#215 - The Brutal Truth About AI, Leadership and Scaling a Manufacturing Company | Darragh de Stonndún

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You're a few months or a few weeks away
from the big the big number,

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the big five ~ yeah, you were just saying,

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I like, Man, let's hit the play button on
this.

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You were just saying that you you re
should be thirty again.

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So so take the four again and talk about
that on on why you you were gonna

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be thirty again.

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Yeah, turning fifty, you know,

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it's is it halfway? Probably. ~ in I hope
it is.

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~ but yeah, I'd love if I could go back
and say to my kids as well,

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I was like, I'm awfully jealous of what's
in front of you.

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and if I I'd love to be turkey again with
half the knowledge I have today,

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is the opportunity in technology,

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in where the world is going. Like,

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I mean, it's just full of opportunity.

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It reminds me of the big internet group,

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right? When it was like, What's the
internet?

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Like the opportunities now. I I I bought I
have a motorcycle from two thousand five,

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an old chopper. And on it I said to my
mechanic,

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I said, Can you put a fuel gauge on it?

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And he says, If you want to spend ten
grand getting a new tank made,

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~ sure. And I was like, Yeah,

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I I don't need it that bad. ~ so I was
sitting down one evening and I was like,

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Why don't I make an iPhone app that like
is a virtual fuel gauge?

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~ and I Well, I I don't know how to write
an app.

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~ so I said, But everybody's saying they
don't you don't need to code these things

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anymore. You just tell AI what it is you
want and it goes,

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does it. So I sat down one evening with a
glass of whiskey and a cigar and said,

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I'm gonna try and make an app that is a
digital fuel gauge for my bike.

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So I sat down and had a conversation with
Claude and said,

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This is what I'm trying to do,

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this is the problem, says, I gotcha.

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And four hours later I had a full blown
working app that is a

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digital fuel gauge on my bike.

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And I was like, if I can do that on the
back porch,

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like what opportunities are in the world
for people to to take an idea

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and make it real way quicker. Right?

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You're not like, I have an idea and now
I'm gonna have to go get whatever,

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fifteen thousand dollars together to go
figure it see if it's even real.

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You c you can you can fail way quicker
than we could than than than you could

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in the past. And ~

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And that app now, there's about two
hundred users of it.

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and and people love it. And I'm like,

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how's like that is just when I you think
about how that's possible today?

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~ like that just that one example that's
like so exciting about opportunities

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and take that now and multiply it,

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put but make it real, right? What problems
are we trying to solve in manufacturing?

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What's America trying to deal with today?

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What's the world trying to deal with
today?

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What are we trying to solve for?

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Like the the best idea is never

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never get commercialized because of time,

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missing the opportunity, the window of
opportunity,

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missing like, I don't have the money to do
that.

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Like these tools today are making us so
efficient.

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~ I I just think it's amazing.

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I think it's an And the world I live in,

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building automation for the top companies
in the world.

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Like, what an exciting opportunity to take
these tools and take manufacturing

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to that next level. I I think it's almost
identical to the internet moment.

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changed our world forever. And I think AI
and these tools that

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are that are available to us today in
applied in the right way,

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it's it's just game changing. The
opportunity for people is just immense.

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Our generation, you know, we we were
coming up through ~ our late teens

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and then early twenties when the internet
age showed up.

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And so we were fortunate to go through
that.

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But you said, hey, to be 30, it wasn't
even about what I like is most people

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are like, to be h to have the health and
all that.

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You're like, no, if I had these things at
my fingertips,

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but here's the question I have.

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The person that you became through all
these decades when we didn't have access

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to technology, the problem solving skills,

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the durability, do you think

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Maybe you take that for granted that
that's who you're bringing

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to the technology right now and it's
making it so simple and easy too.

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That's why I'd say to be dirty again but
half the experience and knowledge

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I have today. ~ because yes, that does
form you,

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right? The that that's experience,

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right? That the AI is the same.

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It's gonna get better as it gets educated
more,

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it gets it gets exposed to different
problem statements and and so yeah,

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it that i i if the the biggest fear I see
and on at AIR ~ as a company,

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my biggest challenge is to make sure that
we don't use the tools to take shortcuts.

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We use the tools to drive productivity and
innovation and not shortcuts.

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And if you think about the simple thing,

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like I I I'm not a fan of AI and note
taking.

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Because I do believe like I grew up before
AutoCAD.

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We were designing things with pens and
paper and rulers and compasses.

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~ and then SOLIDWORKS and AutoCAD came to
be and everybody was like,

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this is horrible, this is gonna ruin job
it made us really efficient.

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And made engineers more productive.

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And I think when you think about but but
we never use it for taking shortcuts.

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And I think AI the biggest risk with the
AI tools in what you're talking to

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is it is so easy to take a shortcut.

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You think about like paralegals and legal.

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You can get legal advice from an AI tool,

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whether you should take it or not is
another thing.

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But if if if if if you can get the access
to that information,

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where does that what we went through?

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Like where does the paralegal,

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where where do you gain the real life
experience?

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So we have to be very careful,

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we use these tools not to take shortcuts
because that that that's a problem.

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And we at AIR, I I can only control what I
do privately and what we

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do with the company collectively,

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is make sure that we're not taking
shortcuts and hold that as a standard.

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If if we find ourselves taking a shortcut,

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not good. If you're not writing or typing
~ your e your your minutes down,

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You're not allowing your brain to absorb
it and really understand

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the subject matter. If you just have,

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I've got my notes, I'll read them if I
need them.

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Really understanding the substance of the
situation is what humans can't lose.

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And I fear or not fear, we'd always try to
avoid ta AI becoming shortcut taker.

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That that that would not be good.

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And and that could happen not having the
experience in knowing to

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to what you're saying, right? It's it's
we've gotten to where we are.

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We landed on the moon with

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Blackboards and chalk. We d we didn't need
the tools.

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We had the day to do it. Yeah.

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Problem solving that whole process.

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I guess we'll adjust to this, but what
I've realized from the limited

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AI use and starting to build agents,

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what I've realized is the right input is
critical.

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A lot of people are framing it that the
right questions,

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but I'm saying the right input,

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the right structure, because it'll be as
smart and as intelligent as an agent

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as you help it to be. That's what I've
found.

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~ one I I encoura I encourage our teams,

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like, what prompt do I write? I said,

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Interact with the agent no different than
you'd interact with your manager,

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your colleague, your your trusted partner.

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If you come to me and say, I've got a
problem,

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Dara, and you give me half baked
information,

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I'm not I'm not gonna be very helpful to
you.

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Like I I I'm not understanding the
situation properly.

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So if we want these tools, if you want to
get the best out of them,

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absolutely. I mean they're not it's not
magic.

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It's reacting predictive to what you're
saying and what the next logical word

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or letter is to form that. So yeah,

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you interacting with these things in
detail,

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that that's a skill in itself.

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Articulating in in a written form,

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~ the true problem statements and the
details,

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like that matters. And how often have you
gone into those tools and said,

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No, that's not it, it's this ~ with that
view,

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I'd answer you this way. Like,

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my god, okay. Do you know me? That's like
do it right there.

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Here we go. It's giving you what you want.

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Hey, let's give you an intro here.

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We give everybody an intro and it'll it'll
give us the platform to discuss

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all the things with your business,

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but then the journey and ~ you know the
upbringing in Ireland and all the things,

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and whether or not the if you're having
Jameson or some other brand,

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so we'll we'll talk about all those
things.

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So ~ today's guest is Dara Distondin.

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He's the co founder and CEO of Automated
Industrial Robotics or AIR.

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Way more simple.

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In just a short time, AIR has grown into a
global automation company with operations

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across the United States, Ireland,

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and the United Kingdom through a series of
strategic strategic acquisitions

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and a relentless focus on solving complex
manufacturing challenges.

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Before AI, DAR spent decades building and
leading businesses

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in industrial automation, but today he's
helping shape the future

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of advanced manufacturing while building
one of the fastest growing companies

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in the industry.

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So officially here's the welcome after our
ten minutes of conversation.

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Welcome to the show, man.

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Hey Mark, thanks. ~ delighted to be here.

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Appreciate the invite.

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Yeah, man. I hope I like those the ten
minutes of conversation.

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What ~ when you wake up every day,

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getting ready to turn fifty, ~ here in two
or three weeks,

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what philosophy,

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personal or business philosophy,

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do you feel you wake up and approach the
day with?

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Like I don't want to make that too big of
a question,

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but this will be the the leaping off of
for us to understand who your company is,

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what you've built. So what's ~ what's your
philosophy you think you wake

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up and approach the world with?

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I w ever I mean that's a I've never been
asked that before in that way.

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~ you know, every morning when I wake up,

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we're focused. Myself and my partner Brian
Koss,

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~ what we co founded Airwith and our
financial partners,

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we we gell together because we had the
common vision in what we're

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bu we're not building something just to
build something,

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right? We're not waking up just to build a
business.

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We're we're we're building a business that
has purpose,

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that has longevity. ~

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That has it's not about tomorrow,

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it's about next year. It's about three
years from now.

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~ and when I when I wake up and I look at,

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you know, you get to your inbox in the
morning,

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I've got England, Ireland, email boxes
full before I even get up.

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I have to sort out what are the short-term
things to deal with,

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but never lose focus of that long term.

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And and in in sorting short-term problems,

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you can get absorbed with that and and and
then you're just swimming,

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you're just drifting. So

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I wake up in the morning saying,

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What what's long term? What are the short
term things?

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And make sure that my day is split and
spending enough time on solving short term

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issues while not losing the focus on the
long term objective.

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And we take the same philosophy when we
build automated ~ manufacturing lines

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for customers that you and I and all your
listeners depend on

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for the consumable goods that that we that
we procure.

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Those projects are like twelve,

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eighteen months long. And we have an
objective.

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That system needs to get delivered.

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But we're dealing with day-to-day
challenges and doing that.

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Very complex. It's never been done before
most of the time.

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The products are all new. ~ so we take the
same view in our in our projects.

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Are we tackling the short term things,

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but also keeping focused on the long term?

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And ~ that's how I wake up in the morning
and and we drive the same mentality

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in our business.

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to make sure that we we don't miss the
long term out objective by saying,

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Well I was trying real hard like that
that's not acceptable,

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right? It's it's it's yeah so that's
that's kind of not

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What's your improvement to ~ so many of us
entrepreneurs?

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We've had so we've had such a significant
relationship with failure.

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A lot of us have. We could get into that
with you,

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but but the the more important question,

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the underlying is is that what do you do?

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What's Daryl, what what's he do to learn?

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Like when you hit a wall, when you have
some serious objectives that you're trying

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to like, where where do you go to learn?

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Are you reading books? Is there a guru
that you follow?

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00:12:13,048 --> 00:12:14,711
Do you do meditation? Where do you go?

228
00:12:14,711 --> 00:12:17,555
Where do you find your growth these days
when you're accomplishing so much

229
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at such a high level in a fast moving
business in this world of AI?

230
00:12:22,350 --> 00:12:25,912
I think there's b books and people,

231
00:12:25,912 --> 00:12:27,613
everybody's world is different,

232
00:12:27,613 --> 00:12:30,534
~ times change as well, right?

233
00:12:30,534 --> 00:12:32,936
~ there's a great book, Good to Great.

234
00:12:32,936 --> 00:12:37,138
~ if you haven't read it, you you sh I
think it's a great book.

235
00:12:37,138 --> 00:12:41,180
~ it's an older book, but the philosophies
in that hold shoot to today.

236
00:12:41,180 --> 00:12:46,623
~ it wasn't about the blueprint in what
makes a good company great.

237
00:12:46,623 --> 00:12:49,705
~ because there isn't. It it it's a
dynamic,

238
00:12:49,705 --> 00:12:51,566
it it just happens and it happens by

239
00:12:51,860 --> 00:12:55,331
millions of things that that so you could
never do like there's no script for it.

240
00:12:55,331 --> 00:12:59,652
And when you look in some of the things
that these companies all have in common,

241
00:12:59,652 --> 00:13:05,324
addressing and confronting brutal facts ~
is something that we that I live by.

242
00:13:05,324 --> 00:13:07,554
And when I look at when we hit a wall,

243
00:13:07,554 --> 00:13:09,855
we've we we this didn't go well.

244
00:13:09,855 --> 00:13:12,256
We don't try to talk ourselves into,

245
00:13:12,256 --> 00:13:14,957
well this is why and that's okay.

246
00:13:14,957 --> 00:13:16,537
Like we'll we'll do a better next thing.

247
00:13:16,537 --> 00:13:20,088
We really spend eighty percent of the time

248
00:13:20,364 --> 00:13:22,215
spent on analyzing the problem,

249
00:13:22,215 --> 00:13:24,716
trying to identify what the brutal fact
is,

250
00:13:24,716 --> 00:13:27,038
what you don't want to hear, what you
don't want to know,

251
00:13:27,038 --> 00:13:31,430
the the awkwardness in it. Like we we
spent eighty percent of our time trying

252
00:13:31,430 --> 00:13:35,688
to identify that. And twenty percent of
our time then is only needed to say,

253
00:13:35,688 --> 00:13:37,583
~ this this is the lesson from it.

254
00:13:37,583 --> 00:13:40,675
And it's so hard to identify that brutal
fact.

255
00:13:40,675 --> 00:13:45,148
It's a really hard thing. ~ I've gotten
feedback from customers where I'm like,

256
00:13:45,148 --> 00:13:49,260
I don't like that. ~ and then I try to why
is that?

257
00:13:49,974 --> 00:13:52,276
And you get to that and you confront that
brutal fact.

258
00:13:52,276 --> 00:13:57,149
And in that is the lesson. In that brutal
fact that you don't want to know that

259
00:13:57,149 --> 00:13:59,877
you that you confront, and as an
individual,

260
00:13:59,877 --> 00:14:04,744
I can deal with it. But wha how do you
bring an organization around dealing with

261
00:14:04,744 --> 00:14:07,780
the brutal facts and identifying it and
and finding that?

262
00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:09,968
That's it's it's really hard. But in that,

263
00:14:09,968 --> 00:14:13,210
that was the philosophy that I drive as an
individual.

264
00:14:13,210 --> 00:14:14,871
Don't me drive at the company,

265
00:14:14,871 --> 00:14:16,492
drive it with my leadership team.

266
00:14:16,492 --> 00:14:18,604
What are the brutal facts? It is

267
00:14:18,976 --> 00:14:20,767
It is culture to confront them.

268
00:14:20,767 --> 00:14:23,487
It's it it it it's a cultural thing to
say,

269
00:14:23,487 --> 00:14:27,611
I messed up, I got it wrong. We you you
embrace that.

270
00:14:27,611 --> 00:14:31,773
Like we only learn by how do you learn to
ride a bike?

271
00:14:31,773 --> 00:14:33,364
I mean, you take the stabilizers off,

272
00:14:33,364 --> 00:14:34,505
you fall off, you're like, yeah,

273
00:14:34,505 --> 00:14:36,716
again you you you learn by making
mistakes.

274
00:14:36,716 --> 00:14:40,378
And we embrace I embrace that it's okay to
make it the mistake.

275
00:14:40,378 --> 00:14:43,100
We embrace it as a culture it's okay to
make a mistake.

276
00:14:43,100 --> 00:14:46,692
I'd encourage us to make the mistake as
fast as we can if we're we're going

277
00:14:46,692 --> 00:14:47,692
to make mistakes.

278
00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:51,181
Make it as fast as you can. That's why I
think the the the AI tools

279
00:14:51,181 --> 00:14:53,254
are gonna help us get to answers faster.

280
00:14:53,254 --> 00:14:56,266
~ and then and then we confront that
brutal fact.

281
00:14:56,266 --> 00:14:58,577
What is the brutal fact? What is it that
we don't want to know,

282
00:14:58,577 --> 00:15:01,559
that we find uncomfortable, and in that is
the answer.

283
00:15:01,559 --> 00:15:06,923
And and and that that we find it's really
hard to hold yourself to that.

284
00:15:06,923 --> 00:15:12,797
It's really hard. ~ but we we we we we
enjoy it and and and

285
00:15:12,797 --> 00:15:15,599
we celebrate around that and that's where
the learnings are.

286
00:15:15,599 --> 00:15:17,450
So yeah, lots of books on it.

287
00:15:17,602 --> 00:15:19,874
But times change, situation change,

288
00:15:19,874 --> 00:15:21,585
industry changes, culture changes,

289
00:15:21,585 --> 00:15:27,830
generations change, right? What worked if
you think about ~ GE ~ back

290
00:15:27,830 --> 00:15:29,952
in the nineteenths GE out of policy,

291
00:15:29,952 --> 00:15:32,574
you have to cut ten percent. my god.

292
00:15:32,574 --> 00:15:34,716
You have to cut ten percent of your
organization.

293
00:15:34,716 --> 00:15:39,339
Like, yeah, you know that that that that's
not time that we don't do that today.

294
00:15:39,339 --> 00:15:42,862
~ that wouldn't be accepted. So you can
look but but when you start

295
00:15:42,862 --> 00:15:44,624
to understand like what are they trying to
get at,

296
00:15:44,624 --> 00:15:47,226
~ and and and yeah, that's

297
00:15:48,526 --> 00:15:50,243
Constant improvement. Isn't that what
they're getting at?

298
00:15:50,243 --> 00:15:51,482
They're getting at constant improvement.

299
00:15:51,482 --> 00:15:53,084
No matter no matter where you've achieved,

300
00:15:53,084 --> 00:15:54,570
what level you're at, you can get better.

301
00:15:55,328 --> 00:15:59,120
Absolutely. We we drive i everything that
we do.

302
00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,281
~ it's it's like yeah,

303
00:16:02,281 --> 00:16:06,503
when like when you think about I I I love
watching UFC.

304
00:16:06,503 --> 00:16:09,474
~ not from my heritage. I just I just love
it.

305
00:16:09,474 --> 00:16:12,505
And I think the dedication that these
people put into like it doesn't

306
00:16:12,505 --> 00:16:16,297
get more brutal. And and and they go into
that and they learn from

307
00:16:16,297 --> 00:16:18,538
it and they iterate on it and they come
back better.

308
00:16:18,538 --> 00:16:20,148
And no matter how good you are,

309
00:16:20,148 --> 00:16:23,530
you're all you you can always chip away
and make yourself better.

310
00:16:23,530 --> 00:16:24,530
At AIR

311
00:16:24,332 --> 00:16:28,776
One of the biggest things that we have
with with such a with with such

312
00:16:28,776 --> 00:16:33,499
an LA ~ activity that we've had is how do
you bring cultures

313
00:16:33,499 --> 00:16:37,533
and engineering processes across six
businesses that will continue to grow,

314
00:16:37,533 --> 00:16:39,384
not only across six businesses,

315
00:16:39,384 --> 00:16:40,608
but you've got England, you've got
Ireland,

316
00:16:40,608 --> 00:16:42,026
you've got America, we've got California,

317
00:16:42,026 --> 00:16:45,399
we've got Michigan, like all those
different cultures,

318
00:16:45,399 --> 00:16:50,543
all those how do you bring all that
together ~ and and and and to decide
what's

319
00:16:50,543 --> 00:16:52,025
the best way of doing something?

320
00:16:52,025 --> 00:16:53,656
And then not only

321
00:16:54,252 --> 00:16:56,743
When you identify this is the best way of
doing it,

322
00:16:56,743 --> 00:17:01,216
how do you make it better? So that's
constant evolution,

323
00:17:01,216 --> 00:17:03,407
that's con the constant iteration,

324
00:17:03,407 --> 00:17:05,377
that has to be part of the culture,

325
00:17:05,377 --> 00:17:08,130
that has to be part of, well, that didn't
work out great.

326
00:17:08,130 --> 00:17:09,329
What could we be doing better?

327
00:17:09,329 --> 00:17:12,771
How do we learn from it? Getting back to
the brutal fact of what went wrong,

328
00:17:12,771 --> 00:17:16,834
iterating the process and creating that
culture of it's okay to get it wrong.

329
00:17:16,834 --> 00:17:18,886
It's not okay not to make it better.

330
00:17:18,886 --> 00:17:21,237
And and and and we do our very,

331
00:17:21,237 --> 00:17:23,147
very best not to make the same mistake
twice.

332
00:17:23,362 --> 00:17:25,714
Definitely not three times and iterate
from it.

333
00:17:25,714 --> 00:17:27,663
So yeah, you're absolutely as I look at
it,

334
00:17:27,663 --> 00:17:30,066
iteration upon what worked today,

335
00:17:30,066 --> 00:17:35,160
it won't work tomorrow. Or maybe it won't
work a year from now or

336
00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:36,160
two years from now.

337
00:17:35,832 --> 00:17:37,778
Guaranteed. It's not guaranteed to watch
tomorrow,

338
00:17:37,778 --> 00:17:38,778
right? Yeah.

339
00:17:38,668 --> 00:17:41,426
Yep. ~

340
00:17:42,306 --> 00:17:46,497
You you think the stack on top of always
getting better is but don't you need

341
00:17:46,497 --> 00:17:48,148
to you said it's okay to fail.

342
00:17:48,148 --> 00:17:50,288
Don't you need to do it quick though?

343
00:17:50,288 --> 00:17:53,969
You need to do it quick. You need to r
once you realize what the problem

344
00:17:53,969 --> 00:17:57,040
is and you failed, you need to be
resilient and get right back up and

345
00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,951
try the next thing. Because if that fails
and do it again.

346
00:17:59,951 --> 00:18:03,812
That's the delay that I see in business
the most frustrating thing.

347
00:18:03,812 --> 00:18:07,653
There's I bet if me and you documented a
sixteen hour day that we worked,

348
00:18:07,653 --> 00:18:09,384
I just don't get stuck on failure,

349
00:18:09,384 --> 00:18:10,794
but I bet if we wrote failure,

350
00:18:11,114 --> 00:18:13,136
I'd probably have a hundred things to
write.

351
00:18:13,136 --> 00:18:15,848
It might be a conversation didn't go the
right way.

352
00:18:15,848 --> 00:18:18,791
It might be I didn't interpret something
line in some contract.

353
00:18:18,791 --> 00:18:20,702
It might be a there there's a bunch of
them.

354
00:18:20,702 --> 00:18:24,265
But it's the recovery. It's the r that
that's that that's the trait that

355
00:18:24,265 --> 00:18:26,127
if I could teach that, teach a class,

356
00:18:26,127 --> 00:18:30,390
it would be the art of resilience and
recovery.

357
00:18:30,390 --> 00:18:32,552
And it's not about recovering from the
thing.

358
00:18:32,552 --> 00:18:34,634
It's so you can move on to try it again
right now.

359
00:18:35,362 --> 00:18:38,945
Absolutely. One thing I look at in people,

360
00:18:38,945 --> 00:18:42,698
in leadership, and also in culture is that
resilience,

361
00:18:42,698 --> 00:18:45,561
that agility that it you get knocked down,

362
00:18:45,561 --> 00:18:48,863
you get back up and go again. We have
timelines,

363
00:18:48,863 --> 00:18:50,428
right? The world doesn't stop for us.

364
00:18:50,428 --> 00:18:52,016
I'm not sure who the world stops for.

365
00:18:52,016 --> 00:18:57,421
We have a commitment to a customer where
we're delivering an orthopedic joint

366
00:18:57,761 --> 00:18:59,923
and they need to bring that to mass
production.

367
00:18:59,923 --> 00:19:02,825
People are waiting on it. People are not
gonna wait for us to say,

368
00:19:02,825 --> 00:19:03,825
~ how

369
00:19:03,958 --> 00:19:05,599
How how do we do that? we got no.

370
00:19:05,599 --> 00:19:08,040
We need to you something happens,

371
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,043
a culture, a company to be able to get up,

372
00:19:11,043 --> 00:19:13,544
shake themselves off. What are we trying
next?

373
00:19:13,544 --> 00:19:20,008
You know, and and and and that that is
founded in our abilities as a company.

374
00:19:20,008 --> 00:19:23,821
We have bro like we don't sit down with
and start with a white piece of paper,

375
00:19:23,821 --> 00:19:26,052
right? We iterate our engineering designs.

376
00:19:26,052 --> 00:19:28,754
Our experience is collaborative into it.

377
00:19:28,754 --> 00:19:29,754
So

378
00:19:29,420 --> 00:19:31,250
You know, we've seen this before.

379
00:19:31,250 --> 00:19:32,951
Somebody in the company has seen this
before.

380
00:19:32,951 --> 00:19:37,562
So creating the abilities for recognition
on problems to get the right people

381
00:19:37,562 --> 00:19:41,853
in to help solve it. And to make sure that
we're not trying things.

382
00:19:41,853 --> 00:19:46,725
Our customers are not giving us multi
million dollar purchase orders to try.

383
00:19:46,725 --> 00:19:50,696
They're giving up to deliver a piece of
automation that's going

384
00:19:50,696 --> 00:19:53,977
to produce twenty four seven at the
highest efficiency rate possible.

385
00:19:53,977 --> 00:19:58,858
So we we have to balance like new
technologies and problem solving.

386
00:19:59,308 --> 00:20:02,179
with the reality of we need to deliver
this.

387
00:20:02,179 --> 00:20:04,759
And sometimes there's technologies where
you might be like,

388
00:20:04,759 --> 00:20:08,460
this would be kind of cool, but we can't
afford we can't we're we're we're

389
00:20:08,460 --> 00:20:12,682
not contracted to take a technology risk
on our customers' behalf.

390
00:20:12,682 --> 00:20:17,053
They're trusting us to deliver something
that's robust and will work

391
00:20:17,053 --> 00:20:22,034
and it's and it's good. So it's it's yeah
and and get in that culture where yeah

392
00:20:22,034 --> 00:20:23,364
it's and and people we're people,

393
00:20:23,364 --> 00:20:26,725
right? It it it it when you've been
working on something for three months,

394
00:20:26,725 --> 00:20:29,056
you designed it, you've manufactured it.

395
00:20:29,622 --> 00:20:32,633
team have put it together, you've rocked
wrote the software and it doesn't

396
00:20:32,633 --> 00:20:33,842
do what it was supposed to do.

397
00:20:33,842 --> 00:20:35,945
I mean it it's a horrible experience.

398
00:20:35,945 --> 00:20:40,467
It's like, no. And so how but you can't go
back three months.

399
00:20:40,467 --> 00:20:42,968
Like you have to how do we make it better?

400
00:20:42,968 --> 00:20:45,709
And and that culture, that people,

401
00:20:45,709 --> 00:20:50,011
I I I I I would almost say I would almost

402
00:20:50,011 --> 00:20:56,974
say ~ the ability to get up and recover
outmass sometimes

403
00:20:56,974 --> 00:20:57,994
the technical ability.

404
00:20:59,318 --> 00:21:01,539
It it it i i that that team play,

405
00:21:01,539 --> 00:21:06,731
that you know, it it's it's so powerful to
solve the problem with

406
00:21:06,731 --> 00:21:09,682
the hand that you're dealt because you
don't have the time to go back

407
00:21:09,682 --> 00:21:12,283
and recreate it. How do you make that
work?

408
00:21:12,283 --> 00:21:17,705
That that that is I mean, that that's what
that's that's what we do.

409
00:21:17,705 --> 00:21:20,256
And that's fun. That's fun.

410
00:21:22,604 --> 00:21:24,417
What she brought up MA before.

411
00:21:24,417 --> 00:21:29,104
Why has it been why has it smarter and
been the right approach for your business

412
00:21:29,225 --> 00:21:31,398
to grow significantly through acquisition?

413
00:21:31,398 --> 00:21:32,610
Why has that been the approach?

414
00:21:35,168 --> 00:21:38,690
If you look, I mean, back in when did
automation go?

415
00:21:38,690 --> 00:21:40,521
Like back in the eighties, right?

416
00:21:40,521 --> 00:21:43,423
Automation, robotics was becoming a thing.

417
00:21:43,423 --> 00:21:47,555
volumes were increasing, parts are getting
harder to assemble.

418
00:21:47,555 --> 00:21:51,107
So this industry started to to grow and
and flourish.

419
00:21:51,107 --> 00:21:57,101
and you were able to grow an industry in a
sector that

420
00:21:57,101 --> 00:22:01,013
was paced with the speed and demand that
manufacturers were growing at,

421
00:22:01,013 --> 00:22:03,114
consumer needs were growing at.

422
00:22:03,508 --> 00:22:05,279
Like if if you think back to the iPhone,

423
00:22:05,279 --> 00:22:09,220
it doesn't feel that way out, but I guess
two thousand seven is at this stage,

424
00:22:09,220 --> 00:22:11,041
you know, how many did they make?

425
00:22:11,041 --> 00:22:13,682
They were really hard to get. And now
today,

426
00:22:13,682 --> 00:22:15,923
like you're not gonna wait six months for
something,

427
00:22:15,923 --> 00:22:17,534
but you want it now. You want it tomorrow,

428
00:22:17,534 --> 00:22:23,496
you want it this afternoon. And in
building a company in in a in a space that

429
00:22:23,496 --> 00:22:28,488
is mature, we don't have the time to say
Brian and myself are gonna figure

430
00:22:28,488 --> 00:22:32,390
it out and program a robot and then hire
two people and then hire four people.

431
00:22:32,810 --> 00:22:34,631
and grow organically like that.

432
00:22:34,631 --> 00:22:37,663
~ yes, that's possible in certain areas,

433
00:22:37,663 --> 00:22:44,616
but the capital that we have to go build
the company and to enable that vision,

434
00:22:44,616 --> 00:22:48,479
NADA is is the way to do it.

435
00:22:48,479 --> 00:22:50,400
So when when a customer comes to us and
says,

436
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,341
Yes, we need a piece of automation,

437
00:22:52,341 --> 00:22:56,363
we need to have the scale, we need to have
the skill set,

438
00:22:56,363 --> 00:22:59,465
we need to have the geographic locations
to be able to go do that.

439
00:22:59,465 --> 00:23:01,826
Customers will not wait for us to

440
00:23:02,198 --> 00:23:07,089
organically grow that. ~ so MA was was a
really key enabler for that.

441
00:23:07,089 --> 00:23:11,101
And the second enabler for that is there's
a lot of companies that plateaued.

442
00:23:11,101 --> 00:23:15,752
They got to a size and a scale and they
weren't able to push through

443
00:23:15,752 --> 00:23:18,663
to the next one. Some did, a lot didn't.

444
00:23:18,663 --> 00:23:23,754
The MA arm for us is to be able to
identify those companies that are best

445
00:23:23,754 --> 00:23:27,705
in class of what they do, couldn't break
through that ceiling as such,

446
00:23:27,705 --> 00:23:30,286
~ to say, come join AIR.

447
00:23:30,678 --> 00:23:35,005
and be part of our journey as we start to
unlock and untap that to be able

448
00:23:35,005 --> 00:23:38,922
to scale within the customer base and to
the and to and to deliver more.

449
00:23:38,922 --> 00:23:43,139
So that's where the and A on two counts
has become essential to what we're doing

450
00:23:43,139 --> 00:23:44,512
and part of the founding strategy.

451
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:49,692
What do you think has been in your DNA at
AIR?

452
00:23:49,692 --> 00:23:53,572
You, the co-founder or the partner in the
business.

453
00:23:53,572 --> 00:24:00,541
What do you think's in your DNA that
you're taking those companies that
plateaued

454
00:24:01,802 --> 00:24:03,884
that you're plugging in and injecting in
them?

455
00:24:03,884 --> 00:24:06,336
What's that DNA that they didn't have that
you guys have?

456
00:24:07,790 --> 00:24:11,552
So the it's it's not necessarily capital,

457
00:24:11,552 --> 00:24:14,843
right? They're our our business automation
is capital intense,

458
00:24:14,843 --> 00:24:16,954
right? It's a project based business and
things like that.

459
00:24:16,954 --> 00:24:21,816
But we we we the the companies process,

460
00:24:21,816 --> 00:24:24,897
you think about standards,

461
00:24:24,897 --> 00:24:27,258
you think about scaling, right?

462
00:24:27,258 --> 00:24:31,059
A lot of entrepreneurs, they they they do
everything.

463
00:24:31,059 --> 00:24:32,520
They they're they're doing the finance,

464
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:34,371
they're doing the HR, they're doing the
selling,

465
00:24:34,371 --> 00:24:36,151
then in the evenings when they're finished
dinner,

466
00:24:36,151 --> 00:24:37,452
they're programming the robots.

467
00:24:38,252 --> 00:24:41,314
You can only go that far. What we bring
together,

468
00:24:41,314 --> 00:24:43,966
what I bring together, is being able to
say,

469
00:24:43,966 --> 00:24:47,349
Don't and and the biggest challenge I have
as a leader,

470
00:24:47,349 --> 00:24:50,751
I was asked before, what what was the
biggest thing you had to give up

471
00:24:51,232 --> 00:24:53,434
as you when you moved into a CEO role?

472
00:24:53,434 --> 00:24:56,666
And I was like, Yeah, not grabbing the
keyboard and and and saying,

473
00:24:56,666 --> 00:24:59,838
I c I can do it faster and better like
that was the hardest thing.

474
00:24:59,838 --> 00:25:04,342
It is about managing and meditoring.

475
00:25:04,522 --> 00:25:08,384
And scaling the abilities that these
brilliant people have

476
00:25:08,864 --> 00:25:11,385
and distributing that across a team.

477
00:25:11,385 --> 00:25:13,366
And that in itself was a skill set.

478
00:25:13,366 --> 00:25:16,147
And you need rigorous processes.

479
00:25:16,147 --> 00:25:20,209
So if I'm doing something, or or one of
the businesses that we acquired,

480
00:25:20,209 --> 00:25:24,420
the owner of that business knew exactly
what Tom and Sarah and Mary

481
00:25:24,420 --> 00:25:27,892
and John were doing. When you get to that
ceiling,

482
00:25:27,892 --> 00:25:31,003
and now you can't know what everybody is
doing,

483
00:25:31,003 --> 00:25:32,684
you have to rely on process.

484
00:25:33,142 --> 00:25:35,383
You have to rely on quality systems.

485
00:25:35,383 --> 00:25:37,863
You have to rely on your standards being
iterated,

486
00:25:37,863 --> 00:25:42,605
iterated and not recreated. You can't
recreate the wheel on everything.

487
00:25:42,605 --> 00:25:43,985
And you have to build upon that.

488
00:25:43,985 --> 00:25:48,186
And at AIR, the first thing that we did in
the founding of the company

489
00:25:48,406 --> 00:25:52,197
and the first two businesses that we
bought was we are going to

490
00:25:52,197 --> 00:25:55,348
be an integrated business with robust,

491
00:25:55,348 --> 00:25:57,249
harmonized processes, procedures,

492
00:25:57,249 --> 00:26:00,450
workflows. We can onboard people in
training and say,

493
00:26:00,450 --> 00:26:01,910
this is the expectation.

494
00:26:02,210 --> 00:26:05,752
This is how we do it. These are the guide
rails that you work within

495
00:26:05,752 --> 00:26:09,664
and find your way to it. We're do it and
we've done that across

496
00:26:09,664 --> 00:26:12,356
all of our businesses. We do things one
way.

497
00:26:12,356 --> 00:26:14,557
We do it right or we don't do it.

498
00:26:14,557 --> 00:26:17,238
We don't have to it. If we can't get it
done on time,

499
00:26:17,238 --> 00:26:22,301
we don't we we confront that with that we
we do it right and we do it the same way.

500
00:26:22,301 --> 00:26:25,513
And that's what we brought that the
businesses have have are now able

501
00:26:25,513 --> 00:26:30,015
to plug into processes that can scale
engineering brilliance,

502
00:26:30,015 --> 00:26:31,015
that can scale

503
00:26:31,328 --> 00:26:35,741
ideas that can train and and onboard new
people.

504
00:26:35,741 --> 00:26:39,884
So out of one person, now there's twenty
people behind them.

505
00:26:39,884 --> 00:26:42,766
And and and and I find myself always
saying,

506
00:26:42,766 --> 00:26:46,068
put your lap, close your lap. You don't
need your laptop.

507
00:26:46,068 --> 00:26:51,882
You you're you're here to help mentor and
educate and train and brainstorm with

508
00:26:51,882 --> 00:26:54,044
the people. And and that's what we bring
to it.

509
00:26:54,044 --> 00:26:56,775
And I I think a lot of companies when you
stand back and look at it,

510
00:26:56,775 --> 00:27:00,438
there's a lot of books on it. Why did that
company not break through?

511
00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:03,231
And when they get overwhelmed with orders,

512
00:27:03,231 --> 00:27:05,571
it's either they didn't have the capital
to do it,

513
00:27:05,571 --> 00:27:08,622
they didn't have the processes or the
procedures that fell down,

514
00:27:08,622 --> 00:27:11,353
they ran into quality issues. This was
great.

515
00:27:11,353 --> 00:27:13,253
We see it in some of the EVs today.

516
00:27:13,253 --> 00:27:16,374
They got billions of dollars and then they
get into mass production,

517
00:27:16,374 --> 00:27:20,245
they struggle. Why is that? You're trying
to go from something small

518
00:27:20,245 --> 00:27:23,656
to something big. And when you look at the
good examples of companies that did that,

519
00:27:23,656 --> 00:27:27,277
robust processes, procedures, training,

520
00:27:27,277 --> 00:27:29,198
clarity on what the objective is.

521
00:27:29,198 --> 00:27:30,508
And and and that's what

522
00:27:30,936 --> 00:27:34,799
Cer that's what we as AIR bring together
and the companies plug in

523
00:27:34,799 --> 00:27:36,821
and and now there's an established
infrastructure.

524
00:27:36,821 --> 00:27:40,074
When we started there wasn't we had to
build that and that was hard.

525
00:27:40,074 --> 00:27:42,926
~ and and that's something that we
continue to iterate today.

526
00:27:42,926 --> 00:27:44,317
So when somebody new comes in,

527
00:27:44,317 --> 00:27:46,739
now it's not this is how we educate,

528
00:27:46,739 --> 00:27:50,182
this is how we do it. Now how how do you
think we could make it better?

529
00:27:50,182 --> 00:27:52,274
What are you doing that we never knew
about?

530
00:27:52,274 --> 00:27:56,748
And and that openness and and and and that
iterative process through the

531
00:27:56,828 --> 00:27:58,729
and A also gets gets there, right?

532
00:27:58,729 --> 00:27:59,729
So

533
00:28:00,268 --> 00:28:02,551
Yeah. Hm. So it's like you guys,

534
00:28:02,551 --> 00:28:04,924
you guys built you built system,

535
00:28:04,924 --> 00:28:08,089
you built capacity, right? That's what you
brought to the table.

536
00:28:08,089 --> 00:28:09,871
You it's what you built, this capacity,

537
00:28:09,871 --> 00:28:11,974
these systems, this way to operate.

538
00:28:11,974 --> 00:28:16,229
And you plugging these intelligent people
that understand automation systems,

539
00:28:16,229 --> 00:28:17,302
it puts them on steroids.

540
00:28:17,952 --> 00:28:21,884
engineering capabilities. It it it it it's
almost like you when you take a robot,

541
00:28:21,884 --> 00:28:23,184
a robot can do an awful lot of things.

542
00:28:23,184 --> 00:28:27,096
It can pour a beer, it can assemble so
there a six axis robot can do what it'll

543
00:28:27,096 --> 00:28:28,286
do what what you tell it to do.

544
00:28:28,286 --> 00:28:32,648
And and the diversity that we have now
with the company with so many engineers,

545
00:28:32,648 --> 00:28:38,176
so many challenges, so many projects when
when when when a company has been using

546
00:28:38,176 --> 00:28:42,432
a piece of technology in in food and
beverage or a medical device,

547
00:28:42,432 --> 00:28:46,504
being able to share those experiences of
how did we get the accuracy?

548
00:28:46,504 --> 00:28:47,564
How did we get the speed?

549
00:28:48,002 --> 00:28:51,174
How did we avoid a collision? How did we
make it safe for the operator

550
00:28:51,174 --> 00:28:54,727
to interact with it? Those use cases make
us better.

551
00:28:54,727 --> 00:28:56,648
And and the exposure to that. You know,

552
00:28:56,648 --> 00:28:58,109
as a competitor, you're always looking.

553
00:28:58,109 --> 00:29:00,771
What are they doing? Are they cooking with
different ingredients?

554
00:29:00,771 --> 00:29:04,233
You know, and you never get to look behind
the curtain of a competitor.

555
00:29:04,233 --> 00:29:05,994
A there, when we buy somebody,

556
00:29:05,994 --> 00:29:08,736
they get to see six previous competitors,

557
00:29:08,736 --> 00:29:10,618
right? People that work in that space.

558
00:29:10,618 --> 00:29:12,779
~ okay, that's who you do. okay,

559
00:29:12,779 --> 00:29:15,361
that's cool. ~ and and then we don't be
down,

560
00:29:15,361 --> 00:29:16,882
that's actually a really cool way of doing
it.

561
00:29:17,438 --> 00:29:20,361
And and and and then we can harmonise and
bring that in and make ourselves better.

562
00:29:23,392 --> 00:29:26,493
If I took you to any company, let's say
outside of automation

563
00:29:26,493 --> 00:29:28,203
and outside of engineering, any company,

564
00:29:28,203 --> 00:29:32,104
think at this through the professor's lens
or ball cap.

565
00:29:32,104 --> 00:29:36,706
With all the knowledge that you've gained
and how you lead today,

566
00:29:36,706 --> 00:29:41,244
let's say another company paid you to come
in to talk to their people for an hour,

567
00:29:41,244 --> 00:29:43,378
for an hour or two. They might do this,

568
00:29:43,378 --> 00:29:48,899
but if they did, what would you talk to
their employees about that's universal?

569
00:29:48,899 --> 00:29:51,160
Outside of engineering, outside of
automation,

570
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:52,160
could be

571
00:29:51,894 --> 00:29:53,567
It could be sales organization.

572
00:29:53,567 --> 00:29:57,454
It could be education. What's the class
you would teach that you

573
00:29:57,454 --> 00:30:00,750
you found's the most beneficial in your
companies that you would try

574
00:30:00,750 --> 00:30:03,616
to employ them to develop, to buy into,

575
00:30:03,616 --> 00:30:04,798
to go all in with?

576
00:30:06,646 --> 00:30:10,850
I think the sir if I answer it in what
worked for us,

577
00:30:10,850 --> 00:30:15,013
right? And in it it's I I guess it's all I
know,

578
00:30:15,013 --> 00:30:18,496
right? It it it's all I've done my life is
automation and engineering.

579
00:30:18,496 --> 00:30:23,681
Is understanding as an organization what
are we rallying behind,

580
00:30:23,681 --> 00:30:26,363
right? Any organization, certainly in
automation,

581
00:30:26,363 --> 00:30:28,625
eighteen, nineteen different departments,

582
00:30:28,625 --> 00:30:30,767
one of those departments failed,

583
00:30:30,767 --> 00:30:34,466
the whole thing stops. Right? So I I

584
00:30:34,754 --> 00:30:36,385
When I look at it is what is our
objective?

585
00:30:36,385 --> 00:30:37,715
Our objective is the long term.

586
00:30:37,715 --> 00:30:39,988
What is the long term objective for the
business?

587
00:30:39,988 --> 00:30:41,800
What is the long term objective for the
project?

588
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:47,374
What are we delivering? Finding that
common line for everybody to identify with

589
00:30:47,374 --> 00:30:48,695
is the first thing. What is that?

590
00:30:48,695 --> 00:30:52,999
What are we all pushing for? What what cod
am I playing in the wheel would

591
00:30:52,999 --> 00:30:54,911
be the number one. I find that's always
missing.

592
00:30:54,911 --> 00:30:56,672
It's like, well, this is my part of it.

593
00:30:56,672 --> 00:30:57,903
And when I'm done, you're done.

594
00:30:57,903 --> 00:31:02,196
You throw it over the wall. More of a
collaboration around what's that single

595
00:31:02,196 --> 00:31:03,958
objective that we're all working towards?

596
00:31:04,984 --> 00:31:07,176
The second part is how do I break that
down?

597
00:31:07,176 --> 00:31:09,418
How do I break that down so as I'm done?

598
00:31:09,418 --> 00:31:12,881
So the next person in line, everything is
sequential and the very little

599
00:31:12,881 --> 00:31:15,293
is happens in parallel. When I'm done,

600
00:31:15,293 --> 00:31:18,026
you can go. When you're done, that person
can go.

601
00:31:18,026 --> 00:31:21,289
What are the dates? What are the set what
do I have to get done?

602
00:31:21,289 --> 00:31:23,491
I always find in a lot of companies,

603
00:31:23,491 --> 00:31:25,472
you always see, well, we've got 18 months.

604
00:31:25,472 --> 00:31:27,835
And then the first people are like,

605
00:31:27,835 --> 00:31:31,608
Well, I'm doing 40 hours. No, your project
is three months.

606
00:31:32,556 --> 00:31:34,908
So you're already late if you're if you're
behind.

607
00:31:34,908 --> 00:31:37,180
So we treat it and we dice it up.

608
00:31:37,180 --> 00:31:39,792
So we set the long term and then we dice
it up into what are

609
00:31:39,792 --> 00:31:43,025
the small bite-sized chunks for
departments to look after.

610
00:31:43,025 --> 00:31:47,739
And then the the the third part of that is
rigor on

611
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:53,344
the how we operate. Like as a de no matter
how big or small a department is,

612
00:31:53,344 --> 00:31:57,008
we the the how it operates, the workflow,

613
00:31:57,008 --> 00:31:59,320
the process of I read the spec.

614
00:31:59,744 --> 00:32:01,735
I highlight the spec in red, green,

615
00:32:01,735 --> 00:32:03,055
and yellow, and this is what it means.

616
00:32:03,055 --> 00:32:08,077
Everybody approaching it in the same way
is so important.

617
00:32:08,077 --> 00:32:11,379
Because the collaboration, get we're all
talking about the same thing

618
00:32:11,379 --> 00:32:14,300
at the same point in time. ~ is really,

619
00:32:14,300 --> 00:32:19,092
really important. And and that how we
operate as a business is really important,

620
00:32:19,092 --> 00:32:20,793
be it in sales, be it in engineering,

621
00:32:20,793 --> 00:32:23,554
be it in supply chain, that how we
operate,

622
00:32:23,554 --> 00:32:26,865
being harmonized on the same is so
important.

623
00:32:26,865 --> 00:32:28,876
And and that gets that is hard.

624
00:32:29,378 --> 00:32:32,180
And the hard things when you're busy are
the things that you don't do.

625
00:32:32,180 --> 00:32:33,882
And that's where that shortcutting,

626
00:32:33,882 --> 00:32:35,503
that's where when I'm trying hard,

627
00:32:35,503 --> 00:32:40,818
it it it is it is very difficult to focus
on those fundamentals,

628
00:32:40,818 --> 00:32:45,491
those foundational elements that allow you
to build and scale and be great upon.

629
00:32:45,491 --> 00:32:49,856
They're really hard to do when you're
really busy and challeng and

630
00:32:49,856 --> 00:32:51,497
and and and facing challenges.

631
00:32:51,497 --> 00:32:56,800
That's why I always go back to are we
focused too much on day to day issues?

632
00:32:57,344 --> 00:33:00,099
And do we lose focus over time on that
long term?

633
00:33:00,099 --> 00:33:02,563
And establishing that within the company,

634
00:33:02,563 --> 00:33:04,567
establishing that within the departments,

635
00:33:04,567 --> 00:33:07,582
and establishing that for the individuals
is really,

636
00:33:07,582 --> 00:33:10,698
really, really important. Really
important.

637
00:33:11,202 --> 00:33:15,445
What's your what what's your approach when
an employee isn't living

638
00:33:15,445 --> 00:33:17,482
up to those standards and not on not on
board?

639
00:33:20,034 --> 00:33:21,114
Well, there's two things in that.

640
00:33:21,114 --> 00:33:24,815
If somebody's not living up to
expectations and somebody not being up
there

641
00:33:25,155 --> 00:33:28,716
for me there are two things. If somebody's
not living up to ex expectations,

642
00:33:28,716 --> 00:33:33,998
we always as default, was the objective
set clearly?

643
00:33:33,998 --> 00:33:37,839
Was the person enabled to do the job that
they and and are we asking

644
00:33:37,839 --> 00:33:41,420
the right thing of a person? I have for
many times,

645
00:33:41,420 --> 00:33:43,160
this is going back a little bit.

646
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:49,142
I said, Well that d yeah. John messed up
there and I'm like,

647
00:33:49,142 --> 00:33:50,142
you know.

648
00:33:49,772 --> 00:33:51,383
It was actually I was the one at fault.

649
00:33:51,383 --> 00:33:55,717
I asked that person to do something that
was outside of their capabilities.

650
00:33:55,717 --> 00:33:59,350
So I always go back to how we asked the
right thing to the person and

651
00:33:59,350 --> 00:34:02,553
and were they able and enabled to live up
to that expectation.

652
00:34:02,553 --> 00:34:04,594
If somebody's not getting on board,

653
00:34:04,594 --> 00:34:07,217
whether that's culture, whether that's
involvement,

654
00:34:07,217 --> 00:34:13,062
we treat culture as like the culture that
we've created

655
00:34:13,202 --> 00:34:15,954
is number one. The same on the and A,

656
00:34:15,954 --> 00:34:18,156
like you could be the best technical
company in the world.

657
00:34:18,583 --> 00:34:20,195
But if culturally that's not a fit,

658
00:34:20,195 --> 00:34:24,096
we won't do it. The culture is too
important to us to to break.

659
00:34:24,096 --> 00:34:26,074
So if somebody's not getting on board,

660
00:34:26,074 --> 00:34:30,315
somebody's not doing it, that's just not a
fit that's not a fit for us.

661
00:34:30,315 --> 00:34:34,120
And we'll we'll we'll we'll move on for
that and find is it the right department?

662
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:35,501
Is it maybe just the wrong company?

663
00:34:35,501 --> 00:34:39,262
It's not a fit, that's okay. And if
somebody isn't living up to the
expectations,

664
00:34:39,262 --> 00:34:42,804
~ that gets it into training. Was it set
right?

665
00:34:42,804 --> 00:34:46,025
Were they enabled for it? And then
potentially finding the right

666
00:34:46,230 --> 00:34:49,292
role for that person within the company is
how we go about it.

667
00:34:49,292 --> 00:34:51,033
And if it's fundamentally just not a fit,

668
00:34:51,033 --> 00:34:55,875
then then it's not a fit. I mean that's
that's unfortunately what what it is then.

669
00:34:55,875 --> 00:34:59,237
But we do default to expectation setting,

670
00:34:59,237 --> 00:35:02,119
training, process, what broke down,

671
00:35:02,119 --> 00:35:04,140
really looking at ourselves first.

672
00:35:04,140 --> 00:35:06,521
Why did that person why is that person
failing?

673
00:35:06,521 --> 00:35:09,963
Is it us? That's where we go first.

674
00:35:09,963 --> 00:35:12,444
Is it the problem statement? Is it
clarity?

675
00:35:12,444 --> 00:35:15,426
And and and then last, then it

676
00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,731
could be the person. And I'd say nine
times out of ten,

677
00:35:18,731 --> 00:35:21,552
it's it's it's clarity in the direction.

678
00:35:21,552 --> 00:35:26,082
Was it set clearly? And and I find that is
the right culture,

679
00:35:26,082 --> 00:35:28,205
the right momentum, clarity of strategy,

680
00:35:28,205 --> 00:35:30,976
clarity of vision, enablement of the
teams.

681
00:35:30,976 --> 00:35:35,437
ninety percent of the time that's that
gets it done.

682
00:35:35,437 --> 00:35:37,238
But it that's hard to do.

683
00:35:38,946 --> 00:35:42,950
How often are you communicating this with
all your people?

684
00:35:42,950 --> 00:35:44,912
So the people that directly report to you,

685
00:35:44,912 --> 00:35:46,654
how often are you communicating,

686
00:35:46,654 --> 00:35:49,296
talking about metrics? Are we
accomplishing it?

687
00:35:49,296 --> 00:35:50,858
Are we on task? How often?

688
00:35:51,790 --> 00:35:54,933
Daily. Daily. Daily.

689
00:35:54,933 --> 00:36:00,117
It's it's well I don't have a cadence
where let's I mean we have our you know,

690
00:36:00,117 --> 00:36:05,582
our our our our our business cadence in
our monthly financials and that's

691
00:36:05,582 --> 00:36:07,604
the output though. That's just a
measurement.

692
00:36:07,604 --> 00:36:14,250
We daily we're we ta we if if if if an
engineer was tasked with

693
00:36:14,250 --> 00:36:18,504
a job and and that person had thirty two
hours to get it done.

694
00:36:19,788 --> 00:36:21,478
If that person gets it done quicker,

695
00:36:21,478 --> 00:36:23,179
there's question, what didn't we do?

696
00:36:23,179 --> 00:36:26,001
Why were why did we think it was going to
take longer?

697
00:36:26,001 --> 00:36:28,662
Does it take did it take longer?

698
00:36:28,662 --> 00:36:31,953
Is that person a fit? We tackle those
things as they happen day in,

699
00:36:31,953 --> 00:36:37,345
day out. So we we every single day we
challenge ourselves on did we get done
what

700
00:36:37,345 --> 00:36:39,466
we said we would do? Are we on track to
get done?

701
00:36:39,466 --> 00:36:41,087
And if we don't take that approach,

702
00:36:41,087 --> 00:36:43,428
if we wait for the month end to say,

703
00:36:43,428 --> 00:36:46,949
~ we're did we get it done on a twelve
month project?

704
00:36:46,949 --> 00:36:47,990
Like

705
00:36:48,310 --> 00:36:50,912
You you you you'll be late. You're already
late.

706
00:36:50,912 --> 00:36:55,092
And then when you take seasonal vacations
into it and Christmas,

707
00:36:55,092 --> 00:36:58,548
like twelve months is like w effectively
we only have nine months really

708
00:36:58,548 --> 00:37:00,900
to get it done. So if we if we wait for
the month,

709
00:37:00,900 --> 00:37:03,822
the month is a result. It's the news,

710
00:37:03,822 --> 00:37:06,884
it's after the fact. ~ so we try day in,

711
00:37:06,884 --> 00:37:08,406
day out to find those measurements,

712
00:37:08,406 --> 00:37:12,569
to find that challenge point. We we bring
it as to to the individuals,

713
00:37:12,569 --> 00:37:14,090
like have you the visibility?

714
00:37:14,658 --> 00:37:17,930
Like, are you pacing? Do you understand
what the objective,

715
00:37:17,930 --> 00:37:23,110
what the specification is? We we often
think of AIR where engineers are may

716
00:37:23,210 --> 00:37:25,145
I d may I don't want to offend people.

717
00:37:25,145 --> 00:37:29,067
~ it's like a painter. When is the
painting finished?

718
00:37:29,067 --> 00:37:31,429
Right? It's in the eye of the beholder.

719
00:37:31,429 --> 00:37:34,891
In engineering terms, when's done done?

720
00:37:34,891 --> 00:37:37,873
There's never an endpoint. It it it's
always out there,

721
00:37:37,873 --> 00:37:39,264
and then you're always iterating it.

722
00:37:39,574 --> 00:37:41,226
An airplane iterate, it's a car literally,

723
00:37:41,226 --> 00:37:43,327
it's a battery gets better, an iPhone gets
smaller,

724
00:37:43,327 --> 00:37:46,190
thinner, better, faster. Like when's it
done?

725
00:37:46,190 --> 00:37:48,002
When do you when and in our world,

726
00:37:48,002 --> 00:37:54,378
which which is the the the the sad part of
our business is we create these amazing

727
00:37:54,378 --> 00:37:56,219
systems. You look at them and you're like,

728
00:37:56,219 --> 00:37:59,903
my god, this is crazy. And you get so
attached to it,

729
00:37:59,903 --> 00:38:02,135
and you have to give it up. You have to
take it apart,

730
00:38:02,135 --> 00:38:03,556
you have to ship it to the customer and
say,

731
00:38:03,556 --> 00:38:05,758
There you go, and then we move on to the
next one.

732
00:38:06,210 --> 00:38:08,231
So for us, there always is an endpoint.

733
00:38:08,231 --> 00:38:10,032
We have to establish that endpoint.

734
00:38:10,032 --> 00:38:11,693
~ otherwise you're never done.

735
00:38:11,693 --> 00:38:14,875
And and that's where we try to find this
line of compliance.

736
00:38:14,875 --> 00:38:17,256
What is what what does the customer need?

737
00:38:17,256 --> 00:38:19,728
Not too much. You don't want to you don't
want to get something that's overly

738
00:38:19,728 --> 00:38:21,699
complex. You don't want to get to the
ghetto.

739
00:38:21,699 --> 00:38:25,841
So we we really try to establish this
engineering line of compliance

740
00:38:26,282 --> 00:38:28,863
in our commercial activities. And then on
the back end,

741
00:38:28,863 --> 00:38:31,815
we hold that line of compliance to make
sure the customer's getting what they what

742
00:38:31,815 --> 00:38:33,846
they expect. And and within that,

743
00:38:34,732 --> 00:38:40,256
We have to dice that up into such small
sections because you you you you're late

744
00:38:40,256 --> 00:38:42,988
in a month. Like you you can't recover
that.

745
00:38:42,988 --> 00:38:46,010
You can't start piling on the overtime at
the end.

746
00:38:46,010 --> 00:38:48,551
It's like not training the endurance for a
marathon.

747
00:38:48,551 --> 00:38:51,794
You just can't you can't train that in the
last three months.

748
00:38:51,794 --> 00:38:54,195
That was the ten another runner,

749
00:38:54,195 --> 00:38:56,277
but that that that was the months before.

750
00:38:56,277 --> 00:38:58,050
Not at you can't cram that in.

751
00:38:58,050 --> 00:39:01,180
So you have to put the effort and
understand where you are and and that's
what

752
00:39:01,180 --> 00:39:03,412
we try to do day in, day out, day in,

753
00:39:03,412 --> 00:39:04,412
day out.

754
00:39:04,306 --> 00:39:07,426
And ~ and then in our town halls for sure,

755
00:39:07,426 --> 00:39:12,852
we hold them each quarter. ~ and that's
reporting where we are that in

756
00:39:12,852 --> 00:39:14,523
in in the larger consolidated,

757
00:39:14,523 --> 00:39:16,715
but we really try day to your question,

758
00:39:16,715 --> 00:39:19,046
day in, day out. Day out Are we paid?

759
00:39:19,046 --> 00:39:21,458
Day in, day out. It's a it's just a

760
00:39:21,534 --> 00:39:23,533
Or a month gets ahead of you, to your
point,

761
00:39:23,533 --> 00:39:25,130
you you're gonna you're gonna miss the
target.

762
00:39:25,826 --> 00:39:30,149
Totally. Or you're compromised in it then
and you're then you're in the situation.

763
00:39:30,149 --> 00:39:31,991
You're we're letting our customers down.

764
00:39:31,991 --> 00:39:36,254
If if we're not acting with urgency from
the minute that this thing lands,

765
00:39:36,254 --> 00:39:40,377
acting with urgency gives you the chance
of making it happen.

766
00:39:40,377 --> 00:39:43,019
And and we that that's how we operate with
it.

767
00:39:43,019 --> 00:39:46,812
It's with urgency. And and and we're very
upfront about that.

768
00:39:46,812 --> 00:39:49,604
Like when when we go, we go. We're not
stopping.

769
00:39:49,604 --> 00:39:52,126
We we treat it as if we're late from day
one.

770
00:39:55,072 --> 00:39:56,909
How do you all champion employees?

771
00:40:00,216 --> 00:40:01,216
Champion is in

772
00:40:02,584 --> 00:40:06,181
Like a recognition, an award, a
designation,

773
00:40:06,181 --> 00:40:11,060
a ~ a pedestal. What how how do you do
that as a co

774
00:40:12,911 --> 00:40:19,115
So for us, our company is not if if

775
00:40:19,115 --> 00:40:22,997
I built a company, O'Brien and I talk
about this a lot.

776
00:40:22,997 --> 00:40:25,769
Like if if I wasn't here tomorrow,

777
00:40:25,769 --> 00:40:29,901
the guy success for me would be the
company runs as it does with me or without
me.

778
00:40:29,901 --> 00:40:32,202
That that would be my measurement of
success in it.

779
00:40:32,202 --> 00:40:38,386
And for AIR, there's not what we need
every individual to

780
00:40:38,766 --> 00:40:41,707
To to be the best that they can bring and
be the best that they can be.

781
00:40:41,707 --> 00:40:46,229
We can't have the company fail on one
point of failure.

782
00:40:46,229 --> 00:40:52,392
So it's very hard to say this one
individual was outstanding because it is

783
00:40:52,392 --> 00:40:57,334
a it is absolute no one individual can be
outstanding because the collective

784
00:40:57,334 --> 00:40:59,415
of what we when there's thirty two people
working on it,

785
00:40:59,415 --> 00:41:03,487
like those two it's the team have have
have really delivered that.

786
00:41:03,487 --> 00:41:05,408
And and our customers played huge role in
that.

787
00:41:05,986 --> 00:41:08,367
So we celebrate those wins collectively,

788
00:41:08,367 --> 00:41:10,217
one as a company, and then you know,

789
00:41:10,217 --> 00:41:15,689
we reward and recognise ~ the successes
that we've had as as as as as a team,

790
00:41:15,689 --> 00:41:20,930
as a project. And ~ we we don't have
individualism as such.

791
00:41:20,930 --> 00:41:25,231
~ you know, we we certainly drive like
engineering challenges,

792
00:41:25,231 --> 00:41:29,083
~ you know, when you speak about
hackathons and cool ideas on

793
00:41:29,083 --> 00:41:33,614
new technology usages and we we make great
exam AI is a great example where we've

794
00:41:33,614 --> 00:41:34,614
got a lot of

795
00:41:34,434 --> 00:41:38,608
Very, very clever engineers figuring out
how to do some really productive things

796
00:41:38,608 --> 00:41:40,800
with it. And we create the platform to
share that.

797
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:42,620
This is what I've done. This is what we're
doing.

798
00:41:42,620 --> 00:41:46,565
And and and that is, I think, in the
engineering world that we live in,

799
00:41:46,565 --> 00:41:49,087
it's not about a medal or a trophy.

800
00:41:49,087 --> 00:41:51,371
It's about having the platform to say,

801
00:41:51,371 --> 00:41:53,871
I did something really cool. Can I share
it with you?

802
00:41:53,871 --> 00:41:58,856
And and and that that that people really
get empowered by.

803
00:41:58,856 --> 00:42:01,228
And ~ so we try to create that.

804
00:42:01,748 --> 00:42:04,240
Avenue of share the ideas. Here's the
platform.

805
00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:05,901
Here's some cool things that I did.

806
00:42:05,901 --> 00:42:08,303
And people love sharing those ideas.

807
00:42:08,303 --> 00:42:11,006
And and and our culture is about,

808
00:42:11,006 --> 00:42:13,488
that's a very cool idea. Can I use it here
or can I use it there?

809
00:42:13,488 --> 00:42:18,302
We've had examples in in in finance where
the teams have come up with some cool

810
00:42:18,302 --> 00:42:21,154
usages in AI that we're using in the
software department.

811
00:42:21,154 --> 00:42:23,876
Like how how does that happen?

812
00:42:23,876 --> 00:42:26,658
You know, and that's from sharing cool
cool ideas.

813
00:42:26,658 --> 00:42:28,980
And that's how we rally it around.

814
00:42:28,980 --> 00:42:31,032
And ~ yeah, it's

815
00:42:32,024 --> 00:42:35,166
cool. I I sometimes I have ideas and we
put it out there and it's like,

816
00:42:35,166 --> 00:42:36,166
yeah, okay, yeah, of course you do.

817
00:42:36,046 --> 00:42:41,512
Of course you do. But ~ no the teens the
teens one of the cool things about

818
00:42:41,512 --> 00:42:42,983
my job is sitting back seeing that.

819
00:42:42,983 --> 00:42:49,308
Sort of stuff people do, it would it it it
it I mean we're yeah,

820
00:42:49,308 --> 00:42:55,673
it it's just fantastic to sit back and see
what engineers can can do.

821
00:42:55,673 --> 00:42:57,134
~ really is.

822
00:42:58,890 --> 00:43:05,092
If you were going to design one award or a
trophy,

823
00:43:05,092 --> 00:43:09,434
just one, and it went to only one person a
year,

824
00:43:09,434 --> 00:43:12,615
what would that be designed around?

825
00:43:12,615 --> 00:43:16,353
Why would you give it? If it was up to you
and you had to and you're like,

826
00:43:16,353 --> 00:43:19,917
okay, what would you design it around that
when you handed it out,

827
00:43:19,917 --> 00:43:21,438
it was significant?

828
00:43:22,414 --> 00:43:26,297
If I was to design an award, it would be
an award

829
00:43:26,457 --> 00:43:30,841
for intense collaboration across the
company.

830
00:43:30,841 --> 00:43:36,145
It would be an award to somebody that has
contributed to an area

831
00:43:36,145 --> 00:43:39,748
of the business that has enabled all of us
to be better.

832
00:43:39,748 --> 00:43:43,171
Somebody that came up with a process,

833
00:43:43,171 --> 00:43:46,233
a way of thinking, a way of engineering,

834
00:43:46,233 --> 00:43:49,316
a way of costing, a way of analyzing an
opportunity.

835
00:43:49,316 --> 00:43:51,828
If if if if somebody came up with

836
00:43:51,948 --> 00:43:53,638
with a way that makes us all better.

837
00:43:53,638 --> 00:43:56,309
And we're all like, wow, like that yeah,

838
00:43:56,309 --> 00:43:58,660
that that changed how I do it.

839
00:43:58,660 --> 00:44:01,281
I that that that that would be an award
that I would make.

840
00:44:01,281 --> 00:44:06,962
An immense contribution to the better to
the AIR being a better company

841
00:44:06,962 --> 00:44:12,234
~ would be it and to be more granular
would be somebody somebody coming

842
00:44:12,234 --> 00:44:17,386
up with that cool idea or demonstrating
this sharing of knowledge,

843
00:44:17,386 --> 00:44:18,616
sharing of ideas.

844
00:44:19,370 --> 00:44:21,851
Somebody that enables somebody to be
better.

845
00:44:21,851 --> 00:44:25,432
That that that not myself to be better.

846
00:44:25,432 --> 00:44:29,553
Somebody that actually enabled the rest of
the team to be better.

847
00:44:29,553 --> 00:44:33,454
Like that that they're the things that I
put an award around.

848
00:44:33,454 --> 00:44:36,135
Somebody that didn't say this will make me
better.

849
00:44:36,135 --> 00:44:39,886
Somebody said, You know what? I I'm gonna
put in that extra effort,

850
00:44:39,886 --> 00:44:44,267
I'm gonna com up with that extra idea or
that way of doing it that makes

851
00:44:44,267 --> 00:44:47,728
my teammates better, that makes my
colleagues in America or Ireland

852
00:44:47,728 --> 00:44:48,728
or England better.

853
00:44:49,154 --> 00:44:53,046
That I'd reward that. That would be the
one thing that I I would I would reward

854
00:44:53,046 --> 00:44:56,518
and rally around. ~ not in a selfless
effort,

855
00:44:56,518 --> 00:45:00,601
in a I I'm I'm creative, I'm trying to
make us better as a company.

856
00:45:00,601 --> 00:45:03,192
Process, procedure, workflow, ideas,

857
00:45:03,192 --> 00:45:07,525
tools, I'd reward that. If it if I if if I
could only do one thing.

858
00:45:07,525 --> 00:45:09,206
And I call it the rockin' award.

859
00:45:09,206 --> 00:45:10,206
What do you think

860
00:45:09,598 --> 00:45:10,953
What do you think you'd call it?

861
00:45:10,953 --> 00:45:13,370
If you ever did this, what do you think
you'd name it or call it?

862
00:45:13,370 --> 00:45:15,648
The award of the trophy. What what do you
think it would be?

863
00:45:15,522 --> 00:45:16,522
The

864
00:45:15,742 --> 00:45:17,463
rocket, it'll be the rocket award.

865
00:45:17,463 --> 00:45:19,424
It'd be the rocket that we're all on.

866
00:45:19,424 --> 00:45:22,255
The fastest growing automation company,

867
00:45:22,255 --> 00:45:26,206
it'd be the rocket award. It would be
you're enabling us to have more juice

868
00:45:26,206 --> 00:45:27,987
in the tank. It'd be the rocket award.

869
00:45:27,987 --> 00:45:32,419
And it would be it would be this logo
without the flags and it'd be the rocket.

870
00:45:32,419 --> 00:45:36,161
It'd be a rocket in it. some of some of
our leaders said to me,

871
00:45:36,161 --> 00:45:38,512
you know, when you get asked it was was it
a basos thing,

872
00:45:38,512 --> 00:45:40,027
if you get asked to take a seat in a
rocket,

873
00:45:40,027 --> 00:45:41,413
you don't say which one you get on.

874
00:45:41,413 --> 00:45:44,384
it'd be the rocket award, that's what I
call it.

875
00:45:45,710 --> 00:45:49,145
I'll send it I'll send you one when we
have it.

876
00:45:48,694 --> 00:45:49,694
There we go.

877
00:45:49,145 --> 00:45:50,617
And I'd have to I'd have the where you
see.

878
00:45:53,058 --> 00:45:55,019
Hey, let's go. We'll put it up in the
studios.

879
00:45:55,019 --> 00:45:58,109
Here it is. Give us one, we'll put it up
and take a picture of it and

880
00:45:58,109 --> 00:46:00,709
be around it and say, hey, that's a I
think that idea,

881
00:46:00,709 --> 00:46:02,349
I mean, that's universal, right?

882
00:46:02,349 --> 00:46:03,961
That's not just exclusive to AIR.

883
00:46:03,961 --> 00:46:05,411
I mean, I think that's an awesome award,

884
00:46:05,411 --> 00:46:11,233
the Rocket Award. So if you if you go back
to Is there anybody in your wife,

885
00:46:11,233 --> 00:46:13,054
jumping a little bit onto the personal
side,

886
00:46:13,054 --> 00:46:15,284
not just AIR on what formed you,

887
00:46:15,284 --> 00:46:19,846
was there anybody in your wife that
significant believed that believed more

888
00:46:19,846 --> 00:46:21,366
in you than you believed in yourself?

889
00:46:21,804 --> 00:46:23,113
Is there a person that stands out?

890
00:46:23,756 --> 00:46:29,890
Yeah. Yeah. ~ so putting pairings aside,

891
00:46:29,890 --> 00:46:32,452
because they always think great yeah.

892
00:46:32,452 --> 00:46:35,644
~ the founder of ATS automation,

893
00:46:35,644 --> 00:46:41,639
Klaus Warner, ~ the the the man is is ha
has been past for some time now.

894
00:46:41,639 --> 00:46:46,202
Klaus was that person to me in the
automation world.

895
00:46:46,202 --> 00:46:47,963
Automation's all I've ever done,

896
00:46:47,963 --> 00:46:52,046
engineering. And when I went to work at
ATS automation

897
00:46:52,504 --> 00:46:55,856
This was back in ~ two thousand.

898
00:46:55,856 --> 00:46:58,678
I I I was there in two thousand,

899
00:46:58,678 --> 00:47:03,407
~ through to two thousand thirteen and
then I had co founded a

900
00:47:03,407 --> 00:47:05,902
a separate automation company when I left.

901
00:47:05,902 --> 00:47:07,133
But in about two thousand three,

902
00:47:07,133 --> 00:47:12,416
two thousand four, ~ I I I I'd be having a
cigar

903
00:47:12,416 --> 00:47:16,408
and that person was was was who you're
describing to me.

904
00:47:16,408 --> 00:47:18,310
When you're in this very, very,

905
00:47:18,310 --> 00:47:19,310
very young

906
00:47:19,338 --> 00:47:23,150
in this very complex world, when you see
these robots and engineers

907
00:47:23,150 --> 00:47:27,763
and software engineers and maca it it it
can be awfully intimidating.

908
00:47:27,763 --> 00:47:30,004
And he always said to me, he said,

909
00:47:30,004 --> 00:47:31,155
You'll never be good at one thing.

910
00:47:31,155 --> 00:47:33,986
He says, But I guarantee you you'd be
great at running business.

911
00:47:33,986 --> 00:47:36,687
And I was like, There's yeah, I can't do
what you do.

912
00:47:36,687 --> 00:47:39,909
Like I this this guy could walk on water.

913
00:47:39,909 --> 00:47:42,141
Created one of the biggest at the time,

914
00:47:42,141 --> 00:47:44,015
biggest automation company in the world
today,

915
00:47:44,015 --> 00:47:47,093
one of the largest, if not the largest
automation company in the world.

916
00:47:47,093 --> 00:47:48,093
And

917
00:47:48,608 --> 00:47:50,139
He used to tell me that all the time.

918
00:47:50,139 --> 00:47:53,861
And ~ d the unfortunate part,

919
00:47:53,861 --> 00:47:58,284
I was so young, I never knew that that was
a time to really listen.

920
00:47:58,284 --> 00:48:02,186
I never knew that that was a time to
really listen to what he was telling me.

921
00:48:02,186 --> 00:48:05,788
I was taking it as flattering and as I he
doesn't know me.

922
00:48:05,788 --> 00:48:09,951
~ but i if I could go back in time and
again,

923
00:48:09,951 --> 00:48:12,242
being thirty with half the knowledge I
have today,

924
00:48:12,242 --> 00:48:15,754
you you'd be you'd knowing when to listen
is such a hard thing.

925
00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:21,132
And back then I I I I I really wish I
could have listened more and taken more

926
00:48:21,132 --> 00:48:23,693
of that mentorship and ~ but yeah,

927
00:48:23,693 --> 00:48:25,954
that that was that one person that stands
out,

928
00:48:25,954 --> 00:48:31,996
you know, ~ in my mind. I always go back
to those times and say how

929
00:48:31,996 --> 00:48:35,508
I remember that and and I see a lot of
situations back then that

930
00:48:35,508 --> 00:48:41,370
I'm confronted with now. And I I remember
how he reacted to it and ~ and

931
00:48:41,370 --> 00:48:45,422
and a lot of that is is how I operate
today and a lot of my peers

932
00:48:45,912 --> 00:48:49,003
that work there, ~ you know, industries,

933
00:48:49,003 --> 00:48:54,095
people doing what I'm doing. ~ we always
find ourselves talking about those times.

934
00:48:54,095 --> 00:48:57,667
If we're at a trade show and we're in the
restaurant or the bar in the evening,

935
00:48:57,667 --> 00:49:02,238
we find ourselves reflecting on those
times and and saying to ourselves

936
00:49:02,238 --> 00:49:07,451
how look where we were ~ to be in that
industry at at that time.

937
00:49:07,451 --> 00:49:10,617
Like it was it was great. But yeah,

938
00:49:10,617 --> 00:49:12,193
that was that was that was the person.

939
00:49:12,193 --> 00:49:14,614
And he probably

940
00:49:13,323 --> 00:49:14,384
Was that Dar was that

941
00:49:14,614 --> 00:49:15,614
Or was that

942
00:49:16,248 --> 00:49:18,963
Yeah, so many. Was that thirty year old
guy,

943
00:49:18,963 --> 00:49:20,436
I'm sure you would say now a kid,

944
00:49:20,436 --> 00:49:25,646
based on who you are now? Was that was
that thirty year old human

945
00:49:28,256 --> 00:49:31,588
Was he found or was he built?

946
00:49:31,588 --> 00:49:34,730
So that leader that really inspired you,

947
00:49:34,730 --> 00:49:39,012
who passed a long time ago, do you think
he saw something already that

948
00:49:39,012 --> 00:49:43,175
was already there? That just naturally was
there?

949
00:49:43,175 --> 00:49:46,176
Or did you build that?

950
00:49:46,176 --> 00:49:48,788
And did you build it from being around
other organizations?

951
00:49:49,538 --> 00:49:55,983
No, I d I I believe ~ certainly the the
the it wasn't built because

952
00:49:55,983 --> 00:49:58,986
I wasn't listening. Right? If it was built
I wouldn't be listening and say,

953
00:49:58,986 --> 00:50:00,917
I listened to everything that I was told
and there was the blueprint.

954
00:50:00,917 --> 00:50:06,642
I I wasn't listening. ~ i it was the
encouragement that the y you you won't

955
00:50:06,642 --> 00:50:08,343
be and I hadn't even done the other jobs
yet.

956
00:50:08,343 --> 00:50:11,075
The R you, you won't be you won't be good
at any one thing,

957
00:50:11,075 --> 00:50:13,357
but you'd be brilliant at managing and
building a business.

958
00:50:13,357 --> 00:50:14,357
And

959
00:50:15,666 --> 00:50:19,527
So no, it wasn't built to and and that was
certainly lit in me.

960
00:50:19,527 --> 00:50:22,828
And I that was certainly lit because in
two thousand thirteen I

961
00:50:22,828 --> 00:50:25,249
co founded an automation company in
Europe.

962
00:50:25,249 --> 00:50:29,950
~ so that was always in me and and I had
four other businesses along the way.

963
00:50:29,950 --> 00:50:34,681
~ some worked, some didn't. ~ automation's
what I do,

964
00:50:34,681 --> 00:50:36,152
so I stopped trying other things.

965
00:50:36,152 --> 00:50:42,213
And ~ no, so it wasn't built ~ certainly
what would the awareness around that

966
00:50:42,213 --> 00:50:44,234
resilience to get

967
00:50:45,004 --> 00:50:46,734
you make the mistake, get up and get
going.

968
00:50:46,734 --> 00:50:49,365
That resilience, I I do believe,

969
00:50:49,365 --> 00:50:50,796
is either in you or not in ya.

970
00:50:50,796 --> 00:50:55,217
I I do I do believe that. I I believe that
that that ability and I'd have that from

971
00:50:55,217 --> 00:51:01,319
my mother absolutely to to get up and to
brush yourself off and get going again.

972
00:51:01,319 --> 00:51:05,780
That resilience and and I and when I think
back today and and I think back

973
00:51:05,780 --> 00:51:09,491
to the AIR of today, to bring it full
circle to that,

974
00:51:09,491 --> 00:51:13,312
not being your question, but to to to
bring it to that like we're successful.

975
00:51:14,050 --> 00:51:17,511
Because we're not lay. Our customers want
to reorder with us.

976
00:51:17,511 --> 00:51:19,371
Our customers are confident in us.

977
00:51:19,371 --> 00:51:23,463
We have problems in everything that
happens.

978
00:51:23,463 --> 00:51:25,293
There's always something to deal with.

979
00:51:25,293 --> 00:51:29,084
And and and the resilience that we're
creating in get up,

980
00:51:29,084 --> 00:51:31,055
shake yourself off, let's figure it out.

981
00:51:31,055 --> 00:51:35,096
There's an answer in there. ~ that's where
the learnings come from.

982
00:51:35,096 --> 00:51:38,307
And that's ultimately you you end up where
you're supposed to end up,

983
00:51:38,307 --> 00:51:40,317
right? You end up where you're supposed to
end up.

984
00:51:40,317 --> 00:51:42,968
And I I do believe it was found

985
00:51:43,298 --> 00:51:47,938
Found not ~ coached or anything like that
from his

986
00:51:48,642 --> 00:51:50,004
Since since you invoked your mom.

987
00:51:50,004 --> 00:51:52,859
We don't know her, but ~ she probably has
a cool Irish name,

988
00:51:52,859 --> 00:51:53,859
I'm I'm assuming.

989
00:51:54,293 --> 00:51:55,293
And

990
00:51:57,459 --> 00:52:04,078
Okay. And okay. ~ did did ~ did she
intentionally teach

991
00:52:04,078 --> 00:52:08,554
you that or did you just learn it by
watching?

992
00:52:09,590 --> 00:52:12,211
Yeah, I I I I would say there was an
intention to it.

993
00:52:12,211 --> 00:52:14,213
I would say there was an intention to it.

994
00:52:14,213 --> 00:52:18,145
What you know, when I think back about you
think about school,

995
00:52:18,145 --> 00:52:21,837
I think about ~ I remember as in my
apprenticeship,

996
00:52:21,837 --> 00:52:23,378
I was like, I'm not doing this,

997
00:52:23,378 --> 00:52:26,980
I don't like it. you don't have a choice
in that.

998
00:52:26,980 --> 00:52:29,691
Like you you you don't have a choice in
that.

999
00:52:29,691 --> 00:52:33,603
Like y get up and get out there and should
drive me there and should pick

1000
00:52:33,603 --> 00:52:37,185
me up from there. So that was definitely
drilled and schooled into

1001
00:52:37,185 --> 00:52:38,646
me a hundred percent.

1002
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:41,714
A hundred percent. That that wasn't by
chance.

1003
00:52:41,714 --> 00:52:45,485
~ that was definitely ~ her doing.

1004
00:52:45,485 --> 00:52:47,383
I'll I'll hold her accountable for that.

1005
00:52:47,383 --> 00:52:49,066
So

1006
00:52:49,102 --> 00:52:54,163
If she made that significant impact in
your life and you were that person at 30,

1007
00:52:54,163 --> 00:52:58,255
that then the leader that you were around
breathed into you and then that continued

1008
00:52:58,255 --> 00:53:03,046
to compound, then what do we do when we're
leaders?

1009
00:53:03,046 --> 00:53:07,237
If it took that level of intensity for
your mom and to impact it in

1010
00:53:07,237 --> 00:53:11,758
you to build you, what type of
responsibility do we have for the people
that

1011
00:53:11,758 --> 00:53:14,915
we come in contact with that we're
expected to lead the same way?

1012
00:53:14,915 --> 00:53:16,730
I don't think the world looks at it that
way,

1013
00:53:16,730 --> 00:53:17,780
but isn't that the truth?

1014
00:53:18,678 --> 00:53:20,418
It is the truth. It is the truth.

1015
00:53:20,418 --> 00:53:23,139
And ~ I I'll tell you ~ you know,

1016
00:53:23,139 --> 00:53:29,721
another person that is that I enjoy
speaking to every day is my partner.

1017
00:53:29,721 --> 00:53:34,052
That's another per we all we elevate
ourselves around the people that

1018
00:53:34,052 --> 00:53:37,423
we are and Brian to me is that next level
of person.

1019
00:53:37,423 --> 00:53:40,484
Like if it wasn't for his partnership with
me and what he brings to

1020
00:53:40,484 --> 00:53:44,015
the table in perspective, I I guarantee
you AIR would not be what

1021
00:53:44,015 --> 00:53:48,116
it is today either. ~ all of those
interactions and that

1022
00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:50,692
Coaching and that mentoring and that
sharing.

1023
00:53:50,692 --> 00:53:54,135
As humans, we don't really want to learn
from other people's experiences,

1024
00:53:54,135 --> 00:53:55,986
right? We all want to fall out of the
tree,

1025
00:53:55,986 --> 00:53:57,514
even though you're told don't get into the
tree,

1026
00:53:57,514 --> 00:54:01,751
don't fall out. It it it that level of
look,

1027
00:54:01,751 --> 00:54:04,524
guys, it it we okay, it went wrong.

1028
00:54:04,524 --> 00:54:08,247
What are we gonna do? It it's being that
person in the room.

1029
00:54:08,247 --> 00:54:11,309
And and and the people to make me better
and for me to grow,

1030
00:54:11,309 --> 00:54:15,793
like I never stop. ~ and and the people
that I have surrounded myself with,

1031
00:54:15,793 --> 00:54:16,793
that was my choice.

1032
00:54:17,144 --> 00:54:19,866
partnering with Brian, partnering with our
equity providers.

1033
00:54:19,866 --> 00:54:23,139
That was all choice. That was not by
necessity.

1034
00:54:23,139 --> 00:54:25,321
That was choice. For me, that was choice.

1035
00:54:25,321 --> 00:54:29,714
And and I surrounded myself with people
that that challenge me and that make

1036
00:54:29,714 --> 00:54:31,766
me better and that bring a different
perspective.

1037
00:54:31,766 --> 00:54:35,990
And I've learned that those perspectives
and the differences are what makes

1038
00:54:35,990 --> 00:54:37,851
us what what what makes us great.

1039
00:54:37,851 --> 00:54:42,295
And I take then and try to get that into
the people that work around me

1040
00:54:42,315 --> 00:54:45,257
and and and and it's not passing that on.

1041
00:54:45,257 --> 00:54:46,257
It's creating that

1042
00:54:47,064 --> 00:54:49,186
Put the keyboard down. You don't need to
do it.

1043
00:54:49,186 --> 00:54:52,148
~ only from one of my managers yesterday,

1044
00:54:52,148 --> 00:54:54,900
we I took XL off him. I said, You don't
need to use XL.

1045
00:54:54,900 --> 00:54:56,801
You've got 18 engineers working for you.

1046
00:54:56,801 --> 00:54:58,422
You don't you you should not be doing it.

1047
00:54:58,422 --> 00:55:01,755
I said, Uninstall it. You're there to
manage,

1048
00:55:01,755 --> 00:55:03,906
mentor, help them see through around the
corners.

1049
00:55:03,906 --> 00:55:07,509
Help challenge them. Do they are they
where they think they're supposed to be?

1050
00:55:07,509 --> 00:55:09,470
~ and when something's gone wrong,

1051
00:55:09,470 --> 00:55:11,712
help them. Get in and help them think
through it.

1052
00:55:11,712 --> 00:55:14,784
Don't solve it for them. Help be part of
that solution.

1053
00:55:15,586 --> 00:55:16,868
And that is a job that we have,

1054
00:55:16,868 --> 00:55:20,913
~ as leaders to make the people around us
better,

1055
00:55:20,913 --> 00:55:24,057
help enable them. And ultimately as a
company,

1056
00:55:24,057 --> 00:55:26,019
when that starts to come together as
culture,

1057
00:55:26,019 --> 00:55:27,942
you're gonna do some pretty cool things.

1058
00:55:27,942 --> 00:55:31,566
Like we are today. We're do I mean we're
doing amazing things today

1059
00:55:31,807 --> 00:55:34,230
for manufacturing. G amazing things.

1060
00:55:37,324 --> 00:55:38,825
All right, we could talk about this
forever,

1061
00:55:38,825 --> 00:55:42,848
but you have to get back to ~ approaching
it with that Kaizan Japanese,

1062
00:55:42,848 --> 00:55:44,979
the old GE of the nineties approach.

1063
00:55:44,979 --> 00:55:46,500
You have improvements to go make.

1064
00:55:46,500 --> 00:55:49,923
~ I I appreciate you having this convers
that having this conversation.

1065
00:55:49,923 --> 00:55:54,166
I think ~ sometimes it te takes these
deeper reflective moments to say,

1066
00:55:54,166 --> 00:55:56,257
hey, what's gotten us here? How are we
built?

1067
00:55:56,257 --> 00:56:00,150
How are we impacting others? ~ what are
the things that we champion?

1068
00:56:00,150 --> 00:56:03,092
And ~ I'm sure me and you are gonna take
things away from this,

1069
00:56:03,092 --> 00:56:04,493
but hopefully everybody that listens as
well.

1070
00:56:04,493 --> 00:56:05,493
So what do you

1071
00:56:05,666 --> 00:56:08,649
What do you when you come on to podcast
and you have these conversations

1072
00:56:08,730 --> 00:56:12,143
as we wrap this up? ~ what's the one place
that you want us to go?

1073
00:56:12,143 --> 00:56:13,895
Is it a website? Is it LinkedIn?

1074
00:56:13,895 --> 00:56:16,258
What's that one place? So that's the first
question.

1075
00:56:16,258 --> 00:56:18,120
And the second one at the same time you
can answer,

1076
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:20,592
what do you hope to accomplish when you
come on here?

1077
00:56:20,592 --> 00:56:22,805
Like when you jump on, what are you
hoping?

1078
00:56:22,805 --> 00:56:23,805
Man, I hope it's this.

1079
00:56:27,850 --> 00:56:30,632
Starting with the latter, I I you know,

1080
00:56:30,632 --> 00:56:36,404
I enjoy these podcasts because it's we me
is it's it's not even about me,

1081
00:56:36,404 --> 00:56:40,676
it's about the there's there's a bigger
collective here at the company ~ that that

1082
00:56:40,676 --> 00:56:45,969
I am part of. ~ is really about helping
people understand one,

1083
00:56:45,969 --> 00:56:49,320
manufacturing is an awesome place to build
a career in.

1084
00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:52,522
It is there's huge opportunity in it.

1085
00:56:52,522 --> 00:56:53,522
It's not

1086
00:56:53,560 --> 00:56:57,072
Dirty manufacturing. It is Formula One
type stuff.

1087
00:56:57,072 --> 00:56:59,534
It is state of the art technology.

1088
00:56:59,534 --> 00:57:02,536
We get to see products that aren't even
released yet.

1089
00:57:02,536 --> 00:57:05,538
One of the most hardest things is to be
able to talk about the things that we do.

1090
00:57:05,538 --> 00:57:07,579
We can't. They're not on the market yet.

1091
00:57:07,579 --> 00:57:11,522
And ~ I hope that people see that
robotics,

1092
00:57:11,522 --> 00:57:14,927
artificial intelligence, the the
opportunities that are in it,

1093
00:57:14,927 --> 00:57:19,868
that manufacturing is is a is an amazing
place to build a career

1094
00:57:19,968 --> 00:57:22,069
and to participate in it. Number two,

1095
00:57:22,069 --> 00:57:23,069
we are

1096
00:57:23,104 --> 00:57:25,804
a small cog in that larger manufacturing
wheel,

1097
00:57:25,804 --> 00:57:29,527
there's lots of companies out there doing
cool things and and

1098
00:57:29,527 --> 00:57:32,899
I hope that collectively we can push that
manufacturing to a place that

1099
00:57:32,899 --> 00:57:34,620
we as consumers can get better from it.

1100
00:57:34,620 --> 00:57:38,032
And I hope from talking about these things
and listening and sharing

1101
00:57:38,032 --> 00:57:40,663
the experiences and people reaching out
and saying,

1102
00:57:40,663 --> 00:57:42,124
~ could I talk to you about that?

1103
00:57:42,124 --> 00:57:43,515
I hope that drives awareness for it.

1104
00:57:43,515 --> 00:57:46,457
And ultimately for AIR, you know,

1105
00:57:46,457 --> 00:57:49,308
people can go to our website, industrial
robotics dot com.

1106
00:57:49,308 --> 00:57:52,490
~ we we we share what we can share.

1107
00:57:52,942 --> 00:57:55,235
customer confidentiality and stuff is
front and centre,

1108
00:57:55,235 --> 00:57:57,899
so we can't share everything. But I really
encourage people,

1109
00:57:57,899 --> 00:57:59,732
like if if you're curious on what we're
doing,

1110
00:57:59,732 --> 00:58:01,235
whether it's to come and work with us,

1111
00:58:01,235 --> 00:58:04,179
whether it's to say, I'd love to put my
business as part of your business,

1112
00:58:04,179 --> 00:58:07,893
~ reach reach out to us and and ~ get to
know us.

1113
00:58:07,893 --> 00:58:08,893
Like say hello.

1114
00:58:09,718 --> 00:58:11,443
And come hang out with a cool Irish
student.

1115
00:58:12,531 --> 00:58:14,073
I don't know if it's that but yeah.

1116
00:58:14,073 --> 00:58:16,437
It's ~ when I have the time for it.

1117
00:58:16,437 --> 00:58:19,011
When I we we have a lot of interaction,

1118
00:58:19,011 --> 00:58:20,011
that's for sure.

1119
00:58:21,098 --> 00:58:23,432
Awesome. Hey, thanks for stopping by and
taking the time here,

1120
00:58:23,432 --> 00:58:24,432
man. We appreciate it.

1121
00:58:24,364 --> 00:58:26,537
Yeah, no watermark. Absolutely.