In this concise "6 questions in 7 minutes" interview, Professor Pete Alexander chats with Rudy Ramirez, an employee benefits broker who designs comprehensive benefit packages for midsize companies (500‑5,000 employees). Rudy explains his role, shares a humorous anecdote about being asked medical advice by employees, and emphasizes the importance of leader temperament and poise as a vital chapter for any organization. He advocates for transparency during employee downsizing, citing his PhD research that links openness to higher engagement and better financial outcomes. Rudy also recounts his first job working in a high‑school cafeteria, highlighting lessons about humility and the value of earning money. The episode closes with a call‑to‑action, directing listeners to connect with Rudy via LinkedIn for benefits consulting.
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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.
My name is Rudy Ramirez. I am an employee benefits broker. What that means is I curate and put together best-in-class benefit packages for midsize companies. And midsize means anywhere from 500 to 5,000. And in terms of benefits, I work on everything from medical, dental, and vision all the way to pet insurance.
Well, Rudy, it's a pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Um, well, I, I always say that I'm a benefits broker, I'm not a doctor. And so I've noticed that as I am I've gotten more familiar with my clients' employees. They've come to trust me more and more each year. And so there's come points when they actually come up to me with their ailments and straight up be like, so should I go to the doctor for this? Is this something that should be covered? And I'm like, whoa, I'm gonna let you talk to your doctor about that. So reminder, I'm benefits broker, not doctor, but can help you connect the dots.
And have that sign, "The doctor is not in." That's not me. Love it. Great story. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I definitely think that Temperament and Poise is very important, especially nowadays with all that we've been through with COVID Our leaders are people that we look up to. And so, like my wife always says, happiness is a choice. And so when we see people that are happy, it's like that infectious smile, right? You see someone smile, you smile back. It's very similar with our leaders. If we see our leaders and they're happy and they're pushing through even in the worst of times, we're going to try and do the same. And I've had both spectrums where I've had a leader that wasn't like that, and you feel it personally, you feel emotionally. We're human beings, right? And so we want to be able to see those mirrors of ourselves, and they're definitely a reflection of who we want to be. And that's That's a good leader.
Very insightful. I completely agree with you from both of the real positive leaders and the ones that just bring you down. So a great insight there. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice would you give to other business leaders?
Transparency. So I, I did my PhD work on the effects of employee downsizing. And we are very familiar with the amount of companies that have had to downsize over these last couple of years due to everything and anything that we've been through. And what research showed was that when a, when a leader is transparent, there is actually better employee engagement than should a per— should a leader just not say anything and try to sweep it under the rug and not bring it to the table. So the more transparent that leaders are, we actually see an increase in engagement, which actually means better financial outcomes to companies in the long run. If you think about it, you have an employee downsizing, things happen, person's scared. Am I next? And so they're thinking about that. They might not be as engaged. Shoot, they might use the time to look for a job while they're on the clock, right? But when we have transparent leaders that talk to us and are honest and show us what is real, we're more inclined to have that trust. And then we have that intrinsic value of wanting to do better for the company because it meets our own moral alignments. Very important.
Mm-hmm, extremely. And I completely agree. In fact, I read a book recently from Stephen M.R. Covey that talked about the speed of trust. And in the book, he talks about the importance of transparency and how it relates to trust as well. So you're spot on. Great, great insight. Question number 5, what other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Well, I know a number of experts. I call them subject matter experts in other fields. So I'm going to get back to you on that. I'm going to think about the best, and I'm going to find somebody here that can sparkle better than myself.
Well, you're setting a high bar, so I'm not sure about that. But I appreciate reaching out to me once you have that person in mind. Question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My first job was actually working in a cafeteria, and I worked in a cafeteria in high school with the hairnet and all. And, you know, really what I had to learn was I had to swallow my pride because in high school, it's still high school. So of course I got made fun of, you know, when they came up and I'm selling them the food, the hot food in the cafeteria, and it taught brought me to when I went back into the real world of my high school and they were making fun of me, I was able to say, "Well, I'm making some money and I can pay for this, this or that." And it kind of changed the game and the way people thought about stuff. So, from very early on, I had to just learn to swallow any pride because it's money in your pocket at the end of the day, right?
Absolutely. And having the money in your pocket overcomes the hairnet issue, I imagine, right?
Yeah, yeah, you can afford a better shampoo, right?
There you go, they're looking for the silver lining. It's a great story, Rudy. So thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
Um, you can actually find me on my LinkedIn. Um, I believe that you could probably help me out by sending over the link. Um, and then of course, if you have any questions in terms of employee benefits, global consulting, Happy to help. Happy to be there. Happy to be a resource to yourself and anybody else.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Get hundreds of amazing business insights from previous guest episodes on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.
