Aron Levinson — Emotional Intelligence, Sales, and Prison Baseball
What if you could read people and understand their goals and objectives without saying a word?
☕ Written in Cafe Bornet in Sunny Barcelona, Spain.
Aron Levinson is currently the president and CRO of Hofseth — North America, a vertically integrated global fresh and frozen seafood company that farms, harvests, processes, sells, distributes more than 40 million pounds per year with full transparency, focuses on sustainability, and never uses antibiotics, hormones, nor GMOs.
I’m so excited that this is my first interview for The Weekly Nudge and honored to share my key takeaways from my conversation with Aron and share them with you. If you want to skip straight to the interview then click the link below.
Emotional Intelligence, I was born this way
Emotional Intelligence (EI) or Emotional Quotient was first introduced to the public by Daniel Goleman, and has since become a popular buzzword in the business world. Today it’s widely considered that EI is a common characteristic amongst industry and thought leaders. Aron admitted that he’s not sure if he was born with it or learned it through his 23 jobs since age 13 but he does believe that EI helps him grow businesses. For example, when he meets with a prospective client or potential strategic partner he’s quickly able to understand the client’s goals and objectives, just by actively listening and reading their body language.
Mentor = Trust, find your Yoda <(-_-)>
Finding a great mentor is arguably one of the greatest things you can do to get ahead of the competition. Why? Because learning from someone who’s already gone through an experience like finding a job out of college or moving up the ladder within an organization can help you strategize. Aron’s mentor was one of his college professors and he taught Aron how to care and trust for others. They even once had a lightsaber battle in class. Trust is important in any relationship, nobody rises to the top doing everything themselves, and in order to delegate you to need to be able to fully trust the people around you.
Tip: It’s ok to ask for help! The only prerequisite is to do your homework.
Interview for fun?
Interviewing is a skill. Here’s a great quote from Aron on interviewing:
“Often times people who work in the same job for so long forget what it’s like to interview. They forget how to sell themselves, they forget how to ask good open ended questions, and they forget how to understand the employers problems and then sell themselves as the solution.”
For helpful resources related to interviews, setting up your Linkedin profile and cover letter I recommend checking out Resume.io.
Startup Land versus Corporate, which one is for you?
Typically when people are looking for a job they base it on the job role and function. However, another important factor is the size of the company. Is the company investor-backed or already profitable? Aron has a wealth of experience in both worlds and it was interesting to hear how his background and support network opened the door for him to connect with entrepreneurs to help them achieve their goals. It reminds me of Ryan Holiday’s Canvas Strategy.
What are some questions that you ask when considering working for a company?
Leadership and Sports (baseball) go together like PB&J
Baseball was such a major part of this interview I couldn’t leave it out. Baseball led Aron to one of his biggest roles in a company yet, but more than that it provided him with the foundation of working as a team to achieve a common goal and gave him purpose through his charity trips playing in both a maximum-security prison and organizing a u-15 baseball trip to Cuba.
Check out more in the podcast interview where we discuss overcoming fear through challenging experiences and building confidence!
Check out the Interview on my Podcast and to learn more about Aron checkout his new venture https://bgoodly.com/.
Here are your questions for the week:
- If you fully realized your emotional intelligence, what could you accomplish?
- Who haven’t you appreciated lately? How about a virtual coffee?
- What traits do you want yourself and your team, friends, or family to exhibit?
Love,
Emiliano
