In this six‑question, seven‑minute interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Randy Niznick, a retired US Navy Seabee who now works in corporate real‑estate facilities engineering for an outsourced service provider. Randy outlines his career path—from a maintenance assistant at a press‑stamping plant where his stepfather taught him to view dirty, hands‑on work as a learning opportunity—to his 23‑year military service and current role supporting community‑focused facilities operations. He discusses how COVID‑19 has reshaped the workplace and emphasizes the importance of staying relevant and maintaining a strong brand, especially through social media and employee perception. Randy recommends the concept of a "Maintaining Relevancy" chapter for business leaders, stresses continuous brand refinement, and highlights the need for both companies and individuals to keep their brand current. He acknowledges podcast pioneer Mike Petruski of the Workplace Innovator Podcast, and shares his preferred professional platform—LinkedIn—while noting limited success on other social networks. Throughout, Randy frames his advice around service to others, adaptability, and holistic system thinking learned from his early hands‑on experiences.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Good afternoon, I'm Randy Nisvik and I'm here in good old Chicago, Illinois. And I'd like to say that I serve people in communities through the sustainable facilities engineering and operations management. I also am a retired US Navy Seabee, which is the naval construction force where I served honorably our country from 1990 2013. So I did 23 years full career. As you can see behind me, my, my shadow box there with, with, uh, with Old Glory. So I currently work for an outsourced service provider in the corporate real estate facility engineering realm.
Randy, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2, what's the best thing about working in your industry?
The dynamics of change, especially with COVID I'm sure you could put 2 and 2 together working in corporate real estate and all that has happening in the COVID world and workplace and what that future of the workplace is going to look like. We are all a little bit in mystery right now of what, what is going to evolve once we get out of this pandemic, but it has definitely been challenging. But more importantly, I always like to say that what really I enjoy about the industry is continuing my service to others and really to communities. So just as I did in the military, I am able to continue my service to others because as, as many know, when you work in facilities, you're supporting other people so they have a proper workplace environment so they can maintain operations and do their job and do it to the best of their ability. Mm.
Uh, wonderfully stated. Thank you. Question number 3, I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I would title the chapter Maintaining Relevancy. I speak a lot about staying current and staying relevant. I talk about it to my teams. I talk about it to my peers. I talk about it to just about everybody I speak to. In today's day and age, it is so, so important of ultra-competitiveness to stay relevant. And what that means in a business sense is really everything that is happening currently, you need to look at your business and where do you stand? Where do you stand and how are you maintaining your relevancy? Because if you don't maintain relevancy, it's going to be tough to stay competitive or at least maintain your competitive edge. And maintaining relevancy goes into everything from D&I support to fully inclusive environments, to— there's just so much that can be put into that word relevancy. So I'll leave it to all those business owners and leaders out there of which way they want to take it.
I love it. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Continuing to refine and hone your brand. In today's day and age of social presence, social media, everybody is gathering information about a company through social media. And the first thing that they are going to see is your brand. The first reflection is going to be the brand. How does your website, you know, the simple things. How does your website look? How easy is it to navigate to find what I want to find out about your company. And then what are people saying about your firm and your organization? It is so vitally important to stay in tap with what is your employees— what are your employees saying about your firm? And if you're the CEO, what are they saying about you and how are you presenting yourself across all of these different social media channels? So developing, refining the brand, which could be changing, um, as the, as the world is changing, uh, the company's brand could be changing as well. So just staying on top of the brand.
Yeah. I, I think as you're saying that, very insightful about the, the brand changing. It's, it's the brand needs to stay relevant, as you mentioned in the previous question, right?
Exactly. Exactly. And it's, it's, yeah, they coincide with one another, staying relevant and maintaining a strong brand. Um, personally and professionally, right? I don't want to gear towards personal, but it's just as important for each individual, regardless of your position in a company, regardless of your work. Everybody needs to maintain their brand and they need to maintain relevancy in today's day and age.
Agreed. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I would like to acknowledge somebody that introduced me to the world of podcasting. Uh, now I've never done a podcast myself, I've always been a guest, but it's Mike Petruski. He is somewhat of an entrepreneur, if you will. So way back quite a few years ago, he started a podcast for facilities management. He saw a need, he saw that there was nobody talking about facilities management in the podcast world. So he started this thing quite a few years ago, and I think I was on episode 30 with his podcast, and now it's evolved. So now it's actually taken on a whole new level, and the podcast now is called Workplace Innovator Podcast. And he is just an amazing, talented individual who's taken this thing to a whole new level. It's great to see.
Wonderful. Well, I'll reach out to him. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6. Please tell me about your first job.
My first job was dirty, dark, sweaty, hot. So I worked as a maintenance assistant in a press stamping tool and die plant out of Ohio. The company is called Dymatic. They're still around today. Um, so the company's called Dymatic, and my stepfather was the, uh, the plant maintenance director. So going back to what I do as a facility, you know, in the facilities engineering world, my stepfather was the one that taught me or planted the foundation in regards to facility engineering. He taught me about high voltage electrical systems and plumbing systems and air compressor systems where we worked at that tool and die plant. But what I remember most was I used to have to do the maintenance on the presses. So I don't know who the audience is, but, you know, some of you may not know, but a press is basically what stamps out from flat steel. It shapes it into something, shapes it into a fuel filter bracket for a car or whatever. These presses are massive. So the biggest one they had when I worked there, I think, was 450 tons. And I used to have to do the preventative maintenance. So I used to have to get up on these presses and scrape all the grease and clean them. And it was just dirty, nasty. But what I loved about what I would— what, what— and I still do this to this day with my teams— is my stepdad would always tell me, when you're up there scraping that grease, Randy, I want you to be looking at the engineering of that thing. I want you to be looking at how all these components work with each other. Just don't get up there and gripe about how smelly sneaky the work is. I want you to think it as a learning opportunity to learn about how these systems work and the interplay of the controls and the electrical and the mechanical. And when he, when he taught me to always look at it that way when I was going to go do the, you know, the not-so-glamorous part of the job of greasing or scraping grease, it really, it really taught me a lot. It was a great life skill that I use even to this day when I, when I have my mechanics going out changing dirty air filters, right? I, you know, it's not the best part of doing air conditioning work, changing dirty air filters or changing belts. But I always tell them, well, when you're there, you know, take a look at the, you know, take a holistic view of that system and really get to know that system and understand how all these parts interplay with one another.
It's a great story. And, and I remember working with a printing press and it was a lot of work. It was really messy. It smelled very badly, but I really got an appreciation for the engineering, as you said. So that, I, I love that That's awesome.
That's awesome. Isn't it cool? Like, a lot of people just don't realize, you know, the mechanical wonders that are before us every single day if you just take a look around. And that's what got me into facilities, right? I, you know, and anybody who looks at architecture of buildings and has a strong fascination with that, I always say, hey, maybe you should look into the facilities profession. You know, just to put a cheap plug out there for facilities management. So, Randy, thank you so much for being on the show.
How could people find you?
I'm really most active on LinkedIn. It's my preferred social media. You know, I've tried the Twitter. I actually tried to— dare I say this word now, it's become an evil word— I actually tried TikTok for a while, but it just never worked for me. And I tried Instagram. Those social media platforms never really worked for me. But what has always worked for me is LinkedIn. So you can find me on LinkedIn. There I have my full first name. So it's Randall. Nisnik. Other than that, you can find me on Facebook. Nothing to hide, nothing to hide there. Other than that, that's about it.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
