Ep. 53 :: AJ Konynenbelt of Zeeland Lumber: On the care and feeding of an LBM unicorn

At 35 years of age with more than 20 years at Zeeland Lumber and Supply in Michigan, AJ Konynenbelt is an LBM unicorn. AJ is a Millennial who has earned his way onto the Executive team as a VP of Sales and as you'll hear, he is just as comfortable coaching Baby Boomers on interpersonal sales skills as he is discussing technology trends with twenty-something customers. In this episode, AJ shares how Mike Dykstra, the President and CEO at Zeeland, identified AJ's passion and work ethic during his high school and college years. Upon graduating from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Dykstra laid out a compelling vision for AJ's future, one that continues to this day. We dig into the growth mindset at Zeeland and how their sales team collaborates to help everyone — including their customers — grow their business. AJ also force-ranks himself on the 3 traits their team (and author Patrick Lencioni's team) looks for in new team members: humility, hunger, and smarts. Enjoy my conversation with AJ Konyenbelt. Thanks for listening.