From DC Streets to BP: The Leader Who Says “No” to Comfort

[00:00:00] Kevin Rice: Welcome to CEOs and ABCs. Real stories from execs who lead at work and show up at home. Career moves, parenting, wins and fails, and everything in between. I’m your host, Kevin Rice. Here’s today’s episode. Welcome to CEOs and ABCs. Today’s guest is someone who’s led at the intersection of culture, commerce and community his entire career. Derek Gaskins is currently the head of guest experience at British Petroleum, overseeing how millions of people interact with brands like ampm, Thorton’s and Travel Centers of America. Before that, he was the chief marketing officer of Yesway, where he helped scale one of the fastest growing convenience retailers in the country. He’s always bringing a customer first mindset and a deep belief in building brands that actually serve people. But what I admire most about Derek isn’t just his resume. It’s the way he shows up as a dad, as a mentor, as someone who’s lifting others up and keeping purpose at the center of everything he does. This is a conversation about leadership, legacy and the values that shape us both in the boardroom and at home. Derek, thank you so much for being here today.

[00:01:05] Derek Gaskins: Kevin, thank you so much for having me and thank you even more so for that wonderful introduction. I may need to tape that and start taking that with me and playing it for others, but thank you.

[00:01:15] Kevin Rice: You’re absolutely welcome to most people know you and your professional journey. When I first started working in the convenience retailing industry, supporting on the supplier side, I really found you to be someone with a lot of integrity and a lot of humility and you gave me the time to learn about your business and you as a person.

So maybe we could start with a little bit more about your personal side, like what does life look like outside of the office for you these days? Your family, routines, passions. And I’m curious if you’re still working on your golf game.

[00:01:51] Derek Gaskins: Absolutely. And you know that last one got a long way to go still. But yes, personally in passions they tend to intersect sometimes, right. I mean I am, I would say God and family as most folks would. But faith and family mean a lot to me and everything that it entails. So when people say what my hobbies are, I’m always, well my kids hobbies are my hobbies or my kids activities have become my hobbies. And then there are some things that I still bring a passion to that were my passions when I was younger or things that I’ve gotten into like golf or hunting as I’ve gotten older and have access to it. Right. So Certainly personally, I am in the midst of acclimating to Louisville. I just moved from Marblehead, Massachusetts to North Shore of Boston and have uprooted our lives once again. My wife jokes and she always tells me every three to five years she gives me that look of, hey, are you about to uproot or are we too comfortable? Because that’s a dangerous word in my household. I seek out discomfort. I enjoy uncertainty. And we like change. So we have another chance to start over. When we joined, yes way we did that up in Marblehead. And before that we were in D.C. and Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago. So we have moved many times for many opportunities. One thing that I always say, Kevin, is I go where the opportunities are. And I think if that’s one thing that I can convey, I believe that that leads to success. It’s not the only way, but it certainly is a way. You know, I have been in situations where I was not able to move because of my personal situations and not saying that things may have passed me over, but I understood in that moment that I was taking a pause or a hiatus, let’s say. Whereas when it’s been about growth for me, it’s always been about going where the opportunities are. I was born and raised in inner City Washington, D.C. i had an opportunity for an academic full scholarship to the University of Iowa and went there sight unseen. And I mean, people are always like, wait, you just went to Iowa? Absolutely. You know, my dad was, you’re getting a scholarship, they have bet on you, you bet on yourself, and you go out there and you make it happen. And didn’t even need a visit. My visit was being dropped off with all my stuff by my parents and them turning around and leaving. And I’ve always looked at it that way. So when opportunities have come up, I was working on Wall street and living the New York life and at Goldman Sachs. But I found that marketing and merchandising was my passion. Had an opportunity to join P and G and go down to Cincinnati. And I remember at the time, all my colleagues at Goldman were like, you’re nuts. Why would you ever le York to go live somewhere like Cincinnati? And I mean, to this day, that’s probably the best place we’ve lived. I mean, both of my kids were born there. We lived on the Kentucky side. So talking about life coming full circle, now we’re back in, in Kentucky where both of them were born. But we have some of our best friends, dearest, longest friends, and you know, we just have a deep network in that region.

So I’ve always subscribed to that. Go wherever the opportunity takes you.

[00:05:08] Kevin Rice: Yeah. And a lot of things I want to ask about there. But you were at yes Way for near nearly seven years. When you made the leap to BP recently, was it an easy yes or did you have to, you know, let go of something? Was there any sort of emotional process associated with that transition?

[00:05:24] Derek Gaskins: Yeah, this is hard. You almost gonna make me cry. But yes, it was hard. I’m gonna be real. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done. And that’s for a couple of reasons. First would be my team. I actually felt like I helped build yes Way. I don’t wanna give myself too much credit, but was in the trenches and helped facilitate that growth. Was passionate about the brand. As you know, Kevin, anything that I take on, I put my all into it. So was an ambassador for the brand in many ways. And then to go a step further, Tom Turkla is just a visionary. And so I remember when I was being recruited to go to yes Way and talking to him, some of the things that he said, it reminds me of you, meaning that he is so unconstrained by what others think. But I was thinking through the lens of this is the industry, this is how convenience and retail works. And he was saying things like, I’m a disrupted, I’m a launch this chain and build 500 stores and no one’s going to stop me. And I’m looking at him like, is he crazy? Does he understand how hard it is? Some of these family brands, at that time I was with Rutters, right? So I’m like, rutters has a hundred year history of building this brand. Sheets has 70 year history. Wawa family, a hundred year history, all of this. And here’s this man telling me what he’s going to do in a matter of a couple of years. And so then to be able to work with them and do it right and then leave, it was really hard. But once again, sometimes you have to embrace uncertainty and discomfort to get more, to simply grow. And I had given my all to yes Way. I told Tom I will always be an advocate for him. My team, I love them, but I also feel I got them to a point, Kevin, where I could honestly leave, look myself in the mirror and say the organization is better off than it was before I came. And in some ways, me getting out of the way could open up opportunities for someone else to grow. And I had some really talented marketers and merchants that I developed and poured my all into to Witness them go from some of them new to the industry, never working in retail, certainly never working in convenience. And now being super passionate about it, that made it hard. But then you contrast that, right? You look at BP and just the global opportunity and me understanding the business, it was almost like everything I had done prior led here. And so it was a good opportunity to go to a much larger multinational, global org and make retail and merchandising core focus on the guests, even down to the title, right? It’s not about me or marketing or merchandising.

It’s the experience that the guest has in the stores. They recognize that they knew they needed to get someone that was passionate about retail to come in and help. And it’s a world class team. I mean, every day I go to work, I’m surrounded by some of the brightest, sharpest people that I’ve ever worked with. And while they may not understand convenience the way I do, there’s other things that I look at and I’m learning from them. So that re rekindled me. Not that I was resting on laurels by any stretch, but. But you seven years in a row and you kind of reach what the goals were. A couple years ago, three, four years ago, we reached what Tom’s crazy wild vision was at that time that put me off. And I remember one night my wife and I were sitting on the deck and I said, hey, it wasn’t linear, but everything that I set out to do or that we thought we could do with, yes way we’ve done it. So now let’s go do something else.

[00:08:51] Kevin Rice: That’s amazing. I had kind of a similar experience when we sold Hathway to Bounteous. Spent a little bit of time transitioning, but one of the thoughts that was important and in the forefront of my mind was with me stepping out is it creates an opportunity for a lot of other people to step up. And if I had stayed, then they would have had to stay in their current role. And a lot of people have to move to different organizations in order to move up in their career. That’s just kind of the way it is. And so part of the reason that I knew it was my time to move on is, yeah, we had accomplished a lot, but we had the most amazing leadership team built and we wanted to create room for them to take the next level up in their career and not have to leave to go to a different organization to get there.

[00:09:35] Derek Gaskins: That’s awesome. That is very selfless. Most people, they don’t think that way, right? They Think of themselves and they think through, well, I need to do what’s best for me. And not recognizing that sometimes looking at what can help others can also help you because now you have legacy back to that L word that you started with, which is critical.

[00:09:54] Kevin Rice: So speaking of which, during your time at yes Way, you had a ton of big wins. Everything from launching a loyalty program to food service innovation to building an amazing culture. What’s a moment that you’re most proud of during your tenure not because it got headlines or awards, but because it meant something to you personally?

[00:10:13] Derek Gaskins: Yeah, I think, you know, I never had an opportunity to know Mr. Also and you know, I’m big on giving people flowers, Kevin. And I also recognize what it takes to build something. And so others, they don’t see that necessarily. And so when I look at a brand like allsoup’s, I look through the lens of Tom and the team and what we were willing to pay for that multiple. And now I’m looking through the lens of, you know, here’s Mr. Allsop in Clovis, New Mexico. He started with one store and now was able to sell it for basically a billion dollars and create a legacy. And so I think being a steward of, of his brand and we took it very, very seriously. I wanted to create a cohesive team. And one thing was we had a group up in Des Moines, Iowa that was the yes Way brand. And then we had a group in Clovis, New Mexico that was the Allps brand. And we bought everyone together in Fort Worth and it was the yes Way brand, meaning not the yes Way took over, but it was one company, one brand. So I think getting that cohesion from very different people, again, my journey and how I look at diversity, equity and inclusion, oftentimes it’s not just race and gender, it’s also background. Right? We had someone 70 years old who’s on my team, who’s worked for all soaps for 30 plus years, who can teach me more in a one hour conversation than it might take me a year to learn of doing real research. And then the inverse and then that person with, you know, 22 year old social media coordinator who’s showing them how things go viral and the power of digital and seeing those two dichotomies and then they come together to create something bigger. And so that was the one thing that I would say is that positioning the Awesome’s brand and having some of the employees who were long tenured with Mr. Awesome and knew him well, to have them say things like Mr. Also would be proud if he could see what. Yes. Did what Tom Turkler did, what Tom Brown, what Darren, what I did. Brian Ashburn. Just the whole team taking it to another level. Because, as you know, a lot of times when you buy a brand, a lot of that goes out the window. Used to joke when you say, in this case, David bought Goliath, you know, the smaller Challenger brand. But we took a lot of what Goliath had established and what Allsups was famous for and actually burnished it and took it to another level.

[00:12:38] Kevin Rice: Yeah. You’ve been vocal about DEI supporting, supplier partnerships, and just in general lifting other people up. Was there a time in your own journey where someone gave you that lift and it changed your trajectory?

[00:12:51] Derek Gaskins: I think part of it is I feel the burden. Right. I mean, again, I’m from Southeast D.C. i was blessed to be born to the parents that I was born into or the family I was born into.

We don’t get. We get free will, but we don’t get that choice. But that was a choice that. I understand how that changed the trajectory of my life alone. My father was committed to academic excellence, even though he was trying to be a baseball player and was a government worker and didn’t get to go to college like we did. My mom, they started a school, Kevin, in my house in Southeast D.C. we welcomed neighbors like my friends. We joke about this, but my dad would give us vocabulary words. We’re on the backyard shooting hoops. He would say, hey, you all need to learn these words. And some of the other kids like, I’m not learning. The hell I’m not learning this. You’re not my father, and all these kinds of things. But he was. I mean, he would behave as a father for the neighborhood. So it was awesome that he and my mom had that going. As a young child, of course, I didn’t see it through that lens. I saw selfishly of I’m coming home from school and there’s people in my house like, this is crazy. And then my mother asking me to tutor, and I’m younger than people that I’m tutoring because I was being tutored at such a young age. And so I think that commitment to education and lifelong learning has changed my life for the better. And it’s something that I am not only passionate about. I mean, I just proselytize about it. And so I have forced my kids to be high achievers and to study, to read books, to do all those things, because it opens up the world of possibilities to you. So I think that would be one pivotal area, I would say. The second thing is anyone that says they pulled themselves up from their bootstraps is lying. I mean, we all get help. I understand how fortunate, lucky and blessed I’ve been. I’ve gone to school with people when I was in grade school who were as smart, if not smarter, but their opportunities just didn’t unfold as mine did. I know I create my luck in some areas, but in other areas, it’s that hand that’s extended. It’s that conversation and that meeting that you took. And thank God I took that meeting because look at where this led to. So I think being open to things and possibilities and having a quote, unquote, growth mindset, I learned that at a young age. And so that has also helped shape and change what the trajectory is. And then I would say the last thing is Mayor Marion Barry is very influential to people from Washington, D.C. everyone hears the negatives about him. You know, he used crack. He did all these things. Well, Marion Barry was intentional. And he built the largest concentration of black wealth the world has ever seen. Still, the wealthiest suburb of black people was in Prince George’s County, Maryland, right across the D.C. line. D.C. was called Chocolate City. When he was the mayor, D.C. always voted for him, even when he got out of jail. And everyone was like, what is going on? Because Marion Barry was the first one to, quote, unquote, legitimately keep it real. And he partnered with Ronald Reagan, who’s also one of my favorite presidents. And people are like, well, how can you support Reagan? I’m educated and I’m knowledgeable and I know about his policies and I’ve seen how he worked with Marion Barry. Someone that you would think they should have no relationship. And they did. And they got investment into DC I saw when Marion Barry stood up a summer youth employment program that actually lives on to this day. My niece is the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, and she has a summer youth employment and jobs program.

And in D.C. that was one of my first real jobs. I remember if you were between 13 and I think it went all the way up to 20 or 21. Aaron Barry got Marriott. All the D.C. based corporations, Hilton, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, you name them, Geico to commit and say we will hire inner city youth and give them life skills on the job training. And Kevin, that changed my world and it changed a lot of worlds. I mean, there are thousands of people from that area who will point and say that job, that exposure to a professional setting as a young teen changed the trajectory of my Life. So I wanted to give some flowers there because I think being from D.C. has given me that drive, that energy, that passion, that kind of hustler’s mentality. But Marion Barry was a mayor that embodied it, and he was so authentic, reached across party aisles, was always advocating to help seniors, to help children. Now, when I look at the state of our world, there’s no one like that. We don’t have leaders who are honest. Yeah, he was flawed. He had more moral issues, all kinds of people jumping out of the hotel, the FBI was in the walls and set him up, all of that. But the good that he did lives on. And for every person, there’s thousands of people just like me and my friends that will tell you that it changed their lives.

[00:17:48] Kevin Rice: Yeah. And that’s legacy. And when you mentioned your daughter, I saw you light up there.

I remember golfing with you a couple years ago, and the way you spoke about your son with just so much pride. I think he was still early in college doing track meets. I remember you talking about him growing up and, you know, becoming a man in front of your eyes. How has fatherhood changed how you show up as a leader?

[00:18:11] Derek Gaskins: It’s an awesome question, man. It has certainly tempered me and given me more patience. Everyone says that parents need patience, but as you know, as a leader, we don’t have a lot of patience. And so from a professional standpoint, I remember even early on, like, my wife would sometimes check me on that and just say, hey, we’re not your employees. We don’t work for you. You know, you can’t come home and try to change stuff. We have a system here. So, like, okay, let me back off a little bit. And then I think to your second point. Honestly, witnessing them become adults. And it’s not just that they have opinions and minds of their own, but it’s sometimes the wisdom that comes back from them. It’s like, wow, I am really blessed. I can sit here and say, I parented and I did that, but that’s not me. That’s their innate self. That’s manifest. And as a parent, to see that is absolutely beautiful. And I remember my mom was really proud to the point where it was embarrassing, right? It was always like, mom, stop selling my business, everybody, or come home from Iowa. And everybody would know everything about me, who I was dating, if I joined a fraternity, what my grades were. I mean, everything. I was like, do you have no shame? And now I find myself being that same way, where my kids are just like, you know, dad, you’re I’m like, I’m proud of you. I’m sorry, but it’s mind blowing to see your growth. And it’s not that I’m bragging, but I am bragging because I’m very much impressed with the humans and adults that they have morphed into. I. I honestly think personality is more innate than people give it credit for because my kids have been their way since they were babies. You know, I can see aspects of my daughter, and she’s 25 now, that when I saw that when she was 2 or 18 months old, or with my son when he was 1, he’s 21 now, grown man, same way. So many of the characteristics just evolved and adult and the good is really shining. And I think that’s where you see some of that pride from.

[00:20:15] Kevin Rice: Yeah, absolutely. With having such a prolific career, presumably a lot of high pressure positions, or I imagine there was a lot of pressure at the positions that you held. How did you manage to stay connected with your kids as they were growing up and what did that teach you in the process?

[00:20:31] Derek Gaskins: Yeah, that was a constant battle. And I think in some ways the wisdom of our elders is something that all of us can model. I remember being a child and always hearing children stay out of grown folks business. So when they were young, I made sure that they stayed out of grown folks business, meaning my work. Stress, pressure, don’t bring that home. If you have a bad day, leave that on the commute or leave it in the garage. And that’s real. I mean, I have to decompress. And I’m sure you go through the same thing because when you come home and your kids were little, there’s no greater feeling than you open that door, you hear daddy, and there’s excitement. So that can change any day from bad to good. And I’m still that way. So even when the stresses of the business world or life in general don’t want them to see me sweat, I won’t mask things that are going to impact the family that are real. Someone dies, someone is sick, I’m as transparent, straightforward on that as possible. But things that I can control professionally, I don’t allow it to interfere personally with their safe haven. Right. I always want them to feel like home is where they can come and recharge because that’s how I felt. Right. No matter how bad things were, I knew if I got home and at 1405 34th street, the home I grew up in in DC, if I could make it there, everything was right in the world. And I Could recharge my batteries and just spending a couple days there to set me on another course. And I’ve been intentional with that with every home that we’ve gotten. I was joking with you how I did the opposite. We’re empty nesters now. Most people downsize, but we were in Massachusetts. We were already downsized in a really small place, but we were close to the beach and it was walkable. We loved it. So we love Marblehead. But we come to Louisville and, you know, I have a couple of acres. We have a bigger home. And one of the rationales, and someone taught me this years ago, they said, you want the home where your kids will not only want to come to, but when they have kids, they want to come vacation there. And so I made sure we have a pool and they have space. And it’s like, you’re always welcome here. You know, I’m not that kind of parent that, hey, when you’re 18, you get out of my house, you’re grown. They’ll always be my babies, they’ll always be my kids. And I’m. I’m intentional and purposeful about that. And if it embarrasses them, so what your mind, I think that gives them that safe space that they can put their hair down. And while they’re in their young careers and trying to figure things out, they know they can come and talk about those things with me, too.

[00:23:03] Kevin Rice: Yeah, I feel that when I’m having a hard time, maybe kids are having some big emotions or throwing a temper tantrum. Exactly. What you just said goes through my mind is you are mine and I am yours. We’re in this life together, and it usually can help me be grounded and help them weather a storm when they’re having those big emotions. Absolutely. We talked about balance, and balance is a struggle. I still struggle with it today. I really struggled with it during the height of my career. And then in the past, we’ve talked about, and I’ve seen you post about having the courage to say no. And I think that applies both in career as well as in your personal life. Curious. When you reference that idea of having the courage to say no. Are there specific moments that come to mind for you where you chose to say no?

[00:23:49] Derek Gaskins: That’s. That’s a great, great question. Yeah. And I, I think that’s some of the seasons that I talk about. Right. And so, yes, way for me, I, I went there seven years ago, but I could not have done that when they were younger. So I knew going into yesterday I had to work Harder than I’ve ever worked. I had to travel 52 weeks a year and I had to, quote, unquote, possibly miss things. But I had gotten up to a point where they were in college.

So I was in a season where I could do that prior. I had to say no to some things like that because, you know, whether it was a Wall street hustle life and just saying, you know what, your job is your life, and I want a commitment from you 20 hours a day. And me saying, well, I have a family and I’m. I’m not. I had the courage to say no. That’s not the life I want. I think the worst thing is when I look at some people who are super successful, the fear. They used to keep me up. Kevin. And I’ll share this as a executive and leader. It’s when their kids and their family hate them. And I used to always say, what’s the point? What are you doing it for if the people who you honestly are doing it for despise you? So I think that fear has always grounded me. And then I’ve looked at seasons of life. And so when my kids were really young, I talked about, we were in Cincinnati as a brand manager, PNG race season. They were young, go to Montessori schools. My wife could then be at home, be uber dedicated to them and live that, you know, suburban lifestyle. We’re just driving them around. When they got probably, let’s say preteen, but even, let’s say post toddler age, some of my concerns around lack of diversity in the environment that they were being raised in were concerning. And so I had to get very conscientious. And I went to Knox and my mom was sick, Knox was in dc And I wanted my kids to be in dc, to be exposed to things that they were starting to get challenged and questioned on in Cincinnati. And then when we moved to Pittsburgh, especially in Pittsburgh, when we lived in some of those suburbs and I was consumed with work, I was a giant eagle. I was a gecko. It was amazing. I loved it. But they were not getting diverse experiences. They were getting stereotypical, almost borderline, just overt racist things that were happening. That my son at that time was almost, I want to say he was 6 or 7. And I remember looking at my wife saying, I have to get him out of this. Like, this can’t be how he’s raised. I can’t have him not having self confidence or questioning texture of his hair, color of his skin, wondering why is he the only one who looks a Certain way. And in some ways I think that that benefited them because they can adapt. Meaning we went from almost, Maybe it was 95% white in a neighborhood that we were in Pittsburgh and their schools we moved to inner City Washington D.C. and my wife, I remember looking at me and getting angry at one point saying we don’t want to be your social experiment. Like what the hell? Because we went to 100% black. And it was the K through 8 school that me and my siblings all went through, St. Francis X Navier, right on the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Pennsylvania avenue in southeast D.C. and they didn’t have the resources that the schools in Pittsburgh had or the schools in Cincinnati had. But they had love, they had self pride, they taught history, and I mean real history about pharaohs and not just black people from slavery, just everything. And that changed my kids outlook. I think it changed how they perceived the world and how they interact with others. And then of course they got older. And then my daughter, I put her in one of the top independent all girls schools, Houghton Arms. And that just took her to a whole nother stratosphere. And then my son went to the Matha Catholic all boys school there, same thing, sports powerhouse and all of that. And when they graduated, and in my son’s case, he was the one who had to suffer, he switched his sophomore year and we moved up to Marblehead and Marblehead again. He’s probably one of a handful of black people in the whole school. So he goes from one extreme to the other, but has thrived in all of them. And when I look at my life through that same lens, when I was graduating from high school, I had a full scholarship to Howard that was in D.C. and I remember my mom saying, you’re not going to Howard. I’m getting you as far away from D.C. as possible. And I’m looking at her like, what? And right now people talk about crime, but back then it was indiscriminate. D.C. was the murder capital of America. We averaged over 600 murders per year. And it was no rhyme or reason, just wrong place, wrong time. So parents were literally, that was her nightmare. It was someone’s going to kill one of my kids or they’re going to be the wrong place, wrong time, caught up in the wrong thing and not get that second chance. Crime is still bad, but now there’s only hundred something murders. It’s politicized, but it’s not what it was. And so I think me going to Iowa helped me understand that you have to be able to adapt to multiple cultures and situations and thrive, that everything is not a certain way. But it also exposed things to me. So I can see it through a different lens. Whereas if I would have just seen it through the lens of growing up in dc, I don’t think I would’ve be as open to experiences and opportunities as I otherwise have been because of what I will help me see.

[00:29:13] Kevin Rice: Yeah, I’m kind of going through that season of life right now where I know that I need to be home with the kids. Since even talking with people about this podcast and I’ve made a few investments in startups in the last week alone, I’ve been invited to at least seven different events. I probably won’t see you at NAX this year, but I just. It’s this season of life where the kids need me at home and that’s going to be the priority. So as much as I know I could be productive and I could help some of the companies I’ve invested in, it’s one of the reasons that we’re doing this remotely. I would love to have people in person. I would love to be hanging out with you, interviewing in person. But the priority for me right now is being at home with my kids and being at home with my partner.

[00:29:59] Derek Gaskins: Yeah. And I mean, that’s that courage to say no. Right. Is being home with your kids and home with your partners is what gets to yes. And oftentimes there are some things that you want to say yes to, but you have to step up and say no. And it’s based on that season. You know, I always talk about things that matter. Thank God I did not miss. I didn’t make everything right. So there were some things that haunt me as well. Just like you said. I know I got caught in traffic, was late, but you know, sometimes just your presence is all that matters. There were other things. I’m on a business trip, even bp, my son’s graduation.

We had a incentive trip to Alaska. The rest of my family could join, my wife could join. Now my son, to his credit, he ended up not even walking for his graduation. So if I would have not gone on his business trip, it would have been for moot point because he wanted to go and run and run. And so he actually went down to D.C. and he ran in a last chance meet and dominated down there. And my brother and his nieces and nephews and all of that made it. But it was just funny because that was something. Back to your point. I really had a hard time with and. But he’s grown so that’s where I let him in. I said, look, I’m struggling with this. I just started a new role. You know how I am. I’m all in. But I can’t miss your graduation. That’s crazy. He was, dad, go. I’m probably not going to even go. He was like, I’m a run another year and I’m going to get a master’s, so come to that graduation. That one means more. I don’t think I’m a walk this year just because there’s this meet that I may do. And I was like, really? Does your mom know? He was like, no, not yet. I was like, oh, but, you know, those are choices. And while he was young, I wouldn’t have given him a say on that as an adult. Now I want him to have a say. I want him to express to me and say, is this important to you? If I miss this, are you going to look at me and say, my dad wasn’t there for the big moments of my life? He’s like, heck, no. I know all that you do for me. And it was like, okay, great. Now I can feel a little bit better.

[00:32:00] Kevin Rice: There you go, man. I could keep chatting for a long time, but I think we’re kind of coming up on the limit. Otherwise it’s going to be a two and a half hour Joe Rogan episode here.

So last question and we’ll wrap it up. Looking back on your career from Giant Eagle now to bp, and I’m sure the best is still yet to come. What do you hope your kids will say about the kind of leader and the kind of man that you were and you are today?

[00:32:26] Derek Gaskin: Awesome legacy is something that I think about a lot. And, you know, one of my favorite phrases is feedback is a gift. And so I try to be a leader that embraces and means that. So I ask for feedback. And I do that with the family, too. Meaning I want to admit when I’m wrong, my dad was tougher. A different generation. My kids will still tell you I’m tough. They’ll say, my dad’s crazy. He’s tough. He’s not like other dads. Okay, I get that. But I will admit I’m wrong. I will admit and apologize to them. Right? And I remember being young and that was never done. It was just, again, kids, sustained kids, places. So I think if they would understand and recognize me as a leader that subscribed to the platinum, right? Everyone talks about the golden rule. Treat others how you want to be treated. I think it’s Treat others how they want to be treated. And so I find that for me to be a good leader, I have to get to know the people on my team almost like family. And it’s going back to where you started with this. And that’s what authenticity now means to me. I want to bring my whole self to work and I want them to do it as well. So I don’t want them worried about a 4 o’ clock soccer practice. And if I know I’m the one saying, what the heck are you doing here? Get out. Because no one’s looking when they’re giving me an update on a weekend at 10pm because I happened to mistakenly send an email when I shouldn’t have. You know, I tried not, I’ve tried to be better, but sometimes the spirit compels. So you get in the moment and you’re grinding. And my team is that way now. And I think we always look at it through the lens of feedback is a gift. Feel free to speak up and give feedback. Even when it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Right? It’s meaning. It’s not always a good gift. Gifts aren’t always good. But if someone takes the time to give you feedback, it means that they care. So I’ll give feedback, I’ll ask for that feedback. I would hope that my kids, I would hope that team members of mine who have worked with me or for me or that I’ve worked for will say, he always was authentic, he cared, he invested in me. And when we won, we won and when we lost, I try to shoulder that so that no one wants to feel like they were alone in that. I think that’s big. You know, I love to win. I’m very competitive. I like a winning culture. Except for golf, you’ve seen me. So I’m not going to pretend there.

My golf game is horrible. But in everything else, I mean, why do it if you don’t want to be the best? Why do it if you don’t want to, you know, win? And so I always say people want to work for a winner, they want to play for a winner, they want to be a part of a winning organization.

So I try to get that culture where it’s fun, you know, if you’re going to work hard and work your tail off, it should at least be fun and you should celebrate your W’s and your victories.

[00:35:14] Kevin Rice: Absolutely. Derek, thank you so much for being here today. I just know you as such a fantastic, brilliant, business minded person. I know this because I’ve been on calls with you and I’ve seen you talking to your leadership team and leading meetings. But you’re also just such a fantastic human. Your values are very strong, you lead with them and you’re very heart centered. So I really appreciate you being one of my first few guests here on the podcast and when I do get back out there I’ll look forward to spending some time in person.

[00:35:43] Derek Gaskins: Absolutely. Thank you so much Kevin. The feeling is beyond mutual. You are successful, brilliant. Everything you touch turns the gold. You got the Midas touch from that aspect. So glad to be a part of your journey here and excited to see what you cook up next.

[00:35:58] Kevin Rice: Thanks Derek. If you’re enjoying this conversation, make sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. CEOs and ABCs is all about helping you grow in your career and show up at home. We’ve got many more amazing guests coming up so tap, follow and stay tuned.