468 | The BEST Generation To Work With? How to Hire A Players

Jul 22

[00:00:00] Scott Arias : We have over 3000 companies. We work for, we have 223 people. I can't name anybody who's less than an A player on the entire team. We're like the largest general contractor in the world. You have to acknowledge as being a Gen Xers or a baby boomer, that it may be better than what we did before. People issues are the biggest issues if you own a small business and I'm sure all your listeners will be shaking their head right now and be like people issues.
[00:00:26] Scott Arias : Consumes most of my time. Most of my resources.
[00:00:29] Chaz Wolfe: What's up everybody. Welcome to gathering the King's podcast. I'm your host, Chas Wolf. I'm a serial entrepreneur across franchising, construction, real estate, and online education. My mission is to transfer courage to you, our listeners, by sharing the real and raw stories of success.
[00:00:45] Chaz Wolfe: Seven, eight, even nine figure business owners. Today we are joined by Scott Arias, the CEO of ACE Consulting. Scott's story is nothing short of incredible. Overcoming a devastating motorcycle accident and battling with prescription drug addiction to build a multi divisional eight figure commercial construction consulting company.
[00:01:03] Chaz Wolfe: This is Scott's second time on the show and it's been about a year since he's been here and I'm pumped to catch up with him. We'll dive into how he successfully navigated multi generational workforces while continuing to drive success at ACE Consulting. In this episode specifically, you'll learn three things.
[00:01:18] Chaz Wolfe: The biggest differences across the generations. Everyone thinks it's like even slots timeframe wise, but it's not, it's by
[00:01:24] Scott Arias : historical events, how these differences impact the hiring process. That's where it really comes home to somebody who's an entrepreneur like myself, uh, or your, your audience is understanding that.
[00:01:36] Scott Arias : One is not better than the other. And Scott even gives the actual
[00:01:38] Chaz Wolfe: questions he uses in interviews to find a players. I want to give you a, an idea of some of the interview questions that I ask people. If you want to learn how to build a successful business while navigating the complexities of a multi generational workforce, you're in the right place.
[00:01:52] Chaz Wolfe: Stick around. This is one episode you won't want to miss. Enjoy the show.
[00:01:58] Chaz Wolfe: What's up, Scott. Welcome back to the King stage. How are you, man?
[00:02:03] Scott Arias : Good. Chaz, how you been
[00:02:05] Chaz Wolfe: Dude,~ uh,~ we've been
[00:02:05] Chaz Wolfe: rocking and rolling. ~Um, ~I know you were on the show like last April. Does that sound right? Something like that.
[00:02:11] Scott Arias : It doesn't seem that long, but as we get older, it seems to go by faster.
[00:02:15] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, there was, there was one little snippet in my mind that was like. That felt a long time ago. We've probably done like 300 episodes since then.
[00:02:25] Scott Arias : Oh, wow. Wow.
. Yeah. And, and just kind of catch everybody up. Who's listening. ~Um, ~you're not just, you know, in the construction field, you you're touching,~ uh,~ all kinds of business owners,~ uh,~ in construction. ~Um, ~but give us a little backdrop of your business and how you help them.
[00:02:39] Scott Arias : We focus on construction for 2 of our 4 sectors, 1 of them being,~ uh,~ pre construction. Also, we just changed the name to project controls because that more nearly represents Project schedules, that kind of thing. And our staffing side is , strictly site management staffing.
[00:02:56] Scott Arias : ~Uh, ~so we don't do skilled trades or anything like that. We do, you know, site superintendents, SSHO, quality control managers, and then the other
[00:03:02] Scott Arias : two sectors, one is training. And because I taught at a university for a decade, it, it aligns up with that. So I do a lot, I mean, I do project training, you know, ~uh, ~anything that has a finite deadline and then the last sector is something that we added a few years ago and has gone through the roof and that's security services.
[00:03:23] Scott Arias : So we've done security services for top 10,~ uh,~ billion dollar corporations all the way down to a small little rinky dinky projects throughout the United States and overseas too. We're working on one right now for,~ uh,~ a casino, you know,
[00:03:37] Scott Arias : so we do security services for a lot of different sectors and I brought my brother and my brother was,~ uh, uh, ~one of the most senior,~ uh,~ officers in the security realm within the Navy before he retired.
[00:03:47] Scott Arias : And
[00:03:47] Scott Arias : so since he's been retired, he's been, he's been helping me out,~ uh,~ doing different things. ~Uh, uh, ~even though I'm his younger brother, he helps me.
[00:03:54] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. That's
[00:03:55] Chaz Wolfe: awesome. To make it clear for the listener, you know, when you're saying security site superintendents and all that, you're, you're placing people,~ uh,~ into those roles on a, on a temporary basis, or is it a permanent type of placement? Give us a little bit more detail there.
[00:04:08] Scott Arias : The staffing sector, is a project based model because that's what we do. You know, so we, if you don't have a project to go to, they don't go anywhere. So, and the reason we did that is because it's difficult as a contractor to hire. Something that has a project, you hire a high quality person not knowing if you're going to have a project after that.
[00:04:25] Scott Arias : if you're going to hire, you know, someone of the caliber and the quality you need to, you need to entice them with having a future. And that's what we do. You know, we're like the largest general contractor in the world. We have, you know, ~uh, ~over 3000 companies we work for. ~Um, ~and so, ~uh, uh, ~so that's it.
[00:04:41] Scott Arias : There are staff, but they serve as a management kind of a, a little bit different dynamic. Cause they also, you know, from an ethical perspective, you can't look at quality and safety. If you're ingrained within a company, totally, you
[00:04:54] Scott Arias : know, so, ~um, ~so that that that's one and but the security sector crosses all sectors.
[00:04:59] Scott Arias : We do both administrative doing site assessments going and looking at and advising all the way to providing site personnel.
[00:05:07] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.
[00:05:08] Scott Arias : it's more, it's more physical security, but we, we do provide some I. T. I. T. security,~ uh,~ services also. Yeah.
[00:05:33] Chaz Wolfe: to do.
[00:05:35] Scott Arias : ~Uh ~
[00:05:35] Chaz Wolfe: And,~ uh,~ so many folks in
[00:05:36] Chaz Wolfe: contracting, residential, commercial, whatever,~ uh,~ fall victim to not being able to execute. And so, ~uh, ~I've always loved what you do, but I just wanted to make sure that they, they knew who they were talking to. They're talking to the king of this. I mean, like you said, you're the largest of what you do and,~ uh,~ you've got these,~ uh,~ super A players on your team.
[00:05:53] Chaz Wolfe: They can come in on a project type basis and help your clients win a single project. And then they can go. You know, onto the next client or whatever that your client doesn't have to worry about keeping them on staff. Right.
[00:06:03] Scott Arias : Yeah, you know, we have 223 people, so, ~um, ~I can't name anybody who's less than a player on the entire team. We are very fortunate, but you also got to put a lot of effort into hiring.
[00:06:15] Scott Arias : Because to get A players, you gotta know what an A player is.
[00:06:18] Scott Arias : So, ~um, uh, ~you know, and if you don't know, research it. Because it's actually, it's a term, but it's actually, it was coined in a book a long, long time ago.
[00:06:26] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. What book?
[00:06:27] Scott Arias : ~Uh, ~I've got, you know, you asked me that and then I don't have the answer to that. So,
[00:06:30] Chaz Wolfe: That's all right. We'll put it in the
[00:06:31] Chaz Wolfe: show notes. Don't
[00:06:32] Scott Arias : I have it, I have it, I have it on my Audible account. So,
[00:06:36] Scott Arias : so,
[00:06:36] Chaz Wolfe: That's about how it rolls for me. I'm like, I heard that once. ~Um, ~and then the 17 million books I have in my audible.
[00:06:42] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~that's how it rolls. Okay. Well, and so, so hiring a players is a, is a certain process.
[00:06:47] Chaz Wolfe: Obviously you've got it dialed in your clients. Don't have to think about that. They just hire you.
[00:06:52] Scott Arias : That, that's absolutely correct. And, you know, we handle all the, all the administrative things, you know, people issues are the biggest issues if you own a small business. And I'm sure all your listeners will be shaking their head right now and be
[00:07:03] Scott Arias : like, people issues consumes most of my time, most of my resources.
[00:07:08] Scott Arias : And we handle those type of things. ~Uh, ~and,~ uh,~ I have people on staff that do nothing but handle it. Somebody has a death in the family. This new generation want is they, they don't want just a, a commitment between nine to five or construction seven to seven.
[00:07:23] Scott Arias : It seems like sometimes, but,
[00:07:24] Scott Arias : ~uh, ~But they want to know that you care about them.
[00:07:27] Chaz Wolfe: yeah.
[00:07:28] Scott Arias : ~uh, ~which is a little
[00:07:29] Scott Arias : touchy feely, but,~ uh,~ I think it's well,~ uh,~ it's, it's been well received by my company of being a crucial function of leadership. Silence.
[00:07:57] Chaz Wolfe: ~Uh, ~X and, and millennials make up about 75 percent of the workforce, maybe a little bit more, maybe close to 80 and you've got about a 10 or 15 percent on the, on the Z.
[00:08:05] Chaz Wolfe: And so you, you've got very different people expectations,~ um,~ what they consider work, what they consider hard work, what they consider consistency and reliability. What they're looking for in return, like you kind of just mentioned. ~Um, ~and so let's just start from a high level. Why are we here? Why do we have three different generations?
[00:08:25] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~all kind of all in the mix and, and what should the listener do to like pay attention or to just become aware of this first?
[00:08:33] Scott Arias : So I sent through a generational presentation recently, probably within the last month, and they discussed the different generations. And one thing you didn't mention was the boomers. But the
[00:08:43] Scott Arias : reason you probably didn't mention the boomers is the boomers are literally. foot out the door at this point. ~Um, ~so, ~uh, ~generations are really categorized by significant events that have occurred during a lifetime that, that form their perspective and form their,~ uh,~ what they think is acceptable, what they don't think is acceptable.
[00:09:02] Scott Arias : And you take like generation X, okay? ~Uh, ~generation X is my generation. And Generation X were more formed during the eighties. It was, you know, also known as the me generation, you know? So it was a lot about personal performance, that type of thing. ~Um, ~they also, you know, didn't really care about, you know, what was happening at home.
[00:09:23] Scott Arias : I remember one of my bosses once said, he goes, the difference between me and you is I take care of my business at home and you don't. So he
[00:09:29] Scott Arias : didn't have any caring whatsoever. ~Um, ~and that was the school of thought that I grew up on. Now, uh, the millennial generation shortly occurred after, uh, uh, after the Gen X, cause Gen X is the smallest generation by numbers.
[00:09:44] Scott Arias : Uh, and then you got the millennials, which occurred right in the 80, early eighties perspective when they were born. And they were more formed, uh, during, um,
[00:09:54] Scott Arias : you know, uh, events like 9 11. Uh, for example.
[00:09:59] Scott Arias : Um, and so they're big believer. Millennials are big believer in,~ uh,~ you know, doing it as a team coming together because that was the world that existed when they were formed their formula of years, you know,
[00:10:13] Scott Arias : and then you have the Gen Z years, which are more formed during the, you know, the great recession type kind of timeframe.
[00:10:20] Scott Arias : Everyone thinks it's like, you know, even slots, you know, timeframe wise, but
[00:10:23] Scott Arias : it's not, it's by, by historical events. And,~ uh,~ they were, they occurred during the great recession. So, you know, the way they go about their, their business has to do a lot with being, a little more risk adverse, you know, ~um, ~a little more,~ uh,~ you know, thinking, thinking about the future and,~ uh,~ wanting to be involved into an organization that,~ um,~ cares about them.
[00:10:45] Scott Arias : So it's those generations, it's, they're just challenges with each of those. And if you come from one generation to the other, or even if you're on the borderline of one generation,~ uh,~ like I am,~ uh,~ you're going to,~ uh,~ understand some of those beliefs and philosophies.
[00:11:01] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot to it. Obviously, as you, as you kind of laid it all out, we can, we can all probably imagine the people that are on our teams or even just in our families. And it's like, Oh yeah, there's pretty distinct differences. You know, it's funny. I was in a, in a workshop this past weekend, given some information on sales and marketing and stuff like that.
[00:11:17] Chaz Wolfe: And. We were talking about avatar and like the places where your avatar hangs out is where you want to be marketing. ~Um, ~and, and this has a lot to do with what you're saying, even from like a non like employee team building perspective, but from a marketing perspective, you know, who, who is my client? ~Uh, ~well, as a, as a,
[00:11:33] Chaz Wolfe: millennial Gen X,~ uh,~ client base.
[00:11:36] Chaz Wolfe: You know, places like Facebook are going to be better than Snapchat or, or whatever,~ uh,~ we can go into the marketing stuff, but I think that you're, what you're saying, what I'm picking up and I want the listener to make sure that they're getting is that there's distinct differences between these generations.
[00:11:51] Chaz Wolfe: And now what you're saying is, okay, well, now we've got them all working on the same job site or in the same project, maybe in different capacities, but they're, they're, they're bringing something different to the table. They're also expecting something
[00:12:03] Chaz Wolfe: different. Talk about that a little bit.
[00:12:05] Scott Arias : Well, you know, and that's it. That's the key here. That's where it really comes comes home to somebody who's an entrepreneur like myself or your audience is understanding that one is not better than the other. Although we want to think that way. I want to think that way, to be honest with you, because I want to say Gen X is the best, but, but,~ uh,~ but
[00:12:24] Scott Arias : the truth is, is that we were, we were,~ uh,~ cultivated by the environment we grew up in, you know?
[00:12:31] Scott Arias : ~Um, ~so that right there makes them, and here's the, one of the big takeaways that I got from the entire, you know, two hour presentation I sat through was,~ um,~ Is that Gen Xers care more about, you know, individuals, millennials and Gen Zs care more about the group winning, you know? ~Um, ~and there's benefits and drawbacks to that.
[00:12:53] Scott Arias : You know, I mean, ~uh, ~
[00:12:54] Scott Arias : one of the, one of the benefits are, is they're really big into the whole, Hey, cut. The company is my team or my sector is my team and I'll die for my team. Not literally, but figuratively, you know, but on the other side, Gen Zs, Gen Zs are like. I'm going to show my performance. It's not that I don't care about the team, but I'm going to focus on my performance because as long as my performance is there, it does what it does need to be for a team, you know?
[00:13:20] Scott Arias : So it's just, they're just different ways of, of,~ uh,~ looking and seeing,~ uh,~ seeing things through the lens of the different generations.
[00:13:29] Chaz Wolfe: that's interesting. I'm thinking as you were kind of saying that,~ um,~ an experience that I had working for a pretty big,~ uh,~ marketer,~ uh,~ we would all know his name, but inside of that environment, I'm running, you know, a pretty big team and,~ uh,~ You know, I'm a, I'm an executive park in a specific spot. I've got
[00:13:46] Chaz Wolfe: access and privileges that, that most people don't.
[00:13:48] Chaz Wolfe: And we're building this brand new thing. And,~ um,~ the feeling that I had as a millennial was. Wow. It's kind of like everybody just has a number here. ~Uh, ~there's not really a whole lot
[00:13:57] Chaz Wolfe: of like team dynamic. There's not really a whole lot of care specifically. It was more,~ uh,~ being run by a boomer slash Gen X er who is probably more considered about the individual. And,~ uh,~ in my millennial mind in that moment was like, if I'm building a team, but nobody cares about the team, I'm, I'm struggling trying to connect these dots here, you know?
[00:14:17] Scott Arias : Yes, yes, and you know that that's the thing is and then they don't interesting thing is that none of them respect each other. All the different they all think that the third generation is the generation that that it's everyone should should. You know, fall into. The other one here is, is that we, I haven't even jumped into yet, has to do with the way they view life, you know, or the
[00:14:41] Scott Arias : way they view their profession.
[00:14:43] Scott Arias : I mean, my generation and the generation before me, the baby boomers,~ uh,~ they, they believed we lived to work. You know, so they didn't care about working 70 hour work weeks, you know, and, and,~ uh,~ that was the school I thought I came up through because, you know, I started out as a very young man,~ uh,~ working in various different capacities.
[00:15:02] Scott Arias : And that's what my bosses told me. So I adopted that, you know, that expectation, but today's generation, I think honestly has it right to a certain degree. They don't live to work, they work to live, they're more focused on work life balance. If I said work life balance to my first boss, he would have slapped me in the face, you
[00:15:21] Scott Arias : know? And,~ uh,~ or punched me one way or the other. But The fact is, that's just, that's who we have now and most of my staff,~ um,~ you know, falls into that millennia, the millennial generation and, and they're, that's what they want.
[00:15:34] Scott Arias : They want, they want a place where they can come work, work hard every single day. They don't mind checking emails in the evenings, But
[00:15:41] Scott Arias : they don't want to work 70 hour work weeks. That's just the reality. And, you know, it's tough because we're, we're saying this about everybody and we're stereotyping here.
[00:15:49] Scott Arias : But the reality is, is that, that. There's a lot,~ uh,~ to be said for, for those statements there.
[00:15:55] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I think if you just zoom out, right, like 200 years ago and there was no work life balance, right? It was just survival probably as maybe a better term, especially 2000 years ago. Like you just keep going back and back and back. And their reality of life back then seems almost traumatic to us today.
[00:16:15] Chaz Wolfe: And so there's just a natural progression, right? But how much in that, especially the, you know, The work life balance. I, I, like you, I'm like, I kind of cringe at work life
[00:16:25] Chaz Wolfe: balance. I say work life obsession because I do want life and work, but I want to be obsessed on both. But how much does the, you know, just psychological growth or just emotional intelligence and how that's grown?
[00:16:38] Chaz Wolfe: How has that played a role in maybe a millennial or Gen Z worker? Right. Cause like you said, they're more in touch with their feelings, which really just means I'm more heightened or I'm more conscious. Of emotional intelligence. How has that played a role versus, you know, maybe an X or a boomer. Who's like, we weren't allowed to have feelings. You just put your head down and take care of your business because that's what life was.
[00:17:00] Scott Arias : That's a tough one. Links I put in the generational, it's about how they, where their formative years are. cultivated by,~ um,~ this, you know, this, these type of events and one of them , technology being a big one.
[00:17:16] Scott Arias : I mean, the reality is, is I didn't have a cell phone when I started working.
[00:17:20] Scott Arias : I didn't have a cell phone until, until, you know, My almost my mid level career, you know,
[00:17:25] Scott Arias : so ~um, ~that has changed everything and then smartphones the other one I mean you can't Spurt off a fact anymore without somebody fact checking you
[00:17:35] Scott Arias : So it's so easy to do nowadays and and the fact is, you know, you have the world of knowledge right here You
[00:17:43] Scott Arias : know, and that's crazy, you know, that, that in your palm of your hand, you could literally look up anything that's ever been,~ uh,~ written about any topic you want.
[00:17:54] Scott Arias : And
[00:17:54] Scott Arias : when I went through my dissertation process, it started in the 2013 ish time frame. ~Um, ~it, one of my,~ uh,~ major professors said, you know, everybody nowadays should get, have to do two. You know dissertations and I said why and he goes because it's so easy to do the literature review Which is entire
[00:18:11] Scott Arias : chapter two and the foundation of your research and I thought about that and he and he's right
[00:18:17] Scott Arias : You know, there's it is so much easier rather than going to the library and opening a book now you can go into uh You know websites like pro quest and then do a keyword search And
[00:18:27] Scott Arias : figure you know And get all the information that you need there's still a lot of data but You It's much easier to search for it.
[00:18:34] Scott Arias : So that's one technology is one. The other piece of it is people don't give enough credences is,~ um,~ these Gen Z's, their formative years had to do with COVID too.
[00:18:44] Scott Arias : So personalities and things like that. And I've noticed when I was teaching and I still teach part time as an adjunct from time to time, just cause I love doing it,~ um,~ and is,~ uh,~ that maybe they weren't, their entire years weren't formed by that, but they thrive with the environment.
[00:19:02] Scott Arias : Like, you know, you can't get one of my younger staff to pick up the phone to call somebody.
[00:19:06] Scott Arias : They want to text everybody. It's just, it's just an interesting dynamic and you got to figure out as an entrepreneur how to navigate your way through,~ uh,~ each of these different generational differences ,
[00:19:16] Scott Arias : , and we just did this recently with our phone systems.
[00:19:18] Scott Arias : We, we switched over from a traditional phone system where you pick up the dial and. Talk to somebody, but that's antiquated.
[00:19:27] Scott Arias : And so, ~uh, ~now, now we have a web based,~ uh,~ web based one where, you know, you do it through your computer , if you do it through your phone, there's a separate app,~ uh,~ via your phone and you know, that's just.
[00:19:38] Scott Arias : You know, I, I still have cable at my house and most of my staff
[00:19:42] Scott Arias : doesn't have cable, you know, they don't even know what, you know, satellite TV is they
[00:19:47] Scott Arias : they, they know Netflix, you know, I
[00:19:49] Scott Arias : even Netflix nowadays is kind of a,~ uh,~ a distant term. They have
[00:19:53] Scott Arias : many different other avenues. ~Uh, ~I found out a little bit more about Spotify the other day, and when I was talking about Sirius, I can listen to Sirius on my phone, you know, so it's, and my son's like, well, Spotify is so much better.
[00:20:04] Scott Arias : I was like, well, what's Spotify? Let's start there. So,
[00:20:09] Chaz Wolfe: Well, how have you seen this play into the workplace, specifically even construction? Because as you're saying these technology things, I'm, I have young kids like 10 and below, and it's so crazy how my eight year old daughter will pick up my phone. They don't. They don't. have their own phone by any means.
[00:20:24] Chaz Wolfe: And I'm pretty,~ uh,~ I'm a stickler on not overindulging, but also need them to learn technology because I know it's going to be a huge part of what they do and so none of my children, my, I think my 10 year old just the other day, learned how to type on, on a phone, like with her thumbs, right? But everything, a hundred percent is pick up and talk to Siri.
[00:20:43] Chaz Wolfe: Whether they're searching for something, whether they're texting something, whether like anything that they want to do on the phone, it's all done through voice activation. And for me as a millennial, like I understand it's there. I use it sometimes. ~Um, ~but for whatever reason, I like to type out what I'm searching.
[00:20:57] Chaz Wolfe: It makes it feel more detailed and more precise and whatever, but they don't even know how to type. And so as they're learning the technology, they're just leaning into what they know. Right. So all of that is a backdrop. How are you seeing this technology gap between generations show up, you know, on a construction project?
[00:21:14] Scott Arias : It's kind of like, you know, using a nail gun when you used to use a hammer.
[00:21:20] Scott Arias : You know, ~uh, ~the guys now just carry hammers that drive a nail that maybe the nail gun didn't put all the way in, you know,
[00:21:26] Scott Arias : so it's just doesn't mean that it's not it is it's you have to acknowledge as being a Gen Xers or, a baby boomer that it may be better than what we did before.
[00:21:36] Scott Arias : However, there are certain things that are downfalls. One of them being is when there's an issue. I tell my people pick up the phone and call the person. Rather than fighting it over email, because you can get it lost in tone and I mean, we've all had an email where we, we thought we send the email with the right perspective and somebody takes offense to it.
[00:21:57] Scott Arias : Especially,~ uh,~ Gen Z or something.
.
[00:21:59] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Well, cause I mean, like, like we talked about a few minutes ago, they're, they're maybe more conscious of, of feelings or how things are being perceived. And so rather than a, an X or a boomer just saying, well, whatever it is, what it is because they are that way,~ um,~ they're going to be more heightened, not necessarily to offense, but yes, could be just, they're just aware of when I read this email, it made me feel comfortable.
[00:22:25] Chaz Wolfe: And,~ um,~ whether that was intended or not. And so you're right. Staying out of written communication for that reason is, is huge. How do you think this, you know, I mean, we've, we've talked technology and maybe a couple of other things, but you're, you're huge on, on a core values. And I know that your company specifically is built on core values. How do you see the generational? Pieces that we've just talked about in the gaps between them. How do you talk about the same core value, which could maybe be even defined differently via different generations? How are you dealing with that?
[00:22:57] Scott Arias : My three core values are do the right thing,~ uh,~ be the gold standard and,~ uh,~ practice extreme. ~Um, ~urgency. I'm going to get slaughtered by all my staff because I'm sure I left a word out there or something,
[00:23:08] Scott Arias : but the point is right, right?
[00:23:09] Scott Arias : We call it rug, right thing, urgency, gold standard, right?
[00:23:12] Scott Arias : ~Um, ~so, ~uh, ~what does urgency mean? You know, urgency in my generation meant when I get back to my computer or answer a phone call, but now urgency has revolved around 24 seven. But then you got, you also got the whole work life balance thing. So that's also plays into it.
[00:23:32] Scott Arias : ~Um, ~the hardest one that I struggle with is not the gold standard or the urgency. It's do the right thing. And the reason, you know, My organization is a Christian organization. Not afraid to say it, just who we are. ~Um, ~it's comes out of my faith originally being the founder,~ uh,~ now the CEO. And,~ uh,~ so I've had to explain that much better.
[00:23:52] Scott Arias : And, and the best way,~ uh,~ to get, get some of those messages across is to continually communicate and communicate,~ uh,~ examples of what that means. So when we
[00:24:04] Scott Arias : have a. Every meeting that has three or more people in my company, we, we, the person in charge of the meeting,~ um,~ the facilitator of the meeting, that person's always supposed to ask, give me three exam, give me three examples of our core values,~ uh,~ and, and what are they?
[00:24:21] Scott Arias : And so we, they go through, do the right thing, urgency, gold standard, and then they go through and they said, well, I've seen this person doing the right thing because they had a client call, was all mad or upset and rather than get mad and upset, they, they chose to help them. You know, or,~ uh,~ this person had a relative died and us as a company, even though we didn't have an obligation, we pay for the funeral or we sent them home, you know, and to me, that's where, and it was brought to one of my,~ uh,~ my mid level staff,~ uh,~ and,~ uh,~ he brought up a very good point and that is what does it mean?
[00:24:54] Scott Arias : So the only way I could do, is just have, every time we bring it up, we bring an example to the table.
[00:25:00] Scott Arias : And then that, that way,~ uh,~ that way we have it. And that, and I hate to say that doing the right thing is subjective, but it's tough because you work with three different generations here, and do the right thing may be to help the group, rather than help the individual.
[00:25:16] Scott Arias : You know, so.
[00:25:18] Scott Arias : Yeah.
[00:25:22] Chaz Wolfe: ~Uh,~ important as well. That's what you're doing by creating the space and not only just giving the examples, but having people be in the room to talk about it. I think that, you know, the different generations are going to respond, you know, differently.
[00:25:32] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~that is interesting though, because you're right. Doing the right thing is not subjective, although it's completely subjective. And, you know, my, my experience,~ um,~ around how to treat someone else. It's funny. We were doing a workshop. I don't know. About a month or so ago. And, and,~ uh,~ my COO of gathering, the Kings gave an example of how he grew up thinking that, you know, the golden rule was to do unto others as you would have done unto you.
[00:25:54] Chaz Wolfe: And he's like,
[00:25:55] Chaz Wolfe: that's actually, that that's really not the best rule at the platinum rule, which is written,~ um,~ written in a
[00:26:00] Chaz Wolfe: book. But do unto others as they would have done to themselves, because sometimes what what's good for Chaz isn't what's good for Scott or the boomer worker that I'm reporting to, or that's reporting to me or the Gen X er, right?
[00:26:15] Chaz Wolfe: And so we've got to think a little bit more outside of ourselves and kind of through the lens of the other person and, or even greater team. Would you agree with that? Right.
[00:26:29] Scott Arias : because, you know, our field staff are more rough around the edges because I grew up as a field staff. I was a carpenter, Mason, and we're just, we're more rough around the edges, you know, and I, you know, I tell everybody.
[00:26:41] Scott Arias : I was, I'm a sailor and a construction worker. So I may have a couple things to say that you know, that probably not acceptable when I'm in an environment with a whole bunch of accountants, you know. ~Um, ~so understanding, we always talk about office talk or field talk and that's how we delineate, hey, it's not okay to walk in the office and drop the F bomb.
[00:27:03] Scott Arias : You know, it's
[00:27:03] Scott Arias : just not not that's not appropriate to do, you know, so treat you're talking about treating people the way that they want to be treated is recognizing the way they want to be treated and then Changing your behavior to be able to match that. And it's not being in genuine. It's
[00:27:18] Scott Arias : just changing, you know, making yourself better, you know, ~um, ~and,~ uh,~ in a lot of different ways or, or at the end of the day,~ uh,~ one of the, one of the Christian values that I always speak in my church speaks is it's love God, love people, right?
[00:27:33] Scott Arias : So part of loving people is meeting where they're at. Part of love of God is, is meeting where they're at. Understanding that, you know,
[00:27:39] Scott Arias : and,~ uh, uh, ~some people may call that touchy filly. I call it the reality of the world that we live in as entrepreneurs, you know.
[00:27:46] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah,
[00:27:46] Chaz Wolfe: just like you said a few minutes ago, we can either embrace technology, we can embrace new psychology,~ um,~ or we can't, we can just throw up our hands and say, nope, I've always done it this way. It is what it is. That's not better. We have seen time and time again, how those people, businesses, frameworks, mindsets, just get swept away. ~Um, ~technology is
[00:28:03] Chaz Wolfe: coming new psychology, more emotional intelligence is coming, or it's already here to your point, you know?~ Um, ~yeah, it's interesting that you, you. You know, remind people, it's not even just really Christians, but people of, of the two things that Jesus said there, the top, all these rules, what's the most important.
[00:28:20] Chaz Wolfe: It's like, well, love God, love others. And I say those same things to my kids on a regular basis. It's like, no, look, literally everything falls out of this. Right here, have reverence, the fact that you are not it, right? Like you were created by something other than yourself.
[00:28:36] Chaz Wolfe: And then over here, there's other people.
[00:28:38] Chaz Wolfe: Let's see, let's see them through the lens of maybe the person that created them as well. They're probably pretty special. And we should probably treat them as such,
[00:28:47] Chaz Wolfe: you know?
[00:28:49] Scott Arias : Good, good lessons for life, you know, kid, child raising or business or whatever, you know, ~uh, ~my,~ uh,~ I, my father used to say, you can't do a good deal with a bad person and ~um, ~there's a lot to be said there. you You know, so, ~uh, ~not saying people are inherently bad, but the way they view is based on the way they were raised and the culture they're part of.
Hey Kings and Queens, Chaz Wolf. I want to talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort, we meaning myself and my team into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.
So we would love if you would like comment, share, leave a review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media on all the different platforms or even on the podcast mediums of apple and spotify We would love to be able to get our content into more hands more entrepreneurs So they can grow their business as quick as possible together We are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights So let's do this.
Let's help each other grow
[00:29:59] Scott Arias : Yeah.
[00:29:59] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Just kind of going on that whim there just for a few minutes here. I mean, obviously you guys have a huge team. You're you have a hiring process. I'm sure that's just,~ uh,~ an amazing,~ um,~ format and framework, but how has that even changed as you're now? I mean, you could go from today interviewing two people and you have no idea which generation that they're going to be.
[00:30:18] Chaz Wolfe: Probably the responses and interactions in those interviews are going to be completely different. How did, how that, how's that changed for you guys?
[00:30:25] Scott Arias : Well, you know what I do? Well, first of all, as an entrepreneur, you know, I believe,~ uh,~ regardless of your business, people are the most important piece. Even if you make widgets, it doesn't matter. People make widgets.
[00:30:38] Scott Arias : So people are the most important piece of your company also because they change and and whatever.
[00:30:46] Scott Arias : So the interview process is founded on the whole. You know, belief that we have our entire management team there. So we do the first couple of interviews and know that it's a, this is the person that we want as a player. And then we, we assemble what we call our ones, which is the seven top executives in my company.
[00:31:04] Scott Arias : And then they do the final interview. And,~ um,~ that's important. Number one is because we want people to know that, Hey, we really are. We're saying it, but we believe it because I'm taking my, you know, 30 minutes an hour and I'm, I'm a. You know, you know, ~uh, ~depending upon you. The other thing is, is the questions and he, and if, and if it'd be okay, I, I, I want to give you a, an idea of some of the,~ uh,~ interview questions that, that, that
[00:31:27] Scott Arias : I asked people.
[00:31:28] Scott Arias : , it's funny. ~Uh, ~once again, keep it on my phone. So one of the things that I do was,~ um,~ I ask, do you have any unfulfilled dreams?
[00:31:38] Chaz Wolfe: What kind of responses do you get?
[00:31:40] Scott Arias : I've had people say,~ uh,~ you know, I thought when I was growing up, I was going to be a nurse.
[00:31:45] Scott Arias : And then I ultimately decided that this is what I was going to do for a profession. And it changed because of this. So you kind of get the life story and kind of pull it out of them. Other things are, are something that's right in line with the way they are. You can tell a lot of people by their unfulfilled dreams being like, Okay, I acknowledge the fact I'm not there yet.
[00:32:04] Scott Arias : Or I'm working to get there, but this is what I want to do. ~Uh, ~I had one gentleman come in and he said,~ uh,~ I want to be,~ uh,~ a senior executive with this company. Well, there's a lot of drive there. And why, what do you, and there's a lot of other questions there. Why this company? ~Um, ~so, ~uh, ~I also ask them what they know about our company because,~ uh,~ that's critical.
[00:32:24] Scott Arias : Do they do their homework?
[00:32:25] Scott Arias : Because I want people who did their homework. I don't want people who just walk in the door. And the last one is the most important was I do speed questions, speed round questions. And I ask them questions like this and they have to answer within, I tell them within five seconds.
[00:32:39] Scott Arias : So these are, these are a list of them. Dog or cat? Blue or red? And I ask that because I'm a dog person. So, ~uh, ~no,
[00:32:47] Scott Arias : I'm just kidding.
[00:32:48] Chaz Wolfe: I was gonna say everybody knows the difference.
[00:32:52] Scott Arias : ~uh, ~blue or red?
[00:32:53] Scott Arias : Somebody once said to me when I talk about blue and red or as I said, are you talking about politics? I was like, no, because I don't know which what color is what to be honest with you. Maybe I need to change it to red or
[00:33:04] Chaz Wolfe: green and yellow.
[00:33:05] Scott Arias : It's nothing, it's nothing, but,~ uh,~ there's a green party too. So
[00:33:08] Scott Arias : maybe not green, you know, but, but,~ uh,~ oceans or mountains, dawn or dusk, fall or spring, winter or summer, cars or trucks, country or rap,~ uh, uh, ~chicken or egg, dog, dad or mom, cold or hot, Triggered or unoffendable.
[00:33:22] Scott Arias : I love that one right there because if you're triggered working in construction,
[00:33:27] Scott Arias : there's about 90, 000 people that are probably a lot more than that, that are going to trigger you. If I'm going to be a therapist, okay, but if you're going to work in construction, you have to be able to determine what is acceptable.
[00:33:43] Scott Arias : And then I asked a personal one about a university of Kentucky or university of Louisville. My daughter goes to university of Louisville, but I'm a Kentucky fan. So, ~um, ~I want to know where they fall. Are they blue or red, you know?
[00:33:53] Scott Arias : So, in not a political sense, in a, in a sports sense, you know,
[00:33:57] Chaz Wolfe: The triggered untriggered part. ~Uh, ~there's a, there's a spot in the book of a psycho cybernetics. It talks about basically what thick skin is and how you've got to be able to have skin. I mean, our literal skin is what protects us,
[00:34:11] Chaz Wolfe: but it's, and it keeps us away from certain things, certain pain, but it doesn't mean that it's not. Penetratable, or it doesn't experience pain. It just keeps us from certain things that,~ uh,~ that allow us to kind of just have a little buoyancy, you know, like it hit me and then it, and then it bounced off and I just keep going. It's okay. It's okay to have some of that thick skin, especially in construction.
[00:34:33] Scott Arias : Well, and you know, you go along that right my one of my first box boss told me he said need to build some calluses up Just everybody knows what calluses are on your hands or whatever because you know I worked in the trades and you know, you swing a hammer long enough.
[00:34:45] Scott Arias : You're gonna get calluses on your hands So and you think about that? well How do you get calluses by doing it over and over and over again and getting that? You in deep understanding of what you're doing and how you're doing it. And,~ uh, uh, ~there's good and bad from that. ~Um, ~you know, one of them being the bads I can think of right off hand is you lose, lose perspective on people who don't understand what you do or what they understand.
[00:35:10] Scott Arias : ~Uh, ~but on the other side of it, if you do things over and over again, you understand that and you understand it in detail, you know, ~uh, ~you, I, I may have mentioned this. I may or may not mention it, but I'm a, I'm a left leg amputee. I lost my lower left leg and a motorcycle crash and then,~ uh,~ further damaging and Iraqi oil platform.
[00:35:25] Scott Arias : So, ~um, ~That right there,~ uh,~ my, the guy who,~ uh,~ who does my prosthetics for me, he's an amputee too. And the thing that he understands that many other amputees,~ uh,~ or,~ uh,~ people who do prost,~ uh,~ I can never say prosthetists
[00:35:39] Scott Arias : that they don't understand is all the intricacies. Like when you sit down,~ uh,~ On a with a suction based prosthetic it pull it feels like a pulling sensation at the bottom Well, you don't know that unless you've done if you wore one before So and that goes with like business and how we conduct things and it. makes us understand that we may not have all the knowledge ~uh ~necessary and ~um, ~if you have a Young man or lady that grew up in california ~Um, ~or they grew up in the midwest different exposures Completely and so you have to be able to treat them as you said the way they would like to be treated
[00:36:12] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, different, different exposure, different calluses,~ um,~ you know, that, that,~ uh,~ that same chapter in psycho cybernetics talks about the callus being a scar tissue. Something has happened to cause damage and that's our body's way of, of helping us to have buoyancy to keep going. ~Uh, ~some resilience,~ uh,~ it creates a scar tissue.
[00:36:32] Chaz Wolfe: So that way,~ uh,~ when it happens again, the actual damage doesn't happen again. And so you're right at scars or, or callous speak to experience and speak to maybe just different perspectives that we have, you know, whether it be California
[00:36:46] Chaz Wolfe: versus,~ uh,~ Missouri, you know, and so I think all of those things are good, especially when we're in a, in an environment like we are, like we've been talking about this whole show around hiring and hiring. Not only just new generations, but now a mixture. ~Uh, ~of all the generations, what would be kind of like your last, as we kind of wrap up here, you know, entrepreneurs listening right now, maybe they're in construction, maybe not, but they're, they're
[00:37:07] Chaz Wolfe: like, yes, I understand. I've got, I've got a couple of different generations on my team right now.
[00:37:11] Chaz Wolfe: This has been challenging, difficult, but your main point takeaway for them of how they can go continue to not only hire well, but then curate this environment of multiple generations, how do we do that?
[00:37:24] Scott Arias : that's a great question and, and,~ uh,~ I'll go kind of back to something I said,~ uh,~ previously, because I think it's so vitally important is one is not better than two. And,~ uh,~ that's important because it gives you, rather than,~ uh,~ You know, totally dismissing somebody's feelings about something, or,~ uh,~ giving credence to somebody's feelings when it, when it's not necessarily justified, or, you know, numerous different ways,~ uh,~ of,
[00:37:52] Scott Arias : of, is understanding that, that's somebody's perspective, and we need to, uh, be
[00:37:59] Scott Arias : respectful that while we're trying to get what we need to get out of,~ uh,~
[00:38:02] Scott Arias : That person, I'm creating an esop,~ uh,~ you know, employee owned stock ownership program, and I want everybody to have skin in the game.
[00:38:11] Scott Arias : And that plays in real well with the generation that I, that I'm in right now,~ uh,~ with, with most of my staff is, is in. ~Um, ~so, ~uh, ~I would say more than anything as an entrepreneur is understanding, identifying who, what you have. and how to move the organization forward,~ uh,~ understanding the differences.
[00:38:28] Scott Arias : Cause most people don't understand the generational differences, how they're defined, what they mean. You know, it's always every generation just says to the later generations, Oh, they're terrible. When in reality, this is not terrible. It's just different, you know?
[00:38:43] Chaz Wolfe: Okay.
[00:38:43] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. And then that would, I mean, obviously that's ignorance to, to say it's terrible. It's, it's intelligence to say, Hmm, this is interesting. It's a little bit different. I wonder how we can incorporate, you know, maybe the best of the best from both worlds or from all three or four of these worlds, you know, I think those are the teams that are going to win.
[00:39:00] Chaz Wolfe: Right. It's like, how do we recognize it? No one, how do we just become aware of the room and how the room is now different than it was 20 years ago? Okay.
[00:39:07] Chaz Wolfe: Great. How do we move forward in that? I love, I love that direction. ~Um, ~Scott, you obviously provide just an incredible service to construction companies all across the country.
[00:39:15] Chaz Wolfe: How can they find you if they're listening right now? And they're like, yes, this is majorly beneficial. I need a project manager or any of the other sources that you've got access to where they can hire you. How can they reach out to you?
[00:39:25] Scott Arias : Best way to do is look up, uh, ace consulting. net. ~Um, ~and,~ uh,~ we have all the contact information,~ uh,~ there and, and,~ uh, uh, uh, ~or hit me up on LinkedIn. Scott Arias. ~Uh, ~last name is spelled A R I A S. So I know it's not a common name, but nonetheless, it's,~ uh,~ it's my name.
[00:39:40] Scott Arias : So, ~uh, ~but,~ uh,~ but you can, you can always reach out to me on those two different platforms. I would love to tell you, you know, reach me out on Instagram, but I don't have an Instagram account, you know? So,
[00:39:49] Scott Arias : because I'm a Gen Xer, you know? So, I mean, So, I have a Facebook account, but I, I normally don't look at it, you know?
[00:39:56] Scott Arias : So,
[00:39:57] Chaz Wolfe: that's funny. Yeah. I think that, you know, LinkedIn is really probably the one platform that has done a great job of bringing all generations to the same
[00:40:05] Chaz Wolfe: place. I think there's a lot of business owners and, and folks look for jobs, but,~ um,~ you're right, all the social platforms, all the, all the,~ uh,~ all the,~ uh,~ We've all got our preferences,~ um,~ based on most likely the generation.
[00:40:16] Chaz Wolfe: So
[00:40:17] Scott Arias : yes, yes, yes.
[00:40:18] Chaz Wolfe: Well, Scott, it's a pleasure to have you back here today. I think this is such a great topic that not only is important for people to understand. So thank you for giving your expertise, but for,~ uh,~ those looking for services like what you offer, I think it's just incredible to,~ uh,~ Get, have you, your business back in front of the, the audience again here today, because,~ um,~ I work in and out a lot of construction folks and, and what you do is,~ uh,~ just really, really important.
[00:40:41] Chaz Wolfe: And I think that people should take you up on,~ uh,~ going to your website and seeing how you can help them. So thanks for being here. We appreciate your expertise, blessings to you, your family, your team, all the cool things that you're doing. Thanks for being here.
[00:40:50] Scott Arias : Well, well, thank you, Chaz.~ uh, ~
[00:40:52] Chaz Wolfe: ~um,~
Thank you for listening to Gathering the Kings today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.
What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing over 200 or 300, I hope that you're Other very successful seven, eight, and nine figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs.
In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling Kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities. And here's what we believe that in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, That it ignites within us, the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
So if that relates and resonates with you, and you know, that you need people around you, sharp, qualified, other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings. com. Once you take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 Kings talk soon.

Scott Arias is the CEO of ACE Consulting which is the largest general contractor in the WORLD. Chaz and Scott discuss the challenges and strategies of managing multi-generational workforces, discussing the differences across generations and their impacts on hiring processes. Scott also details specific interview questions that help identify 'A players' and emphasizes the importance of aligning company core values with diverse generational perspectives. This episode offers HUGE insights for entrepreneurs seeking to build and sustain a thriving business across different age groups.

Scott Arias:

https://ace-consulting.net/scott-arias/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottarias/

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