Chad Silverstein describes how his spiritual journey, including returning from Israel and adopting Jewish practices like wearing a yarmulke and observing Sabbath, reshaped his identity and leadership. He talks about the fear of others' reactions, committing to authenticity, and how his faith changed his workplace decisions, including not working Saturdays.
Who am I scared of? Why am I taking this thing off? Like, in Israel, I was walking around proud as can be, whatever, and I answered the question. I was scared of my family, my friends, what they were going to think. I do care what people think. I just don't care that much. I'm not going to change who I am because of him or her. When I walked in my office, my employee walked right next to me. He goes, what took you so long?
I've gotten to know you quite well since we first met, and I know that you've been on a special spiritual journey. I know that at the beginning of your life and growing up, that religion wasn't a big part of your life and that you've established now a discipline, and that it has become a very big part of your life. So I'm curious to know how much did the stuff that you were learning in your own personal spiritual journey influence what you were doing at work.
So I'll tell you what happened. When I started with Built Lead, you sit down with this executive builder and he asks you the hard questions about life and growing up Jewish and not having any religion in my background, and I really didn't know anything. I had to answer those questions for myself. And when my kids were born, something happened in me and I went searching, and that changed everything for me, and it became my real identity. So when I first started off as a wrestler, that identified myself as an athlete. But then I stopped wrestling and I stopped coaching, and then I became an entrepreneur and a leader. But that can end like that. If you don't have a team and you're not leading anyone, that's not who you are. So my spiritual journey for me, for me, it really became my identity and who I am. And I started down that path, and I'm who I am. I know who I am. I know what I believe. I don't push it on anyone else, but I'm very observant, and it guides every single aspect of my life. Everything. And when I started wearing a yarmulke on my head when I came back from Israel, just to tell you what kind of a culture I built, when I walked into my office, I came back from Israel, I usually take my yamula off, I kiss it, I put it in my glove box, and I said, who am I scared of? Why am I taking this thing off? Like, in Israel, I was walking around proud as can be, whatever. And I answered the question. I was scared of my family, my friends, what they were going to think. See many People wearing yarmulke. You know what I mean? When I walked in my office, my. My employee, first person walked right next to me. He goes, what took you so long, really? And I was shocked. I was like, wow. Like. But they knew me, and I let them into my world, right? So they had been building with me and practicing, and they. We've had these conversations where my family wasn't really like that. I think most people catastrophize things in their head. It seems like it's gonna be a lot worse than it actually is. But I worked so hard on myself that I just had to get really comfortable with who I was. And I kind of live by this motto that I used to hear my coach say all the time, which is, you know, I do care what people think. I just don't care that much. I'm not going to change who I am because of him or her. And it took me a long time to get to that point, but I definitely feel like I'm comfortable with who I am. And it's okay if you don't like me. I can't get everyone to like me. I'm just trying to build a deep relationship with a few, and thank God I have that. Most people can't say that, and I continue to develop that with other people. I either attract people into my life or I detract people, but that's no different than anyone else. Do you ever, you know, if you've ever been in an interview, there's this vibe you get from people when they walk in your office. You can't explain it. Sometimes it's a good vibe. Sometimes it's. You know, it's just. It's human nature. We judge people. It's who I am. And, you know, I don't apologize for it. And hopefully it makes other people's lives better than I'm around. And, you know, people have the choice of whether they want to be connected to me or not. And that's cool, you know, I have the same choice to be connected to them or not. I can't separate it anymore. The hard decisions I had to make about not working on the Sabbath. I used to work every Saturday. I started keeping kosher. There's no kosher restaurants in Columbus. So when everyone was eating lunch at my office and I was buying it for them, I wasn't eating it, thank God. I've had a lot of people around me to support me and make me feel comfortable and not make me uncomfortable and not feel uncomfortable being around me. I think that says something about the culture, because that can definitely make people feel uncomfortable when people become spiritually connected.
