Adam Parks (00:08)
Hello everybody, Adam Parks here with an extra special episode of Receivables podcast. Today I'm here with my longtime friend and frequent guest. want to say he's been on with us to talk a few different times, but on our last discussion, Jeremiah Wheeler here was telling me all about the book that he was writing, The Unlikely Executive. And since our last interview, I had an opportunity to get a copy of the book, read through it, and really excited to talk about what I learned and what the experience was like for Jeremiah. So Jeremiah, thank you so much for coming on today. I really do appreciate your time and your insights.
Jeremiah Wheeler (00:43)
Hey Adam, thanks for having me on. I appreciate the invite and look forward to chatting a little bit more about the Unlikely Executive.
Adam Parks (00:51)
Well, greatly appreciate it. for anyone who has not been as lucky as me to get to know you personally through the years, can you tell everyone a little about yourself and how you got to the seat that you're in today? I mean, for those that haven't read the book yet.
Jeremiah Wheeler (01:02)
Yeah, sure. Yeah, the book will lay it out there for you for sure So just from a professional career standpoint, I started in I was always in the sales industry whether I was selling motorcycles as a teenager And then I worked for an outside distributor for a while selling products and services to motorcycle dealerships and then transferred in the car dealership side and out of that into the repossession industry in 2006 and have been involved with in the industry, data and analytics and in the repossession side of the business for since 2006 and very much involved from serving on committees and volunteering for, you know, conferences and things of that nature's and, you know, grew one data and analytics company and sold it to a large Fortune 500 company and then have acquired a few other companies since then and lead about 425 people and a huge chunk of revenue and responsibility. that's been my journey. I know it's very, very high level, but it's been a 20 plus year career in some form of sales and running the roads a lot.
Adam Parks (02:23)
Well, and I think that's an interesting part of the discussion because as I read your book, I did it with my daughter strapped to my chest wandering around my home and just kind of seeing the experience from your perspective of kind of growing a family, growing a business and all of those things. But what really came true for me or where I really was able to relate was all of the storylines related to being a road warrior. And as much of a road warrior as maybe I've thought that I am through the years, it's nothing in comparison to the amount of time that you spent driving back and forth, traveling, not just the conferences, but even just day-to-day work remote from where you lived. And I can only imagine the kind of stress that that would add to it. So I do wanna come back and talk about the road warrior aspect of this because for me, that's where I really related to it.
But before we get into that, I'd like to ask you kind of the first question of what brought you the motivation to start this process? This is not an easy task to write a book, to publish the book, to go through all of this and to share and be that vulnerable yourself. What was your motivation to doing this project?
Jeremiah Wheeler (03:35)
Well, I think there were a few points of motivation that I kind of focus on. one is throughout my professional career, I would say in the last, you know, 10 years or so, I had a lot of people ask me, so tell me about yourself and where did you grow up and what did you do? And, you kind of, we all have this high level boilerplate story, right? This is, this is my history and this is where I came from. This is where I lived when I was a kid. And I tell my story and people were like, wow, that's a pretty unique story, very fascinating. That would make for a really good book. And so I heard that a few times. then going through the years of struggle and addiction and then getting sober and working through you know, all of our hurts, habits and hangups that I talk about, you know, and, and then telling my story with that added on, it made it even more unique and not just unique, but also inspiring. ⁓ and people told me over and over, you really need to put this into a story, ⁓ or at least talk to, you know, talk publicly about your story because you know,
Adam Parks (04:38)
It made it even more unique. And not just unique, but also inspiring. And people told me over and over, you really put this into a store. Or at least.
Jeremiah Wheeler (04:54)
It resonates with so many people. And, you know, we think that we're all in these little silos in that we're so different. And the reality is, is we're not really that different. A lot of people's stories go down similar paths and they have similar upbringings and they have parents that struggle with alcohol and drug addiction or a relative at least everyone has, you know, one or two in their family that has struggled with addiction. So. When I tell my story and I talk about that redemptive side of sobriety and all the things that I found on the other side, so to speak, everyone's like, you need to write a book. You need to write a book. And so I started my MBA program, decided to go back to school and start that in August of 2023. And then not long after that decided, Hey, this is a perfect time to write a book.
Adam Parks (05:39)
So I started my MBA program, decided to go back to school and start that August 2023. And then not long after that, I decided, this is the perfect
Jeremiah Wheeler (05:53)
in the middle of that program. So it was not, not really right, not very good timing at all, but I felt like it was time and it was, you either pull the trigger now and jump in with both feet or you will come up with a reason why you don't want to do it in the future. And so that's what I did. Just pull the trigger and jumped in.
Adam Parks (05:55)
Sure, you felt like you didn't have enough to do. So as you're in your current part of your life journey, you're writing this book and you're getting an MBA simultaneously, which is no easy feat. What leadership and kind of management lessons have you derived from that personal journey and story that you documented in the book that you're now applying today in the way that you manage the 400 plus people that report up to you?
Jeremiah Wheeler (06:41)
Well, there's a couple of pieces for, you know, I'll start in current day and then kind of work my way backwards. But the current day piece is in the journey of sobriety that I've been on for almost seven years. It'll actually be seven years this month, September 12th. In that journey, I think the biggest lesson in leadership that I learned was accountability and authenticity.
Trust and gratitude. It's like we have to wake up with the right attitude of gratitude to determine our altitude. And so every day when you wake up, you have to be positive. You have to be appreciative. You have to be grateful for where you are, what you're doing, what you have the opportunity to do, no matter what's going on, whether it's good, bad or indifferent. You're here. You're breathing. You have family I hope and you have you know your health and you know everything you just got to find those positive pieces and so through that journey that those are like really key leadership points that I focus in on and then I try to emulate that to the people and I try to lead by example and I know that throughout our careers as professionals we we see we hear we read a lot about inspiring people that we think are, you know, the best CEOs, the best leadership lessons, know, John Maxwell and all the other leadership books that we've read over the years. And we try to find the pieces, right? That, we want to emulate. It's like, how can I be a good leader? Let me go read this leadership book. At the end of the day, it's, it's the golden rule. Treat others how you want to be treated. And then
Adam Parks (08:22)
you
Jeremiah Wheeler (08:32)
and then lead through action and be intentional. And back to my childhood, when I was a late teenager working in the motorcycle industry, which I described, I talk a lot about in the book, my boss and the owner of the dealership was named Robert Morris. And he was a huge mentor in my life when I didn't have a father in my life. I had one, he was just not present.
And he was not a leader. was not someone that I looked up to, that I could look up to because he wasn't there. And so I didn't appreciate it then. I absolutely appreciate it now. And I look back on it and I think back on it and I try to remember all the, you know, those conversations. I try to remember all the times that we were together, that we were talking about.
Adam Parks (09:16)
that we were talking about. The journey of life, the journey of leadership, of politics and economics and all the things that we talked about. did, and I mean, had high school education.
Jeremiah Wheeler (09:20)
the journey of life, the journey of leadership, of politics and economics and all the things that he taught me when I didn't, you know, I didn't have a high school education. I didn't have a high school diploma, no undergrad degree, you know, I didn't go to college until later in life. And so that leadership of him being in a motorcycle dealership and smiling from ear to ear all day and him. You know, loving to see people come in the door and happy that they were there and he loved motorcycles. He loved people and he, loved just being there. And I realized that it's like not some secret that you're going to read in a book that teaches you how to be a good leader. It's just lead through action and intentionality. Be intentional when you wake up, be intentional when you communicate with people, be intentional, how you love be intentional that you're present with your family when you're face to face. You know, all of those things matter in the, they show people the leadership and action. So it's not something you're, you're, you're not going to feel different about it, right? If you practice that process over and over and every day you're just leading like I'm intentionally leading. I think people will see you as a good leader and they will kind of gravitate towards that.
Those are some of the things that I talk about really later in the book and talking about leadership skills and the things that I learned and stuff that I took away. And a lot of it for me was more than just presence in action. was a lot of it was emotional. It was a learning experience for me because of what I've been through and the struggles that I had and, you know, not having a not having the self-worth. You know, I think when people, especially men, up without fathers in their homes, they're always looking for that good job. You did a good job. you're doing a great job. And so that can lead into becoming a people pleaser, which I think we talked about on our last podcast. So you have to just pay attention to those things and then...
Adam Parks (11:11)
you
Jeremiah Wheeler (11:36)
you know, when you make that turn, that's what I struggled with was getting out of my own way and getting across the other side and then leading by example.
Adam Parks (11:47)
Well, it sounds like from, you know, from the beginning of your career in the repossession space, you were spending a significant amount of time on the road, whether that was with conferences or even through just working in a different city from which you lived. You know, for for some of us, you know, I was home 12 weeks last year, and I'm fortunate enough that my wife was traveling with me for most of that. But what kind of advice do you have for those people that are currently living on the road that that road warrior mentality I think wears down on people and there's certain coping mechanisms which you describe in the book that some people turn to in order to in order to be able to continue forward with that lifestyle. Any advice for those road warriors?
Jeremiah Wheeler (12:33)
think the biggest piece of advice I would say would be try to be home as much as you possibly can. Don't make up reasons to stay on the road or take an additional meeting or stay another night because everyone's going out to a place that you've never been. Don't have FOMO on that side. Have it on the other side and really focus on that. I took a lot of stuff for granted. I took a lot of time for granted. I missed a lot of firsts.
Jeremiah Wheeler (13:04)
for my kids, my two daughters. And I can't tell you how many first days of school that I missed year after year, because we had an event that would fall on that same week every single year. And I had to be at that event. It was an important event. At the end of the day, I could have avoided that event. I could have missed that event. I could have sent other people to that event.
You know, when I think back on that, those critical moments in your life, when you have to make that decision, there's no job, there's no title, there's no amount of money that matters more than your family and the relationship that you have with them and the time that you're able to spend with them. We only get so many days on this earth. And so I just say stop, think and act and put yourself in their shoes. Make sure you're home. Try to be home as much as you can. You're going to have to be on the road. You're going to have to travel. Some people it's required travel 75 % of the time, but every moment that you can be at home, absolutely be at home and then be be aware that those. What I consider in, I think I even talked about it the book was a kind of that alternate.
Second life personality that you develop being on the road and being gone and being on all the time. I have to be on right. I'm on my game. I'm on I'm selling. I'm talking to people networking. I'm drinking. I'm eating. I'm just, you know, doing all these cyclical things that you just get in this habit of and you're wearing yourself down and you're running as hard as you can. then when you get home, you're a shell. You're
Jeremiah Wheeler (14:58)
What my wife used to tell me, she said, those people out there, they get the best of you and we get the leftovers. And it would have taken a few small things for me now that I'm in the position that I am and I, I, and I'm on the other side of it. I could have gotten better sleep. I could have exercised a little bit more to keep my.
Jeremiah Wheeler (15:26)
Body in good shape and my mind in good shape could have not partaken in in the the alcohol consumption and the overeating and the lack of activity And I could have made sure that I booked the earliest possible flight back home or driven home a day earlier driven home on time and Been there and made damn sure that I was there on the times that I should have been there instead lack of sleep because I was too busy focused on pleasing everybody else and overworking myself to where I was worn out, no energy, you know, then you're grumpy, then you're moody, then nobody gets along with you, then it just snowballs into this nasty existence that then turns this, you have this separation of connection at home and it may exist.
Adam Parks (16:13)
terms of, you have this separation of connection at home. And it may exist in this slither and it grows bigger and bigger and maybe five years from now, they don't know you.
Jeremiah Wheeler (16:21)
you know, in this slither and then it grows and it gets bigger and bigger. And it may be five years from now, you realize that they don't know you and you really don't know them. you feel like you're a stranger in your own home sometimes. And, and so I would say just be aware and recognize those things. And if someone in your family comes to you and says, Hey, can you, like, could you be home a little bit more? Or could you be in a better mood when you're home? mean, like, Don't take those things as criticism and then lash out in defense and end up in this big fight and argument where we're pointing fingers at each other. Take it, internalize it, look in the mirror and fix it. Just intentional action. Don't take offense to it. Fix it. If you didn't love them and they didn't love you, then they wouldn't be trying to save you from yourself and they wouldn't be trying to make their environment better.
Adam Parks (16:54)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremiah Wheeler (17:19)
with you in it. So appreciate the criticism, appreciate the opportunity to change. And I take that every day in work, in every situation that I have to deal with, no matter how bad, how nasty, how, you know, legal situations, all the things that happened in our business. I take every one of them, I look at it, I look at it, I take it in, I look in the mirror, I say, How can I create an opportunity out of this situation? This is an opportunity for me to learn, for them to learn, for me to get better, for me to exercise through this process and me to solve a problem and come up with a solution. It's always an opportunity, period. Every opportunity that you have to teach your team or to solve a problem. That's the way we have to look at them. And so it just kind of leads one thing into another, but the road warrior thing is tough. I'm not saying, you know, it's easy. know it's not easy. I did it for many, many, many, many years. I lived away from home five days a week for seven and a half years. I was only home on the weekends and some weekends I wasn't home, but, it's, it's definitely not easy, but I would say. I'm always available to help people, answer questions, walk through scenarios, talk about, you know, talk about how you're feeling. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable. It's okay.
Adam Parks (18:45)
So how do you empower those people around you? You've got a team of people and as you've spent less time on the road over the last couple of years and really tried to focus the time and energy to maximum value, how are you empowering those that you're leading to put them in a position for the type of success that you're talking
Jeremiah Wheeler (19:07)
Number one, think one way that you force yourself to focus on that, like actually projecting your skills, your leadership, your knowledge and everything onto other people around you and then pulling them along up the hill with you is form a succession plan and have multiple layers in that succession plan. It forces you to look at the world totally different.
It forces you to look at your people totally different. You're able to put yourself in their shoes and say, is this person capable of taking my job if I get hit by a bus? And it's our duty and our responsibility to make sure that we have successors lined up. Like, and when you look at your successors, say, Have I taught them everything that I know? And do I feel comfortable with them leading the organization and making all the decisions? And they don't have to make them exactly like you do, which is, I mean, I don't know what I'm doing sometimes. I mean, that's why I have really smart people that work for me and with me. I would just say, you know, the leadership things that we teach people and how we tote them along on the journey is,
Adam Parks (20:16)
you
Jeremiah Wheeler (20:26)
Is I communicate with them. I let them know that I trust their decisions. I also say in a room full of my direct reports and maybe even a level down from that. I'm never afraid to say, hold on. I have no idea what you're talking about. Like, I don't, don't know that system or I don't know that process. I never want to be the smartest person in the room. And I say that pretty often.
Jeremiah Wheeler (20:53)
I want to empower them to be the professionals that we hired them to be. want to trust that they have all of the skills to do the job we hired them to do. And I want to build them up from there. And I think it starts with a layer of trust. It's like, I want to trust you. I want you to trust me. I want you to give me open and honest, candid feedback, very candid feedback. When you think that I've done something wrong or I've responded a certain way, that
Jeremiah Wheeler (21:22)
you didn't think was appropriate professional or like a leader should respond. want you to say, hey, you kind of had an attitude back there. And I want to be able to stop myself, look in the mirror and put myself in that person's shoes and say, you're absolutely right. did. And I apologize for it. I'm never ever afraid to apologize. I'm never afraid to stop dead in my tracks, look in the mirror and be accountable for my actions, my reactions and the way that I treat other people. And so I think there again, goes back to leading by example and like being very intentional. And I had the conversations with, with people and I try my best to be present and I try my best to listen and be very intentional and also be very empathetic people. mean, we all go through problems. all have problems in our personal lives.
Some people just can't catch a break to save their life in terms of their personal life is always something else popping up. I want to give people at all levels of the company, no matter where they are, I want to give them an opportunity to stop, have a conversation with me, sit down one-on-one, tell me what you're going through. Tell me how you're feeling. What can I do to help you? If there's anything that I can do, because I have been through a lot in my life and in my career and
Adam Parks (22:24)
I want to give people at all levels of company, no matter where they are, I want to give them an opportunity to stop, a conversation, and maybe sit down one-on-one.
Jeremiah Wheeler (22:46)
I've been very fortunate to climb some ladder of success and I want to give that away. I want to give it away as much and as often as I can without being so focused on that that I then forget about my family at home. You know what I mean? I I have an addictive personality. I can get addicted to a lot of things and so I have to be very cautious of what I allow myself to spend my time on.
Jeremiah Wheeler (23:13)
and how much time I'm allowing to be spent there. And so that's what I have to be cognizant of.
Adam Parks (23:18)
You know, accountability is a recurring theme in this discussion and the accountability is not a moment in time, but requires consistency over time. How do you maintain that same level of accountability in a consistent way? It's that every day you're waking up and you're like, how do you approach that level of consistency?
Jeremiah Wheeler (23:40)
One way is having a personal accountability partners at work. I have an accountability partner that like when I get up in the morning, I wear this device. It's a whoop and the whoop measures your sleep, your strain, your recovery, your heart rate, your blood pressure, your everything, your skin temperature.
Adam Parks (24:03)
you
Jeremiah Wheeler (24:04)
And it keeps and then we have groups, whoop groups and we have a group internally at work and we challenge each other in the group. Like who's who's maxing out their strain during the day. And so one way that I do that is I get up and I go to the gym this morning today. I was up at four fifteen. I was in the gym working out at four four fifty until five thirty.
Jeremiah Wheeler (24:29)
And then came home and, know, I go through this regimented process. Typically I'm in the gym at six 30 every morning, but Thursdays it's five AM. And so that accountability partner, it's like when I'm on the road, if I'm with the accountability partner that I have on the road, we make sure that we eat healthy. We make sure that if we're staying in the same location, we're at the same conference or whatever.
We're both, we both look at each other. We agree. We're going to be in the gym at 6 a.m. in the morning. Yep. I'll be there. I'm accountable to others. And so if I have somebody that's expecting me to be there, I'm going to be there. But if it was just me by myself having to show up at the gym, it'd be a little easier for me to get out of it. But I think like when that, when that alarm goes off and I'll pop out of bed, I've got it. I've got to go. Like I have to be accountable and I have to be focused on.
Jeremiah Wheeler (25:26)
my health, my fitness, because it gives me so much mental clarity and so much energy throughout the day to work out. And so would say absolutely have your accountability partners, your board of advisors, people that aren't afraid to tell you how it is, even if it's not what you want to hear. Don't ever surround yourself with all your just yes people, right? I mean, we've all heard like you're just a yes man, you're a company man. Like you would just tow the line no matter what.
Jeremiah Wheeler (25:55)
I don't want those comfortable people in my circle. I want the people that are going to challenge me and stop me in the middle of a meeting and go, I don't agree with that. And let me tell you why. I love that comfort level when they can come to me and they can say, no, that's not right. This is, this is the way that it is. This is the way it should be built. And we go through it I'm like, you're right. That's absolutely correct.
Jeremiah Wheeler (26:23)
But some people would just tow the line and go right on off the cliff with the rest of us. Right. And so, accountability is important. And it's like, challenge me. I'm going to challenge you. And when people bring you constructive criticism, don't be defensive about it. Stop. Think. Don't react. Think. Put yourself in their shoes. Look in the mirror. You have a mirror sitting right in front of you. Hold yourself accountable. Are they right?
Do they have a point? Am I being an idiot? Am I being an asshole? Can I change my tone? Can I change the way I'm acting? Can I change this? Can I change that? And if they have a point at all, validate it, tell them they're absolutely right. I'm going to change that. I'm going to do this differently. Hold yourself accountable. It's like people hate to hear negative or constructive criticism about themselves. We just do. And a lot of times what we talk about others and what we hate to see in others and what we, you know, judge other people for is typically the things we hate the most about ourselves. And so I use that as like, I don't like the way this guy's driving, you know, and, and my wife will tell me you just did that five minutes ago. And I'm like, you're right. Totally right. I did that exact thing. I am sorry for judging you, Mr. Driver. it's like look in the mirror and hold yourself accountable and be okay with it. Don't like lose yourself over it. It's not that important.
Adam Parks (27:46)
You Well, Jeremiah, this has been an inspiring conversation yet again, I always enjoy even just getting a few minutes of your time to to talk I learned something from every discussion.
Jeremiah Wheeler (28:16)
I appreciate you having me and look forward to more discussions and if like I said People you want to want to buy the book. I still have like 30 copies that I'm giving away so if anyone wants a copy or knows someone that could use a copy if you know someone that's struggling Someone that maybe doesn't think they have it all together doesn't understand the future don't really know where to go next Please I will gladly send them a copy I wrote it because I want to help people. I want to help the strugglers. I want to help people that were exactly where I was seven, eight years ago. And so I appreciate you having me on the show. And like I said, I look forward to more of these conversations with you.
Adam Parks (29:01)
Me as well, for those of you that are watching, you have additional questions you'd like to ask Jeremiah or myself, you can leave those in the comments below on LinkedIn. I'll also be adding the Amazon link for your copy of the unlikely executive. But Jeremiah, thank you so much. I really do appreciate all of your insights. Again, I just can't thank you enough for the discussion.
Jeremiah Wheeler (29:19)
Thank you, Adam. Appreciate it.
Adam Parks (29:21)
And thank you everybody for watching. We'll see you all again soon. Bye everyone.
