April 27, 2025 • 44 mins
Our guests today include Joe Perpiglia, President & CEO of Construction Alliance of PA; Joe Messner, Founder & CEO of JGM; Ken Weinstein, President of Philly Office Retail LLC & John Walls and Jason Spera Co-Founders of AEGIS Software. Listen as they share how they are driven by their mission and how they set the example for those working for them and for their industries. They share how the show must go on, no matter the size or the challenge.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to Executive Leaders Radio, your spot in the corner office,
the radio show where executives share their secrets to success.
Executive Leaders Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio this year host Herb
Cohen with my co host Jim Wilson Newmark Are Founder
Sheet Consumer fifty one, Chuck Swicker, Weidenhammer, Kristen Ladle, Leader's Edge,
and Jack Straz Brown and Brown and Chuck. Who do
we have on the air today?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Thanks Er, We've got a great line up today, starting
off with Joe Popilia, who is the President and CEO
of the Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania. We have Joe Messner,
who's the founder and CEO of j g M, followed
by Ken Weinstein, who is the president of Philly Office Retail,
and Jason Spira and John Walls, who respectively are the
(01:01):
CEO and CTO and co founders of Ages Software.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Let's get into our first guest. I've got Joe Purpilia,
who's the President and CEO of Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania. Joe,
what is the Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania. What are you
guys doing?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
We're an organization that provides business development opportunities to developers, contractors,
industry professionals. We also provide education services and workforce development services.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Where you're from? How many brothers and sisters? And where
are you in the pecking order?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I'm an only child and counch of hocken plymouths meeting East.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Artin suburber of Philadelphia and eight to fourteen? What kind
of stuff are you doing as a kid?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Well, this is the eighties, so a lot of Rocky
movies and a lot of MTV and learning to play
the guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Right, all right, mister Chuck, you want to give me
a hand please?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Joe Rocky movies?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Why, well, I think as a kid growing up, you know,
I wasn't the biggest in stature. You know, in the
seventies and eighties, there's building was a little more prevalent.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Let's just say you kind of felt like an underdog.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And boy, when you watch that movie, if you don't
see the light, you never will.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So were you were you an underdog?
Speaker 5 (02:13):
I felt?
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
I certainly felt that way, especially being like I just
had a smaller kid.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
And what's that have to do with who you are nowadays?
Speaker 7 (02:21):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
You know, I don't strink from adversities. I probably the
first thing. I don't mind, you know, a hard time,
because I know that you have to go through that
hard time to get get to the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Gotcha, Kristen, you mentioned in.
Speaker 8 (02:34):
The green room when it came to guitar, you could
play eight to ten hours a day. Was any of
that instructional versus self taught? And how do you bring
that into who you are today?
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Self taught?
Speaker 9 (02:45):
So?
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Uh, just listen.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
So if you can listen and learn a song pre YouTube,
So if you can listen and learn a.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Song by a band in the eighties, it.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Shows you how to listen when you're when you're dealing
with a team or a client, potential client, a member.
Speaker 10 (03:00):
Ari Joe and the green women. We were chatting. You
come across as the show must go on type of guy.
Tell me about the first time you went on stage
and what that experience did to you that you bring
to work today.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Sure, well, I'll tell you this. You know, I was
a bit shy.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I didn't mention that in the green room. So it
gets you over your shyness. Doesn't matter if there's five
people in the audience or fifty or five hundred. So
at the time. It was probably five or fifty at
that first show, but you learn to get over it
real quick because you've been practicing all that time. You
can't let something get in your way.
Speaker 11 (03:37):
Jim Joe, you mentioned playing baseball in your third basement.
You're known as a spark plug and a cheerleader. How
did that roll influence your approach to leadership today?
Speaker 5 (03:48):
I think it's probably one of the most fundamental things
as a leader.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You need to be a spark plug. If you're going
to be a leader, then you got to provide the
example of you know, for the folks that you're working with.
And also I just think it's the right thing to do.
If you're on a mission, you got to believe in
the mission. If you believe in the mission, you should
be a spark club.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
How do you.
Speaker 11 (04:08):
Balance staying energized and motivating your team with strategic decision making?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Well, again, it goes back to the mission, right, So
there's probably another element there that I should mention is
you got to love what you do and you got
to surround people that not only love the mission, believe
in the mission.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
So it makes your job as a leader a little
bit easier.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
And that's what I've always looked for when I'm building
a team or if I'm on a team, that's what
I bring.
Speaker 12 (04:32):
To take.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, Joe, clearly your dad was an influence in your life.
What do you bring to work every day that he
taught you or was influenced?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Look at the data document, make things as black and
white as you can in the business side of things.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Obviously A nice balance to.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
That is my mom, right, So yeah, the opposite, so
to speak.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well to comparing what do you bring to work that
she taught you?
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Emotional intelligence. I didn't even know she was teaching it
to me, but I learned it. And as I go
through my career.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
And anything that I do, I've just I buy feedback
I've been told that I have.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
I didn't really know that I had it to me.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
It always just feels like the right thing to do
in how you treat people when you're working with them.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, dude, there was a story. Yeah, there was a
story that I remember because you've been on the air
with us previously about your father in a rough neighborhood
in Philadelphia. Put you on the street corner. What was
that story and would you learn from that story?
Speaker 11 (05:39):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Sure, sure, so my dad, you know, he came up,
you know, bottom up in his company and he did
very well for himself.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And as I mentioned, I went from king of Or
from Counchy Hocken too. We moved to Plymouth meeting this
is like the eighties and you know, I eventually it
was the kid with the swimming pool and the two
cargo and all those all those trappings and uh he
felt and he was right. He said, you know, you
need to see where you came from. This is too.
(06:09):
I don't want you to think this was an accident.
I had to do a lot. You need to go
down and be on the same street corner as I was.
And I can tell you without a doubt that has
been a thread through my answer.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
What did he do to you?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Well, you know it doesn't sound actually.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Take you down? Didn't he actually drive you down to
a street corner? And how young were you and put
you on that street corner?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Absolutely so he I was lucky enough to have my
grandmam uh.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Still living in the same house, so he took I
would spend weekends there or or during the week and
he would say, you know, go out and play, go
out and hang out, and boy, do you learn quickly?
You know, you can't bs anybody on the street because
there is the row house three houses down. That's your reputation,
even though I was kind of a visitor, you know,
(06:58):
at the same time, those lessons were learned.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what kind of lessons did you learn on a
street corner in Philadelphia that because your father made you
go back to the neighborhood. What kind of lessons there
did you learn on that street corner? Has anything to
do with growing this construction alliance at Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
If you say you're going to do something, you got
to do it. Once you say it, you own it.
And if you don't do it, your integrity has already taken.
It's a downward stock from there. And I certainly learned.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
That, and I carry that, like I said, I carry
that every day.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Your reputation is important to.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
You, Huh, it is absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Why can't you just go make another friend?
Speaker 5 (07:39):
I don't think you can.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
You know, your integrity is your own, So you got
to If you say you're going to do something, or
you make a problem, you're not only making a promise
of the person you're talking to, you're making it to yourself.
And if you break that, and I don't think you
go on the same way if you keep doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
There's a story that that we become the pe of
the five or ten people that were closest to Is
that true or is that just thought? You just make
new friends because especially you, because you're good at making
new friends.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Sure, I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Like I said, you know, if you look at yourself
who you are, I think it comes through. You can't
just go out and make a new friend when you've
maybe diminished your internal stock.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Eventually you're kind of a shell. That's the way I
see it.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
And that's why I've always tried to follow something very
simple and said, you are.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You married or single? Married?
Speaker 13 (08:35):
Uh huh?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
What do you ever talk to your wife about business?
And what role does your wife play in your business life?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Match is similar to me that you know, be motivated,
believe in yourself. Push there's an obstacle, getting around it
or move it.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
If you have to.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
You have any kids? Do you have any kids?
Speaker 5 (08:54):
I have a beautiful daughter named Sophia.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
What's the similarity between being a dad and being a CEO?
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Well, I think from the nurturing side is probably obvious, right,
You can't you can You could maybe be a CEO
as a leader and be cold. I'm sure you can
make some things work. I think it's better when you
when you nurture your company, or your daughter or your family.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
So you've built a prior team and now you're starting
this construction alliance. Do you ever get to know any
of your teammates and in business personally?
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Sure? Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Why do you bother doing that?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Well?
Speaker 4 (09:31):
I think you know, you know, to a certain level,
you know, as far as getting to know someone personally
in business, you know there's some lines there obviously.
Speaker 7 (09:38):
But.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
You want to know them.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
You know, you want to know what's important to them
and what motivates them.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
And if you don't, you can't lead properly, at.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
Least in my experience.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Well, what do you figure the best part of your
job is, Well.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
The best part is the fun part.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
It's but it's the people, for sure, right, I mean,
that's that's very important. I have an impact, you know,
is certainly if it's not also first, it's very close
to being first. And I can tell you you know,
we mentioned that street corner, we mentioned that neighborhood, and
I'll be very specific. This is the corner of sixty
sixth at Elboard. If you go there today, it's not
(10:17):
the same place that I grew up and part of
the Construction Alliance. Although not in the mission statements, not
on the brochure, you know that is an area very
specific to my heart that if I'd like to.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Fix that, I introduce you to Ken Weinstein. What's the
website addressed for Construction Alliance at Pennsylvania.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
It is Construction ALLIANCEPA dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
We've been speaking with Joe Propelia, President and CEO Construction
Alliance at Pennsylvania here on Executive Leaders Radio. Back in
the moment right after this quick break, don't go anywhere.
This is Herb Cohen, your hosted Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Regarding your career, if you're trying to figure out how
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(11:03):
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Speaker 14 (11:30):
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Speaker 2 (12:03):
We're back. You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio this year,
host Herb Cohen with my guest Joe Messner, founder and
CEO of JGM. Joe, what is JGM? What are you
guys doing? So?
Speaker 13 (12:15):
Jgm's a heavy industrial construction of fabrication company. We're located
out in Coatsville, Pennsylvania, mission critical projects.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And tell me a little bit about you started this
business which is now about two hundred people. Where you're from,
how many brothers and sisters? And where are you in
the pecking order?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
So?
Speaker 13 (12:33):
Born and raised in Westchester, Pennsylvania. Have a brother and
a sister. So one of three, I'm the oldest.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
All right, eight to fourteen? What was going on? What
was going on in your life eight to fourteen?
Speaker 13 (12:44):
Eight to fourteen? Playing sports? So I played football for
about six years straight.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I was center.
Speaker 13 (12:51):
And I would say probably around pretty normal, normal life
up until about eleven twelve years old, we had a
pretty significant family event. My dad was an entrepreneur. I'm
actually the fifth generation entrepreneur in our in our family,
and he had a business failure that was pretty significant
and he ultimately had to had to leave the house
(13:14):
for about two two and a half years, and I
became the man of the house.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, you mentioned that dad actually ended up going to jail,
and you mentioned that you became the man of the house.
What do you mean you became the man of the house.
Speaker 13 (13:31):
I would say that the man of the house. So
my mom was pretty devastated. You know, she was a
stay at home mom. My mom actually, uh, you know,
at a very young age, had a stroke, so you
know she was not able to you know type uh
you know, an administrative assistant or anything like that, so
(13:51):
her her income generation was limited to certain positions. Great
mother took care of us and uh, she you know,
taught me emotion intelligence organization.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So you really stepped up to the plate. I mean
you didn't have Dad wasn't there, and mom was limited
in terms of what you could do. You really did
have to step up? What did that experience? What's that
have to do with who you are nowadays?
Speaker 13 (14:15):
Life is all about adversity and life is your your
ability to have grit to overcome challenges. Life is film
with challenges.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Right.
Speaker 13 (14:23):
If you don't think someone's having challenges and someone else
has an easy road, you haven't.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
You haven't gotten to know them.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, you mentioned that your favorite TV show back then
was This Old House because you were doing all these chores, Chris,
don you want to get me a ham with that? Joe? Please?
Speaker 12 (14:37):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (14:37):
So you were mentioning how you're fixing things around the
house and being industrious and curious. Often when you're curious,
it means you have faith in yourself and you want
to figure things out. How do you bring that forth
into who you are as a leader today?
Speaker 13 (14:52):
I would say energizing the team, setting the vision of
what's possible, showing them you know, the potential and you know, hey,
when we bring a team together, we can solve all
kinds of challenges. Use your resources around you, like video,
you know, mentors, so got you?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Jim?
Speaker 11 (15:11):
Joe going back to your dad and the failing business,
you mentioned he made a bad decision for good reasons.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Could you elaborate on that?
Speaker 13 (15:18):
So, you know, I think all through life, you know,
we've all made good decisions and bad decisions, and his
intentions were good to save the business. I think if
we had to take the decisions back, he absolutely would.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
And I think one.
Speaker 13 (15:33):
Of the things that I learned is, and if he
were to reflect back, is surrounding yourself with really really
good leaders and mentors around you to help you make
better decisions.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
What you mentioned your dad your biggest supporter today. What
does he think about your decision making today?
Speaker 13 (15:48):
I'd say that, you know, our success to date, we've
had our ups and downs, and I would say that
I think he would say that I've done a great
job of surrounding myself with other mentors that help us
make better decisions.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Collect excellent.
Speaker 10 (16:01):
Ari Joe, you mentioned used to go out and do
adventures with your friends. What kinds of activities were you
doing then and how does that connect to what you're
doing now.
Speaker 12 (16:12):
I'd say, you.
Speaker 13 (16:13):
Know, back when I was you know, eight to fourteen,
you know, one of the things that we were always doing,
we were you know, my mom would tell us to
leave the house and go outside.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
We lived in a wooded area.
Speaker 13 (16:24):
We would build tree forts, we would dig tunnels. You know,
every time we build a ladder up a tree, we'd
want to go higher, you know.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
So I was always.
Speaker 13 (16:32):
Setting the vision up and it was always around building something.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
You know.
Speaker 13 (16:35):
We built a motorized skateboard with a twenty five foot
extension court, so we stopped there for twenty five feet,
you know. So I was usually the leader of building
building things.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And what's that up to do with who you're in now?
Speaker 13 (16:50):
You know, passion for building things. So every single ever
since I went over to the Commoner Barry Bridge, we'd
go over there as a family, head into the beach,
and I said, I wanted to build that bridge, and
I love I love building things, whether it be businesses
or structures.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Mm hm, mister Chuck Joe.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Fifth generation entrepreneur. Was that a foregone conclusion or did
something else drive the decision to go from just you know,
thinking about building things to actually starting a business. Two
different two different areas.
Speaker 13 (17:20):
For generations of ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
Actually on both sides of the family, my mom's side
that was very entrepreneurial and uh, you know, being an entrepreneur.
There's a lot of ups and downs. All my mom
wanted me to do was she said, I just want
you to be normal, and I want you to go
to college, and I want you to go get a job.
So I would say there was not a lot of
support initially with my thoughts of becoming a uh an entrepreneur.
(17:44):
But I will say, you know, with with the original
you know, the my father's business failure, a lot of
uh I'd say, motivation to build something that is super
successful and uh you know, and.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
We bought a great company together so.
Speaker 12 (17:59):
I could do him and our family.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Jack.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Yeah, Joe, I want to talk about your experience playing
on the football team, and I think it's interesting because
you were the center, right. Everyone always looks at the
quarterback as the leader, but at the end of the day,
the play starts with the center, snap and the ball.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So just talk to me about your.
Speaker 6 (18:15):
Role with the team and you know how that kind
of shaped you in your leadership role today.
Speaker 13 (18:20):
Yeah, I think the center is an interesting position. I
love playing center, and you're right, the quarterback is the
main focal point. But I'd say I was the steady
leadership on the team and when you know we were
not on a never want a championship. I would say
having that steady person on there that's positive energy and
(18:43):
looking at other teammates that are maybe you know, downing themselves,
picking them back up and keeping everyone's.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
Eye on the ball.
Speaker 13 (18:50):
So that's business all day long, right as you're leading
a group of people.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Sure, Chuck, what's your next question? Joe?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Your profile says you learned a doctor of philosopher, doctor
of philosophy from the School of Hard Knocks. Your mom
wanted you to go to college. There's something there.
Speaker 13 (19:11):
Yeah, so I had probably the most expensive education of
learning what you know by figuring out what not to do.
But I honestly think you know, uh, you know, failure
is part of the process. Fail, quick, learn and move on, right,
So you got to make sure that your failures aren't
so huge that they knock you out of the game.
But uh, done a good job collectively of that. But
(19:34):
we try things right, We're not afraid to try things.
Don't be afraid to fail and get back.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
You didn't live up to your mom's expectations. You didn't
go to college. You took a different path that seemed
to work out for you.
Speaker 13 (19:45):
Here that's that's correct, So still learning today. So you know,
at the end of the day, college is it's not
for everyone. It's a great place to continue your education.
But you know, one of our core values at GGM
is you know, continuous improvement or a commitment to self improvement.
And it's you know, just that learning mindset and growth mindset.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Zak, did you have another questions there?
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Yes, absolutely so, Joe. You mentioned going to work at
an early age in a steel fabricator. What were your
experiences one of the only kids working there, and what
was different about you and the other kids?
Speaker 13 (20:26):
I would say there was the differences is I was
super passionate about learning everything there, Like I fell in
love with the craft of working with my hands, becoming
a welder. I'd stay there after hours to practice welding.
You know, I wanted to become a certified welder and
you know, just that continuous growth mindset. Once I did that,
I wanted to learn how to fabricate. I wanted to
(20:47):
learn how to run a piece of equipment. And you know,
investing the time, right like you know, the company invested,
you know, their dollars and you know, giving me an
opportunity to learn. But they always said the student had
to show up, and I would show up to learn paycheck.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So what's that student have to do with your being
the CEO. I'm trying to make the connection there, student CEO,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 13 (21:11):
Uh, there is no not to my knowledge, there's no
school on how to become a successful.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
CEO of a growing company.
Speaker 13 (21:18):
Every day that your company is growing, there are new
challenges presented, right, so you're constantly.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Going to school.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
M gotcha. What's the website address for j GM JGNUSA
dot com. It's being with Joe Messner, founder and CEO
of j g N here on Executive Leaders Radio. Don't
forget the visit our website. It's Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Learn more about our executive leaders. It's Executive Leaders radios
dot com. They'll learn more about our executive leaders. To
pick around. We'll be back in a little bit. Right
(21:48):
after this click break. Don't go anywhere. We're back. You're
listening to Executive Leaders Radio. Let's get to know Ken Weinstein,
(22:09):
President of Philly Office Retail. Ken, what is Philly Office Retail?
What are you guys doing?
Speaker 12 (22:14):
Philly Office Retail is a mission oriented real estate development company.
We do adaptive reuse of buildings and we currently own
and manage around eight hundred thousand square feet of space.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Where you're from, how many brothers and sisters? Where are
you in the pecking order?
Speaker 12 (22:34):
I am from a small town called Summerville in central
New Jersey, and I'm the youngest of three brothers.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Got you eight to fourteen? What were you up to?
Speaker 12 (22:45):
I had a lot of entrepreneurial activities. I was a
paper boy. I had a candle making business, a car
washing and waxing business, and also mowde a lot of lawns.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
You mentioned that when you were twelve years old, you
and your friends Stewart at twelve, we're trying to figure
out what kind of stuff? Why don't you put in
your own words?
Speaker 12 (23:06):
We were trying to figure out what we could make
or what goods, as goods and services we can provide
that people wanted. And that's how we got into washing
and waxing cars, how we got into making candles, and
we our first customers were people on my paper route,
so we were cross selling our goods and services.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So it sounds to me like your nature is win
win win. How do you keep customers happy, what else
can you sell them? But also working with people as
opposed to keeping it all for yourself. Your nature's like
win win win, Chuck, want you give me a hand?
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Get in the note Ken, and you and your childhood
buddy were obviously partners in a lot of these early
stage endeavors. Who were you? Were you the sales guy
or were you the operational guy?
Speaker 12 (23:53):
I think both me and Stewart did mostly the same work.
I may have brought more of the customers because of
my paper route to our businesses, but he worked at
least as hard as I did, and it was a
good collaboration.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Got you, Kristin.
Speaker 8 (24:11):
Can you mentioned in the green room that you were
second in state and table tennis and what it calls
to table tennis your focus cannot drift and so how
do you bring that extreme ability to focus today into
your leadership.
Speaker 13 (24:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (24:25):
Table tennis was what I excelled at as a kid,
and it brought me a competitive edge that I still
enjoyed today. Table tennis. Participating table tennis tournaments was a
lot of pressure, a lot of competition, and made me
gave me the confidence that I needed as a kid.
Speaker 10 (24:47):
Ken in the green room, we're talking about how you
grew up and how that neighborhood looked like, and then
how you ended up becoming a developer. Can you tell
me a little bit more about it.
Speaker 12 (24:58):
Yeah, I grew up in a very solid, middle class neighborhood.
There were not any vacant, deteriorated buildings, and when I
moved to Philadelphia after college, that's the first thing I
saw was splight and I vowed at that point that
I wanted to do something about it. And that's what
(25:20):
still pushes me today to redevelop properties.
Speaker 11 (25:25):
Jim, and as the youngest of three brothers, did you
find yourself trying to stand out or prove yourself in
certain ways every day?
Speaker 12 (25:35):
I think it's typical when you're the youngest and definitely
the youngest of three brothers, that you need to find
ways to stand out to prove yourself. And I think
that continues to motivate me.
Speaker 11 (25:49):
Does that mindset influence your decision to take on these
challenging redevelopment.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Projects in real estate?
Speaker 5 (25:55):
People say that you can't do it, maybe.
Speaker 12 (25:58):
Yeah, I think you. I want to find ways of
taking risk and that is what I still do.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Zak.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Yeah, So pigging backing off of Jim's question about you
being the youngest three brothers. You mentioned in the green
room that you put your lawn mowing business under your
older brother's name as you were twelve years old.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
You weren't old enough.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
And I think, generally speaking entrepreneurial spirit, it's generally an
older sibling things. So can you talk to me about
why you feel that you were more entrepreneurial than your
older brothers.
Speaker 12 (26:34):
It was actually my paper boy business, and you had
to be fourteen to legally have a paper boy business,
and so I was only twelve, So that's why I
did it under my brother's name. And I don't know.
I think maybe my father's influence had more of an
(26:54):
impact on me than my brothers. My brothers were incredibly
hard working and taught me a lot on how to
work hard in order to get ahead. But I really
enjoyed taking that risk.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Chuck, you want to give me a hand further, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I can and take that to the next level. You
just mentioned your dad, what do you bring to work
every day? That he taught you and your mom as
well for that matter.
Speaker 12 (27:20):
Yeah, my dad was an early environmental consultant going back
to the early sixties before that was the thing, and
we talked about that at the dinner table every night.
How to be an entrepreneur, how to motivate your employees,
how to build your company, and that is what I'm
still doing today. He also taught me how to be
(27:43):
involved in how to make a difference. He was president
of borough council, he was president of the school board,
and that's the kind of person I want to be.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Did that resonate with you as a young entrepreneur or
were those lessons that you realized affected you later on
in your life.
Speaker 12 (28:00):
I learned it early on. I remember going door to
door with him in the neighborhood and talking to voters
when he ran for office. And sure enough, my first
job out of college was running political campaigns.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
But what your mom give you.
Speaker 12 (28:15):
Mom was excelled at organizational skills. She taught me how
to have a clean desk and a clean room and
therefore open yourself up to opportunities. He also taught me
a lot about empathy.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
You got to do with what you're doing today.
Speaker 12 (28:34):
Very much.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Oh, empathy real estate. I'm trying to what's the connection there?
Speaker 12 (28:41):
We are mission oriented, so I know there's a lot
of real estate developers out there that are single bottom line.
We can consider ourselves triple bottom line. We look, as
you said before, for that win win win. We win
for our bottom line, we win for our employees, we
win for the communities in which we invest.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You mentioned when we were talking earlier, more stuff about
what motivates you. So what does motivate you?
Speaker 12 (29:12):
What motivates me is making projects happen, getting shit done.
I love the idea of taking a vacant, deteriorated property
and restoring it and making a job producing business out
of it.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
But isn't there a lot of risk in taking something
that's broken down and dilapidated and trying and putting a
lot of money into it and praying it's going to work.
I mean, what are you talking about.
Speaker 12 (29:42):
I dwell on risk. It's sort of a sickness, but
it's what keeps me going every day. But it's smart risk.
Of course, you don't just take risk for the sake
of risk. You have to calculate it, you have to
evaluate it, and you have to make sure or you're
doing the right thing every day.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
So as opposed to looking at people in these these
blady communities as potential competitors. You went ahead and started
an organization where you're actually helping them get involved with
real estate. Why would you do that. You're actually creating
your own competition, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (30:17):
I believe very strongly what you're referring to as my
Jumpstart Germantown Jumpstart Philly program, where we're trading and mentoring
and loaning money to aspiring real estate developers. And the
reason I do that is because I believe that you
can grow the pie and there's more than enough work
for everybody, rather than focusing on competing for a piece
(30:41):
of the existing pie.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So you're coming from abundance rather than scarcity. Where did
that come from, this feeling of abundance versus scarcity.
Speaker 12 (30:49):
I think I've always enjoyed collaborating with other people. Certainly
my parents taught me how to do that. Certainly I
did that with my brothers, and it's a way of life.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
I think Stuart's a demonstration of it. I mean, at
twelve years old, for you to go, you and Stuart
to starts sitting around thinking about how you can make
money together. The first thing is with him, let alone together.
And you guys did a number of different things together.
I mean, your nature is all about collaboration and making
money and winning and making sure that everybody's happy all
(31:22):
the time. So do you really care about your reputation?
Speaker 12 (31:26):
Absolutely? Reputation is everything. And when I teach my Jumpstart students,
that is something I dwell on because once you lose
your reputation, then you m also go into a different business.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
You're actually you're actually teaching potential competitors what you know.
Speaker 12 (31:46):
Yes, because if I'm I get to retire when every
bladed property in Philadelphia has been redeveloped. And that's what
I'm hoping my Jumpstarters will do for me.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
What's the website addresser to fill Office Retail.
Speaker 12 (32:02):
Phillyofficeretail dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
We've been speaking with Ken Weinstein, president of Philly Office
Retail here on Executive Leaders Radio. Don't forget them to
at our website Executive Leaders Radio dot com to learn
more about our executive Leaders. We'll be back around a
moment right after this quick break. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 15 (32:18):
This is her co and you're host of Executive Leaders Radio.
And if you're a business consultant, if you consult to
business owners or to business owners, team members. Then we'd
like to speak with you because we're getting requests from
people all over the country, from entrepreneurs all over the
(32:42):
country that are starting and building their businesses where they're
looking for help and maybe we can help connect you.
Why don't you email us at consult at Executive Leaders
Radio dot com. That's consult at Executive leaders Radio dot com,
(33:03):
and perhaps we can connect you to folks, to entrepreneurs
and their team members all around the country that are
looking for help. That's consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
We're back. You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio. That's your host,
Herb Cohen, And let's get to know Jason Spira CEO
and John Wall CTO of AGA Software. What is AGA Software?
What are you guys doing?
Speaker 16 (33:45):
Agis is an enterprise software provider that focuses on supporting manufacturing.
We bring speed, control and visibility to all of manufacturing operations.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Got you where you're from? How many brothers and sisters?
And where are you in the pecking order? Jason?
Speaker 7 (34:00):
I grew up an ambler and I'm the youngest of
three brothers.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
And what were you doing eight to fourteen?
Speaker 16 (34:06):
I was mainly following my engineer father around when he
was building all manner of things and engineering things around
the house, driving my mom crazy. And then I was
using what I learned from him at a very young
age to restore a tractor of the neighbors, and then
starting a lawn cutting business and building rabbit hutches for neighbors.
I was always trying to create some kind of little
(34:27):
business even back then.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Huh, how young were you when you met? When you met, John, we.
Speaker 16 (34:33):
Met freshman year of high school in German class, right, yeah, yeah,
about fifteen.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I'd say, all right, and you guys co founded this
business together. John, Where are you from? How many brothers
and sisters? And where are you in the pecking order? Yeah?
Speaker 17 (34:45):
So I'm from Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, so just outside Philly there.
I'm one of five kids. I'm the middle child. I
have two older sisters and two younger brothers.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So, John, why do you and Jason fit together so nicely?
Speaker 3 (34:59):
That's a good question.
Speaker 17 (35:00):
I think it's because, you know, when we met, I
think we saw common interests in each other. I think
we were both interested in we were both really in
the tech. We really enjoyed anything engineering oriented technical, but
we also knew that we had were driven with entrepreneurialism
and wanted to do something in business together.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Chuck, want to get me a hand please?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
So John, Jason, you guys are a tag team that
started at a very young age. Move it forward to
today or has that changed? How do you get you know? John?
How do you compliment Jason and vice versa?
Speaker 12 (35:28):
Yeah, I think I you know, I'm being more the inward.
Speaker 17 (35:31):
One of the pair. Jason does most of the outward,
the selling and a lot of the public engagements. But
I think I bring to the equation, you know, the
ability to focus on task at hand, and the ability
to kind of stay sane when things get crazy around
here and look at things in a slightly more strategic way.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
All right, Jim, will you give me a hand please?
Speaker 5 (35:52):
John and Jason you both rowed in high school. What
part of the boat did you each sit in?
Speaker 17 (35:57):
I rowed stroke and second seat, And yeah, I was
in the bow most of my years there.
Speaker 11 (36:02):
So playing off of what Chuck just said, the bow
is about balance and finesse while the stern sets the
rhythm and pace. That sounds a lot like your roles today, John,
focused on John, You're focused on product envision and Jason
more technical and execution driven. Would you say that parallel
holds true?
Speaker 16 (36:19):
Well, it's a little bit. John is the technical officer
of the company. But yes, I think that the sales
and marketing and the outward looking part be encountered by
John has the benefit of not being in the fire
of marketing and sales out you know, and so forth.
So I think that he brings a great balance to.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Perfect yin and yang.
Speaker 7 (36:40):
Yeah, behind there.
Speaker 18 (36:42):
Yeah, Sometimes when leaders work together and known each other
as long as you have, things can go unsaid unintentionally.
How does that play out in how you are leaders
in your company today?
Speaker 16 (36:54):
That's a great question. We have to be careful about
that because we have known each other and we're best
friends for so long that we can be in meetings
and brainstorming and come to conclusions, you know, before anyone
else does. And we have to be respectful of the
rest of the team that they may not be up
to speed.
Speaker 17 (37:12):
But we also have to be careful because other other
people's opinions are often very valuable, and we have to
sort of take take a little break and make sure
everyone's going to getcluded in the in the decision making,
so we make a better.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Gutcher zach.
Speaker 7 (37:26):
No.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Jason, you mentioned you were the youngest of three siblings
and John you are smack dab in the middle.
Speaker 5 (37:32):
Too older, too younger.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
So what do you feel the difference in the pecking
order as the least fit in blings. How do you
feel that it influences your dynamic when you collaborate as
leaders today.
Speaker 16 (37:46):
I think that it definitely brings a diversity of background because,
as other guests have said, you know, the where you
are in the family definitely.
Speaker 7 (37:53):
Influences your future and forever.
Speaker 16 (37:56):
And John does bring a different perspective to it, and
I think that helped lead.
Speaker 17 (38:00):
Yeah, as the middle kid, you're always trying to do
something to stand out. But I did have the benefit
of being like the first son for my father, So
I think that generated a really special bond between my
dad and I and he was a very big figure
in my life. But so I think that you know
that dynamic, being the oldest son really helped out a
lot of the way you are.
Speaker 10 (38:22):
So you both came from German class to now leading
this company, and when we're talking the green room, you
really painted this fascinating journey of collaboration along the way.
Can you can you share that with our audience here?
Speaker 16 (38:37):
Oh yeah, as John was saying, even in high school
we were talking about what we could do and so forth,
and then we went through Villanova together and then we
went into engineering, and you know, during Villanova we actually
started J and J blacktopping. He might not have heard
of it, but you know we used to actually drive
around door to door asking people if we could blacktop
their driveways. So we've sort of always been up to this.
(38:58):
It has been way.
Speaker 10 (39:01):
So it wasn't coding, but you still had a partnership
working together to solve problems.
Speaker 17 (39:07):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I was definitely doing coding from
a younger age. I remember I used to go across
the street from my school when I was a you know,
eight to fourteen age and there was a Commodore sixty
four in display at the Sears Robots next to my school,
and I used to play around with it, and then
my dad knew I had taken an interest in it
and bought me a PC for Christmas that year. So
(39:28):
I got to start coding at a young age and
it just became my passion, which turned into my lifelong passion.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Got you mister Swicker, Jason and John.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
I know you guys went to the South College High
School in suburban Philadelphia. We had other executives who were
gone to that school. It's a very mission driven school.
What did you guys take out of that that's helped
me in your careers?
Speaker 16 (39:51):
I really think that the greatest thing that we got,
and I don't want to speak for Tom, but is
the foundation of that school is to have mutual respect,
no matter what the context is, whether you're working with
different people, different backgrounds and different endeavors. Is just to
maintain respect for everybody is what I got most out
of that school.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 17 (40:11):
You know, everyone's got different opinions. You know, we live
in a highly opinionated world, and I think that that
school did a great job of teaching teaching you how
to listen to others, how to understand where they're coming from,
and to try to find common ground.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Do I remember a motto from somebody else we had
on the show that it was enter to learn, lead
or leave to serve? Is that how you guys look
at what you're doing now?
Speaker 16 (40:34):
Yes, absolutely, that is instilled in the students and I
like to think that we carried that forward.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
This organization then is AGES Software? How large are house?
Small is the team nowadays?
Speaker 7 (40:48):
We have one.
Speaker 16 (40:49):
Hundred and forty folks in the team on three continents
and they're across three offices US Germany.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
And how high is up? I mean, are you guys
going to do? You're going to keep growing this business
until for the next three years, twenty years, ninety seven years?
What do you what are you thinking here?
Speaker 7 (41:06):
I think we're lifers.
Speaker 9 (41:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean what we do in being
able to see all the over two thousand manufacturing sites
using our stuff around the world is it's just a
lot of fun.
Speaker 16 (41:17):
The influence we've had on production of all matter of
things is it's really been an enjoyable run.
Speaker 17 (41:23):
And growing a business, as everyone here knows, is extremely challenging,
but at the same time is rewarding when you meet
with some success.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
But you guys can't be doing exactly fifty to fifty.
Doesn't that bother you, guys that you know the other
person's not contributing exactly fifty to fifty.
Speaker 7 (41:39):
Well, it's a chronic problem.
Speaker 16 (41:42):
But now, I mean, I think that the fact that
we're such good friends after all that. We're asked that
a lot is are you guys still friends, you know,
by customers who are evaluating or something, And the answer
is very much yes, because we I don't think we
suffer from those concerns.
Speaker 7 (41:56):
John is the.
Speaker 16 (41:57):
Architect of everything technologically that we do, and I'm on
the other side, and we collaborate and influence each other's work.
Speaker 7 (42:04):
But it's it's a great balance.
Speaker 16 (42:06):
I think the company wouldn't be where it is if
it weren't for that.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
You guys a little bit more right, So, you guys
really do appreciate each other, You really appreciate I mean, Jason,
could you have gone as far as you've gone without John? John,
could you've gone as far as you've gone without Jason?
Speaker 7 (42:23):
No? I couldn't know, No I would. I would agree.
Speaker 17 (42:28):
You know, it's been a partnership that's just been lifelong,
and we really compliment each other very well and enjoy
working together.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
So as opposed to me making mistakes, not worrying about
my partner being doing his or her fifty percent, maybe
what I should be doing is looking at the fact
that I can go further, even though it may not
exactly be fifty to fifty. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (42:50):
I think that's definitely a more positive approach to it. Yeah.
And it's whether you're.
Speaker 16 (42:56):
The net value you feel you're getting in terms of
the enjoyment and the success of the business and so
forth is greater because of your partner, then that's all
that matters.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
And I think we definitely have that.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
You hear this. I mean I read the newspapers and
listen to the business this, and usually I thought business
was all about blood and guts, people suing each other
and other stuff like that. But you guys really appreciate
each other. It sounds like you guys really trust each other.
And what's the website addressed for this organization? And is
AG's software.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
It's aiscorp dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Aiscorp dot com. We've been speaking with Jason Spira, CEO
and John Wall CTO and co founders of Ages Software
here on Executive Leaders Radio. Chuck, could you give me
a rundown on who we've had on the show today,
please sure.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
Here a great show. We've started off today with Joe Kapilia,
who is the president and CEO of Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania.
We then had Joe Mesterer, who was the founder and
CEO of JGM. We had Ken Weinstein, president of Philly
Office Retail. We wrapped up with you Spira and John Walls,
(44:01):
who are respectively CEO and CTO and co founders of
Ages Software.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I like to thank my co hosts, including Jim Wilson,
Newmark are BOUNDERSYT Consumer fifty one, Chuck Swicker, Weidenhammer, Kristin
Ledele Leader's Edge, and Jack stros Brown and Brown for
giving me an instruction to questions, hope, for providing our
listening audience and educational and entertaining show. Like to thank
our listening audience for listening, Otherwise we wouldn't have a
radio show. Don't forget to visit our website, it's Executive
(44:28):
Leaders Radio dot com. Learn more about our executive leaders
Executive Leaders Radio dot com. Thank you for joining us
today and have a nice day. Bye bye
Welcome to Executive Leaders Radio, your spot in the corner office,
the radio show where executives share their secrets to success.
Executive Leaders Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio this year host Herb
Cohen with my co host Jim Wilson Newmark Are Founder
Sheet Consumer fifty one, Chuck Swicker, Weidenhammer, Kristen Ladle, Leader's Edge,
and Jack Straz Brown and Brown and Chuck. Who do
we have on the air today?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Thanks Er, We've got a great line up today, starting
off with Joe Popilia, who is the President and CEO
of the Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania. We have Joe Messner,
who's the founder and CEO of j g M, followed
by Ken Weinstein, who is the president of Philly Office Retail,
and Jason Spira and John Walls, who respectively are the
(01:01):
CEO and CTO and co founders of Ages Software.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Let's get into our first guest. I've got Joe Purpilia,
who's the President and CEO of Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania. Joe,
what is the Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania. What are you
guys doing?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
We're an organization that provides business development opportunities to developers, contractors,
industry professionals. We also provide education services and workforce development services.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Where you're from? How many brothers and sisters? And where
are you in the pecking order?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
I'm an only child and counch of hocken plymouths meeting East.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Artin suburber of Philadelphia and eight to fourteen? What kind
of stuff are you doing as a kid?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Well, this is the eighties, so a lot of Rocky
movies and a lot of MTV and learning to play
the guitar.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Right, all right, mister Chuck, you want to give me
a hand please?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Joe Rocky movies?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Why, well, I think as a kid growing up, you know,
I wasn't the biggest in stature. You know, in the
seventies and eighties, there's building was a little more prevalent.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
Let's just say you kind of felt like an underdog.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
And boy, when you watch that movie, if you don't
see the light, you never will.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
So were you were you an underdog?
Speaker 5 (02:13):
I felt?
Speaker 6 (02:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (02:14):
I certainly felt that way, especially being like I just
had a smaller kid.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
And what's that have to do with who you are nowadays?
Speaker 7 (02:21):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
You know, I don't strink from adversities. I probably the
first thing. I don't mind, you know, a hard time,
because I know that you have to go through that
hard time to get get to the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Gotcha, Kristen, you mentioned in.
Speaker 8 (02:34):
The green room when it came to guitar, you could
play eight to ten hours a day. Was any of
that instructional versus self taught? And how do you bring
that into who you are today?
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Self taught?
Speaker 9 (02:45):
So?
Speaker 5 (02:46):
Uh, just listen.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
So if you can listen and learn a song pre YouTube,
So if you can listen and learn a.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
Song by a band in the eighties, it.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Shows you how to listen when you're when you're dealing
with a team or a client, potential client, a member.
Speaker 10 (03:00):
Ari Joe and the green women. We were chatting. You
come across as the show must go on type of guy.
Tell me about the first time you went on stage
and what that experience did to you that you bring
to work today.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
Sure, well, I'll tell you this. You know, I was
a bit shy.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I didn't mention that in the green room. So it
gets you over your shyness. Doesn't matter if there's five
people in the audience or fifty or five hundred. So
at the time. It was probably five or fifty at
that first show, but you learn to get over it
real quick because you've been practicing all that time. You
can't let something get in your way.
Speaker 11 (03:37):
Jim Joe, you mentioned playing baseball in your third basement.
You're known as a spark plug and a cheerleader. How
did that roll influence your approach to leadership today?
Speaker 5 (03:48):
I think it's probably one of the most fundamental things
as a leader.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You need to be a spark plug. If you're going
to be a leader, then you got to provide the
example of you know, for the folks that you're working with.
And also I just think it's the right thing to do.
If you're on a mission, you got to believe in
the mission. If you believe in the mission, you should
be a spark club.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
How do you.
Speaker 11 (04:08):
Balance staying energized and motivating your team with strategic decision making?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Well, again, it goes back to the mission, right, So
there's probably another element there that I should mention is
you got to love what you do and you got
to surround people that not only love the mission, believe
in the mission.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
So it makes your job as a leader a little
bit easier.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
And that's what I've always looked for when I'm building
a team or if I'm on a team, that's what
I bring.
Speaker 12 (04:32):
To take.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, Joe, clearly your dad was an influence in your life.
What do you bring to work every day that he
taught you or was influenced?
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Look at the data document, make things as black and
white as you can in the business side of things.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Obviously A nice balance to.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
That is my mom, right, So yeah, the opposite, so
to speak.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well to comparing what do you bring to work that
she taught you?
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Emotional intelligence. I didn't even know she was teaching it
to me, but I learned it. And as I go
through my career.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
And anything that I do, I've just I buy feedback
I've been told that I have.
Speaker 5 (05:16):
I didn't really know that I had it to me.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
It always just feels like the right thing to do
in how you treat people when you're working with them.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, dude, there was a story. Yeah, there was a
story that I remember because you've been on the air
with us previously about your father in a rough neighborhood
in Philadelphia. Put you on the street corner. What was
that story and would you learn from that story?
Speaker 11 (05:39):
Sure?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Sure, sure, so my dad, you know, he came up,
you know, bottom up in his company and he did
very well for himself.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
And as I mentioned, I went from king of Or
from Counchy Hocken too. We moved to Plymouth meeting this
is like the eighties and you know, I eventually it
was the kid with the swimming pool and the two
cargo and all those all those trappings and uh he
felt and he was right. He said, you know, you
need to see where you came from. This is too.
(06:09):
I don't want you to think this was an accident.
I had to do a lot. You need to go
down and be on the same street corner as I was.
And I can tell you without a doubt that has
been a thread through my answer.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
What did he do to you?
Speaker 5 (06:24):
Well, you know it doesn't sound actually.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Take you down? Didn't he actually drive you down to
a street corner? And how young were you and put
you on that street corner?
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Absolutely so he I was lucky enough to have my
grandmam uh.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Still living in the same house, so he took I
would spend weekends there or or during the week and
he would say, you know, go out and play, go
out and hang out, and boy, do you learn quickly?
You know, you can't bs anybody on the street because
there is the row house three houses down. That's your reputation,
even though I was kind of a visitor, you know,
(06:58):
at the same time, those lessons were learned.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
And what kind of lessons did you learn on a
street corner in Philadelphia that because your father made you
go back to the neighborhood. What kind of lessons there
did you learn on that street corner? Has anything to
do with growing this construction alliance at Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
If you say you're going to do something, you got
to do it. Once you say it, you own it.
And if you don't do it, your integrity has already taken.
It's a downward stock from there. And I certainly learned.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
That, and I carry that, like I said, I carry
that every day.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Your reputation is important to.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
You, Huh, it is absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Why can't you just go make another friend?
Speaker 5 (07:39):
I don't think you can.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
You know, your integrity is your own, So you got
to If you say you're going to do something, or
you make a problem, you're not only making a promise
of the person you're talking to, you're making it to yourself.
And if you break that, and I don't think you
go on the same way if you keep doing that.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
There's a story that that we become the pe of
the five or ten people that were closest to Is
that true or is that just thought? You just make
new friends because especially you, because you're good at making
new friends.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Sure, I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Like I said, you know, if you look at yourself
who you are, I think it comes through. You can't
just go out and make a new friend when you've
maybe diminished your internal stock.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Eventually you're kind of a shell. That's the way I
see it.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
And that's why I've always tried to follow something very
simple and said, you are.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
You married or single? Married?
Speaker 13 (08:35):
Uh huh?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
What do you ever talk to your wife about business?
And what role does your wife play in your business life?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Match is similar to me that you know, be motivated,
believe in yourself. Push there's an obstacle, getting around it
or move it.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
If you have to.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
You have any kids? Do you have any kids?
Speaker 5 (08:54):
I have a beautiful daughter named Sophia.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
What's the similarity between being a dad and being a CEO?
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Well, I think from the nurturing side is probably obvious, right,
You can't you can You could maybe be a CEO
as a leader and be cold. I'm sure you can
make some things work. I think it's better when you
when you nurture your company, or your daughter or your family.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
So you've built a prior team and now you're starting
this construction alliance. Do you ever get to know any
of your teammates and in business personally?
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Sure? Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Why do you bother doing that?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Well?
Speaker 4 (09:31):
I think you know, you know, to a certain level,
you know, as far as getting to know someone personally
in business, you know there's some lines there obviously.
Speaker 7 (09:38):
But.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
You want to know them.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
You know, you want to know what's important to them
and what motivates them.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
And if you don't, you can't lead properly, at.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
Least in my experience.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Well, what do you figure the best part of your
job is, Well.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
The best part is the fun part.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
It's but it's the people, for sure, right, I mean,
that's that's very important. I have an impact, you know,
is certainly if it's not also first, it's very close
to being first. And I can tell you you know,
we mentioned that street corner, we mentioned that neighborhood, and
I'll be very specific. This is the corner of sixty
sixth at Elboard. If you go there today, it's not
(10:17):
the same place that I grew up and part of
the Construction Alliance. Although not in the mission statements, not
on the brochure, you know that is an area very
specific to my heart that if I'd like to.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Fix that, I introduce you to Ken Weinstein. What's the
website addressed for Construction Alliance at Pennsylvania.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
It is Construction ALLIANCEPA dot com.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
We've been speaking with Joe Propelia, President and CEO Construction
Alliance at Pennsylvania here on Executive Leaders Radio. Back in
the moment right after this quick break, don't go anywhere.
This is Herb Cohen, your hosted Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Regarding your career, if you're trying to figure out how
to make the most money and also enjoy your career,
(11:03):
that's enjoy your career, I mean, really enjoy your career
and make the most money. You ought to talk to
our CEOs. They've got the bird's eye view of where
the really profitable jobs are, where the really profitable jobs
are going to be, and they're willing to speak with
you regarding their vision for the future and where you
(11:25):
may fit into it in order to make the most
money and really enjoy your career.
Speaker 14 (11:30):
Email us consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com. That
consult at Executive Leaders radio dot com to get help
from our CEOs regarding where you may want to go
in your career to make the most money and really
enjoy your career. Consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We're back. You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio this year,
host Herb Cohen with my guest Joe Messner, founder and
CEO of JGM. Joe, what is JGM? What are you
guys doing? So?
Speaker 13 (12:15):
Jgm's a heavy industrial construction of fabrication company. We're located
out in Coatsville, Pennsylvania, mission critical projects.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And tell me a little bit about you started this
business which is now about two hundred people. Where you're from,
how many brothers and sisters? And where are you in
the pecking order?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
So?
Speaker 13 (12:33):
Born and raised in Westchester, Pennsylvania. Have a brother and
a sister. So one of three, I'm the oldest.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
All right, eight to fourteen? What was going on? What
was going on in your life eight to fourteen?
Speaker 13 (12:44):
Eight to fourteen? Playing sports? So I played football for
about six years straight.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I was center.
Speaker 13 (12:51):
And I would say probably around pretty normal, normal life
up until about eleven twelve years old, we had a
pretty significant family event. My dad was an entrepreneur. I'm
actually the fifth generation entrepreneur in our in our family,
and he had a business failure that was pretty significant
and he ultimately had to had to leave the house
(13:14):
for about two two and a half years, and I
became the man of the house.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah, you mentioned that dad actually ended up going to jail,
and you mentioned that you became the man of the house.
What do you mean you became the man of the house.
Speaker 13 (13:31):
I would say that the man of the house. So
my mom was pretty devastated. You know, she was a
stay at home mom. My mom actually, uh, you know,
at a very young age, had a stroke, so you
know she was not able to you know type uh
you know, an administrative assistant or anything like that, so
(13:51):
her her income generation was limited to certain positions. Great
mother took care of us and uh, she you know,
taught me emotion intelligence organization.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
So you really stepped up to the plate. I mean
you didn't have Dad wasn't there, and mom was limited
in terms of what you could do. You really did
have to step up? What did that experience? What's that
have to do with who you are nowadays?
Speaker 13 (14:15):
Life is all about adversity and life is your your
ability to have grit to overcome challenges. Life is film
with challenges.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Right.
Speaker 13 (14:23):
If you don't think someone's having challenges and someone else
has an easy road, you haven't.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
You haven't gotten to know them.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, you mentioned that your favorite TV show back then
was This Old House because you were doing all these chores, Chris,
don you want to get me a ham with that? Joe? Please?
Speaker 12 (14:37):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (14:37):
So you were mentioning how you're fixing things around the
house and being industrious and curious. Often when you're curious,
it means you have faith in yourself and you want
to figure things out. How do you bring that forth
into who you are as a leader today?
Speaker 13 (14:52):
I would say energizing the team, setting the vision of
what's possible, showing them you know, the potential and you know, hey,
when we bring a team together, we can solve all
kinds of challenges. Use your resources around you, like video,
you know, mentors, so got you?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Jim?
Speaker 11 (15:11):
Joe going back to your dad and the failing business,
you mentioned he made a bad decision for good reasons.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Could you elaborate on that?
Speaker 13 (15:18):
So, you know, I think all through life, you know,
we've all made good decisions and bad decisions, and his
intentions were good to save the business. I think if
we had to take the decisions back, he absolutely would.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
And I think one.
Speaker 13 (15:33):
Of the things that I learned is, and if he
were to reflect back, is surrounding yourself with really really
good leaders and mentors around you to help you make
better decisions.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
What you mentioned your dad your biggest supporter today. What
does he think about your decision making today?
Speaker 13 (15:48):
I'd say that, you know, our success to date, we've
had our ups and downs, and I would say that
I think he would say that I've done a great
job of surrounding myself with other mentors that help us
make better decisions.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Collect excellent.
Speaker 10 (16:01):
Ari Joe, you mentioned used to go out and do
adventures with your friends. What kinds of activities were you
doing then and how does that connect to what you're
doing now.
Speaker 12 (16:12):
I'd say, you.
Speaker 13 (16:13):
Know, back when I was you know, eight to fourteen,
you know, one of the things that we were always doing,
we were you know, my mom would tell us to
leave the house and go outside.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
We lived in a wooded area.
Speaker 13 (16:24):
We would build tree forts, we would dig tunnels. You know,
every time we build a ladder up a tree, we'd
want to go higher, you know.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
So I was always.
Speaker 13 (16:32):
Setting the vision up and it was always around building something.
Speaker 8 (16:35):
You know.
Speaker 13 (16:35):
We built a motorized skateboard with a twenty five foot
extension court, so we stopped there for twenty five feet,
you know. So I was usually the leader of building
building things.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
And what's that up to do with who you're in now?
Speaker 13 (16:50):
You know, passion for building things. So every single ever
since I went over to the Commoner Barry Bridge, we'd
go over there as a family, head into the beach,
and I said, I wanted to build that bridge, and
I love I love building things, whether it be businesses
or structures.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Mm hm, mister Chuck Joe.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Fifth generation entrepreneur. Was that a foregone conclusion or did
something else drive the decision to go from just you know,
thinking about building things to actually starting a business. Two
different two different areas.
Speaker 13 (17:20):
For generations of ups and downs of being an entrepreneur.
Actually on both sides of the family, my mom's side
that was very entrepreneurial and uh, you know, being an entrepreneur.
There's a lot of ups and downs. All my mom
wanted me to do was she said, I just want
you to be normal, and I want you to go
to college, and I want you to go get a job.
So I would say there was not a lot of
support initially with my thoughts of becoming a uh an entrepreneur.
(17:44):
But I will say, you know, with with the original
you know, the my father's business failure, a lot of
uh I'd say, motivation to build something that is super
successful and uh you know, and.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
We bought a great company together so.
Speaker 12 (17:59):
I could do him and our family.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Jack.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
Yeah, Joe, I want to talk about your experience playing
on the football team, and I think it's interesting because
you were the center, right. Everyone always looks at the
quarterback as the leader, but at the end of the day,
the play starts with the center, snap and the ball.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So just talk to me about your.
Speaker 6 (18:15):
Role with the team and you know how that kind
of shaped you in your leadership role today.
Speaker 13 (18:20):
Yeah, I think the center is an interesting position. I
love playing center, and you're right, the quarterback is the
main focal point. But I'd say I was the steady
leadership on the team and when you know we were
not on a never want a championship. I would say
having that steady person on there that's positive energy and
(18:43):
looking at other teammates that are maybe you know, downing themselves,
picking them back up and keeping everyone's.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
Eye on the ball.
Speaker 13 (18:50):
So that's business all day long, right as you're leading
a group of people.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Sure, Chuck, what's your next question? Joe?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Your profile says you learned a doctor of philosopher, doctor
of philosophy from the School of Hard Knocks. Your mom
wanted you to go to college. There's something there.
Speaker 13 (19:11):
Yeah, so I had probably the most expensive education of
learning what you know by figuring out what not to do.
But I honestly think you know, uh, you know, failure
is part of the process. Fail, quick, learn and move on, right,
So you got to make sure that your failures aren't
so huge that they knock you out of the game.
But uh, done a good job collectively of that. But
(19:34):
we try things right, We're not afraid to try things.
Don't be afraid to fail and get back.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
You didn't live up to your mom's expectations. You didn't
go to college. You took a different path that seemed
to work out for you.
Speaker 13 (19:45):
Here that's that's correct, So still learning today. So you know,
at the end of the day, college is it's not
for everyone. It's a great place to continue your education.
But you know, one of our core values at GGM
is you know, continuous improvement or a commitment to self improvement.
And it's you know, just that learning mindset and growth mindset.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Zak, did you have another questions there?
Speaker 6 (20:13):
Yes, absolutely so, Joe. You mentioned going to work at
an early age in a steel fabricator. What were your
experiences one of the only kids working there, and what
was different about you and the other kids?
Speaker 13 (20:26):
I would say there was the differences is I was
super passionate about learning everything there, Like I fell in
love with the craft of working with my hands, becoming
a welder. I'd stay there after hours to practice welding.
You know, I wanted to become a certified welder and
you know, just that continuous growth mindset. Once I did that,
I wanted to learn how to fabricate. I wanted to
(20:47):
learn how to run a piece of equipment. And you know,
investing the time, right like you know, the company invested,
you know, their dollars and you know, giving me an
opportunity to learn. But they always said the student had
to show up, and I would show up to learn paycheck.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So what's that student have to do with your being
the CEO. I'm trying to make the connection there, student CEO,
what are you talking about?
Speaker 13 (21:11):
Uh, there is no not to my knowledge, there's no
school on how to become a successful.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
CEO of a growing company.
Speaker 13 (21:18):
Every day that your company is growing, there are new
challenges presented, right, so you're constantly.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Going to school.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
M gotcha. What's the website address for j GM JGNUSA
dot com. It's being with Joe Messner, founder and CEO
of j g N here on Executive Leaders Radio. Don't
forget the visit our website. It's Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Learn more about our executive leaders. It's Executive Leaders radios
dot com. They'll learn more about our executive leaders. To
pick around. We'll be back in a little bit. Right
(21:48):
after this click break. Don't go anywhere. We're back. You're
listening to Executive Leaders Radio. Let's get to know Ken Weinstein,
(22:09):
President of Philly Office Retail. Ken, what is Philly Office Retail?
What are you guys doing?
Speaker 12 (22:14):
Philly Office Retail is a mission oriented real estate development company.
We do adaptive reuse of buildings and we currently own
and manage around eight hundred thousand square feet of space.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Where you're from, how many brothers and sisters? Where are
you in the pecking order?
Speaker 12 (22:34):
I am from a small town called Summerville in central
New Jersey, and I'm the youngest of three brothers.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Got you eight to fourteen? What were you up to?
Speaker 12 (22:45):
I had a lot of entrepreneurial activities. I was a
paper boy. I had a candle making business, a car
washing and waxing business, and also mowde a lot of lawns.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
You mentioned that when you were twelve years old, you
and your friends Stewart at twelve, we're trying to figure
out what kind of stuff? Why don't you put in
your own words?
Speaker 12 (23:06):
We were trying to figure out what we could make
or what goods, as goods and services we can provide
that people wanted. And that's how we got into washing
and waxing cars, how we got into making candles, and
we our first customers were people on my paper route,
so we were cross selling our goods and services.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
So it sounds to me like your nature is win
win win. How do you keep customers happy, what else
can you sell them? But also working with people as
opposed to keeping it all for yourself. Your nature's like
win win win, Chuck, want you give me a hand?
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Get in the note Ken, and you and your childhood
buddy were obviously partners in a lot of these early
stage endeavors. Who were you? Were you the sales guy
or were you the operational guy?
Speaker 12 (23:53):
I think both me and Stewart did mostly the same work.
I may have brought more of the customers because of
my paper route to our businesses, but he worked at
least as hard as I did, and it was a
good collaboration.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Got you, Kristin.
Speaker 8 (24:11):
Can you mentioned in the green room that you were
second in state and table tennis and what it calls
to table tennis your focus cannot drift and so how
do you bring that extreme ability to focus today into
your leadership.
Speaker 13 (24:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (24:25):
Table tennis was what I excelled at as a kid,
and it brought me a competitive edge that I still
enjoyed today. Table tennis. Participating table tennis tournaments was a
lot of pressure, a lot of competition, and made me
gave me the confidence that I needed as a kid.
Speaker 10 (24:47):
Ken in the green room, we're talking about how you
grew up and how that neighborhood looked like, and then
how you ended up becoming a developer. Can you tell
me a little bit more about it.
Speaker 12 (24:58):
Yeah, I grew up in a very solid, middle class neighborhood.
There were not any vacant, deteriorated buildings, and when I
moved to Philadelphia after college, that's the first thing I
saw was splight and I vowed at that point that
I wanted to do something about it. And that's what
(25:20):
still pushes me today to redevelop properties.
Speaker 11 (25:25):
Jim, and as the youngest of three brothers, did you
find yourself trying to stand out or prove yourself in
certain ways every day?
Speaker 12 (25:35):
I think it's typical when you're the youngest and definitely
the youngest of three brothers, that you need to find
ways to stand out to prove yourself. And I think
that continues to motivate me.
Speaker 11 (25:49):
Does that mindset influence your decision to take on these
challenging redevelopment.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Projects in real estate?
Speaker 5 (25:55):
People say that you can't do it, maybe.
Speaker 12 (25:58):
Yeah, I think you. I want to find ways of
taking risk and that is what I still do.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Zak.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Yeah, So pigging backing off of Jim's question about you
being the youngest three brothers. You mentioned in the green
room that you put your lawn mowing business under your
older brother's name as you were twelve years old.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
You weren't old enough.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
And I think, generally speaking entrepreneurial spirit, it's generally an
older sibling things. So can you talk to me about
why you feel that you were more entrepreneurial than your
older brothers.
Speaker 12 (26:34):
It was actually my paper boy business, and you had
to be fourteen to legally have a paper boy business,
and so I was only twelve, So that's why I
did it under my brother's name. And I don't know.
I think maybe my father's influence had more of an
(26:54):
impact on me than my brothers. My brothers were incredibly
hard working and taught me a lot on how to
work hard in order to get ahead. But I really
enjoyed taking that risk.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Chuck, you want to give me a hand further, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I can and take that to the next level. You
just mentioned your dad, what do you bring to work
every day? That he taught you and your mom as
well for that matter.
Speaker 12 (27:20):
Yeah, my dad was an early environmental consultant going back
to the early sixties before that was the thing, and
we talked about that at the dinner table every night.
How to be an entrepreneur, how to motivate your employees,
how to build your company, and that is what I'm
still doing today. He also taught me how to be
(27:43):
involved in how to make a difference. He was president
of borough council, he was president of the school board,
and that's the kind of person I want to be.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Did that resonate with you as a young entrepreneur or
were those lessons that you realized affected you later on
in your life.
Speaker 12 (28:00):
I learned it early on. I remember going door to
door with him in the neighborhood and talking to voters
when he ran for office. And sure enough, my first
job out of college was running political campaigns.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
But what your mom give you.
Speaker 12 (28:15):
Mom was excelled at organizational skills. She taught me how
to have a clean desk and a clean room and
therefore open yourself up to opportunities. He also taught me
a lot about empathy.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
You got to do with what you're doing today.
Speaker 12 (28:34):
Very much.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Oh, empathy real estate. I'm trying to what's the connection there?
Speaker 12 (28:41):
We are mission oriented, so I know there's a lot
of real estate developers out there that are single bottom line.
We can consider ourselves triple bottom line. We look, as
you said before, for that win win win. We win
for our bottom line, we win for our employees, we
win for the communities in which we invest.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
You mentioned when we were talking earlier, more stuff about
what motivates you. So what does motivate you?
Speaker 12 (29:12):
What motivates me is making projects happen, getting shit done.
I love the idea of taking a vacant, deteriorated property
and restoring it and making a job producing business out
of it.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
But isn't there a lot of risk in taking something
that's broken down and dilapidated and trying and putting a
lot of money into it and praying it's going to work.
I mean, what are you talking about.
Speaker 12 (29:42):
I dwell on risk. It's sort of a sickness, but
it's what keeps me going every day. But it's smart risk.
Of course, you don't just take risk for the sake
of risk. You have to calculate it, you have to
evaluate it, and you have to make sure or you're
doing the right thing every day.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
So as opposed to looking at people in these these
blady communities as potential competitors. You went ahead and started
an organization where you're actually helping them get involved with
real estate. Why would you do that. You're actually creating
your own competition, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 12 (30:17):
I believe very strongly what you're referring to as my
Jumpstart Germantown Jumpstart Philly program, where we're trading and mentoring
and loaning money to aspiring real estate developers. And the
reason I do that is because I believe that you
can grow the pie and there's more than enough work
for everybody, rather than focusing on competing for a piece
(30:41):
of the existing pie.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So you're coming from abundance rather than scarcity. Where did
that come from, this feeling of abundance versus scarcity.
Speaker 12 (30:49):
I think I've always enjoyed collaborating with other people. Certainly
my parents taught me how to do that. Certainly I
did that with my brothers, and it's a way of life.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
I think Stuart's a demonstration of it. I mean, at
twelve years old, for you to go, you and Stuart
to starts sitting around thinking about how you can make
money together. The first thing is with him, let alone together.
And you guys did a number of different things together.
I mean, your nature is all about collaboration and making
money and winning and making sure that everybody's happy all
(31:22):
the time. So do you really care about your reputation?
Speaker 12 (31:26):
Absolutely? Reputation is everything. And when I teach my Jumpstart students,
that is something I dwell on because once you lose
your reputation, then you m also go into a different business.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
You're actually you're actually teaching potential competitors what you know.
Speaker 12 (31:46):
Yes, because if I'm I get to retire when every
bladed property in Philadelphia has been redeveloped. And that's what
I'm hoping my Jumpstarters will do for me.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
What's the website addresser to fill Office Retail.
Speaker 12 (32:02):
Phillyofficeretail dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
We've been speaking with Ken Weinstein, president of Philly Office
Retail here on Executive Leaders Radio. Don't forget them to
at our website Executive Leaders Radio dot com to learn
more about our executive Leaders. We'll be back around a
moment right after this quick break. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 15 (32:18):
This is her co and you're host of Executive Leaders Radio.
And if you're a business consultant, if you consult to
business owners or to business owners, team members. Then we'd
like to speak with you because we're getting requests from
people all over the country, from entrepreneurs all over the
(32:42):
country that are starting and building their businesses where they're
looking for help and maybe we can help connect you.
Why don't you email us at consult at Executive Leaders
Radio dot com. That's consult at Executive leaders Radio dot com,
(33:03):
and perhaps we can connect you to folks, to entrepreneurs
and their team members all around the country that are
looking for help. That's consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
We're back. You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio. That's your host,
Herb Cohen, And let's get to know Jason Spira CEO
and John Wall CTO of AGA Software. What is AGA Software?
What are you guys doing?
Speaker 16 (33:45):
Agis is an enterprise software provider that focuses on supporting manufacturing.
We bring speed, control and visibility to all of manufacturing operations.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Got you where you're from? How many brothers and sisters?
And where are you in the pecking order? Jason?
Speaker 7 (34:00):
I grew up an ambler and I'm the youngest of
three brothers.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
And what were you doing eight to fourteen?
Speaker 16 (34:06):
I was mainly following my engineer father around when he
was building all manner of things and engineering things around
the house, driving my mom crazy. And then I was
using what I learned from him at a very young
age to restore a tractor of the neighbors, and then
starting a lawn cutting business and building rabbit hutches for neighbors.
I was always trying to create some kind of little
(34:27):
business even back then.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Huh, how young were you when you met? When you met, John, we.
Speaker 16 (34:33):
Met freshman year of high school in German class, right, yeah, yeah,
about fifteen.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I'd say, all right, and you guys co founded this
business together. John, Where are you from? How many brothers
and sisters? And where are you in the pecking order? Yeah?
Speaker 17 (34:45):
So I'm from Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, so just outside Philly there.
I'm one of five kids. I'm the middle child. I
have two older sisters and two younger brothers.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So, John, why do you and Jason fit together so nicely?
Speaker 3 (34:59):
That's a good question.
Speaker 17 (35:00):
I think it's because, you know, when we met, I
think we saw common interests in each other. I think
we were both interested in we were both really in
the tech. We really enjoyed anything engineering oriented technical, but
we also knew that we had were driven with entrepreneurialism
and wanted to do something in business together.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
Chuck, want to get me a hand please?
Speaker 3 (35:18):
So John, Jason, you guys are a tag team that
started at a very young age. Move it forward to
today or has that changed? How do you get you know? John?
How do you compliment Jason and vice versa?
Speaker 12 (35:28):
Yeah, I think I you know, I'm being more the inward.
Speaker 17 (35:31):
One of the pair. Jason does most of the outward,
the selling and a lot of the public engagements. But
I think I bring to the equation, you know, the
ability to focus on task at hand, and the ability
to kind of stay sane when things get crazy around
here and look at things in a slightly more strategic way.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
All right, Jim, will you give me a hand please?
Speaker 5 (35:52):
John and Jason you both rowed in high school. What
part of the boat did you each sit in?
Speaker 17 (35:57):
I rowed stroke and second seat, And yeah, I was
in the bow most of my years there.
Speaker 11 (36:02):
So playing off of what Chuck just said, the bow
is about balance and finesse while the stern sets the
rhythm and pace. That sounds a lot like your roles today, John,
focused on John, You're focused on product envision and Jason
more technical and execution driven. Would you say that parallel
holds true?
Speaker 16 (36:19):
Well, it's a little bit. John is the technical officer
of the company. But yes, I think that the sales
and marketing and the outward looking part be encountered by
John has the benefit of not being in the fire
of marketing and sales out you know, and so forth.
So I think that he brings a great balance to.
Speaker 5 (36:38):
Perfect yin and yang.
Speaker 7 (36:40):
Yeah, behind there.
Speaker 18 (36:42):
Yeah, Sometimes when leaders work together and known each other
as long as you have, things can go unsaid unintentionally.
How does that play out in how you are leaders
in your company today?
Speaker 16 (36:54):
That's a great question. We have to be careful about
that because we have known each other and we're best
friends for so long that we can be in meetings
and brainstorming and come to conclusions, you know, before anyone
else does. And we have to be respectful of the
rest of the team that they may not be up
to speed.
Speaker 17 (37:12):
But we also have to be careful because other other
people's opinions are often very valuable, and we have to
sort of take take a little break and make sure
everyone's going to getcluded in the in the decision making,
so we make a better.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Gutcher zach.
Speaker 7 (37:26):
No.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Jason, you mentioned you were the youngest of three siblings
and John you are smack dab in the middle.
Speaker 5 (37:32):
Too older, too younger.
Speaker 6 (37:34):
So what do you feel the difference in the pecking
order as the least fit in blings. How do you
feel that it influences your dynamic when you collaborate as
leaders today.
Speaker 16 (37:46):
I think that it definitely brings a diversity of background because,
as other guests have said, you know, the where you
are in the family definitely.
Speaker 7 (37:53):
Influences your future and forever.
Speaker 16 (37:56):
And John does bring a different perspective to it, and
I think that helped lead.
Speaker 17 (38:00):
Yeah, as the middle kid, you're always trying to do
something to stand out. But I did have the benefit
of being like the first son for my father, So
I think that generated a really special bond between my
dad and I and he was a very big figure
in my life. But so I think that you know
that dynamic, being the oldest son really helped out a
lot of the way you are.
Speaker 10 (38:22):
So you both came from German class to now leading
this company, and when we're talking the green room, you
really painted this fascinating journey of collaboration along the way.
Can you can you share that with our audience here?
Speaker 16 (38:37):
Oh yeah, as John was saying, even in high school
we were talking about what we could do and so forth,
and then we went through Villanova together and then we
went into engineering, and you know, during Villanova we actually
started J and J blacktopping. He might not have heard
of it, but you know we used to actually drive
around door to door asking people if we could blacktop
their driveways. So we've sort of always been up to this.
(38:58):
It has been way.
Speaker 10 (39:01):
So it wasn't coding, but you still had a partnership
working together to solve problems.
Speaker 17 (39:07):
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I was definitely doing coding from
a younger age. I remember I used to go across
the street from my school when I was a you know,
eight to fourteen age and there was a Commodore sixty
four in display at the Sears Robots next to my school,
and I used to play around with it, and then
my dad knew I had taken an interest in it
and bought me a PC for Christmas that year. So
(39:28):
I got to start coding at a young age and
it just became my passion, which turned into my lifelong passion.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Got you mister Swicker, Jason and John.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
I know you guys went to the South College High
School in suburban Philadelphia. We had other executives who were
gone to that school. It's a very mission driven school.
What did you guys take out of that that's helped
me in your careers?
Speaker 16 (39:51):
I really think that the greatest thing that we got,
and I don't want to speak for Tom, but is
the foundation of that school is to have mutual respect,
no matter what the context is, whether you're working with
different people, different backgrounds and different endeavors. Is just to
maintain respect for everybody is what I got most out
of that school.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 17 (40:11):
You know, everyone's got different opinions. You know, we live
in a highly opinionated world, and I think that that
school did a great job of teaching teaching you how
to listen to others, how to understand where they're coming from,
and to try to find common ground.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Do I remember a motto from somebody else we had
on the show that it was enter to learn, lead
or leave to serve? Is that how you guys look
at what you're doing now?
Speaker 16 (40:34):
Yes, absolutely, that is instilled in the students and I
like to think that we carried that forward.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
This organization then is AGES Software? How large are house?
Small is the team nowadays?
Speaker 7 (40:48):
We have one.
Speaker 16 (40:49):
Hundred and forty folks in the team on three continents
and they're across three offices US Germany.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
And how high is up? I mean, are you guys
going to do? You're going to keep growing this business
until for the next three years, twenty years, ninety seven years?
What do you what are you thinking here?
Speaker 7 (41:06):
I think we're lifers.
Speaker 9 (41:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean what we do in being
able to see all the over two thousand manufacturing sites
using our stuff around the world is it's just a
lot of fun.
Speaker 16 (41:17):
The influence we've had on production of all matter of
things is it's really been an enjoyable run.
Speaker 17 (41:23):
And growing a business, as everyone here knows, is extremely challenging,
but at the same time is rewarding when you meet
with some success.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
But you guys can't be doing exactly fifty to fifty.
Doesn't that bother you, guys that you know the other
person's not contributing exactly fifty to fifty.
Speaker 7 (41:39):
Well, it's a chronic problem.
Speaker 16 (41:42):
But now, I mean, I think that the fact that
we're such good friends after all that. We're asked that
a lot is are you guys still friends, you know,
by customers who are evaluating or something, And the answer
is very much yes, because we I don't think we
suffer from those concerns.
Speaker 7 (41:56):
John is the.
Speaker 16 (41:57):
Architect of everything technologically that we do, and I'm on
the other side, and we collaborate and influence each other's work.
Speaker 7 (42:04):
But it's it's a great balance.
Speaker 16 (42:06):
I think the company wouldn't be where it is if
it weren't for that.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
You guys a little bit more right, So, you guys
really do appreciate each other, You really appreciate I mean, Jason,
could you have gone as far as you've gone without John? John,
could you've gone as far as you've gone without Jason?
Speaker 7 (42:23):
No? I couldn't know, No I would. I would agree.
Speaker 17 (42:28):
You know, it's been a partnership that's just been lifelong,
and we really compliment each other very well and enjoy
working together.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
So as opposed to me making mistakes, not worrying about
my partner being doing his or her fifty percent, maybe
what I should be doing is looking at the fact
that I can go further, even though it may not
exactly be fifty to fifty. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (42:50):
I think that's definitely a more positive approach to it. Yeah.
And it's whether you're.
Speaker 16 (42:56):
The net value you feel you're getting in terms of
the enjoyment and the success of the business and so
forth is greater because of your partner, then that's all
that matters.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
And I think we definitely have that.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
You hear this. I mean I read the newspapers and
listen to the business this, and usually I thought business
was all about blood and guts, people suing each other
and other stuff like that. But you guys really appreciate
each other. It sounds like you guys really trust each other.
And what's the website addressed for this organization? And is
AG's software.
Speaker 7 (43:23):
It's aiscorp dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Aiscorp dot com. We've been speaking with Jason Spira, CEO
and John Wall CTO and co founders of Ages Software
here on Executive Leaders Radio. Chuck, could you give me
a rundown on who we've had on the show today,
please sure.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
Here a great show. We've started off today with Joe Kapilia,
who is the president and CEO of Construction Alliance of Pennsylvania.
We then had Joe Mesterer, who was the founder and
CEO of JGM. We had Ken Weinstein, president of Philly
Office Retail. We wrapped up with you Spira and John Walls,
(44:01):
who are respectively CEO and CTO and co founders of
Ages Software.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
I like to thank my co hosts, including Jim Wilson,
Newmark are BOUNDERSYT Consumer fifty one, Chuck Swicker, Weidenhammer, Kristin
Ledele Leader's Edge, and Jack stros Brown and Brown for
giving me an instruction to questions, hope, for providing our
listening audience and educational and entertaining show. Like to thank
our listening audience for listening, Otherwise we wouldn't have a
radio show. Don't forget to visit our website, it's Executive
(44:28):
Leaders Radio dot com. Learn more about our executive leaders
Executive Leaders Radio dot com. Thank you for joining us
today and have a nice day. Bye bye
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