all right I want to welcome everybody I got Kevin and Aldo here Kevin is the author of your afternoon mentor and this is the first of recycled media’s actually doing a podcast with the author Aldo thank you so much for putting this together and Kevin if you want to introduce yourself to our recycling Community go ahead well first Nick and Aldo I really want to give you my sinere gratitude for inviting me to participate in the podcast uh one of the things about a book like this is to get to meet people with different Industries very talented people very energetic people and I would put you to in that category so thanks for inviting appreciate it uh Kevin Salo I recently retired from a 34y year career in Human Resources I work for a variety of companies uh the consumer products retail newspapers and they’re retired um after 15 years as a vice president resources at Arizona State University uh one of my passions uh that I developed in HR with leadership development uh I came across countless people that I was either uh involved in hiring or promoting or some cases sending off

to other companies and uh I just wanted to share my thoughts with people that are coming up guys your age that are earlier to midc career as to what I saw as to what’s effect is how get notice for for a senior job how to transition to a senior job and how to make a a senior job last so that was the premise of the book The your after being met for um if I can I’ll talk about the voice of the book does that work for you guys absolutely yeah you know I I like how you broke it into the three parts think that made it real manageable like for my brain and then I could kind of use those three parts to work on myself but let’s hear the voice of it for everybody you know when I sat down I I consider myself to be at the mentor stage obviously recently retiring and being a senior person for a number of years now and um I always thought it was important for people to have access to somebody who can kind of give them the straight scoop on on what it

takes to become noted fore job and uh to develop into a better leader you know I think when we come out of school or when we you know get a certification of some kind we we always think that that’s all there is to know that just having that piece of paper on the wall is going to really drive your career but I learned that’s not that’s not necessarily the case there’s a lot of intangible involed with uh girl in your career uh some may sound superficial but some really aren’t uh I’ve seen a lot of people disqualify themselves for senior leadership for really silar reasons and I some te some people who maybe weren’t didn’t have the ra until horsepower as others that can completely extend the career lder because they knew how to manage how other proed down give us can you give me like an example or two of how someone’s disqualified themselves in the past oh absolutely I I I uh I once worked for a company I we had a a senior production position open that was a big job it was maybe about a$3 half thousand a year

job and the person who was in the job moved on to another company and his Lieutenant was in in mod but he was a wonderful man knew every inside and out uh but he just was a to be honest with no the way he’s saying just a poor dresser and he just pred himself very poorly he was was ungroomed he looked like an unmade Dad we giving him coaching before you know he have so many skills but what’s happening is people are are looking at you and making an immediate evaluation as to whether you material or not and he just wasn’t and he didn’t really show any energy to refine that piece of RIS for Sal and consequently senior M basically said we hav no choice have to go out back to company because we can’t put this first of our board so he had the and you talked about this in the book um and that’s what I liked about the book to you kind of had like a relatable story for each point you were making so he had the definite skills and the ability and unfortunately in the society we live

in perception is reality you know people perceive you on your first appearance and and you you’re able to change it you know you can change that perception but but unfortunately like in a role like that you do have to come across as you know you know was that guy or girl exactly you know people our brains are wired a certain way Nick we’re we’re wired to receive whether somebody’s Friend or Foe it goes back to our days when we lived in gate and um so consequently people draw immediate conclusions about others within just a few seconds I I see you guys robing your ass we all do it we do it all all day every day and uh sometimes those perceptions are actually pretty accurate but sometimes they’re not so what you want to do in the professional stud is always make sure that you’re giv your first impression as positively and as forly as possible when you’re around people who career K Kevin uh clearly the book is uh around mentorship and mentors can you recall a mentor that make a difference on your own career as you were like gradually climbing the

the corporate ladder absolutely I was working in a Frontline HR role at a nuclear power plant went the Phoenix here and we get hired in vice president him reort he was about 15 or 20 years older than me and you we both got hired about the same time and for whatever reason he kind of took a shine to me he was Hispanic out Hispanic maybe saw a little bit himself and me and he he kind of adopted me as his guy and uh you know he uh he positioned me for three other jobs in my career so he was such a strong sponsor of me that whenever somebody would call him he was very well connected somebody would call him hey we’re looking for a senior uh role here at this company my name would be the first one he would offer up and he did that for me three times that’s the power of mentorship and I still see him he’s a wonderful guy I saw him at a holiday party not too long ago so I tell I read B this in the book you have to find two or three power

mentors people that they’re not only good at what they do but they also have contacts in the industry contacts in the company contacts in the community and you want people like this out there applicating on your behalf that goes into networking which is as we know that’s a very important part of any career you know the networking and it other some are introverts when they don’t like it and you know it’s fine but from a practical standpoint uh the broad your network to Broad of your possibilities opportunities yeah very true Kevin question for you on chapter 13 you talk about resiliency Nick and I both uh own our own businesses and Nick is uh in the process of launching and managing several other businesses as he expand his his Outreach as well um what what what is your advice for those entrepreneurs who read your book and it comes to resiliency not just in the workplace but as an entrepreneur and driving a business in today’s environment oh that’s a great question you know again one the one of the things I saw very successful people like you guys all different N I like

to read historical biographies uh is you sometimes you get through a period in your life well you just have to grind you just have to grind and maybe things are going against you and it’s easy to just kind of say that’s it I’m done but the people who stick with it and the people she grai they’re the ones that are going to be successful uh you know I hike a lot and sometimes you come to what’s called a false Summit you think you’re at the top of the mountain Nick you know what this is and then you get to the top of the mountain and you see another range of amounts ahead of you so to so it’s a good you have to take a deep breath and say well I’m not there exactly where GNA be and you have to ask yourself and this goes to business and Hiking you’re in the middle of a you know like a 12 mile hike pretty grueling I usually have weight on my back cuz I like to make it more miserable for some reason um sometimes in the middle of it I’m like why am

I doing this you know and day today business in the recycling world like why am I well get my ass kicked every day you know and you know but this the funny thing is when you come out of when you come out the backside sometimes the grinding was fun I mean most most time it was it was when you look back on it maybe not when you’re in the middle of it but when you go back there’s a strong sense of accomplish I was PR for that challenge and I just kep the journey is always the fun part and that took me a while to realize like the Finish Line’s not the fun part it’s getting there right you know and that’s why I think most entrepreneurs management type mindsets they’re always looking for a new Finish Line they’re not happy when they get okay I I got I got that goal done now it’s more like what’s next because then you got a new gr you know so that’s a that’s a very important um personality characteristic especially for entrepreneurs you have to be able to jooy the Glide you have to be

able to uh have the set okay I made this goal now what’s next on my list people who do that people who approach life with that mindset uh they’re the ones that are really going to be successful so I always encourage people to be persistent uh uh you know whether it’s it’s you’re starting a business you think your growth is going to be linear and linear and ever ascending and we all know it’s not it’s a zigzag same with your career sometimes you you go up you go down you go up you go down but the key is to always be going up as you’re having these Zig bags and to appreciate the fact that you may be standing in the valley today but you know two years from not what’s troubling you be after because if be on something else the book emphasizes a lot building teams I I wonder Nick like you have these various businesses and every single one of them is is very different in makeup so what what do you look and how do you how do you manage that as as you’re building these very diverse teams for

for different approaches that you have yeah well I think the first thing in building a team is you have to understand what your own rength and your own limitations are I like like so in the book I encourage people to do things like personality test uh do an mbti or a dis these are kind of accr those down that’s on my to-do because find them on line it’ll tell you what it’ll tell you what you like and what you don’t like for example I I worked in Human Resources I didn’t like process uh I didn’t like detail so I I understood that was my deficit so I always made sure I was hiring people that maybe more of a detail mindset than I do or more of a processed mindset than I do so the number one goal is to understand what your gaps are so you can have people build those gaps and uh that’s one thing I always look out for is I need somebody who can help me in this part on my uh you know side key that I’m not strong in and then after that you’re almost becoming

like the coach of a baseball team I get the baseball team analogy in a book and you just have to be able to assess the broad array of skills that you need to be successful and you need to almost like draft you know I need I need a a catcher with a strong arm or you need to trade I need a left filter you know who can hit 290 so it’s a continual assessment in reassessment of the of the skills uh that you need in your oranization when I grew up Sports so like relating it back to team sports is always something that our team kind of does because it’s very applicable you know you build a team you know and like although it said we we own multiple companies that do different types of things things and we’re really blessed to have such a great team but it took us years and years and years of cultivating a good culture building a team going through lumps going finding the right people that add to our team that fit within our culture you know uh because it’s not for everyone what we do let

ask you D what what attributes or what what did what kind of well I guess attributes were you on to look out for as you were building te what did you look for I’m more looking for just people that have the right mindset set and are positive that have the right grind rather than any like set of necessary skills because anyone that’s got that can learn the skills you know so we don’t I don’t necessarily hire for that I’ve done it the other way where like this guy’s really polished he maybe a a big Corporation and you know we’re still an all grand scheme of things we’re a small business and I’m proud of that you know because we’re we’re Nimble you know we’re quick you know and our people need to be nimble and quick too and with the punches you know and I think most people in recycling are from typically a smaller company so you know you got to be quick you got to make decisions quick you know so like I hire for attitude that’s those are all great great comments think about you all though yeah you can always

try to teach these skills but uh the grind and the desire and the drive is uh at least not something that you can readily give somebody for sure I I I have a question for Nick because this this was an interrupted chapter for for me in the book uh the leadership transition for you Nick as your business grows and changes and evolves how have you seen that transition like within yourself because I imagine that as as the business grow you you utilize different skills or you utilize different people how did how does that Evolution has taken place with you with our companies you know we’re just it goes back to like we’re finding the right people with the right attitude and we’d like to promote within you know when I started here in 2010 I started at the the bottom you know and I’m not saying that in a negative way but that’s where I started I started entry level and I just grinded I saw opportunity I I knew the the ownership I believed in them and we’re looking for to grow it the same way you know so where I can I

want to give that pay that forward and you kind of talk about this the very end of the book Kevin like I try to take that time with people that want to grow and one thing that I’ve been would helped me be successful in my career I was quite vocal with Brett I’m like Brett I want to do your job you know and he’s like well what am I gonna do I’m like like you can go golfing he’s like I don’t like golf I want to still do my job but he knew like I wanted to more so I’m looking for the same people that come to me I want to do more and I want I want to and I wrote this in here because I’m always trying to be better I’m like I need to spend more time with those guys to help make them better leaders so I can so I don’t like golf either but so I can you know do do less and they can do more and I could do different things you know yeah well Nick you had a great point because I always felt people too

coming up make your if you could make your POS job easier you are golden and um part of that is just number one being a positive presence not taking a lot of his or her energy on negative stuff coming to the boss with a problem but also with solutions to the problem not just dumping it on to all those deps and say here all we figure this out well all those answers should be well kind of hard you to figure that out so you know I always tell people if you’re positive if you part of the team if you act like a team member if you bring Solutions along with problems and you uh you know maintain this whole area of being sociable and easy to connect with your career really have no limits I um I read the book U two and a half years ago and I was on a big uh job transition trying to figure out what what I what I wanted to do in the future um a few of the chapters came very timely I wrote you a review back then I have enjoyed the book and I

I gotta say kudos to you for I was a bit skeptical in the beginning when I started reading it from from somebody on HR with 30 years and uh uh I was pleasantly surprised not not to take the approach or the book taking the approach of like an HR manual kind of situation um so it it was very simple to read very very timely advice um I I really appreciate the the read and uh I gotta say it was really helpful clarifying what things that I wanted to do in my professional career as well well I I appreciate that that was kind of my goal was to make it be very easy to read I avoid HR Botho diagrams I think there’s one diagram of the whole book I want things to be and again the premise of the book you’re afternoon Mentor is you know be sat down with somebody you admire what would you want them to tell you you guys will be in that role if you’re not already in that role is uh Nick how did you get to be where you are although I respect what you’ve done with

your business how do you do it so it’s kind of a pay for situation mentoring those because I had a what I would uh fairly successful career you guys have have successful businesses and I’m I’m always big about you know paying it back and because the another thing too let’s not be let’s not be hit ourselves is you know there a little bit of luck involved with some of this you have to meet the right people at the right time and you know you have to have the Vault bounce your way a few times so there’s external factors at play if you can cover the basics of what it takes to be a strong team member and a good leader the opportunity to c i agre there is some timing luck but that only goes so far I think someone out there that maybe thinks their Luck’s not on their side and I tell this to people with our in our own companies I’m like if you like you’re not you don’t have to come here same with if you’re stuck somewhere you’re just truly unhappy with I understand you have bills look for

that next opportunity but I also think if things aren’t if that Ball’s not bouncing your way the cream of the really does kind of Rise eventually it might take a little more time maybe you don’t align like you hint on in that your book Kevin like maybe you don’t align with those those owners those Senior Management because you don’t have those commonalities but regardless if you’re producer and you’re positive they’ll notice it might take more time but it’ll they’ll notice yeah and you know um that your point Nick I I came across people who just just did not fit and there’s no harm mm-hm you know I talk it’s like a relationship sometimes you date you’re in love and then one day you wake up and you’re not in love anymore that’s up to anybody’s bad you know anybody’s EV just mean this time to move on and that’s part of this part of self knowledge that I talk about a little bit in the book is know who you are and know where you be I guess another thing I’ll say to you is that you know people need to learn you

talking about grinding and resiliency and Career Success over time you need to learn from your mistakes we all make them I could sit here and talk about mistakes over years you know you make a mistake once it’s a mistake you make a mistake three times it’s a pattern and people don’t understand uh who continue to make the same mistakes again they’re limitting themselves too so uh I didn’t mean to put that negative slant on it but I’m just saying it everything that happened that was not optimal that you did not think uh was the best thing for you it’s always time to take a step back and look objectively at the situation and say okay what happened how did it happen happened how did I contribute to it this how how could I avoided this and take those learnings and move on to the next opportunity Kevin what what do you think that the what would you say the last two years that you have seen the HR as a as a full spectrum what has been the most positive in your point of view change in the workplace as it relates to you

know people technology skills um I know you have worked for very different companies the different approaches that you have seen and any tools that entrepreneurs like like Nick and Aldo can grab from those from those well I would say there’s there’s two things that I’ve noticed of two main things I think there’s more diverse voices in leadership than I used to see uh I started in the corporate life back in the early 80s and you know back then there was only a certain type of person who ran a business or ran a know in an Executive Suite and and I’ve seen many many more the very voice in the workplace and that and and the par a positive you know most when I started I mean most women work in finded at Ministry of rals and now there’s lot of female and that’s just that change uh so I think that’s a general I think the uh U the culture is more accepting to different types of people ascending and different types of PE people being uh successful business so that’s a very positive another thing too I would say and and I I

think you guys get that you know again it used to be very leadership used to be very top down Hier artical do as I say you know be at your desk blah blah blah and I think that whole thing’s kind of been flipped on its head I think good leaders Now understand that they’re not on top of the pyramid but they’re at the bottom serving serving those who work for them so that the whole concept of kind of spat leadership as opposed to dictatorial leadership that’s been a big mind shift I’ve seen in in my 30 and working the B it’s the right by the way I agree I think uh the first time I saw I heard the term servant leadership was Dave Ramsey some of his leadership stuff and and that really hit home for me that’s like kind of my first intro to like leadership training and then it’s kind of led me you know now it’s led me to you and I’ve read some Ryan holiday Gary ve I think uh different perspectives are good you know tribe by Sebastian younger you know there’s just so many variables that all

kind of connect together and yours was a refreshing approach to it yeah I I think that’s a very positive a very positive way of approaching B it’s been great you talk about authenticity and these days is uh it can uh it can seem that uh things in social media especially had this been year of like everything is good uh you talk about challenges on your book how to work today and advise for young people coming into the workplace to embrace challenges and learn from mistakes um what have been some of your mentorships uh uh advice to you as you have deal with setbacks or disappoint app Ms or or challenges in your career well you know that brings up a very interesting uh concept again that I I would encourage your listeners and your Brands and your colleagues to learn more about it’s this whole concept of emotional quot it’s called EQ um uh there’s there’s EQ is it’s it’s a combination of how you view yourself how well you understand yourself we already talked about that earlier uh it’s an understanding in of how others are perceiving you uh I think people who

are very self-aware have a strong sense of how they’re being perceived by others especially in the moment is how to manage your emotions that you experienc in them uh we all get a little frustrated and we all uh you know feel like kind of sucking it all in at a certain point P but people who can M they in heal with their emotion uh they going to be they’re going to be a more successful motivation self motivation talk about uh you know loveing the grind it takes a special type of person to love the grind uh and part of just part of it things social you know I I there was a say in Human Resources I used to use all the time and edit your field may get you higher but your personality make it fun so part of it is just understanding how to interact with people so those those are the elements of autistic that I’m always act reminding people know who you are understand how you perceive know what motivates you and U you know understand the importance of being the kind of person that can get along with

others one thing uh you talk about in your book is separating your personal life you know yeah and your work life I guilty of not doing that at all mine’s kind of like this and I make it work but I do think there’s it made me kind of have to self-reflect on that but are you pretty adamant keeping them separate and why why is that well I would say from a mental health standpoint we we need to have time to check with ourselves and uh you know I was a skin the next guy in my prime years my career I I remember coming home from a tough day at work and having my kids kind of yapping at me hi Dad Hi D and my mind’s are work yeah keep up that we’ve all done it oh yeah I’ve done it I need I try to be better about that I I’ve done it and you know it does upset my family so I try to that being said like I try to be present and exactly great and you know part of it is these things here where there are leases now

these phones I’m holding a phone they’re they’re lucious and it cannot it makes it very difficult to separate the work from from home so you know whatever strategies you need to do either turn it off for two hours or say no no no phone for the first hour when I get home or I use the focus uh I personally use the when I get home my my phone knows I’m home and it turns into like home Focus yeah so I don’t get any phone calls I don’t get any unless you call twice if you call twice in a row then it comes through because then it might be so I’ve told if you need me they go straight to voicemail call me back if it’s important you know so part of it just that’s a great strategy part of it’s just you know work life mental health balance I mean there is a certain time you mentioned like hiking Nick when have to disconnect and I V go and enjoy nature I’m gonna go on hike I’m GNA go on vacation I’m gonna go play golf I’m gonna go see a movie we have

to disconnect because otherwise uh you you start losing objective you start taking on tunnel vision and you start ignoring your happening around you because they Soo something that and I would tell people with keeping you up at night tonight you won’t even remember it a year from now so why are you giving a that much control over your over your emotions and c and your sleep so part of it is finding that work life balance and uh finding Outlets uh whether they’re Hobbies I like to hike and golf and do a little Woodworking and go to the gym a lot you just need to be able to find those Outlets if you don’t have an outlet I would encourage you to find one uh because we all need to use a different part of our grind uh then we use at work and we all have to have something that that takes Total Focus uh away because like if you have a hobby that you really enjoy then you’re focused on your obob and the last comment I’ll make on that guys is is your identity uh maybe not too much for an entrepreneur

I have to confess I never had the entrepreneur experience on way I respect it mentally is you know you’re your job can go away you know so your job can go away as quickly as a phone call from HR on a Monday morning because we’re going through down B so if you are not ready for that moment they can be very jar so I always remind people that you know what you do is not who you are and uh you need to make sure that you have that uh that kind of a that kind of mindset okay well it’s not my it’s not my total definition of of of who you are I was a DP of HR big university and it was a big part of my identity and I realized that one day didn’t when I wasn’t that anymore there there were other ways I was have to F that Gap but and I was very plal about it I they thr reard but you know people always have to re people always have to realize especially in an organization loyalty only goes one way so if if you are totally invested

mind bling soul in you’re your major set so it be to have a variety of things that make up your your identity um it makes for a healthy balance of always one that we trying to strike a a combination of I I do I do got to say that’s a great point that you just made because I have had the the opportunity to work for as an entrepreneur for myself building a company I can relate to to Nick but I also work for a large company as well and it can it can be pretty pretty a ton of vision before you know that your identity is almost like one belongs to the other one it can be pretty pretty challenging even from a Prof professional standpoint uh as as well so again you know I’m not saying I did it right over my whole career I I made as many mistakes as anybody else I wrote about in the book but uh one one of the reasons I wrote up about so I could just kind of share these things with others to if or in that case they just Bic and I do

think you know you discussed like how to keep yourself sharp in that third part you know healthwise yeah how you eat and that’s something that you know I’m in my 40s now I have to be very mindful of how to keep myself mentally sharp and that’s getting to the gym and eating better I’m not perfect at it you know but like that’s something I’m glad you brought that up because a lot of people don’t discuss how important that is and I think that’s arguably like one of the most important things you can do because if you’re if you’re not ready physically mentally you’re doing your team a disservice you know yeah nobody’s nobody’s winning your your relationship is suff right your work is stuff right so absolutely next you know the point I mentioned in the book is as we age uh because you know you go through your 20s what you have Final Fantasy to your 40s now your body is changing and uh your hormonal balance is changing uh your metabolism is changing you have to adapt and what works for you do not work whether it’s consp of alcohol I know

I used to be like my be like anybody else but I’ve noticed that you I’ve got by I it affects me differently it’s uh it’s it’s it’s watching what you eat it’s make sure you getting plenty of sleep it’s uh again making sure that your relationships are positive because toxic relationships will stap you so all those things that you have to be kind of mindful As you move through your the your prime years of your career I like it that you say call it prime years thank you for that yeah exactly I encourage guys your age I know you guys 40 50 just enjoy the ride man I mean this one day you’re going to get to the Finish Line like I did I did a year and a half ago and you want to be able to look back hey I had a great time you know I I it was positive I met great people I had great experiences you know I made my mistakes what I learned from them and there’s a great deal of satisfaction uh when you do Finish Line and your and your life transitions into something new

so I just want to make sure I could help guys like you understand just enjoy the right cool I will I’m still having fun I’m still yeah well you guys look great you guys both look healthy and happy and very I I got a question for both of you guys I I I’m gonna copy a line that I seen lately about this guy asking people in the street about if they could have a conversation with their 20 year old self what what would one advice they they will give their 20 20 year old self about life in general as it relates to family professional careers will you go first Aldo all right if I would give myself the 20 yearold advice I would say to be more vocal about my desires um and and things that I wanted to accomplish I think that looking back at it maybe a cultural component to my upbringing was not to be as vocal as I could have been uh I think that that’s the one that I would I would definitely give myself how about you Nick I tell myself to get up at 5:00 am

get in that routine then right and do that focus on my health even back then more getting in that routine because I didn’t and I am now focused on that um I was pretty vocal in my 20s it kind of help me and I would say just you know maybe focus on um my girl my kidss are older now maybe focus on on them a little more in my 20s that’s what id tell myself so that goes back to you Kevin saying keep the keep the family and the work separate and and my wife would probably be nodding her head that I kind of I’m guilty and not doing that I need to work on that okay look all great things yeah I guess I might have to look back the things I regret the most are relationship that I could have done a better job managing I as human beings we always think it’s other person’s fault you know they’re not getting me they don’t understand blah blah blah blah blah but as I said earlier uh you know empathy understanding of the other person’s point of view uh and understanding how they

see the world is not necessarily the way you see the world and again to be respectful of that so when I made mistakes over my career it’s probably because I thought my world view was was the only worldview and that’s not correct I me that that’s that’s just not great everybody sees the world through their own lens of experience and I would I I whenever I made the mistake is because I wasn’t respectful wow that’s great advice awesome advice I wanted to offer when we put this newsletter out please make a comment message me I want to send some of these free copies out to some of our our subscribers and our listeners so hit us up and I’ll send some copies to some of the recycling Community because I think our community is really unique and cool where we all kind of work together and I think you know this book could help a lot of people so I want to put that out there real quick well I appreciate you guys give me the time this morning and I’m um again thrilled that I’ve made two more contacts in my network and

I put this out there too whatever whoever winds up with the book you know if there’s a comment or question my contact information is in the book just ping it to me I I love answering questions online or LinkedIn connections or we can we can engage I’m not going to charge you $250 an hour that’s not who I am I’ll just hey consider this you thought about that again my my whole purpose of writing the book and and doing things like this podcast just giving back some knowledge awesome that’s awesome that’s great great stuff all right well thank you everyone thank you for taking the time and we’ll get this out to all our subscribers here soon I appreciate it again thanks again Nick and Alto thank you Nick for hosting thank you Kevin for joining us