The Higher Ed Podcast

Get to Know Our COO, Chad Chandlee

• Kendall Hunt Publishing - Higher Ed • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In our inaugural episode, we're thrilled to host a special conversation with none other than our Chief Operating Officer, Chad Chandlee. Join us as Chad generously shares the wealth of knowledge he's accumulated over the years, expertly navigating the intricacies of operations and leadership. Through candid discussions, we dive into the pivotal moments, challenges, and success he's experienced both professionally and personally.

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Contact Jen Lewis at jrlewis@kendallhunt.com

Jen Lewis:

Welcome to the higher education podcast with Kendall hunt publishing. Whether you're an author, a professor, or simply a curious listener, we're here to provide you with valuable insights into academic publishing and higher education. Join us for practical writing advice behind the scenes content and firsthand experiences shared by textbook authors. Now let's dive in. All right, well, welcome in to the very first episode of our Kendall hunt higher education Podcast. I'm so excited not only because it's our first episode, but because we have the man the myth, the legend, our CEO and president Chad Chandlee. Hi, Chad, how are you?

Chad Chandlee:

I am good. I appreciate you. Having me on first. I got a practice somewhere. Thank you. Yeah, no.

Jen Lewis:

Have you ever done a podcast before?

Chad Chandlee:

I have once though

Jen Lewis:

Okay, so you're more of a professional than I am. Let's see, we'll see how this goes. So this podcast is going to be a lot about higher education stuff. And obviously publishing but we thought we'd kick it off a little more casual tone with a little bit about Kendall hunt. And I mean, who doesn't want to learn from a CEO? Right. So can you give us a little backstory about who Kendall Han is, and just a little bit about how your career has started and progressed?

Chad Chandlee:

Yeah, Kendall hunt, I mean, we're in the higher education business. That's where we started, we got involved in K 12, in the 80s. And today, we're about 5050. That's a lot of growth and K 12. As of recently, but, you know, I would say the the main philosophy of Kendall Hunt has always been working around whatever the needs of the marketplace are. Meaning we don't come to the table in any of our divisions, with necessarily a product that we try to push out to the masses. Our company started with our founder, William C. Brown, going to biology departments and trading lab manuals, that better fit what was happening at their school. Sure, he did that in 1944. And our salespeople do that today. I think that's very unique in the industry. I think it's very unique, and basically any, any profession. And so I love having that VR story in that. Why we've been resilient through all these years. And I think it's because we only exist, because we figure out what our customers needs are. And those change year after year after year and 79 years later, we're still relevant because we still are figuring out what the needs of the customer are.

Jen Lewis:

Sure. constantly adapting. Yeah, yeah. And then what about you? How did you start at Kendall hunt? And what is your career kind of looked like?

Chad Chandlee:

So I started in 1998. That's my kids would say the 1900s.

Jen Lewis:

In my mind, that's only like 20 years.

Chad Chandlee:

It doesn't seem that long ago to me. But I started in 98. And I was an associate editor on our higher ed side, I was living in Dallas at the time, I was a sales manager in Dallas, selling printing and printed labels and all kinds of stuff like that. And I had the opportunity, knowing Kendall Hunt was interview confirmed to be the opportunity to get physician in Cleveland, Ohio, which my wife was not super excited about. And I always tell people that she cried on the way in and she cried on the way out. We absolutely loved it there. And just had the best time and it turned out to be a great, great place for us. But we were there about two years, moved back to Dubuque became a higher ed manager. And then then I sort of just went wherever the needs of the company were, you know, we built a, we added a wing to our building, I was in charge of that project. So I became Director of Operations. I ran our K 12 division for a couple of years, because we needed somebody there, and eventually became president of the company, I think, in 2005. So it was a pretty quick, pretty quick deal. But there was a lot of things going on in our company at that time and a lot of changes. And you know, we had a larger turnover of executives with just people that were retiring and things like that. So there were a lot of opportunities, and thankfully, I was kind of there in the right time and Wellman. So yeah, that's, that's my KH story.

Jen Lewis:

Well, it's kind of good because it helps me pivot to this question that I did have for you was, Do you think there is a special recipe to success? Or do you think timing is kind of everything in someone's career?

Chad Chandlee:

I would say this. I think timing matters, but I don't think it's imperative to yours. Success, meaning that sure timing comes into it. You know, where are you going to have success this year or next year? Like, okay, I get that, like you were there when that person moved on to a new position. But I really think that the most important thing to me and I learned this that the company that I worked at prior to kindle has, the most important thing is that you are doing everything to put yourself in a position that when that timing thing happens, that you're the one in their mind. Sure, yeah. Right. And so if you're doing those things, and it's like, oh, it's it sometimes looks like luck, or looks like timing, was it? The reality is, if you didn't do what you were doing, that timing wouldn't have been yours.

Jen Lewis:

Right. Yeah, that makes sense. I think nowadays, I think with people's career in general, I think sometimes putting yourself out there and speaking and manifesting what you want to happen. I think that is a way for people to vie in someone's mind when those positions become open. So I think, you know, do you think people should be vulnerable? Or have those conversations early on in their career? Or do you think it's truly about the timing of if you see something coming?

Chad Chandlee:

So I'm not an expert on any of this? Like, I can only I can only give you what has worked for me, sir. And then I'll tell you what, I think in our company, I wish more people would do, right. And that is what worked for me is I did everything I could to make sure that everybody that was in a position to give me a promotion, knew what I wanted out of my career. And then I backed it up with doing all the things that I had to do to make sure that it wasn't just talk, but that they saw that I was doing all these things, right. And I would say in our company, I think it's immediate, I think it's in the interview. What do you really want to do? Where do you really want to go? And a lot of times people don't know the answer to that. And that's okay. But as you start to figure it out, I think you have to talk about it. You have to tell people, you have to put yourself in front of people. And that's little things like this. Everybody has been in these meetings where the boss or whoever's running the meeting is going through different scenarios, and somebody says, hey, we need somebody to do X. And you've been in these meetings where everyone just sits there. Nobody volunteers. And my point is, you got to be the one that volunteers. So I always say, I have this thing of be somebody, when the boss or the person running, the thing says, I need somebody to do X, you need to be somebody.

Jen Lewis:

Right. And I think it's kind of what you touched on earlier, how you just kind of were there for the shifting needs. So even if it might be outside of the realm of what you're doing in that moment, what your job responsibilities are, I think, you know, putting yourself out there is probably the point right,

Chad Chandlee:

be willing to and be willing to, I think the point you just made, which I think is a really good one, which is be willing to do other things. Yeah.

Jen Lewis:

Yeah, for sure. I think when people listen to this, you know, you say this advice is just what works for you. But in a way you're kind of giving advice like a mentor was so you know, my question for you is, is there any one or two people that have stood out in your career that have been major influences and mentors for you?

Chad Chandlee:

So I get asked that question a lot. And it's a weird answer for me. Because people are also asked, like, who is your hero growing up? Right? And I am always like, I don't have one. I don't know if that says something weird about me. Or that I have always thought that I am a key I, I am as a person, a part of every person that I've been around and I've cared about. Sure. Right. So I think that what you really should spend time doing is being around as many people as you can, and observing them, and observing the things that you love about them, and how you can emulate those pieces of them that also fit your personality and who you are, right. So you have to be somebody that's authentic to who you are. But also taking these bits and pieces of all these people that are around you that even somebody you may not respect you may not like or whatever, but they probably have something that you're like, Gosh, I really liked that about them. Yeah. And if you can incorporate that into yourself. And so I think that, you know, I don't know when I think about who I am today versus who I who I was. I think it's just that I've just picked up a little bit of everything about all these people that I admired. For whatever reason I may not have admired them totally, but I admire something about them and I thought Uh oh, I could incorporate that into who I am.

Jen Lewis:

This is this is kind of a funny question because as you're saying those things, something for me in my career that I've always done is sometimes I take pieces of people who have led me before who events, supervisors, managers and things I didn't love, and have also kind of taken those pieces with me and like promised myself like, I would never do that to my team. Like, I would never do that. Because just things that obviously didn't work for me. But I think also don't work for a lot of people's love. Do you think there's also something in that to where you can take things that you don't love about people who lead you and make that part?

Chad Chandlee:

Oh, my gosh, absolutely. I think that's as important as the other right? Yeah, like we I say that as a parent, you observe things and you go, Gosh, remind me not to ever do that when I get to that point. Right, right. Yes, the same thing.

Jen Lewis:

I think that's parenting in general, General, right. Just like your career, I think like your parents do it. And most parents do an amazing job. But there are certain things like for me that I won't do that my mom did, and you know, vice versa. So I think that's kind of parallel to what you do in your career. So you were talking a little bit about how it wasn't necessarily all professional relationships in your life, but sometimes personal that you take pieces from people, you know, pivoting into professional conversation here versus personally, do you think, you know, how would you define success at the end of the day, you know, personally and professionally.

Chad Chandlee:

So to me, they're there, they're connected. Because my professional career, I think all the things that I want out of that are paramount to my personal success. So what I mean by that is things that are important to me in my career at this point, now that I've been successful enough now to have the time to spend with my family that I want to have. I've been successful enough in my professional career to have my kids be able to have things that maybe I didn't have been able to do vacations that I wanted to do, and spend lots of time with, you know, my family and my friends that my career has allowed me to do that. Sure. And so when I think about like, well, what's so important about being, you know, successful in my career, it's a lot of it's just like, being able to have, you know, at this point in my career, it's like, I can go to my kids games. Yeah. Right. If I wasn't where I am, yet, I might not be able to have that flexibility. So for me, it was like, I want to get to the point where I have the flexibility that when my kid has a game, I can go. Yeah, you know, and that's the kind of things that I look at and go, that's for me, that's the success. Yeah,

Jen Lewis:

I think it's being present in both your professional life and your personal life. To me, that's success right there where you're able to, you know, be available for both.

Chad Chandlee:

Yeah, I would say this, you know, when people talk a lot about, you know, life balance and work life balance. And I believe in that people that know me, it's like, hey, they know, my family is important. Me, I want to be in all these events. But I also a lot of those people don't remember or weren't around the years that I didn't have that. And that time that I spent when I didn't have it was spending that time so that I could have it.

Jen Lewis:

Sure. Right. Right. You know, it's interesting that we're having this conversation, because I think work life balance is like a term that gets thrown around so much nowadays. And people are like, Oh, I don't have it, or you know, how do you get it. And I think, like you said, there are ways to work for it. But I also think that you can create more time in your life sometimes, like, you know, I'm gonna pivot off into this, but like, my husband read this book called The 5am. Club. I don't know if you've heard of it, I've heard but man, he read it. And he just got up at 5am Every day consistently. And I was like, Alright, start getting up at 5am. Because if you create that time in your morning, one of the quotes from the book that I loved was, if you take care of the front end of your day, the back end will take care of itself. And I love that quote. And so for me, you know, have there been any professional or personal books you've read that have made an impact on how you, you know, run your day to day life?

Chad Chandlee:

So I was first make a comment on what you said. I mean, I went through that, right. So I have four kids. Yeah. And when they were little, you know, I used to do, I like to work out. I like to do those things. And so, you know, I would work out when I got home from work. You know, I was getting home at seven o'clock at night and work out for an hour and a half. It was 830. And as we started having kids, I'm like this, this doesn't work. Right? Yeah. Either stop doing that. Or figure out where do you get that you said, where do you get the time in your day? So you need it. I was getting up at five o'clock in the morning. And I still kind of get up about that time. No, and it's because now I've created that time where that's my time now to work out. And then the rest of the day is available for work or for family or whatever else. I don't know that I have a book that I've looked at that says this is how I create my day or how I work my day. I think if I were thinking about books that I A that I think of have probably shaped a lot of who I am and who our company is. And I would point to two mean, one is five dysfunctions of a team. I think that is such a great book, because I think it probably talks about almost every company out there, right. And the thing for me, personally, I took out of that, because of who I am. And who I was probably more is, I wanted everybody to get along. Right? You know, I didn't want to be in this meeting where people call people out and, you know, questioned and said, Well, wait a minute, I'm not sure that's right, or whatever. But after I read that book, I'm like, this is getting us nowhere. And it just happened to hit me at a time when I was working a lot with our executive team. And I felt like, we had a group that was highly artificial harmony. You know, we had these great meetings, and everybody got along, but we weren't getting anything really, really, like, accomplished. Yeah. The other thing out of there that I love, is when you make a decision, 24 Hour Rule. You make a decision, and it's implemented in 24 hours. And when you do that in the meeting, and I've had several meetings like this, where we have a meeting, and we get through the meeting, everybody agrees. And I say, Okay, I said, I want you to implement this tomorrow. And then I want you to get back to me and let me know how it went. Sure. And immediately, you get the whoa, wait a minute, I'm not so sure we should do X or I'm not so sure we should do Y and it's like, Okay, now we're getting to it, because of the 24 hour rule. And I would just say the other book for me was was good to great. And I love that book, especially for our industry, because our industry has been a slow growth industry for a long time. And I looked at that book to say, just because the industry isn't on fire doesn't mean you can't be right. And I use that a lot and the things that I talked about with our managers and executives,

Jen Lewis:

right. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Those are good. You know, it's easy to talk about the wins, it's easy to talk about the success, right. But do you think for you, have there been any mistakes that you still think about now that maybe have shaped some decisions you make moving forward or has shifted the dynamics of your decision making?

Chad Chandlee:

Yes, lots of you know, when I first was, I think, executive vice president or vice president, something like that, in the early 2000s. We went through a really big culture shift at Kent, Ohio. And I was in charge of where I was leading. And I thought I was doing all these great things, talking to people and getting their opinions. And we did surveys, and we did all these things. We made some pretty big changes in the way that we work with our employees and the way that we, we gave them opportunities to make decisions. And it was probably the worst thing I've ever done. It sounds like Well, why would you say that? And it was because what I realized was two things. I realized that one, what people say to you and what they want are not the same thing. Very often. I didn't get below the surface. And we talked about that a lot in our company, right, second, third, fourth degree questions, right? Yeah. Somebody asked you, you asked him a question that give you an answer. And you say, Okay, I really want to understand what you mean by that. Why is that important to you. And I took the face value of i just want x to happen. And so I made X happen. And then I found out that people were miserable, absolutely miserable. And part of the reason was that we had hired a certain type of person, because that was our culture. And we hired those people. And then we changed the culture. And we expected different things. And all of a sudden, I had all these employees that were miserable, because they're like, whoa, wait a minute. I don't like doing that. That's not who I am. And I thought, oh, no, like this, this, this did not go well. Yeah. That was I would say that and then I've started several companies, some of which have been successful, others of which have not. And the one that thing I've learned from the unsuccessful companies is this is that if you start a company, you need to have one thing to sell if you have to sell somebody on two things. That rarely works. If you have to get them to a certain point and then change it and then get them to another point. That doesn't work if you just have to sell it once. and get them to understand what you're saying. That's what you need to do. Yeah. That's, that's my couple of, I mean, it is probably a little, you know, every day, right? Every day you make a mistake, and then you're like, Ah, I'm not going to do that again, or I should have done it this way. Or I should have said it differently or whatever.

Jen Lewis:

But that's growth, though. Yeah, I mean, its growth and your career, its growth as a company. But I mean, I think let's go way back to the 1900s. As you're just say, way, way back in the 1900s. If you're younger Chad's self, starting his career can see you now. Do you think there's anything specific that he would be most proud of?

Chad Chandlee:

I think that, yes. I think the way that our company handled COVID Probably is is my most proud moment. Which again, might sound strange, but it was, it was a I felt like, not only for myself, but for our employees. I found out who we were. Yeah. I mean, it just was like that way, right? You figured out who you could count on? You figure it out who was in it? And who was here to be a part of something and who was not? Who's gonna rise to the occasion? Yeah. You know, and I was super impressed with, you know, the people that stepped up and how we handled it and how we didn't, I felt like we didn't overreact. We provided I think, as a management team, we provided a calmness. Yeah. to our, to our employees. I'm really proud that we didn't, we kept everybody employed. Yeah. All the way down to, we hire an outside firm to do the cleaning in our buildings. And, you know, there was no one in our building for 18 months. And we paid them every month to clean the building. And they never showed up. We just paid them. And I'm always like, That, to me was the the way that we handle those scenarios is probably my most proud piece. And I would say the other piece through COVID that we did because of, of companies that you had professors that didn't love digital. Some did, but some did not. But suddenly, in one week's time, they absolutely had to have digital. Sure. And so they were panicking calling us can I get digital kind of get digital? And we made it happen for them? Yeah, at no additional cost to them or their students. We just gave them the digital and made it work. And I think that was pretty, that was a pretty cool thing. Well,

Jen Lewis:

I think you're you're stripping down the company, and professors have their comfort zones, their norm there every day structure. I think when you remove structure from people, I mean, imagine kids, right, you remove the structure of their everyday life, you know, what are you gonna get accomplished. So I think COVID was, I think, a true test for a lot of companies. And you saw some succeed, and a lot of companies didn't succeed. But I think, like you said, there was a calmness, I think all people wanted in COVID was just communication, right? To be in the know to like, understand what's happening, because it's very easy to panic in those

Chad Chandlee:

Yeah, so I'm a pretty calm person, just by my nature. But I remember, we immediately started developing a full teams, channel for everybody. And I remember sending out teams messages or emails, and at the bottom of every one of them, I would say, keep in mind that whatever I'm telling you right now, may change in the next minute, the next hour or the next day. And it did. If you remember, you know, everybody remembers COVID, and how the information coming out of wherever, yeah, that changed like me, personally, so I would literally send an email, and five minutes later, I'd get a phone call, and it'd be like, I gotta change what we just what I what I just say last. Just kidding, right? We're pivoting immediately. And that was that was crazy. But everybody knew that I was just gonna, I'm just telling you and people were asking like, how do you know what to do? I said, I'm making it up. Right, sir. I'm making it up. Because there was no one in the world. That had been through a pandemic that was going through what we're at. Right, right. So everybody was just figuring out. Yeah, and that was normally you. You call somebody that? Oh, well, they've been through this before they've been situations. through that form. I call them and get advice. There was nobody to call. You know, there's nobody to call.

Jen Lewis:

I think COVID really shook things up. And you know, it's funny, three years later, how it's still very much a part

Chad Chandlee:

it's important to be here. And I think that the of conversation. And I think one of the long lasting side effects of COVID has been the hybrid work environment. I think every, you know, every manager every leader has experienced some type of question from a team being like, why can't I work remote? Because like, we've proven we can do it. So, you know, hot take, hot take, what's your hot take on this? Because I know you get asked this a lot. But what do you think? You know, the the synergy or whatever you want to call it in the office? Why do you think that's so important for people to be physically in person? Because I feel like I know how you feel about it. And I have same, I think worst environment I found through COVID. So when everyone was at home, I thought it worked. I thought it worked for a while. Because in the beginning, everybody was rowing in the boat, right? Everybody just wanted to everybody was sort of like, there was a mantra, there was a thing that we're going to be successful, we're going to make it and everybody was a part of that once I think it became clear that we were going to make it and we were going to be fine. I think it became less productive. Yeah, no. I mean, there was a reason why golf courses were busy at two o'clock in the afternoon. Everywhere. Yeah. Right. I mean, it didn't go those people were at work before. And now they're not. And they're working at different hours. But the problem that I so where I'm going with this is, then you went then you got hybrid, which to me, hybrid, where some companies went to, you personally can choose whichever days you want to work home, work from home, two days, or three days a week. To me, that was the worst of all scenarios. And the reason was that I felt like you have half of your group in the office on a given day and half of your group on Zoom. And so then they would be like, Well, should we all just go to our own offices and do zoom? Or do we all sit in one office and then do zoom with the people that aren't here. And I thought that was a nightmare scenario. So you know, our you know, we went to is Fridays, you can work from home. That way, everybody. That way everybody is in, I know where everybody is. They're all they're all at home, or they're all in the office on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So when I want to do an all in one, I want people to all be in the office. I'll have those meetings during those days.

Jen Lewis:

Right. And I think, for me, I think it's less about having a hybrid or remote option. I think as long as you have a transparent relationship with your leader, and you have flexibility, like for me, Flexibility is the key. Because, you know, if you have something going on with your child, or you know, having those remote options on days where you need it, I think is wonderful. You know, but does that mean you have to be remote all the time? No, I like the flexibility is key,

Chad Chandlee:

I think for us. And what I've tried to really impress upon our managers is that, you know, I want them to use their own discernment. When these scenarios come up, right. And, and I go back to what I said at the very beginning about being that person being that somebody, if you are always that somebody, and you're always the person that's very productive, and trustworthy, and you do what you say you're going to do, and you're that person, then guess what, just as in everything else in life, you get the benefit of the doubt. And when things come up, I want your manager to give you all the flexibility in the world. Sure. If you're the same person that comes in late every day, leaves a little early, doesn't clock out when they're supposed to doesn't clock in exactly when they're supposed to they're always kind of working the edges and taken advantage of the things Yeah, then you're probably not the person that you want to give all this flexibility to right. And so to me, it's like an urn thing. And people say, well, it has to be the same for everybody. And I'm like, well, not really, why? Why? Because it's, it's, I need to know who you are. And tell our managers Hey, you just have to work with your people and make sure they have the flexibility they need what they got to earn. Sure.

Jen Lewis:

You know, I think this conversation is an interesting one. Because for me a lot of questions and a lot of the business articles I read online are, you know, is the nine to five here to stay like is it here to stay for the next 20 years? Do you think companies will maintain this? Because I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't didn't the the old eight to 540 Hour Workweek really start because it meant you know, three people could work 24 hour shift, right, eight, eight and eight. So do you think this nine to five or eight to five? Lifestyle is going to be here in 20 years? Do you think people will move to four day workweeks?

Chad Chandlee:

Okay, well, there's two different because one, I think that it is here to stay. And part of that is because of people pushing for work life balance, actually, I think is coming back more towards the nine to five. So a lot of us, I know, you know me, I mean, I'm available 24/7. You know, like, I shouldn't say 24/7 When I go to bed, I put my phone in another room, so I don't get emails and texts

Jen Lewis:

do you not know about the Do Not Disturb button?

Chad Chandlee:

I do. I don't like that either. I just put it in another room, it's not even near me, I can't reach over and look at it. Because I'm otherwise I'm looking at it. I don't want to look at it. I want to wake up in the middle of the night and look over and see if I have messages. I don't want that. Yeah. But you know, I also like being able to when I get up in the morning at five. First thing I do is do my emails. First thing I do. When I go to bed, I make sure all my stuff is cleaned before I go to bed. You know, I do it when I'm watching a sports game or whatever I make sure that it's like, so I like the ability to do that. Now, I think that people there are a group of people that do not want to when they leave, they want to be gone. And I think so this whole thing of well, it's a 24 hour day, work day and I can choose whichever eight of those hours, I want to work. Two reasons why I think that doesn't work. One is the work life balance, I think gets way out of balance, because you're never not at work, right. And two, I think there is something like we have here where we say you have a lot of flexibility as to when your hours are, but we have a core set of hours. And I think that's important because I need to know that if I need to call a meeting. I know that 11 o'clock is of core hours so that I know that that's a time I can have meetings. Sure. I know that we have people that come in at six. No, we have people that come in at night. Sure. And I think that's giving them the flexibility, especially you know, with people with young kids, who are they that way they can get their kids to school or whatever or the opposite. Yeah, come in at six so that they can be there at home when their kid gets home from school. I think that's important. Yeah. But that's why I think you'll it may not be the nine to five per se, but I think it's always going to be at core, there's going to be a core work hours.

Jen Lewis:

Well, I think some people who don't know Kendall hunt, well, we have a lot of field employees. Right, we have different time zones. So obviously there has to be some type of overlap, because when you need responses right away, you can't just say, Hey, I'm gonna work 5pm to midnight,

Chad Chandlee:

that's what works for me. Well, I know I get that like, that's works for you. But that doesn't work for everybody else.

Jen Lewis:

Right. So, let's pivot into a little personal conversation here because I would love to know what are some hobbies and activities that you like to do outside of work?

Chad Chandlee:

So probably my favorite thing to do is we have a place on the water because on the Mississippi River, we have a place there. I grew up, waterskiing. I grew up on the water. I love being underwater, that would be that's my that's my happy place.

Jen Lewis:

Yeah. It's you and I are so opposite. I'm terrified of water. Yeah, I'm the same I I mean, I grew up in my brothers

Chad Chandlee:

So it's eight minutes from my house. That's like I love just and I don't I'm not necessarily I don't have to be in the water. I just like being around the water we used to go tubing, and they would like the boat would run around me they'd be like, Oh my gosh, there's a huge fish by you. So I like grew this intense fear of having like my body and open water. So same love looking at water. But yeah, I mean 100% I think there's just something really cool about being around it. That's my that's probably my number one is like that's my go to like I just want to relax and go sit on our dock have a glass of wine or a beer or just lay there and read I love sitting on the dock and reading like that's my probably most relaxing thing. Sure, but I would say my everyday thing is you know, I like running I like biking, I do some some triathlons and things like outdoor biking or like, peloton. Both I mean I have you know, road biking because I do triathlons, but I have Valentines long does a triathlon take Japan, I just do the short ones. They're a little over an hour. If you do the longer ones, which I'm gearing up to maybe do you know now you're talking about 1011 hours, you know, that's a little bit bigger deal, but I'm trying. It's a little hard to pull that off. But for me, it's just being active. I just like, like being active pickleball and then the

Jen Lewis:

everybody's into pickleball right now. Did you pickleball see the Superbowl commercial with the little babies playing? Pickleball Yeah, that's great.

Chad Chandlee:

That was a great,

Jen Lewis:

that was really good,

Chad Chandlee:

Great commercial.

Jen Lewis:

What about like, Have you ever done like yoga because I took my husband do yoga with me once and it is so funny to watch guys who you know, my husband is say beefy, right? He loves to heavy lift and do all these things. He's got a lot of bulky muscles. To watch him do yoga was one of the funniest things I've ever seen because like the flexibility was just not there. And I felt so superior than him which never happens in our physical things we do together. They're so it was it was great.

Chad Chandlee:

So I love yoga. I am very flexible. I spent a ton of time.

Jen Lewis:

I think it's important, I think, I think I told my husband as our kids grow up and like I would love them to do yoga on the side of whatever if they choose to do sports, I think it's so important to do those things and have flexibility in whatever sport you do.

Chad Chandlee:

Well, it's not it's great for when you're young, and you're doing sports, because it helps you stay out of being hurt down ages here chatting. About to age me, you know, but I also I read a ton about anti aging. I love reading it. It's super interesting to me.

Jen Lewis:

How do you feel about cold plunges.

Chad Chandlee:

But I think they're probably amazing. I hate cold. So it's one of those. I can't, I can't. I think that's that will be the last thing that I ever do. But I but I think that you know, when you read all these articles, one of the things comes down to physically is flexibility. That's what happens to you, right? You become less flexible, and then things break and crack. And then once those things start to break and crack harder, all of a sudden, you can't you can't stay active. You can't want you and then once you can't stay active. I feel like it's a downward slide. And so for me, it's like I do everything I can I stretch probably a half an hour every day. Yeah.

Jen Lewis:

I have the stretch it app. Have you ever done an app before?

Chad Chandlee:

No.

Jen Lewis:

And it honestly is gonna yoga. It's gonna age me so greatly. So like in the morning or whatever. When I do it. It's like, what's, what's your problem pain today? And I'm like, lower back. Or your hip? Like, this is what you should do. But yeah, my husband, I were just talking about that today. Like, if you could go back to your 20s, would you? And I said I wouldn't with like everything except for just the way you physically feel. Yeah. Right. Because you just you don't have these things where you're like, my lower back hurts today. Oh,

Chad Chandlee:

that's funny. We were just talking about that. This morning. I was talking to somebody about this. And they said, Well, what, you know, the chiropractor what? What's bothering you today? So well, you'll understand that she was younger? And I said, well, you'll understand you older. It's not about which which one is hurting more? You know, there's always something hurting. It's just a matter of how much. Right, Yeah. Alright, so if you had someone in your life, who knew you really, really well. If they had to describe you in just a handful of words, what do you think they would say? Oh, what I hoped they would say? Well, I know what they would I know what they would say at least one thing. If they've been around me for a long time, for even a short period of time, I think they would say very competitive. I think I have learned to be competitive appropriately. You know, I mean, I grew up in a family of athletes, and my dad was a coach, and you know, everything was a competition. And yeah, I think I've really learned to tone down that competitive edge when it needs to be. So that's good. But I think they would say that, I would hope that they would say thoughtful. I try to pride myself on not overreacting. And really thinking through something, whether it's personal or business, in thinking through something before I say it or react. I think those that know me know that what you see on my face is probably not what is happening. And I purposely do that, you know, it's kind of that never let them see you sweat tighter. And then I would hope they would say I'm empathetic. I also think that that's probably one of the best qualities that you can have as a human being is if you can be empathetic, then then you're typically a good person.

Jen Lewis:

Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously Dubuque isn't a huge place. And whenever someone's like, Oh, you're at Kendall Hunt or I know, I know Laura or and Chad. They're just the nicest people. And I'm like, I can concur. Like yes, I said Chad is probably one of the nicest CEOs like I've ever met, and he's so considerate and kind and, you know, my, my working life here for the last however many months this has been awesome, and you truly are incredibly empathetic. So I've got I'm going to have to go back to the competitive thing and learn how to do that. And I'm just saying like you said, I'm gonna have to learn how to do that better because I kicked my slipper off the other night watching college basketball almost took my husband face out So I'll let you know how that goes. So I've got some rapid fire questions here to kind of end this in a fun way and then one more question that will end on so these are just rapid fire answer you ready? Favorite food?

Chad Chandlee:

Pizza

Jen Lewis:

Least favorite food.

Chad Chandlee:

cooked spinach. I love spinach but I can the opposite of I hate cooked spinach.

Jen Lewis:

I agree. biggest pet peeve

Chad Chandlee:

not doing what you say you're gonna do

Jen Lewis:

pineapple on pizza yes or no?

Chad Chandlee:

Yes.

Jen Lewis:

Go to karaoke song.

Chad Chandlee:

Oh, anything Buffett.

Jen Lewis:

Okay, you're a contestant on any game show what game show is it?

Chad Chandlee:

My wife would say price or not prices right Family Feud

Jen Lewis:

oh my god I'm trying to get my family on that I want to do it so bad. Okay biggest fear

Chad Chandlee:

losing a child

Jen Lewis:

Current TV show you're watching

Chad Chandlee:

what are we watching right now? Oh thing called Safe it's Hurley Corbin book on Netflix

Jen Lewis:

overrated place to travel it's a tough one.

Chad Chandlee:

I love travel. well, I would say this Thailand for their beaches, cuz it's a long way to go. And we have great beaches a lot closer. Yeah.

Jen Lewis:

Favorite place you've ever traveled?

Chad Chandlee:

I'm gonna give you two. Okay, I'm gonna sayTanzania and the Galapagos Islands.

Jen Lewis:

Oh wow I'm over here like Yeah.

Chad Chandlee:

So the two are they're just both amazing.

Jen Lewis:

the greatest invention of all time.

Chad Chandlee:

Electricity

Jen Lewis:

Yes, I was gonna say washer dryer but that obviously. Favorite singer of all time all time.

Chad Chandlee:

Ooh, that's so hard. I'm probably have to say Kenny Chesney.

Jen Lewis:

Okay, well then what's the favorite song?

Chad Chandlee:

Oh, I'm probably the one that a lot of people don't know is like, there's one called the life. Okay? It's great. It's just I love the messages. I'm a listen to the words person, which my wife drives her crazy, but am I just like we can't listen to the words.

Jen Lewis:

I'm probably with your wife. I'm more of the like the sound right?

Chad Chandlee:

She's into the beat. Oh, you'll love the song. She's like, I like the song. I said, Did you listen to the word?

Jen Lewis:

No. It's so funny how there's two different types of people that because I am someone who will sing the absolute wrong words and my husband be like, What did you just say? And I'm like, I don't know. Alright. sunrise or sunset?

Chad Chandlee:

Sunset

Jen Lewis:

summer or winter?

Chad Chandlee:

Summer.

Jen Lewis:

City Living or countryside?

Chad Chandlee:

City.

Jen Lewis:

Cooking at home or ordering takeout?

Chad Chandlee:

Okay, at home

Jen Lewis:

texting or calling?

Chad Chandlee:

Calling

Jen Lewis:

music or podcasts?

Chad Chandlee:

Sorry, podcast, but music.

Jen Lewis:

morning person or night owl?

Chad Chandlee:

Both

Jen Lewis:

Beach vacation or mountain getaway

Chad Chandlee:

Beach

Jen Lewis:

introvert or extrovert?

Chad Chandlee:

Naturally, introvert,

Jen Lewis:

you're an introvert.

Chad Chandlee:

Naturally,

Jen Lewis:

naturally, okay. I think sometimes people are surprised. Because I think when you have charisma, I said that wants to someone I'm like, I'm actually kind of introvert and they're like, No way. And I'm like, No, at the end of the day, sometimes they just don't want to talk to you for a while because you like give so much throughout the day. And you talk about talk and you're so engaging, but then it's like, I just need to shut down for a while I

Chad Chandlee:

I really had to teach myself to be extroverted, because I knew I wanted to do in my life. Right. And I knew that my personality didn't fit. But I really thought that that's what I wanted to do. And so I worked at it. But if if you use some of the traditional things, like if I go to a party, I just kind of like, I'm not I don't want to cover the room. Yeah, I do in my job, because that's part of what I have to do. Right? Like, you got to do that. You can't not but if I'm at a personal party, I mean, I kind of find my three people I like talking to and I'm gonna probably do that.

Jen Lewis:

I am masterful at the Irish goodbye. I am not like if I go out with people or on vacations. I'm not usually the last one up like I'm typically like, first one out, or I'll find like one or two core people and like, yeah, chat with them and like, yeah. Well, you survived the rapid fire questions. So just one last question, which I think is a great one to finish on would be What do you want your legacy to be at Kendall Hunt?

Chad Chandlee:

Yeah, I mean, that's,

Jen Lewis:

I guess, at Kendall Hunt or just in life. Right?

Chad Chandlee:

Um, I think that I would say this. The most important thing for me at this point in my career is that when I look back, I want people to be able to say that The growth that I helped lead provided great opportunities for people in their careers. It's probably the, you know, it's very cliche to say it, but I think all of us that do this, like, you know, I coached all my kids, you know, in different sports, I love coaching, I love teaching. And so, you know, the greatest thing, as an athlete, you know, the greatest thing is when you win or you, you're successful, I've always thought the greater thing that I love more than ever, is when you coached and they win. And so I think that's about like being a Kendall hunt. It's like, coaching people up and then watching the success they have. It's like, it's the best. Yeah. If you feel like you. Not that they have to feel that you had an inkling in that. But if you feel like you had some little piece of that, where you can be like, Hey, you're not taking our seat, you're not taking credit, but in your mind, you're like, Oh, I was a part of that. Yeah, for them. And I see them have success and watch them smile and laugh and have fun with it. Like there's, there is nothing better than that.

Jen Lewis:

Yeah. I actually thought of one more question. Since I have you here. So you recently celebrated a milestone birthday. I'm not gonna say that birthday. But I think now that you've reached this time in your life, do you think there's any lessons learn any big ones for you about time?

Chad Chandlee:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, when you get to be so I just turned 50. And I had to say it because well,

Jen Lewis:

I mean, you never know how some people feel about it.

Chad Chandlee:

Yeah, I think that time is I think you start thinking about, you know, what are you going to do with your time? And what? What have you done with it? Yeah, right. And I have this thing. And I think people that know me, well, I mean, my wife and I have really tried to take advantage of everything that we can to travel to have experiences. I mean, we went years ago, we went away from getting, you know, not that the kids don't ever get gifts. But we went away from big gifts. And we it's always a trap for some experience that they've done. And I think, stepping back and being like, can I, I used to just say, Oh, well, I don't have time for that. And now I'm the opposite. I'm like, I'll figure out a way to make it happen. Sure. I'll figure out how to make that time work. And I'll do it because I just think that it's Don't you see with your kids? My kids are, you know, my oldest is 23. And it's like, we talked about like, well, this is the last spring break that he'll be on with us. Yeah, no, I mean, that's a unsettling feeling. And so I think you your whole thing becomes now like, I just want to take advantage of every opportunity to be with our kids and do things with them and be with my wife and take trips. And sure. And not let moments just slip by. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. And I would say the, the biggest thing is learning how to be intentional.

Jen Lewis:

That's I know that sounds so lame, but my husband and I's word of the year is intention? Because I think not not that parenting older kids isn't difficult in its own right. But I think with young kids, the difference for me is like you get so lost in the chaos. That I think sometimes if you don't have the 5am Wake up, see intentional time together, you know, creating space for each other. I think you just get lost in it all. So intention was like my word this year.

Chad Chandlee:

Yeah I think it's great for kids to see you doing things that are intentional. I mean, we used to do, we used to do like date nights with them. Right? And was just very intentional in it. I don't know how much they love the one on one, but I think they looked forward to it. But it was an intentional thing they saw us Do I think for work. People see you doing intentional things, and they know that you're doing it for a reason. Right. And I think like you said, you just get caught in the chaos of life, right as of work. You know, we have a very cyclical business, you can get caught in that cycle of well, this is what happens in the fall. And then we have spring semester and then we you know,

Jen Lewis:

like everybody kind of blacks out from like July to October.

Chad Chandlee:

So you can get stuck in that. Yeah. Or you can be intentional about it and make things happen at all different times. Sure.

Jen Lewis:

Well, thank you so much for being here today. Really enjoyed the conversation. And you know, hopefully we'll have you back someday.

Chad Chandlee:

I'm sure this podcast thing will get better from here.

Jen Lewis:

What you're saying today wasn't good.

Chad Chandlee:

It was good. I'm sure it'll be better as you get more and more people on here.

Jen Lewis:

Yeah, we're excited. You know, we're gonna look forward to having some authors on here. Learn a little bit more about publishing with Kindle hmm and all kinds of Thanks. So we really just wanted to, you know, to honor you and give you this space to chat and our first episode, and I'm sure we'll have you on again someday.

Chad Chandlee:

All right. Well, thank you.

Jen Lewis:

Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. If you're interested in publishing with us, we would love to hear from you. You can find our contact info in the show notes as well as our social links and guest info. Thanks again and we'll see you next time.