Mountain Man Leadership

Rocky Mountain Leadership

Several years ago, I had the fortunate chance to move and work in Denver, Colorado. For the first time in 15 years, I happened to be searching for a job after working outside of aviation. I was flown out to Denver International Airport to interview for a job with the airport in their asset management division and essentially never looked back. Much of the decision I made to leave my family behind (until I found a house and moved them from Michigan to Colorado) was due to a leader named Mark Tantos.

Asset Management

I had worked in the asset management field for about 7-8 years at Detroit Metro Airport, which gave me a leg up on many other candidates. I spoke the language, knew the topics and could hold my own when it came to understand good practices in physical asset management. Asset management is essentially the process for managing the life cycle of assets, such as roads, buildings, electrical systems and more. Denver International Airport (DEN) was built in the early 1990s and opened sometime around 1995. I was thrilled that I was going to be working at one of the busiest airports in the world with an infrastructure that was in desperate need of attention.

Leadership up in the air

Mark had worked in asset management for 20 years and served at the McMurdo Station at the South Pole, as well as several other military installations around the United States. Although he wasn’t in the military, but he grew up one as his father was a full bird colonel in the Air Force and he greatly respected all our military personnel. Mark’s knowledge base of asset management regulations, definitions and general way of handling issues was second to none. He knew what needed to be done and how to do. So, you might ask, where did I fit into this? Well, I’m glad you asked! The one aspect of Mark’s leadership that was missing was its applicability in local government, like at an airport.

When Mark hired me, many of his questions were geared towards asset management. Luckily, I was able to answer these questions using my experience in the field. However, having experience in asset management wasn’t what Mark needed, because he was already an expert. Where I helped and ultimately influenced Mark was with my local political prowess.

Government is government

After working for Mark for a couple of weeks, I noticed he would stop by my office more frequently. At first, it started off by him making sure I was settling into my new apartment, if I was learning the names of my new coworkers and of course acclimating to the thin mountain air. But, as time went by, I noticed that many of Mark’s questions were starting to sound like he was looking for my advice. Now, Mark and I didn’t create a friendship at this point, as this was strictly business related, but we did grow closer like many coworkers do. I found it refreshing that Mark was interested in my opinions about how he could gain more traction with certain people within the airport’s administration. The fact of the matter was that our division needed a boost in funding to get some wins. Looming over us was the start of the Great Hall Project and Mark wanted to get us off to a good start.

Training your boss

I was able to influence Mark by getting him to see the connections between certain activities at the airport and the people that were pulling the strings. This is the part of the political machine that Mark didn’t have as much experience with as I did. When I moved from Michigan, I brought many years of dealing with office politics that extended far outside of the organization. As our relationship continued to develop, Mark turned to me for more advice on projects and how to navigate some of the deep-rooted politics you usually find in city and county government. I would attend meetings with him and take notes on the people in the room, who they represented, how they were tied in with others and the impact they had on the project. Mark and I would debrief and I would give him my unbiased opinion of where he could strike while the iron was hot. Soon, Mark started telling me more about his personal life and we bordered on becoming friends.

Long-distance home

Around the time I was completing my sixth month at DEN, my wife told me she had a change of heart and didn’t want to move to Colorado. She decided that I needed to move home and let go of the pipe dream that I was living. When I had to tell Mark this news, we were both devastated. We had quickly built a great relationship and made a lot of progress with the asset management program at DEN. What influenced me the most about Mark was this; he wholeheartedly supported me moving back to Michigan, even if it meant losing an ally and now a friend. The way Mike handled this situation still resonates with me today. He spent a year searching for someone like me with the knowledge and talent I possessed, so it was a hard thing to lose someone that brought a lot to the table. Mark knew his craft, he treated people well and he never lost focus on the objectives of his work. We are still friends to this day and speak to each other often. I think the world could use more Mark.

Marques Thomey
October 17, 2019