A lot of companies use positive-sounding cliches like “people over profit” and “work-life balance”. This sounds good, until somebody pulls the sales reports and says “we need more revenue and profits”. Then, the bottom line becomes the bottom line. This is sometimes served with a side of “you come to work to do work, change the world on your own time”.

Now, picture a model where putting people over profit actually increases profits. Where work-life balance is not measured using number of hours worked or percentage of time in the office vs. working remotely. Being involved with a company that breaks the rules and norms for its industry, where coming to work to do work means doing your part to change the world.

Christian Agulles has created all of these things in an industry known for squeezing its engineers like getting that last drop out of the toothpaste tube.

Born and raised in College Point, a little town in Queens, Christian was a devout Catholic who went to church, went to Catholic school, and had the whole Catholic experience that, as he describes it, formed him and scarred him at the same time. His father, a police officer, was shot in the line of duty when Christian was seven. Even being able to retire on three-quarters pension, that money didn’t go far supporting a family including Christian and his two younger brothers. His mother went to work in the school cafeteria so she could align her schedule with her sons, and cleaned houses on weekends. By example, she taught Christian to not be afraid to do hard things and to do them with grace.

While starting his family, Christian spent the first 20 years of his career with an engineering firm that moved him around the country to open new offices. But over those 20 years, his employer was repeatedly acquired and evolved into company that focused more on acquisition, revenue, and EBIDA. It was right around this time he was recruited to join PAE. Everything worked out fine, yes? Well, Fine is a 4-Letter Word.

Did his moment of realization come from a coaching session at PAE with Sandy Lindstrom, known for the “polishing the diamond” principle, where he found out they did not feel he was very good at delivering feedback?

Was it discovering that his foundational values around doing hard work with grace could be merged with volunteerism, altruism, and contribution?

In a moment, when I bring Christian on, he’s going to guide us through his experience leading a Certified B-Corporation and how he’s taken one of their metrics – utilization – and redefined it to build PAE into a company that has a net positive impact not only on its employees, but on society as a whole. If, up until now, you’ve seen your best-laid plans get trumped by “the bottom line” when bills are due, this could be what you need to hear.

Christian’s hype songs are "Bring It On Home To Me" by Sam Cooke and "Right to Be Wrong" by Joss Stone.

Resources:

• Christian Agulles’ website: https://www.pae-engineers.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-j-agulles/

Invitation from Lori:

This episode is sponsored by Zen Rabbit.

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Now, let’s head over to meet Christian. As you’ll see when we go through, this comes with a lot of “two-fers” that could double the value of your time hanging out with us!