Welcome And The 100-Year Series

Welcome to Eco at Why, the podcast that dives into industrial manufacturing topics. Spotlight the heroes to keep America running. I'm your host, Chris Granger, and on this podcast, we do not cover the latest features and benefits of products that come to market. Instead, we focus on advice and insight from the top mindset industry because people and ideas will be how America remains number one in manufacturing in the world. Welcome to Eco Ask Why. I'm your host, Chris Granger. Looking forward to spending some time with you today. And we're continuing our series, celebrating 100 years.

You heard that right, 100 years at Electrical Equipment Company. And we're working through our cultural beliefs. And we spent some time over the last two months looking at our first two that are so just vitally important to us. We looked at achieve results. I'm responsible for our company's results and for aligning my activities to achieve those results. And then last month we had a wonderful customer, Bruce on, and he and we looked at the idea of delighting customers. And it says, and really the core of that is I understand and anticipate our customers' needs and drive innovation for their benefit. So now that's the first two. And what we're going to unpack today is the third cultural belief at an electrical equipment company, one that I've seen firsthand have the impact, the positive impact of what it can make when it's practiced the correct way. Straight talk. And trust

Why Straight Talk Feels Rare

grows, everybody, when honest conversations are active. Okay. And so as we're celebrating 100 years of serving the customers in the markets that we are that we're out, and we're just so blessed to be a part of, this culture belief right here stands out. It really stands out. And we need to take some time to think about it. And at first, you know, it sounds simple enough because we're regularly asking for and offering direct and timely feedback. But the longer I thought about that culture belief, the more I realized how rare that mindset has become, particularly in today's business world. And think about it. Most organizations say they value feedback, right? You see posters plastered on walls, and feedback is brought up in performance reviews, and it's talked about in leadership meetings on a regular basis. Yet many people still avoid difficult conversations simply because they're uncomfortable. And usually we worry about hurting someone else's feelings, or it may create a tension that we just rather not deal with, or quite frankly, we don't want to be misunderstood. And as a result of those things, temporary important conversations rather get delayed or they get softened, or this happens way too often. It's just ignored. It's just ignored altogether. So what I appreciate about this particular eco-cultural belief, and that word regularly, regularly, because feedback, what we believe here at eco, by the way, got my got my old school eco shirt on today, pulled that out of the closet this morning. But feedback isn't supposed to be an occasion, just like an occasional event that happens when things go wrong. No, it's intended to be a normal part of how we work together. Because when feedback becomes part of the culture, it stops feeling like criticism and really transforms into this idea of collaboration. Okay? So I'm gonna kind of unpack this idea a little bit. You may find helpful of how you approach your business or your career or meetings or engagements, and it could be with direct

The Courage To Ask For Feedback

reports or supervisors or customers, whatever it may be. This is a great principle to put into practice. And it starts with the courage to ask. Okay. Now we think about this cultural belief. This what really stands out is that it's dual ways. It really works back and forth. Because we're not just saying we're offering it, it also says we're asking for it. And as I've gone throughout my career, I can also attest and confess, okay, that asking for feedback was not the most natural part of how I went to my daily routine and as a as a manager, as a leader, as a worker, it just wasn't. Because asking for feedback is the harder part. And quite frankly, when I'm if I'm being 100% transparent, it's because most often what I was looking for was not feedback. I was looking for affirmation. Okay. And we enjoy hearing, let's just face it, that when we're doing good stuff, that we're on the right track, or our the ideas we have are solid. We we like hearing that, and that's nothing bad with that. But I don't know many people who wake up in the morning and they're like, oh man, I hope today somebody points out my blind spot for me. That doesn't exist. But what if we but honestly, if we think about it, growth in our career and in life in general, but let's just focus on the career, typically lives on the other side of those blind spots when someone shows us and we can learn. And I've seen this firsthand, firsthand for me. And throughout my career, I see that people grow the fastest when they're willing to invite feedback in. Conversely, the ones that aren't willing to talk to invite feedback in, sometimes just they're stagnant. They're stuck. And the reason the ones that grow the fastest invite feedback is because they understand that being right isn't nearly as valuable as getting it right. It's a big deal. I know it sounds simple, but this stuff gets crossed up. But that mindset, really, of being asking for feedback, that creates humility, curiosity, and a willingness to just keep learning. I like to call it a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset, like fixed mindset, and I'm closed off, nothing's coming in. Growth mindset. I'm I'm open to learning and exploring, and we should be constantly learning and never be stuck or never assume that we know everything, because that's how we get to the just to improve and to the next level and keep advancing at career in our careers. And think about this for a second. Really, feedback is an investment. Okay. And and over the years at Eco, I mean, I've had been just been beyond blessed at Eco, and I've had countless people offer feedback to me. And sometimes, quite frankly, it was challenging. It was hard to hear. It really challenged my thinking. And some other times it made me consider things that I haven't even thought of. Like they're just, they were just completely off my purview. And that that revelation was big. And yes, quite frankly, there were times throughout my career where the feedback was difficult to hear. But I can tell you one thing. I, without a shadow of a doubt, being at Eco for almost 25 years now. Wow, 25 years. That's crazy. 25 years now. I never questioned the intent behind the feedback from the people that are giving it to me at Eco. Because the feedback wasn't given to diminish me, it was given because someone cared enough to help me in project.

Feedback With Care Changes Careers

And I really think that distinction matters. Because feedback, if you uncouple care from it, it comes off as what? It's criticism. But when feedback is delivered from a place of genuine concern, it's no, it's not seen as criticism, it's seen as an investment in that person. Man, and that's such a big deal. And that dynamic has played out repeatedly over and over and over at a literal women company. And do those conversations always go perfectly? Of course not. We're all human. We we simply are. But even when uncon conversations become uncomfortable, the underlying objective remains true. Helping each other become better. In a world, let's face it, where many people avoid these difficult conversations altogether. That type of culture is valuable and it's rare. My mentor, who's been at the company longer than me, I believe over 30 years now, he hasn't a way of giving the feedback I need to hear it, when I need to hear it, and how I need to hear it. Is it always easy? Is it always easy conversations? No, but I've never left one of those conversations with him over the years where I didn't improve. And it's it's just not there. I mean, going back to the very beginning of my career as a co-op engineer, and he recognized that I was uncomfortable selling products that I didn't have an understanding of. And he walked me through a role-playing exercise that I still smile about when I think about it to these to this day, because that experience, he was giving me feedback on a hurdle he could see clearly that I was struggling with, but it was helping me overcome. He was investing in me. And he could have turned a blind eye, but something figured out on his own, but he didn't. He chose to come to serve. And that's just something about that straight talk is so important when you get it right. And we have a responsibility to tell

Bringing Honest Talk To Customers

the truth because the same mindset extends beyond the walls of the eco and into the relationships we have with our customers. Just face it, it has this is real life. So in many cases, the most valuable thing we can offer our customers isn't a product recommendation or technical solution. Sometimes the most valuable thing we can offer as an electrical distributor is honesty. And over the years, I've seen our teams firsthand work with customers that face difficult operation challenges, or they've had unexpected equipment failures, or maybe they're they're they're they're on their plate, they have production issues that carry significant consequences. And in those moments, customers don't need someone to tell them what they want to hear. They're looking for someone to tell them the truth. And just be honest with them. I mean, from the from the old days when I ran the service division at Eco, I was just look, I'd rather just deliver on what we say. Don't overpromise. Just deliver on what we say. And even though the answer that we're giving may not be the one that the customer wants to hear, if it's the truth, let's just live there. Let's just live there because then we can work through that together. And I think that sometimes when it comes to feedback, we have to get used to get comfortable to asking questions. And we also have to get used and comfortable to challenging assumptions. And really with the customers, it could be that we need to have a conversation about a problem we see when it's maybe not the same problem that they first thought or identified. And look, those conversations aren't easy. They require expertise, but they also require courage. Well, courage to investigate what we what we're learning. Because let's just face it, it's it's so tempting. And I remember as an early sales engineer, this is tempting just to nod your head and agree. You know, nod your head and agree. Just go go along with it. I don't want to disrupt anything, but I definitely don't want to have a difficult conversation because this could jeopardize an order. But it takes a different level of commitment to respectfully say, I think we may be looking at this the wrong way. And at the same time, though that type of courage, when I when I've exercised that directly with customers, builds a level of trust that that you just can't fake. It's authentic. And those conversations are the ones that save time. Quite frankly, they prevent mistakes and they lead to better outcomes. And if you have a better outcome, what are you doing? You're you're you're helping that person that you're serving advance and improve.

Trust Over Comfort For The Next 100

So trust really is built to straight talk. And there's so much to be said that uh about trust these days, but it's creating an environment where people know, and eco's done such a good job of this. People know they can speak honestly without fear. Okay. And and they know, I can I can attest this firsthand that feedback's gonna be offered with the right intentions and received with an open mind, right? Because it's really about valuing truth more than comfort and growth more than ego. Okay, so because this is again, trust isn't built when everyone agrees, built when people know they can disagree respectfully, when ideas can be challenged openly, and we still remain aligned around a common goal. That is so true within teams at eco, within leadership, and particularly with our customers. So, you know, as we look into the next 100 years, right, I think this culture personally, I believe this cultural belief remains as important as it ever was. Because technology is evolving, it's it's it's a fun time to be in industry. Markets are changing and customer expectations are shifting. But organizations like Eco that are built on trust, we will always have an advantage. We just will. Again, straight talk is not about being harsh. It isn't about winning arguments or trying to prove you wrong. Ha ha ha ha, see I was right. No, it's about caring enough to have conversations that matter. That's what it's about. And being willing to ask for feedback, even when it's uncomfortable, and offering feedback when you clearly identify that this can help serve one and help someone grow. So, in a world where many people avoid these types of conversations, this is a culture that we're protecting an ego. And we really hope to pass it to the next generation of our team members, of our leaders, and our partners. So, feedback, straight talk. I regularly ask for and offer direct and timely feedback. So that's the cultural belief. I just want to share that with you. It's one that I think it's it's so vital to the fabric of who eco is. And again, I've seen this firsthand on a regular basis, and it's just not just set up for one-on-ones and special meetings. This it's just become part of regular conversations. How do we get better? What am I missing? How what what are you what do you see that I don't see? When you have that type of culture and you embrace that type of culture, man, really great, incredible things happen. And that's how you get to meet

Share The Show And Connect With Eco

celebrate 100 years. So it's a big part of what we do. So thank you for listening. Hopefully, this was been an encouragement to you. And and if it is, and this is something that you think is is missing in your business, I'd encourage you to forward the podcast over to someone that that that you that would value these some of these things that we've covered here, maybe that can spark a conversation about hey, how can we start incorporating this into our business? That would be awesome. We would love to talk to you about that. And again, if you're within the service area of electrical equipment company and you would like to talk with us directly, or maybe you want to come to one of our state-of-the-art labs, or just talk about a project, connect with us. So ecoonline.com is how you do that. Uh so we have we're we're always ready to go out to serve, to have the conversations, to help you walk through the challenging scenarios that are in front of you. And we're gonna exercise this up front. You know, we're not just gonna tell you what you want to hear, we're gonna be honest. We're gonna uh do the best we can to serve you with the with the best intel and knowledge that we have available. So thank you for listening and for hanging out again. Still can't believe 100 years, pretty cool milestone to achieve here at Electrical Equipment Company. So as you go through the summer, try to stay cool. We'll be continuing our series looking at our different cultural beliefs as we move through 2026. And uh, if there's anything we can do to help you, please reach out. So I hope you have a great day. Thanks for spending time with us, and remember to keep asking why.

Thank

Closing Thoughts And Sponsor Message

you for listening to Eco Ask Why. This show is supported at free by electrical equipment companies. Eco is redefining the expectations of electrical. Stop placing people and ideas of stock.