August 14, 2023 • 44 mins
Russ Starke CEO Think Company www.thinkcompany.com
Chris Annas CEO Meridian Bank www.meridianbanker.com
Rob Gilfillan Presiden Cenero www.cenero.com rgilfillan@cenero.com
Clellan Green President Benepath www.benepath.net
Chris Annas CEO Meridian Bank www.meridianbanker.com
Rob Gilfillan Presiden Cenero www.cenero.com rgilfillan@cenero.com
Clellan Green President Benepath www.benepath.net
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Welcome to Executive Leaders Radio, yourspot in the corner office, the radio
show where executives share their secrets tosuccess. Executive Leaders Radio. You're listening
to Executive Leaders Radio, Real worldleaders. This is your coast Herb Cohen,
and we have a great landing protestin our show, Nay, including
(00:30):
Chris Hannas CEO of Meridian Bank,Ross Stark CEO Think Company, Rob Gilfillan,
President of Snaro, and Clellen Green, President of Benapath. Let's get
to know our first guest, ChrisHannas, CEO of Meridian Bank. Chris,
what is Meridian Bank? What areyou guys doing? Meridian Bank is
a regional financial institution with branches andall the counties around and including Philadelphia,
(00:54):
and we take deposits and lend moneyto small business. Excellent. How old
your how small is the team?And did you start this business? You
know we have about four to thirtypeople and I started it back in two
thousand and four. All righty,where you from originally? How many brothers
and sisters? And where are youin the packing order? Originally from a
born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, oneof five and I'm right in the middle
(01:17):
alrighty eight to fourteen years old whenyou were a kid, what kind of
stuff were you doing back then?You know, I was out riding my
bike around Minneapolis in the summertimes andtrying to stay warm in the winters.
You mentioned that you started working ina cafeteria when you were twelve and waiting
gardens and you had a paper route. Did you did your family have a
(01:40):
lot of money back then? Now, we did. My dad was a
marine coming out of Korea. That'swhat about when we landed in Minnesota and
lived in a small house, andwe all had some working backgrounds very early
on to you know, make someextra dough and and trying to you know,
take care and buy things, youknow, by bicycles or things like
that. So it was entrepreneurial earlyon. So what did you learn in
(02:06):
terms of waiting gardens and working ina cafeteria that has anything to do with
being the CEO of this well respectedpublic company bank Meridian. Well, it's
hard work and you lead by example, and work ethic is a huge principle
in life. People want to knowif they hire you that you work hard.
And as somebody runs a bank,the people that invested you want to
(02:29):
know that you work hard. Gotyour head. Yeah. In the green
room, Chris, you mentioned thatwhen you're fifteen, you moved from Minneapolis
to Philadelphia. What did that doto you? It was disruptive for sure,
for the whole family. There wasn'tthe technology available like Facebook and Instagram
to communicate with friends or see whatwas going on. We had phones and
(02:49):
letters, so it was a prettytraumatic event. We hadn't moved before.
But you know, you have abig family, and the family takes carry
in. We all made it throughvery well. What did you learn from
that experience has anything to do withbuilding a bank? I think it's independent
independence And also you know when yougo to new school, you've got to
make friends and create a good lifefor you there. And I think as
(03:13):
you run a bank, you've gotto make friends to want to work for
you, and you create a goodenvironment. Got your Pam, that's telling
you yourself, Pam, Yes,I'm sorry. So I would like to
know what would you tell your elevenyear old self with the knowledge that you
have today, and what would youtell the eleven year old and eleven years
(03:36):
old? I wish I could havetold myself to sit down a little bit
more and concentrate on reading. AndI wish I had the experiential things that
went along with some of the academicwork, because I think they're so very
important. You're a tour and whatquestion you got? How does your job
affect your family life? It's agood tough to balance that because you work
(04:00):
art and you want things to workright, and you know sometimes that takes
some extra time from your family life. But I do my best. Mary,
you're next. What do you forChris? If you had any financial
problems, how would you fix so? You know, I would uh,
I go borrow money from another bank. I think what made you want to
(04:23):
work in a beat? I enjoythe financial part of it, the analysis
and the and the and the hardwork there, and then the outside is
meeting with customers and trying to buildthe economics of our communities. Kayley,
you're next, Well, I gotElijah, excuse me, Elijah. Question
(04:43):
you got for Chris? It's again, what is your greatest achievement? Yeah?
What's your greatest achievements? The greatestachievement is this bank. We've been
meeting through some tough economic cycles andhave a great team here and have done
really well. We actually got todo a public offering in IPO, so
very happy about that. Yeah,Kaylee, go ahead, alrighty Elijah your
(05:10):
turn? What question up? Youlook we just did Elijah excusi. Elesia
your turn. Where do you thinkthe company's heading in the next five years?
You know, I think banks growsize wise, which distinguishes in allows
them to get more profitable. Sowe hope to be a ten billion dollars
bank and being deeply rooted in thePhiladelphia area. Hold, what's your spells
(05:31):
in the bank in terms of ortwo point four billion assets? Now two
point four billion dollars and you startedthis business. That's incredible, A lot
of health. Aubrey, your turn. Who was your biggest supportatory starting their
business? Yeah? You know,I've had a lot of supporters, both
from my prior business career, frommy certainly from my family. My mother's
(05:57):
always been a great inspiration for meand other people that I worked for in
the industry. Work within the industryhelped me a lot. I think I
learned a lot from everybody all theway up and I'm I'm learning still.
Wait a minute, it says hereyou're the CEO of the bank, What
do you mean you're learning from otherpeople? I don't understand you're the CEO.
Yeah, I learned a lot fromthe younger folks and how well they
(06:20):
use technology and whether they adapt tothings, and that's making an older guy
like me, you know, stickaround for a few more years. So
you're so you think your success isbecause of the other people. Sure,
you know you learn from other people, and you always give a good ear
(06:41):
to someone with an idea or adifferent way of doing things, some innovation,
a knowledge base they have, andI think that's the probably the best
way I've learned through my life.How about that, Tiffany, it's your
term. What question do you havefor Chris? Addis? Alrighty, And
Chris, let me ask you this. So, so you're attributing your success
(07:05):
to other people, I guess yougot pretty good sort of go out who
you can trust and who you coulddepend on that has that been important to
you? Very important the people thatyou trust and you can depend on to
do things the right way and alsoto be there when you're not as critical
to starting and running a good business. So trust is to trust to understanding
(07:30):
who you can trust to do whatpeople's strengths are It is really important,
right, How do you figure thatout? How did you learn that?
Did you? Were you like anatural figure or utter or of people when
you were a kid? Now?But when you know, first of all,
I hired people that I had known, and then as you develop a
culture in the bank, you knowof principles and growth and direction, and
(07:58):
people are going to align with thator they won't, and if they don't,
they usually move on. They alwaysmove on. So you're telling me
that as you began to build theteam, you've got a better sense of
who you wanted on the team,and then that became attractive to other people
that fit the bill that we're likethat, and then people that didn't fit
(08:22):
you didn't stay on the team.Yes, if if you're not you know,
rowing with the team, then andyou likely you're really not here.
You don't need to go against whatsome of the principles and the directions that
we're going. And I think peopleeither leave on their own or we self
select them out. Wait, what'sthe best part of your job? You
(08:46):
know, the success we've had isprobably is the best part. I think
the people, Uh, you know, the time that I spend with people,
both, you know, directing themand uh and hiring new people and
trying to contin annually course correct.What we're doing is the bulk of my
day, and that's I have alot of enjoyment with that. So so
(09:09):
in other words, where the bankstarted isn't where it's at today, and
where it's at today isn't necessarily whereit's at tomorrow, and not at all.
It's an entrepreneurial institution. You dothings to you I go where six
seven hats, and as you getbigger and bigger, you you leave some
of those hats to other people youhire, and you end up with,
(09:33):
you know, one or two hatsto one of the biggest hats is handling
everybody and managing people inside. Sothat's a big part of my job,
edging people inside. So you think, so your experience has been and you
know, because you've built a verysubstantial, very well respected bank and it's
a public company. So you're attributingyour success to the fact that you've got
(09:58):
people you could really depend on andtrust. So I guess you've figured out
what people really enjoy doing, andthen you're like getting them to do that
so that they do people stick aroundon your team for a long time.
Yeah, we've had press price.Seven or eight of us from the original
bank started fifty years ago. Afew of them, two or three have
(10:18):
retired, but we are cel posedthe same. We've had a number of
people's product. What's the website addressfor this bank? It's Meridian Banker dot
com. Meridian Banker dot com.We've been speaking with Chris Ana, CEO
of Meridian Bank here on Executive LeadersRadio, Real World Leaders Stick around.
We be back in a moment rightafter this quick rate, don't go anywhere.
Serve Co and your Executive Leaders radiohost and the CEOs we've interviewed on
(10:43):
this show are interested in helping youget your business started and helping you grow
your business. Whether you're aware ofthe issues or whether you want the CEOs
to give you a hand identifying theissues and getting your business started and or
in growing your business, why don'tyou email us at consult at Executive Leaders
(11:09):
Radio dot com. That's consult atExecutive Leaders Radio dot com. Whether you're
interested in having our CEOs speak withyou regarding getting your business started or growing
your business, send us an emailat consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com
(11:31):
and we'll be sure to get backto you surely with some help. In
fact, you're listening to Executive LeadersRadio, Real World Leaders. Is your
(11:54):
host, Herbcohen. Let's get toknow Ross Stark, CEO of Think Company.
Ross, what us Think Company areyou guys doing? Yeah? I
Think Company is a digital design anddevelopment company, so we do business websites,
business software, business platforms, thatkind of thing. How many people
are and how many people were inthe company. There's about one hundred and
(12:15):
twenty of us. You're one ofthe co founders. Huh. I've been
there from the beginning. Yeah,there are two co founders and myself we
started. Where you're from? Howmany brothers and sisters? And where are
you in the pecking order? I'mfrom Long Island, New York on the
South Shore. I'm the oldest ofthe three boys, all right, eight
to fourteen. What kind of stuffare you doing as a kid? Luckily
we lived kind of close to thebay, so I could go down there
(12:37):
and go fishing and run around onthe sand with my friends and things like
that. And other than that,I was a comic book kid and early
video games and those kinds of things. Oh yeah, So I got a
question. How many kids were inthe neighborhood and what was your role with
those kids in the neighborhood. Yeah, in both neighborhoods I grew up,
we had probably thirty forty kids,and I tended to be a bit of
a ringleader. We used to createa lot of games based on just the
(13:01):
stuff we had laying around, sofrisbee tag and like a hockey kind of
game with bats and beach balls.So that kind of thing. This this
ability of yours to help create gamesand pull the other kids into these games.
What's that have to do with Goldennessbusiness, which is now one hundred
and twenty people. Yeah, Ithink there's a there's a common thread there,
(13:22):
right, Like like when you're akid, and if you create a
game, it's only fun if otherkids want to play it, So it's
got to be good, right,And the same thing if you're leading a
company, you have to you haveto people have to want to work there,
people have to want to follow you, or there's no point. I
see, all right, Tyler,what question you got for us? What
is the favorite part of your job? My favorite part, well, every
(13:46):
time that we kind of do itbefore and after of of something that is
really broken and doesn't work well nowand then review how clean and good it
is now. That's a huge Ilove that. That's probably my favorite part
from the folks I get to workwith every day. Pam, what question
you got for mister rush Stark?I want to know do you have any
(14:09):
regrets professionally? Do you feel likeyou settle for your career or is this
something you desired and you love andyou feel like you're in your purpose?
What is your status on it?Yeah, no, I don't. I
don't feel like I settled. I'mI feel incredibly grateful and blessed that I
even ended up doing this. Itwasn't really what I saw for myself.
I'm just lucky and that like Igot here because I'm really good at what
(14:31):
I do and the company grew asa result, and we need someone to
run it and that ended up beingme. But but it happened pretty organically.
Ullua, you're a terrible question yougot for mister rush Stark in a
CEO me and you're responsible for alot of people. How do you handle
difficult customers? Difficult customers? Yeah, well, and you know people,
(14:54):
people are people, and everybody's gotwhat they want, and you never can
you know, we can't always tellwhat it is that they want. And
I'm times even when you think youknow, you're wrong, right, But
I think it's always about just tryingto have good conversations and really being open
and understanding what people like and don'tlike, and you know, what are
their wants and their needs and whatdoesn't work well for them. I'm always
able to get through it, right, But you've got to be really open
(15:16):
minded, and you can't take thingspersonally. Marie, what question you got
for Russ Stark? What would youdo if somebody had a problem and who
couldn't fix it? What would youdo and I couldn't fix it? Yeah?
Well, I certainly can't fix allproblems. I know that, right.
So regularly I think about, Okay, who do I know who knows
(15:37):
how to do this? And luckilythere's a lot of people in my company
that can do all kinds of thingsway better than me. But even if
they're not at the company, youknow, there's a lot of people.
I think about, who else doI know? At other companies? If
it's banking, I might think aboutChris. I'll give him a call.
Kaylee, your and what question yougot for us? Would you try to
think about the company that helped youin a pass? I would. I
(16:03):
think that we've really tried to dothe best. If there's anything I would
have ever changed, it would havebeen about things happening outside the company,
like crazy stuff with the pandemic andthe economy and that kind of stuff.
But I think we've always tried tobe really true to who we are and
what matters to us. So soI don't have any regrets there. Elijah,
it's your turn. Oh what isyour When did the company started?
(16:29):
Yeah? How long are you goingto start at Rush? Yeah? In
two thousand and seven, so we'rejust about sixteen years old now. Alasia,
have you ever wanted to quit thejob when it got frustrating? Well,
quit is a little strong, butyeah, I understand the sentiment.
Yeah, I mean there are somedays where I need to put it down
and walk away because it can bereally stressful and really frustrating. That's absolutely
(16:53):
I think something everybody goes through.I have felt that way. Sure,
give another question to follow out?What Asia? Yes, what advice would
you give us kids for our future? You know? It's Yeah. I
think the best thing is that,well, you're doing it right now.
Right, Like most adults that youreach out to that do things that you're
(17:15):
interested in, they're actually interested intalking to you, and they will talk
to you. So I think thesooner that you reach out and just talk
to as many people as you can, get to know them, get to
know what they do, and havethem get to know you, that's one
of the strongest things you can do. And everybody calls it networking, right,
but that's what it is. It'sbuilding a network of people who know
you. It's one of the bestways to kind of figure out what you
(17:37):
want to do and then have peopleto help you get there. Hey,
Russ, why are you spending yourtime doing this today? You know your
seal of a company, it's aone hundred and twenty people, is a
lot of Why are you doing thistoday? For the same reason that we
do what we do right And Idon't mean it to be grandiose, but
we want to make the world abetter place when we design better, better
(17:59):
did you tools, it's to tryto make people be less frustrated. When
I do stuff like this, it'sbecause I see so much talent right here.
And I believe in what I justsaid right that getting to know you
all and you're getting to know me. If this can help people out,
I'm all in. I think thisis how it happened. You see so
much talent there for you? Whatdo you mean you see so much talent
here? They're just young students.What are you talking about? They're asking
(18:22):
fantastic questions. They did that withChris, they're doing that with me,
they did that before. Right.It just goes to show it's all about
having conversations and getting to know oneanother and you realize you're not all that
different. Tiffany, What question yougot for Russ? Tiffany, what question
do you have for us? Alrighty? Well, so your job, what's
(18:44):
the best part of it? Whatdo you enjoy the most? Yeah?
So, yeah, I was talkingabout beforming. The outcomes are huge for
me. But also I think whatwe do is based on a lot of
people with a lot of different skillsets get together on teams to do something
that none of us could do onour own. That's really awesome. So
(19:06):
I mean, are you is thereason you're doing what you're doing because you
can go make a lot of moneyor what's your primary motivation, what's really
behind why you want to be theCEO of Think Company. Yeah, it's
because one of the things in lifethat drives me nuts is when people don't
put thought into things that other peopleare going to use. That drives me
crazy. And so our whole businessis about looking at things that people didn't
(19:29):
put enough thought into and doing itwell so that we reduce frustration in people's
lives, because that makes people sick, it stresses them out, it makes
people's lives worse. And I wantto make people's lives better. And I
really feel like little ways you cando well. It sounds to me like
you're you're like like a social worker. It's like you want to make everything
(19:49):
better for everybody all the time.That is that part of who you are.
I wouldn't go that far because Ihave nothing but unbelievable respect for so
to work, because that's a superdifficult job and a super important one.
But yeah, I mean I dobelieve that, and I want to make
everybody's lives better in that way andto and to you know Alasia's question earlier.
(20:11):
It makes it hard sometimes because Iwant to be friends with everybody,
but sometimes as a business, youknow someone who runs a business, you
got to make really hard decisions,so it's tough. But yeah, ultimately
that's why I'm okay doing this jobbecause I because I feel like maybe I
can do it differently than some otherpeople I've seen. So you pay him.
You have a question, you gopay them. What's your question?
(20:33):
I just wanted to say, Russ, could you talk to our our young
people a little bit about the leadershipand even at their age, how you
have to you how you able tomanage being a leader towards something positive and
opposed to something negative. Talks tothem about leadership at their level. Yeah,
well, I think you know.The simplest way to put it is
(20:56):
like, just always be cool toeveryone. I say this of my kids
too. Right, there's everybody isdifferent. It comes from different places.
You don't know what their background is, and once you find out, you
realize, oh, now I understandwhy they did that or why they think
that. Right, and its leadershipis the same way. You can't assume
you know people. You can't assumethat you know why they do that or
(21:17):
why they think that. You haveto be open minded. You got to
get to know people, and youjust got to be cool to everyone.
And that's way easier said than done, but if you do it, it
makes life so much more pleasant.What's the website address for this organization known
as a think company? Yeah,it's just think Company dot com. Let
me have that one more time,Think Company dot com. We've been speaking
(21:40):
with the one and only Russ Dark, CEO I Think Company. Here on
Executive Leaders Radio, Real World Leadersor get to visit our website Executive Leaders
Radio dot com or Real World Leadersdot org. Stick around way back in
the moment right after this quick break, don't go anywhere. We're back.
(22:10):
You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio,Real World Leaders. This your host,
Herb Cohen. Let's get to knowRobbed, your film president of Senaro.
Rob What is Senaro? What areyou guys doing? We use a design
building service audio visual systems for companiesand schools. Al righty. And how
many people do you have and whereyou're from originally? And how many brothers
and sisters? Two hundred and fiftyemployees from Delware County, Pennsylvania, one
(22:36):
younger sister. All righty, andyou mentioned that's something pretty dramatic happened in
your childhood with a bankruptcy or something. Could you tell us a little bit
more about that because I was interested. You know, you've built a really
substantial business. I'm wondering if youhad a lot of money as a kid.
So grew up at a young ageas a typical middle class family in
(22:57):
Delware County, Pennsylvania. Father's businesswent through some challenges which we had declare
declare bankruptcy, went to personal bankruptcy, and Sheriff's sold the house. So
we ended up having to move arounda lot of my late teams. So
when the so the house that youwere living in you had to move out
of because it got sold. Huhcorrect, Yeah. Do you think that
(23:19):
did to you? It made meappreciate what you have and also realized that
being broke isn't so bad actually,And it also motivated you. I bet
that's one of the reasons you're ableto build a two hundred and fifty person
company. And when you you mentionedthat when you were a kid, the
(23:40):
baseball was one of your favorite sportsand you were like the catcher and the
picture. You played a lot ofdifferent roles. What's your booty to play
lots of different roles on a sportsteam have to do with your role as
president of this organization known as Cesaro. Well, when we started, we
started with you know, literally twoor three people, and you wear a
lot of hats and small company aneasy, gotta do a lot of things,
(24:00):
so I kind of gotta be aswitch hitter in a lot of ways.
Cool, Nikki, you mentioned earlierin the green room that you never
had a safety net, so I'mwondering how that has impacted your role at
scenario. Well, I mean itgets you up in the morning, get
you motivated, and keeps you movingforward. Failure is definitely not an option.
Austin, you're a term. Whatquestion you got for Robt is why
(24:27):
did you start working at their job? I had a lot of interest in
the industry, fell into it andit was very interesting, cool techie stuff,
and the people you talk to likeit as well. Gotcha, Kaylee?
Your term? And what question yougot for rob One of my questions
is is there anything that you wouldchange I would have helped you in the
past. Yeah, I don't thinkso. I Actually I actually kind of
(24:52):
embrace all the things I went throughyears ago that got me to where I
am now. Wow, your turn. If you could give yourself advice,
we would it be? What wouldit be? Yeah? I think advice
that I'm taking is Look, everyday is a new day. Everyone has
(25:15):
bad days, learned from it,wake up the next day and work twice
as hard. Al Share your turn. Yeah, Belasia. Do you think
your company helps grown ups with theirstress throughout the day? I think it
(25:36):
helps a lot of stress during COVIDbecause our types of systems got used a
lot, and today they don't travelas much. They're able to do virtual
meetings and collaborate better. Ah.Interesting. Aubrey your turn. How much
does your business usually make per year? We do eighty million in revenues.
(25:59):
Eighty million dollars in revenues. Well, you've really built a substantial company coming
from the fact that your family homegot sold. You didn't have a safety
net or any money. It soundslike you've really built a substantial business for
yourself. A Marie your turn.How does it it's accomplished so much?
I'm sorry one more time. Howdoes it feel to accomplish so much?
(26:21):
It feels good. I take alot of pride in it, and I
think the thing that makes me mostproud is being able to teach these lessons
to my kids. Charles, canyou give me a hand? Yeah?
Right now, we're dealing with alot of tenth it's actually ten, eleven,
and twelve year old, and theyhave a lot of things that they
(26:42):
want to be CEOs presidents of companies. What advice would you give your own
self when you were that age,if you can go back in time,
what advice would you give your youngself? Because these guys need to hear
what you would tell yourself when youget older, what would you tell yourself?
Would say that there's no straight lineto get to where you're going,
and look at every day, everyyear, every week is a learning experience.
(27:06):
Failing at things and doing things thatyou don't like is actually a good
thing all that way. Do youhear that? Guys? That's important?
Thank you. So you had mentionedthat your dad was a salesman. I'm
curious what did your mom do.My mom was to stay at home when
I was younger, and then whenwe had some financial challenges, she ended
up going to work help support thefamily. And what do you think you
(27:29):
bring to work every day that yougot from her? Appreciate that everyone has
their own challenges are going through berespectful and caring of everybody. All of
a sudden, it's your turning again. Well, question do you have for
Rob? Another question I had isis your community good around you? Yeah?
You have a good community around yourRob. We have a We're very
(27:52):
lucky. We have a fantastic community. I think our culture is great.
The fact that we actually have alot of employee is that come into the
office is a good thing. Becausethey want to be here. It's easier
to attract them. M Is iteasy looking with two hundred and fifty people?
(28:14):
Uh, it's it's every day.Every day is a new adventure.
Your turn. What were the otherjobs before working at this? Please?
Yeah, my my. I bartendin my way through college, which is
by way the best job I couldhave ever had to prepare me for what
(28:36):
I'm doing now and to prepare mefor a sales career. I got into
sales right out of college before Idid this. How did bar attending prepare
you to be the president of atwo hundred and fifty person firm? I
was going to ask that too.I'm going to ask you you know what
it? So? There's something Thereare three things you got to master in
life. There's IQ intelligence, there'sn Q your network around you, and
(29:02):
EQ, which is your emotional intelligence, meaning read the room and understand how
to respond and not react. Asa bartender, you learn people. You
learn people like the back of yourhand because you're dealing with everyone who comes
in and prepared me in ways Ican't even explain for what I went through
the next couple of decades. Sothose three things you need to learn,
(29:22):
those three things you give an else. So the first is IQ I your
intelligence what you learn in school.Every day, keep working on yourself and
learn as much as you can.The second is n Q, which is
expand your network of contacts okay,and figured out how to leverage them.
And the last is emotional intelligence,which is be aware of your surroundings,
(29:48):
don't react to certain situations, thinkabout it, and respond accordingly, because
reacting and responding are two very differentthings. All right, Elijah, Well
question you left for rob what's yournext place? Scenaro Rasia. Have you
ever experienced failure when you tried tomake your drink come true? I've failed
far more times and I've succeeded atthings. Probably a factor of five to
(30:11):
one. Wow, Aubrey, who'syour biggest supporter? My wife, bar
None and real quick. She camefrom a very conservative family whose father worked
for a company for thirty five years. When I said I was going to
put her whole life savings into startinga company, she didn't even blink.
(30:33):
She let me do it. Wow, Amrie, what made you want to
do this job? I wanted tochallenge myself and see if I could do
it, and I had a lotof faith that I could do it.
I just wanted to prove it tomyself that I could start something and grow
something. Charles, your turn,What question you got? What's the favorite
(30:56):
part of your job? Favorite part? It's mentoring, migrating and training individuals.
Now, so the fact that wehave people that have come in that
were the guy runs the whole Anindividual who runs the entire business came in
valeting cars when he started fifteen yearsago and he's a vice president of operations
(31:18):
for US. I have many,many stories of people coming in as install
techs and whatnot, and they've beenhere fifteen years. They've started families,
bought houses, built great lives forthemselves. That is my favorite thing.
Bar None, do you mean thatagain, what's your favorite thing is people
that come in at a young agethat have a thirst for knowledge and want
to work hard, and they wantto build careers. And we have many,
(31:41):
many stories of people that have beenhere for ten, fifteen, twenty
years that have built families, careers, bought houses and have very successful villain
careers here. That is so fun, fun mentorship, enjoy developing. It's
the best. Yeah, what's thewhat's the website address for this organization known
(32:01):
as Scenario so www dot ce Nis a Nancy Ero dot com, ce
n e roo dot com. We'vebeen speaking with Robio Philon, president of
Senaro here on Executive Leaders Radio RealWorld Leaders. Don't forget to visit our
website, Executive Leaders radio dot comand Real World Leaders dot org to learn
more about our executive leaders. Stickaround and be back in a moment right
(32:22):
after this quick break. This isfrom co and your host of Executive Leaders
Radio. And if you're a businessconsultant, if you consult to business owners
or to business owners team members,then we'd like to speak with you because
(32:44):
we're getting requests from people all overthe country, from entrepreneurs all over the
country that are starting and building theirbusinesses where they're looking for help and maybe
we can help connect you. Whydon't you email tell us at consult at
Executive Leaders Radio dot com. That'sconsult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
(33:09):
And perhaps we can connect you tofolks, to entrepreneurs and their team members
all around the country that are lookingfor help. That's consult at Executive Leaders
Radio dot com. We're back.You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio, Real
(33:39):
World Leaders. That's your host,Herb Cohen. Let's get to know Clellen
Green, president of Benapath. Clellenwhat is Benepath? Are you guys doing?
We connect consumers with insurance companies andinsurance ages to find health insurance a
radio. Where you're from originally?How many brothers and sisters? And where
are you in the pecking order?I was in Air Force brats. I
(34:00):
was born in England and I'm theoldest of three. And yeah, we'll
grow up mostly in will grow butafter everywhere else. So you moved around
a lot? And when did youDid you come from a lot of money
when you were a kid or howyoung were you when you started working?
(34:20):
I started working when I was aboutten or eleven years old when I would
start doing snow removal and mowing lawnsfor the neighbors to put a couple of
bucks in the pocket into as wellas paper roots. And you mentioned that
swimming was your best sport. Whywhy was swimming your best sport or why
why did you enjoy that the most? And what's that have to do with
(34:42):
in the president of this organization thathas been a path swimming and swimming you
get, you get the direct responseof the effort that you put in.
If you put in the effort,your time goes down. It's that simple.
And if you need to get yourtime to a certain place, you
know what you've got to put intoit to get to it. So there's
(35:05):
a real here's the effort and here'sthe reward. And there's no question that
having that, it gives you grit, it gives you determination, you've got
to overcome obstacles. There's just alot of hard work and effort that goes
into it. And it's the sameas like track and field. You know,
if you want to go a fasterhundred, you've just got to hit
(35:25):
the track and you've got to workon your speed. You've got to work
the hills, You've got to workon your weights, You've got to do
all those things. And it doesn'tmatter whether you're in the water or land.
You know, you do those things, you're going to get faster.
Nikki. Sure, Colin, youmentioned that what was normal for you was
moving. It was it was normalto move. So tell me how that
(35:47):
has impacted what you're doing today.It just made it normal and something that's
easy for me to do, tojust meet new people on a regular basis.
All still a question do you havefor clllen Green? My question is
if you wasn't, If you weren'twhen nobody and you will buy yourself,
(36:10):
what where would you think you'll be? Right now? If I was by
myself, where would I be?I would be pretty lost? You know,
your whole life is a journey withother people, and it's not a
journey by yourself. And so ifyou're in a journey by yourself, you're
gonna be lost in the wilderness.Go nowhere. If you haven't I been
(36:36):
a peth, what job would youwork for? Well, the job that
you know. My wife thinks I'dbe a great attorney because I can win
a lot of arguments. But Idon't win them at home. What do
you think help do you have ahigher position at your job? What helped
(36:57):
me was was being empathetic, listeningand learning from all of my mistakes.
All Right, you should how muchmoney has a company made in a year?
So we do about twenty million dollarsa year in revenue. It's a
(37:19):
lot of money, Oliver year turns. Did you think your company will make
this this far and have such agood impact old people? Right? I
absolutely did, and you know onthe impact on people, especially the people
inside of this company. I meantonight I'm getting recognized for that. We're
going to the We're one of thefinalists for the Best Places to Work,
(37:40):
So it's something we work really hardon. Amory your turn as a person
in a medical business, how didit feel to save people lives? Well,
we don't save their lives, sowe help them get the insurance so
that their lives can be saved andthey can you know that care can be
paid for, but it you know, it makes me feel good to know
(38:02):
that what we're doing is we're makingit easier for people to find the insurance
that they need. Charles, misterGreen, what were your academics, like
when you were in grade school.Oh, I was actually pretty good academically
in grade school. You know,it got harder for me in junior high.
(38:24):
So when I was in elementary school, it was easy the math and
the reading and everything else. AndI would do my work, you know,
I'd do the homework and I'd handit in and he did his work.
Guys, he did his work.You do the work and you hand
it in, and that's like night. You like, it's like, just
show up. That's ninety percent ofeverything. Just show up. Right when
it got to middle school, gotharder, nicky or so who do you
(38:47):
Who would you say is the biggestinfluence on what you're doing now? Oh?
Biggest influence on what I'm doing rightnow. You know. I have
been spending a lot of time eatingthe stoics because I think there's a lot
that you can learn from them abouttaking personal responsibility and turning it into action
(39:08):
and not worrying about what other people'sopinions are so much, and focusing more
on yourself. Austin, your turnsdo, how do your business life?
Buslet your real life? Just living? Boy? So when I was younger,
Austin, I used to work.You know, there was an old
(39:31):
culture of like I'm going to workseventy hours a week, eighty hours a
week, and I've personally had towork hard on having a much better work
life bounce. So I'm spending timewith my family, with my daughter,
with my son, with my wife, and with my friends. So I'm
that's something that's one of the mostimportant things to me, is making sure
(39:51):
that I'm doing the work that Ineed to do, but putting the work
into my personal relationships as well,because those things are the biggest and most
important things in your life. Truly, did college help you get this far
of being the president of being aI think the college is a very good
(40:12):
thing for the right person. Ithink that I learned a lot and I
learned how to learn in college,and I would recommend it to anyone who
is looking at a career path whereyou really need to go to college.
But I'm open to other alternatives rightnow. Sure, would you expand your
company? Explain it? Expand it? Oh, when I expand it,
(40:38):
we are expanding. I mean,we are one of the fastest growing companies
in the region, and we've beennominated for that and won that award for
like the last five years. Sowe're constantly growing. We're up about thirty
percent this year. Alasia, whenyou first got this position, did you
have confidence? Yes? I shouldn'thave had confidence, but I did.
(41:06):
And I think that that belief inyourself is a really important part of having
success. But you know, yougo back, you look at it and
you're like, I did what?So it's a good question, Aubrey.
How long have you been working atthis job? So? I started this
company fifteen years ago, am Irie, does your job thank you spen a
(41:34):
knowledge? Am? What was that? Does you a job effect you spending
time? Which? M me?Yeah? Does your job affect the time
you spend with your family? Idon't let it anymore. It used to
absolutely Charles. I'll ask you thesame question to ask before, which is
(41:54):
what's the favorite part of your job? What's the favorite part of your job
for your day? The favorite job? And you know, Rob kind of
took my answer before, but thefavorite part of my job and I think
a lot of entrepreneurs share this iswhat is great is working with people and
helping them develop and find who theyare and become something more than what they
(42:20):
started out with. And developing thosecareers and teaching it. Just to me,
that's one of the best rewards outof this position is the impact that
I can have on a lot ofpeople's lives. What's the similarity between being
a father and being the boss.Well, when you're the father, you
(42:42):
can actually make somebody stay in theroom if they, you know, need
to do their homework. When you'rethe boss, you can't make somebody do
anything. So you've got to reallyyou really have to focus on leading people,
not making people. You know,bad bosses are the ones that make
you do things. Good bosses arethe ones that lead you and encourage you
(43:04):
and develop you and so that youwant to do those things and that you're
learning how to sharpen your sword andget better and better and better. Or
as a human, are you thesmartest sky on your team? The smartest
guy? No, I am notthe smartest guy in my team. I
didn't mean to embarrass you by askingyou that. I mean, are you
embarrassed by that question? It's notan embarrassing question. You know, it's
(43:30):
very hard to rank your intelligence versusother people's intelligence, right, because intelligence
comes in a whole bunch of differentways. So Am I the smartest at
certain things? Yes? Am Ithe smartest at other things? Absolutely not.
That's what I needed to know.What's the website addressed for Benepath.
It's Benepath dot net and dot comdot com is for consumers to find insurance
(43:53):
dot net is for agents and insurancecompanies to learn more about our services.
Greenident a Benepath. This is yourhost, Herb Cohen, and today we've
had the opportunity of speaking with ChrisAnnis, CEO of Meridian Bank, Russ
Stark, CEO of Think Company,Rob Gilfillan, president of Senaro, and
Cloen Green, president of Benapath.Don't forget to visit our websites Executive Leaders
(44:17):
Radio dot com. That's Executive LeadersRadio dot com and Real World Leaders dot
org Real World Real World Leaders dotorg in order to learn more about our
executive leaders. Thank you for joiningus today and have a nice day. Bye bye
Welcome to Executive Leaders Radio, yourspot in the corner office, the radio
show where executives share their secrets tosuccess. Executive Leaders Radio. You're listening
to Executive Leaders Radio, Real worldleaders. This is your coast Herb Cohen,
and we have a great landing protestin our show, Nay, including
(00:30):
Chris Hannas CEO of Meridian Bank,Ross Stark CEO Think Company, Rob Gilfillan,
President of Snaro, and Clellen Green, President of Benapath. Let's get
to know our first guest, ChrisHannas, CEO of Meridian Bank. Chris,
what is Meridian Bank? What areyou guys doing? Meridian Bank is
a regional financial institution with branches andall the counties around and including Philadelphia,
(00:54):
and we take deposits and lend moneyto small business. Excellent. How old
your how small is the team?And did you start this business? You
know we have about four to thirtypeople and I started it back in two
thousand and four. All righty,where you from originally? How many brothers
and sisters? And where are youin the packing order? Originally from a
born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, oneof five and I'm right in the middle
(01:17):
alrighty eight to fourteen years old whenyou were a kid, what kind of
stuff were you doing back then?You know, I was out riding my
bike around Minneapolis in the summertimes andtrying to stay warm in the winters.
You mentioned that you started working ina cafeteria when you were twelve and waiting
gardens and you had a paper route. Did you did your family have a
(01:40):
lot of money back then? Now, we did. My dad was a
marine coming out of Korea. That'swhat about when we landed in Minnesota and
lived in a small house, andwe all had some working backgrounds very early
on to you know, make someextra dough and and trying to you know,
take care and buy things, youknow, by bicycles or things like
that. So it was entrepreneurial earlyon. So what did you learn in
(02:06):
terms of waiting gardens and working ina cafeteria that has anything to do with
being the CEO of this well respectedpublic company bank Meridian. Well, it's
hard work and you lead by example, and work ethic is a huge principle
in life. People want to knowif they hire you that you work hard.
And as somebody runs a bank,the people that invested you want to
(02:29):
know that you work hard. Gotyour head. Yeah. In the green
room, Chris, you mentioned thatwhen you're fifteen, you moved from Minneapolis
to Philadelphia. What did that doto you? It was disruptive for sure,
for the whole family. There wasn'tthe technology available like Facebook and Instagram
to communicate with friends or see whatwas going on. We had phones and
(02:49):
letters, so it was a prettytraumatic event. We hadn't moved before.
But you know, you have abig family, and the family takes carry
in. We all made it throughvery well. What did you learn from
that experience has anything to do withbuilding a bank? I think it's independent
independence And also you know when yougo to new school, you've got to
make friends and create a good lifefor you there. And I think as
(03:13):
you run a bank, you've gotto make friends to want to work for
you, and you create a goodenvironment. Got your Pam, that's telling
you yourself, Pam, Yes,I'm sorry. So I would like to
know what would you tell your elevenyear old self with the knowledge that you
have today, and what would youtell the eleven year old and eleven years
(03:36):
old? I wish I could havetold myself to sit down a little bit
more and concentrate on reading. AndI wish I had the experiential things that
went along with some of the academicwork, because I think they're so very
important. You're a tour and whatquestion you got? How does your job
affect your family life? It's agood tough to balance that because you work
(04:00):
art and you want things to workright, and you know sometimes that takes
some extra time from your family life. But I do my best. Mary,
you're next. What do you forChris? If you had any financial
problems, how would you fix so? You know, I would uh,
I go borrow money from another bank. I think what made you want to
(04:23):
work in a beat? I enjoythe financial part of it, the analysis
and the and the and the hardwork there, and then the outside is
meeting with customers and trying to buildthe economics of our communities. Kayley,
you're next, Well, I gotElijah, excuse me, Elijah. Question
(04:43):
you got for Chris? It's again, what is your greatest achievement? Yeah?
What's your greatest achievements? The greatestachievement is this bank. We've been
meeting through some tough economic cycles andhave a great team here and have done
really well. We actually got todo a public offering in IPO, so
very happy about that. Yeah,Kaylee, go ahead, alrighty Elijah your
(05:10):
turn? What question up? Youlook we just did Elijah excusi. Elesia
your turn. Where do you thinkthe company's heading in the next five years?
You know, I think banks growsize wise, which distinguishes in allows
them to get more profitable. Sowe hope to be a ten billion dollars
bank and being deeply rooted in thePhiladelphia area. Hold, what's your spells
(05:31):
in the bank in terms of ortwo point four billion assets? Now two
point four billion dollars and you startedthis business. That's incredible, A lot
of health. Aubrey, your turn. Who was your biggest supportatory starting their
business? Yeah? You know,I've had a lot of supporters, both
from my prior business career, frommy certainly from my family. My mother's
(05:57):
always been a great inspiration for meand other people that I worked for in
the industry. Work within the industryhelped me a lot. I think I
learned a lot from everybody all theway up and I'm I'm learning still.
Wait a minute, it says hereyou're the CEO of the bank, What
do you mean you're learning from otherpeople? I don't understand you're the CEO.
Yeah, I learned a lot fromthe younger folks and how well they
(06:20):
use technology and whether they adapt tothings, and that's making an older guy
like me, you know, stickaround for a few more years. So
you're so you think your success isbecause of the other people. Sure,
you know you learn from other people, and you always give a good ear
(06:41):
to someone with an idea or adifferent way of doing things, some innovation,
a knowledge base they have, andI think that's the probably the best
way I've learned through my life.How about that, Tiffany, it's your
term. What question do you havefor Chris? Addis? Alrighty, And
Chris, let me ask you this. So, so you're attributing your success
(07:05):
to other people, I guess yougot pretty good sort of go out who
you can trust and who you coulddepend on that has that been important to
you? Very important the people thatyou trust and you can depend on to
do things the right way and alsoto be there when you're not as critical
to starting and running a good business. So trust is to trust to understanding
(07:30):
who you can trust to do whatpeople's strengths are It is really important,
right, How do you figure thatout? How did you learn that?
Did you? Were you like anatural figure or utter or of people when
you were a kid? Now?But when you know, first of all,
I hired people that I had known, and then as you develop a
culture in the bank, you knowof principles and growth and direction, and
(07:58):
people are going to align with thator they won't, and if they don't,
they usually move on. They alwaysmove on. So you're telling me
that as you began to build theteam, you've got a better sense of
who you wanted on the team,and then that became attractive to other people
that fit the bill that we're likethat, and then people that didn't fit
(08:22):
you didn't stay on the team.Yes, if if you're not you know,
rowing with the team, then andyou likely you're really not here.
You don't need to go against whatsome of the principles and the directions that
we're going. And I think peopleeither leave on their own or we self
select them out. Wait, what'sthe best part of your job? You
(08:46):
know, the success we've had isprobably is the best part. I think
the people, Uh, you know, the time that I spend with people,
both, you know, directing themand uh and hiring new people and
trying to contin annually course correct.What we're doing is the bulk of my
day, and that's I have alot of enjoyment with that. So so
(09:09):
in other words, where the bankstarted isn't where it's at today, and
where it's at today isn't necessarily whereit's at tomorrow, and not at all.
It's an entrepreneurial institution. You dothings to you I go where six
seven hats, and as you getbigger and bigger, you you leave some
of those hats to other people youhire, and you end up with,
(09:33):
you know, one or two hatsto one of the biggest hats is handling
everybody and managing people inside. Sothat's a big part of my job,
edging people inside. So you think, so your experience has been and you
know, because you've built a verysubstantial, very well respected bank and it's
a public company. So you're attributingyour success to the fact that you've got
(09:58):
people you could really depend on andtrust. So I guess you've figured out
what people really enjoy doing, andthen you're like getting them to do that
so that they do people stick aroundon your team for a long time.
Yeah, we've had press price.Seven or eight of us from the original
bank started fifty years ago. Afew of them, two or three have
(10:18):
retired, but we are cel posedthe same. We've had a number of
people's product. What's the website addressfor this bank? It's Meridian Banker dot
com. Meridian Banker dot com.We've been speaking with Chris Ana, CEO
of Meridian Bank here on Executive LeadersRadio, Real World Leaders Stick around.
We be back in a moment rightafter this quick rate, don't go anywhere.
Serve Co and your Executive Leaders radiohost and the CEOs we've interviewed on
(10:43):
this show are interested in helping youget your business started and helping you grow
your business. Whether you're aware ofthe issues or whether you want the CEOs
to give you a hand identifying theissues and getting your business started and or
in growing your business, why don'tyou email us at consult at Executive Leaders
(11:09):
Radio dot com. That's consult atExecutive Leaders Radio dot com. Whether you're
interested in having our CEOs speak withyou regarding getting your business started or growing
your business, send us an emailat consult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com
(11:31):
and we'll be sure to get backto you surely with some help. In
fact, you're listening to Executive LeadersRadio, Real World Leaders. Is your
(11:54):
host, Herbcohen. Let's get toknow Ross Stark, CEO of Think Company.
Ross, what us Think Company areyou guys doing? Yeah? I
Think Company is a digital design anddevelopment company, so we do business websites,
business software, business platforms, thatkind of thing. How many people
are and how many people were inthe company. There's about one hundred and
(12:15):
twenty of us. You're one ofthe co founders. Huh. I've been
there from the beginning. Yeah,there are two co founders and myself we
started. Where you're from? Howmany brothers and sisters? And where are
you in the pecking order? I'mfrom Long Island, New York on the
South Shore. I'm the oldest ofthe three boys, all right, eight
to fourteen. What kind of stuffare you doing as a kid? Luckily
we lived kind of close to thebay, so I could go down there
(12:37):
and go fishing and run around onthe sand with my friends and things like
that. And other than that,I was a comic book kid and early
video games and those kinds of things. Oh yeah, So I got a
question. How many kids were inthe neighborhood and what was your role with
those kids in the neighborhood. Yeah, in both neighborhoods I grew up,
we had probably thirty forty kids,and I tended to be a bit of
a ringleader. We used to createa lot of games based on just the
(13:01):
stuff we had laying around, sofrisbee tag and like a hockey kind of
game with bats and beach balls.So that kind of thing. This this
ability of yours to help create gamesand pull the other kids into these games.
What's that have to do with Goldennessbusiness, which is now one hundred
and twenty people. Yeah, Ithink there's a there's a common thread there,
(13:22):
right, Like like when you're akid, and if you create a
game, it's only fun if otherkids want to play it, So it's
got to be good, right,And the same thing if you're leading a
company, you have to you haveto people have to want to work there,
people have to want to follow you, or there's no point. I
see, all right, Tyler,what question you got for us? What
is the favorite part of your job? My favorite part, well, every
(13:46):
time that we kind of do itbefore and after of of something that is
really broken and doesn't work well nowand then review how clean and good it
is now. That's a huge Ilove that. That's probably my favorite part
from the folks I get to workwith every day. Pam, what question
you got for mister rush Stark?I want to know do you have any
(14:09):
regrets professionally? Do you feel likeyou settle for your career or is this
something you desired and you love andyou feel like you're in your purpose?
What is your status on it?Yeah, no, I don't. I
don't feel like I settled. I'mI feel incredibly grateful and blessed that I
even ended up doing this. Itwasn't really what I saw for myself.
I'm just lucky and that like Igot here because I'm really good at what
(14:31):
I do and the company grew asa result, and we need someone to
run it and that ended up beingme. But but it happened pretty organically.
Ullua, you're a terrible question yougot for mister rush Stark in a
CEO me and you're responsible for alot of people. How do you handle
difficult customers? Difficult customers? Yeah, well, and you know people,
(14:54):
people are people, and everybody's gotwhat they want, and you never can
you know, we can't always tellwhat it is that they want. And
I'm times even when you think youknow, you're wrong, right, But
I think it's always about just tryingto have good conversations and really being open
and understanding what people like and don'tlike, and you know, what are
their wants and their needs and whatdoesn't work well for them. I'm always
able to get through it, right, But you've got to be really open
(15:16):
minded, and you can't take thingspersonally. Marie, what question you got
for Russ Stark? What would youdo if somebody had a problem and who
couldn't fix it? What would youdo and I couldn't fix it? Yeah?
Well, I certainly can't fix allproblems. I know that, right.
So regularly I think about, Okay, who do I know who knows
(15:37):
how to do this? And luckilythere's a lot of people in my company
that can do all kinds of thingsway better than me. But even if
they're not at the company, youknow, there's a lot of people.
I think about, who else doI know? At other companies? If
it's banking, I might think aboutChris. I'll give him a call.
Kaylee, your and what question yougot for us? Would you try to
think about the company that helped youin a pass? I would. I
(16:03):
think that we've really tried to dothe best. If there's anything I would
have ever changed, it would havebeen about things happening outside the company,
like crazy stuff with the pandemic andthe economy and that kind of stuff.
But I think we've always tried tobe really true to who we are and
what matters to us. So soI don't have any regrets there. Elijah,
it's your turn. Oh what isyour When did the company started?
(16:29):
Yeah? How long are you goingto start at Rush? Yeah? In
two thousand and seven, so we'rejust about sixteen years old now. Alasia,
have you ever wanted to quit thejob when it got frustrating? Well,
quit is a little strong, butyeah, I understand the sentiment.
Yeah, I mean there are somedays where I need to put it down
and walk away because it can bereally stressful and really frustrating. That's absolutely
(16:53):
I think something everybody goes through.I have felt that way. Sure,
give another question to follow out?What Asia? Yes, what advice would
you give us kids for our future? You know? It's Yeah. I
think the best thing is that,well, you're doing it right now.
Right, Like most adults that youreach out to that do things that you're
(17:15):
interested in, they're actually interested intalking to you, and they will talk
to you. So I think thesooner that you reach out and just talk
to as many people as you can, get to know them, get to
know what they do, and havethem get to know you, that's one
of the strongest things you can do. And everybody calls it networking, right,
but that's what it is. It'sbuilding a network of people who know
you. It's one of the bestways to kind of figure out what you
(17:37):
want to do and then have peopleto help you get there. Hey,
Russ, why are you spending yourtime doing this today? You know your
seal of a company, it's aone hundred and twenty people, is a
lot of Why are you doing thistoday? For the same reason that we
do what we do right And Idon't mean it to be grandiose, but
we want to make the world abetter place when we design better, better
(17:59):
did you tools, it's to tryto make people be less frustrated. When
I do stuff like this, it'sbecause I see so much talent right here.
And I believe in what I justsaid right that getting to know you
all and you're getting to know me. If this can help people out,
I'm all in. I think thisis how it happened. You see so
much talent there for you? Whatdo you mean you see so much talent
here? They're just young students.What are you talking about? They're asking
(18:22):
fantastic questions. They did that withChris, they're doing that with me,
they did that before. Right.It just goes to show it's all about
having conversations and getting to know oneanother and you realize you're not all that
different. Tiffany, What question yougot for Russ? Tiffany, what question
do you have for us? Alrighty? Well, so your job, what's
(18:44):
the best part of it? Whatdo you enjoy the most? Yeah?
So, yeah, I was talkingabout beforming. The outcomes are huge for
me. But also I think whatwe do is based on a lot of
people with a lot of different skillsets get together on teams to do something
that none of us could do onour own. That's really awesome. So
(19:06):
I mean, are you is thereason you're doing what you're doing because you
can go make a lot of moneyor what's your primary motivation, what's really
behind why you want to be theCEO of Think Company. Yeah, it's
because one of the things in lifethat drives me nuts is when people don't
put thought into things that other peopleare going to use. That drives me
crazy. And so our whole businessis about looking at things that people didn't
(19:29):
put enough thought into and doing itwell so that we reduce frustration in people's
lives, because that makes people sick, it stresses them out, it makes
people's lives worse. And I wantto make people's lives better. And I
really feel like little ways you cando well. It sounds to me like
you're you're like like a social worker. It's like you want to make everything
(19:49):
better for everybody all the time.That is that part of who you are.
I wouldn't go that far because Ihave nothing but unbelievable respect for so
to work, because that's a superdifficult job and a super important one.
But yeah, I mean I dobelieve that, and I want to make
everybody's lives better in that way andto and to you know Alasia's question earlier.
(20:11):
It makes it hard sometimes because Iwant to be friends with everybody,
but sometimes as a business, youknow someone who runs a business, you
got to make really hard decisions,so it's tough. But yeah, ultimately
that's why I'm okay doing this jobbecause I because I feel like maybe I
can do it differently than some otherpeople I've seen. So you pay him.
You have a question, you gopay them. What's your question?
(20:33):
I just wanted to say, Russ, could you talk to our our young
people a little bit about the leadershipand even at their age, how you
have to you how you able tomanage being a leader towards something positive and
opposed to something negative. Talks tothem about leadership at their level. Yeah,
well, I think you know.The simplest way to put it is
(20:56):
like, just always be cool toeveryone. I say this of my kids
too. Right, there's everybody isdifferent. It comes from different places.
You don't know what their background is, and once you find out, you
realize, oh, now I understandwhy they did that or why they think
that. Right, and its leadershipis the same way. You can't assume
you know people. You can't assumethat you know why they do that or
(21:17):
why they think that. You haveto be open minded. You got to
get to know people, and youjust got to be cool to everyone.
And that's way easier said than done, but if you do it, it
makes life so much more pleasant.What's the website address for this organization known
as a think company? Yeah,it's just think Company dot com. Let
me have that one more time,Think Company dot com. We've been speaking
(21:40):
with the one and only Russ Dark, CEO I Think Company. Here on
Executive Leaders Radio, Real World Leadersor get to visit our website Executive Leaders
Radio dot com or Real World Leadersdot org. Stick around way back in
the moment right after this quick break, don't go anywhere. We're back.
(22:10):
You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio,Real World Leaders. This your host,
Herb Cohen. Let's get to knowRobbed, your film president of Senaro.
Rob What is Senaro? What areyou guys doing? We use a design
building service audio visual systems for companiesand schools. Al righty. And how
many people do you have and whereyou're from originally? And how many brothers
and sisters? Two hundred and fiftyemployees from Delware County, Pennsylvania, one
(22:36):
younger sister. All righty, andyou mentioned that's something pretty dramatic happened in
your childhood with a bankruptcy or something. Could you tell us a little bit
more about that because I was interested. You know, you've built a really
substantial business. I'm wondering if youhad a lot of money as a kid.
So grew up at a young ageas a typical middle class family in
(22:57):
Delware County, Pennsylvania. Father's businesswent through some challenges which we had declare
declare bankruptcy, went to personal bankruptcy, and Sheriff's sold the house. So
we ended up having to move arounda lot of my late teams. So
when the so the house that youwere living in you had to move out
of because it got sold. Huhcorrect, Yeah. Do you think that
(23:19):
did to you? It made meappreciate what you have and also realized that
being broke isn't so bad actually,And it also motivated you. I bet
that's one of the reasons you're ableto build a two hundred and fifty person
company. And when you you mentionedthat when you were a kid, the
(23:40):
baseball was one of your favorite sportsand you were like the catcher and the
picture. You played a lot ofdifferent roles. What's your booty to play
lots of different roles on a sportsteam have to do with your role as
president of this organization known as Cesaro. Well, when we started, we
started with you know, literally twoor three people, and you wear a
lot of hats and small company aneasy, gotta do a lot of things,
(24:00):
so I kind of gotta be aswitch hitter in a lot of ways.
Cool, Nikki, you mentioned earlierin the green room that you never
had a safety net, so I'mwondering how that has impacted your role at
scenario. Well, I mean itgets you up in the morning, get
you motivated, and keeps you movingforward. Failure is definitely not an option.
Austin, you're a term. Whatquestion you got for Robt is why
(24:27):
did you start working at their job? I had a lot of interest in
the industry, fell into it andit was very interesting, cool techie stuff,
and the people you talk to likeit as well. Gotcha, Kaylee?
Your term? And what question yougot for rob One of my questions
is is there anything that you wouldchange I would have helped you in the
past. Yeah, I don't thinkso. I Actually I actually kind of
(24:52):
embrace all the things I went throughyears ago that got me to where I
am now. Wow, your turn. If you could give yourself advice,
we would it be? What wouldit be? Yeah? I think advice
that I'm taking is Look, everyday is a new day. Everyone has
(25:15):
bad days, learned from it,wake up the next day and work twice
as hard. Al Share your turn. Yeah, Belasia. Do you think
your company helps grown ups with theirstress throughout the day? I think it
(25:36):
helps a lot of stress during COVIDbecause our types of systems got used a
lot, and today they don't travelas much. They're able to do virtual
meetings and collaborate better. Ah.Interesting. Aubrey your turn. How much
does your business usually make per year? We do eighty million in revenues.
(25:59):
Eighty million dollars in revenues. Well, you've really built a substantial company coming
from the fact that your family homegot sold. You didn't have a safety
net or any money. It soundslike you've really built a substantial business for
yourself. A Marie your turn.How does it it's accomplished so much?
I'm sorry one more time. Howdoes it feel to accomplish so much?
(26:21):
It feels good. I take alot of pride in it, and I
think the thing that makes me mostproud is being able to teach these lessons
to my kids. Charles, canyou give me a hand? Yeah?
Right now, we're dealing with alot of tenth it's actually ten, eleven,
and twelve year old, and theyhave a lot of things that they
(26:42):
want to be CEOs presidents of companies. What advice would you give your own
self when you were that age,if you can go back in time,
what advice would you give your youngself? Because these guys need to hear
what you would tell yourself when youget older, what would you tell yourself?
Would say that there's no straight lineto get to where you're going,
and look at every day, everyyear, every week is a learning experience.
(27:06):
Failing at things and doing things thatyou don't like is actually a good
thing all that way. Do youhear that? Guys? That's important?
Thank you. So you had mentionedthat your dad was a salesman. I'm
curious what did your mom do.My mom was to stay at home when
I was younger, and then whenwe had some financial challenges, she ended
up going to work help support thefamily. And what do you think you
(27:29):
bring to work every day that yougot from her? Appreciate that everyone has
their own challenges are going through berespectful and caring of everybody. All of
a sudden, it's your turning again. Well, question do you have for
Rob? Another question I had isis your community good around you? Yeah?
You have a good community around yourRob. We have a We're very
(27:52):
lucky. We have a fantastic community. I think our culture is great.
The fact that we actually have alot of employee is that come into the
office is a good thing. Becausethey want to be here. It's easier
to attract them. M Is iteasy looking with two hundred and fifty people?
(28:14):
Uh, it's it's every day.Every day is a new adventure.
Your turn. What were the otherjobs before working at this? Please?
Yeah, my my. I bartendin my way through college, which is
by way the best job I couldhave ever had to prepare me for what
(28:36):
I'm doing now and to prepare mefor a sales career. I got into
sales right out of college before Idid this. How did bar attending prepare
you to be the president of atwo hundred and fifty person firm? I
was going to ask that too.I'm going to ask you you know what
it? So? There's something Thereare three things you got to master in
life. There's IQ intelligence, there'sn Q your network around you, and
(29:02):
EQ, which is your emotional intelligence, meaning read the room and understand how
to respond and not react. Asa bartender, you learn people. You
learn people like the back of yourhand because you're dealing with everyone who comes
in and prepared me in ways Ican't even explain for what I went through
the next couple of decades. Sothose three things you need to learn,
(29:22):
those three things you give an else. So the first is IQ I your
intelligence what you learn in school.Every day, keep working on yourself and
learn as much as you can.The second is n Q, which is
expand your network of contacts okay,and figured out how to leverage them.
And the last is emotional intelligence,which is be aware of your surroundings,
(29:48):
don't react to certain situations, thinkabout it, and respond accordingly, because
reacting and responding are two very differentthings. All right, Elijah, Well
question you left for rob what's yournext place? Scenaro Rasia. Have you
ever experienced failure when you tried tomake your drink come true? I've failed
far more times and I've succeeded atthings. Probably a factor of five to
(30:11):
one. Wow, Aubrey, who'syour biggest supporter? My wife, bar
None and real quick. She camefrom a very conservative family whose father worked
for a company for thirty five years. When I said I was going to
put her whole life savings into startinga company, she didn't even blink.
(30:33):
She let me do it. Wow, Amrie, what made you want to
do this job? I wanted tochallenge myself and see if I could do
it, and I had a lotof faith that I could do it.
I just wanted to prove it tomyself that I could start something and grow
something. Charles, your turn,What question you got? What's the favorite
(30:56):
part of your job? Favorite part? It's mentoring, migrating and training individuals.
Now, so the fact that wehave people that have come in that
were the guy runs the whole Anindividual who runs the entire business came in
valeting cars when he started fifteen yearsago and he's a vice president of operations
(31:18):
for US. I have many,many stories of people coming in as install
techs and whatnot, and they've beenhere fifteen years. They've started families,
bought houses, built great lives forthemselves. That is my favorite thing.
Bar None, do you mean thatagain, what's your favorite thing is people
that come in at a young agethat have a thirst for knowledge and want
to work hard, and they wantto build careers. And we have many,
(31:41):
many stories of people that have beenhere for ten, fifteen, twenty
years that have built families, careers, bought houses and have very successful villain
careers here. That is so fun, fun mentorship, enjoy developing. It's
the best. Yeah, what's thewhat's the website address for this organization known
(32:01):
as Scenario so www dot ce Nis a Nancy Ero dot com, ce
n e roo dot com. We'vebeen speaking with Robio Philon, president of
Senaro here on Executive Leaders Radio RealWorld Leaders. Don't forget to visit our
website, Executive Leaders radio dot comand Real World Leaders dot org to learn
more about our executive leaders. Stickaround and be back in a moment right
(32:22):
after this quick break. This isfrom co and your host of Executive Leaders
Radio. And if you're a businessconsultant, if you consult to business owners
or to business owners team members,then we'd like to speak with you because
(32:44):
we're getting requests from people all overthe country, from entrepreneurs all over the
country that are starting and building theirbusinesses where they're looking for help and maybe
we can help connect you. Whydon't you email tell us at consult at
Executive Leaders Radio dot com. That'sconsult at Executive Leaders Radio dot com.
(33:09):
And perhaps we can connect you tofolks, to entrepreneurs and their team members
all around the country that are lookingfor help. That's consult at Executive Leaders
Radio dot com. We're back.You're listening to Executive Leaders Radio, Real
(33:39):
World Leaders. That's your host,Herb Cohen. Let's get to know Clellen
Green, president of Benapath. Clellenwhat is Benepath? Are you guys doing?
We connect consumers with insurance companies andinsurance ages to find health insurance a
radio. Where you're from originally?How many brothers and sisters? And where
are you in the pecking order?I was in Air Force brats. I
(34:00):
was born in England and I'm theoldest of three. And yeah, we'll
grow up mostly in will grow butafter everywhere else. So you moved around
a lot? And when did youDid you come from a lot of money
when you were a kid or howyoung were you when you started working?
(34:20):
I started working when I was aboutten or eleven years old when I would
start doing snow removal and mowing lawnsfor the neighbors to put a couple of
bucks in the pocket into as wellas paper roots. And you mentioned that
swimming was your best sport. Whywhy was swimming your best sport or why
why did you enjoy that the most? And what's that have to do with
(34:42):
in the president of this organization thathas been a path swimming and swimming you
get, you get the direct responseof the effort that you put in.
If you put in the effort,your time goes down. It's that simple.
And if you need to get yourtime to a certain place, you
know what you've got to put intoit to get to it. So there's
(35:05):
a real here's the effort and here'sthe reward. And there's no question that
having that, it gives you grit, it gives you determination, you've got
to overcome obstacles. There's just alot of hard work and effort that goes
into it. And it's the sameas like track and field. You know,
if you want to go a fasterhundred, you've just got to hit
(35:25):
the track and you've got to workon your speed. You've got to work
the hills, You've got to workon your weights, You've got to do
all those things. And it doesn'tmatter whether you're in the water or land.
You know, you do those things, you're going to get faster.
Nikki. Sure, Colin, youmentioned that what was normal for you was
moving. It was it was normalto move. So tell me how that
(35:47):
has impacted what you're doing today.It just made it normal and something that's
easy for me to do, tojust meet new people on a regular basis.
All still a question do you havefor clllen Green? My question is
if you wasn't, If you weren'twhen nobody and you will buy yourself,
(36:10):
what where would you think you'll be? Right now? If I was by
myself, where would I be?I would be pretty lost? You know,
your whole life is a journey withother people, and it's not a
journey by yourself. And so ifyou're in a journey by yourself, you're
gonna be lost in the wilderness.Go nowhere. If you haven't I been
(36:36):
a peth, what job would youwork for? Well, the job that
you know. My wife thinks I'dbe a great attorney because I can win
a lot of arguments. But Idon't win them at home. What do
you think help do you have ahigher position at your job? What helped
(36:57):
me was was being empathetic, listeningand learning from all of my mistakes.
All Right, you should how muchmoney has a company made in a year?
So we do about twenty million dollarsa year in revenue. It's a
(37:19):
lot of money, Oliver year turns. Did you think your company will make
this this far and have such agood impact old people? Right? I
absolutely did, and you know onthe impact on people, especially the people
inside of this company. I meantonight I'm getting recognized for that. We're
going to the We're one of thefinalists for the Best Places to Work,
(37:40):
So it's something we work really hardon. Amory your turn as a person
in a medical business, how didit feel to save people lives? Well,
we don't save their lives, sowe help them get the insurance so
that their lives can be saved andthey can you know that care can be
paid for, but it you know, it makes me feel good to know
(38:02):
that what we're doing is we're makingit easier for people to find the insurance
that they need. Charles, misterGreen, what were your academics, like
when you were in grade school.Oh, I was actually pretty good academically
in grade school. You know,it got harder for me in junior high.
(38:24):
So when I was in elementary school, it was easy the math and
the reading and everything else. AndI would do my work, you know,
I'd do the homework and I'd handit in and he did his work.
Guys, he did his work.You do the work and you hand
it in, and that's like night. You like, it's like, just
show up. That's ninety percent ofeverything. Just show up. Right when
it got to middle school, gotharder, nicky or so who do you
(38:47):
Who would you say is the biggestinfluence on what you're doing now? Oh?
Biggest influence on what I'm doing rightnow. You know. I have
been spending a lot of time eatingthe stoics because I think there's a lot
that you can learn from them abouttaking personal responsibility and turning it into action
(39:08):
and not worrying about what other people'sopinions are so much, and focusing more
on yourself. Austin, your turnsdo, how do your business life?
Buslet your real life? Just living? Boy? So when I was younger,
Austin, I used to work.You know, there was an old
(39:31):
culture of like I'm going to workseventy hours a week, eighty hours a
week, and I've personally had towork hard on having a much better work
life bounce. So I'm spending timewith my family, with my daughter,
with my son, with my wife, and with my friends. So I'm
that's something that's one of the mostimportant things to me, is making sure
(39:51):
that I'm doing the work that Ineed to do, but putting the work
into my personal relationships as well,because those things are the biggest and most
important things in your life. Truly, did college help you get this far
of being the president of being aI think the college is a very good
(40:12):
thing for the right person. Ithink that I learned a lot and I
learned how to learn in college,and I would recommend it to anyone who
is looking at a career path whereyou really need to go to college.
But I'm open to other alternatives rightnow. Sure, would you expand your
company? Explain it? Expand it? Oh, when I expand it,
(40:38):
we are expanding. I mean,we are one of the fastest growing companies
in the region, and we've beennominated for that and won that award for
like the last five years. Sowe're constantly growing. We're up about thirty
percent this year. Alasia, whenyou first got this position, did you
have confidence? Yes? I shouldn'thave had confidence, but I did.
(41:06):
And I think that that belief inyourself is a really important part of having
success. But you know, yougo back, you look at it and
you're like, I did what?So it's a good question, Aubrey.
How long have you been working atthis job? So? I started this
company fifteen years ago, am Irie, does your job thank you spen a
(41:34):
knowledge? Am? What was that? Does you a job effect you spending
time? Which? M me?Yeah? Does your job affect the time
you spend with your family? Idon't let it anymore. It used to
absolutely Charles. I'll ask you thesame question to ask before, which is
(41:54):
what's the favorite part of your job? What's the favorite part of your job
for your day? The favorite job? And you know, Rob kind of
took my answer before, but thefavorite part of my job and I think
a lot of entrepreneurs share this iswhat is great is working with people and
helping them develop and find who theyare and become something more than what they
(42:20):
started out with. And developing thosecareers and teaching it. Just to me,
that's one of the best rewards outof this position is the impact that
I can have on a lot ofpeople's lives. What's the similarity between being
a father and being the boss.Well, when you're the father, you
(42:42):
can actually make somebody stay in theroom if they, you know, need
to do their homework. When you'rethe boss, you can't make somebody do
anything. So you've got to reallyyou really have to focus on leading people,
not making people. You know,bad bosses are the ones that make
you do things. Good bosses arethe ones that lead you and encourage you
(43:04):
and develop you and so that youwant to do those things and that you're
learning how to sharpen your sword andget better and better and better. Or
as a human, are you thesmartest sky on your team? The smartest
guy? No, I am notthe smartest guy in my team. I
didn't mean to embarrass you by askingyou that. I mean, are you
embarrassed by that question? It's notan embarrassing question. You know, it's
(43:30):
very hard to rank your intelligence versusother people's intelligence, right, because intelligence
comes in a whole bunch of differentways. So Am I the smartest at
certain things? Yes? Am Ithe smartest at other things? Absolutely not.
That's what I needed to know.What's the website addressed for Benepath.
It's Benepath dot net and dot comdot com is for consumers to find insurance
(43:53):
dot net is for agents and insurancecompanies to learn more about our services.
Greenident a Benepath. This is yourhost, Herb Cohen, and today we've
had the opportunity of speaking with ChrisAnnis, CEO of Meridian Bank, Russ
Stark, CEO of Think Company,Rob Gilfillan, president of Senaro, and
Cloen Green, president of Benapath.Don't forget to visit our websites Executive Leaders
(44:17):
Radio dot com. That's Executive LeadersRadio dot com and Real World Leaders dot
org Real World Real World Leaders dotorg in order to learn more about our
executive leaders. Thank you for joiningus today and have a nice day. Bye bye
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