In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Eddie Loussararian, a professor at three universities and a long‑time training director in the flooring industry. Eddie shares his background—teaching management, leadership, hospitality, and overseeing training for 1,200 employees—while highlighting the rewarding aspect of interacting with people at different career stages. He emphasizes the importance of leaving a legacy that touches hearts rather than merely achieving status, a theme he explores in his book chapter on legacy. Eddie advises business leaders to invest in their people through alignment with mission, values, and a robust rewards and recognition program. He recounts his first job as a Pizza Hut restaurant manager, describing the culture shock of applying academic theory to real‑world leadership and the lesson that leadership must be tailored to individuals. Eddie also promotes his two books, “64 Life Hacks for Success” and “When Bosses Go Wild,” and provides contact information via email and LinkedIn.
Chapters
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.
Thank you, Pete Alexander. My name is Eddie Lusararian. I'm a professor in 3 universities. I teach disciplines such as management, leadership, and hospitality. I'm also a director of training for the last 18 years in the flooring industry. So I get an opportunity and a privilege to oversee the training efforts of 1,200 employees and also for some of our biggest customers as well. 3 children ranging in ages from, uh, 8 to 20, and I've been married for 25 years, live in Los Angeles.
Wonderful. Well, Eddie, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
I get an opportunity to interact with some real neat people, people who are at the— at both stages of— or both ends of their careers, people who are just starting out who don't know what they want to achieve in life, and others who have already achieved, you know, a pinnacle of their career. And I get a chance to be something special or provide them a special service in helping them achieve their goals.
I love that, and I can hear the passion in your voice. It's so great. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book. With All the Answers for Business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
The one that talks about leaving a legacy behind. I think it's critically important to leave your name or carve your name on people's hearts rather than on their tombstones. I wrote one chapter of my book, 64 Life Hacks for Success, and dedicated it to leaving a legacy for society. And I think it's critically important to leave your mark on people's hearts because you don't know what they're going through in their day. And you have an opportunity to impress some of your values, some of your experiences, and make their career, their lives positive.
I really like that a lot. And it's an interesting carving in their hearts versus carving it in the tombstone, that the way that, that, that The image that I have in my mind is, is just wonderful. So thank you for sharing that. 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?
Invest in your people. Without your people being motivated, coming to work, and trying to do it better than they did it yesterday, you're not going to move your business forward. Sales, profits, all the other metrics that are measured on a daily basis are important, but the people are what's going to help us get there.
And for you, with a, with a large group that you're supporting, is there anything that in particular that your organization is doing to specifically invest in their people?
Indeed, we are. So values, um, making sure that people are aligned with our mission and vision statement, making sure that people are connected to our culture through rewards and recognition program, by walking around and making sure people are comfortable doing their projects, making sure that they feel really good about the contributions that they're making to the organization, are central to what we do at my company.
Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
You know, Pete, I'm gonna have to get back to you on that one. No one comes to mind right now, but let me give it some thought and I'll give you a name later.
Perfect. And question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.
So my first job was at Pizza Hut. I graduated from college with my undergrad in hospitality management went to work for Pizza Hut as a restaurant manager thinking that I had all the solutions to everyday problems. And my head was this big coming out of college with all the theories. And then I landed in the restaurant and it was a culture shock. It was a come-down-to-earth session trying to get— trying to lead my team through concepts that I learned through the books, but I couldn't translate those concepts into the business itself.
Why?
Because some of those theories were outdated. What works today may not work 20 years ago. What works today may not work 20 years from now. Things are constantly evolving and we have to adjust based on the individuals that we are leading. So, one of the earliest aha moments for me was you have to lead everyone differently. There isn't a cookie-cutter approach to leading this person versus that person. You have a team of 30 people in a restaurant, for example. You have to build relationships with people so that you know what their trigger points are. You know what motivates them. You know what they're dealing with on a personal level so that you can lead them effectively. So that was the greatest springboard for me at an early age, and I think it really catapulted my career into, you know, the dimension that it's in today.
What a great story. And I love the thought that, you know, coming into the restaurant as a fresh graduate thinking, okay, I've got all these, all this theory, all these ideas, but the reality is, is that until you're actually applying it, it's not exactly like the book is gonna show, of course.
Exactly.
Yeah, it's great. So, Eddie, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
Pete Alexander, I am available through my email address, which I posted in the chat window. They can also contact me or message me through LinkedIn. And I published 2 books. If you guys want to check out my books, those, that's in, those are in the chat box as well. 64 Life Hacks for Success is a great inspirational book that will help us through the current season of life. It talks about courage and family and relationships and career. While the When Bosses Go Wild, also available on Amazon, is about building a more cohesive workforce and improving morale in the workplace between supervisors and their employees. So it's big on conflict resolution. It's big on employee engagement. So I hope your audience gives it a try. There's a lot of learning in each of those books.
Perfect. And we have the links to those books there in the comments. So this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
