Ayo Olaseinde Of Saladmaster: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO

An Interview With Doug Noll

Time boundaries. You can’t switch off. You need to seek balance. Once you achieve the title, you have a responsibility for the whole company and the people’s livelihoods in the company, which is a momentous task. It is unimaginable for others to comprehend how arduous the job is or how many hours go into it. It most definitely is not a 9–5 job! You don’t just switch off at 5 o’clock and go — that’s it.

As a part of our series called ‘Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO’ we had the pleasure of interviewing Ayo Olaseinde.

Ayo Olaseinde is the President of SaladMaster, a global organization that works in over 50 countries worldwide with a turnover in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Under his leadership, the EMEA division was one of Saladmaster’s fastest-growing divisions and Ayo’s work also led to Saladmaster UK, Ltd. being recognized multiple times by the Direct Selling Association UK as one of the top direct selling organizations in the country. It was awarded the Excellence Award in 2014 and was a finalist for the Company with Heart Award in 2016. Ayo also was personally awarded the prestigious Leadership Award in 2015.

Ayo’s journey to success has humble beginnings that include time spent working in a bakery, being broke and sleeping on a friend’s couch. He details this is his books Have You Got the Why Factor and Born with the Power to Win.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

The circumstances and defining moments in my life that led me towards this particular career path were that I saw it as an opportunity to leave a legacy behind.

Rewind back to my “backstory” and I can tell you, without any loss of conviction, that my original goal was to be successful so that I could go back to Nigeria and save my mum.

Let me explain my ‘backstory’.

I was born in London to a Nigerian father and a (white) German mother. When I was 6 weeks old my parents left the UK, and we went to live in Nigeria. It was tough growing up, to be brutally honest with you. I was subject to copious racist remarks as my peers regarded me as caucasian, even though I was of mixed race, and I had (undiagnosed at the time) ADD. This resulted in me failing all my examinations, so at 18 years of age, I decided that I would leave Nigeria and return to the UK.

When I arrived here, I also was on the receiving end of racist remarks as I was regarded as black…

I struggled. I lived with a friend and slept on their sofa. I had one shirt, one pair of trousers and one pair of holey shoes. I walked a long way because I could not afford the bus fare and I queued outside the Mother’s Pride bakery with other casual labourers hoping to be chosen by the foreman to have some work offered.

After a while, I was picked, and I worked so hard that they continued to give me work. One day I realised that if I was to stay here and not better myself, then I would not attain the goal that I had set myself of being successful so that I could go back to Nigeria and save my mum.

Long story short, I then made my way into sales and realised that I was adept and very proficient in this field. Fast forward to today and that is how I got to where I am — the president of a global organisation.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

The interesting story that I can share with you is quite a recent one. It revolves around the Covid 19 pandemic. The company that I am the President of, Saladmaster, was a 74-year-old company at that time and it has consistently and without exception been conducted on a face-to-face infrastructure. March and April 2020 saw the lockdowns being introduced and it looked like it was going to culminate in the demise of the company.

However, as a team, we were able to turn everything around in 45–60 days and went online — first time ever in the history of the company. This culminated in us having one of the most successful and rewarding years to date.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

As I have just mentioned, our business has been conducted on a face-to-face only basis (prior to the pandemic) and when I was just starting out in the company, I went to a potential customer’s house and forgot most of the equipment that I was supposed to take with me. I had to improvise and ad-lib to these people. When I had finished — and it was an early finish, believe me — I thought to myself, Ayo, you need to make plans for preparation and adhere to them so something like this doesn’t happen again. The lesson learned was to make a checklist for everything. I did not make a sale that day, so without preparation, I wasted my time and it cost me money.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The person to whom I am most grateful is a gentleman by the name of Gene Windfeldt. He was the president of the company at the time and the most successful person that I knew.

Whenever I went to company meetings, I used to follow him around. I would almost be his shadow ha-ha. When there was a break for coffee or lunch, I sat down next to him so I could tap into his brain and his wisdom. It is incredibly important to have mentors who share the same values so you can relate to them on a personal level. This connection makes it easier for you to relate to the wisdom of your mentor. You don’t need to know everything, but you need to know who knows what you don’t know.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

Making hard decisions as a leader can be challenging at times. You need to use logical reasoning to weigh the pros and cons of your course of action. You need to be self-aware. This leads me to the answer to your question. I had a business in Wolverhampton. I had a purpose-built building, a lovely office with beautiful furniture in it and a fabulous view, and an extravagant car. My early success was like my trophy, but then the business collapsed, and I held onto it because of my ego. I had to make the hard decision to renounce my ego and eventually I downsized everything in order to save the business.

Your ego will make you and your ego will break you.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

The CEO is ultimately responsible for everything. Good, bad, and ugly.

For me, one difference is the vision and strategy of the organisation and where it is going. Knowing where the company needs to go and needs to be — in order to keep the continued growth, focus and success. That vision or lack, thereof, can make or break a company.

Businesses don’t fail, people fail businesses.

Being an executive allows me to place a compelling vision and enhance the long-term strength of the organisation to protect the day-to-day lives and the actions of employees keeping them harmonious, value-driven and executed perfectly.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?

I am glad that you asked that question, and I am going to have to give you a two-pronged answer for this one.

I believe that people often think the following: One myth is that it is a tough and ruthless position to be in, that they would not want the job as it is too hard and there is far too much responsibility. Responsibility is the ability to respond. Most people confuse responsibility as blame and guilt instead of having the ability to respond and do whatever is necessary and take the necessary action. Most people in today’s society are brought up to be afraid of responsibility.

Myth number two is that people think on the opposite side that it is an easy job, that you have a cushy number, and it has been handed to them on a plate. Therefore, my answer to this is that people compare mental and intellectual work with physical work and thus make the wrong comparison. You can see an executive in a boardroom and think ‘that’s easy they are not doing anything…’ but really there is a lot of wisdom, experience and intellect that comes from a lot of hard work, failures, and successes — understanding the weight of making the right decision that can cause the company to succeed or fail.

As you have learned from my “backstory”, straightforward, uncomplicated, and easy are not how I came about being in the position that I am today. I have another myth that people often think of my position, and that is to be an executive or CEO you need to be an extrovert. Introverts make good leaders too.

To be a CEO you just have to be yourself with the right qualities and accept the responsibilities.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

I was surprised at, in some cases, how little control I have in certain situations, as opposed to how much I thought I would have. I am referring to the decision-making process.

When you are running your own business as an entrepreneur you can make changes immediately. When you run a corporation and want to make changes you must sit down and have a discussion with numerous other people. It isn’t as simple and straightforward as it was when you had 100% control over the management processes and 100% control over your business when you were an entrepreneur.

Do you think everyone is cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

Everything is learnable, it’s just how badly you want to learn.

Were all born with the power to win. a lot of people desire to be an executive, but they don’t want to train or learn the skills that they need — they just don’t want to go through all the things that they need to go through. It’s like the saying — everyone wants to go to heaven, but they don’t want to die.

If a person is someone who accepts responsibility, then that is a trait that can be honed on and used to power themselves into an executive position, in my mind.

Yes, responsibility, is the number one trait without question. Therefore, I would deduce that a person who lacks this trait, doesn’t accept or is afraid of responsibility should avoid this position.

Ultimately, as an executive, you are responsible for success or failure, but you must be comfortable that sometimes you’re not going to win every time, and you must be comfortable with your failures and still be confident that you can find another way and make it work.

The other trait is discipline. Having the discipline to do what you need to do when it needs to be done whether you feel like it or not.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help create a fantastic work culture? Can you share a story or an example?

That’s a tough one, as other business leaders are already following their visions and they have their own mindsets, however, I would say that their team need to buy into the vision of the leader of the company. That is critical. You see it in some of the great companies such as Apple, Virgin, Tesla or any of these great companies, you can see that the team have bought into the vision of the company. The vision defines what success and excellence look like.

Make your vision your mission and your mission your vision…

Your vision is where the organisation aspires to be, your brand’s plan for the future and potential impact on the world, and your mission defines the business, its objectives and how it will reach them.

To create a fantastic work culture, you need to focus on building relationships, give people space so that they feel empowered to make their own decisions and learn from their own mistakes, define core values, and turn them into actions, maintain clear and consistent expectations believe in people, expect greatness from them and ensure that your employees feel valued. Don’t forget that the small things matter too.

I also think that recognition is one of the largest contributors to a prosperous company culture — and the utmost driver of employee engagement.

A great example for everyone, I think, is Elon Musk. He has a vision of changing the world with his electric cars, space travel, building tunnels, setting up solar stations…

People have bought into his vision and stand by his side. When you have a good enough vision and follow it through as your mission, people WILL stand by your side even if what you are doing at the time is not going to plan.

People will follow a good leader, regardless of the results because they believe in and have confidence in them.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

One of my philosophies in life is that life is about being the best YOU that you can be. What I have tried to do is share everything that I believe will help people the best way that I can and give them the secret to my success and that is why I have made videos, podcasts, making YouTube channels, and written books to share what I believe are some of the secrets to success.

Did you know that most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten?

We all have 86,400 seconds in a day, and it is important what we do with them. I use those seconds to help people help themselves. They say feed a man a fish and he will eat for a day but TEACH a man to fish and you feed him for life. Well, I teach people how to fish!

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are your “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1 . Time boundaries. You can’t switch off. You need to seek balance. Once you achieve the title, you have a responsibility for the whole company and the people’s livelihoods in the company, which is a momentous task. It is unimaginable for others to comprehend how arduous the job is or how many hours go into it. It most definitely is not a 9–5 job! You don’t just switch off at 5 o’clock and go — that’s it.

2 . People’s perception of you changes good and bad. Some look at you differently, get jealous, and find faults in things that you do. If you are nice — some people won’t like you. If you are hard… some people won’t like you. You must learn to live with yourself and your decisions. Some people may even say that now you are in this position you have no time for me, but they don’t understand the workload

3 . Manage your expectations. You always think it’s going to be easier than it is, and people look up to you and count on you to make the business thrive and succeed. It takes a lot longer than you thought it would take — manage your expectations.

4 . I Didn’t know the power of clear long-term goals.

You need to think long-term to determine whether what you are doing today is in alignment with the future. In the absence of that long-term goal, you just live from day to day, and it is easier to stray off course.

In absence of the long-term goal it is harder to make sure that everyone is rowing in the same direction.

5 . Don’t take things personally.

This will lead to you making emotional decisions that you will regret. You need to make the right decisions, logically. You need to practice emotional resilience. Doing what is right is more important than what other people think and giving yourself credit for your strengths. Understand people are entitled to their own perceptions and opinions. Control what you can control.

Practice mindfulness and repeat positive affirmations to yourself daily.

I believe in the words of The Serenity Prayer, and I encourage everyone to say it to themselves until they truly believe in it. I use this ALL of the time.

If you don’t know the words, here it is — ‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’

Control what you can control…which is you!

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

This is part of my leaving a legacy. My passion and inspiration for a movement are at the grassroots level so that intention can become action. I want to help people be successful and happy in their own skin by understanding that they are truly born with the power to win. They just need to decide what their definition of ‘win’ is. If you focus on the positives and not the negatives — the solutions, not the problems — great things can start to happen.

If you were in a train crash, and you got out alive and uninjured, would you just dust yourself down and sit there and see who else comes out or would you go straight back in and see who else you can rescue? — You would go back in, wouldn’t you?

My movement would be for progressive change and transformation for everyone to empower people to take action to live the lives that they desire. I see that too many people stop short of achieving their goals. That is why I wrote Born with the power to win and the workbook to encourage people to physically go through the process of planning and change — because I truly believe that if I can go from being homeless and sleeping on a friend’s couch to where I am today, I never realised that power was in me. I believe that everyone has that power within them. It is loosely based on a true story with names changed and I want to recapitulate that everyone is born with that power.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I have two quotes that I use consistently. One is ‘Anything is possible’, and the other is ‘Nobody is better than you. There are people who are ahead of you, but they are not better than you’

These became relevant in my life many years ago when I was walking to my job in the factory. (I walked every day so that I could save the bus fare.) and at the traffic lights, I saw a family sitting in their Mercedes Benz, and I wondered why they could afford one and I couldn’t. I had a minor pity party for myself thinking why not me… Then I had an epiphany and turned the question into a statement in my head. Why NOT me! Nobody is better than me. Anything Is Possible if you are prepared to go to work, train, plan and take action!

The rest, as they say, is history.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

Ooh, now there’s a question… I have a few but can I mention two?

Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson.

Oprah because she started from humble beginnings, and had to endure abuse, worked her way to the top of her profession. It wasn’t an easy climb, but she got there. By the age of 32, she had become the first African American nationally syndicated television host. She also launched her own TV production company making her the first black person to control her own major studio.

Richard Branson has dyslexia, whereas I have ADD, and he too had poor academic performance. On his last day of school, he was approached by his headmaster and told that he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire.

Richard had many failed attempts at business, but we all know the Virgin story. He’s gone from selling Christmas trees to records, to package holidays, to space travel. The list seems to be endless. But there is one considerable trait that he has and that is, when the going gets tough, he carries on regardless with grace and humility.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on this link to learn more and apply.