Chad Wegrecki has joined our team as Boldr's new Director of Implementations. While visiting our offices in Manila in the Philippines, he sat down with Alex Pena, our Head of Brand Marketing, to talk about what this new opportunity means for him. With over a decade of experience in creating best-in-class customer support, Chad has found a passion for catalyzing positive change and combining software and human interaction to create top-notch user experiences. We are excited to have him on board!
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and ease of publication:
Alex: Hi, everyone. Alex here from Boldr. I'm sitting with Chad here in our Manila office, and we’re here to welcome Chad and interview him today. Do you mind introducing yourself to everyone?
Chad: Not at all, my name is Chad Wegrecki. I'm the new Director of Implementations at Boldr and really excited to be here today.
Alex: We're so excited to have you and thank you so much for coming all the way to Manila. We wanted to take the time to ask you a few questions about yourself so we can share more about you to our general community.
Chad: Cool.
Alex: Let's jump in. So, Chad, if you had to describe yourself, your personal and professional life in three words. What are they and why?
Chad: I would have to say the first word is probably curiosity. I don't know if my parents were ever miserable as I was a kid, because I would always take everything apart, but I always wanted to know how things worked. Both physical things and technology, and people a little bit. Psychology. I really enjoy being curious about everything I'm learning and exploring the world through that lens. I don't think I'd be at Boldr or where I'm at in my career today if I wasn't always interested in learning something new. Trying to figure out how things work.
Second, I would probably have to say, community is another thing that's really valuable, when you're wanting to develop as a person, as I was, both as a young individual and now still trying to learn and grow the people we surround ourselves with, really empower us and move us to that next stage. And for me, that's no exception. I have learned so many things from really talented individuals. I don't know everything, but the people I surround myself with are really knowledgeable, and I'm really grateful for those connections in that community that I've built, both in my professional life, but in my personal life as well. I've created some great friendships and mentors through those community relationships.
Third, I would have to say consistency is something that's undervalued when paired with curiosity. Often we are looking for the next thing, the next challenge, the next way to improve. During that it's very easy to become overwhelmed with options. By creating consistency in the work we do, I know that I thrive best when I have most things are consistent and I'm able to experiment with specific changes, specific opportunities, because then I can really measure how effective those things are in my happiness, my personal life, and also professionally when trying to solve a problem instead of changing everything at once. Having that consistent experience that we can measure against is is really valuable.
Alex: We are a global company and we love to learn about the different cultures that we get to interact with and share our different experiences. What is the most interesting place that you've ever been to and what did you learn from that experience?
Chad: I love to travel and during my travels throughout my childhood, all the way through adulthood, there's one thing that has stuck with me from my very first overseas trip that I took. I went to Tampico, Mexico, and during that trip, there were lots of activities that we did. There were lots of grand experiences, but the ones that I actually remember the most that come to mind any time I'm traveling or thinking back, it's the small experiences, the meaningful moments, with the culture and community there. In Tampico, for example, there was this tiny coffee shop a few miles down the road, from the hotel we were at. I had great conversations every morning over coffee with locals and those are the moments that actually stuck with me. Not some grand adventure or climb. While still fun, the things that stuck with me were those. Those one-off small experiences.
Alex: That's awesome Chad, and it's so humbling to hear that what really stuck with you wasn't some grand experience, but the simple interaction.
Chad: The little things we do are sometimes the most impactful, both with our work and just the way we approach life.
Alex: What is something about yourself that might surprise people?
Chad: It might surprise people to learn that I am afraid of heights when they also learn that I love to explore and am even willing to stand out on the ledge of a cliff, potentially might take a little bit of work to get there. I took flying courses when I was younger and enjoyed being up in the sky. So, it's quite odd to pair those together and be terrified of heights, but still love to see the views.
Alex: Yeah. That's awesome. And how do you overcome that fear of heights to want to go and climb a mountain and fly a plane and all that?
Chad: It's not easy that's for sure. For me, the real challenge is focusing on what I will get out of this experience or what the end goal is. By focusing on that, I can avoid the immediate thing in my brain that's telling me this is scary. Instead I can focus on yes, it's scary, but it will lead to some outcome that allows me to have a new experience to learn something new.
Alex: You mentioned that you love to climb mountains, but what's a hobby or passion outside of work that you're really passionate about?
Chad: Well, naming one thing for someone who's curious is probably the wrong thing to do. I will instead say that creating new things is my passion. I may not create lots of one thing, but I like creating lots of different experiences and new things. I often find myself wanting to combine my technical knowledge and coding experience with my physical crafting experience. I grew up learning woodworking and love to be able to create something with my hands, but also find ways to incorporate technology into that. I often find myself trying to merge those two things in the real world.
Alex: Do you have a personal mantra or quote that you find inspiring or motivating?
Chad: It's not a quote but I would say the thing I always try to keep in mind when exploring things in my personal life is to embrace the unknown. There are always going to be things that I don't know the answer to. I will not say I'm the master of everything and acknowledge that by being willing to not be afraid of that unknown and instead try to find ways to embrace that and focus on the way you power through that is going to allow you to move beyond this state of being frozen in place and approach that situation with grace, but also approach it with solution oriented mindsets.
Alex: What is a pivotal moment from your career that helped shape your approach to leadership?
Chad: I would say that the biggest change to how I approached leadership came from when I realized that the solutions I was giving were not really the right approach to solving a problem. It was by first focusing on the team that I have built, the people first and foremost, hiring amazing talent. People who probably know more than me in some subjects allows me to surround myself with knowledge. And then we collectively are going to come up with the best possible solution to whatever problem we're encountered with. I think when I made that realization that it's the people that I work with that matters most, I was able to really hire amazing talent and work with amazing teams that created awesome experiences for our clients.
Alex: I know you come with over two decades worth of CX experience. I'm curious to know, what inspired you to make the shift to join Boldr?
Chad: Well, my shift to join Boldr really was driven by my desire to find as many opportunities as possible to help customers improve their experiences. And what better way than somewhere like Boldr who we have hundreds of clients who are looking for a solution to a problem that they have, and I can lead our implementations team in delivering on their expectations, but also looking for things they didn't know were there, things that we can help solve. Being part of this Boldr team is going to empower me and our team to deliver great experiences for all future clients and in our existing ones as well.
Alex: I know you're joining us as our Director of Implementations and what are you most excited about leading that team?
Chad: It's a great team. I'm so glad to be here in the Philippines and meet them for the first time in person. It comes down to leveraging their talent. I'm so excited to learn about what their strengths are and be able to take those things that they're extremely knowledgeable about and help deliver on our clients expectations and find those new opportunities. Oftentimes the opportunities that are going to make the biggest impact are the ones you weren't necessarily looking for. So really excited to be able to identify some new challenges and new opportunities for our future clients.
Alex: Thank you so much, Chad, and thank you so much for taking the time to come all the way here to Manila and to sit with me today.
Chad: Yeah. Loving it here. Thank you for having me.
