Sean Madden: Don’t Be Afraid to Get Up and Ask Questions

SUMMARY:
SEAN MADDEN FINAL VIDEO INTERVIEW

0:00:00 Introduction by host Matt Allred welcoming Sean Madden to the podcast.
0:02:08 Brief overview of Sean’s career progression starting in the field and moving into management roles.
0:15:00 Discussion of Sean’s experience starting his own company, Madden Elevator, and lessons learned from using strategic planning frameworks like EOS.
0:22:18 Explanation of how Sean got involved in his current role with Southern Elevator developing their “InTelevator” service model using new technologies.
0:25:00 Recap of Sean selling Madden Elevator and transition experiences, including a stint helping another business in Florida.
0:33:54 Discussion of Sean’s book “Empowering Elevator Business Owners” and the Elevator Strategic Hub he created.
0:42:51 Highlights of Sean’s biggest career lessons focusing on asking questions and continual learning.
0:49:48 Advice Sean gives to people just starting out in the industry to be curious and reach out for help and support.

Transcript:
Sean Madden 0:00
Don’t be afraid to walk up and talk to somebody that that you might think is too big to talk to you or pick up the phone and call somebody that you’re like, oh, man, they would never want to talk to me. You know, it’s it’s amazing. This industry is a very niche industry. But even the leaders of this business in this industry, they all are open to help them support each other. And I’ve not ever seen anybody say, No, I’m not going to help you or No, I don’t know how to help you. So I think just being open to asking questions and being humble and really just crying to make a difference, while also supporting and don’t be afraid to just pick up the phone and call people pick up the phone call me. You know, I’m always available. I love talking to people about the industry and in nobody has all the answers. So by asking questions to a variety of different people, you’re gonna get a variety of different answers. And then you can decide what is the best one that fits your specific situation. Hello,

Matthew Allred 1:07
and welcome to the elevator careers podcast sponsored by the Allred group. I am your host, Matt Allred. In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers. Today, our guest is Sean Madden, currently the innovation manager at Southern elevator. John grew up in the industry but went to college for engineering, believing he would work on airplanes and said he fell in love with elevators in 2010. Shawn started Madden elevator in Louisville, Kentucky, and he’s currently serving as the president of the National Association of elevator contractors. Shawn is passionate about the elevator industry and has created the elevator strategic hub with a mission to empower elevator business owners to develop strategic solutions, allowing them to sleep better at night without worrying about their business. Alright, Sean, welcome to the show.

Sean Madden 2:08
Glad to be here, man.

Matthew Allred 2:10
I’m excited to be able to chat with you. I know. We’ve met a few times at different conventions conferences, but I’m excited to talk a little bit more and get more in depth into your story and your journey. You’ve had a certainly an interesting ride in the elevator industry.

Sean Madden 2:30
Yeah, funny way you put that interest? No, it’s definitely been very beneficial. It’s been it’s been a great career. I tell people I’m kind of lucky. I’ve had perfect progression because I came up in the field, spent about a third of my career in the field, moved into supervision and management spent about a third of my career in that. And then later on, had the opportunity to start a business, get into executive management leadership and ran a business for 13 years. So really been fortunate and had a great progression in the industry.

Matthew Allred 3:05
Right? Yeah, you’ve kind of kind of done it all. How did you initially get started as a mechanic? Was that something you aspired to? Or did it just kind of come to you?

Sean Madden 3:16
Yeah, interesting. My dad was an elevator mechanic for Otis Elevator for 22 years. Okay. And when I was a kid, I used to go out on calls with him when I was a teenager, and you know, didn’t think I was gonna get elevators. It was kind of fun. One little funny, quick story. We were at this hospital and it was a middle of hospital. And I’m a kid and he’s like, I’m running the car for him. He’s up in the machine are working on the elevator, and he’s like, Whatever you do, don’t go to the third floor. What’s a kid coming to the third floor and the doors opened up and this guy in a football helmet was standing there and he saw the doors open and then he went into three point stance and started running towards the elevator door. And I’m hitting door closed door close. And he saw upstairs I went to that floor he said he knew exactly what was gonna happen the guy come flying across the door in the back of the cab. And then he just got up and ran back over and I’m like, I want to go to the next floor. And I got upstairs and I was totally white and he’s like, touching that to go to the third floor.

Matthew Allred 4:20
You meet some interesting characters on the third floor.

Sean Madden 4:24
Oh, yeah, yeah, it was a we have a lot of fun going out on calls and he taught me a lot about elevators even as a teenager Believe it or not, I I started getting interested in it and then I didn’t think I was gonna get in the industry I thought, you know, I’ll just go and do you know, getting into engineering. I actually went to college for engineering and but then it was like, just kind of fell in love with it. I got lucky up. I was. Don’t tell the IRS is but I was 16 working on elevators out of a Jeep CJ five in Daytona Beach, Florida. And I just kind of kept falling in love with it. And, you know, it’s it’s not bad V 16, right up and down the beach of Daytona Beach working on over there. So really just got great opportunities as I was going to college and just fell in love with it. It was an industry that my dad, you know, fell into got lucky to get into it. I just got opportunities as I was growing in the industry.

Matthew Allred 5:26
So even though you didn’t think you would land there as you were kind of working part time and it sounds like like working through college. It’s like, okay, this, this is where I want to be.

Sean Madden 5:36
Yeah, so I went to college for electrical engineering. actually thought I was going to work on planes, you know, then do something different. Just kept getting opportunities. On the elevator side, I got an opportunity to install a couple elevators when I was in college in Ponce de Leon in Daytona Beach. And they were like, Hey, if you install these elevators under time, then we’ll give you like a Florida hard out raise. I’m like, I could do that. Never installed over my life. But I’ve been around elevators, I knew a lot of elevator people. Like I can ask enough questions to figure this out. Oh,

Matthew Allred 6:14
do I dare even ask about that. So So you said you hadn’t installed? One? I’m curious was it was like ownership that said, hey, install. I mean, maybe I don’t want to ask too many questions. Because I’m like that happen.

Sean Madden 6:29
There’s some information about that my foot. But yeah, so I had been around elevators a long time. Had a not enough people I knew that could come by and help me out and support me and guide me. And there’s prints and there’s drawings. And, you know, I did have some good mentors through that my dad stopped by the job site every day, you know, I had a boss urban trolls that stopped buying out them and, and so there was enough support mechanisms around me to help ensure I did a good quality job, but it was definitely an experience. And you know, working I was young, so I was working a lot of hours and figuring out how to get things done. I got done it like 55% and 67%. And it was it was pretty well. But my helper Wasn’t there a lot of the time because it was even back then it was a struggle to find helpers in the night.

Matthew Allred 7:19
Yeah, yeah. So did that kind of cement your, your desire to get in the industry and make a career out of it?

Sean Madden 7:28
You know, interestingly, it might have actually went the opposite way. Because even though the installation was fun, it was very challenging. And, you know, I love working hard. But I also then I got an opportunity to do some drilling. So I was doing hydraulic drilling. They called Big bam, bam Rick’s. So that was fun. I enjoyed that. And I enjoyed getting dirty. But I was like, you know, this is cool. And this is fun, but I want to do something inspiring something different, something, you know, just, I actually had a really good mind for electronics, I guess, because my dad taught it to me at an early age, and I just caught on quick. So when I went to college and was going through and building PLC is I actually thought I was going to sign and build an elevator. That was one of the ideas pulling through college and into a PLC and could you know, do ladder logic on a PLC. So I thought I was gonna get into all that stuff, but it never went down that path. And I guess what it really changed is, I got an opportunity to go to Atlanta and be an area representative. And I was 21 years old in 1996, the Olympics were there. I had no clue what I was doing. But I went there and worked hard and tried to make a difference and feel like I did make a difference. But that’s when I really kind of fell in love with it. I was like, You know what, I making a difference. And I’m seeing that, you know, the hard work and the efforts that I’m putting towards this. And I have some background and knowledge now. And I have enough resources around me to support me that I was was really heading into an area where I enjoyed. And then I had an opportunity to go back to what I call home which is Kentucky, and I ended up getting to go back there. My dad knew somebody that he worked with, after he got out of the union with Otis and he said just call this guy he’ll bring you up and maybe you can find a job with him and I was able to put together something where I came in as a as an adjuster and he became a really good mentor of mine. It’s actually the late Roger Irvin. I don’t know if you’ll have heard of him, but he was a great mentor of mine. He actually helped me you know, do a really good quality job on the work I was doing on the adjusting and attention to detail. And then he helped me, you know by giving me the tools and learning and growing Under support. And then I moved into supervision and management in his company, and was running operation is his business. So

Matthew Allred 10:08
really was that running? What was that business?

Sean Madden 10:12
I’m sorry, he had a little bit of company called Urban elevator. And it was a small independent service company that we grew in. Ironically, we grew it from the time I was there, and 97 until 2002, when we sold it to a private equity firm. And so I went through a transition and worked for a private equity firm back then, too. And it was just, he was a great guy, and just really helped me understand business coupled with elevators. And it’s really, you know, one of the best mentors in grad school.

Matthew Allred 10:48
That’s, it’s hard to say enough about people like that, that really make that kind of impact. And that’s sounds like he did. He

Sean Madden 10:58
did him and my dad, both. My dad was obviously a mentor of mine, and my dad knew the, you know, the new business, he knew the service side, he knew the electronic side, and he taught me everything I knew about troubleshooting and technology. And then Roger also came from technology side, he did some controller engineering and stuff. But then when he went into business, he learned a lot about the business side. And coupling that with my dad’s knowledge, really just helped me grow as a person. You know, the, even people ask me sometimes, who’s been your mentors? Well, it’s obviously oftentimes your dad, and then somebody that made a difference in an impact on my dad’s life that he connected me to Roger urban. And then most of the rest of them had been like, books, you know, Roger connected me with Dale Carnegie. And I went through this, I think it was a 16 week course back then. And it was about how to win friends and influence people, and how to start living and stop worrying. And when I started going in that I was like, You know what, this is just, you know, another class, I’ll get what I can out of it. But I always engaged in class and wanting to get as much as I could out of it. That class actually changed my life dramatically changed my life in a positive way. I looked at life totally different after going through

Matthew Allred 12:24
that, what what were some of your biggest takeaways that you say, you know, really shifted that for you.

Sean Madden 12:29
biggest takeaways were, when I first looked at the class, I was thinking it was a manipulation class. But what I learned as I went through the classes, it’s not as much of a manipulation as it is about learning to listen, listen, empathically, learning to understand people, instead of always trying to listen to respond, because that’s often what we do in this world. So that was one of the biggest pieces. And then the second one was probably, that I had a choice, you know, how to start living and stop worrying. I oftentimes got frustrated with stuff and had a short temper, and will redhead. So oftentimes, I let the world control my decisions about how I felt about stuff. But after going through that class and understanding and it’s like, no, you can choose how you want to look at that. You can choose whether you’re going to make a difference and say, Listen, the world did that to me, or whether you’re gonna look at it and go, You know what, that’s just something that happened as a stepping stone. I’m glad that happened. Let me learn from it, figure out how I can improve it and not let it happen again. And when I was able to change that mindset, I think that’s really what changed my mind from field mentality to leadership and management, understanding that piece of the

Matthew Allred 13:51
puzzle. Yeah, that’s cool. And thank you for bringing that up. I remember reading that book years ago, and I remember being surprised at how it said, you don’t need to criticize other people because they they already, you know, in their mind that they’re doing the right thing. And that was kind of a huge shift for me to think, okay, I guess I can try to see things from other people’s perspectives. And sounds like that really helped you be able to step into a leadership role.

Sean Madden 14:16
Yeah, absolutely. And I thought I couldn’t solve the world when after I came on the class, you know, I can fix anything but you learn. It’s not quite that simple. And it’s a continual battle. You know, you continually sharpening the saw. That was one of Stephen Covey’s he was another mentor of mine The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. So I set out to just continually learn continually grow continually sharpen the saw continually get better. And, you know, I just realized in, in the field and in business and management leadership, it’s a continual battle. Like, you’re you’re never gonna feel like you know everything. You’re always gonna get humbled. And I love that because you’re we’re always learning. And I said out a long time ago that I’m going on a lifelong learning learning journey.

Matthew Allred 15:06
Right? On as soon as you you aren’t learning, maybe you know about your life. You can’t you can’t have done right, because there’s always something to learn. I mean, you’ll never known anybody that that knows at all. So at some point you, you then shifted, you said you’d started in the field about a 30 year career and then management. But what point did you say, Hey, I’m gonna, I’m gonna start my own company.

Sean Madden 15:33
So that’s about 16 years old, believe it or not?

Matthew Allred 15:37
When you made that decision, you said you’re gonna do your own thing. At some point.

Sean Madden 15:41
Yeah. So what happened is, I was running service in Daytona. Somebody My dad knew owned, the elevator company wasn’t working with him. He just owned a small company. I was having lunch with my dad said to mine in there was a little ocean deck, restaurant bar, right on the beach there. And I remember like being there, and this guy said, I want you to buy my business. And I was like, I don’t know anything about business. I got a lot to learn. And I need to, you know, set out to learn that but you know, I really appreciate the offer. And he’s like, No, I’ll teach you everything. You know, and I’d say, really appreciate the offer. But you know, it’s way too early. I guess he saw something in me. Was this an independent elevator service? Yeah, had about, you know, 500 elevators? And you were 16?

Matthew Allred 16:34
At the time? Yes. Wow. Okay.

Sean Madden 16:38
And I don’t know, if he’s talked to my dad, it’s also men, me whatever. But I was, I was so young. And I was like, You know what, that’s pretty cool that he owns an older business. And my dad had owned in a little bit of business for a short while, TNR elevator, and I said, You know what, I think I will do that, you know, when I’m gonna go to college, and I’m gonna work on planes, and I’m gonna do some of this other stuff. But like, I will set out to learn all the aspects of elevators, and eventually on my own business. And I really didn’t think it would actually pan out as great as it did. Because, you know, it’s kind of like, it just flowed into the perfect progression. Throughout my career and opportunities kept coming in at the right times. Some of them I created myself, but Sure, but they were all it just, I guess I said, at that time, so I had a kid early in, in life, born the day after my 21st birthday, right? I remember thinking, Okay, well, I’m gonna have to put the business on hold, I’ll just keep learning and growing. But you know, I’ll wait till he gets older. So I planned on them, like maybe when he was 18 years old, or after he graduated high school was when I was going to open a business and then just play and set out and planned on learning everything I could about business during that time. It just kind of put that on the back burner. Right?

Matthew Allred 18:04
So So fast forward, what, 20 years and you’re you’re actually starting, Madden elevator, is that right? And how did that come about?

Sean Madden 18:15
Yeah, so he was in high school, I think he was a senior in high school. And I plan on starting after he completed high school had a progression of a variety of things that happened in my career when I was president of Abraham elevator in Louisville, Kentucky. And I was slated to work with the owner to take over that business and buy him out and take over April elevator and we weren’t able to come to terms. Then I found myself, okay, you starting a business from my basement with me and my wife and no income and the kids still in high school, and we’re gonna figure it out. So I come home and told my wife that she thought I was nuts. And, but she’s like, You know what, because she wasn’t working either. Because she had left her job to stay home with our son Christopher. And her job was having a downturn, so she left to save some people’s jobs and didn’t really need to work. So she left and saved two or three jobs and then kind of semi retired until I came home and said, Hey, we’re gonna start an elevator business in 2010, and she was like, Okay, let’s do it. She supported me and jumped on the bandwagon and we just started going to work.

Matthew Allred 19:35
Wow. Yeah, I mean, obviously, you had you had contacts you had people you knew but But it sounds like a lot of work to get out, knock on doors and say, hey, you know, I’m, I’m starting this.

Sean Madden 19:48
It was but you know, the interesting thing about it is it was funnier because it was essentially calling people meeting with people and answering the phones, talking to people and helping people solve problems, communication, it was all about communication. Luckily, I had a good progression in my career where detail was very necessary, especially in adjusting elevators. You know, I really was a little anal about, you know, if I tell somebody, I’m gonna call him back, I’m gonna call him back. So I put it on the calendar, I never forgot, I always made sure I called him back, I kept track of people’s birthdays, I kept track of people’s anniversaries. Now, it’s a little easier with social media, it pops up. But then I had it all my calendar. So even people that didn’t work for me for many, many years, even today, I text people happy, former anniversary and urban elevator, which was, you know, centuries ago. And they’re like, Wow, I mean, you still have that stuff. But that was just very hilarious about this, though, because I was important. And I guess, Dale Carnegie helped me with that stuff to thinking through how important those things were. And, you know, when I started communicating with people and calling them or leaving a voicemail and following up with an email, and then telling them, Hey, I’m gonna follow up again at this time. Or if I told him, I was going to do something, I did it. And really, just by doing that, it just grew and started growing very quickly. Because what I see happening sometimes in businesses is people get so busy, and they want to do a good job, but then they get so busy, and things fall through the cracks. And then people get frustrated. So I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen. So we put the systems and processes in place plus my wife, she was a customer service her whole life. So she made it easy. People loved her. They called her she was always the happy phone, always, you know, how can I help you what’s going on? And you know, people love that. So she was amazing, and helped us grow just in that support mechanism, too. So I could be out working on elevators. And, and she could be calling me going, you need to go fix an elevator. Right.

Matthew Allred 21:59
Right. Right now, that’s huge. That’s huge. And I think that’s an amazing thing about the industry is, you know, husband, wife, team, you you got the tools, you know, go out and, you know, create it. And that sounds like you did. So you ran that for like, say a 30 year career, and then what what was it that made you think, hey, maybe it’s time to sell after, after pouring your heart and soul into it.

Sean Madden 22:24
You know, we never planned on selling the business, you know, originally thought our son would get in and and you know, he would eventually take it over. It ended up not being something he was interested in. And then we said, you know, we had some other people we were considering that were in the business, you know, bringing up and bringing mentoring through and taken over. And, you know, it’s just mark Bowe Hauer who started an American elevator group, he was vice president of Oracle elevator. And I worked with him back in the day when we sold urban elevator to work a little better and merge bourbon enable. And, you know, he’s a great guy. And, you know, he called me and he had been asking me for a long time Come on Come part of this plan part of this plan. And I kept saying, no, no, no. And, you know, it’s just one day, we had some situations happened. And my wife’s like, you know, what, you know, we bust our butt. And we, you know, do everything we have to do to make sure we had payroll, do everything we have to do to make sure our customers are taken care of, do you ever consider like, just seeing what he’d say? It’s like, no, no, you know, I could do that. So I went ahead and had a conversation and the conversation led to a very aggressive offer. And we were like, we could work the next 10 years and not make this kind of money. So you know, maybe it is time to just consider cashing out. And we decided very quickly, like, within 30 days, it happened, it was done. Kind of a whirlwind. Because Luckily, I was very organized. So I had all my contracts in PDFs in a file, and I can submit all that stuff digitally, very quickly and easily. And they were like, wow, this is, you know, pretty seamless. But I was preparing to, you know, didn’t know what would happen in the future. But I also kept it all for the banks. And, you know, just making sure that I was prepared, and I had everything in order. And it just worked out really well. And we were able to put it together in a quick amount of time. And, you know, join the American ohmmeter group game. Right,

Matthew Allred 24:33
right. So, I mean, when when that happened, did you were you still running the business did you find yourself with with nothing to do? I mean, you You’ve obviously had a little bit of a transition since then. So I’m curious how that went over.

Sean Madden 24:46
Yeah, that was a huge transition. Because you know, when you’re over everything for a long period of time, and then all of a sudden, you know, you’re you have one focus which they made me vice for As in a business development, and my focus was to, you know, manage the sales team and grow the business which was was great. And they merged mad innovator enablement, or dcl builder all into one collaboration in Louisville, Kentucky. So that was an experience just going through that, again, I had went through urban Oh, that are unable elevator merging together in Louisville, Kentucky. And now it was mad, and April and DC all merging together. So it was quite interesting experience. And then we had an opportunity where a friend of mine down in Florida, had a business that was growing, and he needed some support and help and he ended up with long COVID. And he needed some support. And we had a place that’s like 15 minutes from him. So I was able to come down and take on that and help him, you know, organize the place and get it going in a good direction because he was having to be awful lot. And you know, I was working a lot during the week. But because we had a place in Florida, it was a simple transition. And then on the weekends I was I had a boat at the end of our building. So I would go out on the boat and float and just hang out and think about what my next steps are. And you know, what’s life gonna bring next? And you know, what do I want to do? And I don’t want to go back to the industry.

Matthew Allred 26:30
Was that a little weird to step away? I mean, it’s one thing to sell it right. But assume you were still in it. But then when your friend says, Hey, I need help in Florida, to just walk out the doors and realize, you know, that’s, that’s all in the past.

Sean Madden 26:45
Yeah, it was definitely different. I was there. We close July 31. And I was there through December. But in that time, I was really focused on the sales side, I wasn’t really running all the day to day the business. So when the opportunity came up in Florida, and I go down and run his business, I was actually intrigued, because kind of got me back to what, you know, I’ll miss the day to day and taking care of the overall business. So I was intrigued and went down and work to work seven months and help get that business in a good place. And we worked really well together, he he got better and was able to come back in and we were able to help support each other and grow that business and may still grow in today. So that was an exciting time. But being in Florida was different. You know, I’ve been in Florida, since I left in, you know, I guess in the early 2000s Or no 9097. So, yeah, it was weird. Like, come back around. Now you’re in Florida working on the other coast. So but it wasn’t, it was fun. Yeah,

Matthew Allred 27:52
so So tell them you had told me that that a lot of I mean this, I’ll just mention it here. You’ve written a book called empowering elevator business owners and entrepreneurs, tools, tips and tricks for growing a profitable elevator service. Company. Is that correct?

Sean Madden 28:08
Yeah. So when I came to Florida, and you know, it was working so hard, getting that business in good place. I was also thinking, what’s my next steps, you know? So on the weekends, when I would go out and float in the bay on the boat, I would I wouldn’t even do that at night sometime after work. And I would just go, you know, what’s, what’s the next steps? What’s going to happen? What I want to do. And I was sitting there, and I just started writing, you know, I didn’t even know exactly what it was going to turn into. But I just started writing my, my history, you know, how I came up for the industry, the different various things I did, started writing some stories about those things. And then it just, it was fun, I was enjoying it just kind of fell in love with this writing and just kept doing it. And, you know, it took about six months, and I was just writing and writing. And then after I kind of wrote about my history, then it kind of flowed into you know, I kind of got this I got this experience or spirit of I want to give back to the industry. And I want to provide information that I’ve learned over the years because as I was going through this writing, I realized me and I have done it when I didn’t really think about it, you never step back and think about all the stuff you did. So then the second half of the book turned into Okay, these are things that help Matt and elevator be successful tools, tips and tricks that I’ve learned over the years and maybe I can help somebody from scraping their face across the concrete by taking one of the tips and empowering it and employing it in their business. So it turned into kind of a two part book the first parts about my my background experience and how I came up in the industry and the second half was about tools, tips and tricks and how we were able to make Matt innovator successful, which, you know, kind of fluid into the next steps. Right.

Matthew Allred 30:09
Right. So, and let’s, let’s talk a little bit about the next step. So I think you, you, you’re calling it the elevator strategic hub that you’ve launched to kind of help help people do exactly that help business owners, you know, get better at their business and, and create what was essentially what you created. Right.

Sean Madden 30:31
And it kind of, I had been thinking about doing something like this, for a couple of years, I was even doing some coaching, when I was at Madden elevator, with other elevator business owners, some people that started up, and some others that was struggling or having problems. So I was just kind of doing some pro bono coaching and mentoring. And I enjoyed that, like, I didn’t realize I would enjoy it as much as I did, in supporting them. And even at Madden elevator, before we sold the business, I was more hands off, I had a business manager that was running the day to day of the business, you know, it was a support mechanism for her. And she was, you know, she was amazing. She just took care of all the day to day and supported the team and supported the company. And I was able to mentor her and coach her and, and then I had several people that’s worked with me over the years that went out and started businesses and I help them get started and help give them guidance and support. So that kind of all molded into, you know, the book, and then what is the next steps. So then elevators strategic hub was born, in my mind going, I want to help people be strategic. Because one of the things that I think people struggle with when they start businesses, it’s all about Go Go Go get done, get done profit, profit, sales, profit profit, which is important. But one of the things that I wish I had as I started back in elevator was a better framework about how to run the business effectively. And I was fortunate enough again, to go through and find some classes and find some books and find some tools out there that helped really reshape what made men know that are successful it towards the end. And you know, Entrepreneurial Operating System is one of them. ELS it’s a big system in our in the world, but it’s coming more and more prevalent in this country. And then I used a product called 90, which was an online digital version, and was able to tweak it and change it to make it make sense for me at Madden elevator, using my own terms and changing it to make sense for me. And we coupled those things together to make Matt know, that are successful. And these are the things I thought. And I really wish I had these things early on in my career Early on in starting the business. So that’s what kind of launched elevators strategic of like, want to be able to give tools, tips and tricks and information and knowledge to essentially Empower owners or leaders of businesses, to be able to decide if they want to use them or how they want to take them and use them. Just want to be there to support them, and build a community of people that want to help and support each other.

Matthew Allred 33:29
That’s great. So you talked about wanting these these tools, these, this strategic mindset, early on, how big of a difference would you say it made on your business once you started? And obviously you’d been several years. And so you’d learn some things, you know, maybe just school, hard knocks or whatever. But when you started to apply strategic thinking to your business, how big of a difference did or did it make?

Sean Madden 33:54
Well, that’s a really good point, I It made a huge difference and tell you a little story. You know, I would go and read a book or you know, go to a class or talk to a mentor and get this great idea. You know, and come in and go hey, guys, we’re gonna do this, let’s do this. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. You know, I get the team rally together, we’d all boom, we’re gonna do this, everything’s great. And then a week or two or three weeks go by, and I’d have another idea. And I’d come in like, oh, it’s really cool. We’re doing that. But let’s do this. And then we’d come in and do this. So I had somebody actually it’s my niece, Kathy Robinson. She says bhenchod I love you to death. And you know, you’ve really helped us a lot but you come in with all these crazy ideas all the time. And we’re not sure which one to follow because, you know, you’re kind of all over the place. And it made me go out and try to find a system a solution to help me and that’s when I found ELS. And one of the things that EOS did for me as a business owner was helped me harness all my deals and helped me put together a systemized framework of how I want to run the business. And by stepping back and making the team part of it, building the overall mission, vision and values, strategies, when we’re going to meet how we’re going to meet in then what the plan was, what the goals were every quarter, but not letting me come in and throw something over the wall, as we call it, I couldn’t come in and just change direction and change plans. So instead of me coming in and driving the business and my leaders nuts, we had a system, we had a framework of how we ran the business, and they could call me out, they can say, Listen, great idea, you’re gonna have to put it on the long term opportunities list, because we’ll have to talk about it next quarter. And I’m like, I know, but I want to do it now. So it really, it really,

Matthew Allred 35:50
I think what you’re describing is the difference between you getting so ahead of your people that they’re like, Where where is he right, he’s way out there. And we don’t even know how to follow because he’s so far ahead. And yet, if you bring the team along, then you’ve got the synergy the cohesion that alright, we’re all on the same page, we’re marking march in this direction. And, and I have some familiarity with that, that EOS because of a nonprofit that I work with, and they used it in in their meeting. So I’ve seen it in action. So yeah, it’s

Sean Madden 36:23
a great system. And you know, it’s not all things for all people. And some people don’t like it, because rigid ties, but that’s one reason that you can do it differently through elevators, strategic hub, and through our 90 portal, we actually have the ability to tweak it and change it. And we tweaked it for the elevator industry for our specific business. But there’s also ability to tweak and change it for anybody’s business, because it really needs to be theirs, they need to own it and love it, and tweak it to what makes sense for their business. Because their business is a living breathing animal, you know, and they want to, you know, feed it with a framework that makes sense for them as a person and their team. Oh,

Matthew Allred 37:06
absolutely. It’s got to be in a language that you all understand. So you can, yeah, embrace it and move with it. So Shawn, tell me what you’re doing right now.

Sean Madden 37:18
Right now I’m working with Southern Elevator Company, throughout the Carolinas, Christopher shorts, the President, and I’m working with them as their innovation manager. And essentially, we’re developing in televator, which is a way to service elevators differently. And we’re using technology and different communication of information to services elevators differently and better, right in public. There’s gonna be a lot that come with that, ya

Matthew Allred 37:51
know, I’m very intrigued is this something you’re manufacturing or using kind of existing technology to kind of create this service?

Sean Madden 38:01
Well, it’s a, it’s a combination of a lot of different things. But it’s, we’re using lift AI, we’re using a product to understand what’s going on with the elevator, and how much it’s running, and where it’s running what floors, and then we’re augmenting the service that we do, they have key focuses on where to spend time doing services. And then we’re coupling that with experience of the type of equipment and the type of facility and what we need to be servicing where we need to be servicing. So the whole big picture intent is to give a really clear information to the technician on how to effectively go service, that elevator for that specific type of facility based on the information we’re gathering from all these different points. And

Matthew Allred 38:51
that’s fascinating. Thank you.

Sean Madden 38:53
No problem. It’s, it’s exciting and fun. And you know, they’ve been a great company to work with. The team is very excited about what we’re doing with that. And I can’t wait to see this unfold.

Matthew Allred 39:05
Thank you. I’m curious southern elevator there. Are they based out of

Sean Madden 39:10
Greensboro, North Carolina, and they have eight offices now. So it’s a fast growing company, a lot of opportunity, recently purchased by Alexis capital. So Plexus is a private equity firm that supporting this initiative, and we’re excited about where it’s going to go in the future. Yeah, that’s,

Matthew Allred 39:31
that’s very cool. Um, so a couple other things I want to ask you about. I mean, obviously, you’ve you’ve been around you’ve, you’ve done a lot of things, you’re still doing a lot of things still still kind of that question. What’s next? There may be even many more what’s next, you know, in your life. I’m curious though, I know you’re currently the serving as the president of the NAC and that’s gotta be a totally different, you know, viewpoint to be able to served there. I’m curious, what are some of the things you find find most rewarding about serving in that capacity?

Sean Madden 40:07
Yeah, so NAC, you know, I’ve been a part of this association for 30 plus years, really didn’t know what it was about when I was younger. But when I got, you know, urban elevator, Roger urban, brought me in to those events and helped really show me how they could be so powerful, because you’re building the relationships with the people and the support mechanisms and learning a lot, obviously, along the way. And, you know, I remember thinking a long time ago, cat, it would be awesome to be part of that board one day, and having the opportunity to get on the board and having the opportunity to be voted in as the president, it was a little bit of a humbling experience. I’m like, Wow, I can’t believe I’m from President of our national association. So my goal, even in that capacity is I want to support our industry, I want to support and give back and essentially, make it better, you know, if everybody that comes in, you know, tries to find one or two or three things they can do to improve and make it better, it’ll continually perpetually get better and better and better. And sometimes, over the years, years ago, there was some comments that had been made that you know, in AC kind of got stagnant, but it’s not stagnant at all, today, there’s been a lot of amazing changes, a lot of positive things happened in the last 5678 years. And in the last few years, some of the huge things that’s making a difference is, you know, building out some LMS systems and some of the educational things, and then I see is a support mechanism for the industry. And I have the opportunity to help drive that to help support that. And we’re going to be going through a full strategic planning session, which I’m extremely excited about, because I’m very strategic minded. So this is going to be really fun for me. You know, to get back to your question, probably the biggest thing is just giving back to the industry again, you know, just helping support the people that are supporting NAC and making sure that the association is doing what they want it to do. And in supporting them.

Matthew Allred 42:19
Yeah, yeah, thanks for bringing that up. And I’ve noticed just in I’ve only been a member a few years, but I’ve noticed a lot of improvements and changes, like you said, it’s not not staggered at all, just just in the last, you know, probably three years or so that I’ve been involved. So that’s awesome. Yeah. So I’m curious, you know, as we kind of get near the end of this interview, having having been in a lot of different places, and done a lot of different things, what are some of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned throughout your career?

Sean Madden 42:51
biggest lessons, I’d say, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You know, don’t be afraid to walk up and talk to somebody that that you might think, is too big to talk to you, or pick up the phone and call somebody that you’re like, oh, man, they would never want to talk to me. You know, it’s, it’s amazing. This industry is a very niche industry. But even the leaders of this business in this industry, they all are open to help them support each other. And I’ve not ever seen anybody say, No, I’m not going to help you or No, I don’t know how to help you. So I think just being open to asking questions, and being humble and really just crying to make a difference, while also supporting and don’t be afraid to just pick up the phone and call people pick up the phone call me. You know, I’m always available. I love talking to people about the industry and, and nobody has all the answers. So by asking questions to a variety of different people, you’re gonna get a variety of different answers. And then you can decide what is the best one that fits your specific situation?

Matthew Allred 44:05
That’s, that’s great advice. Is there a time in your career where you thought, Man, I want to call so and so but I’m, I’m afraid to do so. But you you leaned into it and and it made the difference for you?

Sean Madden 44:17
Yeah, absolutely. several, several times. I remember being in the field and you know, heard amazing things about the mechanic. And then just not sure, like, how do I get a hold? Of course, back then we had pagers. So having given me today you can you can pick up the phone or you can get on LinkedIn or Facebook or some other social media platform and connect with them pretty easily. But yeah, I mean, being able to connect with people that are like minded that could mentor you and help you and support you. You know, I’ve always looked for those people that are in front of me and tried to connect with Come and ask questions. And so I probably had four or five situations where I always looked ahead of okay. I’m a supervisor, I want to be a manager, I want to spend some time with this person, because they are doing a great job. And they can help support me figuring out how I can be better at what I’m doing to be able to get to the next step.

Matthew Allred 45:25
No, no, no. And I’ve noticed that a lot in the in this industry that, to me, it’s more of a community. It’s more it’s not just an industry. But everybody knows everybody. So it would seem, and it does pay pay dev dividends to to get to know people to have conversations to, you know, to build your own network.

Sean Madden 45:48
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, another quick little story, I was at an elevator convention, another really important reason why it’s important to come to these shows and conventions, standing in line talking to one of my employees, and we’re dealing with the situation about an elevator cab. And I’ve told this story many times, but essentially, somebody heard me turn around and said, Who are you dealing with? And said, No, that’s, that’s never going to happen, you’re never going to get that product, you need to walk away while you can. And just go find another solution, or I’ll see if I can help you find another solution. But I’m telling you right now, it’s not gonna happen. And I was like, that’s really odd. Like, why is he throwing that out? Well, doing research and due diligence, and yeah, that’s, that’s what exactly was happening. And they helped me figure out how to solve it. So just random situation at the elevator convention, and somebody I don’t even know. And now I’m really good friends with, it’s really cool.

Matthew Allred 46:52
is offering some help that unsolicited in this case,

Sean Madden 46:56
exactly, but luckily heard the name. I don’t want to say the name of the person. But luckily, you heard the name, and was like, No, that’s never gonna happen.

Matthew Allred 47:07
It’s like to know, if it’s really never gonna happen.

Sean Madden 47:10
Right? Yeah, it’s been a been very fortunate about, you know, my career and the people I’ve met, and the people that supported me, and, you know, you can pick up the phone and call just about anybody in this industry. And they’re gonna call you back and say, How can I help you. And that’s pretty impressive, in my mind,

Matthew Allred 47:28
really is, again, back to the community, that people care, they respect each other. And it’s quite remarkable. Even in even my experience, you know, I had a client a few years ago, you know, invited me to go to the NAC conference in the spring and, and I was like, I kind of feel like an outsider, even though I’ve been recruiting for 10 plus years in the industry. And he’s like, shut up, just come. And so I did. And was, was just very surprised at how, how welcome I was how willing people were to just come up and talk and Hey, welcome, glad to see you. And, as didn’t expect that having having worked in other industries, never found a niche that’s, that says friendly, as open as, as willing to talk, like you say,

Sean Madden 48:17
that’s good to know, I’ve been in this industry my whole life. And I’ve heard that from people before. But it’s good to know that you actually experienced that. And, you know, it’s interesting that all of our all of us that are competitors, we’re also friends. And we’re, there’s enough work out there for good people. And the people that aren’t good people typically don’t last in our industry. So, you know, the good thing is, is we help and support each other in every way. And there’s plenty of work out there for everybody. You don’t have to be nasty about it. So I think that’s one special thing about our industry. That’s

Matthew Allred 48:54
very special. Yeah, I mean, one of my first jobs right out of college I was working for, you know, totally different industries. I was in human resources, but, but I just remember the kind of the, the way we viewed competition is we were just kind of enculturated to just hate them. Right. They’re, they’re just the bad guys. And, and it never really, you know, I didn’t really buy into that, but at the same time, that that was just kind of the motto, right? I mean, it was a little odd. But, you know, it’s it’s refreshing to find a group that, you know, we don’t need to be that way, and we can all succeed together. Right?

Sean Madden 49:32
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Matthew Allred 49:34
That’s great. So last question, and this is maybe a little bit redundant. I’m just curious. What advice would you give maybe somebody who’s just starting out, maybe they don’t even know much about the industry, but you know, they look ahead, what would you encourage them to do?

Sean Madden 49:54
Encourage them to do so. Be curious. Ask a logical Questions. Don’t be afraid to reach out to somebody that, you know, might think might you might think is above you, but pick up the phone and call them, they’re going to help you. They’re going to support you. And, you know, probably more than anything, just continually learn. It’s a lifelong journey of learning this industry, any industry really, you know, and the one thing I love about this industry, even when I was in the field, is it’s a very humbling industry. You know, just when you feel like you got a handle on something, some hiccup will come and remind you, you don’t. So I love challenges, and I love learning and growing. And I love fixing and problem solving. So it’s been a great industry for me for those reasons. If somebody’s just looking for consistency, then this probably isn’t their industry. But it’s a very, it can be a humbling industry, too. So always be curious about how you can learn and how you can support in the future. Again,

Matthew Allred 51:09
very good. John, thank you so much for being with me today. I appreciate your time. It’s always an honor. Thank you.

Sean Madden 51:15
Well, I appreciate everything, man. It’s been a great conversation. So appreciate everything. Have a great day.

Matthew Allred 51:22
Thank you. You too. Thank you for listening to the elevator careers podcast sponsored by the all red group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. You can check us out online at elevator careers.net Please subscribe and until next time, stay safe

Transcribed by https://otter.ai