Ryan Wilkinson, President at Southwest Sales, Inc.

 In this episode of Voices of Leadership, Chris Atwell sits down with Ryan Wilkinson for a grounded, insightful conversation about the experiences that shape real leadership. Ryan reflects on how his leadership wasn’t defined by a single moment, but by a collection of experiences over time, from childhood sports to his professional career, that helped him understand the difference between leaders people want to follow and those they don’t. Those experiences shaped his commitment to a servant leadership approach, where team members are treated with the same care and respect as customers. 

Ryan and Chris dive into one of the most challenging leadership transitions: moving from peer to leader. After working his way up from the warehouse to becoming a principal, Ryan shares how stepping into leadership over former peers required authenticity, trust, and a focus on earning the respect of the team rather than demanding it. 

Throughout the episode, Ryan emphasizes the importance of consistency, visibility, and organization in leadership. From maintaining structure in his day to intentionally connecting with team members, even through simple actions like regular check-ins and walking the floor, he highlights how culture is built through consistent, personal interactions. 

Looking ahead, Ryan shares his excitement about the evolving role of manufacturers’ reps in a changing industry. With consolidation, e-commerce, and shifting market dynamics, he sees a significant opportunity for reps to demonstrate their value through data, relationships, and expanded services. He also discusses the importance of collaboration across agencies and adapting to better serve customers as the landscape continues to change. 

Chris and Ryan explore: 

• How early life experiences shape leadership style
• The transition from peer to leader and earning team trust
• Leading with authenticity and a servant leadership mindset
• The importance of visibility, organization, and consistent communication
• Building culture through daily interactions and connection
• Demonstrating value through data, relationships, and service
• Adapting to industry change and increasing collaboration across agencies

This episode offers practical insight into authentic leadership, culture-building, and navigating change within the manufacturers’ rep industry.
 
Chris Atwell is the Founder of Mindset-Conquest, a leadership and mindset coach working with manufacturers’ rep agencies across North America. He helps leaders strengthen their mindset, elevate their leadership, and create the clarity and structure needed to grow their business and their people.
 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to VoiceThread Leadership. I'm Chris Talk, and we kept talking now with the leadership in the future of the manufacturer process. Real stories, real challenges, and real thoughts. So, Ryan, hey, nice to see you. Thanks for joining me today. I really appreciate it. Yeah, we're gonna spend a few minutes together. I'm gonna tap into your leadership experience and really get to know you better from a standpoint of what lessons, mindsets have allowed you to grow into the leader you are today. And um what I think is that these conversations, especially in this industry, these conversations are what make this industry so special because there's so many young people that have come up through the ranks, have taken over businesses, there's a lot of succession and all this stuff, and you're you're a prime example of that. So uh looking forward to hearing what you have to say. Oh awesome. Good. So uh question number one. When you think of your leadership journey, okay, what would you pinpoint as the defining moment that really shaped the leader that you are today?

SPEAKER_00 1:14

It's hard for me to come up with a any singular moment because I think you know what shapes you is a is your entire um life experiences. And so I'm thinking back was a as a kid playing little league, and you had the coaches that treated you right and how you wanted to play hard for those coaches, and then you had the coaches that that were complete jerks to you, and and how you just kind of lose heart. And so I think you know, starting in that, um, getting in moving into uh uh you know college career and then and then beyond college and and entering the workforce is like seeing a lot of different styles. Like I discovered the leaders that I want to work for, work hard for versus versus the leaders that um that that bring more um um authoritarian type type mentality. And so, you know, I want to lead, I wanted to work with those um who who served um their people. And so I've been that's been really one of the more um defining things that I've noticed in my leadership style is really is really kind of treating my my my peers and my uh my employees as a customer just like I would treat a real customer. Yeah, beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So you thinking in way back to your childhood and all the experiences that you collected over time have guided you in understanding who you wanted to have as your leaders, which in turn have shaped you as the leader you are today. That's absolutely right. They've been an inspiration to you. Absolutely, yeah, very cool. As leaders, uh, we often have to face a lot of tough moments, right? Because business isn't easy and leadership sure isn't easy. What would you say is one of the most challenging things you've ever had to deal with in your leadership? And what did you do to overcome it?

SPEAKER_00 3:21

I think my biggest challenge. So when I started at in my position or started at Southwest Sales at this company, I started in the warehouse and I developed, I progressed through a sales um career into leadership, um, and then and then ultimately was named a principal in organization in 2020. And and the biggest challenge that I had was going from a peer-to-peer relationship to a relationship where I'm actually having to lead my previous peers. And uh, and so I struggled with that and I found that you know I just I need to be myself and and and and again try to win the hearts of the team, treat them again like a customer, yeah, and um and and serve them in a way that makes them want to follow because you can't be a leader if you don't have anybody to lead.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, what a great example. I mean, you literally started at a ground level uh uh role within the organization. You move up the ladder, you step into leadership, and now all these people who consider you a friend are now literally reporting to you, which shifts the dynamic. And there could be different ways to approach that. But what I'm hearing is for you, it's really allowed to shape your authenticity as a leader because as much as you respect them as peers, you do have this responsibility as a leader, and you got to show up as the best version. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Wow, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Really cool, thank you. You know, you've learned a lot along the way, right? You started you started in the warehouse, and now you're you're the president of the company, which is really cool. Congratulations. Thank you. What would you say for Ryan, the most important habits and routines you keep close to your heart that allow you to show up as a leader every day?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I think staying organized is one of the key things. I mean, if I'm gonna be leading a team, then then they're looking for direction. So you got to stay organized. I'd also say um interacting with the team. You know, there's it's a it's a goofy thing that I do, but I go through the office um at least twice a week and give every person in the inside sales team a fist bump just to make sure that they have a touch point with me directly. Yeah. And and and I think that so much of our culture is built on the fact that regardless of where you are in the organization, you're willing to you're willing to do whatever it takes. And we're still a relatively small company. We've got 74 employees, and uh, and and you you gotta wear many hats, but making sure that everybody sees you wearing those hats.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

So there's a routine about around uh you staying visible with your team members at at all levels, particularly inside sales in this case, and you know that it's important not only to stay organized, but to have those touch points, ongoing touch at least once a week, is it?

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

And as your company grows, that'll probably become more and more important, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:35

It's important now, but if you 100, 200 people, if we want to maintain the culture that we've built today, we're gonna have to we're gonna have to do that. Now, granted, uh at some point, you know, you got 5,000 employees. The the the president or the CEO of a company can't touch every single person every day, but but keeping that communication up, um, you know, if it's a if it's a Zoom call that's been scheduled with the entire organization, uh, or getting the other key leaders to ensure that they're interacting with their team, it's important. We've got we're building a very collaborative work environment. We're an ESOP, and and as an ESOP, an employee-owned company, um, there are owners. And so they're ever bit as a as much of an owner as I am.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah. Yeah. And for those who might not know, ESOP stands for employee shared ownership program. So that's really important. Yeah. And you see the the uh the value in regular cadence, routine meetings, and staying really in touch with everyone. That's part of your organization. Real beautiful, real beautiful routine. If you were to look at yourself, you see it, if you were to see a young version of yourself, okay, stepping into his leadership, what advice would you give him today?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

If I think back on my journey, I'd say I'd tell myself, um, be yourself. Don't try to be something you're not, because you you come across disingenuous or fake. Um and in and you know, the the world needs all kinds of leaders. There's all sorts of different leadership styles, and multiple styles can be effective. Yeah. Um, so do the style that that fits you, but don't try to be something that you're not. Yeah. Be genuine.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Be genuine. Yeah, that's beautiful. Lots happening in your business. There's been a tremendous amount of growth and transition over the last couple of years. What are you most excited about in the in the near future? And what does that mean for you in your leadership? How do you what's that next level that's required of you in this case?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

I think the the biggest thing that I see in our industry today is, you know, look, we've got these could be perceived as opportunities or challenges, just depending on which way you look at it. But we've got industries consolidating, you've got channel conflict where retail's moving into trade, um, and and you've got the the e-commerce component to all of that. I think that that now is a is a time, pivotal moment uh for manufacturers' representatives to be able to demonstrate their value to the manufacturers. And that can be done in a number of ways. I mean, it's data and analytics, which is one that we've adopted early in the process to to demonstrate value through that. Um, it's it's through relationships, it's through adding other services, what we can offer our manufacturers. And so uh my role in that is to be seeking out all those new ways to add value for those manufacturers and our customers. Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Where do you think the biggest challenge is gonna be as all this stuff comes forward?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

I think the biggest challenge is the nature we've uh the nature of our industry is very um geographic and and as as the industry does consolidate and the customers consolidate, and especially in the plumbing industry, I'm thinking about the contractor-based consolidating for sure. Um, there's gonna be there's gonna be a a need to be able to service those customers properly. And so we as an industry have to figure out a way to do that, um, which is gonna require higher levels of communication between agencies uh across geographic lines. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

No, it's good stuff. Great. Look, I could ask you questions all day, but I just want to thank you, Ryan, for joining me. I really appreciate it and taking the time to share your journey. Um I mentioned it before. Leaders like yourself need to be visible. And this is a platform that we're putting together so that you can share your experience and allow other future leaders to really step into their own right and be genuine, be authentic, grow, learn, and lead with purpose. So thank you very much for your time.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Yeah, you bet. Thanks, Chris. Yeah, thank you.