Endeavor

JOEY RIVERA Louisville, Rivera Group I was a troubled kid that lived in several foster homes as a child, and never graduated high school. I was court-ordered to join the US Marines, and I spent a lot of my 20's and 30's frustrated as I couldn't satisfy the inner desire to be better than all the jobs I had. I was relentlessly frustrated with "jobs" and it showed as my average length of employment was less than two years per job. I didn't understand why, but I knew I needed to be something bigger; I needed to do something that mattered. For years I chased what I thought was the solution: Do things that garner RESPECT. So, for the next 25 years I chased goals that I thought garnered respect: When I was 17 I became a US Marine When I was 24 I became a US Army Drill Sergeant When I was 27 I was the first person in my entire extended family to graduate with a bachelor's degree When I was 29 I became one of three people in the entire US Army Drill Sergeant Corps to receive a direct commission to the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant When I was 30 I started my first company and failed within two years. I experienced total financial destruction. When I was 34 I graduated with a Master's Degree When I was 37 I started my own company, "Rivera Group" When I was 43 I graduated with a Ph.D. in Software Engineering When I was 45 I realized chasing goals was a way to help ME respect Me. I realized I needed to understand the inner self that was driving my desire to climb mountains, and I needed to figure out how I could leverage that passion in a way that gave our company a strategic advantage. My company's tagline reads, "We Exist to Build Great Things!" That tagline was generated from two years of soul searching that led to an assessment of what drives my inner soul. As I was working with one of my team members on a tagline, she said, "You know, Joey, you come in here every day demanding excellence. It's like you EXIST to build great things." For the first time in my life, someone finally understood the inner me. My life's mission was born, and I haven't looked back. I have come to believe that every human being has a passion and talent to be excellent in something. My passion is helping people unlock greatness. As a Drill Sergeant, I learned how to recognize artificial limits people put on themselves, and to help them push through those limits. As a CEO, I get to unlock greatness every single day; and that, is my purpose in life.

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