#116, Lionel Selwood Jr, CEO of Romeo Power

Lionel is an accomplished Product Management Leader with expertise in Operations Management, Financial Management (Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow), Lean Six Sigma, Supplier Development, Strategic Sourcing and Product Quality Management. His experience spans General Electric where he graduated from the highly regarded Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP) and owned Profit & Loss Responsibility as Manufacturing Shop Operations Manager of a High Volume Production Facility and three Fast Moving Innovative Start Ups (SpaceX, Faraday Future & Romeo Power) where he has held various roles including Director of Procurement, Vice President of Engineering and Chief Operating Officer. Lionel holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Syracuse University and an MPS in Supply Chain Management from Penn State University.

Bigger Than Us Episode 116

This transcription has been lightly edited for readability.

Host Raj Daniels  02:22

If you are asked to share something interesting about yourself, what would it be?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  02:26

It would be that I am an avid musician. My primary instruments are percussion but I write dabbling, some singing, and some poetry so that’s something interesting about myself that I love to share. So love music outside of work.

Host Raj Daniels  02:42

Have you published any work?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  02:44

No, I’m in the in not publish any more in the background. You can hear my recordings and some of the rising stars US Steel orchestra music that’s out on iTunes or some of the other music platforms, but that’s about it. 

Host Raj Daniels  03:02

And you said percussion, percussion is very broad. Anything particular?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  03:06

My specialty is drums.

Host Raj Daniels  03:09

And in drums, can you narrow down?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  03:12

Drum set, I do bongos I do congas. Timbales, you name it I do it. If you can make a beat out of it with any of your limbs, call me.

Host Raj Daniels  03:27

I have a video of my daughter when she was about seven years old with Home Depot buckets turned upside down if he’s playing on them.

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  03:33

That’s awesome. And if you Google me, I there’s actually a YouTube video of me when I was at Syracuse University, where they did a feature on me while I was in Syracuse University marching band. That’ll give you a flavor of how much I love to perform. If you just see my joy, you know, as I’m performing for the fans.

Host Raj Daniels  03:50

What led you to the drums?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  03:55

What led me to the drums was really my grandfather. He’s always had music playing around the home. And I would always be tapping. And I just loved making a rhythm. So just listening to music. And just coming forward. I said, look, I want to learn how to do this properly and be really good at it. So that’s why I’m actually known for throughout, the Virgin Islands, in addition to you know what we’ll talk about that Romeo Power. But that’s what led me into it.

Host Raj Daniels  04:24

That’s a beautiful storyline. Oh, thank you for sharing. So Lionel, since you mentioned Romeo Power. Can you give the audience an overview of Romeo Power and your role at the organization? 

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  04:37

I’m the president and chief executive officer at Romeo power. We are a leading-edge battery technology company. And our mission is to advance energy technology. And our vision is to end energy poverty. So really, and truly everybody that’s working at Romeo Power so hard on a daily basis, but all about making green energy accessible to all 8 billion people across the globe.

So right now, we’re really focused on the commercial vehicle market. Really, we have some great partnerships that we’ve been announcing and been talking about over the past couple of weeks since our announcement of the spec merger. So we’re really focused on gaining share in that market, while also seeding other industries such as marine, aviation and mining. So, Raj, we have a real what we say our industry agnostic product portfolio, and we really like to dive into and give our customers the most safe, most reliable, most energy-dense, and most configurable offering, no matter the industry. So that’s what we’re really about. And it’s all in the vein of again, this ending that energy poverty.

So our premise is put the best products in the hands of customers reinvest the profits into making the product even more insanely better, better than our competitors, into delighting our customers, to bring the cost down to a point where we can either do second life offerings or even some energy storage platforms, to areas that are really, really screaming for green energy.

Host Raj Daniels  06:18

So you mentioned competitors, obviously, the big ones in the room are Panasonic, Tesla. Can you share how Romeo differentiates from those two?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  06:25

So we differentiate again, just from we do the tough stuff, okay, so the reason we are focused on the commercial vehicle market is because if you’re a fleet manager, you don’t want any compromises in ROI, or profit per mile. And that’s the way we’ve always designed. So we break everything in house before it goes on road, like I said, to make sure it’s the most safe and most reliable, our configurability is second to none. So within our products, we support anything as low as 300 volts, to as high as more than 1000 volts in the same pack offering. Okay, so this really allows our customers to put their vehicles on the road, sometimes 18 to 24 months quicker than our competitors. Because compared to competitors, if you have to switch your voltage level, midstream, you’re looking at a redesign with our competitors, rather than us, we’re changing our one part, which is our current collector technology, and shipping you essentially the same product.

So those are some of the ways we differentiate ourselves, really focusing on safety, reliability, configurability, and energy density.

Host Raj Daniels  07:35

So you mentioned configurability, if I’m understanding correctly, and please correct me if I’m wrong, they can use the same chassis, but just changed the power output. Is that correct?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  07:44

Yes, change the chassis, change the voltage to support a different system level. So for example, one of our partners with the pack that we partner with them on, could support 405 volts, 805 volts, and 1000 volts, all within the same pack. We just changed one current collector, for example. And also we use the configurable mantra. So we use a strategy that we call the building block approach. So for example, we have packs as small as 30-kilowatt hours, for example. So some of our customers, they’ll say, hey, on this vehicle, I want 660-kilowatt hours. So obviously, that’s two. But on the other vehicle, I want larger than that, where there’s 120. And going so all you do is scale up and down your needs based upon the capacity building block that we offer.

Host Raj Daniels  08:39

And so when they’re making decisions regarding the different battery packs, you mentioned use cases, can you give some use cases of what kinds of vehicles?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  08:47

We supply into any of the commercial vehicle space. So our portfolio covers anywhere from a class three, all the way up to severe duty class eight. So anywhere within that realm. Why the customers love working with us is if you’re a customer, you have six or seven different vehicle platforms, for the first time really you have a one-stop-shop in Romeo Power, because we support your minibusses, your school buses. If you have a severe duty trash truck or cement truck, are we up to a long haul under one roof at Romeo. we could support all of those vehicles for you. 

Host Raj Daniels  09:23

And you mentioned also marine aviation and mining. Can you kind of dig deeper a little bit into those three?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  09:33

First and foremost, we worked on a battery management system because we to us that the firmware is as important or even more important than the hardware. But what we did with the hardware is we wanted to create an industry-agnostic portfolio as I mentioned in the opening, and what we did is really focused on developing our module. Our module is set up in a way where at the module level, you have a huge portion of the battery management system, you have structural integrity, for example, Raj our module can do 25 G’s in any direction at the module level, which simplifies the pack level design and also the vehicle level design.

We have the configurability of the current collector technology that I taught that I talked to you about. So, our module has eight different voltage variants that are possible with our module architecture. Also, you have integrated thermal management. So we have a proprietary thermal management technology that allows us to keep our temperatures across the entire battery pack less than 40 degrees C. It’s actually tighter than that but less than 40 degrees C is what we tell the market, our customers are delighted with how much tighter we can keep it.

So my point to you is since we put so much secret sauce and so much competitive advantage into the module that really allows us to go after these additional markets that are kind of behind in terms of the adoption. So our Orion platform, for example, the same Orion platforms that are going into commercial vehicles are already in electric vehicles, for example, that’s testing fine. And without going into marine applications, as well as some mining operations with the same Orion battery pack platform, which is the goal from the beginning.

That’s why I see this as the electrification decade because you have us at the center being the nucleus of this electrification decade. And everyone is finally ready, and right to take this thing forward as an entire value chain.

Host Raj Daniels  11:27

So let’s talk about thermal management for a moment. How is your battery pack different from the competitors I mentioned earlier, specifically around thermal management?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  11:40

First and foremost, what I talked to you about is we don’t make the battery cells, but we make it our business to know as much or more than make up the cells. So we have a battery cell test laboratory, where we’ve tested upwards of 200 cells and counting from 10 different players and counting. So we can tell you who is the best now, who is up next, and who is a few years out in terms of safety, reliability, and innovation. Okay, so we really, really, and truly start with the cell selection as the gambit. Raj, I like to say that anybody that says a cell is a commodity, they are absolutely missing the mark, they are not. They are not created equal. And the cell that you pick and put into your product is extremely critical.

But after that, from a trauma management standpoint, like I said, our technology allows us to keep that temperature difference less than 40 degrees C across the entire platform, which essentially gives the cells a home where that feeling great allows you to fast charger, a charge faster, allows you to manage the degradation of the battery over time, etc. So that’s how it really defaults. And again, that’s all integrated into our module. Technology with auto is it’s not really integrated, other than some, you know, a critical few players to…management is extremely, extremely important and is one of our key differentiating factors.

Host Raj Daniels  13:13

So I’m not an expert by any means. But I’m understanding that yours is driven via software, whereas some others might be driven via some kind of liquid cooling? Is that correct?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  13:23

It’s a combination, right. So if you ask me, oh, what’s the one thing it’s not one thing. So inside Romeo outside, we touched on the battery cells a little bit but outside of not making the battery cells. We have every other competency from the battery value chain standpoint inside of Romeo. So from the battery management system standpoint, we do that all in house. From that we write our own code. And on the hardware side, we pick our own components size. The board’s even designed the test apparatuses, before sending them out to our PCB partners. So we have a fully enclosed by the management system team, fully enclosed electromechanical engineering, structural engineering, thermal engineering, and even down to mass production. So it’s a combination of all of those things. There have been all of those competencies inside Romeo allows us to design beyond the battery. So our product offerings can walk with any power train, any integrator, any OEM, any fleet manager. And the reason we did that is because we did not want to be beholden to any one customer and anyone partner. Having those competencies inside allows us to open the floodgates in terms of addressable market and opportunity for Romeo.

Host Raj Daniels  14:46

Sounds like a great strategy. Let’s double click on aviation for a moment. Where do you think we are before we see fully electric?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  14:52

We’re a ways out from it, I’m not going to put a time a timeline on it. And the vehicle side, I call this the electrification decade. I really do believe that between 2020 and 2030, we’re going to see some amazing things on the vehicle side. Now I know in our aviation business, there’s billions of dollars being spent there from an electrification innovation standpoint, they’re a ways out. So what we’ve been doing is developing partnerships early, getting our partners standing behind our technology, and essentially growing with them from an innovation standpoint. So when they are ready to electrify the masses, we will be right there with them. So between let’s say, now and ’25 Look, you will see electrified flights, you know, test fleets doing all of that, so you will see that, so within the electrification decade, as we call it, you’ll see advances in the aviation standpoint, but mass adoption for commercialization. I think you’re a couple of your ways out even farther than the electrification decade. From what I’m seeing today.

I’ve lived needing that energy. If I had that energy, I could have read another book, I could have did something more productive, or I could run my business more, or I could get some predict productivity out. So I’m speaking because I grew up with that. I grew up impoverished from the energy standpoint.

Host Raj Daniels  16:05

It sounds like an exciting future. I recently interviewed one of the founders of Rewiring America. And he feels the same way regarding this being the decade of electrification.

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  16:15

It truly is. And especially at Romeo. Look, we have let’s talk about some tailwinds. Especially at Romeo Power, and I’m excited about as a CEO of the company. So besides the industry, agnostic market, leading battery technology portfolio, we have some key strategic partnerships that, if you allow me some time to touch on, right, so we have a great partnership with BorgWarner. So that the Wisco high growth business plan really allows us to continue optimizing our manufacturing system, get cost downs in our supply base, and really focus on getting a share in the European and Asian markets.

Then we have Heritage Environmental, which we have a battery cycling, Second Life partnership that we’re very excited about. And standing up was part of that partnership. Heritage is going to electrify a minimum of 500 vehicles with Romeo Power technology insight. So again, that’s that will give us the opportunity to work with a myriad of OEM partners to really be in this pilot program and participate in the production portion of it. So you got the recycling portion, and you have any electrification portion. And then we have our partnership with Republic Services, which is a strategic investor in Romeo Power, and the intent is to partner with them on a myriad of energy initiatives for decades to come. So we have leading-edge technology, amazing partnerships. But then as you look, you know better than most you have the regulatory tailwinds anywhere from California to 12 plus US states, to the European Union, and even China. There’s mandates that saying, look, you have to electrify especially from the commercial vehicle standpoint. And if that’s not enough, we also have the other tailwinds of the fleet managers, and or the original equipment manufacturers committed to really driving the electrification strategies forward.

That’s why I see this as the electrification decade because you have us at the center being the nucleus of this electrification decade. And everyone is finally ready, and right to take this thing forward as an entire value chain.

Host Raj Daniels  18:29

So let’s add some clarity to the three things that you said. First of all, I’m familiar with BorgWarner, because I used to be in the automotive industry about 20 years ago, but for those that are not familiar, can you share a little bit about BorgWarner?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  18:41

So BorgWarner is a multi-billion-dollar company that’s really reputable in the automotive space. They have a myriad of products and they just closed their acquisition of Delphi. But anyway, for the motor, gearbox, onboard charger, power, electronics, etc. They have an offering for okay and board one has much I don’t want to speak to speak for Fred, the CEO of BorgWarner. But essentially, they are really set up well, to take advantage of however the war shakes out. So they’re in a prime position to continue being a cutting edge ICE component provider, a cutting edge hybrid provider, and with the partnership with us a cutting edge electrification provider.

So Raj, if you look at it, just zooming out a little bit with BorgWarner closing the acquisition of Delphi BorgWarner, Delphi, which is part of one or Romeo Power, you have Romeo Power battery, technology, battery management system and packs within BorgWarner. Delphi is probably like electronics, gearbox motors, inverters, onboard chargers and off-board chargers. We have the ability to put forth a really compelling power train offering. So I think that’s something that’s being not talked about enough. But that’s part of our strategy together.

Host Raj Daniels  20:10

And for those of you listening, if you drive any European car, there’s an extremely high probability, there are BorgWarner parts in that car. And you also mentioned Second Life offerings. Can you break that down a little bit?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  20:23

Sure. So at Heritage Environmental is two things. So we have, we have a recycling partnership, which I’ll touch on real quick. More than 90% of the materials in the battery value chain today is not recycled. Okay, so we have as a strategy and a goal with our partnership with Heritage Environmental is really having that be zero percent, we want all materials, be able to be recycled, put back into the front of the process, and producing high performing battery cells, battery modules, battery packs. So we’re very excited about that.

From the recycling standpoint, Heritage Environmental has some proprietary recycling methods that they currently employ, and will continue to develop over time. So the recycling portion, that’s our partnership, and so on the second life. So we design our product with end of life in mind. Why is that important? That’s important, because as we’re with our partners, at the end of life of the vehicle, if you will, let’s say that’s what seven or 10 years, we’ll have a lot of juice if you will let will have a high percentage of battery retention, and then you get into several things. So with our offerings, we can either take that, instead of recycling it with so much value left in it, we can power some buildings, for example, we could take a bunch of commercial vehicle batteries, string them together in kind of a decentralized grid. Also, we can leave it in the vehicle and maybe do some vehicle to grid application as well.

Let’s say another example, Raj, let’s say you own a big construction firm, you’re on a job site for two to three months, and you just need a small battery bank available for some backup power, you could use the battery packs for that as well. Okay, there’s also leasing models that may come into play, because there’s so much capacity left. So my point is, when we say Second Life, it will depend, and especially the way we design our product, there’s a lot of ways that our batteries can take on a fruitful Second Life after coming out of the vehicle initially.

Host Raj Daniels  22:44

You know, I love that view regarding end of life. Is that your supply chain background that gives you that vision for end of life?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  22:51

No, it’s not my supply chain background is actually my background coming up. Growing up in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Going back to you know why I’m doing. So I started this to make sure you know, my grandmother has light every day. So one thing I’ll talk about, even today in the Virgin Islands, electricity can go off for up to 18 hours a day, even today, and that’s the US Virgin Islands, by the way. So I grew up in a world where you know, the electricity going off is an expectation. And it hasn’t got better. I’m talking about from the time I’m a kid to even now. Right? So that came from me trying to understand how can we help ensure electricity in the hands of people that need it? So whenever I talk about this, normally people think about I’m not saying you know, I don’t think it’s right.

But most people say oh, well, let’s talk about Africa, these other places that don’t have it. While I want your viewers to know that there’s an energy throughout some of the Caribbean, including the US Virgin Islands, and that’s what’s really driving because I’ve lived it. I’ve lived needing that energy. If I had that energy, I could have read another book, I could have did something more productive, or I could run my business more, or I could get some predict productivity out. So I’m speaking because I grew up with that. I grew up impoverished from the energy standpoint. And that’s where the end of life thinking came from. 

Host Raj Daniels

That is really interesting. And you know, you mentioned the islands. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing several people that have done work in the islands. And one of the things that I didn’t realize initially and you know, others might not too, is just the sheer cost of energy that set the islands because they don’t actually produce everything has to be imported. 

Lionel Selwood, Jr.

Yes, right, Raj. And, you know, I apologize if this stat is off, but if we stated, I am pretty sure we would be in the top three to five most expensive states in the United States of America if we were a state, but we’re a territory. So it is terrible. And that’s, that’s what’s really driving the energy poverty, the ending energy poverty, and I’m really serious about it. And everyone that walks in the door on the first day, if I’m in the facility as they’re going through their onboarding, you know, I impart and everybody our mission and vision. We’ll be busy with commercial vehicles, we got to execute continue on in the business of our partners continue being the safest, most reliable, most energy-dense, most configurable offering. But that’s not the end-all, be all. We’re all recent, and trying to get better on a daily basis. So that my son doesn’t have to sit down and talk to Raj or you know, who comes after about the same challenges that we’re talking about.

Host Raj Daniels  25:53

You know, I like that vision. And I like to play a game, you know, magic 2025, 2030. But kind of walk me through, you know, in your mind, let’s say, Romeo is able to help end energy poverty, what does that roadmap look like?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  26:13

This is a multi-generational endeavor. Okay, so let me make sure I say that. So the magic one, over the next five to 10 years, we’re going to be busy, mostly with the commercial vehicle sector. Okay. So I think more than 70% of commerce is done by truck if I’m not mistaken. So we’re really going to be focused there and performing in this sector. But like you and I talked about at the top of the program, with silently seeding, that the next frontiers, if you will, the aviation, the marine, the mining apparatuses are industries as well. So you will see us really starting those industries starting to take off with our product inside of it.

So what you’ll see over the next five to 10, as I sit as a CEO of the company, is significant market share from the commercial vehicle space from an electrification standpoint, and significant and growing share also, in what we see as the frontier industries is what we call them, which is, again, the marine, aviation, mining, etc. So you see us being busy, not only with what we have today, we have some exciting innovations that will be executed upon within the next five to 10 years that you’ll see play a hand in us continue to take market share. And as part of the internet energy poverty, as we become a self-sustaining business, you’re really good to see us be some more filling traffic efforts, as as we go over the next five to 10 years as well. So whether that’s again, taking batteries that I have in the field, and let’s say deploying it in the Virgin Islands, or deploying it somewhere that’s needed. So being really selective and pointed about advancing our vision, the mission advancing and energy technology that’s happening every day, that’s inherent innovation is what we do.

But to get the eight ball moving towards the end in energy, poverty, you’ll see us really being pointed about maybe some philanthropic efforts are standing up or energy storage business in pointed locations across the globe.

Host Raj Daniels  28:27

Now, you mentioned your grandmother earlier, and some of the challenges you had growing up. And the question I have is, how do you balance taking a multi-generational viewpoint and maintaining, you know, tactical goals on a daily basis?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  28:44

Sure. So that comes with mentality. So first and foremost, the fact that I’m talking to you, Raj, is amazing to me. So let me say, let me say that I don’t come from a place where this was supposed to happen, or I have the privilege of talking to you. As a CEO of the company, it comes from one being grounded in that fact. Okay, really thinking about? How did I get here, meaning, really standing on the shoulders of giants, I mean, anywhere from my grandmother to my wife to my mentors, right? So being grounded in that first and foremost, to be able to stand up straight and assess, but how you do it is look, you got to perform. You have to be able to connect the dots and see, okay, you’re trying to end energy poverty, the way you actually make headwinds in doing that is becoming a self-sustaining business.

The way you become a self-sustaining business is to make sure you’re claiming your strategy. Make sure you’re extremely clear in the short, medium and long term goals that need to be executed in order to reach them. So I like to say I’m always at least 10 years ahead. Okay. And that’s what I need to know and plan out. How do I get to that 10 years?

So right, something I’ll tell you is my first day in General Electric, they were going around the table. And they were saying, what do you want to be? What do you want to be? When it got to me? I said I want to be the chief executive of General Electric. I mean, seriously, it’s probably crazy at the time. And obviously, I’m not the CEO, of General Electric. But you know, what I’m the CEO of a company, I said, is the nucleus of electrification. And we’re really going to be on the leading edge of green energy accessibility. So my point to you is I set that goal. And I charted out how to get there. And nobody’s perfect, right. But you have to be able to clearly see what the playing field is, how do you get to be in a self-sustaining business? And it’s all in the vein of your multi-generational endeavor. That’s how I look at it.

Go beyond your title. First, do your job really well. Really, really well. But go beyond it. It is not enough to say that’s not my job. If that’s not my job, at a minimum, your job is to connect with the person whose job it is if you truly feel that way, and come to a common ground, how you move forward, collectively…

Host Raj Daniels  30:59

That’s a beautiful way to look at it. You mentioned GE. You’ve got some very impressive logos on your resume, GE, SpaceX, Faraday, what are some of the most valuable lessons that you’d say you’ve learned about yourself on your journey?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  31:17

I’ll give you a couple. In terms of resiliency, and adaptability is a must. So I’m extremely resilient and extremely adaptable. That’s, that’s the first, first and foremost I learn about myself on this journey. The second is impossible is nothing. So not only coming up, and just my family, my grandmother again, just jiving look, you can be anything you want to be, you just need to apply yourself. And you’re gonna make some sacrifices along the way. But it really in my professional life, it really came full circle when, you know, I worked at SpaceX. And that’s where we realize, you know, impossible is nothing. The reason that rocket lands, the way it takes off is rough because of the way it does in the Jetsons, for example. Right. So if you think about that, the first time, I mean, Elon for decades now, right, since 2000, was saying, look, SpaceX is gonna is really good to just revolutionize the space industry. They were laughing at him. But you know what? He did it.

So as I was in that environment, by an Elon run company. That’s when I really figured out that, hey, don’t say cat, take cash out of it. You need to break things into first principles, learn it and figure out how you make it better. The minute you say, can’t you put in a mental roadblock in front of what you’re trying to do. That’s not negativity, that’s not you being unrealistic. Well, you need to be realistic about is you need to look yourself in the mirror and see how much chokeholds and handcuffs you’re putting on yourself, preventing you from breaking out. So that’s one thing I learned about myself that I really believe on embody impossible, is not in.

And Raj, I’ll give you one. The importance of family, the importance of your family. And those that are closest to you is extremely critical. Okay, so many times, you forget that. You forget that the people around you are so important. Okay, so I’ll tell you, I am getting real positive, I’ll tell you a story. Because when I got the call that I would, you know, have the privilege of being the chief executive officer on Romeo Power. My wife gave me a hug. And she said, congratulations, you did it. I said, No, we did it. And I meant that we did it. Because we’re so aligned, of course, we don’t agree on everything, but we’re so aligned in what we’re trying to do, and how we’re trying to plan and the legacy that we want to leave. That’s extremely, extremely critical. So I learned that you have to take your family and those around you very, very important. Okay, so our mantra and I guess I’m giving it to the wall, is faith, family and rocket ships in that order. In that order, and that really is what I learned that mid correct. But that’s how we look at things. 

Host Raj Daniels  34:26

You know, everything you just said segues beautifully into my last question. You mentioned resiliency, you mentioned being adaptable. You mentioned your faith, family and rocket ships. But if there’s some specific words of advice, it could be personal or professional that you can share with the audience. What would it be?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  34:44

Go beyond. Go beyond your title. First, do your job really well. Really, really well. But go beyond it. It is not enough to say that’s not my job. If that’s not my job, at a minimum, your job is to connect with the person whose job it is if you truly feel that way, and come to a common ground, how you move forward, collectively, that’s one.

The second is the importance of respect and team. You need to be able to talk. You’re not above anyone. So one thing that we have in our companies from on the floor, not on travel, anyone in the company and can either email me text me or call me, or give me some tough feedback. And that’s just the culture we have. Right? So humility, we’re all human. Some has more accountability than others. But keeping an open door in terms of that is extremely critical. Respect, right, just because somebody is a janitor does not mean you shouldn’t build relationship with them, make sure they understand where we’re going. And two, they can give you feedback, and you can learn. Okay, so that’s, that’s really, really incredible.

I’ll give you a couple more. Knowing what you don’t want, maybe as important as knowing what you want. Okay, so look in the mirror and try to figure out who you are, who you want to be, where you want to go. I encourage the viewers and my colleagues, my family, my friends, trying to downselect where you don’t want to go is extremely important. And the last one, I’ll say is, in this data, social media-driven world, do not let that derail you from what you’re doing. So Apple, as you know, has the screen, the screen tally of how much hours you’re spending, make sure it’s tailored towards learning, and not towards an unrealistic competition against autos, especially if you don’t know the details behind someone’s journey. Okay, so those are that’s the advice I will give a last but not least, I would see your family again, my support system is extremely critical to what I do what we do, anywhere from my son to my wife, to my friends, right? It’s very critical, my family. So make sure you’re surrounding yourself with the right people. Make sure it’s mutual, you never go into things tit for tat, you’re going to genuinely get to know people and develop together. And that’s what I would say, Lionel, I

Host Raj Daniels  37:30

think that’s a beautiful place to end off. Is there anything else you’d like to share before we go?

Lionel Selwood, Jr.  37:36

Sure, one more thing again, Romeo power, really advancing energy technology, vision, and energy poverty, we really on the leading edge of ensuring green energy accessibility to everyone. I like to make sure that people know we are the nucleus of electrification, we design the under battery pack to ensure our end customers have the most compelling product, what is on the road, in the air, on the ground or at sea.

romeopower.com

Before we go, I’m excited to share that we’ve launched the Bigger Than Us comic strip, The Adventures of Mira and Nexi.

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If there’s a subject or topic you’d like to hear about, send Raj Daniels an email at BTU@NexusPMG.com or contact me via our website, NexusPMG.com. While you’re there, you can sign up for our monthly newsletter where we share what we’re reading and thinking about in the cleantech green tech sectors.