North County loses a giant
This Thanksgiving, North County lost a powerhouse community, business, and education advocate when Miguel de Jesus passed away. Miguel was a champion of human beings like few others. Miguel had a robust and successful corporate career at both Xerox and Paychex. But it was his time at CSUSM that he is most known for. I met Miguel about 10 years ago as he transitioned into his role at the College of Business Administration (CoBA) at Cal. State San Marcos. He spent 8 years at CSUSM, and for four of those years, he was on my Board at the Carlsbad Chamber.
Miguel was always championing people. He was a master encourager. He coordinated hundreds of Senior Experience projects at CSUSM, and he encouraged (read, strong armed) countless local businesses professionals into becoming Executives in Residence (EIR), who mentor students in CoBA. About five years ago, he got me involved as an EIR. One of my roles as an EIR is to help college students learn how to beef up their LinkedIn profile and learn how to leverage LinkedIn for their own purposes (think internships, jobs, etc.). Every student that I mentored (nearly 100 by now) spent time on Miguel’s LinkedIn profile page. Miguel was a fantastic example of how to use LinkedIn as a professional. And I would show them all his page, I would end by telling them to send a connection request to him. I would say, “Just tell him Coach Bret sent you, and he’ll accept your connection request”. About six weeks into each new semester, I would see Miguel somewhere, and he would say, “You’ve been sending me a lot of students”. I would grin, “Yes, I have”. He loved it. He would always accept their request to connect. And he would tell them, “Let me know how I can help”. Some were smart enough to meet with him and get his advice for their professional journey. I wish more had taken that opportunity.
The day before Thanksgiving this year, I was once again on Miguel’s profile three different times with students I was mentoring. I was trying to help them understand how they could be more creative and descriptive with the “title” they create for themselves that appears under their name. Miguel has the craziest title in LinkedIn history. You ready for it….you might need to sit down for this one… “Founder and CEO | Agentic AI Integrator | AI Solutions Architect. I help leaders & business owners with their GTM (go to market) strategies and help them discover & activate their natural strengths. 1 (858) 401-6763.” I bet you didn’t know a title like that was legal in LinkedIn. Great example of going beyond the basics – also a cautionary tale of what not to do (like don’t put your phone number in your title – just sayin’, my friend!). But what I was also doing was showing the students how Miguel engaged LinkedIn masterfully.
Two days later (the day after Thanksgiving), I was flying to North Dakota with my wife and kiddos to visit family. When we got to our brief layover in Minneapolis, I saw a text message had come in from Miguel. I didn’t have time to check it as we were dashing to our next flight. When I landed in North Dakota later that evening, it was late, cold, and we were with family. So, I didn’t check my phone until the next morning. As I went to check my phone, I found out Miguel had passed. Of course, this made me extra curious as to what his text message had been. When I opened it, it was a verbal text message that was a typical Miguel-ism. Here he was, literally on his deathbed, in a hospital, and he took a moment to send me word of encouragement in my role at the Chamber and in the community. As he ended his words of encouragement to me, he said, “I’ll see you on the other side.” Yes, yes, my friend, you will. Rest in peace.