#18 Brad Sawatzke

Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast with Paul Casey

Brad Sawatzke is the CEO of Energy Northwest. Something funny about Brad is that he has been blessed with many things in life and being a Minnesota Vikings fan is not one of them! Prior to his current position he worked at Montecello nuclear power plant for 30 years and was going to retire. He was recruited to his current position and since his kids were grown, he thought it would be a great part of the country for him and his wife to live. In your career, be open. He was going to continue his path in operations in his earlier career when a colleague pulled him aside and said, you really need to broaden your experience base if you want to be a plant manager one day. He took that advice and switched from operations to maintenance and it was the best decision he ever made career wise. When hiring the team that will surround him, Brad looks at attitude, and what are their thoughts on leadership? How do they treat their people? With encouragement, there is lasting results. He looks for people that are willing to give feedback and “coaching up.” He surrounds himself with people who are very good with details because that is a weakness for him. He looks for people who come to him and say, Look, there is a problem, here is what I think about it, and here is a potential solution. When he has this amazing team surrounding him, he does luncheons for recognition, but what he has learned is that a simple thank-you goes a long way. People can tell when you are sincerely appreciative of something they did. There are 2 ways to get people to follow you: you can force/intimidate them, or you can care about your team--and they will go the extra mile. He actually learned a lot about leadership when he was a janitor at the nuclear plant. There were managers that acted as though he was a bother and others who actually took an interest in asking him about his weekend, wife, and his life. The person that was the nicest to him was promoted and when Brad became plant manager, that gentleman send him a card congratulating him. He believes there is a direct correlation between success and how you treat people. He does a lot of traveling and he uses that time to dream, plan, strategize. As a CEO he organizes his time by being a one-minute manager. He strongly believes in not over-thinking things. He focuses on his most time-significant situations or pushes some of the decision-making down through his team. He doesn’t have to weigh in on every decision. His energy is derived from his wife and his family. They are his greatest supporters. He enjoys historical leadership in particular: Lincoln, Churchill. He enjoyed reading the book called In Thin Air about hiking Mt. Everest and how people face challenges. His advice to leaders is, engage your people. Leadership isn’t demanded; it’s granted.