Expanding Your Influence in the Workplace Monday, September 30, 2024

Jesus D. “Jesse” Hernandez Jr is the Founder of Depth Builder LLC, who helps leaders deepen their communication skills and build trust through their improvement initiatives. Jesse does this by shining a light on their blind spots, and teaching them how to adjust their leadership approach to ensure “buy in” amongst their employees. Experiencing construction business problems from the perspective of an installer, a field leader, a trade contractor, a General Contractor and an owner’s Rep has helped Jesse understand that we are more alike than we are different. Being a witness to people discovering their agency and leaders contributing to that is what brings him fulfillment. His path in the professional space and 7+ years of sobriety has helped Jesse meet people where they are at and get them unstuck. The key is in serving others and helping folks leverage their influence and formal authority in making the work better for the men and women who are doing the work. Jesse’s 5S in Relationships Livestream Experiment revealed to him that there is a gap in connection amongst construction professionals. This led him to co-author the book Lean & Love 5S Love Letters and co-host The NoBS with Jen and Jess Podcast, where he is having imperfect conversations about the human side of work. These efforts helped Jesse appreciate the power of vulnerability. Jesse has also written Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be where readers can find glimpses of themselves in the stories he shares and discover the path to living up to the promise they are Intended to fulfill. Seeing the impact these works are having have lit a fire in Jesse to help people practice vulnerability and deepen their connection with the folks they spend the most time with. Jesse wants to serve our listeners with the idea that focusing on the person in front of us is the best way to Expand their Influence. The key to this is listening and more specifically asking interested questions. He wants to introduce the listeners two a couple of cheat codes (air time & first response) that they can put into practice immediately.