Name: Kyle Nordin

Title: Sr. ISC Supervisor

Hello,

My name is Kyle Nordin. I have a fantastic wife; Lavel and we have been married over 20 years. I also have two children; Amri (18) and Aven (16). Our family loves all sports and we love to vacation.

I was a business manager with UPS for over 17 years and recently left for a much better work / life balance and am now at Honeywell FM&T.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Kyle's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Learning to deal with difficult personalities. Some people can just be downright rude, mean and selfish. When those people are on your team, it can, and it will affect the rest of your team. How do you deal with them? Lots of learning from multiple resources, past failures and wins. Because everyone is different, it becomes an art to know, understand and take care your team. Learning the ins and outs of each person can be difficult.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I started from the ground up as a laborer and worked my way up to the top. I finished my education, (bachelor's & masters) and continued to learn about leadership from multiple resources and hanging around who i thought were successful leaders. I consider myself a servant leader, so I choose to immolate those kinds of leaders. Leadership is also God given ability and leadership looks different and is different in so many ways. For some it comes natural and other must develop it. For me, leadership became natural for me as I played sports and excelled through school and college.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I start my morning when I wake up with "ME" time. For me, that is getting up at 4:15am and going to the gym to work out. Then I start my day at the office. I learned to prioritize my day (calls, emails, meetings) by what was most important and being required, and what I could postpone. This looks different for each person. I make it a point to spend family time when I get home. While at UPS, It was 24 hours on call. Learning to delegate and not be a micro-manager but to train, coach and mentor others to pick up the slack was key to success and me being able to enjoy my family for a little time before bed. I tried my hardest to prioritize my family as much as possible before bed, but I failed many times and am learning to be less a work-a-holic.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

One thing I learned early on and always kept in the forefront of my mind is "VALIDATION." Don't just take someone's word for it. They moment you do, it was never finished, checked, completed like they said. A quick validation can simply take a few seconds. Coaching and mentoring someone to do the job right certainly helps in having to constantly check someone's work. Validate, validate & validate.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

This won't be a popular answer but for me it is the Bible. It is full of leadership successes, failures, do's and don'ts. You can learn so much on how to treat people the right way, (learning to treat people the same way you love yourself). Everyone is someone special and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Also, taught me how to hold people accountable while still being honest and fair with them. It's ok to discipline out of love.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

I live by the mantra that, "Leaders are Learners!" Always be willing to learn new things, try new stuff. the moment you stop, you will be passed up by someone with less experience. I read that the average CEO reads an average of 60 books per year. If a CEO reads that much, safe to say that learning is a top priority for them. May it be a priority for you.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

I had an employee come to me a long time ago and told me I was, "firm but fair." That has resonated with me ever since then. You can be firm and hold the line but still be honest, kind, and treat them with respect.