"I believe that being the CEO is about leading and being responsible for success."
Meet Rhett Stubbendeck, CEO of LeverageRx. He leads the team at LeverageRx. They’re a technology-focused personal insurance company focused on helping medical professionals nationwide win with their finances. They currently insure thousands of doctors and their families with disability insurance, life insurance, and home & auto insurance.
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Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Rhett Stubbendeck: I lead the team at LeverageRx. We’re a technology-focused personal insurance company focused on helping medical professionals nationwide win with their finances. We currently insure thousands of doctors and their families with disability insurance, life insurance, and home and auto insurance.
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Rhett Stubbendeck: I always wanted to become a leader. I believe I’ve always been good at leadership. I started as an insurance specialist and worked my way up to being the CEO of LeverageRx. I realised how good I was at my job and hence decided to lead a company of my own.
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Rhett Stubbendeck: My most important professional inspiration is my uncle. He owns a firm of his own and made me believe that I could too. By looking at him, I realized that big things require a lot of hard work, so I followed in his footsteps to success.
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Rhett Stubbendeck: The journey of becoming a CEO wasn’t easy for me. I made sure to complete my education and seek challenging experiences to be ready to take on the role. Being a CEO was my ultimate goal in life. I also worked to obtain some certifications, i.e., Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter, and built some on-the-job experience in order to strengthen my skills.
Most of the difficulty I faced was in mastering the skill sets. Being a CEO isn’t just about leadership; it is also about communication and good decision-making.
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Rhett Stubbendeck: LeverageRx is a financial services marketplace for America’s healthcare workers. We’re a technology-focused personal insurance company focused on helping medical professionals nationwide win with their finances. We currently insure thousands of doctors and their families with disability insurance, life insurance, and home and auto insurance. As a CEO, I look after decision-making, managing the company’s overall operations as well as delegating, managing the organizational structure, etc
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Rhett Stubbendeck: I believe that being the CEO is about leading and being responsible for success. In the end, it’s the CEO’s responsibility to ensure the company is doing well.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Rhett Stubbendeck: When I first became a CEO, I thought that most of the business processes would be taken care of by the managers and my employees. However, even if my business has a manager, I still need to work closely with the manager to guide them.
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Rhett Stubbendeck: I believe one of the main things that a CEO should focus on is developing a strong relationship with the employees. For increased employee satisfaction rates, it is important to give them a direct line of communication.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Rhett Stubbendeck: While other companies were terminating employees to cut down on operating costs, I decided to retain my employees during the on-going recession period. This increased their loyalty to my business.
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Rhett Stubbendeck: Success is different for everyone. For me, it was becoming CEO; for my employees, it could be being promoted to a high position.
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Rhett Stubbendeck: One of the innate leadership skills I had was communication. I cultivated management and organization skills over the years as a CEO.
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Rhett Stubbendeck: I became a CEO right before the pandemic. It was a big challenge for me. However, I decided to stay calm instead of panicking and figured out how to run business processes online.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting out on their journey?
Rhett Stubbendeck: Future leaders should never stop dreaming. They should always have big dreams for their company’s future.
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Rhett Stubbendeck: One of the skills that I couldn’t acquire was creativity. I have to depend on my employees’ ideas for innovation in the workplace and company.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Rhett Stubbendeck: The road to success.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Rhett Stubbendeck for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Rhett Stubbendeck or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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