Jed Harris, CEO of Puretec Industrial Water, discusses his unique approach to leadership within the challenging water purification industry. Harris, whose company handles water essential for manufacturing processes, shares insights into steering a family business inherited from his grandfather and expanded by his father. His journey has been marked by innovation, resilience, and a strategic pivot away from conventional models to ensure business sustainability.
Under Harris’ leadership, Puretec has navigated crises and achieved remarkable milestones, demonstrating the importance of a well-prepared team. His philosophy centers on empowering employees, encouraging a culture where making mistakes is a pathway to learning, which has proven essential during unexpected challenges, such as Harris' own temporary incapacitation due to an accident.
Listeners gain valuable lessons on nurturing a business environment conducive to growth and adaptation, crucial for leaders aiming to leave a lasting impact.
Want to learn more about Jed's work? Check out their website at https://puretecwater.com/ .
Connect with Jed on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jedharris/.
Key Points with Timestamps:
- [00:01:30] Jed Harris discusses the evolution of Puretec, a company vital to the tech industry.
- [00:10:01] Transition of leadership within Puretec, from Culligan franchise to an innovative entity.
- [00:15:18] Harris emphasizes the 24/7 operational necessity and the leadership culture at Puretec.
- [00:17:46] Discussion on the challenges and strategies of reintegrating remote workers post-pandemic.
- [00:25:53] Harris shares how the team excelled in his unexpected absence, highlighting the importance of preparedness and employee empowerment.
Transcript
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment of my career.
00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on the show.
00;00;51;10 - 00;01;21;21
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Jed Harris. Jed sells the world's most abundant substance. And apparently, there's a lot that goes into it. He's in the water business, but he doesn't sell the overpriced water that you buy at the grocery store that has minerals or something like that. The water Jed sells goes into the production of things that you use every single day.
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Craig Andrews
If you have a mobile phone, his water has passed through some parts of that phone. And so,
00;01;30;14 - 00;01;51;22
Craig Andrews
he's, the CEO of Puretec Industrial Water. It's a business that was started by his grandfather. Grown by his father. Reached a point of crisis. And Jed had to figure out which way to go forward. And as is the case with any leader's journey, there have been successes and there have been failures.
00;01;51;24 - 00;02;01;11
Craig Andrews
but he's been running it well for many years. And so I'm looking forward to discussion to see what we can learn. Jed. Welcome.
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Jed Harris
Hi, Craig. It's good to see you again.
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Craig Andrews
It's good to see you. I mean, just for those who are listening, I mean, the way we met. Somehow I forget somehow you stumbled across my profile or heard about my book.
00;02;15;06 - 00;02;19;13
Craig Andrews
and and I say, hey, it's you. If you read,
00;02;19;13 - 00;02;25;08
Craig Andrews
make sales magical and leave a review on Amazon, we'll, you know, give you an hour of free consulting or something like that.
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Craig Andrews
And.
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Jed Harris
That's right.
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Jed Harris
I remember,
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Jed Harris
we're on vacation in Big Bear, California, and I was up early, and I had,
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Jed Harris
actually received one of your,
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Jed Harris
emails just like a,
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Jed Harris
just an email out of the blue. And,
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Jed Harris
the subject really caught my eye, and I emailed you back, and you emailed me within the minute. And this is you know, before the sun's up on a weekend, and I'm thinking, hey, this guy, I like this guy.
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Jed Harris
And so,
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Jed Harris
yeah, I got your book. And it ultimately led us to,
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Jed Harris
we hired a marketing director, and it really,
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Jed Harris
you really helped us open our eyes to,
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Jed Harris
what we were missing with our marketing approach. And so I really appreciate,
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Jed Harris
coming the cross paths with you.
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Craig Andrews
I absolutely, it's it's been delight. So before we go down that path, you you gave me some. You mentioned something, and I truly know nothing about it, but,
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Craig Andrews
you've got a history with bulls.
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Jed Harris
I do have a history with bull and,
00;03;26;02 - 00;03;26;27
Jed Harris
with bulls. And,
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Jed Harris
everyone here that works with me says that I'm also full of bull. Maybe that's, maybe that's the reason. But,
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Jed Harris
when I was younger,
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Jed Harris
I,
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Jed Harris
I was like. I was a student of Gary Le feu, who is a,
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Jed Harris
you know,
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Jed Harris
Hall of Fame inductee.
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Jed Harris
and,
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Jed Harris
famous bull rider, I think, you know, eight time champion,
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Jed Harris
and he lives in California.
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Jed Harris
and and actually, I wanted to be a bull rider, and,
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Jed Harris
I guess you could say for a short time I was. And,
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Jed Harris
you know, it's funny because my,
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Jed Harris
my father, I, I grew up working for my father.
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Jed Harris
Ever since I could push a broom, and,
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Jed Harris
I just drove him nuts. I mean, just drove him crazy, like, I wanted to do these crazy things, like, right. Bulls and,
00;04;10;18 - 00;04;24;15
Jed Harris
I had this. I was hell bent on, joining the ringer and, finally, he, you know, he had a good talk with me, and he's like, look, if you want to wrestle, you know,
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Jed Harris
animals to the ground and and, you know, really fight a big battle.
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Jed Harris
You need to come with me and join the business world. You know, this is where this is where the real,
00;04;36;24 - 00;04;48;25
Jed Harris
excitement and the challenge and the hardships and all this stuff you're trying to find in life, you know, this is where you find it. And ultimately, I think he was right. But,
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Jed Harris
yeah, some some really good bull riding stories.
00;04;50;26 - 00;04;51;08
Jed Harris
And,
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Jed Harris
I had a bad injury in,
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Jed Harris
2000, I think 2001. And,
00;04;58;05 - 00;05;05;09
Jed Harris
I actually the surgeon who, like, put everything back together. He he was a doctor that traveled to Afghanistan,
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Jed Harris
since the 80s. And, you know, as a public health
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Jed Harris
officer. So we actually became buddies. And he invited me to Afghanistan shortly,
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Jed Harris
once I healed up.
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Jed Harris
And that was right after the Allied invasion. So, you know, Afghanistan was really,
00;05;21;13 - 00;05;26;18
Jed Harris
an interesting place. There was so much foreign aid being poured into the country. So I traveled with them.
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Jed Harris
he was a doctor, and I was there just trying to help.
00;05;29;18 - 00;05;35;15
Jed Harris
you know, in a clerical sense, and taking photos and and other stuff, trying to help their mission.
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Jed Harris
And,
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Jed Harris
you know, I spent like, two days in the operating room, and I was like, green, green is an apple. And,
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Jed Harris
it was interesting. There were,
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Jed Harris
all these it was really sad. There were children,
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Jed Harris
all, all sorts of civilians that were,
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Jed Harris
coming to the hospital and they were, you know, really bad shape. They're missing limbs.
00;05;54;18 - 00;05;59;29
Jed Harris
They've really bad injuries. And I had no idea what was going on. But it turns out that,
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Jed Harris
this was due to landmines,
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Jed Harris
that hadn't been laid like during the Soviet,
00;06;04;27 - 00;06;11;03
Jed Harris
invasion. And occupation. And so this, like, was a typical day for them and had nothing to do with the Allied, you know,
00;06;11;03 - 00;06;14;28
Jed Harris
activities there. So there was a D minor there.
00;06;15;00 - 00;06;15;14
Jed Harris
And,
00;06;15;14 - 00;06;28;01
Jed Harris
we became buddies. His father needed medical care, and we got his father into the care, into the hospital. And he's like, I'll do anything for. And he spoke really good English. So I was like, just get me out of here, take me somewhere. So,
00;06;28;01 - 00;06;31;28
Jed Harris
he took me to the minefields. And a is such a fascinating time.
00;06;31;28 - 00;06;41;23
Jed Harris
I, I just learned so much about this problem they're having and what they're doing to combat it. And and my camera so was taking a ton of photos, and,
00;06;41;23 - 00;06;53;11
Jed Harris
I'm a horrible photographer, but if you take a thousand photos, you know, 1 or 2 are going to be really good. So I come home and I have all these photos, and I'm trying to figure out who would benefit from these photos.
00;06;53;11 - 00;06;54;21
Jed Harris
So I reached out,
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Jed Harris
to this. Well, ultimately, the group that funded it was,
00;06;58;09 - 00;07;09;14
Jed Harris
the United Nations. It was like the UN Mind Action Agency. So I gave the photos to them and they call me right back and they're like, these are great. And they thought I was like a full time photographer. So,
00;07;09;14 - 00;07;19;19
Jed Harris
so I had actually, the based on, they would invite me to these crazy places like, you know, Iraq and South Lebanon.
00;07;19;22 - 00;07;25;18
Jed Harris
and, and of course, they, you know, jumped on it. And I know we're kind of veering off topic here, but,
00;07;25;18 - 00;07;30;10
Jed Harris
it was a hell of an experience to, to be part of that. And I actually really,
00;07;30;10 - 00;07;49;27
Jed Harris
you know, if I really sit back and think about, like, what are some things that I'm most proud of, you know, I just think to myself that maybe, maybe I had some small impact, you know, on on somebody far, far away that that didn't step on a landmine.
00;07;49;29 - 00;07;59;26
Jed Harris
Yeah. Because of perhaps something, you know, some money we raised or some removal effort we did. but that that was a real adventure. And of course, those,
00;07;59;26 - 00;08;07;26
Jed Harris
you know, really had to like, I mean, my vacation time was maxed out. You know, we there were very quick trips. You go for two weeks and, and come home, but,
00;08;07;26 - 00;08;09;19
Jed Harris
again though,
00;08;09;19 - 00;08;12;12
Jed Harris
you know, it's funny how,
00;08;12;12 - 00;08;15;04
Jed Harris
you know, one door closes, another one opens, and,
00;08;15;04 - 00;08;17;00
Jed Harris
it was really a hell of an adventure.
00;08;17;03 - 00;08;26;05
Jed Harris
But in my so my younger years, I was just kind of hell on wheels, and I was drawn in so many different directions.
00;08;26;05 - 00;08;34;15
Jed Harris
but the neat thing is, ultimately, I think I really was able to direct all of those desires and dreams and hopes into a,
00;08;34;15 - 00;08;40;01
Jed Harris
into a, quote unquote, you know, boring office business world.
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Jed Harris
I think.
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Craig Andrews
And, you know, one thing you said earlier in when your dad talked about how,
00;08;46;14 - 00;09;04;21
Craig Andrews
you know, if you really want to experience venture, leave, leave bull riding, come in the business. You know, when you said that surprised me, and I kind of paused and I thought about, you know, as dangerous as bull riding is, it's a controlled environment, you know, and their safety measures, they have the clowns.
00;09;04;21 - 00;09;07;12
Craig Andrews
They're the they're there to keep you safe.
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Craig Andrews
they, you know, there's a whole bunch of measures where, yes, there's danger, but there's a lot of,
00;09;13;19 - 00;09;25;29
Craig Andrews
lot of safety nets. And, you know, in business, it just really hit me. I think your dad said something really profound, because in business, a lot of those safety nets are taken away.
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Jed Harris
Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
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Craig Andrews
Yeah. So, you know, a little bit of what you were telling me was your granddad started the business and it was a Culligan franchise. And then when it was, I guess when it was on your dad's leadership or maybe transferring to your leadership, you know, calling him would be the safety net, but that safety net was taken away.
00;09;54;05 - 00;10;01;18
Jed Harris
Yeah. And and again, I need to, really need to make this super clear that, you know, my, my grandfather,
00;10;01;18 - 00;10;04;04
Jed Harris
I think, you know, he, he ultimately,
00;10;04;04 - 00;10;07;26
Jed Harris
started this Culligan franchise many, many years ago.
00;10;07;26 - 00;10;18;13
Jed Harris
but, boy, my father really, really not only, not only was involved with that business, but really, really,
00;10;18;13 - 00;10;21;18
Jed Harris
was an innovator.
00;10;21;21 - 00;10;35;29
Jed Harris
he he really, you know, pushed out of that, that mold, and he was doing things that the Culligan umbrella just wasn't able to keep up with or comprehend. And ultimately, when we were forced to,
00;10;35;29 - 00;10;37;06
Jed Harris
leave the Culligan,
00;10;37;06 - 00;10;37;18
Jed Harris
you know,
00;10;37;18 - 00;10;38;18
Jed Harris
umbrella,
00;10;38;18 - 00;10;45;29
Jed Harris
I mean, my father, he 100% he, he built the company. He built it to what it is today.
00;10;46;02 - 00;11;00;06
Jed Harris
and you talk about, you know, risk taking and, and really having to swallow down your fear. You know, we were talking about, like, you know, a controlled environment versus business, which is, you know, you kind of out there, your neck is
00;11;00;06 - 00;11;01;15
Jed Harris
on the chopping block.
00;11;01;15 - 00;11;07;12
Jed Harris
it takes a lot of courage. Oh my God. I mean, it takes a ton of courage especially, you know, speaking like my father.
00;11;07;12 - 00;11;09;28
Jed Harris
I mean, ton of courage. And,
00;11;09;28 - 00;11;13;07
Jed Harris
not only courage, but, you know, just that that,
00;11;13;07 - 00;11;30;08
Jed Harris
confidence, you know, just to, like, hey, we can make it, because I know that there were so many years where, I mean, it was it was very questionable, you know, are we going to make it so. So now the businesses and I think in a, in a spot, you know, in its life where,
00;11;30;08 - 00;11;33;13
Jed Harris
it's, you know, it's nice you have a little more security.
00;11;33;13 - 00;11;35;00
Jed Harris
But you're right. I mean, it's,
00;11;35;00 - 00;11;39;22
Jed Harris
nothing is controlled and, and it can go south very, very quick.
00;11;39;25 - 00;11;42;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah. You know, something hit me.
00;11;42;12 - 00;11;55;26
Craig Andrews
I know what you do so. Well, I just assumed the audience did. And and so I think there's probably still confusion. You make water. What's special about the water you make? And why does it matter?
00;11;55;29 - 00;12;00;16
Jed Harris
That's a good question. So we we basically,
00;12;00;16 - 00;12;05;06
Jed Harris
we take water. Typically it's municipal, like tap water. And,
00;12;05;06 - 00;12;10;13
Jed Harris
we'll take that water and basically cut it to zero. So we're going to remove all of the,
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Jed Harris
suspended the dissolved solids in the water. This is stuff that you can't see, but it's there. And
00;12;18;10 - 00;12;20;27
Jed Harris
some customers have further requirements, like they want to remove,
00;12;20;27 - 00;12;30;05
Jed Harris
bacteria or organics and the whole purpose of this thing is that a lot of companies need to have water.
00;12;30;08 - 00;12;46;14
Jed Harris
basically, in its, in its purest state, just H2O. And they need that water for use as a rinse or an ingredient or, or some type of thermal transfer. Basically, they're trying to cool equipment down. And, and if they don't use highly purified water, then it will cause,
00;12;46;14 - 00;12;47;05
Jed Harris
scaling,
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Jed Harris
product contamination, corrosion and other very serious issues.
00;12;52;05 - 00;12;52;19
Jed Harris
So,
00;12;52;19 - 00;13;00;15
Jed Harris
our customers are using a very, very large volume of water, you know, for their, their process or product.
00;13;00;18 - 00;13;05;06
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I, I was thinking back to,
00;13;05;06 - 00;13;09;07
Craig Andrews
two chemistry. One was my high school chemistry teacher, and the other was,
00;13;09;07 - 00;13;11;06
Craig Andrews
college lab, chemistry lab,
00;13;11;06 - 00;13;21;11
Craig Andrews
teacher. And I remember from high school chemistry, he made a demonstration. You you always assume that water is conductive. You know, you watch the movies and what have you.
00;13;21;11 - 00;13;27;10
Craig Andrews
And and he didn't experiment where he showed that pure water is not conductive.
00;13;27;12 - 00;13;34;16
Jed Harris
Yeah, yeah. Isn't that that's really cool. And you're one of the few people, I think that they remember that from chemistry.
00;13;34;16 - 00;13;48;11
Jed Harris
That's true. Yeah. So the dissolved solids in water, which are it's in every water source, you know, every municipal Earth's surface, well, water, whatever. You have these dissolved solids, you can't see them, but they're if you look at the periodic,
00;13;48;11 - 00;13;49;25
Jed Harris
you know, table,
00;13;49;25 - 00;13;54;09
Jed Harris
they're these elements that are like calcium, magnesium, silica, they're,
00;13;54;09 - 00;13;56;27
Jed Harris
these, these dissolved solids in water.
00;13;56;27 - 00;14;22;23
Jed Harris
They act like stepping stones for electricity to to pass through so that that lends itself. So the water is conductive, it will conduct electricity. But if you remove those dissolved solids and you're only, only have H2O, then there's it's very difficult for an electrical charge to be able to conduct itself. And that's actually how we measure the quality of our water.
00;14;22;23 - 00;14;32;05
Jed Harris
We have a conductivity meter to measure the the conductivity of the water. And that way we know whether our products are working or within they need to be replaced.
00;14;32;08 - 00;14;37;08
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And one of the uses for like DNA is water,
00;14;37;08 - 00;14;40;26
Craig Andrews
or more commonly called dye. Yeah. Is,
00;14;40;26 - 00;15;08;06
Craig Andrews
cleaning electronic circuits and I'll tell you something that I saw years ago, you'll get a kick out of this. It was, it was a a prototype assembly shop in North Raleigh, North Carolina. And I'm touring this place. And the guy took a a regular household dishwasher, and he turned it into a circuit board dishwasher, and he just changed the water source to dye.
00;15;08;09 - 00;15;12;11
Jed Harris
Yeah. That's wild.
00;15;12;13 - 00;15;18;01
Craig Andrews
But that's what entrepreneurs do. They they they figure this stuff out.
00;15;18;04 - 00;15;30;04
Jed Harris
Yeah. Well, speaking of figuring it out, our customers, they operate 24 over seven and they're typically very, very critical mission critical applications. So from,
00;15;30;04 - 00;15;34;27
Jed Harris
from from a culture, you know, standpoint, from a leadership standpoint,
00;15;34;27 - 00;15;42;07
Jed Harris
boy, we are always on and it makes it very challenging. It's really hard to
00;15;42;07 - 00;15;48;13
Jed Harris
you know, we have we Puretec has vacations, but Puretec never really goes on vacation.
00;15;48;16 - 00;15;51;17
Jed Harris
so it definitely requires a special individual to,
00;15;51;17 - 00;15;56;14
Jed Harris
you know, be okay with that. we always available.
00;15;56;17 - 00;16;08;04
Craig Andrews
Well, and that's, you know, there's an interesting challenge there. The, you know, I think especially post-Covid where everybody has like these super flexible work schedules.
00;16;08;04 - 00;16;25;07
Craig Andrews
even if there are people there in the office that have that flexibility when you're running a factory. Yeah, you have people that you know, you know, sorry, you know, and unless you're like deathly ill or, you know, we really need you here, how do you manage that?
00;16;25;08 - 00;16;26;13
Craig Andrews
How do you,
00;16;26;13 - 00;16;32;18
Craig Andrews
how do you manage that? How do you manage in mixed environment where some people just absolutely have to be there and some don't?
00;16;32;20 - 00;16;42;08
Jed Harris
Yeah. It's funny, I was going to ask you that question. What's your opinion of remote work is but my my personal opinion and that of our, you know, our leadership team here,
00;16;42;08 - 00;16;44;00
Jed Harris
we almost have a,
00;16;44;00 - 00;16;54;14
Jed Harris
we're close to 200 people and, I mean, I, we're not a fan of remote work. It just it just dilutes the quality, the culture, the,
00;16;54;14 - 00;17;04;05
Jed Harris
we have so many spontaneous conversations that lead to some, like, you know, revolutionary stuff, and you just can't get it working remote.
00;17;04;05 - 00;17;06;00
Jed Harris
So during the pandemic,
00;17;06;00 - 00;17;22;20
Jed Harris
most I would say, you know, 90% of everyone, they had to work, we had to deliver our our tanks. We had to do, you know, onsite service and very, very, very challenging. But everyone really stepped up, I think, to the plate. And, and we were, you know,
00;17;22;20 - 00;17;25;29
Jed Harris
we managed but a lot of the,
00;17;25;29 - 00;17;26;23
Jed Harris
clerical,
00;17;26;23 - 00;17;29;16
Jed Harris
accounting functions, they went remote.
00;17;29;18 - 00;17;30;22
Jed Harris
And ultimately,
00;17;30;22 - 00;17;41;11
Jed Harris
I think it's been about a year or two now. We decided, hey, we need you back. We want you back. And for the most part, it was well received.
00;17;41;11 - 00;17;46;14
Jed Harris
I think there was a couple of individuals. Let's just say I just I just not going to do it.
00;17;46;14 - 00;17;49;02
Jed Harris
I, I don't regret bringing people back.
00;17;49;02 - 00;17;52;25
Jed Harris
And I really believe that this. So,
00;17;52;25 - 00;18;00;08
Jed Harris
it's so rich, you know, you, I think remote work, to be honest with you, it I, I think it kind of sucks.
00;18;00;08 - 00;18;06;17
Jed Harris
you know, if you I think it's important to be very flexible. Like, if you have, if you have an important event,
00;18;06;17 - 00;18;10;28
Jed Harris
find go like here at Puretec we have essentially unlimited PTO.
00;18;11;01 - 00;18;19;12
Jed Harris
So just do your thing. And we all understand the work we have to do. And you understand that we get we have we have hard days. We have
00;18;19;12 - 00;18;29;28
Jed Harris
we have family members that need help. And I think I think that's a, a good way to approach it. But if you strictly want to work remote, it just it just isn't the same.
00;18;29;28 - 00;18;36;23
Jed Harris
And I, I'm sure that people have can just tear me apart on that. But that's how I, that's how I feel. And I was curious how you feel.
00;18;36;25 - 00;18;45;22
Craig Andrews
Yeah. No, I can guarantee you're making enemies with that. But I actually agree. I agree with you on that. When I was looking at that early in the pandemic,
00;18;45;22 - 00;18;57;29
Craig Andrews
even, you know, several years ago, I said, you know, I can foresee a new area of consulting and it's going to be cultural consultants helping these companies figure out how to rebuild their culture because everybody went remote.
00;18;58;01 - 00;18;58;17
Jed Harris
Yeah.
00;18;58;19 - 00;19;14;24
Craig Andrews
And just the other day, I saw a video of Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, and people. He was they were asking them about the competitiveness of Google. And he just said, well, when you only show up at the office one day a week, you're not going to be competitive.
00;19;14;27 - 00;19;18;03
Jed Harris
No. The I agree with you.
00;19;18;03 - 00;19;21;17
Jed Harris
but I agree. Yeah. You're right.
00;19;21;19 - 00;19;23;08
Craig Andrews
So here's the here's the question.
00;19;23;08 - 00;19;30;10
Craig Andrews
I mean, there have been like widespread revolts against companies trying to bring their employees back to the office.
00;19;30;10 - 00;19;41;29
Craig Andrews
it sounds like you've been mostly successful in that for people that are facing that challenge, what how would you advise them? What what were the things that made your return to work successful?
00;19;42;02 - 00;20;02;02
Jed Harris
That's a great question. I think the benefit we had is we had existing relationships before. So let's say, you know, let's say, Craig, you worked here in the office for a number of years, and then you went remote during the pandemic, and then we asked you to come back. It it's nice to have that foundation where you know, what it was like.
00;20;02;02 - 00;20;02;25
Jed Harris
And,
00;20;02;25 - 00;20;08;03
Jed Harris
but nonetheless, I mean, that change is very, very difficult. And I think if I were to do it again,
00;20;08;03 - 00;20;23;10
Jed Harris
you know, to have 1 to 1 conversations with everybody instead of sending a blanket email that just says, you got to be back here Monday. I think, you know, calling visiting in person, having a real meaningful conversation and and being as flexible as possible.
00;20;23;10 - 00;20;30;14
Jed Harris
Some people had to wait until their kids went back to school or find daycare or,
00;20;30;14 - 00;20;37;15
Jed Harris
it was typically some type of family care that was that was like a big red flag. And so, you know, be flexible, work with them.
00;20;37;15 - 00;20;44;28
Jed Harris
so maybe Craig comes back, in, you know, in March and Jed comes back in, you know, whatever.
00;20;44;28 - 00;20;58;05
Jed Harris
June and and we all and we're all communicating to understand, hey, you know, Jed or Craig or whatever has, some family issues. And, you know, we can understand, we can relate. So let's give them some more time.
00;20;58;05 - 00;21;00;28
Jed Harris
but, you know, and besides that,
00;21;00;28 - 00;21;05;22
Jed Harris
that's pretty much exactly what we did. And again, some people just said, I don't.
00;21;05;24 - 00;21;30;17
Jed Harris
This is too good. You know, this remote life is I just can't undo it. And so then we we put together, you know, a fair like, you know, severance and and sometimes there was, you know, different assistance. We tried it. Just make it as fair and less painful as possible. But but we only, you know, we're talking about maybe ten people.
00;21;30;23 - 00;21;48;06
Jed Harris
So in a company like, you know, Google or I don't know if, if you're dealing with 100 people, that might be too difficult to do. And and yeah, you hear horror stories about that or people just say, screw it. I'm not going to do it. Yeah.
00;21;48;08 - 00;22;08;09
Craig Andrews
I, I think probably the the all time fail story on bringing people back to work that I've heard was before the pandemic, it was when Marissa Mayer took over as CEO of Yahoo! And Yahoo at the time had a whole bunch of remote workers. And she said, no more remote work. You got to come back to the office.
00;22;08;11 - 00;22;11;18
Craig Andrews
Well, she was pregnant at the time, and so she built a, a,
00;22;11;18 - 00;22;30;12
Craig Andrews
nursery next to her CEO suite. And I just thought, how horrible. Yeah, here's all these moms that, you know, you've built that culture where, hey, you can be a mom and have your baby in the next room, and, you know, and you're calling me back to work.
00;22;30;12 - 00;22;34;02
Craig Andrews
Well, your baby's in the next room. Are you building a nursery for my kid?
00;22;34;04 - 00;22;42;05
Jed Harris
Exactly. Boy, that you're spot on with that? Yeah, you are spot on with that. It's not fair.
00;22;42;08 - 00;22;44;20
Craig Andrews
Yeah, it was,
00;22;44;20 - 00;23;02;16
Craig Andrews
one of the things. So one of the things I wanted to make sure we covered before we ran out of time is one thing we have in common is, you know, about three years ago, I was snatched out of the office unexpectedly going to a six week coma, and,
00;23;02;16 - 00;23;05;29
Craig Andrews
my team had to figure it out in my absence, and they were amazing.
00;23;05;29 - 00;23;22;00
Craig Andrews
Absolutely. I mean, to the point still gets me choked up when I think about what they did. But you had the same thing. You had to step out. So what happened? What happened? How did you prepare them for it? What and how did it work out when you when you were all of a sudden gone?
00;23;22;02 - 00;23;32;15
Jed Harris
Yeah. Well, fortunately, I think the preparation happened long before. So when I say preparation, I mean, like the first ten years of my career,
00;23;32;15 - 00;23;43;16
Jed Harris
I was trying to be somebody I wasn't, you know, was trying to I was trying to have all the answers be in charge and, and again, just totally be somebody I wasn't or wasn't even capable of.
00;23;43;16 - 00;23;48;18
Jed Harris
And, and then there were a number of years where I really delegated and,
00;23;48;18 - 00;23;50;20
Jed Harris
trusted and,
00;23;50;20 - 00;24;01;10
Jed Harris
you know, as much more vulnerable and let people do their job. And guess what? They did a hell of a lot better job than I ever could have. And so a couple years ago,
00;24;01;10 - 00;24;03;07
Jed Harris
I was on the freeway and heading home.
00;24;03;07 - 00;24;05;18
Jed Harris
The traffic had stopped, but a,
00;24;05;18 - 00;24;07;28
Jed Harris
like a large truck,
00;24;07;28 - 00;24;11;05
Jed Harris
delivery truck behind me didn't stop. And,
00;24;11;05 - 00;24;25;22
Jed Harris
I don't know if he fell asleep or was texting news in the fast lane. I was in, like a lane or two over, and I guess he woke up at the last minute and switched, you know, a lane and just went right into me, and it just disintegrated my car.
00;24;25;22 - 00;24;26;04
Jed Harris
And,
00;24;26;04 - 00;24;29;16
Jed Harris
you know, obviously, I was I didn't know what happened. It was I was,
00;24;29;16 - 00;24;42;22
Jed Harris
actually reaching forward to change the map to see how long it would take to get home with this, this traffic. And it was like I went to push the button and I just flew through the air and everything was dark. And, you know, when you wake up on the side of the road and,
00;24;42;22 - 00;24;44;12
Jed Harris
so,
00;24;44;12 - 00;24;48;04
Jed Harris
you know, I had a pretty good, TBI, you know,
00;24;48;04 - 00;24;51;03
Jed Harris
head injury and,
00;24;51;03 - 00;24;52;07
Jed Harris
you know, my God, it's you.
00;24;52;12 - 00;25;10;08
Jed Harris
I mean, it's just it's a horrible feeling to, like, you're you're laying on this hospital bed and, you know, they're shaving your head and they're going to drill a hole in your brain to alleviate swelling. And you're just you're thinking to yourself like, holy crap. Like, let's take a breather here. Like, I'm I don't know if I'm ready for this.
00;25;10;08 - 00;25;13;26
Jed Harris
It's it's very, very terrifying. But the recovery took,
00;25;13;26 - 00;25;26;13
Jed Harris
there was a good month where, like, I just couldn't do anything. I couldn't I mean, I couldn't watch TV, I couldn't read a book. I just had to sit there. And ironically, it was our most busiest month ever. It was it was,
00;25;26;13 - 00;25;29;05
Jed Harris
you know, in the middle. It was summertime.
00;25;29;07 - 00;25;53;18
Jed Harris
And it was record breaking month. And we're doing all this stuff, and I just knew I had to be there, you know, I just I had to be if I wasn't there, you know, this wasn't going to nothing was going to come together. And guess what? It came together just fine. And everyone really pulled together. And, you know, that was a really, really, really good feeling and made me feel good about it.
00;25;53;18 - 00;25;54;17
Jed Harris
Made me feel good about,
00;25;54;17 - 00;26;05;26
Jed Harris
just the the people and the company and your team, you know, your family is this really is an extended family. And I mean, what could possibly feel better than that?
00;26;05;26 - 00;26;14;08
Jed Harris
it's ironic to say that such a horrible experience was actually like a, a real big positive in your life. But it was and I think it was for you too.
00;26;14;14 - 00;26;16;05
Jed Harris
I think you had a similar.
00;26;16;08 - 00;26;21;12
Craig Andrews
Yeah. It, I mean, it just I mean, for me, when I woke up,
00;26;21;12 - 00;26;25;12
Craig Andrews
you know, my wife started telling me things at different stages based on,
00;26;25;12 - 00;26;34;03
Craig Andrews
how clear my head was. And I remember when she started telling me about what my team had been doing in my absence.
00;26;34;03 - 00;26;39;00
Craig Andrews
it was just I was overwhelmed. I mean, I was just absolutely overwhelmed.
00;26;39;03 - 00;26;53;01
Craig Andrews
What? You know, as you've looked back on that and you've deconstructed what happened, what were the elements that went into preparing your team for the unexpected,
00;26;53;01 - 00;26;56;16
Craig Andrews
departure from work?
00;26;56;19 - 00;27;07;12
Jed Harris
That took a long time to get those elements into place. I think. I think the critical thing that had to happen with our team here is,
00;27;07;12 - 00;27;17;16
Jed Harris
number one, letting people feel safe to make mistakes. So they felt safe to step up and say, well,
00;27;17;16 - 00;27;22;09
Jed Harris
you know, Jed's not in, but I'm pretty sure that this is what he would like to see.
00;27;22;12 - 00;27;46;01
Jed Harris
And so I'm going to do it. I'm not scared for any repercussions. I know that he has my back. And I think that's really important for leaders, that people feel safe. They can just be themselves and they know that you have their back and also you own it. You're going to own these failures and you're not going to, you know, you're not going to burden them with that.
00;27;46;01 - 00;28;05;07
Jed Harris
So I think that's a critical and I mean, unfortunately that takes, you know, many, many years like you can't just you can't just hold a meeting and say, okay, don't worry, I have your back. Like it has to be slowly built over years. And I think that was absolutely critical to put that in place.
00;28;05;07 - 00;28;13;17
Jed Harris
I mean, there's there's a ton of other things that I think are, you know, very beneficial where people kind of have like a good guideline of like the,
00;28;13;17 - 00;28;18;25
Jed Harris
of your intent as a leader, you know, like you're you don't have to over procedure likes things, in my opinion.
00;28;18;25 - 00;28;21;08
Jed Harris
But I think if you have,
00;28;21;08 - 00;28;25;00
Jed Harris
the intent laid down, then other people can, can,
00;28;25;00 - 00;28;29;13
Jed Harris
use that to, to guide them forward. So, you know, if,
00;28;29;13 - 00;28;31;05
Jed Harris
if there's like,
00;28;31;05 - 00;28;35;06
Jed Harris
under still say I'm working for you, Craig, and you have this,
00;28;35;06 - 00;28;44;18
Jed Harris
you know, your intention has always been to respond very quickly, like, you believe in responding within the hour, you know, to a message again, I pick up on that over time.
00;28;44;18 - 00;29;04;27
Jed Harris
And if you're gone, if you're out of the office for, you know, time, then I know what to do. I know that you would support that. And and I know that, you know, you always have had my back. If I made mistakes, you're gonna you're still gonna, you know, support me and believe in me. I think that's I think that's really, really critical.
00;29;04;29 - 00;29;08;05
Jed Harris
and, and, you know, and really,
00;29;08;05 - 00;29;25;28
Jed Harris
trusting people to make decisions, not being like, the leader that has to have the answer to everything. I think that's that's just a recipe for disaster in so many ways. And I think I was telling you earlier, like, I was trying to be that person for some reason. I thought I, you know, I it's complete idiot.
00;29;25;28 - 00;29;36;13
Jed Harris
You know, I mean, I, you know, you watch TV or something and you think that's what a leader's supposed to be, but it's really not, you know, it's the other way around.
00;29;36;16 - 00;30;05;21
Craig Andrews
Well, I, you know, for me, I actually, I was this was in my first job. I attended a Stephen Covey talk. And I remember I asked some question and I was assuming it was my job to remove problems for my employees. And Stephen Covey just laid into me, and he painted this picture of absolute hell of me working on the weekends, because I had this paralyze team that would that would never make decisions.
00;30;05;21 - 00;30;26;17
Craig Andrews
And, and I think for me, the hardest thing to get comfortable with is watching somebody make a less than perfect decision or even worse, watching them make a mistake. They I think for me, the the less than perfect is harder. If I see them making a mistake, I'm like, okay, at some point this is going to blow up.
00;30;26;24 - 00;30;45;29
Craig Andrews
We're going to teach, turn it into a teaching moment because they'll be able to learn. I'm going to be there to coach them through the success and make them, you know, build that culture where it's okay to make mistakes. As you said, the harder thing for me is when I see them doing something less, less perfect than I would do it.
00;30;46;06 - 00;31;12;14
Craig Andrews
And and I may be wrong in that judgment that's less perfect. But the I had to get to the point where I was like, I need them to be proud of what they've done and build a culture where they're constantly learning, constantly improving, but they don't feel paralyzed in making decisions because there might be a better way of doing it.
00;31;12;17 - 00;31;25;05
Jed Harris
Yeah. it's it's very, very challenging. But I think the people to get it right are, you know, really on their way to great things.
00;31;25;07 - 00;31;26;28
Craig Andrews
Well, the bottom line is,
00;31;26;28 - 00;31;42;28
Craig Andrews
you know, I heard Steve Wynn say this in a it was an old interview, but I've watched a few Steve Wynn interviews recently, and he just made it clear they asked him, they said as the Wynn empire has grown, you know, how do you keep you know, how do you keep the consistency.
00;31;42;28 - 00;31;54;08
Craig Andrews
And he said, I can't. My job is to create the culture that does that. And that's what you've been talking about. It's really about the culture. And when you have that culture in place.
00;31;54;10 - 00;31;55;18
Jed Harris
You know.
00;31;55;20 - 00;31;58;19
Craig Andrews
God forbid if a car accident, you get hit by a truck.
00;31;58;24 - 00;31;59;14
Jed Harris
Yeah.
00;31;59;16 - 00;32;05;29
Craig Andrews
Or you go into a coma unexpectedly, that culture survives without you.
00;32;06;01 - 00;32;12;14
Jed Harris
It exactly. And there's little stories that pick up through the years, you know, like that one time, you know,
00;32;12;14 - 00;32;25;19
Jed Harris
and one time, Craig, you know, he he did this and another time he did that. And it you definitely create this the story. It's really the, you know, the story and this this feeling. And
00;32;25;19 - 00;32;27;12
Jed Harris
that takes so much time.
00;32;27;12 - 00;32;51;00
Jed Harris
But once you get it, you know, it's it's like concrete. I mean, it's a foundation that that's unbreakable. well, it you have to you have to maintain good leadership or else, you know, quickly unravel. But but yeah. No, I it's it's a very, very powerful thing. I think it's like it's it's funny. There's so many you've you're probably super versed in all these leaderships.
00;32;51;00 - 00;33;06;08
Jed Harris
There's like thousands of leadership books and there's all these like knickknacks and new things and trends and new buzzwords. But, you know, I think a lot of it kind of boils down to some very simple things like that.
00;33;06;11 - 00;33;11;05
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. Well, I wish we could go on.
00;33;11;05 - 00;33;14;05
Craig Andrews
this has been fascinating.
00;33;14;05 - 00;33;24;16
Craig Andrews
congratulations for carrying on your dad's legacy. And, and and building a company that that keeps running when you step out unexpectedly.
00;33;24;18 - 00;33;25;28
Jed Harris
Thank you.
00;33;26;00 - 00;33;30;16
Craig Andrews
and your. For people that want to reach out to you. How how did people reach you?
00;33;30;18 - 00;33;31;00
Jed Harris
Sure.
00;33;31;00 - 00;33;32;08
Jed Harris
feel free to email me.
00;33;32;08 - 00;33;42;08
Jed Harris
I'm Jed at Puretecwater.com, and our website is Puretecwater.com. If you want to learn more about what we do. And,
00;33;42;08 - 00;33;43;02
Jed Harris
yeah, we look,
00;33;43;02 - 00;33;45;21
Jed Harris
I'd love to hear from any of you.
00;33;45;24 - 00;33;49;05
Craig Andrews
All right. Well, thanks, Jed. Thanks for being on Leaders and Legacies.
00;33;49;07 - 00;33;53;14
Jed Harris
You bet. Thank you. Greg.
00;33;53;14 - 00;34;20;10
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to allies4me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this
00;34;20;10 - 00;34;22;05
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.
00;34;22;07 - 00;34;45;17
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest, tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.
00;34;45;19 - 00;34;53;24
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe your thumbs up! Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.
00;34;53;24 - 00;36;55;29
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to allies4me.com. or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.
