Christopher Gentry Email and Phone Number

I am a 21-year Air Force Veteran with a passion for leadership and culture. In my early days in the Air Force, I found my first love in schematics. This love was critical to becoming a technical expert in the troubleshooting and repair of aircraft. After I became a subject matter expert, I went to Airman Leadership school and fell in love with leadership. It started with training young people on how to work on dangerous multi-million-dollar aircraft in a safe, methodical way. It blossomed into motivation leadership akin to coaching. I was infatuated with what motivated people and the various perspectives that really changed how a message got interpreted. Creating a culture of respect shaped around keystone habits, may have laid a foundation, but that interpersonal relationship on an individual level is what really made the difference.It’s not just an organizations culture I love. My father one told me “A smart man learns from his mistakes." I was only about 7 at the time, but I remember thinking a wise man must learn from the mistakes of others. I come from humble origins and my mother was very close minded. Those two observations gave me an intense focus on attempting seeing everything from as many perspectives as possible. When I left the United States in 2008, I was overseas for 9 years straight, and I loved it. I wasn't interested in the architecture, but the people and the cultures. I remember the shock of realizing European countries are not at all like white culture in the US, and each country has an incredibly distinct culture with various values and traditions within. I spent time in well over 20 countries. I once traveled to a remote location in Northwestern Romania. In Romania they heat their homes with these giant ceramic fireplaces. I was chopping firewood in the basement of an old commonest apartment complex, carrying the wood up to the apartment, because it was winter/Christmas time, and freezing to death was a real possibilty there. Some local friends asked me if I wanted to go Christmas caroling. I said "of course" and we were off! We got to the first house and... they were not singing Jingle Bells. I didn't know one Romanian Christmas Carol. I had made a critical assumption but committed to ending every song with 'and a happy new year," to contribute. I have a lot of stories like that but, ended up marrying a beautiful Polish woman and we go back to Poland frequently to visit our family. I still love the cultures and people. I cherish the perspective I have gain just sharing a meal and learning their history firsthand.