Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Experiences as President of an Elevator Industry Supplier | Blake Pilgrim

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Experiences as President of an Elevator Industry Supplier | Blake Pilgrim · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Culture equals engagement, which therefore equals profit, right?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: So having a culture and being able to dictate what that is and make sure that that is upheld is incredibly important.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: When we talk about our core values as a company, ambition, dedication, willing to accept responsibility.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: One of the key things, though, is integrity.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, integrity is the most important thing to uphold your reputation in the industry.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: People want to work for a company that has integrity.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it takes a lifetime to build it up, but it takes 30 seconds to tear it down.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just it, right?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, you get one bad Apple.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: If you leave them in, allow them to erode that, right?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, you can get to goodbye quickly.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Fire slow, fire fast, right?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's what they say.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to the Elevated Careers Podcast brought to you by the All Red Group.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Does your workforce need a lift?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: At the Allred Group, we are committed to connecting your company with top talent that matches your needs.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Give us a call at 404-890-0445.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: In this episode, I sat down with Blake Pilgrim, president of Wordtech, to discuss his experiences with leadership in the elevator industry.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Blake shared key lessons he's learned, difficult decisions he's had to make in his position, and his views on the future of elevator technology.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Blake, welcome to the show.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Matt.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure being here.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate the invite.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thank you.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was uh it was great seeing you at the NAEC conference recently.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I've been looking forward to this, had have wanted to talk to you for a while and just learn more about your career, about the company.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh first question I want to throw out at you is just what was your journey like into the elevator industry?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: And is this a direction you ever thought you would go?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for that question.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um the answer is unequivocally no, it is not the direction I ever thought I would go.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was fortunate enough to uh meet my bride at the University of Dayton, and her family just happened to be in an industry that I knew nothing about.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: What I can say is I always had a desire to work for a small family-owned company.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: I got to experience that a little bit in high school working for a company by the name of Triad.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: They're a supplier of ours.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, man, what a cool lifestyle, you know, that these people have been able to afford.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: And in 2012, I was afforded the opportunity to come over and and be a part of it.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been a blessing ever since.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: What would you say are some of the biggest lessons you learned early on that still shape the way you run Wartech today?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the lessons I've learned, and man, I guess I'll categorize them as three, and I've learned a lot of lessons.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but number one is culture equals engagement, which therefore equals profit, right?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think having a culture and be able to um dictate what that is and make sure that that is upheld is incredibly important.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: The other is if you're not growing, you're dying.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of people say that, but I I truly believe that, you know, just even from a PL standpoint, people want raises.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Everything goes up in expense, right?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to continue growing, not only um from a revenue standpoint, but also from kind of a lifelong learning standpoint.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I like to think I embody both of those.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then I've really learned this, I'll just say, over the last five years.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds silly because I'm an accounting finance guy, but if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a Peter Drucker quote.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: But it's so important as your company gets larger that you have KPIs in place and a true understanding of what's happening on a daily basis.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: If not, you'll look back 30 days and say, how did we get where we are?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I'm really taking this philosophy of hey, we need some real-time KPIs um and transparency into what's happening in the organization.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, no, I those are those are good.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm just a little bit on the culture thing, you know, and talking about how important that is.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: What's what would you say is the most important thing to make sure that that the culture stays strong and vibrant?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I think the most important thing, number one, is being in tune and um being being seen by your company, right, as the leader, but it's definitely leading by example.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we talk about our core values as a company, ambition, dedication, willing to accept responsibility, you know, one of the key things though is integrity.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, integrity is the most important thing uh to uphold your reputation in the industry.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: People want to work for a company that has integrity, and you know, it takes a lifetime to build it up, but it takes 30 seconds to tear it down.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, and that's just it, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: Is you know, if you get one bad apple, if you leave them in, allow them to erode that, right?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's like yeah, you can kiss it goodbye quickly.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hire slow, fire fast, right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what they say.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, and and as you've journeyed right through the organization, right?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Was there a moment in your career where you realized you weren't just working in the business anymore, but you were actually leading it?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and what did that look like?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: So one thing we all know is it takes a lot of time to get some street cred within this industry, right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh there are so many smart people and subject matter experts that can call your BS so quickly.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I guess internally what I'll say is um always learn that I think you you are or you're becoming a leader when people start looking at you in a in a meeting setting uh because they want your opinion or they want you to help make an answer.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I remember the day that that happened.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Steve and I were talking about it.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: We were talking about succession planning, and I think he even mentioned me, he said, Blake, you know, I I sat back in this past leadership team meeting and I and I saw people look to you uh to help make the answer.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's a that's a great sign, right?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: I know for myself, you know, having you know even even elsewhere, right?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: In like a nonprofit, I had a leadership role.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: It took me a while to believe it, right?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think I think that, you know, people looking at you, or me in that case, and and if I'm not yet feeling it, then they're like, okay, who is running this show?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's not yet believing it.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it just it felt felt too much to me at the time, right?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it took me, I don't know, maybe a couple of years to really wrap my head around this idea that embrace it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think we all get um, I definitely still get imposter syndrome.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, am I am I really the right person for this role?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why me kind of thing?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Am I trying to um act like somebody else?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: But uh I think that's pretty natural, right?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And sure.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh sure.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I think I need to see a shrink, but right.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: No, I think it's a it's very a common human experience, I believe.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: And yet uh ultimately you just have to look inside and say, all right, well, I'm it, so you know, we we forge ahead.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: So very cool.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do the best you can.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: What do you say has one been one, you know, some of the most difficult decisions you've had to make as a CEO, and what did that teach you about running the company?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, usually, you know, the toughest decisions are around people, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: It maybe you've had somebody that's worked for you for 30 years and they've kind of gone different ways within the company, and uh you get to a point where you've kind of outgrown them, and it's hard for them to see that.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: So just having those tough conversations because I care deeply about everybody at WordTech, and we have roughly 170 people right now, and that's 170 families that are looking at me to make the right decisions.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that answers your question, but no, I think it does.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Typically around people.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, one of my one of my recent uh guests really said the same thing.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: He'd gone from mechanic to vice president of a major elevator corporation, right?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: And and realizing that you know, that there's a a time at which if someone becomes a cancer or or they've you know kind of brought that into the organization, you know, you do have to make difficult decisions and it may be time to to let them go, but it still can be heart-wrenching, right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's uh uh a difficult thing to do.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: But his experience was that you know they're the organization is is better off, right?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: It it may hurt for a time, but ultimately, you know, the organization's gonna live and it's gonna thrive and it's gonna it's gonna be better.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I I totally do the right thing for the other 169 people, right?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, because they're being affected by it too, for sure.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: So um obviously WordTech sits at a very interesting part of the industry.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you don't sell the elevators, you don't own the buildings, but you support the people who do the work.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, what do the tools and equipment side of the industry see that maybe others don't see?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think first of all, WordTech's in a unique position where we have relationships with only almost every single independent elevator contractor um in Canada and in the United States.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we have relationships with the OEMs and multinationals, all the way at the KG or branch level to corporate, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: The factory level.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really fun to see the differences in methodology between these companies.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that's unique for us is we get to see how the best of the best maybe install elevators, what their methods are, how they modernize, how they service and repair, what kind of technology they're using.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we're able to offer that up to the rest of the market.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and you know, we're we're blessed to be in that position.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: So that's cool.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm I'm sure you, in fact, I've heard people say, right, just different contractors.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I I was doing this, and then I asked Wordtech to kind of help develop a tool, right?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's probably a lot of what like, well, let's see if we can build that, right?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: Let's uh help you do a great job.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: But then to your point, it's it's now available because it's it's been built.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think at our at our core, and um definitely because you know Steve Wirth, who is an engineer, founded our company.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at our core, we're an engineering company, right?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: We love to collaborate with customers and try to solve their problems.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it's typically around safety and efficiency within a hoist way.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've turned more into a sales organization with some of the talent that we brought on.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but we'll we'll never lose that innovative kind of engineering side of our uh business.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I my guess is that you you have people coming to you and and maybe they don't they don't even know how to use some of the efficiency tools, and so you have an opportunity to say, oh, well, if you do it this way, then this tool is helpful because you can, you know, and that that's probably like a light bulb going, what?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we understand understand the best practices.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: You're exactly right.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we have to be careful because we don't want to give away some of our customers' proprietary processes, but we we certainly understand, again, how like the best do it from an efficiency and safety standpoint.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: So it is fun and it opens up a lot of doors.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I I can't tell you the last time I went to go call on a customer where they're they're like, we don't want to see you, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're kind of being they're like, what do you have that's new?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Can you help us?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: So pretty pretty cool place to be.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I mean, if somebody were to follow a mechanic for a full day, what would you say are some of the biggest inefficiencies or or frustrations that that they would notice?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and how do you then solve those problems?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, what what comes to mind immediately is they can't find the part or the tool that they need.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: They're stuck in a hoist way.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, shoot, I need what whatever it is, this button or this tool.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, now I have to go find the WordTech catalog or whatever, the C's catalog.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I think that's probably very frustrating.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so what we've tried to do is create, you know, basically an e-commerce platform.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: And what we'd love to do uh someday is become the Amazon, uh Amazon of the elevator industry, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody kind of in it's the one-stop shop.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we're working on that.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the other piece is tech support.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think as you specifically as you get into like the 2019 Text Video Code, you're asking these mechanics to become network professionals, right?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you're asking WordTech, who used to is used to making false cars and railblocks, to understand uh IT and networks, right?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we've all kind of grown on this learning curve together.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we continue to invest in that because we know that is a massive pain point uh for the elevator companies.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you I'm assuming you've had to augment your your tech support teams.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I know you came out with the the workcom, intercom communication system, and so now, like you say, you've got some different pieces that aren't just a metal tool, but it's software, it's it's communications.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: You said augment the team, and that's 100% accurate.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: We actually think of ourselves more as a technology company now than anything, right?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: And the number of software engineers that we've hired, and what what we've taken is we've taken IT people and said, hey, we're gonna teach you about um an elevator how to help yeah, how to help our customers troubleshoot.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we we definitely augmented and again staying true to our core of tools and helping people install and modernize elevators, but we've got this whole other segment of our business uh related to software and and IT.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: When I said augment, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've doubled.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: I don't as far as the the tech support, it's like, oh yeah, we doubled our team size.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, that definitely has happened.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just the way it goes.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: What what would you say is the the thing that that separates the best from the average, right?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: From your vantage point as far as tools or efficiencies or or maybe it's mindset.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think number one, it starts with what what are your core values or what do you believe in?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we believe in customer centricity, right?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like we absolutely want to take care of the customer.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, we believe taking care of our people allows that to happen, right?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: So 100% we try to treat our people with the most respect and give them the tools they need to be successful.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Then it's like, hey, customers number one, right?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: They're the ones paying the bills, keeping the lights on.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: We got to take care of them.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the the most important thing is that at Wordtech, we're able to think long term.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: We are a privately held family company.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think I mentioned to you before, we want to be in this business for another 100 years as a privately held family business.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that just allows us to make decisions, you know, looking out five years, not how do we just make a dollar today?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: And a good point, right?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: You got to take care of the customer, you got to take care of the relationship, and they've got to know that they can they can come to you, they can rely on you, and their business is very much dependent upon you showing up with tech support and with tools and with support and all those things that they need.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: So um, I mean, from where you sit, what would you say are some of the biggest challenges happening in the elevator industry right now that that maybe people aren't talking about yet?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a great question.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think of things like the harmonization of the elevator code, right?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: And the idea that we may be going to some ISO ISO standard.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: I can see that that would be really important for some of the contractors, the global ones specifically, they will have to be able to have this like one global concept.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'm I'm guessing that's a challenge for uh some of our customer base.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think people are talking about this, but there's obviously a knowledge gap between kind of like the Steve Wirth generation and my generation of the technology that's come out.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and how do I even work on that?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: How do I even understand what's wrong with the elevator, right?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm in the hoist way, now we have these smart controllers.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: The idea there is it's kind of like just points you in the right direction to solve whatever issue may be at hand, uh, where historically that would not be the case.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Other challenges, I mean, people talk about it, right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: But it's constant with you know price increases and inflation.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's just really hard to manage.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I could see that if you didn't have the staff to help you manage that, you look down at your financials one day and you wonder why you lost money, right?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's just it's just constant.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure that's ever gonna end.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, so that's really important.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think those are the three things that come to mind, and I'm sure there are 20 others.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously there's you know, there's a lot of talk about labor shortages and technology and consolidation.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: And which of those do you think will have the biggest impact on the industry over the next, say, 10, 15 years?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's gonna be technology.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I think the days of come see my elevator um come visit my elevator whatever, once a month or once a year and tell me what's wrong, and then I'm gonna trust that you're gonna fix it are gonna be over at some point.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be more like, hey, your your um check engine light is on, or hey, you're getting a diagnostics report from GMC, right?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: GMC is telling you everything that's going on with your elevator, and you're only gonna service it as needed.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, there's code uh complications with that, but I just think everything is gonna get smarter and we're gonna have to learn to adapt to that.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And um the days of just you know going out and seeing what's wrong with the elevator uh without any knowledge are are gonna be over.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um and maybe maybe we've already passed that in some ways, just because I hear a lot of a lot of buzz out there, right?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: But it's not everybody's, I guess, saying that.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I I don't know, right?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just a an outside observer, but uh that's a good point.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: How how do you see the role of the mechanic changing over the next decade as the tools, technology, and equipment involved?
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think we're already seeing it.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're gonna have to become more masters of technology.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna have to understand building infrastructure maybe more than they do today, more of like a network attitude, because with everything becoming smarter, you're probably gonna turn less wrenches and it's gonna be more about using your brain and technology, would be my guess.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good point.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously there's already from welding to electrical to mechanical to pneumatic to right, is all these pieces, oh yeah, learn learn software, learn coding, learn, you know, networking.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh yeah, it's a lot.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, with the advent of MRLs and just different technology, it's gonna be less like how do we rig and hoist this massive thing into the hoist way?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be more, you know, how do we make everything smaller and use less tooling um and more technology, right?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, pretty cool.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a ton of opportunity there.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: For sure, for sure.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's kind of being constantly reinvented, right?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's always new pieces, new technology, new, new things coming out.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll it'll be interesting to see where that goes.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: So um, last question I have for you.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you were advising a 20-year-old who is considering a career in the elevator industry, what path would you tell them to take and why?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, there's the office side, I'll call it, the business side of the industry, and there's what I'll call the actual, you know, mechanic or helper side of the industry.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's incredibly important for you to understand technically how an elevator works.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I and I miss that, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: I wish there was an opportunity for me to get on a job site for two years and really understand how to install and modernize and service an elevator.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think that could serve me well in my role today.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: I've had to learn just from talking with customers, engineers, and doing my own research.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd say if you really want to be an elevator man, get into the trade.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to go more on the business side, I think an engineer is the way to go.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: So um those are who customers want to talk to.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: You're the one that's gonna help them solve their issues, whether it be on the supply side or even on the contracting side.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, uh thank you for that answer.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh I'm intrigued because it was, you know, both of them speak to the technical nature, right?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Either either learn hands-on or you know, become an engineer and whether you're supporting sales or design or or whatever, the the value of knowing from top to bottom, side to side, up and down, you know, every little piece and and how they all work uh cannot be overstated from from my experience in the industry.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's where the credibility comes from, right?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, what we're talking about is the safety of the riding public, but also the safety of the people installing the elevator.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a you know, there's a lot of technical prowess that goes into making sure everybody's safe.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, that's a great uh great point.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_02: Blake, anything else you'd like to say before we wrap up today?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, I'm just I think we're all blessed to be in such a wonderful industry with great leaders, um, people that are trying to do the right thing every day.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, with change comes opportunity.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe that for the next 100, 150 years, if we all see things through an open mind, um, there's so many great things that we can bring to all of our companies.
• 20:05
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I'll just kind of leave it there.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's great.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, thank you again for being with me today.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: I've I've enjoyed it, appreciate your insights, and uh yeah, thanks for being on the show.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Matt.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate it.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Please like and subscribe.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: And until next time, stay safe.