Building Community: Ethical Leadership with Zak Olsen

(upbeat music) Welcome to Ethics, Walk the Talk. I am your host, Blake Peterson, and thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate every single one of you who listen and reach out. I'm so excited to introduce our guest, Zach Olson, president of Ronco Construction. This guy is a stud, you're gonna love what he has to share. Zach's journey at Ronco began in 1999. When he worked alongside his father, Ron Olson, who founded the company back in 1976 with his mother. Over the years, Zach has been involved in every part of the business from working in the field, managing day-to-day operations, and to the front office now acting as a company's president. With a bachelor's degree in business administration from Nebraska, Wesleyan University, Zach brings a practical down-to-earth approach to leadership, and truly, I'm gonna hear him talk. I mean, he's a sultan, the earth guy. He's fantastic. A dude you can sit down with, and really chat with, forever go get a beer with. So he's got firsthand knowledge of things like ethical succession planning, and maintaining strong company culture through generational transitions. He's focused on fostering long-lasting relationships with small independent business partners, and around our community, all of which, have helped the Ronco family business to stay thriving. At our conversations today, we'll talk about how these values continue to shape Ronco construction, and what that means for ethical leadership, and the construction industry and beyond. I hope you enjoy it. I hope you listen to the whole thing. Zach is incredible. He had a lot to share and out of the show. (upbeat music) Welcome everybody to Business Ethics Walk the Talk. I'm your host Blake Peterson, and joining me today is Zach Olson, and you're the president CEO of Ronco Construction. So thank you so much for joining me, taking time out of your day, man. I really appreciate it. Yeah, you bet, but like, thanks for having me. We got connected first, because we both attended. Well, you hosted a United Hispanic Contractors Association event. I'm a sponsor of the organization as well, and I just loved hearing, you know, you get up there and speak, like, you hear the passion in your voice, and you were trying to really engage these other contractors in the room, and for all our listeners, you know, Ronco Construction is obviously one of the larger players of construction here in Omaha. And do you do work outside of Nebraska as well? Are you guys kind of. Yeah, we do. We work throughout the Midwest. Based out of Omaha, we also have an office in Kansas City, Missouri. But really touch kind of the Midwest states to Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota. Yeah, this is really our kind of geographic footprint. That's great. And what blew me away is during the presentation, the whole purpose of this presentation was for you and your team to be there to help all these various contractors in the room learn how to better work with you and improve their opportunities to win more bids, get more projects, get more money into their pockets and the pockets of their families. And it was like, you know, in my opinion, it's such a selfless kind of like, you know, community building just vibe that you guys were giving off. And I was just really impressed about it. I really wanted to get you on here to talk a little bit about that. So can you maybe give our listeners a little bit of your background? I mean, wrong co-constructions and multi-generational and family business has been operating since the '70s. Can you maybe touch on a little bit how you got here today and why you are sitting in the president's chair? Sure. Yeah, so company was founded by my mom and dad Ron and Linda Olson back in 1976. And you know, it's always been a fun story to tell because it was really rooted in that kind of family-oriented culture. And they brought that to the table from day one when it was just the two of them, right? So it started as a family and it's continued on for almost 50 years now as a very family-oriented company that puts people first. So I'm excited to be able to continue that legacy of what they started by, you know, growing up within a family business. I mean, my time within the organization starts from, you know, as early as I can remember, right? Walking job sites with my dad when I was a kid. Really getting to see firsthand what it's like to be in the trades in the construction industry. And I was very passionate about it from an early age, right? I think every kid at some point grows up playing with Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, or Rector Sets. It was no different, but it was neat to be able to go out with him and see those things happening firsthand in the real world and getting an early understanding of what is the built environment and how does this all come together. And it was fascinating to me that it took hundreds if not thousands of people to play their part in any one project, right? That really changes the community that we live work and play in. And I always thought that was extremely neat and was very cool to see a site or a building, you know, get repurposed or a site, have a new project structure get built on it that really changes the environment that we get to be a part of every day. So that always stuck with me. And, you know, I don't know that, you know, as a kid growing up, that that was always the path I was going to be on. But I think certain things in life as you evolve and you get an understanding of who you are as a person, it's in my DNA, it's in my nature. And that passion has always been there. And I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to really harness that and see where that road can take me. So started in the field at a young age, you know, throughout high school, college, worked through all the craft disciplines, really getting a, you know, hands-on experiences to what it takes. And, you know, over time, started the learning to estimate inside, learning project management functions, did business development related activities, whatever it took, right? As a small family business, you wear a lot of hats. And my dad, unfortunately, passed of a heart attack back in 2007, which is kind of when I was thrown into this role by default. So it was pretty young at the time, really didn't know what I didn't know. But it was also aggressive and hungry to learn. And the amazing part was we had so many fantastic, wonderful people within our organization that had been there for 10, 15, 20, up to 30 years at that time that we had been around and been a business that really took on that mentoring role for myself. And it's been fun to really be a part of that journey going forward now as a second generation leader of the organization for the last 18 years. And to see the growth and the maturation of what we do day in and day out to see the industry evolve from a technology sign, from a way we construct, a way we deliver projects, really a collaborative effort. And it still remains the same that we need people within the industry. We need more people to say, hey, this is an honorable profession at any level. And that's really a big part of this journey today is, and when you bring up the UHCA, it's making sure that these people that are new within the industry or starting out as an entrepreneur, they understand the opportunities that are available to them, right? Because we're excited and we're passionate about what we get to do day in and day out. And we want to help remove those obstacles of what a new business might be looking at and what those challenges may be. Because we've all been there. And if we can share any of the lessons learned along the ways, those are important things to us to help continue to build better relationships, to build better trade partners, to build better contractors that all help afford us a better community to live, work, and play in. Yeah, I mean, it's-- you touched on a lot of great points there. I think that these are small business owners and the statistics of probability of failing as a small business are incredibly high. Even though they might be picking a great industry because to your point, there's not enough people to fill the jobs that are open. There's a lot of mistakes you can make that will quickly end your path. And so by you promoting them and propping them up, you'll hopefully be helping them to be growing, hiring more individuals, continuing to make this industry get larger. And one day, I mean, would you be proud if one of these people were in the room become a competitor of Ronco one day due to all the help that you have-- has that happened? Have contractors grown and developed a construction business that today can not necessarily rival, but is considered a competitor to Ronco just from pure size and capabilities or has it not happened yet? Yeah, no, 100%. I think that it's healthy to have a level of competition within any industry. That really sets the playing field. And the important thing to understand, too, is it's a people business. At the end of the day, people do business with people. And as a contracting company, we're a service provider. And we are only as good as the people that we work with and that have on our team and that they understand the vision, the project at hand. What are the goals? What are we trying to accomplish? So within any organization, I think that it's important that everybody understands that no matter who's short you're wearing or what flag that you're flying, we're all still in the same industry. And there's a passion that we all kind of cheer for each other and root for each other. At the end of the day, we compete. But it's no different than take a sports team, take the NFL, the Super Bowl's coming up on Sunday. And the chiefs and the Eagles are going to go at it. And on the field, they're going to compete. But off the field, they're supporting each other. They're supporting the communities that they play for. They're supporting those people. It's the same thing in construction, right? I think at the end of the day, there's a level of competition that happens, but we all want to see each other succeed to some level. Because again, that's what builds a better city. That's what makes it better Omaha. That's what makes it better Kansas City. No matter what market you're a part of, those are the things that really help us grow and evolve. And we're in an industry that's gone through tremendous change [BLANK_AUDIO] last 15 to 20 years, right? The amount of people that come into the workforce in the construction industry, that number is significantly down from what it was in years and decades past. We have more people aging out of the industry than coming into the industry. So there's been a lot that we've done to try to help promote the opportunity that exists within construction. And we all, every opportunity we get try to be vocal about that, right? And it starts with educating the potential workforce, the future workforce, you know, the folks that are in junior high, high school, college, letting them know that this is an honorable profession, that you don't need to go to a lot of schooling, that there is a lot of on the job training that exists. And then also starting to educate the parents, right? And giving them the mindset that, hey, you know, a four year college degree, it doesn't have to be the norm. That's not the expectation that's always needed to create success, to be able to provide for yourself and your family. And that's the challenge that we have ahead of us as an industry and have had for some time now. And we've done some great things here locally. We've done some great things at a state and national level as well. And we're starting to see the fruits of those labor's payoff, but it's a continual grind, right? It's a fight for talent. People make the industry, and we are certainly in an industry that's fighting for good people all the time. Yeah, it's incredible the way the trades have been pushed down. And I mean, for me personally, the trades were like a lifeline when I was in college, I had no idea what I was doing, just racking up debt, and it was a lifeline to pull me out of that and kind of redirect me. And I think that people need to understand, and respect it more. I think people will. The cost of college is definitely getting them to wake up and be like, oh, $150,000 for a degree, that gets me a 60K a year job. Well, I bet there's a lot of contractors who are making a lot more than $60,000 a year right now, partnering with Ronco Construction. Absolutely, I think that the barrier to enter the market in the workforce and construction is very low. And you don't have to have experience. There is companies, ourself included, in many of them out there that have programs that will help train and develop you and show you a path for where you ultimately want to be. And what are you passionate about, right? It's always a benefit when people can start at the ground level and get to get their feet wet, their hands dirty and understand how we truly build with our hands and our minds. And what that looks like and to get people that knowledge and that experience, those curriculums exist, whether they're trade association programs, whether they're union programs, whether they're two year associate degree programs, whether they're four year undergraduate programs, whether it's just strictly on the job training through whatever organization that's your employer and the career path of career development that they've outlined. There's a number of ways to get involved. And that's what we're such a big proponent of is communicating that message, right? If you have any interest whatsoever, open that door because there's so many of us that are waiting for you to come and say, hey, I have a passion, I want to see where this can take me. Let's sit down and have that conversation and show you what that looks like next year, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the road and ultimately what a career in this industry could be. Yeah, absolutely. I think there's tremendous opportunity and not only your story, but so many others who you work with are proof of that success. And I want to go back to when you stepped into this leadership role, when your father unfortunately passed away and I probably couldn't have been, there is no good time for that, but no worse time from an economic standpoint. You take over in 2007. There was probably not a lot of work happening over the next year and a half, maybe two years. You probably had to deal with some tough times. But how did that craft your leadership? I don't know about skills or style. I mean, you mentioned having to look to these individuals who you now are responsible for making sure that their check is able to be cashed every two weeks. And you are technically the one who's supposed to be holding them accountable and maybe helping them excel their careers, but you're needing some of them to step in and mentor you and help you learn. So did that have a big impact on how you lead? And is that still something that you think affects the way that you lead your team today? Those experiences? Certainly. Yeah, I think the one thing that remains constant is no matter what's happening in the economy and what's happening in society is change is going to happen. And how do you adapt to that change? How do you adapt to the environment around you? And how do you learn how to pivot? And that's where you really find out what you're made of. Be able to find that grit, that tenacity to say, hey, it might not be the ideal time to be stepping into a leadership role with an organization like you mentioned 2007, Financial Crisis Time. It was certainly a recessionary type period for a couple of years there within the country in general, specifically in the construction industry. But that's when you learn to pivot and adapt. And as a result of that, we started spreading out a little bit geographically. We diversified service offerings, market segments that we built in, and really started to get a good understanding at that young early age of how can we adapt to fit what the market conditions are? And learning how to pivot early has allowed us to really start to see some of the trends moving forward in the later parts of our career that has led us to be successful no matter what those market conditions might be. And it's really just putting together a good plan and running down that path. And as the path has to detour or the plan needs to alter, being adaptable to be able to shift and pivot. Yeah. Man, it's important. Do you think that was a trait that existed in Ronco before your leadership as well? Is that something that you picked up from your dad or is that kind of the new blood feel that you brought to the table when you came into Ronco? No, it's certainly something that I think always exists within any entrepreneur, right? For somebody that wants to go and start a business or an organization or a company, if it's a company or wonder if it's company, 10,000, that person in that leadership role has to have an understanding that there is no thing as such a status quo, right? There is no in perpetuity forever, technology changes, right? That's a huge one. If I look over the last 18 years in our industry and what's happened from a technology standpoint, there has been multiple times that we've had to adapt and embrace what those things are and use those tools to help provide a better service and better platform and better offerings for our people and for our clients in our customer base. So it's that adaptability, that mindset that you have to have. And clearly that's something that was passed down from my dad that I learned from him, that I learned from others that we're in the organization already because they've been through it, right? I mean, if you go back to 1976 to 2007 when I took over, there was 31 years of extreme change that happened over that time, right? Lots of different presidencies, lots of different market conditions, lots of different ups and downs from a market standpoint and from a stability standpoint. So I think that's just finding, knowing who you are, having that identity, having that family culture being kind of your guiding compass and then saying, how do we take these values and how do we embrace this change and how do we craft, how we operate and conduct business around what those changes are? Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure those whatever loans might have been taken out in 1976, 1980, we're at a much more painful interest rate than even today, right? So yeah, but you did it and you did it and you got through it, right? That's just what you had to do. So let's talk about the culture piece. It sounds to me like the culture through Ronco has stayed very much the same. Maybe at its core, ancillary pieces could have changed the depth as your workforce adapts and maybe what is important to them, maybe changes a little bit, so maybe certain nuances. But how do you effectively maintain that culture within your organization and what do you do as a leader to ensure that not only are you a good representation of that culture, but you make sure that your people feel safe and confident in leading that culture out themselves every day. Yeah, Blake. So like I said, you know, it really started with family first, right? And that's the root of how Ronco got started, right? And it's understanding that this is a vehicle, our organization that provides for people, for them to provide for their families. Because at the end of the day, it's, you know, what you do for a career profession is not the most important thing that doesn't define you, right? What defines you is yourself as a person, what are your character traits, who you are as a spouse, who you are as a family member. And that's the reason we get out of bed and that's who we do it for at the end of the day, right? So knowing that and having that be kind of our foundation of our culture, we exude that and we build people up and we coach train and develop folks knowing that that is the priority, right? And being able to create work life balance for everybody that's on our team. We're a people first organization without our people, we have nothing. Therefore, we want to make sure that they feel like they are number one all the time and that they know the reason why they're doing it, right? And so we constantly, at every opportunity we get, remind them of that and remind them that, hey, this is a safe place in that, you know, nobody lives to work, but you have to work to live. But let's not miss the important parts of life as a result of what we're doing for our profession. Let's find a way to create that balance to where we can have success and we can have growth and we can challenge ourselves to be the best that we can in our professional career and our craft. But at the same time, take all of the good that comes with that and really share that with those that we love and care about because at the end of the day, that's what we all do it for. Absolutely. And I think something that stood out to me and I could be reaching on this. But when I came to your offices, and these are the same [BLANK_AUDIO] is that your dad had right where you are currently residing and I mean you know you walk in your offices go back forever you've obviously added on to them it's very nice inside your construction company I hope they're nice because that's kind of a representation of the type of work you can do for people but I'm sure there's been temptation or there's been opportunity where it's like hey why don't we go get a big glass building you know but it comes what's what I took from going into that offices you know where is the money going and I'm guessing you're probably investing back into those people right and you're investing back into the community and that's why you have such tenured employees and me during our conversation didn't you say there's all the way from you know 18 years old the individuals who are 74 years old who are employed with you and have you know tenures probably multi decades that have stayed with Bronco people don't stay just because of necessarily pay but they have to feel like they're invested in in more ways than just that right yeah 100% you threw a lot at me there I'll try to unpack this one at a time so yeah you know our office we've been there since 1982 now and we love it it really speaks to our vibe in our family culture our building is actually an old chicken farm shafer chicken farms back in the day our building was built 1920 so it's got a lot of character it's got a lot of nostalgia again we've been there for you know 45 years almost at this point in time and it really speaks to who we are we've grown we have additional facilities in town service support yard obviously in office in Kansas City we've had for about four years now so as we continue to grow I think having that base and having that stability of culture that represents the past the present and where we're going in the future is important obviously we want to make sure that we provide you know a best-in-class work environment for our people but one that allows them to collaborate one that allows them to experience the difference that our culture brings in what being a part of the Ronco family really truly means and as a result of that you're correct we've had so many people whether they're you know new in the industry 18 years old we have a gentleman with us at 74 years old Tom Nolan who is a near and dear friend to me he's he's almost a father figure in a lot of in a lot of ways that you know has been a part of our organization for 48 of the 49 years and it's a true testament to what our culture is and what we embody in really the environment that we create that allows you to again be successful to continue to grow to develop yourself as a person to develop in your craft and to provide for your family right and my favorite thing is is when people will come they'll bring their spouse they'll bring their kids to the office they'll bring their pet in for a day whatever that may be right that they feel welcome that they feel invited and that they're encouraged to come back and those when those days happen I want to sit down with them I want to ask them how they're doing ask them how their sports teams do and how their bands do and how what's going on in school right you know what's going on with their spouse you know how things in their life what's going on in their world tell me about new kids new grandkids where they're going on vacation right because those are the things that you know fill our cup those are the things that really make it a fun fun place to be a part of yeah absolutely and you could feel it in there you could feel it's a good vibe you know I mean that's what I got I was there briefly and I thought this is a pretty pretty cool place pretty neat and I think the people there were up if that's a good word to say right so it really felt for everybody and you know we can kind of pivot a little bit here and talk more about the work that you all do so I know that you guys were awarded a safety award not that long ago I have written down somewhere but maybe you can you know talk about that a little bit so construction comes with all kinds of dangers there's a litany of things that could happen at any time that we could consider a catastrophic but I'll bet the majority of the incidents that come into your books come from very minor things that we overlooked and suddenly there's a problem you know that could happen if you have them whatnot so obviously to be recognized as having a high level of safety culture you know it doesn't happen overnight it needs to come from the top down I think it's great that you've been there and done that because me as a worker out there swinging a hammer if it was just some dude in a suit who went and got his degree and then his tell him what to do at Beckman you don't even know what it's like out here but you kind of do how did you approach you know evolving that safety culture throughout the years and maintaining it at such a high level how do you try to make sure that it stays consistent while you have all these crews spread out doing all these various jobs at any given time yeah so I think that really ties hand in hand with our culture right in that family the familial aspect of our culture right because at the end of the day our commitment is that everybody is going to go home safely at the end of the day to their loved ones right and we are going to work tirelessly and effortlessly at that single commitment and that single promise that we make to every individual that walks through our doors our three main values are integrity number one safety number two teamwork number three you have to possess those three values to be a part of this team and we promote those and we embrace those but when it comes to safety I mean obviously that's one that is not just a requirement but that's one that we really want to develop what is a lost prevention and a proactive mindset of every individual so we work tirelessly training and working with our folks and our team at all levels at all positions on a daily basis and talking about safety and talking about how important it is to our industry you're right it is a it is a dangerous industry right there is constant safety risk every minute of every day on every job site and it's important that people not only understand that but that they have the training to develop in the education to not only hold themselves accountable but hold the team around them accountable and not just Ronco folks right obviously we're the general contractor construction manager and charge of the overall global job site so it's important that not just our team that's a part of the job but every trade partner that's a part of the project every owner client developer design professional the community at large that's working in and around the project as well we have to make sure that we are stewards of our community and that that commitment doesn't just extend to the Ronco team but everybody that might ever touch or be near the job site it's over important that they understand that our commitment is that each and every person is going to go home at the end of the day yeah so again we work effortlessly entirely flee to make that happen and we've been recognized for that we just last year the award you mentioned the association of general contractors of America the general contractor industry that were a been a long time partner and a part of that organization does an annual safety award recognizing people for you know no lost time injury accidents we've received that award I believe for the last five consecutive years and I was just told by our safety director the other day that we are currently approaching 1.5 million man hours worked within our organization without a lost time injury accident holy cow knock on wood incredible yeah so that lost prevention mindset truly works and when people carry that mindset to work with them each and every day and it's important that people carry that home with them each and every day you know the weekends as well because believe it are not 90% of accidents that happen to folks are away from the workplace sure so that mindset doesn't just extend for the hours that they're working your craft with us that mindset carries with them 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days out of the year yeah and I think that doing things like a job safety analysis or an after action review could help to cultivate that in your mind you do take it home with you and it's always stuck with me I'm always doing like a risk reward estimate in my mind I'm like is this truly worth me doing this dumb thing no my kids hate it because I won't let them do anything around the house that I deem is not having any you know having enough reward for the risk they're taking but it's like gosh the smallest thing happens and next thing you know I mean you're dealing with somebody who can't pick up their kids for life you're doing I mean little things can alter the course of history and not only from a financial standpoint but just from a wellness piece and it's tough it's just when you're young you want to prove yourself you want to get out there get after it you want to do a good job but if you don't take the time to learn to do it the right way you're not going to make it in any industry that is a dangerous construction that's for sure you know exactly right and there's no amount of dollars and no amount of time that's ever worth sacrificing to not put safety first yeah and again that's what's building that proactive mindset right it's and it's not being reactive to hey something happened how do we not make that happen again right it's being proactive so it never happens the first time absolutely you know it's funny the story I had Mark Zuckerberg came out to my rig and I was the safety hand on the rig of the time we shut down operations he came up on the rig floor and they were snapping pictures and he took off his safety glasses so he can look somebody in the eye while he was talking and I did go over and tell him to put him back on after a little while but the picture they used on the newspaper was Mark Zuckerberg no safety glasses on a rig floor and I caught hell for it I'll tell you what man right yeah not the message that you want out there the public right yeah definitely and it's important that you know whether it's photographed or not it's it's knowing that this is just the requirement yes is what we do to keep you safe 100% and no matter who it is right whether it's an owner or client that's walking on the job site yeah we tell them from day one that you're going to have to fall into what our safety standards and expectations are yeah and they do and and we tell them the importance of it and they understand that and everybody truly embraces that because again for us it's a non-negotiable yeah absolutely it's it has to be and something else it seems like a non-negotiable for you is investing in your people and also investing in what your people care about. So, you talked a little bit, was it Ronco University that you called it, right? Where you have people come in and are training your employees a lot of times in things that have nothing to do with the construction, the work they're doing, with you at Ronco from a day to day basis. They might be financial literacy and things of that, sure, which obviously hits home for me and things that I love. So, can you touch a little bit about how that came about and why is it important that you are investing in people in that way? - Yeah, it goes back to the people first mindset and Ronco University is kind of our training and development platform that we put together, about five or six years ago. And it really breaks down a curriculum that we do once in the spring and in the fall. We have of course catalog, syllabus, calendar, the whole nine yards that offers training and development and four major categories. Number one is skill building, right? And so that's gonna be really related to the industry and the role that they're in within our industry. The next is personal growth. So, there might be activities that are important for skills that don't necessarily correlate with construction. We will do some fun classes that are self-defense related. We'll do some fun classes, Metro Community College. We'll go down there to their culinary institute, do some cooking classes. We've done some other fun things down at our yard in the service center where basic car care and maintenance. And these aren't just open when we do these, kind of personal growth classes to the employee, but also their spouse or their children or any family members that they'd like to be a part of it as well. - That's great. - So it makes it kind of a fun organization event that people can really kind of bond and deepen their relationships over while learning some things that will help them in their personal life. The fourth category is professional development. So things public speaking related, English is a second language or Spanish is a second language classes. And the last one's technology, right? That's the ever changing one. And it's technology related to our industry and technology related to things that you may use outside of the industry, right? So it's fun. It's a really robust curriculum. Again, their voluntary as far as who participates in, but we open it up to our entire company. And so we encourage participation from anybody at any level of anything they may be interested in. Certainly we make suggestions to a lot of our team members on things that will certainly help them on their career and their growth path. And as a result, we get wonderful participation. They're led by people that are internal team members. And we also bring in outside resources as well or go to outside facilities, depending on what the subject matter is. - Very cool. It's really cool to do that. And you also have the Ronco cares, right? So I mean, you're also-- - Ronco gifts. - I'm also a gift, sorry I apologize. So that was, I mean, a way your organization can give back to the community in the specific ways that your employees care about and what they're passionate in. And so what prompt to do to start doing that? - Well, again, people first, right? And as a company for the last 49 years, my mom and dad were very big on the philanthropic side and they were very big community supporters. And that has been great in my DNA as well. And so since our day one inception, we've always, when we can, have the ability to give back to the community, whether it's financial, you're in kind. But over time, I thought, why is this something that is, you know, maybe Zack or centric or, you know, my family centric? Why not make this around causes and organizations and nonprofits that our entire team is passionate about? So about five years ago, had the idea to create what is Ronco gives. And the idea and purpose behind that was to create a committee that's really a voice and representation of our people within the entire organization that can come to the table and discuss what is important to everybody that's involved in the Ronco family. One of the things that we want to support, one of the things that they want to support. And really, my favorite ones are when we can find low visibility, high impact ways to make a difference in our community. There's plenty of things that we do support-wise that are definitely a high profile and that are household names from a nonprofit or from a community organization that we do support. There's a lot of, you know, startups and new ones as well that might be newer and are looking for some of that exposure. And so we can use our platform. We can use our history as an organization within the communities that we work in to really help build their platform. It's been a ton of fun. Last year, our annual project for Ronco gives was working with chariots for hope, which is an amazing organization, Michelle and Jason, we're just an absolute blast to work with. And we got an old van that we fixed up and painted it pepto-bisble pink and put a bunch of Barbie logos all over it and created a C-Snap share campaign for them to bring awareness for chariots for hope. And our team had a ton of fun driving that around town throughout all of 2024, whether it was going to parades, whether it was going to different events, supporting other community nonprofit related organizations, picking kids up from school, going to baseball games, whatever it was, we used that vehicle, literally that vehicle, as an opportunity to, you know, turn some heads and have people ask questions, "Hey, what's this for? What's this about?" And now we can tell the story of Jason and Michelle, talk about chariots for hope, what they're doing for our community and how they're really making the difference. And I tell you what, the way that our entire company rallied around that and the support that happened was absolutely amazing. And we had a ton of fun with that. So our annual project for this year is gonna be announced here at the end of the month. So I don't wanna put anything out there at this time, but something similar for another, absolutely amazing organization that's gonna happen for 2025 as our kind of annual Ronco Gives project. And yeah, very excited to see where that goes. - That's cool. - Yeah, that's really cool. I know I heard about the Make a Wish too. You guys did a project for Make a Wish foundation, building an indoor playground for one of their recipients, right? - Yeah. - Was that one of their projects? - We did, yeah, our Kansas City team had the Make a Wish folks down there come to them and say, "Hey, we have a kid that would love "to have an indoor playground as a part of their wish. "Can you guys help make this happen?" And so our team down there worked tirelessly for several weekends. They're off time, all volunteering to create an assemble and then bring in and deliver this amazing playground for a young kid that really, when you see the smile on their face and what happens as a result, I think it changes everybody. And the time and the countless hours that they spent of their free time working on this project, that's the reward at the end of the day, right? And you see somebody's life changed to see that little bit of hope that happens as a result of doing those things is absolutely amazing. And yeah, we've been a long time supporter of Make a Wish done many projects in the Oma higher as well and support their annual programs. And I tell you what, it's a fantastic organization that really holds a special place in everybody's heart 'cause we're all connected to that in some ways well. - Oh, 100%. Yeah, I think it's great, fantastic. And cherish for hope. Everybody listening, that's definitely go do some research and if you have an old vehicle, you wanna get involved, they do wonderful work. So I'm glad to hear you guys work with them as well. I wanna talk a little bit about technology 'cause you've brought it up multiple times. AI is the hot button topic. Everybody wants to know about. I think that we're a ways away from AI swinging a hammer, but it's going to drastically change so many processes that are before that point even begins perhaps. And I'm sure maybe even along the path of building and inspecting and how you actually approach those things could maybe be affected by AI. How do you see it affecting the industry currently and what is Ronco doing to kind of start to tread those waters and stay at the forefront of the game in the industry? - Yeah, there's no question AI has really taken the world by storm here in recent months in the last couple of years. And it's fun. It's almost scary to some aspect of what it's capable of and how it keeps refining and teaching itself. The evolution of how AI is used and the functionality of it daily is increasing and getting better. I will tell you that I don't wanna say beta test mode but it's definitely an experimental mode within our industry right now just to understand the capabilities and what it can do. And so we use it on a regular basis and we use it from all different platforms, whether it's from a marketing material standpoint, right? Or from a thought and ideation sounding board standpoint or from taking a plan and saying, "Hey, what's possible with this? What criteria can we do to use this?" And I think that the speed and the automation and with how it continues to evolve itself, it's really gonna be a useful and impactful tool as we continue to move forward and get a better understanding of how to use it. And where is the strategic places that makes sense to use it, right? Because again, it's a people led industry and the human person and the thought and the creativity and the ideation behind it of the human person is what led to creation of AI, right? So it's not a solve all and a solve everything. It's a useful tool when used in the right format and the right circumstances can really help drive solutions and possibilities quicker. But at the end of the day, you need the people feeding the AI to understand what it's capable of and to help drive the appropriate solutions, right? And then take that information and let's let's Let's put that into place. Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely on team. It's going to create more jobs. This is what I really believe. People think they're taking away. It might maybe it does replace jobs, but I think it's going to create new industries, almost in new ways that you operate. It kind of makes everybody have superpowers a little bit, right? Yeah, I don't think it's job elimination. I think it's, I think it's realigning people on the bus for the highest and best uses of what they're capable of. Right, it's a great way to put it. Let's use AI for what that's good for. And let's take some of the monotony out of some of the things that happen on a daily basis. And let's use that platform, which is great, to help eliminate inefficiencies. But then let's take that human capital and let's take the human resources and let's take the people that actually drive the ship and make the decisions. Let's find a way to help them blossom and help them grow to do things that only a human than that a person can do. And that all those years of knowledge and experience allowed them to bring that to the table and allow them to find innovative ways to make our industry better. Yeah, I think there's a great ethical undertone to all of that that you just said as well. And how you are still people first and focused on that part of your mission. And it's great. It's been a good theme and everything you've said. So obviously I believe you. I don't think you're you're faking me on this stuff here, man. Well, this has been great. Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you sharing all of this with me and with our viewers. And before you go, you know, where do you see as the visionary, as the leader, as that, you know, person for Ronco construction, where do you see the future of Ronco in the construction industry heading? And I will ask you to pull out your crystal ball. But I mean, what are you pushing for is it is it in the specific industries? Is it kind of into electric vehicle stations and doing projects like that? Are you guys seeing just there's so many opportunities coming in, you know, commercial construction and things of that nature is that really going like, what are you see as I'm really driving the growth through for Ronco over the next, let's say, five, 10 years? Yeah. I tell you what, it's really continuing to refine process and evolve. I'll tell you that we're an industry leader in the multi-family market segment within the Midwest and continuing to find opportunities to grow and evolve that process and that deliverable and all of that data that really drives our decision making and our information that we have to share with our clients. And using that platform to continue to expand geographically, you know, we've got two offices working through five states now. That growth is going to continue in the future. There will be additional offices at some point. Things are not ideas are being kicked around, but early to share. But again, as long as the focus remains people first and how do we continue to create a path for them to grow and evolve, you know, that's the charge and that's the vision is finding a way to correctly and appropriately scale, continue to scale and grow, that allows for them to be successful and that allows for us to keep creating opportunities for them to elevate. Yeah, absolutely. And I guess you can talk about growth. And I guess do you have a personal favorite book on maybe growth or leadership or a movie or something that like most inspires you or you always go back to as like a cornerstone behind your, you know, your outlook or your. You know, I've read a lot of books and it would be hard to disname a one or a favorite and you know, there's a ton of them out there that I think are very impactful. Blue Ocean strategy is one I read recently that had a lot of good takeaways. Very interested in biographies too, right? Let's take some leaders that have done it in the past and understand some of their strategies. The Steve Jobs biography I finished that last year and you know, a lot of amazing insight into an absolutely brilliant person and what he went through, right, to, you know, continue to change and evolve as with what society and what the economy through Adam and the ever changes of technology, right? So not a single one that I put my finger on, but you know, constantly a student of the game, constantly learning. And I think that thirst for knowledge that exists in all of us at some level. I mean, my advice to anybody would be is unleash that, right? And feed that beast and find ways that you can constantly continue to push yourself, intake that information, process it, and find a way that it fits you in your life and what your goals and objectives are. Yeah. I love it. Well, I wrote that down. Blue Ocean strategy. I'm going to have to get that on the, in the queue. So thank you, Zach. I appreciate your time and I'm looking forward to seeing what Ronco does in the future, man. That was great. Blake, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Awesome. Dude, that was great. [Music]