Monday Manufacturing Motivation – with Aarin Clemons

Curt Anderson 0:01
Okay, here we go. Happy Monday, everybody. Welcome. Thank God. It’s Monday. And welcome to manufacturing Monday motivation. We are here live, Damon. Hey, did you go to a baseball game yesterday?

Damon Pistulka 0:13
Yes, I did.

Curt Anderson 0:14
How was it? It was awesome.

Damon Pistulka 0:16
It was awesome. I tell you what, we lost the game, but it was awesome. It was a big a big turning point in my family. It’s the first time my son actually bought me tickets to go to

Curt Anderson 0:26
bought us tickets. And so yeah, either and I know you got you can look forward to this with your seven year old so let’s take a deep dive Damon. So glad you had an awesome weekend. What a turning point as a dad, your son bought your first tickets to the Seattle Mariners. So when it was still a wonderful bonding experience. Yes,

Aarin Clemons 0:42
it was. I’m still enjoying macaroni necklaces. Yeah, yes, good stuff.

Curt Anderson 0:51
Guys, let’s dig into an intro here. So it is my honors my privilege. I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I believe it’s been several months. So I’m gonna introduce everybody to Aarin Clemons. He is with the MEP in Rhode Island. And so that is a Polaris MEP. He’s a workforce expert workforce specialist. So Aarin, happy Monday, my friend welcome and tell us a little bit what’s going on in your world today.

Aarin Clemons 1:14
And be fantastic to be here. I am hot off the road traveling having seen some family this past weekend. So mind is is abuzz getting back into the office and, and working during this this kind of summertime that been flooded with manufacturers. You know, everyone wants a little bit of vacation squeezed demand, you know, but we all collectively have a lot of work to do together. So yeah, it’s full speed ahead.

Curt Anderson 1:40
Well, that’s let’s take a deep dive here. So a few things I’d say, Damon, just you know, Aarin’s very modest, but I just want to share a few things. Damon, you’re going to be blown away here. So Aarin, plug your ears and we were going to talk all about you for a minute here but Emerging Leader of the Year for the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association, you’re the champion of the adult learning from the United Way. You’re part of the new youth New Leaders Council graduate from Johnson and Wales. And so I now tell you, man, you are just, you know, conversations with you. You’re doing amazing work as a workforce specialist at the Polaris MEP. So let’s here’s my my first question for you today. I sitting down for this one. Are you ready? Okay. You are such a wonderful success as such a bright young age. We as a young man growing up, are we gonna go back further? A little boy growing up? Who was your hero? Growing up? Who was your Who was your hero that inspired you to be just such a relentless force of energy? Who was that hero in your world?

Aarin Clemons 2:43
So thank you. First of all, I don’t know if it’s, if it’s modesty that I feel when I hear these compliments. But my therapist would say to just take them. So thank you very much for that introduction. Exactly, just just being my hero growing up and still as a driving force is, is my mother. And not because I’m an only child, mother’s boy, when I was raised, but um, I truly had an example of, you know, trying, right, I try to not go too deep into the bootstrapping, work hard and all that will come to you, right, but I’m trying, trying your best, making some plans, following through on them. And then pivoting as is necessary, right, but just consistent. Trying to some end will help you move forward, right? You can’t always see where you’re going as much as you hope things are clear. And you don’t always know what will be ahead but trying will always move you some direction forward. And watching my mother graduated with her Master’s the same year I graduated high school really shows you right? Rather than being told you’re supposed to go to college, it shows you why college works for her. Right? Why she chose that step right? Watching her get her her degree in education and moving on and growing and now being a director of centers herself. Right. And also making several lateral moves within just education as a field. Trying doing right, really, really framed a lot of how I thought about options, you know, finding options investigating, analyzing and deciding what was next for me just as a right next step, you know, just do do the best next thing. Right? Always really works for me,

Curt Anderson 4:41
man, you know what you usually have like,

Damon Pistulka 4:44
the best next thing like that,

Curt Anderson 4:48
I think, you know, usually we have like a little moment of silence or like when people do those mic drop moments, a run, you know, usually it’s like a little bit later in the program. I think Damon this was the first the earliest moment of silence that we had In a program, so do the best next thing. What’s mom’s name? Sharon. Sharon. Well, hey, God bless, Sharon, for all the drive in what she produced here in such a fine young man. So, hey, we want to give a shout out in a big hello to Sharon. So send her our best thing and I love

Aarin Clemons 5:19
flowers. Give her flowers. Well, she can still smell. Awesome. Yeah, okay. All right. So

Curt Anderson 5:24
let’s dig in. So you go off to college and you decide, man, you’re gonna take your talents, your skills and bring them into you started off with the hospitality direction. Is that correct? Or

Aarin Clemons 5:34
did you know I went to college at Johnson and Wales I transferred in for Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship degree, knowing that I needed some sort of skills behind me to realize some of the dreams, the interests, you know, the goals that I had, I knew I needed the skills. I knew even at that stage that I didn’t want to run with the sharks. You know, I knew I needed to find, find a pond, this woman that was comfortable for me someplace, I had some space to learn, you know, to look around and pick up skills. So everything about transferring over to Johnson Wales was the perfect thing for me. Nice, I knew it at the time.

Curt Anderson 6:15
So after so after graduating, let’s take this take a little dive into like, what was going on with your career, your thoughts? How did you get started, what were your ambitions, what and how I wanted them will lead up to like how you get your found yourself into manufacturing. So what was going on, like, you know, fresh out of college going to conquer the world what was happening, they’re

Aarin Clemons 6:34
fresh out of college, I wanted to change the world, as young upstart graduates do. And I found myself with bills to pay, and right and a life that needed living. So I quickly found that I was a people person, my mother used to refer to me as a social butterfly. And I realized that I benefit, I realized that it had some benefit, that I was able to maintain whatever was going on inside Emotionally, I could essentially find a place for myself in just about any room, I was in, right. On the complete outside of whatever core group was in that room or whether or not I was surrounded with like minded folks, I could always find a way to appear comfortable in every room and pick something up. So that certainly well, in the hospitality industry, I was able to make other people feel equally as comfortable whether I was a server moving on to becoming a manager of a place, right. I found early success and curating a lot of events and experiences, right. So early on, I became a DJ of a venue that I was also a supervisor at right. And that came out of not not any notions of superstardom. But in it came out of a need to curate the space and curate the energy. And, you know, the experience for folks coming into the space, I recognize the background music we had on wasn’t doing it right, it wasn’t meeting the same quality level that our product was that our staff was, after all of the training, right that that needed attention to. So I began making mixes to be played in the space and then moved on to live DJing during key moments, Friday, Saturday nights and things like that booking. So the early, you know, while still in college success, exploring that side of things, were really nice experiences.

Curt Anderson 8:38
Well, I love that. So a couple of things I want to hit on real quick there. So as you talked about, like, you know, being comfortable in every situation. And so what I’m hearing, you know, hey, you’re an extrovert, but not only extrovert was that confidence level? I usually don’t go here and I usually don’t talk about this, but I feel compelled to. Can you talk a little bit about like, what, you know, when you’re young, 20s college, whatever. Sometimes we’re awkward round, you know, other folks may be folks that aren’t like us or what have you, what do you feel what was what was behind that confidence level that you brought into the into your work workplace?

Aarin Clemons 9:12
You know, I had very little actual confidence, but I had the ability, I had the ability to really tap into what I knew was a true worth. I had little confidence that other people understood my worth. But again, watching watching the woman, you know, raised me in such a fashion that she made her own worth undeniable. Recognize that whatever one might think of the external forces, I knew my own worth, and knew that I could find ways to leverage it. And, you know, to make it apparent to other people, so I have very little actual bravado in these spaces. But I knew how to, I knew how to stay quiet, look around build connections, make relationships, in honest ways with folks. And that’s something that served me well, I was able to make honest real relationships with people because I believed even before I understood the terminology of it all, I believed in meeting people where they were at, and moving together in whatever direction you to decide to move together and to cut out meeting folks where they’re at is a really, really important part of running any business and relationship building in any way is meeting folks right where they’re at. It’s a skill. Yeah,

Curt Anderson 10:41
let me let me let me, let me pay made my worth undeniable. Yeah. Make that like, mic drop moment number two in whatever you like, we’re 10 minutes into this thing, you know, need my worth undeniable. Damian, what’s your takeaway on that?

Damon Pistulka 10:58
Well, I just think that I listened to you to tell your story about when you were in college, and then you started to realize that you needed that that DJing. And the right music sets the right atmosphere sets the right energy level, it is so important, when you look at these events and what you were doing to really understand energy level and atmosphere and everything and how music really helps that. And that you that you took the initiative and really walked through that and did it. That’s it’s because it does, it does it and you can set and that’s why DJ is people go oh, I did DJs get paid, they get paid to make sure that place is having a good time. And you may not even like the music that you’re playing. But if everybody there is having a good time, you’re doing your job.

Curt Anderson 11:48
I don’t I love the hospitality. That’s

Damon Pistulka 11:51
the difference between success and failure because they keep coming back or they go tell their friends. They had a great experience. It’s a huge determination in how you’re going to succeed or fail.

Curt Anderson 12:00
Absolutely. Right. I love that. So guys, if boy three out there so Margo jobs. Hello, good morning cargo. Margo. Thank you for joining us. Guys. We’re here today with Aarin Clemons, and he’s with the Polaris MEP that’s the MEP of Rhode Island, please drop us a note, let us know you’re here. You want to absolutely make a connection here with Aarin. And so let’s, I’m going to I’m going to continue this conversation a little bit further. And what I love is we talked about so many manufacturers, where you know how often do we hear manufacturer says oh, I’m a commodity I’m commodity. And what I you know why I just I really wish that they would have a different mindset when they say that. And what I love what you’re talking about here is you know, as a DJ boy, I can’t be a commodity like you know, you need to get you know fired up you need to you know, when you’re in that customer service, when you’re in that hospitality world, you really need to fire things up. So let’s talk a little further in your career as we lead up to your decision to bring your skills, your talents, your expertise, your superpowers to the world of manufacturing, anything else that you want to touch on in your career, any other highlights that you want to share. Before we take a dive into manufacturing?

Aarin Clemons 13:02
Do I do I want to make that connection? Yeah, here we get to how I found manufacturing because as I said earlier, I enjoy things that provide access and opportunity. I recognize that I needed to be surrounded by people that were going to afford me access and opportunity early on. And I’ve worked to a place where I can now afford others access and opportunity. I worked to what was a personal highlight for myself. Managing the Dean hotel locally here in Providence met an individual who has since become a very important mentor for me in my life, both professionally and personally. Sharing those same values about access and opportunity for everybody that we have the privilege of working with and managing that height brought me to the place where I realized I cared less for glitz, glam fancy plates, you know or fancy accommodations, right? I cared less for that on a daily basis than I did for taking care of people and making sure they felt that they were working to their best right, meeting them where they were at right to build standards together and making sure that they felt like they were working out their best and working in a direction that they were seeing the growth that they wanted to see in themselves right and feeling like they have the resources and opportunity the access to realize their own potential. So I also began doing some coaching for first time managers after receiving that leadership award. And reaching that height led me to consider what other industries would allow me to work to promote access and opportunity and manufacturing is it boy in this state, hospitality and manual factors are actually two of the biggest driving forces economically, both in terms of number of individual businesses operating in those industries and number of employees. Both of them are two huge driving factors in the state. So it actually wound up being a lateral move for me that very few people understood. They were focused on, what do you know about manufacturing, but Polaris MEP understood exactly what I knew, which was admittedly little about manufacturing, but very much, so about creating access and opportunity for other people to access manufacture. So fantastic lateral move.

Curt Anderson 15:44
Well, that’s perfect. So let’s do this. Let’s, for anybody out there that might be new to the MEP, they’re like, Hey, guys, well, you guys keep talking about this MEP thing? What are you talking about? So Adrian, could you please just, let’s let’s describe what the me just do an introduction for everybody. What is the MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership. And then what I want to do is, then I’m going to slide but I want to take a deeper dive on what truly attracted you and how your journey led into to a Polaris and in the manufacturing, but what does this MEP network that we’re chatting about today?

Aarin Clemons 16:13
Absolutely. Absolutely. You said you said it that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, it’s about three, maybe four months to get that right. So that your your way, money extension program and all sorts of different things. It is in the manufacturing extension partnership. And that is the federal program that manages manufacturing improvement centers across the country. So the example that I like to give is that whenever the current president of the day, wherever they are, gives you their speech and says they’re going to strengthen American manufacturing, right, they sign a bill on TV, and you see that money president, you see the signing, and you wonder where is it going? This is one of the main places it’s going right? In this right, the federal office that manages this money and flows it down to the MVP center, and each state of which there is one designated for each state, as well as one in Puerto Rico, there are college. So there is a center that is entrusted to manage, and be an advisor and almost a personal assistant to the entirety of the manufacturing industry in that state. So we’re meant to be responsive. So each MEP doesn’t operate exactly the same. Because, you know, the industry in each state is not exactly the same. Each MVP is tasked with being very responsive to what that state needs. And that’s why here, in our MVP, we have such a strong workforce department, which is truly the two of us, Lindsay and myself. But I’m very proud of the work we’ve been able to do. It is a huge demonstrated need the need for workforce development in manufacturing in the state. So we’re very responsive to those needs.

Curt Anderson 18:13
That’s perfect.

Damon Pistulka 18:14
So what great explanation,

Curt Anderson 18:16
yeah, great, great explanation, just a recap for anybody out there. So if you happen to be in the great state of Rhode Island, boy, you absolutely want to connect with Aarin, you want to connect with Aarin, no matter where you are. But secondly, if you’re a manufacturer out there, regardless of what state you’re in, as he just mentioned, these are tax dollars at work for manufacturers throughout the entire country, there’s an MEP in all 50 states. And you know, one of our favorite words is you just mentioned it, you know, that trusted guide, trusted resource to help manufacturers with all sorts of different scopes, and we’re going to take a deeper dive there. So alright, we have a nice explanation of what that MEP network is for folks out there. So Aarin, let’s talk about okay, so you’re just crushing it, you’re great again, bring your talents, your skills, your superpowers, to hospitality, and you decide, Hey, man, this manufacturing world might be for me talk about that transition. And how did Polaris come on your radar? Like what was the appeal? Like, you know, man, I think this might be a good fit jet stream with us.

Aarin Clemons 19:15
Indeed, access and opportunity, quality of life is that third quality of life is extremely important. And that’s one thing that the manufacturing side of the hospitality industry still needs to catch up to are, it’s harder than it sounds is structures and, and a way to build their companies, their operations, to promote the same level of quality of life. You know, that that is at the same quality level as the plates they’re putting out in drinks that preparing right? So all of that glitz and glam on the outside? Again, on the outside that customers experience right? That needs to be the same attention and resource given right to what The employee experiences, right. So it’s an industry that doesn’t often provide health care, right. And so I can’t point to one single restaurant, right as falling behind, right, I can’t point to one single hotel as falling behind on that, right? It’s industry, but I think that hospitality still has to catch up to building companies in a way that they can offer a high quality of life to their employees. Right? I needed that. And I have a seven year old child who, but you know, I’m not sure if he needs me more than I need him, or vice versa. But, you know, the lessons that I learned from him every day, remind me, you know, remind me of the time and attention that that needs to be spent, you know, with with our next generation. And so I needed a shift into something that would allow me to explore creating access and opportunity deeper, and allow me a quality of life, to be able to pick up my son from school if he wasn’t feeling well. Yeah. And that and that not be a point of shame, right? Or be be a point where I was concerned about leaving my peers in the lurch without my presence, because we were working at a point where we were stretched so thin, right? That any one person’s presence, right, being taken from the team leaves the rest of your team in the lurch. So there’s a lot of shame and guilt that comes along with working in the hospitality industry. Even when you have a company that is actively trying to do right, by it’s important, which I’ve been fortunate enough to work with companies that that have the utmost respect for me, right? That I still go to as a customer that I still refer people to jobs up because I do respect how the company manages itself. But again, there’s a certain amount of guilt when you’re leaving your co workers behind, right? Because you need to manage something in your personal life. And that’s something that that I needed in a company and Polaris and up is 100% As you know, puts 100% importance in staff well being just as much as we truly mean it and we say we are going to try our best for our local, you know, small to medium manufacturers requires me to be truly tries its best, and it’s just evident every day.

Curt Anderson 22:28
Let’s talk Alright, so while we’re on the topic of players, let’s dig into your team. I know you have Rockstar director, I’ve met Aaron on your team. So manufacture in Rhode Island, they’re like, Hey, who’s behind the curtain a run. So I’m meeting you who else is Who are some of these other superstars. So let’s talk a little bit about your team and the expertise that you guys bring to the table here.

Aarin Clemons 22:49
Yeah, we are a small group small but mighty. Now we have our center director who you met Rockstar Kathy Mahoney. That trickles on down to Sarah Reggio, who manages our handful of project managers, name II, we’ve got about five project managers that go out, be extremely hands on. And we’ll help you to deduce the issue that you’re facing. Make sure it’s clear, make sure you have clear recommendations for how we can help you and then actually execute those things. Right. So those project managers are probably probably a 6040 split, if I have to say 60% of what we do, are those project managers helping you to figure out how we can help you the right way, and then actually helping you right. And then that 40% of workforce as the department, right, executing with the same top line, bottom line pipeline strategy in place, which is one of our unspoken taglines, right, we we seek to help Rhode Island manufacturers with top line, bottom line and pipeline strategies, I’m clear is, is the huge driver of pipeline. So we have our Director of Marketing, Erin, who you met, and other folks on the marketing team who helped me set up this lovely zoom banner here today, this lovely stream. So we have a really small but mighty team. If I could go into a little bit more depth on these project managers, yeah, please. Because it’s been amazing to watch them work and to watch how they approach what they do. Because it’s great being in a place where it’s not our job to sell you on what we do. It’s our job to deliver on what we do, truly. So an easy to understand example that that I witnessed firsthand that I take with me is you know a manufacturer hitting a certain production level where they now believe they need a larger space. Right. That’s great for the industry, right great for the state. If that means a larger space, that means more more room to make more money, that means you’re likely going to have to hire more employees, we can help you with all of that we have a specialist on staff who helps with facility layouts he is he is the most entertaining nerd about blueprints and facilities layout, right? It is fantastic to watch and so invigorating. And the first thing he does before selling you, allowing him to help you lay out your shiny new facility, the first thing he does is he does a deep dive into how you’re using your current space. Because nine times out of 10, you can actually improve output from your current space and don’t need to pay more rent to make more money. Right? And that, to me shows exactly what it means to be a trusted adviser. Right? It’s not, it’s not his job to sell you right on a shiny new service, when what he can actually do is provide you a solution, right? That works with what you’re already dealing with. Right? So let’s increase that top line. Right, let’s increase that efficiency. So that that bottom line flow, Peru is even better. That’s how you’re making more money truly. Right? Without having to spend more, right always. So it’s examples like that, that, that really just bring home how such a small but mighty team, you know, really puts the needs of the manufacturers first. And it’s just, again, amazing to watch every day isn’t

Curt Anderson 26:27
less than it is when you have just a team that you respect you admire you’re in awe of, and again, How admirable it is that what you do as a function is helping manufacturers be more efficient, make more money, you know, better workforce, marketing, whatever that you know, flavor is. And even though you guys have a small team, you know, you have access to 49 other states plus Puerto Rico, hundreds of other rockstars in manufacturing that can you can pull in plus, you know, Daymond we know some of the folks at NIST, you know, so their cybersecurity, we could go on and on. So and Aaron speaking of air Aaron Reed is here with us today. So look at this ice on the stager, there’s Aaron, Aaron, happy Monday. Thank you for putting this together. We’re having a blast. And so all right, a rent let’s take a deep dive, let’s talk about you. It’s all about you. Workforce development, I’ll tell you the conversation that you and I had, I was just completely mesmerized blown away just you know, some of the things that you have going on, can you just share with the folks you know, what, what are some of the things that they would expect working with Polaris or yourself or whatever state that they might be? What are some of the tactics, strategies that you’re implementing are helping manufacturers on that workforce front?

Aarin Clemons 27:40
So an important thing to remember with individuals watching this today is that Polaris MEPs workforce division is not a placement agency. Again, we are responsive to manufacturers. So what we do is a combination of long term tactics and very short term tactics. In the long term. We are polling, meeting with visiting and getting very hands on to learn about what manufacturers need from today’s near futures and very far futures workforce. Right. One need that became very clear, was the need for CNC machinists, right. We were able to put together a training program, along with CCRI, as a partner that has now gone through 16 cohorts, right, very effectively getting folks to work. And we’ve been able to put folks through that paid training, right again, meeting them where they’re at, right, allowing folks who have various levels of machining knowledge from none to some to lots, right, but wanting to make a lateral move and get into CNC machining, particularly right, or any entry level machining role, really, we’ve been able to put 16 cohorts through that program and into really meaningful jobs. So go ahead. And

Damon Pistulka 29:09
that’s that. I mean, this is a great example of how working together with MEPs working together with industry, you can create a an overall program that fills a need that virtually everyone has across the industry that just so

Aarin Clemons 29:22
that’s long term creating programs that get large amounts of people in due time into the industry right up that funnel. Let me talk about the pipeline, then the direct placement that we do indeed do is also building relationships with various partners, both on the state level, community organizations, who serve as a referral point to us for folks who are mechanically inclined and ready to get to work. So I am a placement agency, but only from my manufacturers. Any manufac After in the state, whether we’ve done any level of business with them otherwise, is welcome to contact me, I’m sure you’re going to have my contact email details available to share in the chat or details of the stream. But there any and all are welcome to contact me to learn about programs that we have available to, to help you get qualified folks into your roles to help you with grab strategies to help you train your incumbent workforce and to help you retain and grow that incumbent workforce. We have so many options that it actually can become sometimes a little bit daunting to give someone a two minute elevator speech. Because there’s so many possibilities. We can help.

Damon Pistulka 30:47
Yeah, well, it’s it’s it’s really these long term manufacturing that everybody talks about the labor shortage, right. And we know that we know we need people we know we need, we know we need people we know we need to be as diverse as we possibly can. Because we just we it’s not only as a ride, it’s we need that to get to get the workers that that that are required to fill the roles, because honestly, a lot of manufacturers don’t have enough people to do what they need to do right now. And they’re stretching their people thin and sad. So my question was around, what do you think is the biggest workforce challenge for manufacturers in Rhode Island right now? Just not just hiring but deeper than that? What is the biggest thing that you see them struggling to do? Yeah, we got to hire but what’s what is it really that’s hitting them?

Aarin Clemons 31:41
The entirety of the industry, across the country, but also holds true for Rhode Island. The biggest challenge is rebranding or I suppose even branding manufacturing, in the first place as a fantastic career with a wide set of opportunities. And a small addendum to that is eliminating the conversation of college or work. Because it’s it’s not an either or, particularly in this industry. It’s a yes. And right again, that next best step, right. The next best step for some is indeed College. For some, it is indeed work. But neither has to cancel out the opportunity of the other at any stage. Many of the many of the companies that that retain folks, right, in the state, have already recognized that and have fantastic marketing around what makes a career with their organization. Right? What two, they’ve invested in that educational well being of their employees and have opportunities for employees to learn and grow, not just vertically, right, because everyone is aware of how to climb a ladder, but horizontally, right laterally, they make lateral moves possible for folks who like that example of our CNC training program for folks who perhaps have been in one department at the company for handful of years and want to learn machining, right. And that might be a lateral move, it might not be an increase in media, but it is an increase in satisfaction for that employee, that they’re learning and growing both personally and professionally and a new skill set. It’s absolutely worth that company’s investment in that employee. We see it time and time again, that retention, retention is such a better strategy, right, than being the hot new ticket, you know, for new hires, to hit a revolving door of folks, right? Because when you become only about the paycheck, right? You are setting yourself up for a scenario where the next paycheck will beat you out, right, the next dollar up the road will beat you out. Because that’s all you’ve made clear to the employee is a benefit to them to be there. Your job descriptions your upfront communication needs to make clear, right that this is a the beginning of a career in manufacturing for you. And I truly believe in them. It’s been a year of me learning about these career pathways. And they like you said Damon, they make so many there’s so many connections to how I viewed upward mobility and lateral moves within the hospitality industry. It seems just amazing to me that we haven’t capitalized on branding manufacturing for what it is right? We have like I said earlier, folks who make small jewelers who make the trophy for the Kentucky Derby every year, right? We have folks locally making kimchi kombucha, and all sorts of snacks and edibles right manufacturers we have folks making you know specific screws that go on the space station. Right? That makes sense NASA, we have folks locally that make parts for vehicles that are quite literally in every vehicle make and model, right. So again, they’re in the lives, the things that are made here in Rhode Island are in the lives of Rhode Islanders, and all Americans right across the board, across the board. That I mean that that is sort of the definition for the potential for career. Different things you can do the amount of lateral moves and the amount of room to, to grow vertically, it’s exponential. And, um, we’ve unfortunately done a poor job as a country of moving past the idea that, that manual labor is cropped work, right, because we’ve made it again, an either you, you go on an intellectual college route, or you go to trade school into grunt work, when in fact, they are one in the same as the next best step for you. Right? And making, they can absolutely work in tandem. Our training program, for example, I’ll end on this. That CNC training program offers by design 13 credits, right, I told you, it’s in tandem with CCRI offers 13 college credits, you graduate with that certification, right? That is an industry recognized certification in machining, but you also graduate with 13 credits, just a few credits shy of an associate’s degree, right?

Which makes you now just certain amount of credits shy of completing a bachelor’s, right? The companies leverage that right, you’re bringing someone into the company that has made an investment in their growth and knowledge base, and you can now complete that investment, right? By helping with tuition remission towards finishing a bachelor’s, and you can’t buy that kind of loyalty. Right, another dollar wouldn’t buy you that level of loyalty that you get from a company from from an individual that has their investment, reciprocated and matched. Right.

Damon Pistulka 37:08
Yeah. Yeah. It’s a huge thing is this is there’s so much that occurred

Curt Anderson 37:12
out here in order. Yeah, there’s so much unpack, we’ll

Damon Pistulka 37:16
let you go first off,

Curt Anderson 37:17
I think the best thing to do would maybe, so when you’re listening to this, or when you get done, there’s no, like, I’m an older guy. So I would say hit the rewind button for remember the old cassette statement. So instead of hitting the rewind button, just kind of like move that little thing back. And just like re like, listen to that again, there was so much gold right there. So Amen. I want to drop our friend Aaron just she said, hey, if folks are interested in the fast track and CNC machine manufacturing program that Adrienne just described, it’s right here at this link. So again, it’s right here on LinkedIn in the chat box. Guys, we’re on YouTube live on Twitter live. So first off, you have to connect with Ayran on LinkedIn, first off, check out the Polaris website, Polaris MEP, and you’re going to find out all sorts of great information. We can’t let go past on this program. Damon, we talked about this a lot. We’d love to have women manufacturing, diversity manufacturing. And we love talking about all the cool kids are now going into manufacturing. Right? Yeah. And you just kind of recap that and what nobody has ever said on this program. It doesn’t have to be an either or duty just that you gave me a close, I don’t have to go to college, or I have to go, you know, all three of our mothers here we have something in common. All three of our mothers went back to college and a non traditional age and God bless them they’ve done amazing, you know, we have they all three of them are our heroes. So again, you don’t just because you don’t want to go to college right out of high school. It doesn’t mean anything negative. Mike Womack at the New Jersey MEP mutual friend of ours, he always says let’s get rid of the white collar blue collar thing. It’s just like, hey, we are going to work some of us don’t wear a collar, you know. So. So alright, let’s talk about this area. And let’s take it another step further. We were talking a little bit there’s man there’s so much I want to talk about right now. We were talking about like that customer service aspect with your expertise. You know, being in hospitality and like, you know, some manufacturers you know, God bless our manufacturers maybe over the years they’ve dealt with just a handful of customers where they didn’t even have like a real strong customer service department per se. But and we wanted we were going to talk about that before we get into that was a big takeaway for me is what you’re talking about is like we need to have like a customer service department for that attraction for retention for workforce. So we almost need to have kind of that customer service that customer wow factor in treat our is a little different bit of a mindset. We almost need to treat our customers like their employees and exactly like you’re saying, How can I retain them beyond you know, hey, that one.if I’m a commodity. somebody pays me 50 cents more dollar an hour more on going up the road. Talk a little bit about your customer service expertise. Like, what are some other like any other specific strategies that you want to talk about that you see that customer that manufacturers are just really crushing it of like attracting, retaining and obtaining new new new staff?

Aarin Clemons 40:15
So in this industry, the way most of the companies are structured, those efforts are usually being championed by HR, right? Sources? And if you look at that term, right, they’re viewing humans as a resource for the company, right? You know, language is important in terms of, you know, how it frames, right, the rules that we’re applying to that time, right? So we’re, we’re agreeing that humans are a resource for the company. So okay, so we’re saying they’re more than labor, right? Which is the term commonly used before right, their labor? No, they’re more than labor, they’re humans, they’re a resource to be used. Some would argue that calling humans a resource means they’re meant to be used to depletion, right? That’s not the case. And that’s often what the best human resource directors have already come to realize, without having a new term for it. Without having a new buzzword, they realize that the goal here is not to deplete this resource, right. So human resources, is usually the one leading the charge on creating programs to attract and working in tandem with marketing, when companies are lucky enough to have someone like Aaron Reed, who can help distill big ideas down to palpable messages. They’re usually the ones leading the charge and understanding that, for one, being flexible with something as small as how an employee is able to access a health care plan, right? You know, flexible spending accounts, these days are a really big deal. And that flexible, is the most important part of that, right? The ability to be flexible with how you address your needs, because if you’re meeting people where they’re at, you recognize that different people have different needs, right? And they can all perform up to whatever agreed upon level you set, they can all perform that if you meet them where they’re at, to address their needs to hit that performance. Right. So again, the best human resources directors understand that and bring new strategies to the table to constantly pay attention to where they’re already getting a handful of applicants from our most of the people here, here, word of mouth, because we actually have really great retention already. And everyone has been referred by someone else who already works here. Great. Great. Let’s focus on that. Right? Let’s focus on what that means to the company. Let’s focus on why we have three major contracts, right? That will make or break if one, or heaven forbid, two of those contracts go away, there’s will be a huge shift and what we’re able to do, right, so they’re able to look at that things that way. Right? They’re able to match what you were saying. I don’t think there’s any manufacturer that has customer service in their lexicon, right. I think they have sales departments, right. Some of them have entire departments, some of them individuals, some of them not, right. And it’s as you said earlier, the manager wearing several hats across the company, managing sales, managing employee satisfaction, managing production, and having to switch those hats throughout the day, right throughout the week, throughout the quarter. But the ones that are fortunate enough to be structured and where they have someone focused on sales, I think even though still don’t quite have a customer service, thought process in their lexicon. I think, again, those HR departments working in tandem with the operations departments are understanding that you need to have a certain level of you need to get rid of the dissonance between how your customers experience your company and how your employees experience your company. They should be one in the same. I was in the hospitality industry working for that hotel.

Part of my role before becoming a general manager with becoming a brand and culture director. And that was a snazzy term that not a lot of people understood. But again, it language is important. The brand that the company expresses externally, and the culture that we have internally, needed to be managed needed to be in tandem. Right? If there was dissonance between us saying that we had a quality product right in a quality, fun experience, and all of our employees were having a poor quality, terrible experience. They were not going to communicate our brand Right, right. So that brand and culture director really is about removing the dissonance between your external and internal, right. So that the culture of your company is indeed the brand, that culture will dictate the brand, right? And you’ll feel back in what I think you’re asking about Kurt and in that customer service, right, so it’s less about the customer’s always right, and what are our strategy and customer service? Right? It’s less this idea of how people deal with tableside service and things like that and more HR directors, we’re working towards getting rid of the dissonance between how companies are managing the relationships with their customer, and how they’re managing their relationships with their employees. Awesome.

Curt Anderson 45:47
Another? Is that number four, is that does that make sense for return? That has not been said on the show ever? Of how bridging those two together that was just absolutely brilliant, even? I just I couldn’t love that more. We have a couple of comments here I gotta pull up here is alive or Memorex? Is that the same Gen as Kurt Anderson, a little Gen X reference there. So thank you. Appreciate that. So again, guys, if you can’t hit your rewind button, just kind of drag that little button back and you got to replay some of this. Here. We’ve got a great comment here. Daymond. We’ve got that’s exactly what some orgs organizations are naming that is talent Capital Management. Indeed, indeed, in Aaron says, Live the brand, grow the brand. So this is absolute awesome. So man, we’ve covered an absolute ton. I still if you’ve got a few months, I know you’re super busy. And I we were talking about the blue economy before we jump live. So fascinating. What I love what you were talking about, hey, what’s what’s good for Rhode Island good for the rest of the country. Right? You have some a lot of exciting things being manufactured. In a great State of Rhode Island. You’re also a coastal state. So even talk a little bit about like, what are some of the really cool fun projects or some of the cool companies that you’re seeing? Because you have a nice mix there and Rhode Island? What’s going on there? nephron?

Aarin Clemons 47:05
We do we do. That’s one of the great things we found during our last major industry wide survey is that unlike several other states, there’s not one single heavy driving force. In manufacturing, we cover a very wide berth of things. You know, people might think of Massachusetts as synonymous with biotech, or Detroit is synonymous with the automotive industry. Right. And rightly so. Although there are also hundreds of other sub sectors right there. There are clear driving forces in those towns up here. We, we truly do do it all. And it’s so interesting to see. But pretty much you need it. We make it here. And so I’m sorry, your question was about?

Curt Anderson 47:54
Yeah, so we’re talking a little bit about like the blue economy. So the energy

Aarin Clemons 47:58
sister Yeah, we have an entire sister organization devoted to the blue economy. Because that’s, that’s growing legs, right? You have offshore wind is abuzz that’s on everybody’s mind. But there’s so much more to the entire ecosystem that makes up that economy, right? Anything ocean, right? You’ve got tons of local fisheries, right? You’ve got you’ve got the science behind it. We are a coastal town, as you said, you know, so we’re also growing your muscles, you know, we’re doing everything we’ve got your muscles, your oysters, your fisheries, we’ve got all number of things, including the offshore wind, as as big around the country. Damon, you were mentioning, mentioning that you had some offshore wind kind of knowledge from out there in Seattle. Is that correct?

Damon Pistulka 48:42
Yeah. Yeah, it’s I mean, it’s happening all over that the offshore power generation is really something and you know, with with us here in the Northwest, we have such a fishing heritage and the industry. And we support a lot of the fishing that actually because we’re the first destination south in the US with a Alaska efforts and they’re they it’s amazing. It’s absolutely amazing. I mean, when you when you drive, I mean, when you just see when you’re driving by a quarter of a mile of fishing nets along the road that you know, that come back every year to get repaired and turn around and go buy it. You know, there’s so much in the blue economy that we don’t even know about. And as you mentioned, that’s just the tip of the iceberg because we all think about fishing and aquaculture and things like that, that the power generation and the other things that are coming from the oceans is really really exciting as well.

Aarin Clemons 49:37
Yeah, yeah. So we’ve got here is this organization for a web site devoted to that as well as driving technology innovation in other areas.

Curt Anderson 49:49
What we’ll we’re gonna close things down here. Amen. So as we come into the top of the hour, let’s a couple a couple last questions for you. Anything new, exciting summer plans like a going on at Polaris any events anything that we should be aware of coming up that you want to promote or just share just outside of just reaching out to you.

Aarin Clemons 50:09
Manufacturing Day and dare I say manufacturing month will be upon us in the month of October. I welcome any and all who have any zany ideas the zany or the better actually for for how to interface with manufacturing whether you yourself watching our manufacturer, whether you have somebody who works for a manufacturer, whether you just have an interesting question that leads you to an idea that you think would be interesting, an interesting way to connect with manufacturing, I want to hear it. We want to be involved in that rebranding of manufacturing in the state we want to make sure that everyone understands the opportunity so that we can continue to help them gain access to it.

Curt Anderson 50:55
Awesome. Aaron’s been awesome today she’s Yeah. Economy so good resource related to Blue Blue economy what’s going on in Rhode Island that day, so we’ve got that coming up. And it’s gonna be here quick. So we’ve covered an absolute ton today. First off, I cannot express my thanks my gratitude for your passion, your energy, sharing your expertise with us, I just absolute love it. So guys, again, is you’re out there. And you know, the great thing for entrepreneurs and manufacturers? Well, this is a great thing. The MEP network is a great thing. But so many entrepreneurs, manufacturers, they feel they’re alone. They’re on in a silo boy their noses to the grindstone, and they’re just literally lot of times just putting out fires all day, like you just said, Ayran, you know, their their HR one minute, their finance next minute, hey, I’ll do some marketing sales, the next minute oh, by the way, no need to worry about safety by supplying by chain is a mess. So you know, God bless our manufacturers, they’re going through so much in with the conversation here today. You know, you want to lean on other experts, you know, these are your trusted guides, your resources, you see the passion and the energy from a gentleman like Aaron Ayran. Here, Aaron on the chat box. And this is I’m telling Damon, we talked to a new dozens of folks from the MEP network. This is what we love to do is shining a bright light on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership. And this is just if this your first time hearing about this, just a small taste of all the skills, the talent and the expertise that you can capture at the MEP network. So Adrian, you open up the program talking about Sharon, God bless her the hero, the white knight, Knight Knight us and I don’t know, what would she be so the hero of your life? We’re going to close things out. You talked about your seven year old Avery. So it sounds like you have a lot of great things going on in number one, one of your top priorities was balance of life. Last question for you today is shared who is the hero as a young man growing up today where you’re at? And again, you’re just such a success. You’re such an inspiration to us. Who inspires you Who inspires you every day to just keep delivering great. Your expertise, your superpowers who’s inspiring you today? On a daily basis? My wife, your wife, ugh.

Aarin Clemons 53:19
So, so brownie points here, but also, but also truth. My wife showed me how to actualize my values into a role, right? She’s the one who helped us make the move not because I needed to flee hospitality or because I needed to, you know, like, really look at my experiences negative at all, but rather, as that next best step was to focus in on what part of what I was doing really spoke to my values were part of what I was doing was the driving force, right? I want sure every day be not not just an educator, right? And I say that to say that that term can be nebulous, right and educator, most of us might think teacher and had to leave it at that she has been truly able to, to actualize her values within the wide world of education, doing so many things. She is a she’s a consultant. Right? She is an actual classroom teacher and now turn professor, right. She is one part of the team that runs an entire department at Rhode Island College. Right? She she does usually about three things at once. Occasionally, only two, usually about three important things right in their own right at once. And, and just watching that as it’s not about the drive and the hard work. Right and that that bootstrapping mentality. It’s not that that’s so impressive to me. It’s how she’s able to do all of these very important things, always from the standpoint of what She truly believes is right. And what she truly believes is useful to the rest of the world. Right. So it’s just an inspiration to watch him. And it’s a great lesson. It’s a great model to have next to you when, when you’re hearing you know, what you should be doing and how you should be spending your time every day. It’s great to have an easy reminder.

Damon Pistulka 55:21
Yeah, that’s awesome.

Curt Anderson 55:23
Mike, that was that number five or six? I

Damon Pistulka 55:24
love Yes. Five.

Curt Anderson 55:26
In the name of your wife, please.

Damon Pistulka 55:29
Rachel, Rachel.

Curt Anderson 55:33
The strong leaders, these women in your life and what an inspiration what a blessing. So we get a huge shout out in Daymond. He dropped it again. The next best thing was that the line next best thing. So I think the three of I think we need to get T shirts. The next best thing and we’ll credit.

Aarin Clemons 55:52
I heard that on Brene Brown, which I welcome you all to go listen to Brene Browns podcast, and she might have heard it elsewhere. Because it just makes sense. It’s one of those. It’s one of those you know, like, Don’t worry, be happy. I’m not exactly sure was the first to say, you know, like, I know this song is popular. But it’s it’s one of those things right? It just makes so much sense that it’s kind of hard to for any one person I think to take credit for it. But yeah, the next

Curt Anderson 56:17
you know, bread Britney, she gets tons you know, she’s blown it up on her TED Talk and all that she’s got enough on her plate. We’re gonna give Sharon other credit for this one. Yeah, tell Sharon that we’re getting we’re saying that she’s the originator of our new T shirt line that we’re going to launch and then read in Rhode Island. So Alright guys, we have one last comment here on a job from our dear friend Erin. And hey, Erin, we got to have you on the program sometime. Damon you would love to meet Aaron. She is so much fun ball of energy. She’s a marketing guru at the Rhode Island MEP Polaris, if you will. So, Aaron, let’s close out on this. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your energy, your passion, your family, your expertise, your story, your history. What a gem you are, what a blessing. This has been for Daymond myself and anybody out there listening. So guys, please connect with Abran connect with the players MEP for coming to us from another state. Connect with your local MEP. We’re going to close things out. Damon, this week we have a big week for this one I said so on Thursday, we are interviewing Joe Foster, the founder of Reebok, the gentleman that founded I just like I just I can’t believe incredible honor Reebok, he and his brother started Reebok from scratch in 1958 built over it took him decades and it is a phenomenal story. It took him decades he turned it into a billion dollar brand and we are super blessed and fortunate. We’re going to be interviewing Joe here right on LinkedIn live on Thursday at 12 o’clock Eastern noon pacific and this is what we love to do just interviewing manufacturing rockstars like Ayran Joe Foster and anybody else out there just reach out to myself and Damon we’d love to have you on the program so go out there Damon any parting thoughts for this wonderful Monday, June 13.

Damon Pistulka 58:04
Now just go out and do it. Go out and do it so

Curt Anderson 58:07
guys go out keep spreading your awesomeness everywhere that you are keep loving manufacturing member manufacturing all the cool kids are doing it so you want to pursue that manufacturing career. Amen. Hang out with us for one second guys. God bless. Have an awesome day and we will see you on Thursday. So thank you dude.

Damon Pistulka 58:24
Thanks so much everyone.