In this concise interview, Professor Pete Alexander hosts Nick Dorsey, the regional facilities manager for Carvana’s West Coast and Southeast regions. Nick explains his role overseeing facilities operations and highlights his enthusiasm for building company culture, establishing preventative maintenance systems, and mentoring newer employees. He emphasizes the importance of work‑life balance, urging his team to leave work at the office and prioritize family moments. Nick recommends three fellow leaders—Jordan Mendoza, Curtis Tompkins, and Russ Johns—as valuable podcast guests. His core leadership advice centers on connecting with each team member individually, recognizing diverse emotional needs, and adapting management style accordingly. He shares a formative story about his first job as a Little League umpire, describing how it taught him control, emotional regulation, and conflict navigation. Finally, Nick directs listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn, noting his active presence in Carvana’s networking community.
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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.
Hello, my name is Nick Dorsey, and I'm the regional facilities manager for the West Coast and the Southeast for Carvana.
Nick, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Uh, since I'm new to the industry, the great thing about it is helping the company build culture and develop new preventative maintenance systems and just being a mentor to a lot of the newer employees in the company.
And being a mentor must be a lot of fun, I imagine.
Yes, I really enjoy it. It's, it's great to help people out since People did that for me coming up through the ranks. I just love to give that back.
Love it, love it. Question number 3: I hear from other business leaders that staying in a good work-life balance for them and their team members is a challenge. What are your thoughts?
Um, I believe it is. Um, I preach to my team that, you know, when you go home, forget about work. I know they're going to think about it, but I want them to enjoy their families. I want them, you know, they got young kids and everything, enjoy that. You don't want to miss a lot of the firsts, you know, um, as we're going up through the reins, you know, getting into higher leadership positions. I try to do the same things as much as possible because my, you know, my family's my everything. They're the reason I am where I'm at. So I, I try to concentrate as much as possible, but I tell my team, go home, forget about it. Let me deal with a lot of this stuff.
Love it. It sounds like your priorities are in order.
Yeah. Thank you.
Question number 4: What other successful business leaders like yourself should be on my podcast?
I love Jordan Mendoza. He's one of my buddies. He's a fellow Seahawks fan. He's from Portland, Oregon, but he lives in Atlanta now, so, you know, he'd be great. Curtis Tompkins, he's my man, resume writer out of North Carolina, just a great guy. Job Ready Today does a great job with that. And my favorite Pirate of all, Russ Johns from the Pirate Broadcast. I just outstanding person, huge heart, and just somebody a lot of people really like to look up to and just really like.
Oh, thank you so much for those 3 referrals. I'll reach out to them. Question number 5: What insight or advice would you like to give to other business leaders?
I, I think just find a way to really connect with your team. You know, you can't go by what the book says because everybody has different emotional levels. Everybody you know, views things different. You know, you just have to connect with them on an individual level and know how to deal with them in certain ways. Some people can be dealt with in a harsh way. Some people have to— you have to be more delicate with, you know, learn your people, learn your team, and that will build just a fantastic team.
That's very insightful. Thank you so much. And question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My first job, I was a Little League umpire when I was 15 years old, and I remember my mom driving me all around, you know, dropped me off because, you know, I didn't have my license yet. Just learning to work on my own at that age, you know, being responsible. A lot of these were one-man umpires, you know, because, you know, you're doing the little kids and, you know, you had to have complete control of what was going on. And at that point, it made me feel good because I clicked complete control of adults, you know, of other coaches and everything at the time. They had to listen to me. So it taught me really quick how to control a lot of those things, how to balance out my emotions, how not to get mad. And it was fun and I just loved it. And then as I got older and they couldn't pay me, I'd volunteer to do it. You know, it was, it was a lot of fun. My little league.
So I love that story. So tell me, was, was it more challenging dealing with the parents and the kids?
Oh, yes. I mean, when I was little, the kids didn't know what was going on. As I got up and it got more competitive, I was able to bond with the kids because a lot of them were my age or just a little younger than me, so I understood stuff. The coaches only, the parents and the coaches were just ridiculous. Everybody has the best player in the world, you know, everybody deserves to play more. Nobody's at, it was never strike 3, you know, nobody was ever out at first base. So, you know, it's just, Always fun listening to some of that.
That is. I'm glad that you can laugh about it now. It's great.
Hilarious.
So Nick, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Basically, I'm only on LinkedIn, so come find me. We got a great networking team. It's a lot of fun. We just, we like to help each other out a lot. You know, I like to promote a lot of people when possible. So, you know, just come find us. You'll see me. I'm the one cracking jokes and put little emojis everywhere and enjoying people's posts.
So wonderful. Yeah, it's for my listeners, you're a great connection to have.
So you bet.
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.
