Phil Rubenstein on leadership: Six core values at the heart of a century-old company
The following story was featured on syracuse.com as part of their weekly “Conversations on Leadership” column. By Stan Linhorst | StanLinhorst@gmail.com United Radio celebrates its 100th anniversary in January. Jacob Rubenstein founded the company in 1923 as a radio repair shop on Salina Street in downtown Syracuse. Over the past century, the company adapted to changing demands and opportunities but remained family owned – now led by the third generation. Phil Rubenstein assumed the presidency from his father, Arnie, in 2005. Rubenstein and his sister, Mara Charlamb, who is vice president, are sole owners of the company. Rubenstein said United Radio’s work covers three broad divisions. The automotive division is the largest and operates globally, repairing, re-manufacturing, and distributing any electronic device that runs off a vehicle’s battery. That includes things like instrument clusters, climate controls, engine-control modules, satellite radio, rear-seat entertainment, and so on. Automotive devices arrive at the company on Enterprise Parkway in DeWitt from more than 140 countries. The consumer electronics division handles products like audio equipment, home-theater systems, and video-game devices. The third division, concentrated in Upstate New York, sells, distributes, and repairs communication devices, mainly for people who need to talk or signal over systems other than cellular phones. “The first things that come to mind are police and fire, first responders if you will,” Rubenstein said. “But also we’re involved in other industries – delivery services, landscapers, anybody with a fleet of vehicles that need to speak to one another.” Rubenstein says the company has thrived for decades guided by a belief in six core values that create lasting relationships, adapt to business challenges, and enrich lives. A leader in that kind of culture is always learning, always curious, always authentically themselves. Give me some scale of the company – number of employees, your expansions in Georgia and Utah, and similar descriptions. Our employment goes as high as 700 employees. We’re closer to about 640 right now, about 450 of which are here in Central New York. The rest are in Georgia and Utah. Our workforce tends to follow a little bit of our seasons, so we use contract employees, particularly in our gaming-repair centers. In the summer months, people aren’t breaking their video games as much because they’re outside having fun. As the holiday season approaches, and typically into late February and early March, we can be processing as many as 3,000 to 4,000 units a day. So we bring in contract employees at that time of year and that’s when we have our highest numbers in terms of employment. There is a logistical advantage with our locations. Our location in Peachtree City, Georgia, is about 20 minutes south of the Atlanta airport. With our facilities now in Salt Lake City, we can cover the entire country in three-day ground shipping. We determined that we needed something in the Western part of the United States. We started looking for spaces toward the end of 2020. It was probably not the best time to be traveling and probably not the best time to be looking at expansion, but it really was the right timing for us. Our Salt Lake City facility opened in December 2021. We started there in a sublet facility of about 36,000 square feet that we set up to get going on a project for a partner out there. In February, we started moving into our 148,000-square-foot facility that we will be growing into. We had our official grand opening Aug. 4. I’d like to ask about your dad, Arnie. He’s so well known locally, both in business and also for his community involvement. What’s his role now? Historian. (Laughter) He’s chairman of the board, but he is fully retired at this point. He does come into the office every day. He and I share an office. I take full advantage of that, because I can turn around and ask him questions. He spends most of his time here working on personal stuff. My mom (Libby) and dad were very good role models. My parents were very involved in the community and I got to experience that and watch them. Were you in leadership roles growing up? I am an Eagle Scout and spent many years involved in Boy Scouts and worked my way up through leadership in the Boy Scouts. I would say that’s where I learned quite a bit of my leadership and leadership skills – obviously in addition to observing my parents in leadership roles. In Boy Scouts, I worked my way up through like quartermaster – I think I started as bugler. But quartermaster and assistant patrol leader, patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader. I was senior patrol leader for a number of years. I attribute much of my leadership education to the Scouts. Give me an example of an instructive moment in Scouting. There were a lot of them. (Laughter) I remember when I first became the senior patrol leader – basically in charge of the troop, if you will. I took on that role from someone who had a much different style than I did. I tried to be like what I had seen him be as a senior patrol leader and realized that wasn’t me and that it wasn’t going to work. Granted, I was young, so I was still developing my leadership style. There were some rocky moments in the transition and I learned from them. Everybody leads differently. What I learned is that just because somebody’s style is different, doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong; it’s just different. I see that at United Radio very profoundly in one of our core values, which is that our differences make us stronger. We need to look for and value and celebrate differences in people and not try to make everybody the same. Being authentic is how we should be every day. It’s what trust is built on – being who you are and being authentic and being consistent. Thanks for a great insight, but I interrupted your
Mike Fabery to take part in Remanufacturing Sectors: Consumer Products webinar
Mike Fabery, United Radio Automotive Operations manager will take part in Remanufacturing Sectors: Consumer Products webinar. November 9, 2022, 10:00 am EDT Description This is the second webinar in a new series where RIC will explore different sectors of the remanufacturing industry. Attendees will gain insight into other sectors and learn how they are similar to, and different from, their own industry. As we have done in past webinars, we will bring together experts on this topic from various perspectives. Following panelist presentations there will be time for questions from the audience. The registration link will give you the opportunity to submit specific questions in advance. You will also have the opportunity to submit questions during the webinar. Learning Objectives Learn the difference between refurbishing and remanufacturing in the Consumer Products sector. Hear how a company decides what level of effort to put into a Consumer Product before remarketing it. Understand how Consumer Products are remarketed and what impact that has on the sale of new products.
