This content was created by Pete Alexander. This content was uploaded by Pete Alexander. This is a podcast episode titled "Episode 68: Winning at Business and Life with Brian Cheripko" (PODCAST, created 2020-06-17). It's a brief interview in the show’s "6 questions in 7 minutes" format, hosted by Professor Pete Alexander with guest Brian Cheripko (president/CEO/owner of Ansell Incorporated, a small defense contracting firm). The conversation covers leadership and business advice—particularly the importance of attitude and aptitude, delegation and hiring strong people, scaling capacity—as well as a personal anecdote about Cheripko’s first job as a licensed apprentice funeral director. The episode includes a referral (COO Geneva Keeton) and closing contact/show promotion details.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where executives and 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.
I'm Brian Cherepko. I'm a president, CEO, and owner of Ansell Incorporated. We're a small defense contracting firm out of San Diego with employees throughout the country.
Brian, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
Um, I get to help in the national defense, contribute to the national defense, and I get to help the warfighters.
That's very patriotic. I love it. Question number 3: I have a book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Attitude and Aptitude.
And you want to expand upon that a bit?
Yeah, well, attitude is, uh, you have to have the right attitude no matter what you're doing. Yeah, it has to be a positive attitude. And the aptitude is you have to know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, you need to learn what you, what you need to be doing. Most people start out as a company subject matter expert in their firm, but they don't necessarily know how to run a business. So they need to learn how to run the business, and then you, you know, go from there.
Absolutely. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder and care for the customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Surround yourself with good people and don't be afraid to give up some of the responsibilities. Because every time that I gave up a responsibility and I hired somebody, the company flourished. And I didn't realize how much I was the, uh, holding us back because I was trying to do everything.
And by delegating the duty, that frees you up for the things that you're good at, and then you hire smart people to handle the other things that you just can't get to.
Exactly. And, you know, over time you migrate to be your number one salesperson, right? Right? You're actually the salesperson or not, you are by, by performing within the company. Now I do multiple roles. Somebody like me, I still do direct customer support because I like doing the technical work. So for me to do direct technical work, I had to give up some of the company work to other people who was more suited to do that. So you can't do both. Or you can, but it's not efficient.
Yeah. And at some point you're just, you're going to reach capacity and you're not going to be able to grow.
Right. And then the hard part is recognizing when you reach capacity. I mean, I work 3,500 hours a year and I still have give up responsibility to a lot of other people. Mm-hmm.
That's very insightful. Thank you. Question number 5. What other executive or business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
My COO Geneva Keeton is a fabulous employee and super smart. She is 100% responsible for a lot of our new growth and our new area of growth. So, to me, she's it.
Wonderful. Thank you for that referral. And question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My first job was a funeral director, licensed apprentice embalmer. And I worked as a licensed apprentice of Balmer Funeral Director all through high school and all through college. So it was very rewarding. It was probably the most rewarding job I ever had. Because when you're helping people at the time, their time of need, there's nothing more rewarding than that.
And I would imagine that it requires a lot of compassion in that kind of work.
It does, and it has to be sincere compassion. So if you're not a compassionate person, you shouldn't be in that industry. I'll give you a— I'll tell you a quick story that has stuck with me my whole life. I was in college and I got a call from a family who wanted me to come back and work their funeral because I had been there through most of the death in their family and they didn't feel comfortable with anybody other than me being there. And so that was the most rewarding call that I think I ever received.
That's just a testament to the great job that you did and something to be very proud about. Yeah, I love that. Brian, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
They can reach us at ansawinc.com. There's a contact us on there, and, or you can send me an email at brian.cherepko@ansawinc.com.
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.
