Ed Stachowiak, Part 1: If You Really Want to Learn, Great Things Will Happen.
Ed Stachowiak is the Chief Operating Officer at Axxiom Elevator. Ed started his career as a sales rep with Otis Elevator in Syracuse, New York where he learned and grew rapidly. In 2023, Ed became one of the founders of Axxiom Elevator with a vision to become the “Elevator Service Provider of Choice.” Ed believes personal and business growth is not easy. It takes a lot of courage to have honest and open conversations, but is essential to see your blind spots and grow effectively.”
SUMMARY:
This interview discusses Ed Stachowiak’s early career journey in the elevator industry. Some of the key highlights include:
– Ed got his start right out of college when he was recruited by Otis Elevator. He was drawn to the company culture and potential for growth.
– Seeing his colleagues’ careers progress rapidly gave Ed motivation to continue advancing in his own role.
– Ed benefited greatly from mentors at Otis who invested time in teaching him, especially when he showed initiative and desire to learn.
– One of Ed’s biggest early challenges was learning all the product knowledge, but he was able to gain hands-on experience in the field.
– Ed cites creating a culture where people want to succeed for the team, not just themselves, as a key lesson in leadership.
– Part 1 focuses on Ed’s background at Otis. Part 2 will discuss the challenges and learnings of starting his own company, Axiom Elevator.
TRANSCRIPT:
Ed Stachowiak 0:00
If you work hard and you genuinely care, people roll out the red carpet, or you want to show you everything that they know and how to be successful. And that really, for me was fantastic in that, you know, if you if you can find a maintenance supervisor or Mod superintendent, maybe early in the day for a few minutes, and before they get really started, and they can take a few minutes and teach you something, and you can show them that you really want to learn then some really great things start to happen. And I was pretty fortunate to over the years, align myself with a lot of really great folks. And that’s really, I guess, the key at least for my career, and especially in the early innings.
Matthew Allred 0:40
Hello, and welcome to the elevator careers podcast sponsored by the alread group. I am your host, Matt Allred. In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers. Today, our guest is Ed Stachowiak, Chief Operating Officer and axiom elevator. Ed started his career as a sales rep with Otis Elevator in Syracuse, New York, where he learned and grew rapidly. In 2023, Ed became one of the founders of Axiom elevator with a vision to become the elevator service provider of choice. It believes personal and business growth is not easy. It takes a lot of courage to have honest and open conversations, but is essential to see your blind spots and grow effectively. This is part one of the interview with Ed. Today we will discuss his early career. In part two, we’ll be discussing the challenges and learnings of starting a new business. So Ed, welcome to the show.
Ed Stachowiak 1:44
Thanks, Matt. Thanks for having me.
Matthew Allred 1:46
Thank you. I’m excited to be able to talk today. It’s, it’s a pleasure and especially to kind of dig a little deeper into getting to know you. And we’d love to start with just your career. And how did you come to the elevator industry?
Ed Stachowiak 2:00
Yeah, it wasn’t on the wasn’t on the short list of what I wanted to be when I was a little kid and didn’t have a family member in the industry. The way that I entered the elevator industry was straight out of college. So I was recruited straight to school, it was back when UTC and Otis were were collectively together before they decoupled and was recruited straight out of school and really saw a company that was a lot like a family in the branch operating structure. And then where were you going to school a friend may Clarkson University in upstate New York.
Matthew Allred 2:35
So they just came on campus and say, Hey, we want to interview some of your best and brightest.
Ed Stachowiak 2:40
And you don’t know about that part, I think that might have snuck my way into the interview process. But I had a really neat opportunity to interview two two gentlemen, Jim O’Reilly and Tim reedy and I think interview started at eight and I might have snuck in at 730 before someone and weaseled my way in for an interview. But I guess the rest was history from that from that day forward. But those two gentlemen were responsible, I guess for for hiring me.
Matthew Allred 3:07
What was it that captured your attention? Especially going from like zero interest, zero knowledge of what what even is this? What was it kind of sparked that fire?
Ed Stachowiak 3:18
Yeah, I think I probably didn’t know it at the time. But I really enjoyed learning about the culture, and the people that they had on campus. And there was a significant contingency of folks that have joined the company are really joining UTC in various capacities. And so that was obviously very exciting. And I guess I didn’t know, obviously, at the time that it would be a career decision. I was looking, I guess, at that point for a job. But sure, you know, I think that was really the first piece. The second thing I think that I researched, and I guess found through that research. And you have to remember back then research was a little bit different. This was the date myself a little bit, but it wasn’t, you know, while Google was was, you know, in its early infancy, these information wasn’t as readily available. So you actually had to spend time hunting for it. But I think, you know, in researching the company, you could see that their financial performance had been strong. And in making a transition out of school and into a job in an industry. It made a lot of sense to go someplace that, you know, was doing a good job. So I think those were probably the two things that were steered in that direction. I had no idea. You know, what I was getting myself into, I guess, but
Matthew Allred 4:28
Right, right, looking for a first job, let alone Yeah, you know, maybe I’ll do this for two years, and then I’ll find something else, right.
Ed Stachowiak 4:35
Yeah, I guess I never, you know, I guess I never looked at it as being short term or long term. I just, I just jumped into it and then took off from there.
Matthew Allred 4:44
What was it that kind of clicked for you that that may just start saying, oh my gosh, this is this is pretty cool. I can keep doing this.
Ed Stachowiak 4:51
Yeah. I think the first thing was I saw the folks around me their careers grow and blossom and they were you know, around the country, maybe a year or two ahead of me, so to speak, in terms of their tenure in various capacities and seeing them take on roles of increased responsibility and be responsible for managing, whether it’s a small p&l or an operation or, you know, maybe even just a project or two. And that was really exciting.
And I think the other piece was, you know, our industry has a culture and and I’m sure you’ve heard this a million times. But if you work hard, and you genuinely care, people roll out the red carpet, or you want to show you everything that they know, and how to be successful. And that really, for me, was fantastic in that, you know, if you if you can find a maintenance supervisor or Mod superintendent, maybe early in the day for a few minutes, and before they get really started, and they can take a few minutes and teach you something and you can show them that you really want to learn, then some really great things start to happen. And I was pretty fortunate to over the years, align myself with a lot of really great folks. And that’s really, I guess, the, the key, at least for my career, and especially in the early innings.
Matthew Allred 6:07
Yeah, who are some of those folks that really you felt like, took a took an interest in you your career? Hey, I want to invest some time in you.
Ed Stachowiak 6:17
Yeah, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s interesting. So one of those people is actually currently our CEO of Axiom today, Jeremy Metzger, who I’ve I guess reported to directly or indirectly, four times throughout my career. So certainly a known quantity, I think we’ve known each other for 17 or 18 years. So as we kicked off axiom, and really, really, were building up this company from the ground up, there was a really short learning curve, I guess, collectively between the two of us how to work together, but so he was certainly one of them. And then I would say, there’s a few other folks, Chris Tedeschi, namely, is one of them and still talk to him actually, even as recent as text messages the other day. And I think what you find is in a small branch operating structure, you become in a weird way, almost like family, which is really not the norm, especially in the industry. Today, as it was really back then I think you can create that culture still. But you know, it’s a lot more difficult in all the hiring matrix organizations, especially the fortune 50, or fortune 500.
Matthew Allred 7:18
Right, right. Yeah. I mean, it seems like you came in at a good time with with a good group of people, and really did see the upward movement. And it’s like, oh, my gosh, that dude’s only been out for two years. So in two years, I could be doing that.
Ed Stachowiak 7:31
That’s wild. Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, that certainly was the model and is the model for the most part, and a lot of the majors is, you know, continued to take on roles have increased responsibility, and perhaps even relocate if, if it makes sense for call it all parties involved. But it’s a little bit different, I think today than it was then in the post COVID worlds obviously changed the way people are looking at their employer and the employer employee relationship.
Matthew Allred 7:57
Sure, sure. What were some of your initial challenges? Or maybe just like, oh, my gosh, I don’t know if I can figure this out? Or, you know, did you feel like you hit any of those obstacles, while
Ed Stachowiak 8:09
all the above? Yeah. So I think for anybody entering the industry, the product knowledge component in and of what we physically do in the field, can be really daunting. And there’s really no easy way around it other than just rolling up your sleeves and diving in. And, you know, I was pretty fortunate to spend a lot of my early career just observing and watching and was given that opportunity to see how you do everything from
a just, I’m trying to think of something that I thought was pretty Oh linear selector to, you know, watching somebody do a rope job to how you balance a cab, I mean, just, you know, watching poetry in motion, if you will, just doing our everyday stuff. And, you know, without that, without access to that, it becomes very difficult to do, I think a couple of things, one, articulate to a customer, perhaps, the nuance and how difficult it is inherently difficult and inherently dangerous. What we do in a database, it’s really nice. I think that’s the first thing. The second thing is, until you’re sitting there, or or perhaps even if you ever an opportunity to work in the field.
Understand the work that is actually occurring, it’s very difficult to appreciate it and very difficult to understand the challenges that
people throughout our industry face on a day to day basis. And without that, I think it’s incredibly difficult to in at least a future state or a role further on down your career. Be responsible for those folks if you don’t truly understand how difficult it is. And so I was very lucky to have that opportunity early on in my career and gain that appreciation for how difficult our business is in quantity,
Matthew Allred 9:54
especially if you’re leading an ops team, for example, maybe running a branch or something. I just No, early in my career that was there was always this issue ops and sales, well, sales is over promising and we can’t, you know, we can’t do that. And they keep selling it like we can. And, you know, so not that that ever happens in this industry. But I think being able to understand that and appreciate it, what your team actually can do. Now, obviously, huge difference.
Ed Stachowiak 10:21
Yeah, it’s interesting, you bring up kind of that classic manufacturing bottleneck and subsequent bullwhip effect. And you see it in really every facet of our business. And really, the goal, especially as a leader is to push that bottleneck as far down the line as you can until it boomerangs back around to the front end of the sales process, and then continue to do that. I think the challenge is, most people don’t understand that that’s just an inherent part of growth or inherent part of the business. And so, you know, as you’re navigating called the day to day, I think helping the team around, you really understand what it is, that is happening, call it in the business around the business, and in the day to day becomes mission critical. Because I genuinely still, to this day, don’t believe people wake up and say, I’m going to do a really terrible job at work today. You know, it just it just doesn’t happen. I mean, I think people genuinely care, they want to win, they want to be a part of a high performing team, they believe that they that they have a ton to contribute. And it’s unlocking that talent. And I think the first one first part of doing that is making sure people understand exactly what it is that, you know, enables them to be successful and enables the team to be successful and what those roadblocks are, and that this thing happened, or this thing is happening to us. But it says a byproduct of these other three things. And I think oftentimes, it’s hard to see those levers being pulled kind of behind the scenes, when you’re in the day to day trenches. You know, I think you have to have a little faith in the process, regardless of where you are from, which seat you’re sitting in, and that you know, the people around, you genuinely are doing the same that you are and wanting to be successful. And you have to have a little faith in your team. Yeah, and we’re all in this together. And yeah, it’s gonna hurt sometimes. And let’s just let’s just, you know, get through it, and then make it happen again, and hopefully we’ll do better next time. And yeah.
Matthew Allred 12:12
Yeah, that’s cool.
What would you say is, is the single greatest thing, or one of the greatest things you’ve learned throughout your career?
Ed Stachowiak 12:22
Yeah, I mean, there’s, I don’t know, there’s probably a zillion as I could share, I guess, it’s, I wouldn’t even say it’s industry related. I think it’s probably just more a general call it thought and life lesson, but
and I wouldn’t even call it a trick, per se, I think it’s just the way the proper way to lead a team or to be a part of a team is
create a culture and treat people in a manner that creates an environment where people do the things that need to be done, not because you’re telling them to do it, or because they have to, but moreso, because they don’t want to let you down.
And that is, I think that is the difference between companies being good, and companies being great. And, you know, I think as a part of that, what you find is, you know, people will forget things that you say, but they’ll never forget the way you make them feel.
And in our industry, we have people from all different backgrounds, and all different education’s and, and you know, who are on various stages in their career and in their life. And so, you know, to thread a needle on whatever it is making a business plan, getting a, an elevator back in service, figuring out the right way to handle a certain situation, you know, whether it’s in the office or the field, is inherently difficult. And I think at the end of the day, those principles, you know, are genuine and are the reason why, you know, great companies continue to thrive. But it’s, there’s no shortage of opportunities to mess those situations operate. So on a day to day basis, you’re always trying to get better. And I think as a part of that process, you have to be a little vulnerable, you have to be a little vulnerable with those around you. And you also have to be a little vulnerable and look yourself in the mirror and say, maybe I could have handled that one a little bit differently, or, you know, and share that with the team. Because I think everybody is the especially when you’re working in a tight knit group, and you know, you’re relying on sales or billing operations, operations, or buying and sales and all and all together. You know, those things become mission critical to the success of the branch operation until ultimately to the business. Well, I think it goes back to what you said, a few minutes ago, when nobody wakes up and says, I’m going to do a horrible job, right that everybody wants to come through for their team, everybody wants to, to succeed and have the team succeed. And so knowing that, that the leader, like you said, makes you feel like hey, he, he values me as an individual, and I trust him. And there’s this, this bond here that I want to maintain that, right I’m not, you know, and if I screw something up, then I’m just going to come forward and say, Hey, I totally screwed something up.
Matthew Allred 15:00
versus, versus trying to hide it or trying to pretend it didn’t happen or blame somebody else or because hey, I can trust this leader. So like, that’s huge. That’s really hard to do. I mean, if you’ve just entered an organization, or you’re,
Ed Stachowiak 15:15
maybe early in your career, it’s hard to come to the forefront, I think I messed this one up, what should I do, or here’s how I’m planning on handling, I mean, it’s usually the last thing you want to do, you want to move really fast, and try and fix something so that nobody finds out, maybe. But that’s probably the worst thing you can do. Because there’s so much, you know, wealth of knowledge that could probably help you do it differently from it. And I think that’s one of the things that are in our industry right now is really important is, are we taking the time to really go and teach and coach all of the apprentices that are that are in our industry now that are joining our industry? To a degree that, you know, perhaps, folks did it for us. And, you know, it’s a challenge. It’s a balancing act, and across the industries, I think you’re seeing, you know, the independent elevator community really thrive by leveraging that as an opportunity. And candidly, I think the folks that have joined independent elevator companies are getting a quote, unquote, better education, from, you know, start to finish, because they’re able to see a lot of different vintages of equipment and get experience and exposure to all different lines and maybe not work all and, you know, one segment of the business, whether it’s construction or or Mod versus, you know, perhaps others would, what do you think it? Is it some, some companies may have lost sight of I mean, you’re, you’re talking about, you know, just making sure that you’re mentoring and teaching and what does that get lost? I guess, I don’t know, if it’s actually a loss, I think it’s just as businesses move from one phase to the next, if you go from true growth, or startup into kind of that middle phase versus, you know, prior to going into call that larger, or, you know, almost major or matrix organization, you’re just in different phases. And as you transition from one to the next, you start to see more and more specialization and silos and certain key portions of the business, just because it’s so large, you don’t have a choice. So I don’t think it’s that anybody’s gonna lost anything. I just think it’s very difficult to manage a business of size and scale without specialization. And,
Matthew Allred 17:25
yeah, a lot, a lot of growing pains. And when you’re in that, you know, it’s easy to take your eye off one ball and focus on another ball, because, hey, we’re all flying pretty fast. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
What? So I want to kind of,
I guess, ask as we want to, what I’d like to do is kind of wrap up just part one around your career by asking, What advice would you give to somebody who’s, who’s new to this industry? Yeah. So when you take a step back, and kind of look at my career,
Ed Stachowiak 17:59
you know, I don’t know if Gone are the days and maybe I’m gonna make myself sound a little old man, I don’t feel old. But, you know, maybe gone are the days where people join organizations say, I can see myself here for my entire career, I can see myself here for 20 years, or whatever it may be. And so back when my career started, and the question was, how do you get real world experience without perhaps leaving an organization?
And, you know, the balance of you know, there’s a big wide world out there, but I really like where I’m at, how do I, how do I manage both of those
without having to potentially leave. And so the reason why I tell that story, and it’s something that actually our CEO, Jeremy and I had many conversations about, it was one of the reasons why I really focused on both real world experience in education and took the opportunity to go and seek out multiple degrees and specializations and consulting work and, and other opportunities to kind of gain that worldly experience without having to really change roles or leave the organization. But I think it’s to continue to have that thirst for knowledge, to be open and honest and candid with the folks around you, like we’ve discussed earlier about the things that you would love to be able to accomplish and do and put plans in place in order to do it.
You know, it’s like that age old question, what do you want to do? And you grow up? And I’m still saying, I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know when I when I get there? And no, some would say, Okay, well, you’ve already done a lot, you know, when’s Enough is enough? And the answer is, I don’t know. They feel like I’m still just getting started. And I think that’s that, you know, thirst for knowledge and continuing to be inquisitive and, and really trying to look at every opportunity to learn that I think is probably the the major key for this industry. And I know we’ll talk a lot more kind of later on, perhaps about the business and the industry. But, you know, the pace of innovation and change of technology is happening so quickly, that if you are looking at every opportunity as a learning opportunity, it’s gonna be really difficult to keep up as we go forward. You know, we as a group of elevator folks for the longest time said, oh geez, we’re going from relay logic to microprocessor like the world’s getting flipped upside down, and we’re gonna look back in the not so distant future and say that was nothing compared to what we’re about to transition into, from, you know, everything from the cellular technology coupled with AGI and everything else that’s coming down the pipeline from a technology perspective.
Matthew Allred 19:29
Yeah, absolutely. And what I’m hearing from you is, is, you know, take every opportunity, because you never know where it’s going to lead you. If you take those opportunities there, to learn to grow to develop, what you’re gonna find is, there’s a whole bunch of new opportunities that you could not have seen from the other side, that are now
Ed Stachowiak 20:46
the age old quote, like, the harder you work, the luckier you get. And it’s kind of along those lines, but I think you have to work hard, and you have to work smart and really continue to push yourself, it’s really easy to get comfortable, in really any role, especially I think, in our industry. And you know, that inquisitive thought and wanting to learn more and pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. It’s really important. And I guess really the way I describe it, as you’re working, call it for the business, but you also want to be working on yourself and continuing to improve your core skill set. And I think that’s super important, especially as you know, you kind of traverse your career and get more and more opportunities and people always are, are perhaps a little nervous or scared to take a lateral role. And I’m sure you have a lot of conversations with people of their career path and how they navigate it. But, you know, in order to be a truly effective leader, you have to have a really strong basic font of knowledge around really all key disciplinary topics within called the average day in the life of the business. And so you can’t just know a whole bunch about operations or, or sales, or maybe finance if you truly want to be a leader and represent, you know, either a significant P&L or a business because at the end of the day, you’re gonna be making decisions that have wide sweeping ramifications. And you know, you have to really understand how the that’s going to impact the business and kind of all of those areas arena. So, you know, I think that’s one of the arguments or the use cases for why it’s really important to get that exposure, but it’s really hard to do that when you’re when you’re sitting there saying, geez, you know, I could continue to do this for a long, long time. And there’s this opportunity staring ahead of me. I don’t know if I want to take a step sideways or geez this kind of feels backwards. Is this the right thing to do? But you know, I think it was at the Commerce meltdown. So you got plenty of time to figure it out. There’s no rush. Right? You know? Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.
Matthew Allred 22:40
Awesome. Edie, thank you so much for being with me today. Yeah. Thanks. That was fun. Thank you. I appreciate it and wish you the best as you continue to build the business. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the elevator careers podcast sponsored by the all red group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. You can check us out online at elevator careers.net Please subscribe, and until next time, stay safe