HR consultant Kevin Rustici argues that kindergarten values like empathy and trust are foundational to leadership. His bartending job taught him to see things from others' perspectives. He's launching HR Evolution to help companies build cultures around personal growth and purpose.
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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 Kevin Rustici. I work as an HR, uh, strategic consultant, and I look to help people, whether it's in business or their own personal lives in any way that I can.
Well, Kevin, 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?
Something that makes me smile is really truly making a difference in someone's day and enabling them to obtain whatever their definition of success is and helping them to identify their strengths and pull out their own leadership capabilities that they may have never known that they actually had.
And that's pretty impactful. I can hear it in your voice. I love it. Question number 3, I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
First, I'm going to say, when can I get my hands on that copy of that book, Professor Pete? But I'm going to go back to, I would like to write the chapter on kindergarten values, right? So, and that opens the doors for empathy, compassion, trust, And really selflessness, I think, at the end of the day, and how we can share and work together and live by that golden rule.
Mm, I love that. And once again, talk about having an impact there, because going back to that kindergarten level, 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?
Business leaders, I think, need to look internally more than they do externally. I think business leaders, we have a tendency to point the finger when things are going wrong, but then we have the same finger pointing back when things are going right. So I think the ability for leadership to really check their ego is really that first step in developing that trust and that proverbial dream scenario of a culture that everybody is seeking to find. So I think when they start to look inward first and find who they are, they're going to unlock their potential potential and passion and really find their purpose. And when that happens, everybody is going to win. So I always say when leadership gets better, I think the community and the business community at large gets better. So that's, that's what I would say to that, Pete.
I love that. And is there any particular way that you have found to get leaders to help them check their egos at the door? Because that's a tall ask in many cases.
It is. And that I get to do that every day. So one of the things that I found is that there's a lot of opinions of what leadership leadership or management is supposed to look like, right? There's countless books, there's countless podcasts, there's countless coaches out there, and they're all having different strategies as to how to become a more effective leader. I think at the end of the day, Professor Pete Alexander, it comes down and really boils down to, again, the individual leader themselves. If they are needing to be told that they need to be a better person, you and I will collect their money all day and just tell them, hey, you need to be a better person. And that's what it really boils down to, in my opinion, is that is unlocking the true potential of leadership and the ability to conquer your fear and stepping outside your comfort zone is the best way to really truly find who you are as a person. And once you find who you are as a person, you're no longer acting and you can be transparent and build trust and empathy and really, again, lead your company forward, not only for how you got successful today, but it's going to carry you forward on how you're going to define success for tomorrow.
Very wise. Thank you so much for that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Business leaders, that's a good question. Um, some people that I have found, um, very insightful, I would have to say my friend Dr. Nick Molinaro. I think leadership again has had a lot of different opinions, but when we can start to apply data, we get to challenge some of those emotions. And data I found has brought transparency and Honesty. Um, and Dr. Nick focuses on the mind of great leadership. And once we can understand how we were making decisions in everyday scenarios under stress, we can unlock our true potential as well as the business's potential, because we have identified how we're making those individual-based decisions. So Dr. Nick would be a future fantastic guest on your show, Professor Pete.
Thank you for that referral. I look forward to connecting with him. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
First job is probably why I'm so passionate about what I do in the HR community, because I think we can change the world through better HR and improve the business or the outcomes and definitions of success of our employees. When we take care of our people, they take care of our profits. And when we truly teach them as an asset— and my first job, which really allowed me the opportunity to see this full picture, was bartending. It allows us the opportunity to see all different types and walks of life, right? We got to see the people that came in with the ego, the business owners who had— was complaining about the same problems as the alcoholic at the other end of the bar that had been there since 1 o'clock, right? And it allowed me to see that we're all the same. We all have the same challenges and we all have the same problems, but we all have different definitions of success and what we want out of life. And I think leadership, that's really taught me a lot about leadership, to have the ability to put myself in somebody else's shoes. And I effectively touched on it earlier. I live my life by the golden rule. And that's why I think people are attracted. And I think that you and I are then focused on the positive side of things. We're optimists rather than pessimists and let that drag us down. So I would say my first job as a bartender, being able to relate to everybody is really where I have found my foundation when I'm kind of focusing and looking for grounding in my own way. So this has been a blast though, Professor Pete.
Well, it's a great story that you share about bartending, and I especially like the, uh, the, the comment about the, uh, the positivity, because, uh, you know, as you, you, you alluded to, you know, when you send out that positive energy to the universe, you're going to attract that back. And what people don't, don't often remember is that it also works with the negative energy. When you send out that negative energy, you're going to attract that negative energy back. So wonderful, wonderful story. Thank you so much, Kevin, and thank you for being on the show. How can people find you?
So, they can find me on LinkedIn. I'm starting up a new endeavor to really help chase that passion project. So, it's called the HR Evolution. So, www.hrevolutionary.com is how you can find me. But look for me on LinkedIn. I just spell my name a little funky. It's just K-E-V-Y-N. So, but Professor Pete, it's been a pleasure. I am so happy to have this opportunity to speak to your audience and just learn from you today as well.
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.
