From Woodworking to Elevators | Gerry Adams
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Intro:
In this interview, I sit down with Gerry Adams as he shares his multifaceted career journey from mechanical engineering and chemical sales into the elevator industry. Gerry delves into his experiences managing business operations and sales in the elevator sector, highlighting the challenges of transitioning mid-career, the importance of hands-on learning, and the need for high-quality training. Gerry emphasizes the value of technical knowledge to create success, and he encourages newcomers to ask questions and immerse themselves in their work. Check out Gerry’s woodworking YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@woodworkingwithgerry
Transcript:
Gerry Adams (00:00)
In this job, in this industry, in every job I’ve been in, I really try to learn what it is I’m dealing with. I want to know as much about the product as I can. I’ve always been known in every sales job that I’ve had, every management job that I’ve had. I mean, being an engineer, I guess, helps. But I’ve always been known as a very technical person.
You know, it’s not just widgets to me, but I really want to get in and understand what is this product? What makes it valuable? How is it different and similar to other things that are out there in the market? I’ve always tried to very early on every job I’ve had. I find the products and immerse myself in the products, and that’s why I would say I think it’s helped me learn what it is you’re talking about. I mean, you can look at numbers and I’m, you know, I’m a data driven person. I like that.
Matt Allred (00:26)
Right. Yeah.
Gerry Adams (00:50)
Helps me in a general management role, but it doesn’t, you know, help you avoid getting your hands dirty basically and saying, hey, what exactly is this product? Why is it not working?
Matt Allred (01:01)
Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast brought to you by the Allred Group. I’m your host, Matt Allred. When talent is mission critical, call the Allred Group. With industry expertise, top talent, and exceptional customer service, you need the Allred Group on your side. Your priority is our priority. Call now, (404)-890-0445.
In this interview, I sit down with Gerry Adams as he shares his multifaceted career journey from mechanical engineering and chemical sales into the elevator industry. Gerry delves into his experiences managing business operations and sales in the elevator sector, highlighting the challenges of transitioning mid-career, the importance of hands-on learning, and the need for high-quality training. Gerry emphasizes the value of technical knowledge to create success, and he encourages newcomers to ask questions and immerse themselves in their work.
Matt Allred (01:54)
Gerry, welcome to the show.
Gerry Adams (01:56)
Thanks. Hey, Matt, appreciate it. Good to be here. Yeah.
Matt Allred (01:58)
Thank you. You bet. You bet.
I’m glad to have you. It’s always a pleasure and I definitely enjoy these conversations. So thank you for participating today. So I just wanted to start with, me something exciting you’re working on right now.
Gerry Adams (02:07)
Yeah, looking forward to it. Awesome.
Well, as I mentioned, I started a YouTube channel about a year ago. So I’m working on my next episode of the YouTube channel. I’m making a pencil post bed out of cherry. So I was down in the shop actually tapering the legs, came up, put on a nice shirt for this interview. So I’m down like I’ve already glued up the blanks and whatnot, not a good hole into it. But I’m tapering the legs now on my surface planer. So that’s my next episode I’m working on is a.
Matt Allred (02:21)
Nice.
Wow.
There you go.
Gerry Adams (02:43)
how to make a pencil post bed.
Matt Allred (02:43)
So you’re
You’re not only building furniture, you’re recording it, you’re sharing it with the world, you’re teaching others. What do you call your channel?
Gerry Adams (02:48)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Woodworking with Gerry, it’s on YouTube. Yeah, it’s @ Woodworking with Gerry. It’s yeah, about about 1500 subscribers now. About 58 videos out there. So yeah, that’s what I’m working on.
Matt Allred (02:53)
Right on. Right.
Nice.
Now you mentioned
You mentioned to me that you had a furniture business years ago, like before you got in the elevator industry, you were kind of doing handcrafted furniture, right?
Gerry Adams (03:14)
Yeah, exactly. That’s I started. I opened a business. It was like. I don’t know, 2006 or so, something like that. I started it. So as I mentioned, that’s how I got into the industry. My business wasn’t around long enough to survive the economic downturn of 2008. But yeah, I had a business making custom furniture cabinets and helping folks like remodel their homes and whatnot. So I kind of like do crown molding and finishing trim, trim carpentry, that kind of thing. So.
Matt Allred (03:20)
Mm-hmm.
That was a tough one.
Gerry Adams (03:41)
Yeah, did that for a while.
Matt Allred (03:42)
I mean,
You’re a pretty multifaceted man, to do elevator industry and building your own furniture and your YouTube channel. so tell me about your early career. What did you do back in college? Let’s talk about that for a minute.
Gerry Adams (03:57)
Well, I have a M.A. degree, went to Purdue University, grew up in Indiana. So I got a mechanical engineering degree from Purdue. And, you know, I started out in the chemical business. They had an interviewing kind of trade show type of thing on campus called the Industrial Roundtable. And a company named Engelhard came on on campus, they’re now BASF, and gave me a job offer out in New Jersey.
I grew up in a small town in Indiana, Anderson, so was anxious to get out. And they hired me into their environmental engineering group. But I went on into their chemical business. So I spent time helping them design catalyst systems for utility plants. And then I went on in the sales side, selling specialty chemicals and minerals for paints, plastics, and that kind of thing. that was many years doing that.
Matt Allred (04:45)
Wow, yeah, that’s a little bit different
Little different than mechanical engineering, but I guess, if you can do the engineering core work, you can learn it all, right?
Gerry Adams (04:49)
You
In engineering school, I had some trepidations about that early in my career, but the biggest thing professors would tell me in schools that we’re teaching how to think. So, so yeah, that’s basically what I would apply from that upbringing.
Matt Allred (05:02)
Absolutely. Yeah.
Well, the way
The way life changes, technology changes, I mean, you’ve got to constantly be thinking, learning, growing, or you’re going to fall behind no matter what you’ve studied.
Gerry Adams (05:19)
Right, exactly. Exactly. You’re constantly doing that. And, you know, one thing about mechanical engineering is that you kind of we used to joke in school, as an ME, I can do any engineering job. But if you’re aeronautical or electrical, you can’t do my job. You know, school thing back and forth. Civil engineers are much more focused on electrical and aeronautical and, you know, chemical and whatnot. The mechanicals, they kind of go over everything.
Matt Allred (05:36)
Okay.
Okay.
You cover it
all. You’re kind of the generalist engineer, right?
Gerry Adams (05:50)
Exactly, exactly. So that helped out definitely. So, yeah.
Matt Allred (05:53)
Very cool, very cool.
What are some of your crazy stories from working in the chemical industry? I can’t imagine, I mean, that’s an interesting industry. I’ve not been in it, but you’ve gotta have a few.
Gerry Adams (06:03)
Yeah,
I mean, you know, again, out in California, I sold specialty chemicals for paints, plastics, highway markings and whatnot. And in the sales role every now and then, not very often, thank God, but every now and then customers would return some of the chemicals to my house. I worked out of my house and I recall one time I got some yellow, like lead based
Matt Allred (06:23)
wow.
Gerry Adams (06:31)
paint that was used for road markings back in my home. So now I’m figuring what do I do with this? I tried to say don’t turn it here, send it back to the plant. But I don’t know why they did that. But sometimes they do that. So that was, know, that was didn’t happen very often. But that was crazy. I opened the door, I see this stuff, I know what it is right away. And now I what do I do with it?
Matt Allred (06:36)
wow.
Yeah, I mean, I don’t know all the rules around that but I know that there are trucks with special placards that say hey we are licensed to carry this stuff. You probably didn’t have that on your car Nor did you want to?
Gerry Adams (07:00)
no, not at all. I didn’t even handle it. In fact, I can’t
go to the post office and our plant, you know, is in Ohio. So it’s like, okay, now what do do? So I called my boss and we kind of worked something out basically, but couldn’t just throw it in the trash can. So yeah.
Matt Allred (07:09)
my gosh.
Yeah, yeah,
That’s fascinating. How long did you spend in chemicals before you kind of transitioned in your career?
Gerry Adams (07:23)
Well, I was in overall, I’d say about, I don’t know, maybe 12, 14 years. Because after I left, Engelhard, I went to work for Sun Chemical. And that was mostly printing ink at the time. So yeah, I spent several years at Sun.
Matt Allred (07:36)
Okay.
interesting.
Gerry Adams (07:45)
I left actually a sales role in California with Engelhard and took on a general management role with Sun Chemical in the Boston area running their Northeast operation. I just graduated from business school out in California and I got a great opportunity with a different company. So I decided to leave and went to came here to Illinois the first time in like 98 for a year of training. And then moved me to Boston after that to run their ink operation in Boston.
Matt Allred (08:13)
Gotcha. So how long in chemicals? Sounds like two chemical companies in a row and.
Gerry Adams (08:13)
So.
Yeah,
exactly. That was about, like I said, about nine and a half years at Engelhard and probably about four years at Sun Chemical. I think it was something like that.
Matt Allred (08:22)
okay. Yeah.
So how did you end up getting involved with the elevator folks? I that’s a little bit of a departure.
Gerry Adams (08:34)
Well, like I said, had my furniture business. When I was with Sun Chemical, we had a major shakeup, basically. I lost a national account that I had. I got promoted to the national account manager there. So was running RR Donnelly’s business. And RR Donnelly, we know, is kind of no longer a business. They’re a big newsprint company. So at the time when that business went south, my team was let go. And
Matt Allred (08:51)
Okay.
Gerry Adams (09:00)
I had started woodworking actually, I spent some time at Home Depot as a store manager. But I really wanted, at that time, I was really starting to really get into woodworking and enjoying woodworking and building and that kind of thing. And I, you know, I had a small business on the side. I did furniture shows and whatnot. And I had the opportunity just to cut loose from the regular nine to five and start my own thing. And I went for it. And I had a lot of business.
It was starting to get to the point where I was working, had so much going on, I couldn’t, had to make a choice basically. What are you going to do? You’re going to do one or the other. And I really love woodworking, still do. So I decided to start a company, Custom Wood Accents, it’s my company. And went for it to start building, because I help people either flip houses, get some trim carpentry. But most of my business was furniture and cabinets.
Matt Allred (09:33)
No, can’t imagine.
wow.
Gotcha.
Gerry Adams (09:55)
And yeah, right before, I don’t know, this is early 2008, business is humming along. I’m about to think about hiring somebody in a 20, 2007, I can’t recall when it was. But anyway, business is going great. And all of a sudden things are going south and I started having orders being canceled. People saying, hey, you know, I’m sorry, I was going to buy this, I can’t.
Yeah, I understand. It’s like, you know, I was down to like two projects. I had one house I was working on making like a vanity and whatnot. And someone else doing like crown molding. And that was all the work I had. And so I’m like, okay. Yeah, exactly. Nothing else was coming in. So was like, okay, that this isn’t going to work. So I look on monster.com and found a job opening at Schindler actually was Adams elevator. I didn’t know Schindler for this job as business unit manager. So I bought
Matt Allred (10:29)
Yeah, yeah, no new stuff coming in, right?
Gerry Adams (10:48)
Why not? And applied and I got it. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Allred (10:52)
That’s awesome. yeah.
Life is gonna throw you curves, right? And it sounds like you’ve been around a few of those, right?
Gerry Adams (10:58)
Exactly. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, when I interviewed, I wasn’t sure. I had never worked in the elevator industry before, so I knew nothing about elevators other than, you know, riding on them or escalators. So kind of a funny thing, you know, I was interviewing and I’m still working and trying to get these jobs done.
And I recall, I’d gone through a couple of interviews and I was up all night making a bunch of cabinets for this job. My living room was full of cabinets. And I worked all night and I had an interview at Adams the next morning. So I get done working and I didn’t really sleep. I take a shower. I don’t even shave. Because I’m half thinking I’m not going to get this job. I don’t know anything about elevators, but my interviews are going well.
Matt Allred (11:39)
drink some coffee, whatever.
Gerry Adams (11:48)
I get my truck and I drive to Niles and I halfway there I realized still I have my work signs, magnetic signs on my truck that say custom what I said. So I stopped at a Walmart parking lot. I take the signs off of my truck, put them in the back and I run in and got the interview and had the interview, the second one or whatever it was and got home and got a call and I got the job and I was like, wow. And I said, you know, when can you start? I have one more job I got to finish up. So I got the work done and started right after my birthday.
in 2008.
Matt Allred (12:18)
Awesome,
What’s the most difficult thing about joining the elevator industry mid-career? I mean, obviously you’d had a great career, you had managed a lot of people and done a of things, but to step into this industry not knowing anything and say, okay, hit the ground running, it’s like, whoa, what was that like?
Gerry Adams (12:33)
Right.
It’s a challenge, but one thing I would say is I put the time in to learn. knew one of the things, one of the things I’ve worked in, I’ve had a few different roles in my life and the way I, everyone learns differently. And when I get into a job, the best way for me to learn is to be thrown in, sink or swim.
Matt Allred (12:55)
for sure.
Gerry Adams (13:02)
Training is good and it’s very, very important and critical for a lot of jobs, but at some point you got to start doing the work I learned by doing. And, so that’s what I did, you know, and actually, you know, one kind of like challenge happened early on in my career here. I was hired at Adams to be business unit manager of the operation.
Matt Allred (13:22)
Mm-hmm.
Gerry Adams (13:25)
And about a year or two, maybe three years after I was hired, Schindler decided to close the facility in Illinois and move to Ohio. And my manager at the time decided not to make the move with the business. So he came back. He was the manager of Adams. He hired me to replace him and went on to Schindler, the Schindler side. But when he didn’t move to Ohio, he ended up coming back to Adams. So my business unit management role
Matt Allred (13:45)
Okay.
Gerry Adams (13:52)
became more of a sales management type role. And as you can imagine, I was a little upset about that in the beginning, but I took it as an opportunity to kind of jump in and like, okay, I’m going to get out and meet customers and learn the business, learn the products. And I would say that even though, you know, it’s a little bit upsetting in the beginning, it worked out to my advantage because by the time I took over the job again as general manager for the business, I had spent several years
Matt Allred (13:54)
Okay.
Gerry Adams (14:21)
meeting customers, selling their product, getting an education on the products I was, you know, managing.
that I would not have gotten had I stayed in a senior level management type job from the beginning. Because when I came in as a business manager, again, I didn’t know much about the products. So I had to manage business, the marketing, the technical support, and all that. And at that point, some limited manufacturing, having no real knowledge of the product. So that was a major challenge. So I had to get out and start selling the product and meeting with customers and going to shows
Matt Allred (14:51)
Yeah.
Gerry Adams (14:56)
and joining elevator associations and talking about the products and whatnot that forced me to learn the products at a level that I would not have done had I just been the manager from day one on.
Matt Allred (15:08)
For for sure. mean,
it sounds like it would have been a challenge to, I guess, be as successful. The second time around, you were a lot more successful because you had a lot more tools, you had a lot more time. That first go, if you’d just stayed there, it probably would have been a lot more painful all the way through.
Gerry Adams (15:19)
Absolutely. Exactly.
Yeah. yeah.
Yeah. yeah. It was, and I was definitely thrown in and I recall when I started, and I told my manager the same thing. I said, we had training and orientation and whatnot, but I said, you know, I learn by doing so he here’s your office, the filing cabinets, go at it. And, you know, whenever I started a job like that, my first few days at work are long days, first few weeks, cause it was just trying to absorb everything.
Matt Allred (15:43)
Go do. ⁓
⁓ weeks, months, right.
Gerry Adams (15:54)
And how do I categorize this information? You know, what information is important? You know, what’s urgent, not important, that whole thing. And then what crisis do I have right now? And how do I behave in such a way that allows myself to grow and not be a totally different person in six months? You know what I mean? You don’t want to be inconsistent in your leadership, but
Matt Allred (16:17)
Yeah.
Gerry Adams (16:21)
you start out and you don’t know anything. How do you manage that? So again, that’s first few years of that. But it worked out after I got into focus more on sales and like I said, getting out and learning the products, meeting people and whatnot. And then when I went back to that, I had a base of knowledge that really helped me be successful.
Matt Allred (16:34)
for sure.
And yeah,
And you had been successful in sales. So it’s just a matter of kind of learning a different business model, some different widgets, you know, but how to talk to customers. And even if you don’t know the solution, hey, I can understand something’s wrong. Let’s fix it. I might need to ask somebody.
Gerry Adams (16:43)
Exactly.
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So that that worked out.
Exactly.
Right, exactly. Exactly.
Right. Exactly. I know to ask. I have resources. I know where in the company to go for help. I know, you know you meet people that way. If you’re not in the corporate situation all the time, kind of just looking at numbers, but getting out and meeting people and going to different plants and things like that, you meet your support network inside the company that that’s going to help you solve customer problems out in the field. So that worked out actually.
Matt Allred (17:18)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
that’s cool. One thing I like about what you’re saying is learn by doing. You said that a couple of times and what I’m taking away from that is kind of this attitude that I’m just gonna throw myself in there. I’m gonna take the responsibility. I’m gonna put it on my shoulders. I’m not pointing my fingers at anybody else. I’m not waiting for anybody to show up and deliver something on my desk. I’ve gotta get out and really, and you said it, kind of immerse myself in this business or I won’t even know what questions to ask and I won’t even know.
Gerry Adams (17:25)
Yeah.
Right. Right.
Right. Exactly.
Exactly. I recall, you know, I was early on, there was one product that we sold called LifeJacket. It was a safety, hydraulic safety device and I had to sell it. And all I’d ever done was read the manual on how to install it. I said, this is not going to work. So I got ahold of a company and I, you know, was in a position to say, Hey, I’ll give you a really good deal on this. If you let me just come out and just watch your guys put it in.
Matt Allred (17:56)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Help me understand
Gerry Adams (18:15)
Exactly.
Matt Allred (18:15)
what it is.
Gerry Adams (18:16)
I’m not going to sit, I’m not going to help you. I can’t. I just want to sit here and watch your guys from beginning out of the box to testing it, put it in. And I did that. And I drove south side of Chicago every day for like a couple of weeks or a week or so. And I just sat there and absorbed. And that was such an eye opener from me, from reading the manual. And now I talk about I go to shows, I can like, OK, I’ve seen this thing go in even just, you know, once is not enough.
I would then go to other jobs where they’re having issues. Let’s go to the elevator. Let’s just go check it out. Not sit in your office and tell them what’s going on. Let’s go look at the unit and see how it’s working or not working. And I would take pictures. I mean, I made videos. I had one product that we sold as a landing system that I was trying to develop with another company. And they allowed me to come in with my phone. And I just took a bunch of videos and I narrated and put notes.
Matt Allred (18:51)
Love it. Yeah.
Nice.
Gerry Adams (19:13)
I said for training, but for me to remind myself six months from now what I saw and I just would like really go around taking a bunch of pictures and videos on my iPhone because just, you know, again, I learned by I’m a visual type person, you know, and as I say, learning by doing is a good thing that works for me. Reading about it’s great, but I got to do it.
Matt Allred (19:29)
Yeah. Yeah. So.
And I’m the same way, right? Gotta get as close to my hands on it. Like you said, I can’t touch it. I’m not a licensed mechanic, right? But gotta get as close as possible and smell the oil and ask all kinds of questions. I mean, I’m sure you peppered them with questions, right? Is there putting it together? Like, what is that? Why do you have to hook it up that way?
Gerry Adams (19:40)
Right, right.
Exactly.
yeah. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
And things don’t work out. It’s like, what happened? And okay, you don’t read about these things, you know, and you see, ⁓ how’d you fix this, you know, and again it’s those experiences that help you and your common sense and whatnot and being mechanically inclined, you know, helps I can kind of look at things and say, okay, that makes sense. I know why you’re doing that. And, you know, it helps you put the puzzles together.
Matt Allred (20:06)
For sure.
Gerry Adams (20:12)
when I go out and then talk about it with somebody else, my mind is not just recalling what I read, I’m recalling what I saw and what I dealt with.
Matt Allred (20:19)
Right, right. You saw it, absolutely, yeah.
So if we could whittle that down to one thing, what would you say you would attribute your success to the most?
Gerry Adams (20:32)
I would say perhaps that. I really, in this job, in this industry, in every job I’ve been in, I really try to learn what it is I’m dealing with. I want to know as much about the product as I can. I’ve always been known in every sales job that I’ve had, every management job that I’ve had. I mean, being an engineer, I guess, helps. But I’ve always been known as a very technical person.
You know, it’s not just widgets to me, but I really want to get in and understand what is this product? What makes it valuable? How is it different and similar to other things that are out there in the market? I’ve always tried to very early on every job I’ve had. I find the products and immerse myself in the products, and that’s why I would say I think it’s helped me learn what it is you’re talking about. I mean, you can look at numbers and I’m, you know, I’m a data driven person. I like that.
Matt Allred (21:04)
Right. Yeah.
Gerry Adams (21:28)
Helps me in a general management role, but it doesn’t, you know, help you avoid getting your hands dirty basically and saying, hey, what exactly is this product? Why is it not working?
Matt Allred (21:39)
Numbers don’t always speak to your customer, right? I mean, you could quote statistics all day long, but if you don’t have enough knowledge with, the difference between this product and this product is, you know, and be able to really articulate what the difference is, and then, you know, they can kind of decide from there.
Gerry Adams (21:42)
Exactly.
Absolutely. And that goes for knowing your competitors products as well. it’s not being negative or whatever to understand your shortcomings. It can help you in your development efforts to know this is where I’m weak in this product, or at least it could be a real weakness or perceived weakness on the part of the customer. But understanding that will help you address it
Matt Allred (22:19)
There may be reasons why they want to choose the other person’s thing, but that might build some credibility that, you know what, in this particular thing, maybe the product is better than ours.
Gerry Adams (22:27)
Right.
Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. But you run into that. I mean, you’re not always going to have work for the company with the best products. You know, it’s just, it’s just the way it is on, on every level. So that helps you in, in, you know, valuing your product, selling it, pricing it, marketing it. And so, yeah, learning the products, the facts, the myths, how your customers view it.
Matt Allred (22:34)
Yeah.
Right. Right.
Gerry Adams (22:52)
Your company, all those things are very important.
Matt Allred (22:55)
Well at the
end of the day, they may choose your product, not because of the product, but because of you, because they trust you and the way you’ve treated them. So, yep, very cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a couple questions as we kind of wrap up. One is, are some of the biggest challenges that the elevator industry faces from your perspective?
Gerry Adams (23:00)
Absolutely. Absolutely. Reputation is important.
I would say, you know, training. Training personnel. I know it’s not the same on the side of the business. I spent most of my time or all my time on parts. But as you know, mentioned earlier, you know, as this equipment gets more advanced, not only will the industry need, you know, better train mechanics to support the equipment, but parts companies will need better talent, better trained talent to support the mechanics.
Matt Allred (23:30)
Mm-hmm.
Gerry Adams (23:49)
in that field. I would say training. Again, it goes back to formal training, the training that an individual takes upon themselves when they enter into a business to get their hands dirty, so to speak. But I would say that’s probably the biggest challenge facing the industry, I think, is training and talent, getting the right people with the right knowledge and the right positions.
Matt Allred (24:17)
Yeah, I think that’s the eternal challenge, right? And especially as some of the great knowledge is retiring out and new talent’s coming in. I don’t see that one going away anytime soon, but I would love to know if you have any advice, any thoughts, what’s one thing you’d like to see more of in that regard?
Gerry Adams (24:21)
exactly.
Right.
Well, I would say a big thing companies could do.
is cross training. And I’ve seen this in different industries I worked in, in different roles. When you come into an organization, you know, and you’re looking at your talent pool and the challenges that your business has,
I’ve had many times where I’ve had these people in these positions and with some conversation, open-mindedness, I say, you know, that person would be really good in this job, much better in this job. And with some training and encouragement and coaching, I’ve had great success doing that and always welcoming in new talent. Even if, you know, they’re not
Matt Allred (25:14)
Yeah.
Gerry Adams (25:29)
100 % on day one, if they’re coachable and they have the basics, I mean, you can do a lot with someone who wants to do a lot. And, and I would say that’s something for any company. You have an organization right now looking at your talent pool, look at your whole talent pool, just because someone is in this job over there right now. You know, obviously the job is, know, certifications and whatnot, you think about that, but
Matt Allred (25:39)
Thank you.
Gerry Adams (25:58)
you know, don’t think that they couldn’t do just as good a job in a different area. And even having people in a certain area cross training I think is very important. I mean, that deepens your bench. It strengthens your team. Because people within the organization get a better understanding of what other folks are doing. It’s not that those people over there are screwing things up, understand, you know, what other people are doing. And
Yeah, you can develop some strong talent you didn’t know you already have in that way. And then going to schools and whatnot, getting people who are young in technical field. That’s happening, I think, some now with internships and things like that. There’s a lot of schools out there. I’m sure, I I never thought about the elevator industry ever. They never came on campus that I think of. Back in the day when I was there, it’s a lot of defense.
You know, companies were coming on campus on Purdue’s campus and whatnot, but you can go to colleges and say, Hey, have ever thought about a job and the elevator industry and even like a person with, you know, coming out with a, you know, at Purdue, we had a mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering technology degrees. You had technology degrees in engineering. I’m not sure how it is now, but I can certainly see someone, you know, going to a school like that.
Matt Allred (27:10)
Interesting.
Gerry Adams (27:18)
and saying, hey, would you like to come or intern or whatever? And again, I’m not sure how it’d work from a union standpoint, but basically start as a mechanic or some type of role like that, technical role, and then move over into something else. You know, getting someone early in their career. Because I mean, that’s something I know that I would have dove at had I had been the person that I am.
Matt Allred (27:27)
some kind of technical role.
Gerry Adams (27:42)
to learn at that level. That’s something I would have like jumped at, you know, early on in my career to learn and then use that knowledge to go on in the organization. I mean, yeah, that’s a no brainer. So that’s something I would do as a company right now. Look at young talent you could bring in and train like that and develop.
Matt Allred (27:53)
Very cool, very cool.
Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome. That’s awesome.
So the last question I ask, and maybe you’ve touched this a little bit, but what advice would you give to those who are maybe brand new or maybe they’re coming like you, they’re coming mid-career, what would you say to them?
Gerry Adams (28:12)
There again, learn as much as you can, know, learn as much as you can. There’s no such thing as a dumb question. Ask a bunch of questions. You know, make a fool of yourself early. Especially if you come in mid end of mid mid career like I did, or even early on.
Yeah, ask a lot of questions and learn. Don’t be afraid to ask a question that you think is a dumb question because I guarantee you others have the same question but aren’t asking. Exactly.
Matt Allred (28:43)
Well, and if you ask it early on, right, hey, it’s a legitimate
Legitimate question. If you ask it after five or 10 years, it’s like, are you kidding me?
Gerry Adams (28:48)
Exactly. That’s
the thing. Make a fool out of yourself early. I mean, because if you wait five or so years to ask a question that you should have asked five years prior, then they will get the funny look. Okay. What else don’t you know? Kind of a thing.
Matt Allred (29:01)
Right, right, yeah. So
don’t be afraid to ask questions when I’m hearing.
Gerry Adams (29:04)
Exactly. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Yeah. Learn as much as you can. Exactly.
Matt Allred (29:06)
Awesome. Yeah. Well, Gerry, thank
you. This has been a lot of fun. I appreciate you being with me today. Yeah. Yeah.
Gerry Adams (29:11)
Yeah, it has been. Likewise. Likewise.
I appreciate it. Thanks, Matt. Good talking to you. It’s been fun.
Matt Allred (29:17)
Likewise, and
good luck with your furniture business. That sounds like a great place for you.
Gerry Adams (29:21)
Yeah.
Oh yeah, absolutely. I’m going back to work.
Matt Allred (29:26)
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