Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Growing in the Elevator Business by Utilizing Lean Startup Principles | Lisa Diaz

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Growing in the Elevator Business by Utilizing Lean Startup Principles | Lisa Diaz · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, in your short stay uh in the elevator industry, you know, what are some insights that you you really feel like are valuable to share?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that all businesses, it's really the talent of the people.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: So this whole like human capital management, the most important players in having a long-term successful business is having those quality mechanics.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think in US society, there's this like, go to college, go to college, you gotta go to college.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if you look in other countries like Germany, there's a respect for someone who works with their pants.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so part of my own wisdom/slash agenda is to really elevate the value and respect those people have.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like, without them, you get some serious problems in the in the vertical transportation business.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you give those people the respect they deserve?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: How do you respect their opinions?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: How do you capture it for the long term?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Housing and service of variety, I've really spent a lot of time.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get those people that have their hands on the equipment to understand that you value who they are and the work they do?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, brought to you by the All Red Group.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Matt Alred.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: With talent is Mr.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Critical, all the All Red Group.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Industry expertise, talent, and exceptional customer service.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: You need the all-red group on your side.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Your priority is our priority.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Call now 404-890-0445.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: In this conversation, I sat down with Lisa Diaz as she shared her unique journey from Wall Street to the elevator industry.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: We discussed the need to find and maintain your best customers and address how AI and technology are changing the trade.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: Lisa also emphasized the importance of human capital and skilled labor for long-term success in the elevator business.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Lisa, welcome to the show.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Matt, thanks for having me.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is an exciting opportunity, and I'm very happy to be part of the of your podcast speakers.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, it was great meeting you in uh Long Beach at the NAEC conference last week.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: And um uh you've got a unique story, right?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: And and so I I thought it'd be a lot of fun to uh to kind of put it out there and and uh remind me, you've been in the elevator industry, what about a year and a half or two, something like that?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm a I'm an outsider, or I should say I have a different point of view.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So by way of background, I spent 35 years on Wall Street, my last 23 at Goldman Sachs, where I was a managing director.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And after that time, I'm one of those rare birds who wants to work till they're 90.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's crazy.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: There are some of us, I'm one of them.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was trained in consulting, and consulting has you have to work back.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to work um until you're 90, you have to look at industries which are open and supportive of you know people with gray hair being part of the organization.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Finance isn't one of them.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Technology, not so much either.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the things I saw was construction um and elevators later um has the propensity to have you know long-term and and values, people that um are willing to roll their hands up and be there for the long term.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, how I kind of started down the path towards construction, it was kind of this random story.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And my mentor was saying to me, he's like, Look, if you want to, you gotta think about the next chapter.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: You spend all this time in in Wall Street, you know, what do you want to do for the next chapter?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Which is kind of a tough question because when you've worked all your life and never kind of spend the time.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, it all happened in Grand Central Station.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I was running, running, running um to try to catch my train, and I missed my train by like five seconds, which is quite away.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there are all these tourists who always did a tour of Grand Central, and they're outside the oyster bar.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what are they learning?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I tagged along on this, on this, um, on this tour.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Grand Central, I don't know if you've been there, it's one of my favorite places in New York.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful, it is the backtrack of movies, marriages, many tourists, and and it's a very happy um New York place.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned that they were going to tear down Grand Central, and Jackie O, Jackie O'Nassis, raised her hands up and she defended Grand Central.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So at the time, there were two amazing stations.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: One was Penn Station, the other, which I hear was nicer, and then Grand Central.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Penn didn't have Jackie O, and Grand Central did.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wow, this is so amazing and so lasting and important.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be part of something that's more tangible and long term.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the second thing I learned is if you go in the main vista of Grand Central, there's a spot in the corner.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the spot in the corner has the names of some of people in construction who had come up with the idea of using lemon to clean the ceiling of the main kind of thoroughfare with a constellation.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and and it was basically a homage to the people who built and then protected this amazing city assets.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would say it's a national treasure for me.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I sat on the train, and one of the things when you work, you know, in in in finance, you learn to look at industry.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So what's the addressable market?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: What's the margins?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is there an opportunity?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time I gotten home, I told my husband, I was like, I want to work in construction.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason was it had about a 9% total addressable market because you need size.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it had um lots of gray hairs, it had not very much innovation.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So my kind of playbook was try to bring in innovation to the construction industry.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's how I got into construction.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I worked away um in construction technology for about eight years.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, it was I went up to um Buffalo, this is probably three years ago, to try to go to the Buffalo Bills Stadium.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I had gotten this WBE certification, which during that time there was a big push to have diversity on job sites.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the leaders, actually, it's someone from John LaReau from Gilbane, he's like, Lisa, can I give you some candid advice?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, sure.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Look, we're spending$800 billion on MEP, which is mechanical electrical plumbing.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're gonna spend more money on pizza and coffee than your construction technology.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You need to do something that's gonna move the needle.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you should re-pivot and look at either building or buying one of these, you know, MEP companies.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, kind of armed with that information, I went out and we're gonna talk about later lean startup.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want to sort of interview the marketplace and looked at opportunities.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, really kind of trying to decide if I'm gonna do MEP, where where do I need to land, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: Do I need HVAC?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: Do I need to go more electrical?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: Or as it turns out, you you steered towards uh elevators.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I steered towards elevators.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at them.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in particular, what attracted me to elevators was it what what the feedback I heard from all the GCs was it was the least diverse place on the job site.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was a big pain point.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they were having um trouble meeting some of their goals.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is then, it's less so now, but when I went down this path, right, right, sure.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So this was a big pain point.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And what I heard from like the big four was like, wow, if we could have someone that could create a value-added service that could use technology, this would be, you know, manna from heaven.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it took me some time to get all the certifications and change.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I was ready for showtime, there had been changes in, you know, in DC.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I I probably didn't fully appreciate how much of that was went from being, you know, a tailwind to a headwind for for my business model, but you know, always down the path of, and I think this is like a lesson that all entrepreneurs have to face, is and I talked about during my speech, the macro factors can change.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so as the macro factors change, you need to adjust to them and be more kind of forward-looking.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and that's and that's just one one macro factor, right?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, the the political headwinds or tailwinds, as you say, in in DC could be one, but it, you know, it could be, you know, prices of steel.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: It could be, you know, the world economy, it could be any of those things.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it could be natural disasters, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: You you never really know.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so being able to pivot and and yeah, keep your eye on the ball is is huge.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and and you can't sort of and it could be dynamics.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, like one of the big dynamics I think that's happened in vertical transportation is starting going back in 2017, you had private equity enter the market.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a group who is not part of the traditional elevator industry, and they've they've been very aggressive both on the supplier side as well as on the services side.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: The thesis that I have, it's it's going to forever change some of the dynamics of the industry.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because once you have a new perspective and a new player, the ecosystem is never going to be the same, right?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I remember in Australia, they brought in camels to because, you know, the country before they had railroads.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the big problems they have is all of a sudden they had the railroads, so camel, railroad, you know, who won, right?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: But they had still all these wild camels in the middle of Australia.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And what does it mean for the ecosystem?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's like a colorful way to think about it, but in a way, the the change for the elevator industry is you now have financial buyers involved, and their approach and how they evaluate business is different.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like one of the things it's customer service, like how is that valued then versus now, before or after private, you know, private equity gets on, you know, is what's the value of the family relationship, you know, and and so I think one of the things one has to be always be aware of and take the time once a year to to kind of have a a regroup and think about some of the macro and micro drivers of your business.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I like that.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: And and honestly, it ties back to the presentation you made at the conference where where you're talking about, you know, really focusing on key customers, right?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think those relationships have always been core to the industry.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: But I think as you're saying, as as different different changes happen or different parties come in with different interests, I think it intensifies the need to have relationships, but it also makes you think about okay, which ones are really critical and and which ones do I need to focus on the most.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and this is you, you know, you and I talked about it during that presentation.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: There was another kind of theme that came out very strongly during the conference is AI and what AI does for your business.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm a huge fan of AI, I use AI, and I'm all in, but I think AI makes the value of that personal relationship even stronger because they're A harder to make, and B, there are more and more people who are very uncomfortable with picking up the phone and developing a relationship with someone.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I went to the last NIC conference, the one in Houston, before, you know, I was kind of deciding like who do I want to get closer to?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And one was from a very large asset owner.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I sent my email, but what I did was I called and he picked up the phone.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, sure, I'll meet you at the conference.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we spent like two hours, you know, together.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked him at the end, I'm like, why did you actually decide you want to meet with me?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: He he said, Well, you you were the only one out of the 500 emails I got that called me.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And when you called me, you sounded kind of interesting and entertaining.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I took it.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, what that tells you is that ability to connect with people, that human element is actually even more valuable because the 499 other people said, Oh, I sent an email.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what I was trying to do with that presentation, and if you did that presentation, you know, 10 years ago, it really would be the same presentation.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Try to find those one or two people or three people who've made your business.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and who have been consistent, loyal partners and who'll go the distance for you.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they're not that many of them.
• 13:03
  unknown: Sure.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, and what can you do to to make sure you keep delivering for them so that they can keep showing up in the same, you know, strong way?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you if you take them for granted, you may not have them next month.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's really easy, you know, it's the shiny new coin, right?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: The new relationship, the new technology, the new company is way cooler than someone who's been consistent and loyal.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would take another view.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would say that consistent person that's been loyal to you is, you know, a blessing to your business and to your life, and you have to really defend and protect it.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and that is what I got from your from your presentation.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think I even asked afterwards, you know, what are some good tools?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think you kind of turned it around and said, well, you know, it's really in your mind, right?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: You've got to think about it.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: You've got to spend some time analyzing what customers are are the most valuable to you and how do you take care of them.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like you can read a book or, you know, back to AI.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: You can't just ask AI, oh, what can I do to keep my customers?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know what to do.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: You already know.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think another part of it is getting to know is a good idea too.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: There are some customers that just not gonna work for you.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I think you know, I'm not a quitter, right?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and sometimes that's at my own peril.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you're just better off to say, you know what, not a good fit for me.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Better for me to like move on, cut my losses, and move on, and let me find that ideal customer that's going to resonate and they're gonna value what I bring to the table.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, absolutely.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: So you talked a little bit, you just briefly, you mentioned uh a book called Lean Startup that that really kind of helped you, yeah.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I guess with the the decision to go to the elevator industry, but also kind of that research process.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: Talk a little bit about a couple of principles you gleaned from that that could be really helpful to our listeners.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So this is all based on it started in lean manufacturing.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the sort of historical uh version of manufacturing is I'm gonna build the coolest car known to mankind and everyone's gonna stand up and you know buy my car.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: But as we talked about, is RD, it's field of dreams.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna build a dream, you know, this beautiful place, and everyone's gonna show up.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, with Kevin Costner in the movies, it happens, but in real life, it doesn't.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: So the idea between lean startup, which started in manufacturing, is the same thing, is you come up with a minimal viable product.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a picture of this pen, right?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not the completed pen, it's kind of a leg versus prototype of sorts.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Prototype, that's a better word, a prototype of the pen.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then you'll go out and you'll interview people or potential clients who you think would be potential clients or supporters of this new prototype.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: What happens in the process?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes your prototype is a dog.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Better you don't build a field of the dream, and you know, it's a nightmare.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: Sell the farm and try.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or they'll come up with ideas of what their pain points are, their ideas of how to solve, you know, improve this manufacturing outcome.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then during the process of conversation, you're basically building some of your ideal customers because you go back to them and say, Hey, that was so insightful.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I, in fact, built this pin, and this exactly has the properties that you know thought about.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's kind of like nobody thinks their baby is ugly, right?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you've already made them to be part of your team.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they're gonna want to support your success.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the kind of concept behind it.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I started down this path of the elevator business, I had this thesis.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: I went out and tested my thesis by talking to general contractors, talking to various people in the elevator industry to build whether there was, in fact, a need for the type of company I wanted to build.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, this was in a different political environment.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a lot of pain points of meeting some of you know the WBE goals, and there was a need to have more transparency on the construction site vis-a-vis um the vertical transportation industry, and there was you know a sort of ask for more technology and innovation.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I had built some of these customers, and I think about one in particular, and um, I met him through one of the big GCs, and it was their big elevator operator, so I got a very warm introduction.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So their biggest client said, Hey, can you talk to this person?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, the elevator prime was more interested in talking to me, but you know, two things happened.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: I had I had to impress him the first time we met, or it was gonna be one and done.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I had to engage him as to be on my board of advisors, you know, this is nice technology.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he's really been fantastic.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there was this pivot.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, you did too much on the technology, you gotta play down the technology, just keep it simple.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, stop with the technology, focus on components like the doors, the entrances, the fixtures, the lighting.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, no, no, no.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just calm down with the technology, like keep it keep it simpler.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and you know, I've stayed in touch with him.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, just recently, we're talking about who makes an ideal customer.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to an event for actually a private client side who really cares about diversity and inclusion.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: And my first call was to him, and I was like, oh my God.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and he said, They are your ideal customer, Lisa.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: You need to focus on them.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: They're your golden goose.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I tried to say it to you, but now you understand.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh, I didn't get it.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you get the information, you don't hear it the first time because it doesn't really, you know, kind of click in your mind.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why having that market research and having not even that many, a few of these people who will tell you the dirty little ugly truth, they're invaluable.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm intrigued, you know, that uh you you're obviously talking with some of the majors and that you you learned pretty quickly to come to the NAEC events because from my experience, a lot of the majors they don't go to the NAEC shows, at least not the not the spring conference, right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe they show up at the fall expo in bigger numbers.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: But how many of the people you were interviewing, how said to you, hey, you need to get involved with NAEC?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: None of them.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: So how did you how did you find I did research?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like in an organization, there's like, you know, one go-to location.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like, how do you find a restaurant when you go into a new town, right?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: You talk to a foodie, and then or if you talk to four foodies and they say this is the this is the place you gotta go, you go and check it out.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to my first NEC event in um Atlantic City in the fourth quarter of 2024, and I was like, Oh, I get it.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: I went to kick the tires and I saw you know what was happening at the tire event.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: When I I went to my first spring conference, which was March of last year, I actually got mixed views on, you know, some people are like, oh, it's a boondoggle, other people like, oh, it's good, you know.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: But then, but I was like, okay, and I just happened to get two speakers.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was on a panel, and then I had a one event, you know, somebody took a flyer on me, and it was really useful for me professionally, and so that's why I was happy to go back.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I mean I you gotta test it out, right?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, someone can say this is the greatest thing ever, and you go, and it could not be the greatest thing for you.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: It could be a great thing for other people.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and and I think back to your presentation, right?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: You who who are you meeting, right?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're meeting the right people, well then, yeah, this is the place you need to hang out.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's one thing I found is is there's great people to meet, there's you know, people I want to meet.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh it's it was actually a customer that that first told me, hey, you need to go to the NAC thing.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't didn't think it didn't seem to make sense to me.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, I I feel like I'm a little bit of an outsider, right?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not he just said, shut up and come.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I did.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: When was your first NAC event?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: It was in Tucson, so right at the end of COVID, or maybe it was maybe it was in the middle of COVID.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: It was like five years ago, and and and it was fairly small because of of COVID.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I think they may have skipped one or two before that, but um I felt very welcomed.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: I felt uh, you know, like this is a great group of people that I want to get to know.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Been going ever since.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you found, you know, this word, you found your tribe, right?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's all, again, I keep on banging the drum on it.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's your ideal customer profile, but it's also your ideal community, right?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: As my grandmother used to say, every pot has a slit.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: So to you have to be, I guess, confident enough.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Some places aren't going to be for you.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to figure out what are the places that are going to work for you.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and you don't know till you go, right?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I and I think that's what you were saying is hey, I showed up.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Showed up to see what's here and who can I meet.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: And is this where I need to keep coming?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: I really value that about you know, your your research is also very much uh experiential, right?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna go.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna talk to so-and-so, I'm gonna call so-and-so, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be there, I'm gonna experience it and and see what I get out of it.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I do want to ask you a little bit about, you know, you and I talked a little bit about innovation, and I'm curious, you know, for your insights, you know, given that you are kind of new to the industry, are there some innovations you think you, I mean, I'm assuming that you could bring some innovations, but where would you see it innovation being the most valuable in the elevator industry?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we talked about, I think one risk for the elevator industry is you're seeing this generate generational shift.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: People are retiring.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: So there are people who've been in the elevator industry for 40 and 50 years, and the the stock of knowledge, like you don't want it to just dissipate, right?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a company called Airwaves, which basically captures tribal knowledge and information.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think that's an incredibly, incredibly valuable piece of software that I personally hope it becomes more prevalent.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So once those people are gone, how do you recreate 50 years of knowledge?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible, right?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a technology that the industry should promote.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: The other, you know, part, I'm very attracted to the whole idea of remote monitoring monitoring, which is having to do with my own views.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't tell you the other reason there's a there's a riddle I'm trying to solve.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've been trying to solve this for 10 years.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't solved it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: But according to the American Society of Engineers, it's gonna take$2.6 trillion to get U.S.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: infrastructure back into um, you know, critical awareness state.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And under the last administration, we signed this$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which was the largest in 70 years, like since Eisenhower.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: So for my math, we're short$1.4 trillion.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to think about how are we going to construct and also maintain our assets to extend their life cycle.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I did another presentation about elevator U, um, about the whole idea of the life cycle of an elevator is 20 to 30 years.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a huge capital impact if your elevator lasts 20 years or 30 years.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm personally attracted to remote monitoring and using more predictive maintenance because I'd like to see those elevators last 30 years and not 20 years.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and so that's another technology that I'm hugely um a fan of.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Cool.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Very cool.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: No, I mean, and obviously there's a lot of a lot of emerging technologies.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you can you had mentioned AI and right, and some of that's being used to monitor or to you know give give insights into the the uh equipment.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we're getting close on our time here.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: I guess what I wanted to uh end with is just kind of some insights, you know, in your your short stay uh in the elevator industry, what are some insights that you've had that you've seen that you that you really feel like are valuable uh to share?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that all businesses, it's really the talent of the people.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: So this whole idea of human capital management.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems to me the most important um players in having a long-term successful business is having those quality mechanics.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think they're artisans, they're craftsmen.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in US society, there's this like go to college, go to college, you gotta go to college.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: And if you look in other countries like Germany, there's a respect for someone who works with their hands, who's mechanical, who makes an impact.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so part of my own wisdom/slash agenda is to really elevate the value and respect those people have.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like, without them, you've got some serious problems in the vertical transportation business.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you give those people the respect they deserve?
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you respect their their opinions?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: How do you capture it for the long term?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, if they've done all the studies, if you're just motivated by money, that's short term.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like, how do you leave that sense of pride and pride and workmanship?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was running a service of variety, I really spend a lot of time.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get those people that have their hands on the equipment to understand that you value who they are and the work they do?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think I think uh yeah, there's probably not enough that can be said about human capital management.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: And and I I know that the a lot of the companies I work with, they they know that intuitively, right?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: That that the the talent you either have or don't have, that's the biggest limiting factor to growth over and over.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh yeah, taking care of of your people, let it like I say, letting them know that you that you value them, that you're gonna invest in them, that you, you know, that they're in a good spot, because as soon as the the culture turns toxic, right, they're likely to say, you know what, this is not for me.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: I need to find a new place.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, one of the things, if you're on high and we talked about the advent of private equity, it's really easy to say, like, we can improve the margins by, you know, getting these people less, you know, giving them less time off, we're gonna take away some of you know their turkey at that Thanksgiving.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the ramifications of doing that are much larger than anyone thinks, because if you haven't spent time in the community and understand the nuances to the elevator and escalator industry, I'm paper, I'm like, sure, you know, we're not because you have to be deep in the weeds of understanding how important this group of people is.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and you, you know, you kind of touched on you know other countries that that maybe value that more than we do.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: What I found is that so many of those folks really, really want to do a good job.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and when they're stretched too thin and they're not allowed, and hey, you've only got 30 minutes to do a two-hour job, they don't feel appreciated, and they don't they don't feel like they can really let their you know their their talent shine.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, no, I I want to do a good job.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think that that is key to to keeping the talent happy.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I kind of think if you talk to asset owners, they understand that too.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I think if if they you build a trust with them and you say, look, you know, this is the real cost of doing this job, if they trust you, they would probably pay the extra money.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good point.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because they have skin in the game, right?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why if it's transparent and they trust you, they'll understand that, you know, that this job isn't a half an hour job, it's you know, a two-hour job, and it's going to extend the life cycle of their asset.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, maybe not all of them, but many of them might agree to that.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Lisa, it has been a pleasure and a privilege, and and I appreciate you being on the show today.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you reached out and thanks to the NEC for having us meet together.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think Vanessa was the person that introduced us.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, she did.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: So Vanessa Klein has been incredible with helping my my own vertical transportation and introducing me people and the work she's done of women in motion.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: So she's an ideal, ideal friend in the elevator business.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't talk about that in my in my presentation, but thanks, Vanessa, and thanks, Matt, for all you've done and to reach out to me.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So onward and upward.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thanks again, and uh, we'll talk again soon.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Please visit our YouTube channel at ElevatorCareers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_02: Please like and subscribe.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: And until next time, stay safe.