“And I remember stepping off the bus that night. I’m 17 and can’t see three feet in front of my face - I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. All I knew was that I wanted my future to look much different than my past.”
Subscribe on: iTunes | iOS Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play Enjoy the episode? Review us on iTunes!
Why Listen:
The top two reasons to listen to today’s episode are:
1. Mindset - Bobby’s book The Gift of Struggle shares stories of adversity he has faced in his personal and professional life and how each of those struggles was a gift to him, his family, and his team. There is a great lesson for every listener in this.
2. Leadership - Bobby built his team to over 300 employees with nearly 9,000 contractors worldwide. He is humble and direct in sharing the mistakes he has made along the way to this incredible feat.
If you enjoy today’s episode, be sure to check out:
BTU #328 - Struggle is What Gives Us Value (Micah Fink - Heroes & Horses) -
BTU #99 - Jacob Martinez: Army Sergeant to President of USA's 592nd Fastest Growing Company
Beyond the Uniform has over 350 podcast episodes and 20 videos with America’s top Veterans, including Jocko Willink, the former CEO of Pepsi, NFL players and more. They are all for free at BeyondTheUniform.org. If you benefit from Beyond the Uniform and would like to help get this in front of more members of the military community, please consider donating at BeyondTheUniform.org/donate. You can also text SUPPORTBTU to 33777 and we will send you additional information. Our cost of production is $300 per month, we are an all-volunteer team, and we could use your financial support. That is at BeyondTheUniform.org/donate or by texting SUPPORTBTU to 33777.
About Bobby:
Bobby Herrera is the author of The Gift of Struggle, a book about leadership and the life-changing lessons we learn through our struggles. He is also the co-founder and president of Populus Group, a staffing & recruiting company with over 300 employees. Bobby founded Populus Group nearly 18 years ago. He served in the Army in Field Artillery for over seven years. With a passion for building strong culture and communities through trust and storytelling, his leadership style is about empowerment, connections, and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
Bobby grew up in a big family with parents who immigrated to America without much. While this is not an uncommon story, the leadership style and company culture that it inspired is. The belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed is at the core of Bobby’s philosophy in business and in life.
Everyone has struggles and business leaders are no exception. Bobby’s passion is helping others understand how their individual struggles can help them connect with their communities and inspire other is what will ultimately transform their leadership style.
Bobby is a proud Army veteran and currently lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and three children.
Our Sponsor:
StoryBox- People trust each other more than advertising. StoryBox provides the tools and supports businesses need to take the best things customers say about them, and use them to drive more sales and referrals. StoryBox offers a 10% discount to companies employing veterans of the US Armed Forces.
Audible is offering one FREE audio book to Beyond the Uniform listeners. You can claim this offer here, and see a list of books recommended by my guests at BeyondTheUniform.io/books
Partners:
Have you ever wondered how you could become a more effective and balanced leader? Or how to find a team with a high degree of trust that performs at a level you’re accustomed to? Check out The Leadership Podcast where they study what makes the best leaders tick - including many who have moved "beyond the uniform" to reach new levels of success and fulfillment.
Selected Resources:
Transcript & Time Stamps:
3:04
Joining me today from Portland, Oregon is Bobby Herrera. Is there anything not in your bio that you’d like listeners to know?
I think probably the real stuff, the more important stuff is on the back of the resume. I've made a boatload of mistakes, still making them. And, you know, above all, I focus on being an All-Pro dad
4:56
I love it. Well, about 60 percent of our audience is still on active duty. So I always like to start by rewinding the clock back to the 90s when you left the Army. What would you want listeners to know about what that experience was like for you?
I think the first thing I'm going to be forthright about is my frontal lobe was far from fully developed and I had so much growing still to do. But, you know, it was a different time when I was in the military in the late 80s and early 90s. The Army was in that in between stage during that time. There was conflict before and after but not so much during that time. My mission was very straightforward – to further my life.
I had a very modest upbringing prior to joining the Army. So the Army was what I very proudly call my first step in my climb towards my ticket to opportunity. And it said in other ways. That was my first step in trying to take control of my story. And my mission was set very clear on beginning my education right after the Army so that I could then pursue a very strong entrepreneurial itch that I had inside. I didn't know what that was going to be, but I knew that it was there.
6:34
Throughout your book, I got the sense of your determination and strong will. It seems like some of that comes from your father. I love this thought of growth and momentum that seems to characterize your story.
I appreciate that - I believe we all share that. I believe that we're all climbing our own mountain. There’s a place that we imagine that looks and feels better than where we are today. We all want to climb. And we all have our different reasons for wanting to climb. We're all climbing our own mountain. I talk about that in the book and really having that perspective and respecting that.
8:15
Can you tell us more about why you were inspired to write your book?
When I was 17, my brother and I were on a return trip home from a basketball game. And along the way we stopped for dinner. And everyone unloaded off the bus except for me and my brother. At that point in our family's story, we didn't have the means to pay for our dinner. And we were well beyond the embarrassment. You know, we knew our family was doing the best it could. A few moments after the team unloaded, one of the other player’s dad steps on board the bus. And then he said something to me that I will always remember.
He said to me, ‘Bobby, it would make me very happy if you would allow me to buy you dinner so that you can join the rest of the team. Nobody else has to know. All you have to do to thank me is do the same thing for another great kid in the future.’
To this day, it's hard for me to explain that overwhelming sense of gratitude that I had at that moment.
I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. All I knew is that I wanted my future to look much different than my past. Eventually I decided that I wanted to raise my hand and join the Once I was in the Army, I knew that I would somehow some way figure out a way to create something that would allow me to pay forward that kind act to other kids like me who were born on the wrong side of the opportunity divide. And that act of kindness, you know, it's packed with lessons. But from an entrepreneurial perspective, that's where it started for me. It's like that became the invisible force that drove me. And I had no idea what it was going to be. But I knew that nothing could stop me. And I was going to figure out a way to create something that would eventually become my vehicle to do just that. And so that's why I decided to share my story.
12:00
I think your story is a great reminder for all of us that these tiny acts of kindness can have a life changing impact on someone. I also think it's great because I know many of our listeners aspire to start their own company. It seems like the prevailing thought these days is that people often want to start a company to get rich and famous. I admire that your motivation for writing your book and starting your company was to have a bigger impact on others.
That’s one of the driving reasons, whether intentional or intuitive, that many of us raise our hand to serve. We want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. And there's that embedded desire in many of us.
On many occasions, I’ve wondered whether or not I would have somehow connected to a bigger meaning had that gentleman not stepped on board the bus. His name was Harry Teague. I often imagine, what if he would have extended that invitation another way? You know, it's very possible that my pride could have overwhelmed that moment and I would have made the wrong choice and not been able to accept the help. But he had the wisdom and the humility to ask me to do it to someone else. He was a very successful businessman in the community. And the narrative that I told myself at that time was that, ‘People like Harry don't see kids like me.’
But with one small act of kindness, not only did he teach me that I was wrong, but he taught me that one of the single most important parts of leadership is seeing and encouraging potential. And I've never forgotten the lesson. There's not a member of the Armed Forces that doesn't carry that core value of seeing others and putting others first. So they should have confidence when they transition because there's not a entrepreneur or business owner in America that doesn't want to have people like that as part of their organization.
16:30
I love that idea of seeing potential in people and doing what you can to support them.
Psychologically next to food, shelter, and water, being seen is extremely important. One of our biggest psychological needs as a human animal. That moment on the bus was the first time in my life that I felt seen. It became the invisible force that drove me forward in my life. The desire to pay forward that act of kindness was greater than the pain that I was feeling from whatever struggle I was going through.
18:00
Can you talk about how you started Populous Group?
I accidentally got into the recruiting industry in the mid-'90s. Like most people, we get into the mountain we climb and the problem we solve for the world accidentally. I learned the recruiting industry inside and out. I was put in many roles that, quite frankly, I wasn't ready for. And after I'd been working in recruiting for about a decade, I was starting to notice the industry changing. Customers wanted more than just recruiting talent.
The light bulb in my head started slowly going from 40 to 60 to 80 to 100 watts. Through a series of conversations over the years, I just kept thinking about ways recruiting companies could better serve their customers. I got married in 2001. I had a wonderful support system through my wife. Eventually I made the leap and started Populous Group. We help organizations better manage their non-permanent workforce.
20:50
Do you do you think you could have started populous group directly out of the military?
I don’t think I was ready. In my specific journey, I feel like I personally still had too many lessons to learn. I had to get a lot of the fundamental educational components. But I think even more than that, I hadn't yet identified where I could very intensely apply my gifts. Often when we're starting our careers or our journey, we take the wrong trail. We're trying to figure out what we should do?
If I had to go back, I wouldn't change a thing. But if you know someone that's in that state now, perhaps the question I would consider asking is ‘Where can I make my most significant contribution to the world?’ And if you already have the answer to that - take the leap.
24:00
It seems that a big driving force to for you are your employees. The impact you can have on their life on a day to day basis and on their well-being is huge.
In the book, I talk about my dear mentor - Dr. Jobe. He’s taught me so much. And earlier I said I got into the industry by accident. But Dr. Jobe taught me that there really are no accidents.
My father was a contract worker from Mexico in the 50s and 60s. And now I'm serving a population of contingent workers across various Fortune 100 organizations across the US. I'm so grateful. And I called my company a community because we're part of something bigger than ourselves. That's how we see our community of temporary and contract workers – we see them like members of our family. Men and women that are simply trying to advance their family's story and figure out a way to help their family. We don't take that lightly.
27:30
How did you pick the title ‘The Gift of Struggle’?
As we evolve in life, we become less open about discussing our struggles. The title centers around the leadership philosophy that I developed over the years, starting from my experience on the bus. My family story and other experiences that I talk very openly about in the book. My leadership philosophy is very simple. And that is that we all struggle. Every struggle teaches us something. That's the gift. And leadership is sharing those gifts with others.
I’ve been very fortunate to have worked for some great people over the years. However, they hadn't figured out that vulnerability is a key competency of leadership. What's interesting about it is that we all know when someone doesn't have their stuff together yet that person tries so hard to conceal it. They try to act like they don't have any chinks in their armor. That doesn’t sit well with me. I admire leaders that are willing to be vulnerable.
I had a power experience during bootcamp that I’d love to share as well. It was 11pm and we were polishing our boots by flashlight. I remember the other soldiers in my platoon that were complaining about what we were going through. I remember specifically thinking that I had been getting up at 5am since I was very young. I knew what it was like to not have a lot of material possessions to my name. That gave me the confidence to know that I was going to make it through bootcamp. I realized that all the struggle I had gone through had really been worthwhile. At that moment, I started to look at struggle as something that could make me into a better person.
After going through a challenge or struggle, I encourage people to take the time to reflect back on that experience. If you take that time, you’ll often realize how much you learned from that struggle. To be a good leader and have a successful life, you have to understand who you are. Your struggles can help you answer a lot of those questions.
36:40
What advice do you have for people that want to start their own company?
When I was young I was asking myself who I was and what I wanted. If you can’t answer those questions with complete clarity, it will make it very difficult to find success throughout your life. Identify what gives you energy and what your strengths are.
39:40
What are your thoughts on quitting?
Quitting to me is like the word “no”. You need that word in your vernacular in order to clarify your own journey. I’ve surrounded myself with a great team. I tell them that they need to tell me ‘no’ and tell me when I’m wrong. I encourage people to surround themselves with people that will tell you what they truly think.
I’ve quit various things throughout my life. I try to think about whether I am being overly stubborn in certain situations and whether it might be better for my community if I pursue a different path.
A few years ago, I decided to call the man from the bus and tell him what an impact that had had on me. It was a really special moment. A few days later, I received a note from the man thanking me for calling him. He told me that my thanking him had made him feel like he had mattered. I think about that now when I evaluate whether I should pursue something or not. I think about whether I am being driven by my ego or whether I’m being driven by a desire to make a positive impact.
48:30
Are there any resources that you would recommend to listeners?
In my book, I devoted an entire chapter to different resources I’ve found valuable throughout my journey. I would point listeners to that.
Think about what’s the one thing you need to learn in order to continue climbing your mountain. Study people that are great at that skill. And then go learn the skill.
50:30
How do you approach reading a book?
I pick a book from someone that is really good at something I want to learn. Then I slowly read the book in order to absorb the information. I then set the book down. Then, I go back and read it a second time and highlight areas of the book that are particularly impactful.