family business. I mean, we want to, we're not just a small family business anymore at this point. So we think big, we think like a larger firm, but at the core of it, you know, we haven't forgotten our identity of the family piece of what got us started. There's a family component that still exists just by nature of having family members within the company. And, you know, passion, integrity, these are, these are things that you're taught from an early age, about integrity, you're not even necessarily taught it, it's something that you grow up with and it's hard to put your finger on it. I learned about this here or there. But we all know what integrity is and what integrity is not. And same with passion, you can't teach passion, but we try to look for people who have passion about what they do, and are also have a high level of integrity while while doing it. So, you know, those are a few things. I mean, as far as quotes go, or mottos, you know, I'm not one for quotes or mottos, really, but kind of going back to the seat at the table thing. I always liked that Wayne Gretzky quote, that you miss 100% of the chances, you don't take something along those lines. So I mean, that can apply to any situation, whether it's talking to someone at the bar, breaking the ice, or, you know, business deal, so and everything in between. So it's, I think it's good words to live by.

Sal  
Yeah, definitely. So you did talk a lot about passion. One of the questions is, what do you think is more important passion and motivation? So are you sticking with passion? Or what do you think there?

Michele  
I, you know, it's I think they go hand in hand, I don't think you have one without the other. I think if you're passionate about what you do, and you're lucky enough to work in an environment, where you're passionate about what you're doing that leads naturally to motivation. If you're motivated, you're not necessarily passionate about what you're doing. So it's, it's great if you could have both. It's great if you can be in a place where you have both, but that's not always the case. I'm passionate about cooking, I love to cook at home. But, you know, that's, I also know that that's not the best place for me in terms of what I do as a career, so yes, there's overlap with what I do, because it's it's restaurants, but I'm not, I'm not cooking in the restaurant, by any means. But I think that passion leads to motivation. And again, if you can find a balance where you have passion, and motivation, that's obviously the ideal scenario. But if I had to pick, you know, what's more important, one or the other, I think, I would actually say motivation in this case, because you got to be motivated to get up every morning and do what you got to do and do it to the highest level. So I think you can have people that are very passionate about what they do and fall short, because they lack the motivation. But on the flip side, I think you have people that can be extremely motivated and successful, and maybe are not as emotionally happy because they're not passionate, but they can be successful. So I don't think one is better than the other. I don't think one is healthier than the other, I think that the best is having, at the very least a little bit of both. And if you can have a lot of both, that's obviously the best case scenario.

Sal  
Yeah. I mean, those types of questions are great because it's really open ended. There's no one set answer. Everybody has a different view and opinion on it. So it's definitely great to hear what everybody has to say. 

Michele  
Exactly. 

Sal  
So over the years, I'm sure you've maybe dealt with an obstacle or two, can you share what has helped you overcome setbacks? Or if you have people within your company that what would you tell them? Or how do you help them overcome their setbacks?

Michele  
Yeah, sure. You know, it's part of life, it's part of getting from A to Z is all the bumps in the road. I think, again, going back to maybe the opening question about what are things that lead to success? I think, similar kind of answer here. One is persistence. And, you know, just being persistent and staying at it and plugging away and failures are part of everyone's path and journey. So you know, how do you deal with it, you're just going to walk away and turn your back and move on to something else. It's hard to ever be truly successful. I think the people who are the ones that, yes, can move on to something else, but then can also pick up where they left off and revisit that past failure. So I think it's being persistent. And it's having options again, you know, don't always approach everything that I'm 100% gonna get 100% of what I'm looking for. Because that doesn't always happen. It's great to think that way and I've heard motivational speakers kind of speak as if that's the only way you should think. I don't agree with that. Because maybe I'm just being realistic. But I think you got to think with a little bit of strategy and say, Okay, I want to be successful here. Of course, I hope I'm successful. And hopefully, everyone around me who's supporting me in this venture is also thinking the same thing. But let's realistic. And what do I do if I get 0% of that or if I only get 70% of that? How do I deal with the balance? And I think that's how you overcome obstacles is being prepared for them.

Sal  
Definitely. I've definitely heard the motivational speeches that you're talking about, though, that like, if you have a Plan B, then why even do a Plan A if you're already thinking that it's like that, but like you said, it's real life and you used the perfect example 70% of something. Alright, well, what else can I be doing to get 100% of basically everything?

Michele  
Yeah, I mean, I can think of very few times of, you know, working on something of significance, where I got 100% of exactly what the outset goal was. And once you embark on a project or a project, let's just call it, there's going to be things that come along the way that are going to change what the intended outcome is, anyway.

Sal  
Yeah.

Michele  
I mean, it's very rare that you set out, and then what you get at the end is exactly what you want it from the beginning, because you're going to learn things along the way, the economic environment is going to change, rates are gonna go up, you know, 200 basis points in a matter of four months, or whatever happens. A war is going to start in the Ukraine that no one was planning. I mean, all these things, change what your path is, if you're just so set on, I'm starting today, and I'm gonna get to Z and I don't care about anything else. I don't find that to be a responsible way to kind of view things from a, you know, wanting to be successful standpoint.

Sal  
So how do you continue to stay updated? How do you continue to learn? What do you like continually doing to just get better?

Michele  
I'm not really, I don't read as much as I should. I don't really listen to too many podcasts. I'm sorry. I'll listen to this one for sure. But, you know, for me, it's I do read about what's going on in my respective industries, whether it's real estate or restaurants. I stay very up on what's going on from an economic standpoint. You know, so I think those are a few things, but for me, it's, you know, industry specific stuff. I like to learn about technology that is rolling out in the restaurant space. How's AI going to help me achieve something more efficiently in a kitchen, or in a corporate setting, I mean, those are some of the things. So it's not necessarily I'm reading a book, or I'm listening to these podcasts, I mean, that's certainly one way to get information like this, but, you know, I read industry specific things, and then, you know, I'll latch on to a topic or something, and then kind of go from there and try to think about how it has a use case, or how it can be maybe applied for us in a certain way. It's being around others in your space, you know, going, doing some of the, you know, some of these events that are held, whether it's a charity event, or, you know, some sort of industry specific event, they're, you know, they're good to go to, I think it's, you know, sometimes they get out of hand. There's so many of them, and, you know, you're always being asked to go here and there, I mean, think you have to manage it correctly. And they're good to do you get to speak with your peers outside of your specific company in a more casual setting, which is always nice. And naturally, you know, things will come up, you'll learn about something here or there, or you'll meet somebody new, which is, you know, a lot of times even more important making a connection with somebody new. So I think those human connections are important. Certainly, and, you know, industry specific type of materials are kind of what I do, specifically. 

Sal  
Okay, that's awesome. 

Michele  
Yeah, and then, you know, just being being a person you're always learning. I have three younger kids, I probably learned more just dealing with them each day than any other way. I mean, it's, it's an adventure, every day. And you know, it's, anyway you can any situation is a learning situation, whether you're dealing with the five year old and trying to get them to finish their dinner, or you're out at a networking event. So I think it's all it's all fair game, as it should be.

Sal  
I think the biggest thing you said was that you're always learning. I mean, a lot of people that's kind of that's like the one thing they've always talked about. They're always learning, always trying to see what's next, what's new. They don't just know it all.

Michele  
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think anyone who, anyone who thinks they know it all is yeah, they're fooling themselves. I mean, it's just it's not, there's no way and you just have to, you have to constantly learn, and that'll lead to constant evolution. And I think that's what it's all about. It's not necessarily, you know, for us anyway, it's been a kind of an evolution of who we are, where we started, and kind of what we are today, and I look back on my career, and it's kind of the same thing, um, not so much a reinventer as kind of evolution along the way, steady evolution.

Sal  
So we got another one of those this or that questions? 

Michele  
Yeah.

Sal  
There's a full phrase to it, but we're gonna leave the end off. Does hard work beats talent, or just talent beat hard work.

Michele  
I think hard work beats talent, for sure. You know, talent is great. But there's also a lot of wasted talent out there. There's also, you know, you have to put in the work. And that's something that I've learned from my upbringing from my grandfather, to my father to my uncle, you know, they've built the business to what it is today, not by just being talented. And they'll tell you that none of them are talented, or anything like that, you know, they're hard workers. And they never gave up. They never took no for an answer. I mean, these are the things that kind of have been instilled in me. And I would have to agree with that. I think talent is a great thing to have. But there's a lot of talent that just goes to waste or is not fully realized. So 100% gor me, this one is not even close, hard work all the way.

Sal  
Yeah. I mean, we have a lot of varied guests on here, whether that's business, sports, and honestly, almost everybody goes with the hard work over talent any day. So that's definitely like a constant with everybody we've had on here so far.

Michele  
Yeah, definitely. And I've seen it I've seen it in sports. 

Sal  
Yeah. 

Michele  
In high school, playing soccer, usually talented kids and just didn't care to put in the work and they were a good one when it counted, maybe here and there but could have been so much better. I mean, it's it's applicable kind of across both worlds for sure.

Sal  
Yeah. 100%. So as we come to a close here, what is one final piece of advice you would give to our listeners to help them take another step towards success?

Michele  
I think, you know, take risks, make sure you have a seat at the table, and, you know, just keep plugging away. Don't get discouraged by failures and setbacks. I picked the two worst industries to work at during the two biggest crisis's that we've had in the past 15 years. So I was in the finance world during during the financial crisis. And just now with restaurants and COVID. So, you know, it's all about keeping your head up, there's a lot of sleepless nights that we went through as a company that I went through a lot of extra gray hairs, for sure, during COVID. But you know, it's never give up, never give up and have a positive attitude, and you have to be hungry. And I know a lot of these things, maybe sound cliche, but they're true. They're real words to live by. And I think that's really what success is about. Success is not built on talent or passion. It's not built on any one thing. It's built on a lot of different things coming together, it's great if you can be passionate, you need to be motivated, you need to be hard working for sure, you need to have some luck on your side. And you just need to you know, always, never give up. Don't let someone tell you no. If you really believe that, you can do something and you want to achieve something. So that's how I close that out. And again, I'm sorry if I sound cliche.

Sal  
No, no. The cliches they say they're cliches for a reason because they work.

Michele  
Definitely.

Sal  
And people don't, people want something more complex. They want something like, oh, what can I do with this? What can I do with that? Like no, it's just they're cliches for a reason.

Michele  
Exactly. And they haven't changed. The same way, the same things that led to success 50 years ago are the same things that lead to success today.  The way they're put into practice and executed is different, but you know, the principles are always the same.

Sal  
Yeah. 100%. I mean, if you look at all these books that everybody swears by these days, they're all old books, none of them are really that new.

Michele  
Absolutely. And I think the other thing that's important, actually, that was more of a recent phenomenon, I think, is that, you know, with our generation and younger, success doesn't come overnight. You know, not everyone's a crypto multimillionaire, it's not realistic. You got to be realistic. Success is built over time. It's built by, you know, putting in a lot of hard work over many, many years and building something that's successful and sustainable. I mean, if you happen to hit the lottery and become the overnight, crypto millionaire, great, you know, hats off to you, but that's not how success, that's not how real success and sustainable success is built.

Sal  
Yep. Because as quick as you get it as as quick as you can lose it. 

Michele  
100% 

Sal  
Yeah. This has been great, though. Thank you very much for coming on today, Michele.

Michele  
Absolutely. My pleasure. It was a fun 40 minutes. So thank you for having me.

Sal  
Yeah, definitely. And if anybody's listening wants to reach out, feel free to connect with us. If you'd like to connect with Michele. What's the best way for anybody to connect with you?

Michele  
You can get me on my LinkedIn. It's Michele Scotto. And Sal, I think maybe you'll put it in here for people to reach me on.

Sal  
Yeah, you can just click the link in the show notes. 

Michele  
Great, thank you so much. 

Sal  
All right. Thank you