Nicholas chats with Dan Sahd, Team Leader at Sahd Metal Recycling and Board Member of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation, and Alex, a Team Member at Sahd Metal Recycling.
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Episode Transcript
[Nicholas]
So welcome to Servant Leadership Library where leadership stories come to life. Today, we’re diving into the heart of an industry and legacy.
Imagine a business forged through three generations, each one leaving an indebitable mark on the landscape of scrap metal recycling. Join us as we unveil the saga of Sahd Metal Recycling, the visionary steward of the family legacy and discover how servant leadership principles have not only sustained but transformed the scrap metal empire. This is more than a business journey.
It’s a testament to the power of leadership that spans generations. Buckle up for an inspiring ride into the world of scrap metal, steel and servant led success. This is Servant Leadership Library and I’m your host, Nick Paulukow.
Today, we have Dan Sahd, a third-generation owner and another family member, Alex, with us today. Sahd Metal Recycling started in 1941. Wow, congratulations.
With Frank Sahd, along with his help of his wife, Lucille, and his brothers. The second generation started in 1972, the sons of Frank. And the third generation took over in about 2005 when Dan joined the crew and started taking over the business.
I want to share with you Sahd’s mission and vision to kind of set the tone to this great organization. Sahd’s mission, which is pretty amazing for what they do, is Sahd’s Metal Recycling will enable our customers to sustainably recycle, providing the highest level of service and integrity, while maximizing the value of their metal with upfront pricing. I love that, right?
Integrity, maximizing value. And then their vision is to treat, this is number one, treat our customers fairly and honestly, accessible, and responsive to customer needs, prompt service and payment, stewards of the earth, and support our community. A lot of things these days that we don’t see, right?
An amazing part of their vision is their customer service. What you’ll really enjoy on their website. So, you should check that out.
So, let’s welcome Dan Sahd, one of the third-generation owners, and another family member, Alex, who works in the business in an operational role. We appreciate you coming on today to talk about servant leadership and your wonderful business. So welcome, Dan and Alex.
[Dan]
Nick, thank you so much. Thanks for having us.
[Nicholas]
Yeah, this is amazing. You guys are wonderful. It’s amazing to hear a third-generation company that’s still sustaining and thriving, which is pretty amazing.
So, congratulations and congratulations to your family. Could you share a brief overview of your family’s journey, you know, through the scrap metal recycling business and how it led to kind of three generations so far?
[Dan]
Yes, I’d love to. And, you know, everything goes back to the beginning story. So, servant leadership, I don’t think, just comes from nowhere.
And your family can trace that too. I know a little bit about your past and your family with the St. Joe’s community in Savage Hill. It’s kind of the same story.
So, our family, Lebanese immigrants from the Middle East, it started with my great grandfather in the late 1800s. Wow. Basically, would come over, work, and send money back.
He worked his way all the way to San Francisco to work on the docks. Wow, that’s amazing. And got the kids over one by one through France.
So, when you think about and you wonder why successive generations have such a hard time with continuing the legacy, it’s because everything they did was out of necessity. They were survivors. As we go along in our story from immigration to success, it’s hard to keep that hunger.
And I think that is the hardest thing for a lot of generations. And I give my ancestors and, you know, my father who carried that on of keeping us hungry and keeping hunger is really the key to servant leadership in my eyes. Because what it says is no matter what, I know the right way to lead and the right way to teach is by working side by side and showing you that there is nothing I will ask any of my employees to do that I am not willing to do.
And I think some people look at that as an antiquated way to lead. It’s honestly quite biblical in our roots. We both have family with a lot of pastors.
And I think that ties in also.
[Nicholas]
Yeah.
[Dan]
Servant leadership kind of is through that. And it’s what we were raised with. We saw it with Father Smith for you, who is so foundational in your family story.
Yes. And with us, it’s my brothers and my uncle who is a priest. But I think those strands of staying hungry and always looking to serve are what is needed to have that.
[Nicholas]
That’s wonderful. And that key word kind of, it’s pretty amazing how you go through the history of your family, right? We all have that history and they all, you know, have developed what we’re all here for today.
One key thing that I love, and it’s also on your website, which I think is pretty amazing. It says we look forward to serving. There it is.
Serving you now as we, with God’s grace, transition to our fourth generation and beyond. That’s amazing. So, it’s really amazing too that your organization talks about faith too, like in God and belief.
It’s pretty unique. Many of us on our organization as well, it just kind of instills kind of that servanthood, right? Talk to me a little bit about how that kind of infuses, you know, your beliefs into your organization as well, or how you serve your, you know, your customers.
[Dan]
I see God and I’m very careful to use inclusive language with that because actually one of my favorite scripture quotes is when St. Paul credited the Greeks with altars that they would have that were to God’s unknown, to God’s unnamed. You know, what I call God and who I call Jesus could be Muhammad to someone else. Who am I to know?
We are such, we’re so small in the big scope of things. So, I like to keep it inclusive, but I also don’t want to deny that there is a greater being that has given us everything we have. And it’s our honor to serve others as we were called to do.
And that is not exclusive of any tradition in my eyes. It’s something that is very inclusive and, and that’s how we seek to operate. My grandma was the, really the spirit behind that, the faith journey.
She was such a strong leader. She led really my three brothers to be priests, three priests and a scrap dealer is pretty unique. It’s amazing.
Which one of these doesn’t belong, but really in a sense, we are all doing the same mission is what we were right with to also piggyback on that and take that a little broader. Scrap metal was not something we sought out. Again, you have to think survival mode.
The scrap industry is really very dominated by Jewish Italian roots. Really? Mostly because it was all that was available to them when they came over to whatever wave of immigration, whatever was available, they took the jobs that they into, right?
Because they sought that serving where there was no one to serve. They found that little niche. So, our family started hauling fruit and then they would buy scrap and bring it back.
We got into antiques. They did anything to make money. They were buying burlap in 1940.
We have a receipt for, for all these odd things that they had, but we just kept moving. and by innovating, innovating almost by accident and continuing to serve, you find the niches just like your company. You are in a time of unprecedented change.
If you had a set menu, it would be outdated in a month. Right? If you have a set menu, your job is to find what a customer needs and offer it.
That’s right. That’s really all that we have been doing. And, and we’re just blessed to have young leaders like this guy who, um, my cousin, Mike’s cousin, Mike is my partner, my cousin, Mike, and this is his cousin, Alex.
He has led us on a journey and, and think about how everyone talks about Gen Z. They’re lazy. They’re this.
I, I point right next to me and your son who we’ve had the pleasure of having here for some summers working. That’s right. That’s right.
They defy the odds. And if you are there to mentor, it brings out the best in them. And he inherently has servant leadership down in more ways than I ever could.
So, we’re just, we are just blessed to have that. And when you have that in an organization, it’s infectious.
[Nicholas]
It’s huge, right? I mean, I think core, I think what you’re talking about is a lot about core values, right? Like you have the family, family dynamic, but it kind of add to your comment a minute ago.
My, my father came here with nothing when he was five years old, right? Ellis Island. And that when we grew up as kids, he said, he said two things.
He said, you know, Nick, if you have your ability to have faith and you work hard, that’s all you really need to have a happy life. And he’s absolutely right. You kind of a testament to that.
Right. But what’s really cool is you’re able to do these same things with family members too. So like Alex, like, like Dan was just saying a minute ago, like the core values that are present, like at Sahd and within your organization, how do you feel they get passed down to each generation?
What have you seen?
[Alex]
I mean, definitely. I’m not sure exactly like, like I think for servant leadership, like when we were talking about that, like you could definitely tell pretty much the first day when you come to work here, like Dan and Mike are not really just telling you to just go do something. Or if they’re, if they’re busy, they’ll have another guy teach you, but everyone’s like there to help you.
They’re not going to tell you like, yeah, kind of like what you said. They’re not going to; you’re not going to get told to do a job that like the person overseeing you wouldn’t do or hasn’t done just work altogether. Like, I think the big thing here is kind of like a family.
Like I’ve always came from Catholic school, obviously like Ethan has too. And like, I like pretty much went there from kindergarten to 12th grade. So, I’m really used to the family dynamic.
Everyone kind of knowing each other and everyone being friendly, helpful. And we kind of have the same type of thing going on here.
[Nicholas]
Absolutely. Yeah. That’s a valid point.
You kind of say like the, the teacher teaches someone else. Right. So, it sounds like when somebody comes into your family, they’re at Sahd Recycling, you teach them how to teach someone else.
Like that, that’s the coolest thing, right? Like, like in the world of business, like you’re, you’re immediately empowering them to be successful. Like you, you teach them to do something and then empower them to do something else or to teach someone else.
I think that’s really cool. And I, I think that’s really neat. Very unique in an organization.
Right. That is, that is growing.
[Dan]
Yeah. And, and think about, it even goes back. Think of the, the, the picture of an immigrant you have, you know, in New York city storefront.
What do you see? You see someone sweeping the sidewalk. That’s right.
No job is beyond someone. Doesn’t mean you have to do it every day. Right.
These guys know I’m going to get in the baler pit and I’m going to clean it out. And just, I think sometimes as, as leaders, we underestimate the ability of what things like that can do in a culture. Right.
And what it can let everyone know it’s acceptable and actually honored to take the harder job. And I, so from the minute this guy started, 2020 was our godsend COVID was the best thing that ever happened to us here.
[Nicholas]
We would not hear that too often.
[Dan]
I know. Let’s make up another one, but no, I’m kidding. Health issues aside, let’s make up another one.
If it leads to another batch, this guy and he just started. So, so the, the asynchronous classes allowed a place that only has one shift during the day to attract talent who could then take a class at night and catch up. And these guys all realized, hey, I can make some money and go to school and get things ahead.
They knew they would be ahead. And that is really what did it. But we’re asking a lot here.
This is a blue-collar environment. We were outside in all weather all the time. And don’t tell me Gen Z is soft.
There are, these kids are amazing. And they, I asked them to bounce from learning, going to networking events, going to economic forecast events, hosting their own cast, the dumpster talks.
[Nicholas]
Yeah, that’s awesome.
[Nicholas]
Going to torch metal, learning how to use a crane. He wants to learn to get a CDL. Like, um, think about the breadth of what that is.
And inherently he is learning so he can lead and tell the next people I know how to do all of this, and I will do any of it. Here’s what you need to do.
[Nicholas]
It’s amazing. I think they, uh, I think Mike Rose said this, the guy that’s part of a dirty jobs, right? And he said, you know, we lost a generation of people that want to work with our hands because we said everything was about everybody should go to college.
And that’s, you know, college is great. And I think, and then we should get further education. But I think education can be gathered in so many different ways outside of just a college arena too.
So, yeah, that’s great.
[Dan]
Well, Dan, can I share something with that?
[Nicholas]
Yeah, sure. Absolutely.
[Dan]
What did I say to you when you first told me when to quit school? Well, probably that I should not. I learned; this is the other thing with leadership.
You have to be open to saying you’re wrong and you’re learning. Yeah. That I think is another unlock that a lot of people are too afraid to do or too insecure.
Maybe I kind of live in him. And that was my own, you know, knowledge base that, that needed to be changed. That’s not because learning is expanded.
We learn every day here. That’s right. He was in a; he was in a Vistage group.
He’s at the peer. He’s a peer center. So, he’s continuing to learn, but yes, you are right.
The education looks different. I was just at a mentor. I have a mentee in the Lancaster chamber discovery program.
I was just there at my table from Donoval high school. One honored to have a kid there who we lead. Half of those kids want a job, either military electrician, carpentry.
They’re looking at these things. They, I think inherently see that those jobs cannot be AI. Right.
Right. It’s going to be hard to, to ChatGPT. My eight tracks.
[Nicholas]
Yeah. Well, well, well, and steel together or something like that. It’s going to be a little difficult to do that.
[Dan]
Correct.
[Nicholas]
Right. Yeah.
[Dan]
So, they, I think they, they’re smarter than we give them credit for, and they seek opportunities to serve.
[Nicholas]
That’s right. Well, I think that’s a great point. Well, let’s kind of switch dynamics a little bit.
So, we don’t get a uniqueness of having somebody here that’s been through multiple generations. So, we talked about how cool it is, but talk about some challenges, maybe that you could educate other family businesses that you faced working to maintain what was started a long time ago and moving it through the generations. I’m sure there’s been discussions and tough times, but kind of give us some advice there.
Lancaster County is full of generational businesses.
[Dan]
Oh, we are. We’re so blessed, but at the same time, I think you see a, a really big private equity movement. There are so many people that you look out there and they have no succession plan.
That’s right. And the big nameless investors come in. They promise that you can stay on for X amount of time.
It usually doesn’t work. They promise they’re going to keep all the jobs. Sometimes they do a great job of it, but it is very, very difficult to do that.
And I think the problem is the prior generations. I think one of the big problems is sometimes hanging on a little too long of control, just as youth and not bringing them in, not educating them, not giving them facts and figures, good times, and bad times. Sometimes people are afraid to share the good financial information.
They’re afraid to share the bad financial information. If you’re a kid and you’re looking at your future, if you don’t have that information there, you can’t make educated decision.
[Nicholas]
That’s a valid point. So, kind of the different generations were like, I got this till I don’t have it anymore. And then good luck.
You didn’t now figure it out, but I’m out. I’m retired, you know? So that’s actually a really valid point.
So, like that, that’s exactly what we see with you right now. You immediately are immersing these people into the information to empower them with education, which is really, really amazing. I mean, that is really amazing.
[Dan]
It’s also self-serving. I mean, it serves me to have this, these guys lead. Yeah.
Because the world of work, I think is going to be different in 15 and 20 years.
[Nicholas]
That’s right.
[Dan]
You already look at what you’re doing. I mean, the mobility we all have right now, right? You run your business.
I don’t think dad could have imagined running.
[Nicholas]
That’s right.
[Dan]
Correct.
[Nicholas]
Right. Absolutely not. No, dad would get up at six in the morning, head to work and show up when work was done.
You know, there was no virtual, you know?
[Dan]
Right. Right. So, and in 10 years, it’s going to look completely different.
So, I think, I think just having this, this continually moving in place is really important for everyone because you don’t want to get to the end of the line and have no plan.
[Nicholas]
That’s right. Well, talk a little bit more about that in plan. Like you, you talked, use the word Vistage, right?
Which is like a peer group. You talked about another peer group. What’s the value that, you know, Alex and your team have gotten out of?
Why, why do you do that? Why do you send them out of the organization? What, what value does that provide you as a leader?
[Alex]
Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me, like that I got out of, like I was in the Vistage peer group and basically just like different business leaders. Like you can be CFOs, HR operations, any type of leaders at a company and business and all types of size of businesses too. It just kind of showed me that like maybe if I have something that I’m frustrated with at work or something that’s challenging me, like I’m not, when I go and talk with it about my peer group, I realized like I’m not the only one facing this issue.
[Nicholas]
That’s a good one.
[Alex]
Helps me think like in a bigger, bigger picture way of how to grow the business, how to make us better. How to do better. And then like on the other side, kind of what you were just saying, like Mike and Dan, like are never afraid to show any of us employees anything.
Like they always will ask for our input or like bring us into meetings. Yeah. You were talking about our, our, our mission statement and you read that off our website.
Like we’re in meetings right now trying to rewrite that and come up with a different one a little bit and stuff like that. Like how we can, how we can have a plan to grow our business going forward. And I think like, yeah, just being putting your employees in that type of stuff, like get some thinking in a different mood, I would say.
[Nicholas]
That’s impressive, man. Dan, that is amazing, right? Like to see this generation, it’s an openness, right?
I don’t think our generation of fathers and mothers necessarily would have gone to a mentor route. I think it’s really amazing that we, and I think it’s impressive that we all have someone outside of our work area to have mentorship, right? We learn from people that have already worked through it.
And I’ll tell you 10 years into starting a business, I wish I would have learned that there, I should have gotten a mentor 20 years ago, right? Because there are seasons, right? And those seasons change, and you find different areas to get mentorship.
But wow, that is so impressive.
[Dan]
And you have, you were in Vistage before I was, you have gained so much from that. And just being around the table among people you trust, Sell for Vistage. I mean, I’m in the high center too.
We have multiple guys. We have, we have 21-year-olds in these peer groups that are 10 years younger than anyone else. And I so believe in that, like, and here’s, here’s where I see this happening on both sides.
Sure. The, the more seasoned people are really, he’s going to be a little bit more of a taker at first, but they are getting a, they’re getting a focus group of their current and definite future customer that they can’t pay for. Right.
They are getting a focus group that they; they would never be able to get by having someone like Alex in their room. And, and that, that diversity, when we talk diversity, it encompasses everything. We think of it sometimes so narrow.
That’s right. You need a diverse audience and a diverse group of key players in your life because your customer base is diverse. That’s right.
The broad, you want the broadest base possible and where better to learn than someone like Alex.
[Nicholas]
So, I mean, it’s absolutely true.
[Dan]
It’s a no brainer. The short-term production you lose is so worth that. And we have gained business just by being out in the community.
A lot of times I think people think very narrowly with the way they market their business, what you’re doing with this podcast. You’re not talking about networking.
[Nicholas]
Right.
[Dan]
In the, in the true sense of the way you IT network, we’re talking about leadership. Right. When you expand the things, you talk about, you expand.
People want to do business with people. They’re not doing business with the business.
[Nicholas]
And you give them empowerment through that education, right? If we can empower each other through this education, it only helps all of us be successful as long as we’re all within the same core values, right? Like, like there’s a great book out there.
Maybe Alex, you would love this. It’s called the go giver. I don’t know if you ever heard it.
It’s a small book. It is an amazing story. One group that I’m part of, you actually had to read the book prior to entering the group.
It’s an industry group, but the go giver talks exactly about what we’re talking about, about servant leadership. And it talks about what does it look like as we mature? Dan, as you mature and mature Alex, where, where does your seasons change?
And what does that look like from switching, right? You’re already go giving by putting Alex in these, in these situations, which is pretty cool. So, there’s, there’s a lot of data that shows just like mindedness and culture really is kind of King, right?
[Dan]
Oh, it sure is. It sure is. So, to the other, thinking about the other side of that, when you have a young leader, the thing to think about there is the frustration they can face.
[Nicholas]
That’s right.
[Dan]
And it’s not, sometimes he doesn’t probably feel like going to a Vistage group. He’d rather produce in the yard. Sometimes he would rather not try to manage his friends.
[Nicholas]
Right?
[Dan]
It’s a, it’s a very tough thing, but that we talk about comfortable and comfortable all the time. The, the growth in those moments is what will make him better. He knows it.
Doesn’t always love it. Correct?
[Nicholas]
Huh? Hey, the uncomfortable things just make you grow all the time, right? Like we say, if you’re in a growth mindset, it’s going to be uncomfortable all the time, you know?
Well now how, let’s talk about kind of like you were talking about this transition, right? How do you strike a balance between like preserving what was the history of the organization and embracing this new innovation that you’re talking about? Alex, you just said, hey, we might be adjusting kind of the mission.
How do you, how do you find line kind of your history to preserving kind of, you know, and adopting the changes today? Talk to us a little bit about that. Cause many of us don’t get to go through that journey, right?
We might be entrepreneurs that started a company and we haven’t gone through this generation. So many times, we don’t understand what that means or even how to think about that.
[Dan]
I, I would, the part I would say is kind of like the Simon Sinek, find your why is the history of the company is not what we did. It’s why we did it. And what was at the core, we were surviving.
Okay. We were feeding our family. We were building community.
We were becoming ingrained into the community, not accepted right away. So, what I would say is staying true to the spirit of the mission and not the details of the mission is what matters. And oftentimes when my dad and I, I mean, believe me, it’s not roses every day here.
And he’s often said, I think my favorite line of my dad is that we survived, you know, 60 years without Dan Sahd. I don’t know how he did it. Things back at each other.
It’s probably why Tim went to the priesthood. Your father, Tim, went to the priesthood. It’s very hard to call your brother’s father.
[Nicholas]
But I know that that would be difficult.
[Dan]
He’s still thing face to me. He honestly, it doesn’t work. So anyway, it’s not always roses, but what we always tied back to is at the core.
We have those core value of just working hard to survive, support our family and make our community better. If we have disagreements and we both have that core thing in common, we can bridge that every time. I love that.
[Nicholas]
That’s a wonderful answer.
[Dan]
When one of us is off of the spirit of how this company started, that’s where you find who’s right and who’s wrong. I think so many times we tie ourselves to the exact thing we do. The things we do, as I said, in your business, change.
Your business is super accelerated. Ours less so, but they change so quickly. Our generations, you think our fathers were not used to change, were decently used to change.
These guys grew up in change. They grew up in 90s. They know.
[Nicholas]
They’re used to connecting to more of a global market due to the connectivity they had to it. We didn’t have that necessarily. It’s amazing to learn from them.
[Dan]
Yeah. We had channels. Well, you’re younger than me, of course.
I had two to 13. When did you have cable on Cabbage Hill?
[Nicholas]
Oh, man. We didn’t get cable until grade school maybe.
[Dan]
Okay. All right.
[Nicholas]
Yeah.
[Dan]
That would be Tim and Kyle’s experience. I had two to 13 with Rabbit Ears. Oh, there you go.
We had nothing. These guys have grown up with all of that.
[Nicholas]
Instant information. That was a great answer though, Dan. That’s kind of like what we talk about with core values and core focus and getting everybody on the same proverbial bus.
I mean, you’re basically saying that you guys have a compass to measure it by. They can hold each other accountable. I think that’s a wonderful answer.
I mean, and you mentioned a lot. go ahead.
[Dan]
No, at our best, that’s what we do. We don’t always get there, but at our best, that’s what we do.
[Nicholas]
Well, I mean, it’s like any family, right? We have our work families too, right? Even if we’re not related, we’re still there.
If we’re there for the same mission and vision, we’re a family, right? Absolutely. Now, you talked about community quite extensively a minute ago.
Share kind of some of the initiatives. I was just on the website. I saw some of your holiday give back and initiatives, but you have an annual event.
Kind of share what you meant by like getting involved in your community. What does that mean for you as a business owner as well? Like, what’s the purpose of getting involved with the community in that way?
[Dan]
We’re going to let Alex do that because his perspective is important on that one. Yeah.
[Alex]
I think like, obviously like we’re in a small, like a small town doesn’t get the best reputation sometimes, but it’s kind of getting built up too. And like we do a lot of different stuff. Like you mentioned the Earth Day event.
Yeah. We have like an Earth Day everyday tour here every month. So that brings in like kind of whatever kids or whatever parents, whoever really anyone wants to come bring people in here to look at what we have going on and kind of show like, this is part of the future.
The way we recycle, we might not be doing scrap forever, but like this sustainability, what we promote a lot, a big part of like the community we’re in and the environment and stuff. And yeah, like yesterday a bunch of guys from here did a food drive right up here at the fire hall in Columbia.
[Nicholas]
Oh, that’s wonderful.
[Alex]
Yeah. The food drive, do, like Todd and Eileen, they both went out and did like two different elementary schools and kind of promoted the industry and our business.
[Dan]
Yeah, we see our mission as educating and sustainability and giving the wow factor of it. When kids see the equipment that gives them something to latch onto. And we use that wow factor to inspire.
So, if that can inspire and start to teach, you’re not going to sit them down and teach. You show them the crane. That’s an easy way to teach.
So, wow factor. The other thing with community, I would say is a lot of our young group, they were born and raised in Columbia. I was raised in Columbia.
Then I went to New York and DC for 15 years. I’m your neighbor in Millersville now. There you go.
And, but that for me, they, this is their community. They are so proud of it. And the pride they have in our company makes me proud.
I, I will do anything for these guys because of that.
[Alex]
That’s also part of like the last sentence or the last question that you asked about, like how we keep like the things that older generations did. Like, I feel like just growing up in Columbia, obviously like my older cousin is Michael and then his dad was second generation, my uncle, Mike. So, I’ve always known about the yard, but even just anyone in Columbia, like you always hear good things about like out of Sahds, going to Earth Day and like, just how good, how good all the people out are, are out over there.
And that we’re always very giving. So like, that’s kind of another thing we want to keep going.
[Nicholas]
Absolutely.
[Alex]
The kids were showing stuff too. Like when we have kids from Columbia come in and take a tour of here, like they’re all maybe could work here one day. Or like, this is a big, like Lancaster is a huge, Lancaster and York, a big part of manufacturing.
So they might be that we want to work with one day or even just like, just connecting for whatever sake, really.
[Nicholas]
Yeah. That’s amazing. You’re kind of like, you kind of take supporting that community that supported you over all the years.
That’s amazing.
[Dan]
Like, I want to track one more thing. We did a study of the generations.
[Nicholas]
Oh, yes.
[Dan]
Did you guys have.
[Nicholas]
Absolutely. I love that.
[Dan]
We probably had the same guy, but one of the things that really, really, really stuck out to me is we, every generation counters the one that was before.
[Nicholas]
It kind of, that’s right.
[Dan]
His generation, as I said before, they grew up with nine 11. They’re looking for security and they are looking for family. At the same time, some of our cultural and unfortunately, religious institutions have not held up their end of the bargain.
And work has become a lot of that. And I try the leaders that recognize that this is the new base of community will thrive. And these guys talk it.
They, they love spending time together outside of work. Serving. I see your team doing stuff like that.
Yeah. Olympics bowl. Yeah.
[Nicholas]
Well, I think it’s important that, that, you know, when we grew up, it was about community. We, we were at church or in our community.
[Dan]
We were bowling at.
[Nicholas]
That’s right. And we, we were there though to help each other. Right.
And it might’ve been different. Like you had mentioned, Dan, that’s a great example of like, we were doing some of it out of necessity. We didn’t have a choice.
We helped each other. And now that we have more means and ways, there’s some companies that have gone more towards, you know, it’s about necessarily, I don’t want to say about them, but we’re kind of infusing values within our organization as well. And I think that’s really cool.
You talked about leadership too. What would you say for the people that may listen? What are non-negotiable like leadership principles that you’ve learned, or you’re passing down to Alex and others?
[Dan]
Wow. I would ask that because it, what I passed down only matters to those who receive. So their perception of what that is, is more important than mine.
[Alex]
That would be like on the door. Remember when we were at Ken’s company the other day?
[Dan]
Yeah. Yeah.
[Alex]
What are the non-negotiables here? What would you say? Kind of like what goes in with our core values too, but like just always want to have a hard work ethic, like work hard enough to get everything we need to get done today.
You got to be kind of comfortable, like in those uncomfortable times.
[Nicholas]
That’s a good one.
[Alex]
What else would I say?
[Dan]
I think the one you live the most is putting others first.
[Alex]
Putting others first.
[Dan]
This guy, and I’m sorry to be.
[Nicholas]
No, I love it. One of our core values is we before me, right? So, I hear that there, right?
I love that. Yeah.
[Dan]
Oh, that’s excellent. We before me. I wish I could have stolen that.
[Nicholas]
You can borrow that. You can borrow that. But we before me then helps us just like how you educated me on, on that guiding light.
Those are for us are, are we living by that? So, every individual can say, are you, are you, you know, being servant minded is one of ours and leading with the moral compass. And we, before me, ultimately, we’re here to take care of our family and individuals.
But the end of the day, are we doing it together? And so that kind of gives us kind of our compass many times for each individual to call them out, go and, you know, you used a lot of eyes there. Like this is we, right?
Like we’re in this together. And it just is a quick way for all of us to reset. Right.
[Dan]
That is wonderful. Can I ask the, the, the founding story of your company and the name one to one, that’s something I’ve actually never asked.
[Nicholas]
Yeah, that’s a great question. So, I started one to one and the, and I was interviewing one of my mentors back then. And I said, I’ve started this, but I need a name.
And he asked me why I was doing it. And I said, well, I want it to have this personal relationship with everyone I interact with. And that should really be important.
And the interaction became the name. So, we want to do this one 2 one. We want to do this together.
And we, and we have that rooted in kind of our beliefs every time, you know, have a good personal one to one reaction or interaction with each person. So, you know, yeah. And the core value is interesting.
We run a system called EOS, an entrepreneur operating system. And what I realized over the years is being a young entrepreneur, one, Alex kind of being in your situation, more of an, an adult environment with people older and wiser, they say.
[Dan]
And I was younger in that hair.
[Nicholas]
They always told me that I just, because I was young, I didn’t know anything. So that really was hard to get into business, right? Without a mentor.
And so, what I realized is over the years of having people in the world, in the organization, it always felt weird. Like, why was there a group of people that we got along? And there was a group that just seemed really hard to get, get, get connected with.
And, and this reminds me because you’re talking about the mission and you’re, you’re looking at that. What I really sat back and reflected kind of had a Clary break. I wrote down all the things of why I started the organization and what was important.
And when I took those and compared it to why I was upset, I really realized that we had different core values, and it wasn’t the person that there was nothing wrong with them. But at the end of the day, every time I got upset, I felt that a core value of myself and the organization was actually being impeded on. And it took quite a long time to figure out, wow.
So, what, what are they? And we, we took a time to actually write them down and say, what really bothers us when people, you know, have a problem or there’s an issue. And it was about what we care about.
We, it’s not about I, well, what it build us into is now when we attract other individuals into our family at one-to-one, we want to make sure they’re aligned with that because that’s how we’re going to move forward.
[Dan]
Um, and so, yeah, I think it’s so interesting. Sometimes taking the negative example is so much more powerful to build your core values than thinking of the positive one, because it’s so easy to see what rubs us the wrong way, what doesn’t. It’s so obvious.
And the way you did that using that negative as the way to create what your core value is, is sometimes the most powerful way to do it.
[Nicholas]
It is. It’s amazing. I mean, we all learn, right?
So, if we’re not open, um, if we’re, we’re a fixed mindset and we’re not willing to grow, you know, that’s really difficult. And that also can create conflict. I see working with a lot of family-owned businesses, right?
You got the younger generation wanting to grow and the older one going, I’ve already been there, Dan, I’m tired. Like you do what you need, you know? And so, um, that’s also key into the organization that you work with people today, right?
Like it seems like you and Alex are very in tune to what you want and where you’re going. And that’s really important too.
[Dan]
We are, but we don’t always agree. And the truth most often is in the middle. And that’s typically what I see.
It’s the give and take that gets us to where we need to be because, um, no one, no one has all the answers. So, the truth is often right in the middle. And, and, you know, that’s why I think a lot of times when people focus on generations, it’s, they are this, they are that.
It’s honestly, the truth is often in the middle.
[Nicholas]
You’re absolutely right. And I think the one thing you just mentioned, uh, is, uh, I’m big into reading, but, Patrick Lencioni, he wrote the five dysfunctional team and advantage. And, and the big thing that he said that seems rings true to you is you should got to be humble, hungry, and smart.
And, and that was really important to us. Humbleness was part of the core values of like, we want you to admit when you do wrong, but, you know, celebrate as a whole. And that was important to us.
I mean, we, we were humble people, uh, almost to our detriment. Sometimes we were so humble. We didn’t want anybody to know, uh, what we actually did.
That was very difficult. Uh, but you know, we’ve taken a lot of your time here. Uh, why don’t you, to each give us from your perspective, as we wind down here a little bit, um, anybody aspiring to work in a family business or anybody, uh, getting into kind of like leadership, what advice would you give them?
So, uh, Dan, why don’t you start first and then we’ll wrap with Alex on this.
[Dan]
Sure. I would say, um, you’ve touched on so many of the core values. I almost feel like I’m repeating, but I would say the biggest thing is the humility to know that you need to learn every day.
If you have some inherent drive, some inherent skill, and if you want it, as long as you have the humility to be open to learning, to learning your markets through other people, to learning, you’re using people as a focus group, using sounding boards. I think there’s no way you can’t succeed.
[Nicholas]
That is great. That’s a good one. Alex, how about you?
[Alex]
Yeah, I think, um, biggest thing is just kind of figure out what, figure out what you like to do every day. Um, pretty much and see how that matches up with like what your tasks are every day, whatever business you’re working in. And then kind of see if there’s like a role where you can, you can really just be like, like right now, I’ve even struggled like in the past three years working here, just kind of finding like some other stuff, some stuff frustrates me.
Like, um, I wasn’t, when I first started having to kind of manage like a little team that was kind of the proverbial friend and boss situation. Oh, wow.
[Dan]
We can tell you all about that. Yeah.
[Alex]
So yeah, just kind of like in that situation, it was like kind of what we talked about, like just showing what all I can do. And then people kind of would follow me. So that’s kind of the type of deal.
Um, yeah, I think just kind of take some time to figure out who you are and like what, what you like to do. And I think you’ll be in a, find yourself in a good place.
[Dan]
And, and, and to that point, sometimes my thoughts of what I see in Alex is not what Alex sees yet, or I could be totally wrong in what I see in Alex. So, my hopes and dreams for him may not match his hopes and dreams. So that, that middle ground.
[Alex]
Yeah. But then also like, yeah, there might be some stuff that maybe doesn’t match up. Like, I don’t really want to do that today.
Or I don’t think that’s like something I’m interested in doing. I sometimes had to like, just get over that and kind of just like, believe in what Dan’s telling me just for this day to go try this one thing. And that should never, never like never sell yourself short of doing something either.
Like a lot of stuff, I didn’t want to go to that at the end of the day, I came home. I was like, I’m glad I did it. Yeah.
[Dan]
Alex in high school would never put in his yearbook. We’ll be hosting a podcast.
[Nicholas]
Yeah. That’s amazing though. But you know, that’s a definition or a testament to having a good, good leader, right?
So, you just said that Dan leads you, a guy pushing you to do things maybe that you can’t see yourself and manages you by doing the work himself and showing you how to do it. And I’m sure hold you accountable, you know, to what what’s done. So that’s amazing.
I mean, you guys are a testament to just how to, to, to grow a business and properly lead and manage people that we don’t see that every day. And that’s amazing. You guys should be very impressed with yourself.
We’re blessed.
[Alex]
Yeah.
[Nicholas]
It’s a blessing, right?
[Alex]
One thing about like, um, when we were sitting about the non-negotiables, I didn’t get in was like, also just, we talked about blameless problem solving. It was like one of our kind of one of our, we had it as a core value. I don’t know if it made it in the final.
[Dan]
It was my favorite that I got out.
[Alex]
I love that. Yeah. Pretty much just like, like every day here, everyone has stuff that we do differently.
I’m like, there’s a thousand different ways to process like the metal and stuff. And some people might like based on like your experience or how much you’ve done it or whatever. Like some people might know the best way.
If another person doesn’t do it like that way or gets messed up or whatever, just kind of show them that rather than blaming them and just say like this person. And they just walk away from it. Try to try to push through that, which also is not always easy either.
[Nicholas]
No, it’s not actually, that’s well said. You’re, you’re talking about how to, that’s just part of leading yourself, right? Like, like being open to seeing if somebody might have a better way to do it, but, but, in essence, managing them to the result, not necessarily managing them to the way that you do it.
So that that’s neat. That’s how we all learn and grow too. That’s well said.
You got a smart one here, Dan. Very impressive.
[Dan]
Very blessed.
[Nicholas]
Now, before we wrap up, why don’t you tell everyone how to go and hear about your podcast, your videos? Like, where do we go to find all that cool stuff? Cause I was just on there and I learned so much about the market of nickel and copper.
I’m like, how did these guys know this stuff? It’s impressive. So, I, how does everybody else get to learn about it?
[Alex]
So yeah, TikTok, I believe it was just all of our socials. I think it’s just saw metal recycling.
[Nicholas]
Okay. Very good.
[Alex]
And you can also look up Dumpster Talk podcasts on YouTube. Nice. That’ll have, we have like, I believe over 50 episodes on there with just different people from our industry or your industry or anyone.
[Nicholas]
That’s amazing.
[Alex]
And then also, yeah, Instagram and TikTok, we have YouTube shorts on there that we try to do market updates. Just kind of show the team sometimes do like funny questions. We’ll probably ask like, what are you excited for on your winter break?
Or whatever, just easy stuff like that.
[Nicholas]
But yeah, I learned something every time I see it. So, I follow you guys on social, so I check it out every time, you know, I get, I get my education on that. So that’s pretty cool.
[Dan]
Thank you, sir.
[Nicholas]
Well, thank you guys. Well, let’s wrap it up for today. So, thank you for joining and, you know, for following us in this incredible journey through the generations of servant leadership in the world of metal recycling.
Today, we delved into inspiring story of Sahd Metal Recycling and the legacy that has shaped a thriving business over three generations. As we reflect on the principles of servant leadership, we’ve reminded that leadership is not just about business strategy. It’s about the people, as Dan said, the community and leaving a lasting impact.
Sahd Metal Recycling’s journey showcases how servant leadership has been the guiding force behind the success of their metal recycling empire. We hope you find this inspiring and the resilience values and commitment to service that have defined this family business. Remember true leadership extends beyond the boardroom, leaving imprints of both industry and community alike.
If you enjoyed today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave us a review. Connect with us on social media at one 2 one Inc. Dot com to share your thoughts and experiences.
As we wrap up, let’s carry the spirit of servant leadership into our lives and endeavors. This is servant leadership library signing off with gratitude and a reminder that leadership’s like fine metal with it withstands the test of time until next time lead with purpose.
[Dan]
Beautiful.
[Nicholas]
All right, guys. Thank you!
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