In this episode of the Winning at Business and Life podcast, Professor Pete Alexander interviews entrepreneur Adam Mendler in a rapid‑fire "6 questions in 7 minutes" format. Mendler introduces himself as the founder of the Veloz Group, which operates three distinct businesses: Beverly Hills Chairs (refurbished premium office chairs), Custom Tobacco (customizable private‑label cigars), and Veloce Solutions (software development). He also hosts the 30 Minute Mentors podcast where he interviews top leaders. Throughout the conversation, Mendler emphasizes three core themes: (1) the importance of doing work you love, are good at, and that positively impacts others; (2) the critical role of leadership in any organization and the need for continuous learning about it; (3) a strategic approach to personal strengths—focus on what you excel at and hire people who are better in the areas where you are weaker. He shares a formative experience from his first job at the hedge fund D.E. Shaw, highlighting the humility of starting at the bottom and adopting a learning mindset. The interview concludes with Mendler providing his website, social media handles, and podcast URLs for listeners to connect with him.
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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.
Pete, just to be very clear, I have all the time in the world for you and for your listeners, so I just wanted to on the record, make that as clear as possible. I'm Adam Mendler. I run the Veloz Group. We have 3 different businesses in 3 different industries. We're the leading sellers of refurbished brand name chairs in the country. That business is called Beverly Hills Chairs. We have a cigar company called Custom Tobacco. You can go to customtobacco.com and create your own fully customized private label cigars in real time. We also have a software development company called Veloce Solutions. I also do a lot of writing and speaking on leadership, on entrepreneurship, on business, on management. I have a podcast called 30 Minute Mentors. You can see my background for those of you that are watching the video version of this, where I go one-on-one every week with one of America's top leaders, leading CEOs, founders, celebrities, athletes, generals, admirals, on how they got to the top and more importantly on how listeners can get to the top as well. So definitely stay busy, but stay busy with things that I love. And that's what this is all about, right?
It absolutely is, Adam. I can't tell you how happy I am that you're on the show, and I really appreciate your offer with the listeners to spend more than the 7 minutes that, that the show usually goes. So I really appreciate that. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in one or all of your industries?
The best thing is just doing what you love. I think that anyone out there tuning in, there's a message that I try to convey to audiences that I speak to often when I'm hired as a speaker. I give a lot of talks to different businesses, to universities, professor, Pete, maybe I'll come in and talk to one of your classes one of these days when social distancing ends. And a message that I really try to convey is if you find something that you love, if you find something that you're good at, and if you find something that can make a positive impact in the lives of others, you know you found it. Just keep doing it. You're there. So for me, that's this, and I just love doing it.
Oh, I love that. I can, I can feel the passion in your words. It's so great. Question number 3: I have a book with all the answers for business. One chapter— all the answers, every answer. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I think every company should do a lot of reading and a lot of listening and a lot of learning on the topic of leadership. I personally put out a lot of content on leadership. My show, 30 Minute Mentors, features America's top leaders, and a lot of my guests put out a lot of content on leadership. And I think that leadership is critical, not only because leaders need to become as effective at leading as possible, But it's critical because leadership impacts every single stakeholder in your organization, your employees, your customers. Every person is impacted by positive leadership or negative leadership. So that's a chapter that you can't skip over.
I couldn't agree with you more. And, and this podcast is about leadership as well, so you're, you're hitting right on the, the nail on the head. So 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?
I was about to say work harder, care for others, but I guess I'm gonna have to go with something different. I think it's really important to surround yourself with people who are better than you, who are smarter than you, who are more capable than you, particularly in all of the areas that you yourself do not excel in. So along these lines, you need to take a step back and figure out what it is that you're really, really good at and try to focus as much of your time on that. And once you do that, you can more easily figure out what it is that you need to hire other people to do, which ideally is everything else. It's really important for leaders to have a strong sense of who they are and a strong sense of the importance of surrounding themselves with people who can contribute way more to the organization than, than they can.
And if you focus on what you're good at and hire people to do all the other things, that frees you up to really do the, the most important thinking, etc., if I'm getting your drift?
It frees you up to do whatever it is that you're best at. So if your job is to be the strategic thinker, if that's what you're best at, if you're the best idea generator in the business and that's how you should be spending your time, great.
Mm-hmm.
If you're the best business development person in the business, spend your time on that. If you're the face of the company and you should be spending your time doing media and getting out on television, and do that. I just think it's really important to identify what it is that you should be doing with your time and what you shouldn't be doing with your time. And too often people in positions of authority try to do everything, and that doesn't serve anyone well.
Absolutely. That's very insightful and so on point. Uh, thank you for that. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
It's a tough one because, Pete Alexander, I'm having a great experience on your podcast. I think every business leader should be on your podcast, so I don't know where to start and I don't know where to end. I would just say anyone listening, this is a fun experience. So if you think that you have a perspective to share, share it, share it with Professor Pete Alexander, because I'm a big believer that if you have a perspective that the audience, that any audience can benefit from, go out there and share it. We could all use as much good information as possible.
Yeah, thank you for that, because that's one of the things when we're able to share our ideas, especially from different industries, it really is helpful because you can apply certain ideas to your industry and be more successful.
Very true.
Yeah. And question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
My first job. So my first job out of college was with a company called D.E. Shaw. DE Shaw is, or at least was when I worked there, the largest hedge fund in the world. And DE Shaw is based in New York, right in Times Square, which is an interesting location. I'm an LA native, so it was my first time living outside of LA. I went to college at USC, which is in LA. And it was actually really my only time living outside of LA because After my 2.5 years at DE Shaw, I moved back here and got my MBA at UCLA and have stayed in sunny Southern California. Why leave? And DE Shaw was a really interesting experience for me. I think that among the many, many lessons learned and takeaways is that you never start at the top. I graduated college feeling really good about myself. I was at the top of my class academically. I was at the top of my class in many ways. And when you enter the workforce, you're at the bottom. You're the bottom guy on the totem pole. And I don't think many people realize just how tough a first job can be until they have it. And it's a message that I give to a lot of people who I mentor formally or informally. I have had a lot of interns over the years. There are a lot of people who reach out to me for advice, and a message that I try to convey is your first job is probably going to be pretty rough. Go in with the mindset that you're here to learn, you're here to go in to it for the experience and just kind of take it, accept it, and you'll be all the better for it.
That's very insightful because so too many people think that, oh, they need to, to have their dream job to start. And no, you got to work to get to that, and you have to really get that experience. So I'm glad that you're, you're sharing that with our, our listeners because it is really, really important. So thank you for that.
I wish the 21-year-old version of Adam had the knowledge that the older version of Adam has, but life doesn't work that way. And all I can really do is try to share the insights that I've gained through my experience leading, through my experience interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders. And I try to do that to the extent I can.
That's awesome. Thank you so much, Adam. And thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
I try to make it really easy, Pete, and thank you again for having me. Really enjoyed it. It's just my name, Adam Mendler, so you can find me on my website at adamendler.com. You can find me on social media @adamendler on Instagram, @adamendler on Twitter. You can find my podcast, 30 Minute Mentors, all spelled out, 30minute-mentors.com. You could also find it on your favorite podcasting platform. So whatever app you're listening to this great podcast on, if you're listening to it on a podcasting app— iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, you name it— and I hope you enjoy as much as I've enjoyed this experience hanging out with you, Pete.
Perfect. Thank you for the kind words, Adam. 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.
