In this episode of the Servant Leadership Library, host Nicholas Paulukow sits down with Brandon Stanchock, the CEO of SWF Industrial. They delve into Brandon’s unique approach to leadership, which seamlessly blends his corporate expertise with his personal passions for gaming, YouTube, mowing, and breakfast.
Listeners will gain insights into how Brandon balances his diverse interests while fostering a culture of servant leadership. Join us for an inspiring conversation that highlights the power of authenticity and innovation in leadership.
Watch the episode above or listen over at Spotify. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next great servant leader’s story!
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Episode Transcript
Nicholas Paulukow
So, welcome, fellow seekers of Servant Leadership wisdom. My name is Nicholas Paulukow, the host of Servant Leader’s Library. Prepare to embark on a journey with a twist, led by none other than the CEO of SWF Industrial, a proud gamer, amateur YouTuber, and aficionado of all things mowing and breakfast.
Get ready to explore the unique blend of corporate prowess, gaming finesse, digital storytelling, and a deep love for simple pleasures in life. This podcast isn’t your typical boardroom banter. It’s a rollercoaster ride through the mind of a modern leader who believes in serving others while embracing his passions.
So grab your headphones, settle in, and let’s dive into the electric world of Servant Leadership with a dash of cheekiness. Let’s welcome our guest today, Brandon Stanchock. Brandon is the CEO of SWF Industrial.
They’re a leading metal fabrication company with extensive design knowledge, industrial experience, and state-of-the-art operational capacity. From humble beginnings in a one-car garage, SWF has grown to become one of the most trusted names in metal fabrication, serving industrial and commercial clients throughout the United States. Well, Brandon, welcome.
Glad you could join us today. Please help us walk through that intro: CEO, gamer, YouTuber, all things mowing and breakfast.
We need to know more. Tell us a little bit about that.
Brandon Stanchock
Okay, so first of all, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Shannon Sharpe’s podcast, but he’s notoriously known for having the best intros for all of his guests. I felt like you just nailed that.
Nicholas Paulukow
I don’t know if half those things are true.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, so yeah. All that, I think, falls into my basket somehow. That was amazing.
Nicholas Paulukow
Well, thank you for that. I mean, that’s a heck of an intro, though. Tell us a little bit about that.
I’m sure it combines a lot of your loves, but help us understand that.
Brandon Stanchock
Sure. Yeah, so I came to SWF Industrial in June of ’18. It’s a family business.
Al was my father-in-law. Al passed away on Christmas night, actually, in 2020. Oh, wow.
Yeah, he started the company in ’84. In ’86, he bought his first building. In 2010, he built the second building.
And then he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia for about 8 to 10 years before he passed away. So, yes, I don’t want to start on a dire note, but I got involved in ’18, really because of that situation that was going on. We had a big family meeting.
And the only reason I’m flying through this is because I’ve told this story many a time.
Nicholas Paulukow
No need to apologize. That’s all right.
Brandon Stanchock
So, yeah. That’s when I came over here. I had no idea what I was doing.
I was in power plant construction for 10 years up until that point. So the gaming piece of that, I’ve always been a monstrous gamer since I was about 11. I got a Nintendo when I got my tonsils out.
And then I pretty much never looked back. But in those 10 years, I traveled for 8 years straight. You know, I’d be gone for 6, 9 months at a time on these projects.
Nicholas Paulukow
Okay.
Brandon Stanchock
And so it was just me and my Xbox traveling the country in hotel rooms or staying in terrible places that most people wouldn’t stay because I wanted to save money.
Nicholas Paulukow
Hey, that’s smart. You really utilized your time quite well there, right? So, favorite game then during that time?
Brandon Stanchock
Oh, man. Pretty much anything team-based or co-op based. I’m big into shooters.
But anytime I could get on and play with my friends really carried me through that 8 years because it’s pretty lonely being out on the road, not seeing your family for months on end. I was single for most of that, so it wasn’t a big deal.
But most people were going to the bars. I was going home and getting on my headset and playing with my friends. So I saved a lot of money and stayed out of trouble.
And then I’ve just kept up with that. I think gaming is probably the passion that will live forever.
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s awesome. Does it also, you know, kind of coming from the role that you’re in today, right? Like it can be a lot of stress and a lot of anxiety potentially at times.
You know, being a leader never has any of those things. But, you know, just in case maybe it’s in your world. It’s possible I could see how kind of the gaming gives you somewhat of that relaxation, too.
Is that true to say?
Brandon Stanchock
Totally. Yeah. If I’m really, really stressed, I would struggle with concentration.
So I’d probably have to switch my games up to like something easygoing, like maybe farming simulator where I’m just picking crops. But if I want to get super salty in shooters, I have to be in the right headspace for that as well and not too exhausted. But yes, it is.
It is definitely my unplug. I see lots of online articles about how it’s such a waste of time, blah, blah, blah, blah. I counterbalance that by having YouTube be a part of that.
So I try to keep my creator versus consumer ratio within reason. So, I don’t know. That’s kind of how I battle that with my own head.
I need it and I use it to also create things. So it’s not as bad as everybody makes it out to be.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, I think it’s a really valid point because, you know, for me, for example, I kind of like to use music. People like yell at me. They’re like, why do you have like a show or music running while you’re working on something?
And I’m like, it’s not the act of watching it. It’s the act of that like constant that allows me to kind of reset, get in the zone. And it sounds like kind of the gaming is the same for you, I would imagine.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah. And I’m a hugely competitive person. It kind of scratches that itch as well, even though I’m not the best or will never be the best.
I enjoy that competitive side of things. Yeah. And then trying to be the most non-toxic person on the Internet is also important to me.
So you want to really test your relationship skills and how quickly you can make somebody your friend. Try dropping into a random game with someone from anywhere in the world and get them to be your friend in under 30 minutes. It’s what I do literally every night.
I just had a guy last night I met and we played like five games in a row because we hit it off in 30 minutes. I don’t know who this person is. I just start a conversation and say, hello, how’s your afternoon going?
Blah, blah, blah.
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s amazing. My son says the same thing. So I’m connecting with that.
He’s just about to go to college and he said, Dad, listen, I am loud and obnoxious up here, but I’m meeting people from around the world that I’ve never met. And you give me a hard time for a balance of like being out and being in there. But he’s like, you know, at nighttime I get to meet people that are in different time zones.
It’s pretty cool. So, yeah, that’s me.
Brandon Stanchock
My gaming friends came to my wedding, so that’s how important it can be.
Nicholas Paulukow
Did they really? Did they come physically or virtually?
Brandon Stanchock
Physically, yeah. So a guy from Florida, Cape Cod, New Jersey. Yeah, so I had friends from all over that flew in to come to my wedding.
Nicholas Paulukow
That is awesome. I think that’s going to really tie into some of your leadership that we’re going to learn about here today. But before we get into that, I got to know, I was told by a few people, I have to ask about the hats.
So I think that’s also going to come with the comfort of learning about your leadership style. So tell us more. We all need to know.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, I don’t know. It’s a style thing for me. I like to, so anybody who works here knows that I really try to match up shirt, hat, shoes type situation.
The shoes thing is just recent, I’ve started becoming a bit of a shoe connoisseur. But no, I mean, I wore, with traveling all that time and being in construction, hats are kind of a normal thing in that world. And it’s, yeah, it’s just part of my personality.
It always has been. And then now that I’m here, I, yeah, I don’t have to not wear hats. So they’re just, it’s a comfort thing for me and I enjoy it.
And like I said, I like, I probably, somebody asked me, Dan Fisher just asked me the other day how many hats I own. And I probably said about 50 and I probably only paid for about half of them because I just get, you know, random. Like I’m repping Sod’s Metal Recycling, you know, whatever it is, as long as it’s cool and it fits an outfit, I’m golden.
Nicholas Paulukow
That is awesome. You know, but you know, what’s really cool about it is, is as a leader, it seems as if you get what you get, right? Like, you know, some people say, you know, when I was in corporate America, everybody’s like, well, you have to conform to like how everybody else is.
And what I found is if I just was who I was, I might have not been within the bigger piece, but everybody respected me for being who I was. So I can imagine it’s the same for you. You know, you’re just living your life and you’re leading through who you are, which probably helps your team as well, kind of be who they are in the organization.
Do you find that at all? Or am I oversimplifying such a concept there?
Brandon Stanchock
No, I think you’re right on. I certainly don’t get caught up in that headspace of like, I got to fit a mold, but I’ve kind of always been that way. I would say there are times when I probably hurt the initial view of me with the way I kind of don’t care in that space with, you know, sweatshirts and hats and things like that.
Like, I’m not a fan of the saying, you know, dress for the job that you want, like that whole. I just don’t get on board with that. I just think it’s very dated.
But that’s also because, you know, I think, you know, you should really be going with and looking at people’s potential through their mindset, how they treat people. It really has nothing to do with clothes, I don’t believe. But, you know, that’s a totally bucking the system thing, which is pretty normal for me.
I love that.
Nicholas Paulukow
I love it, you know, because it brings a memory back to me about 20 years ago, I got into a business called ONE 2 ONE. And I was the young guy that knew nothing. And I shouldn’t be here because I’m young.
And I wanted to know why young was so intimidating to other people. And I don’t know if it was intimidation, or they just felt I knew nothing. And I had no value because I was young.
And that was a bit of a and I realized, well, if I drew a fancy drove a fancy car, they now respected me. And I realized, man, those aren’t the people I want to hang out with. But where are the people that I want to hang out with and be led by was a difficult challenge.
And that kind of got me into kind of this conversation I’m having with others, right? Like, how do we continue to find the right people that we want to be with and lead with? And it’s not always, you know, there was nothing wrong with the people.
It just felt very non supportive, right? You’re a new entrepreneur, you’re getting in the industry, maybe a new leader. And you’re like, why is this so like, you know, if I drive the fancy car and have debt that you’ll respect me.
It’s very interesting that you say that I’ve run into very little people that have experienced that. But it looks like you’re kind of been kind of moved into a role probably at a certain age, you know, with the dynamic of the family. So I can imagine that’s been difficult too.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, I just posted not too long ago on LinkedIn about that. I kind of fell into a role I didn’t deserve, right? Or I didn’t earn.
And it was a family situation. And when I talked to the people I work with for my LinkedIn account, you know, they said, like, there’s tons of people who need to hear that. Like, what does that look like for you?
And so when you put it into words, it’s just like, yeah, it was an opportunity. It’s not something I ever wanted. I always tell people if Al had his choice, I would have been the last person on the planet to be in this seat.
Because we got along, but not in that we weren’t that close. You know, it’s just I had the experience at that point in time to help out as much as I could. So, yeah, I had, I think, imposter syndrome.
We talked I talked about that in a recent post quite a bit. But the one thing when you’re walking into those situations, I feel like if you just like you said, be yourself, be as genuine as you can be as humble as you can with understanding what you’re good at, what you’re not good at. I think that’s the big thing for people is being OK with your insecurities and letting people know that.
Like so one the one of the very first things I said to everyone when I got here is I don’t know how to read tape measure. I’m the most mechanically deficient person probably in this building. And so when you talk shop, I can’t I can’t live that world with you.
I will walk through and love everything you build because I can’t even come close to being able to do that. I barely change my own mower oil like without YouTube videos. So it’s a struggle bus.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, but that probably gives you an advantage. Right. I talk to other entrepreneurs and other groups that I’m in.
And, you know, they run businesses that they have. One is like I’m running an IT business and I have no idea what IT is. I’m just great at sales.
And he was very, you know, he just owned it. Right. He’s like, I don’t know.
Don’t care. You know, but it gives me an advantage of not knowing because I can ask a lot of questions, which in turn then creates a lot of potential solves where there might be issues that we’ve done it the same way. So have you experienced that with kind of transitioning into the organization?
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, I mean, the diversity of thought I’m a huge fan of. That’s why I probably bring more people into meetings than I should or that people see as needed. I am a complete opposite of Elon Musk.
I love the diversity of thought, even if it’s only one tiny gem that comes out of someone’s mouth. It’s something that the rest of us couldn’t think about because we’re just ramming into the problem the same way. So, yeah, I love large groups.
I love bringing people in that aren’t comfortable with meetings. Right. So to learn, maybe just to learn etiquette.
I remember the president at my last company, he took me all the way to Texas just to sit in a meeting and get yelled at. And I wasn’t allowed to say anything. But he said, you need to experience what this feels like.
A customer that is that unhappy and you have to just take it, even though you’re not completely wrong. It doesn’t matter in that moment. How do I prep for this?
You sit there and shut up. You know, not that we’re doing that, but I think not talking over each other teams is difficult versus being, you know, in person. All that stuff people have to learn.
And if you’re not exposed to it, I think it’s a big disservice.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, that’s an excellent thing. I think that goes into something. I’m going to read this one and go off that I saw on your LinkedIn.
And I love this. It says, if you want others to like you, if you want to develop real friendships, if you want to help others at the same time as you help yourself, keep this principle in mind. Become genuinely interested in other people.
Dale Carnegie. And that’s exactly what you’re saying, right? You’re just becoming interested in those people, regardless of what seat they play in the company, which kind of builds that inherent trust, right?
You know, the one question I do have for you in your unique situation, you had said earlier, like, hey, I was placed in here and I felt maybe that it was, you know, I didn’t earn it. How did you build the trust of the organization or the people that you lead today?
Brandon Stanchock
Well, the group I walked into was incredible. You know, it wasn’t an easy road for anyone from multiple situations. So they’ve been through not some easy times in the past.
So this was another one they had to get through. But they had such belief and such. They just they worked so hard for Al.
So that walking into that, like, I’m very aware of what I got, what I was able to walk into, which was a huge benefit. 20, 30 year individuals, employees who were there for the long haul. You know, that makes it really just a better environment.
My CEO never fought, you know, could have very easily said, why not me? Never any of that situation happening. I also realized how important that was for me to like, OK, I can settle while everybody else is trying to settle.
And then the one thing my boss told me at my previous job before I left, he said, you’re a proponent of change and you see things other people can’t. Don’t try to change too much too quickly. I was like, oh, boy, how am I going to do that?
So I really tried to take it in pieces. The first thing I attacked were things I was comfortable with. Project management is a big core of mine.
It’s where I where I kind of based my roots for eight to 10 years in the field. So it’s the first area I started with and just tried to take incremental change and then had to learn sales, had to learn marketing, had to learn HR like all that. I didn’t know any of that.
Nicholas Paulukow
I see. What was the biggest challenge for you in the areas that you’re trying to learn from a leadership perspective? Right.
So you were kind of the leader trying to sell the mission and vision. It sounds like it was really ingrained in the organization already. And it seems like that operation ran quite effectively.
You know, what were the things that you did to kind of teach others, right, that might be in a similar situation or becoming a new leader to kind of get people on board to trust you or to say, hey, follow me?
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, I don’t think that was ever my goal. I think that was what helped me because it was never I’m not. So I remember very early on, Brian and I had a conversation with my CEO and I said, like, you and I are the only ones stressed about certain things of the company.
And I’m like, I hate this. I said, because most of the time I can’t solve it or we can’t solve it directly. And then that’s kind of the moment we started getting really transparent with data, with information about the company, with order entry, with quoting goals.
Like we really started making these reports and just exploding it to the entire company because I’m not going to be the only one stressed in the company about stuff I can’t completely control myself. And I think that Eureka moment really switched to the accountability model. We use data a lot more than probably most people are comfortable with.
But if I get red ass about something or about someone, the first thing I go to is pull the data on that person and either check myself or it, you know, also goes with my thought process. Usually it’s checking myself because I’m just being emotional about a situation or a time period. And I don’t think people lean on that enough.
I think if you as a leader live in subjective kind of data sets or you’re going to go back and forth on decisions and you’re just going to be spinning in a circle. And I think that’s a huge detriment to the employee base.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, you bring one really great thing, a couple of things that are great there. But one that you talk about kind of that emotion, right, that ownership that you have, the responsibility. And then now that emotion from seeing kind of data.
Right. But that’s kind of the non-people part. And then you said, well, I solved it by going towards the people.
Right. And trying to not just live off of the data. You know, is that something that you taught yourself?
Did somebody help teach you that? Is that just kind of something that is instinctive to you? You know, a lot of people may just lead with, you know, the number says and you’re horrible.
You need to figure this out, you know, solve it. But it doesn’t sound like that’s the way that you go about things.
Brandon Stanchock
No, I’ve been yelled at by grown men in the field when I was younger. I know what that feels like. And I don’t forget those times for a reason.
And I told myself I’d never want to do that to someone else. You know, being screamed at in front of 30 people by a grown person is not something you forget. And I also got to experience 50 different project manager approaches to human beings.
Right. With all the different places I’ve been. So you pick up things like, wow, that’s really good.
Or, wow, that’s really bad. I saw the reaction from the group. I don’t want to do that.
So I think that exposure, I always got thrown into the fire drills, too. I love the really difficult projects. So I think I didn’t do it purposefully.
It was just through osmosis that the situations I was in that I learned what not to do, what to do. And then once I got here, I leaned into the things that I thought I knew from the past. I always was data centric.
It’s how we control projects. And then I just added the human element of, OK, well, no one wants to not do a good job. So just because it isn’t going well, they already know that, they already feel bad about it.
How can we curb this and make sure it doesn’t happen again?
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s excellent. I mean, you just have an instinctive way to be able to lead others. Talk about kind of like inspiring.
Is there any leaders that you follow or learn from every day that you could share with the group?
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, I would say everybody in my group.
Nicholas Paulukow
OK.
Brandon Stanchock
I’m not a reader. Actually, the Dale Carnegie book, which you quoted, is probably the first book I read for a long, long time. But it has changed my view of reading quite a bit.
And I just started reading it, I don’t know, the third quarter or fourth quarter of last year. And really, it’s because Dan Sod commented to me about transactional conversations or transactional relationships. And that’s how I viewed a lot of conversations.
And he’s like, but you’re not that person. You’re just putting your conversations in that box. And then I started reading this book because I saw a LinkedIn post.
And I was like, OK, if I’m going to start this journey, let’s just start with a recommendation online. And it literally changed my life enough that we started a book club here at work. I bought everybody in the book club the book.
I gave them the option of being in. The only person who didn’t have the option is my stepdaughter. She had to be in it because she’s fresh out of college.
And I was like, this is going to change your life for the better. But no, it’s been really good. And it’s changed my life just in the view of that one quote.
I think it’s changed my life the most, like being generally interested. I was OK at it. I’m pretty terrible at social networking and interaction.
So I’m trying to improve on that by using principles from the book.
Nicholas Paulukow
That’s amazing. And so how long have you been doing the book club?
Brandon Stanchock
Since the turn of the year. So we’re over a month. We meet twice a week, Mondays and Fridays.
So we do one chapter each meeting for a half an hour and we meet and talk about it.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, that’s awesome. And who do you allow to be in the group?
Brandon Stanchock
So I initially just invited a small group. Most of them were my direct reports and then not all of them said yes. I just added some other people who I felt would have been semi-interested.
And yeah, I was really skeptical at the beginning. One, it’s a bunch of construction workers and we’re all going to meet about a book club, about making people feel better. But it’s been, I think the best feedback I got from one of my coworkers was every time this meeting comes up, I always tell myself I don’t have enough time to do it.
And then after the 30 minutes, it’s exactly what I needed.
Nicholas Paulukow
And what do you mean by that when you say what you needed? Like just the camaraderie of being with the team or just the learning that you receive?
Brandon Stanchock
Choice C, all of the above.
Nicholas Paulukow
That is awesome. That’s awesome. So the people that say they can’t get a book club in their organization working out, you’re telling them, you know, it’s impossible because you have laborers and construction people getting together and still participating.
Now, do you know what the next book will be? Or I guess it’ll take some time then to get through the chapters of the current book that you’re working on, right?
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, this book is not too big. We’re probably over 50% through because we’re doing two chapters a week. I think I’m just going to redo this book multiple times with different people.
One, it gives me the option to read it multiple times so I can really instill those principles. But, you know, right now I’m doing it with just office people, but it’s purchasing, project managers, a manager person, sales, BD, marketing. We have a little representation all over the board.
But I did have a crew leader on LinkedIn when I posted about the book club. He was like, why was I not invited? I was like, this is round one.
This is round one.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, that’s awesome because that kind of tells you people too that want to step up and want to learn. So it’s almost your own little social experiment when you kind of post it to see who wants to get involved. That’s awesome.
So it seems like you’re a really strong leader and like a servant leader, like you lean forward. When you hear the word servant leader, what does that mean to you?
Brandon Stanchock
In the simplest of terms, I deem it as, I use words like coworker and team member. And I try not to use direct report or subordinate or those types of things. And that’s the simplest terms for me to say, like equals versus, you know, like I have to keep everyone busy.
No, we all have to keep each other busy in the sense of workload, order entry. That’s why we put so much data out to the team, because I can’t solve all of these problems. I never will be able to.
I cannot come up with all the solutions. I’ve said this multiple times in the past, but innovation to me has to be an inclusive, diverse thought process. I don’t think you can go tell someone to innovate.
I don’t think it’s an action. I think it’s a feel. I think you have to be in the right headspace.
You have to, I don’t like the word safe space, but safe space. And then you also have to be ok bringing up ideas within your group, even if they seem totally wacky or crazy. Feel comfortable saying, hey, what about this?
And no one’s going to smack you down or say it’s terrible. Right. That all has to happen in the ecosystem for that stuff to be innovated.
I believe I don’t think it’s an action.
Nicholas Paulukow
So you’re saying more. It’s more about words mean more than action sometimes. So like the way that you utilize those words and how you communicate creates that kind of servant leadership, meaning equality, having everyone involved.
Everybody has a voice. OK, that’s really cool because the company that I lead called One to One, one of our core values is we before me. And then it has a definition.
And when we look at hiring, firing, training and rewarding, we say out of all of our core values, that one, is it we before me? So the rest of the team now can hold accountability going, well, why use an I? It’s we.
We are here to work through and solve these problems. But what it really helped us identify, which I think is the same for you, is if you have the right people in your organization. As a leader myself, I failed so many times realizing like, well, I need human beings and I can empower them to feel this vision.
And, you know, they didn’t feel the vision. You know, they’re just like, I want a paycheck. You know, but what I realized when I really got upset was the one day was an aha moment.
Just kind of having a clarity break, sitting around going, daggone it. Why am I so upset? And I was upset because the core values of my myself, like the ones you’re talking about, were at jeopardy with the people I was working with, some of them.
And until I wrote those down, I didn’t really realize that they were the living core values of the organization that I led. And the people that I, that I, you know, worked with and were empowered had those core values. But the ones that didn’t, it was OK.
They didn’t. It’s just they didn’t fit within our organization. And it sounds so simple.
But man, I screwed that up over and over and over again. But it’s quite empowering. It sounds like you’ve gotten the same empowerment through kind of that same values, I guess, or sharing those values.
Brandon Stanchock
I was looking over your website, and the one thing that really impressed me was you guys budget for like community communal events. Oh, yeah. Or like days off, like a paid day off that’s community based.
What is that called?
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah, it’s VTO, volunteer time off.
Brandon Stanchock
I’ve never heard of that.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, well, we believe if we can mix our how we want to serve. So we believe we’re here to serve the people that we serve, which is unique, right? We obviously need to make money to pay the people, but we’re here to serve others.
And we’re like, well, if we’re here to serve others, then why don’t we promote that into the community that’s helped us grow from zero to where we’re at now? And so VTO came from everybody has a passion that they volunteer with and they were doing it on the weekends. And we said, why don’t we pay them if it fits the mission of the organization?
It could be anything from someone volunteering at their kids event at school or something like that. And we pay them eight hours of full-time pay to go and do those things. And all they have to do is fill a form out to say that I’m going to do this.
And we want them to get involved in the community because we feel it’s really important that the community is who has supported us from good and bad. And we need to promote we can’t just say it. We need to put some actions into play.
So it’s been really fun. People are like, you’re going to pay me to go like volunteer at my kids’ school. And I’m like, yes, we need to do those things.
We need to support our children or other events. We work for a lot of nonprofits, too. So like the Extra Give Lancaster Community Foundation is a customer and our employees will actually do VTO to just support the community foundation all night.
So they’ll go on their own and support it, which really makes us really excited because at the end of the day, like if we’re all here to help other people, you know, the business, you know, will work out on some level. Although, you know, as a leader, when you’re looking at some of the numbers, you know, you can get pretty stressed out. But there’s one practice we follow called there’s a book called The EOS Life.
And it says doing things with people you love. And that there’s a multiple other statements, but the one that I get every time is I’m doing it. Am I doing things or this business with people I love, trust?
And am I doing things that enrich me personally? So am I a slave to the business or not? And man, I was even I was looking on that last night and I was like, I got to make some changes because I, you know, I must be putting too much in the business, which is nothing wrong with that.
But, you know, are you living your life? So my twenty-four is one goal. And all I’m saying is life.
You know, how do I get to that point?
Brandon Stanchock
Is this podcast part of that?
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah. So what was really cool is, is this podcast? I just recently interviewed a woman from the Entrepreneur Operating System, wrote a book called Process.
So and then coming up shortly is going to be a facilitator of EOS that talks about the EOS life. And last week we did a webinar with the CEO of EOS that just talks about the life of all of us in our businesses. And what a great guy.
That’ll be that’ll be posted online here shortly. But I really realize like kind of living and serving others has a reward. But how do you get it down to the people in the organization?
Just like kind of our vision, right? So I get really passionate about it. Sorry, I kind of got a little derailed there.
Brandon Stanchock
Totally fine. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions. Is this the first time you’ve ever done a podcast?
Nicholas Paulukow
What’s that?
Brandon Stanchock
Is this the first time like you’ve ever done? Not me, not my episode, but is this the first time you’ve ever done this like type of thing?
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah, from a servant leadership perspective? Absolutely. I’ve done other like YouTube and other video series.
But I really realized that the passion or the mission of the organization is to serve and why are we not talking about it? And I really found that other leaders have gone through such experiences of leading an organization that nobody really hears. Right.
I mean, we use the proverbial like it’s lonely at the top and it is a little lonely. However, it’s really neat to hear from other inspiring people that have come from like your circumstance or other or Dan’s. You referenced Dan, you know, from a family business and generational entrepreneurs that have come from ground zero.
I really have a passion to empower people with education. And my ultimate goal is to create a foundation for entrepreneurs that will be funded way past my lifespan just to help them. Because when I got started, I felt that there were leaders that told me what I was doing wrong, but not leaders that taught me how to be an entrepreneur or how to realize like I’m not nuts.
Like the way that I think is, is what a creative long-term thinker is. And so I really want to get a group of really cool people together. We want to use that in the organization, too, to allow a committee or board of employees be able to give that money out.
So a little bit of work, but trying to live that passion. You know, I am in one of my businesses is IT and that’s cool. But the serving and the people part is even cooler.
Brandon Stanchock
Well, no, I ask you because one, your timing and delivery is very it’s like you’ve done this for a very long time. So I listen to full podcasts and listen to other podcasts on your YouTube channel. I’m like, I’ve tried it in the past and I got too caught up in the structure where you have a good flow, but you still stay within the structure.
And that’s just want everybody to know that’s not as easy as you make it. So congratulations to you. It’s just you make it sound really easy and it doesn’t sound new.
Nicholas Paulukow
Thank you for that. And I appreciate you, too, just for the opportunity to jump on.
You don’t even know really what’s going to happen. Right. And you’re willing to share your experiences.
It’s fun. We call it in our world. You know, do you get it, want it and have the capacity to do the job.
Right. And I really realized that I get certain things and I want it. But there’s certain things in my role that I don’t want to get and I don’t want it.
And so what do you do with that? Right. And that’s the journey I’m constantly on or we’re trying to get our people on is like when everybody says you have the right person in the right seat.
And I was like, well, what’s that mean? I have a person in the seat. You know what I mean?
And what I really learned out of my own ignorance is that is did they get the role that they’re in and did they want it? If they want it, they’re coming in with new ideas and they’re telling you what’s really cool. And they spent the weekend trying to figure something out and innovating.
And so that’s what I was missing. Right. Like they might have got it in the standpoint of they can do it, but they didn’t really want it.
And I don’t want someone to be stuck in a role that they don’t want. So, yeah, I get really passionate about it, although not perfect at it.
Brandon Stanchock
It’s difficult and we’re complicated as human beings.
Nicholas Paulukow
Yeah, we like to complicate things.
Brandon Stanchock
We’re emotional.
Nicholas Paulukow
We are emotional. That’s a good point. You know, and it’s ever-changing, right?
I mean, the dynamics of how to be a leader. I think one thing that you mentioned earlier, which is really cool, is like a peer group. You mentioned the word Vistage and Vistage is kind of a peer group.
You know, tell us a little bit about like why it’s important in your eyes to be part of a peer group, because some leaders are like, well, you know, I have it all figured out. I don’t need anybody to tell me what to do. And I find that generally the people that are OK with the status quo really struggle with some other things.
Those that want to grow and develop seem to really find other ways to be successful. Is that true to you? Relevant to kind of that experience?
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah. So you just use the word ignorant. I just posted about this last week.
I love that word because it’s so jaded right now and people are using it as such a weapon word. But like, let’s be honest, we are all ignorant. So I like to I wrapped it in my head just last week and was like, we’re all ignorant to tomorrow.
But we’re hopefully we’re one percent less ignorant because of today and yesterday.
Nicholas Paulukow
Right. I like that.
Brandon Stanchock
Just to play on the one percent better. But like everybody needs to relax because we were all probably not the people we wanted to be a long time ago versus today. So as long as you’re growing and you’re getting better, then we should all be applauding that versus tearing people down.
So that’s really what Vistage is for me. I didn’t know half the words when I started Vistage of the words I use now. I didn’t know the equation for EBITDA.
I didn’t understand corporate finance. I didn’t know any of that because I was never exposed to it. I was completely ignorant to business acumen and all of that stuff.
I was a project management person. And those are very different worlds. And then just when you’re super stressed or you need to process an issue, just getting that off your plate and letting other people know, like, it’s not that bad.
We’ve all been there. We’ve been through this. Or these are the things that can help you through that.
That is life-changing because those are the things that make me not sleep, that I can’t wrap my head around.
Nicholas Paulukow
And those people, I mean, why do you feel so comfortable to tell them your problems?
Brandon Stanchock
So it wasn’t that. I think the first three meetings I probably said like four words because you’re walking into assuming everybody’s got their shit together, right? And nobody does.
It took me two or three meetings to realize, like, OK, we’re all just human beings trying to do our best. And then I think once I realized that I wasn’t like not the dumbest person in the room, but everybody has stuff. And then once you realize that and then you do have a voice to help someone and you make that first connection, like that’s when it was a game-changer.
One, I had a great person I talked to about the group and Bobby Deraco from Synapse. He really kind of bridged that gap for me. AR is an amazing chair and made me feel really comfortable.
But luckily I have somebody who’s younger than me. So that really worked out. Now we got Nick Martin.
So, yeah, it was just you have to get over those insecurities of like I’m the least in this group. And once you hear stories and our group’s really good at being open and honest and also humor is in our group. And I love funny people, clever people just laughing.
And I think we do a really good job of mixing that between the really hard stuff and the times we can throw in some funny jabs.
Nicholas Paulukow
So I love that because A.R said that in a previous podcast. Right. She goes, we love to have fun and we love to laugh.
And I’m like, man, I love it, too. Right. Like, I mean, I’d rather laugh than cry.
Right. And I think that’s really cool. I think what you’re kind of really telling everyone is, is that, you know, to humble yourself to go to a peer group, you receive so much more to be willing to go there.
And I can attest that I’m part of an industry group. And I decided to sign up for the bigger one that are like bigger companies than me. And I went in and the first minute the guy says, you’re too small to be here.
Why did you even show up? And I was like, oh, and I was like, oh, baby, I am I am crawling my way into this. But it’s intimidating.
Right. And when in reality, by the end of the day, all he wanted to do was see that I was going to be scrappy and fight for it and challenge him. And I realized that, you know, we all want to be challenged in a polite, courteous way.
But, whew, that was a little rough.
Brandon Stanchock
I don’t know if I would have led with that.
Nicholas Paulukow
Well, he was a top performer and his associate was a top performer and they wanted to control the group. So they only wanted certain people that, that, you know, challenged them. And so it was a rude awakening after like 20 years of, you know, being in tense situations.
That was an intense one. So I really respect you for taking the opportunity to lean in and finding a peer group. They are amazing.
That’s something that I realized, too. I don’t know about you, but having a coach, I always thought, hey, I need to solve my own problems because everybody else is doing it that way. Right.
And didn’t realize that my growth came after I found a coach that would have been a personal coach or a business coach. And then, and if I would have started 20 years ago again, I would have hired a coach the day I started, but didn’t realize. So like us educating those listening, even today, give them the opportunity to go find a coach, be willing to kind of lean in.
And, you know, you’re a man that runs an organization of over 150 people. Right. And you’re speaking and being humble about how you lead.
I think that’s great to help others that are trying to figure it out on their own, too.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah. And it’s not just checking the box. Right.
You have to be prepared to, one, allow them to really lean into things. Be open and honest. Be vulnerable.
Talk about things you’re terrible at. I think that’s probably once again, insecurity is probably the biggest hang up for good leadership, in my eyes, because it’s going to you’re going to protect yourself from the things you’re terrible at. And if you don’t find people to fill those gaps, I think that’s where really a lot of people fail.
Nicholas Paulukow
You’re absolutely right. I got to change subject here because I got to know this. But share with me a specific example of how your passion for mowing and or breakfast influence your decision-making.
I got to know that you’re my kind of guy with that kind of funny statement. So I just got to know.
Brandon Stanchock
Well, mowing’s my time to think. So much like walking my dog, I think I come up with the best ideas when I’m mowing. And I just love the finished product.
I don’t know. For some reason, I’ve always loved mowing. It takes me probably two, two and a half hours to mow my lawn.
And I love every second of it. And breakfast, it’s really interesting if you want to really push. So I get invited to lots of lunches.
But with, you know, people trying to either, you know, get involved with something I’m doing or they have something they think can benefit the company. And I always challenge people by going to breakfast. And usually I’m an early riser.
I’m at work by 4:30 usually. So it’s like a 6 a.m. breakfast for me. And I really want to see if people are into having a conversation right at 6 a.m. So I don’t always push for the 6 a.m., but I’ve always been a breakfast person. I don’t I don’t normally ever eat lunch. That’s kind of the world I grew up in for 10 years. It was a nice hearty breakfast in the morning.
And then you’re running. You’re running too quickly at noon to stop and go get lunch for me. But that’s just.
Yeah. And I just love breakfast food. I love eggs.
I love toast. I love all that stuff.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, what is really cool, what I’m learning from you is that you’re creating it on notes maybe to you or what you’ve developed different things in your life to steer you to kind of reset you as a leader. Right. Like I heard walking or mowing.
And what’s really cool, somebody told me one time, when you have a meeting, start walking and having walking meetings. And I’m like, well, that could be weird. Like what if you need to go?
And they’re like, not one that you got to write something down. But they said, hey, when you’re walking, you’re both moving forward in the same direction inadvertently. So it’s kind of cool.
Right. Like you’re mowing and you get something done and it’s completed. I think it’s really hard as a leader sometimes because we don’t see the tangible results all the time, or at least I don’t.
Right. Like we’re trying to develop people, but I’m the same way. I’m going to come home.
I’m going to build something with my hands. And my family’s like, why don’t you rest? I’m like, this is resting.
Like I got something. It’s done. I can see it.
It’s completed. You know, and that’s like the reset. So that’s neat to hear that you kind of you put those techniques in your life to also give you a kind of what I call a clarity break, like a reset.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, you hear that a lot from the shop and field guys who come into the office in this industry. They lose the tangible. They lose the build.
They lose that. My CEO talks about that all the time, that his spreadsheets are now his build. Or right.
Like he has to be very, where I don’t struggle with that because I’ve never been a builder. My dad could literally build anything I should have paid attention to when I was a child. Obviously, I wouldn’t have to pay for all the plumbers and everything else I have to pay for because I can’t solve my own problem.
But like they lose that piece. And sometimes they’ll have the hobbies that fill into that where I think, yes, I’m using it as mental downtime or a mental reset. Or and I talk about my group of business people tell you all the time, like, how do you have this many hobbies?
And I think it’s I need them because I need that mental reset.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, I think that’s great. I totally not switching subjects. But prior to my other businesses, I owned a lawn care company.
Right. And you talk about knowing. Right.
And so I learned very quickly about like people and recurring revenue and services. And one thing I think is funny is, is I learned really quickly that nobody cared what the middle of the lawn looked like. They only cared to see if it was different is if I edged it and I blew the sidewalk off.
So all my competitors would mow and they did the job, but they didn’t take the extra effort to edge it. And I got more referrals from edging and I could have burnt the middle of the grass out by accident. And they loved it because when they pulled up, they saw that detail.
And so I think we can apply like our personal things to even business. Right. Like, you know, how much does somebody take?
I say sometimes, you know, I just want to run out when I interview someone and look inside their car. Like, is it is it organized? Is it clean?
You know, are they detailed? You know, I can’t do that. Yeah.
Who’s the creeper out there? But I think that there’s so many people that don’t do what you do, which probably gives you that edge. Right.
Because you’re reset and you’re even teaching me. Right. Like I walk, but I deprioritize it.
Right. Or because I’m like, well, if I do a little bit more work, then it’ll be better for everyone else. But, you know, you’re actually living that over and over again, which is probably healthier than most people in that regard.
Brandon Stanchock
Well, to be honest, and this is not only for you, but for everyone listening, I saw what happens when you don’t. Right. And you don’t want that side of things.
Right. I was very young when he passed away and that last couple of years wasn’t that great. And, you know, it was the stress of this place.
I truly believe that that when you carry all that weight, aren’t transparent, try to solve everything yourself. You know, and he tried some of that and the company had some of that baggage to carry, but not enough. And it just was too late.
And I don’t ever work. It’s not that important. It can’t be that important.
So, yeah, my family is really good with that, too, to give me that space, especially if I’m having a really crappy week. I had one of the one of those last week, but like the reset of the weekend, doing things that I like to do, all that stuff, whatever it is. It doesn’t even matter whatever your hobby is.
Take some time to do that. Take the vacation. I really can’t stand when people say they don’t take vacation.
Like I spend every hour of my vacation every year because I told my I can’t go 60 days without having a break because mentally I cannot. I get very testy. I get very short and I can’t be that person.
If I’m not in a positive mindset, we’re missing opportunity. I’m not pulling people up when they’re down, all that stuff.
Nicholas Paulukow
Right. You know, that’s a great point because, I mean, many of your, you know, in your role, it’s not just about, you know, the organization. It’s about the culture.
It’s the people in the driving and you have to be your best self to kind of move them forward. I think that’s a great advice. I fail at that many times and I have to reset, you know, so it’s a good, good reminder.
I think one thing that you kind of beat yourself up on and said, hey, I have to hire the plumber, this and that. Actually, you’re pretty smart. So read the book.
Anyone who not how. So what you’re doing is you’re living your life because you’re finding the who’s not how to get it done, who to do it, which means it gives you more free time to do the things you love. And there’s a friend of mine that is really great at this, that runs marathons, owns a business.
And I’m like, how do you do it? And he has mastered the who not how. Small book, easy to read, but it teaches us it’s OK.
Like I grew up, it wasn’t OK. You had to figure it out, you know, do it on your own. When in reality, I never had time to do the things I enjoyed.
And so this book is about freedom and about giving yourself freedom and OK to have a who, not a how. And it’s fascinating. Yeah.
Brandon Stanchock
It is crazy because I don’t even. Yeah, it doesn’t bother me, but I can see like I call my dad when my toilet’s not working. Right.
But he calls me when his Wi-Fi. Right. His Wi-Fi is not working.
I’m like, yeah, just plug this in and link this up. Right. So we have that relationship.
But you’re right. I don’t even want to spend time wrapped around stuff like that where most people will go to YouTube, go to the manual. I just I don’t want to bother myself with it because I know it’s going to infuriate me because I’m not going to figure it out.
Nicholas Paulukow
Well, then we have more time with our children and our family and things that are important to us. And it took me a long time to figure that out myself because I thought I was taking care of them by doing all these things. When in reality, maybe if it was something they wanted to do, too.
But I’m still trying to master that, you know, and it’s so easy to master it if it’s not local to you. Right. Like we have a property somewhere else and we have to pay someone to do it because we’re not there.
And we’re like, well, why is it so easy to have a who there but not at home? You know, why spend all weekend doing this when we could be hiring a who?
Brandon Stanchock
How much do you think that is of people? You know, when you’re really stressed, you always go back to the path of least resistance, right? So you’re going to go back to the things, you know, you’re really good at.
You’re going to grind because, you know, grinding and hard work always bring success. That’s not always true. You need to back up and take a different view.
Nicholas Paulukow
It is, you know, I found it was more about like kind of planning and looking at more of personal goals. Like what do we want? I realized for myself, I have four children and everybody says it goes fast.
And my goodness, experiencing it now, it goes fast. And so like I had to change my mindset, you know, even from sports. Right.
From leading the family, I realized I thought sports were a struggle because I was sitting there for hours and watching. And what I really found out is with having multiple kids is that was the best time of my life because I never got one-on-one time with them. And when I changed my mindset to being more of what am I getting out of this?
They remember all those memories more than any of the cool trips or whatever we did. They remember like, do you remember, Dad, when we were just driving in the car? And so I encourage everybody just to, you know, we’re leaders and we lead our teams, but we have a responsibility to personally.
So it’s kind of cool.
Brandon Stanchock
AR hits me with that all the time. Whenever I get wrapped around something stupid, she’s like, are you the leader of the business and the family? I’m like, oh, my God, you’re right.
She’s right. Right. You have to.
It’s so weird why it’s so hard to transpose those qualities and those skill sets. But it’s the same accountability it is.
Nicholas Paulukow
And I think it’s how we prioritize it or not. Right. And I think as leaders, we’re so used to leading and solving big problems that when we get home, we don’t want to solve any more big problems.
You know what I mean? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t like somebody else make the decisions.
Brandon Stanchock
I don’t care what we eat.
Nicholas Paulukow
There’s an author called Patrick Lencioni. He wrote a book called Five Dysfunctions of the Team, but like six other ones. And he wrote a family book that applies to the same concept.
And it goes over truly that. Right. Like how to lead and be present at home.
And I think it’s just amazing. Right. It just changes when everybody’s on the same page at home.
It’s just as good as when you’re at work. Right.
Brandon Stanchock
Oh, yeah. Your efficiency goes through the roof. Right.
That’s one of the things if I’m not whole at home, my proficiency here at work is terrible. And I think I know people say they can turn it off. I don’t really believe that happy people are efficient people.
And if you got stuff at home, you’re not happy. And I’d rather you deal with that.
Nicholas Paulukow
You’re absolutely right. I think what I was as leaders, we bring. And it seems like you’re really great at that, like bringing out like what’s going on with individuals.
So, you know, we’ve had to teach our leaders to say, hey, listen, you know, they have a personal life, too. So we don’t want to pry, but ask, hey, it looks like you’re off today. Do you want to talk about it just to recognize that you see that maybe there is a problem?
I didn’t realize like in my career when I began that leading was also about, you know, what you say all the time. Right. It’s about that individual.
And I was like, well, I’m in charge of their like work individual. And that wasn’t true. We’re there for their whole body to help them.
And when we finally kind of connected in that way and had leaders that connected in that way, it makes a huge difference.
Brandon Stanchock
Well, and I think it’s we talk about this. We have a weekly safety roundtable that we talk about. One of the things that came out of that was health and mental health and physical health and checking someone’s mannerisms.
Your mannerisms change like you need to be checking in on them. I think most people like to put that wall between personal and business to separate because they’re so afraid of asking about the personal. But what came out of the group meeting weekly that we meet every single week and we’re going to the whole company is someone said, like, if I have something going on, I don’t need you to solve it.
I just need you to listen. And I was like, everybody in the group was like, oh, you could see everybody go, oh, that’s all. Like we get so wrapped because we feel like we have to solve everything for someone.
I was like, I’m not sure how to help somebody with something that’s really complicated. How about if you just listen, can you do that? And you’re like, oh, yeah, I think I’m decent at that. And then you could.
So I’m just repeating that message to everyone because sometimes you just have to sit there and listen and not solve the problem for the person.
Nicholas Paulukow
I was like, you’re absolutely right. I think one cool technique to share with everyone is we start every meeting with a personal good news and a business good news. But like that, the reason why is that personal one, you get to learn more about them individually and don’t have to dig more in.
Hey, I had a really great experience with my son. We went X, Y and Z. And you’re like, oh, OK, well, he likes to do that, you know.
And then the business good news is they have to think about something positive, even if it was a bad week on what was great. And then you all get to learn every single meeting more about each other, which is kind of cool.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah, that’s brilliant, because as we grow, that scalability really lets you stay close with individuals. Right. And then you say like, hey, I remember you said you went to the latest Marvel movie and blah, blah, blah.
You always have a connection point. That’s really good. I like that.
Nicholas Paulukow
It’s a fun thing because we get to I think what we’re hearing is the theme of this one is about how we care about the people. The most successful leaders are, you know, how they connect and care about, you know, their people. They lead.
Right. That kind of leads me into my one question. I found out that you guys have these things called the three C’s.
What’s that about?
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah. So character, commitment and creativity. Those are the three C’s.
And we rebranded. We were kind of looking for values. And those kind of came out of it because we’ve always been known as a very high quality company.
So we, you know, we may not be the cheapest, but we fix a lot of other people’s stuff as well. So that’s kind of goes with that commitment to the customer. We really if the customer can’t buy it out of a catalog, we pretty much can solve their problem.
If it’s made of metal. The character piece is we always try to do the right thing. And if we don’t, we hold each other accountable to solve that problem or go back to the customer and solve it for them.
And then creativity is an interesting one because a lot of people here didn’t agree with that one. But if you look at what we do with metal, there are artists out here. And that’s when I talk in that when we talk in that language about how creative the group is, like to form stainless into a spiral staircase to make an aluminum, blah, blah, blah.
Like all the things that start as flat sheets or channels or beams and turn into these beautiful works of art at the end is super creative. And I just don’t know how they do half this stuff here.
Nicholas Paulukow
I think that’s amazing, too, because it sounds like you have a group of very humble individuals that that that really love what they do. I found I have a friend that does million dollar additions and he’s like, it’s easy. And I’m like, no, you have what’s called a talent that is like not everyone has.
Well, you can learn it. I’m like, I’m sure I can learn anything. But like you can make furniture, you can build the house, you can renovate it like not many people have your talent.
But what I find is the most successful people have that humbleness, you know, which is really amazing to see.
Brandon Stanchock
Well, I think it’s because that allows you to keep your mind open to ideas or different thoughts.
Nicholas Paulukow
Right.
Brandon Stanchock
So like if you’re I have everything figured out, I’m closing everyone out in every conversation. Therefore, and I used to be this person. I used to not I used to be terrible.
My first what I tell everybody is my first five reviews at my first job out of college. I have a zero out of five stars on communication every year. My boss told me you can’t talk to people this way.
Like I was horrible at it because I could see the roads we were going down. We’re going to not be great for the project or for whatever the sector or whatever. But no one would listen to my solutions.
Like I’m very frustrated, but I just don’t know how to get my solutions across. Instead of yelling at people, you have to like negotiate. Dale Carnegie, you have to influence you to do all this.
I didn’t know any of that. I was ignorant. I was dumb and stupid and just yelled at people.
And then as I grew out of that and then became a manager for a couple of years for people who weren’t even in my state, I had to really learn that skill and like, OK, what is going on? Talk to me. And they’d have to call me when things weren’t going well.
And it just compounds from there on out.
Nicholas Paulukow
You know, that’s a great way to kind of work to wrap us up here. That’s amazing. Right.
You’re really teaching us that, you know, you’re kind of you were put into a situation, but you continue to learn and self-learn, evaluate, try to re-update yourself. You know what I mean? Like not many people have that capability, right?
To be able to be self-aware enough to just try again. Right. Because we’re so used to kind of being told no.
And then, you know, it’s hard to retry. I think I think it’s a good piece of advice. Yeah, you’re right.
It probably is fear.
Brandon Stanchock
I think it’s fear because it’s terrible to look at what you’re terrible at and then try to improve on it. And then also failing. I’ve done plenty of things.
I’ve had plenty of channels. I’ve podcast that failed that just didn’t go anywhere. But now I know that it’s not something I really like.
Like, what if it kicked off and ended up being something and I can hone in? Sometimes just doing the thing is more about figuring out what you don’t like versus what you actually like.
Nicholas Paulukow
That is well said. So many people say all the time, like, well, I’m afraid to fail. Right.
And I’m like, failing is awesome because now I know what not to do next time. You know, if I haven’t failed, like if I keep doing it, that’s like insanity, you know. And so many of they’re like, what do you mean?
Fail, like fail, like it’s OK. You know, you know, as long as you don’t hurt someone. I think that’s really well said.
As we wrap up, give a give a final statement to everyone that you feel might be impacting. Or you would love to tell those trying to learn and develop their skills as a leader.
Brandon Stanchock
Lean into your weirdness. It’s what sets you apart from everyone else. And don’t be afraid to let that shine, because that when you’re looking to influence impression, get people to know who you are.
That is the only way to stand out, especially in the world we live in today. So whatever is your superpower, find what that is, make money from that and do it as often as you can.
Nicholas Paulukow
Oh, that is awesome. Can I use that, you know, lean into your weirdness? I love that so much.
That is awesome. That that resounds to me because I was always the guy that, you know, was a little different because of my thinking. So I love that.
Thank you for that.
Brandon Stanchock
Yeah.
Nicholas Paulukow
Well, as we close this chapter of the Servant Leadership Library, I’d like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our guest, Brandon, the CEO of SWF Industrial and a true embodiment of servant leadership with a twist. Brandon, your insights into, you know, blending gaming, YouTube, mowing and breakfast with leadership have been both enlightening and inspiring. Your passion for serving others while staying true to your diverse interests is a testament to the power of authenticity and leadership.
To our listeners, thank you for joining us on this journey. Remember, leadership is not just a title or position. It’s about the impact we make in the lives we touch.
And until next time, keep leading with heart, mind and sprinkle a little playful spirit in there. This is Nicholas Paulukow signing off from the Servant Leadership Library.
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