Building His Company With Common Sense - Peter Bredlau Jr

Peter Bredlau Jr. is a second generation owner of Quality Service Associates Inc. He’s a straight shooter and has made the company his own with his unique leadership style. Peter’s Paper Napkin Wisdom is a piece of advice he would give to any entrepreneur: “I hire for common sense and attitude, not skill.” When hiring a new employee, it’s easy to get distracted by the bright shiny lights on a resume, but Peter cautions us that it’s important to remember a resume is someone putting their best food forward. Not to mention that writing a resume is a skill itself, it doesn’t really tell you anything about a person or their skills. The resume can give you an indication as to whether the person believes they have the skills you’re looking for, but really it’s the first 30 days with an employee that will reveal whether or not they have the skills you need. Though he no longer leads the hiring process himself, Peter supports his leadership team to ensure that new members of his team are on-boarded properly. He starts by empowering his senior leaders to run the hiring process. Peter himself only meets the new hire on their first day of work and during that time he talks to them to find out what kind of person they are. He says he almost always knows whether or not the person is going to last but he’s careful not to give his team his opinion. Some may argue that is a mistake, but Peter would disagree. In stepping back and allowing his team to be in control, he provides them a learning opportunity with each new hire. In addition, by empowering his team, he gains more leverage to focus himself on the areas where he can drive change and add value. Through the conversation, Peter shares the reasons he sees attitude and commitment as more important than any other factor in business, how he learned that lesson originally, and how he applies it today. It’s a fascinating discussion with a very intelligent guy. Listen to my conversation with Peter here: