15. Honesty, Integrity & Transparency

Andrea and Griffin dive into Value #5: Act with Integrity and fairness; be honest, ethical and transparent. That's a lot of words and we decipher what it all means.

Plus, to Andrea's exasperation, TWO technical rambles by Griffin.

Values: https://hahnrmg.com/about/values

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to Load It, the Hahn Ready Mix podcast with Andrea Meyer and Griffin Hahn and producer Lex.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

How's everybody doing today?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Great. We're a little behind schedule here.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Yeah. Well, like you mean like an hour behind schedule? Yeah. As we sat here looking at each other, waiting for Lex to show up for our appointed time.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I'm glad you could make time for us. Lex. We really appreciate you being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

No, the best part was we get done with the sales meeting. We come back in here and I said, All right, Lex, you ready? He goes, Yep. And he stands up and walks away. And we're just sitting here again.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So we're really ready. This might be the best podcast ever because we just had so much time to prepare.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

No, I think it's kind of like one of those things where you get trepidation. Yes. As long as you wait. It already feels stale to us because we've been thinking about it for an hour. Yeah. What's new this week?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

What is new this week? It's uh it's a fresh week.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

School's out.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

School's out. Weather's been okay. And we've had work to do. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Yeah. Well, weather wasn't great with tornadoes literally coming through the short memory. Today is nice. Today is nice. That's true. That's true. All right. What are we going to talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Well, I think we're going to stick with our current format of announcements first. Announcements first, sorry. What do you have for announcements today?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

You put me on the spot here.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

I thought you knew we were recording.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah. But I thought you were going to handle announcements. I can handle some announcements.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Very good news. Fresh today on June 5th, the monitor is working at the river plant again, so everyone can go in and check the plan for the day and see what we're doing. So that should make everyone happy.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Aaron Powell That is great. I have one. I know this is targeted towards our employees, but in case there are any customers listening or anyone in Central Dispatch, if uh if you didn't know this already, um we added a new evaporation rate calculator to the website.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yes, it's very exciting.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Uh using coding from ChatGPT. So leveraging AI to do something that would have cost us like$20,000 and taken six months for a web developer to do, we did in a day. And uh so we can look at the evaporation rate, the worst evaporation rate of the current day and what time that'll happen at. And that's right on the front header of our website. So if any customers are listening, that's a great tool to use to protect against plastic shrinkage cracking or surface drying of the kind of why don't you explain to us what evaporation rate means and why it's important. Are you being serious? I'm serious. Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

I mean, if we're this far in, somebody might have a question.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So short version.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

This is a 20-minute podcast.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

So concrete in general does not dry. It sets. It's a chemical reaction. The water is subsumed by the cementitious particles, uh, our products in the mix. However, there is some surface drying that happens, just natural evaporation, like if you left water out, it would eventually evaporate into the air. So that evaporation is a function of humidity, the temperature of the water, or in this case, temperature of the concrete, the wind speed, and the temperature outside, the ambient temperature. So there's a calculation where we could literally like uh calculate what the evaporation rate of water is off the surface. The higher the evaporation rate, the more likely we are to have plastic shrinkage cracking, which is where it kind of looks like um uh like mud in the desert or something where it it's uh just cracks and kind of pulls apart, and also drying of the surface where you might not get full hydration of the cementitious products. So we want to prevent against those and monitoring the evaporation rate tells our customers when they should be watering down the subgrade, using microfiber, using evaporation reducers, uh setting up wind breaks, even fogging the slab, or just not pouring if it's bad enough. So um Yeah, so that's why we we can utilize the evaporation rate, but it's it's a lot of data entry and it's time consuming to put that in. So we've had the capability, but honestly, it's just not something we do every single day. Um and this allows us to look at it with no effort, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yes. Thank you for keeping it short.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

That's that's as brief as I could be.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

I only zoned out at the end. Another announcement that I had was just to plea again with the drivers to make sure you're putting your truck issues in your daily vehicle inspection, your DVIR. Um this has always been important to us. It's the best way to get uh your truck fixed, most efficient way. It's even more important now because the mechanics are using a system and it automatically pulls over your truck issues from Digital Fleet into their work orders, and they have to do work orders either way. So if you put it in to Digital Fleet, it automatically shows up on their dashboard to know that it needs to be done, and then it's very easy for them to close it out once they've done the work. If we're not putting it in the DVIR, then they have to stop and put it into the work order and it just makes their whole process take longer. So even more important for everybody to remember to do that when you can.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

That system seems to be working really well. So let's keep it up. Any other announcements or topics before we get started?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

All right. Should we continue on this uh values train?

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah. So the next one we have up is act with integrity and fairness, be honest, ethical, and transparent.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

That's a lot of words. Short and sweet, just like you like it.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

But I think to me, this is probably the most critical value that's out there. It's foundational to every other value. Because um we've we've talked a lot over the last few weeks about building trust, building relationships, having um relationship-based sales and um building community within the company. None of that happens if you can't trust each other. And if you can't trust each other, you, you know, if you if you aren't being uh ethical or acting with integrity or honest, um, then you aren't going to trust someone. So this is the this is foundational. It's the first step. And and frankly, I think it's it's one of those kind of things. It's not like a um we need to work at getting better on this. This is a uh a non-negotiable. Like if this is not your cup of tea or anyone's cup of tea, then we're we're probably not a good fit, right? I mean, this is that we have to take that kind of stance with with this value. So I think it's really, really important. But there's a lot of words there.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

So we'll we'll Yeah, I agree that it definitely is a core to what we do and and primary, everything else is built on it. But what I didn't love about it when we were writing these values was that I feel like these are a lot of words that you'll see in a lot of companies' values that maybe they aren't that way. So um, or you don't know exactly what they mean by that. So I guess let's start with that. Like what what did you mean by choosing these specific words?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

So I I have uh kind of definitions for each of these so we can come up with. But so let's just go through them. The first is integrity. And uh integrity, what that really speaks to is consistency, right? Do we act the same and make the same judgments, the same decisions, um even if it's inconvenient for us, even if no one is watching, even if um it's harder and it costs more. All those things, right? Like it's easy to make, to do the right thing when all eyes are on you, or or you know, it doesn't cost anything, right? It's so integrity is about doing it all the time. And um you know, I I think uh um a little bit about um the Did you ever see the movie Kingdom of Heaven?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

No.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

It's like a crusades movie from I don't know, 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

It's great.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

It's pretty good. And it speaks a little bit to a couple of these that they're taking like their vow of knighthood. This is so nerdy, but they're taking their vow of knighthood and uh they're like speak the truth, even if it leads to your death. And it's like the extreme example of this, right? Like, like uh we're not asking anybody to die for these values, but the the point of it being like no matter how bad it is or what the consequences is, do the right thing, right? And so that's that's what integrity is about. And um so that that um that includes like you know, admitting mistakes or honoring commitments, you know, things like that, no matter what, right? And I think time and time again, this has paid off for us because we've built trust by you know being honest about, hey, we we this is really bad for us. It's a good not a bad look that this happened and this is we're gonna own it. So I know like a good example of this is throughout time, we've made mistakes and we've self-reported them to the DOT, like on a DOT project. I remember one, there was a few years back where we literally loaded, I can't remember if it was expired mix or uh a mix from the wrong plant from at the wrong place, right? And uh we poured this whole road with the DOT and we knew the consequences of pouring the wrong mix at like theoretically, they could make us tear out this whole road. So it was really a hard phone call to make to say, hey, we use the wrong mix, because Illinois DOT, you know, it it could have been 15 years before anyone noticed um, you know, that they have such a backlog of work, right? So uh but we we said, you know what, the right thing to do is to own up to it. And it ended up being okay. And uh, but because we've done that, because we are forthcoming with with those mistakes or or act with integrity in those moments, we have their trust. So if they come to us and say, hey, we think you did this, and we say, no, we didn't, right? They're gonna believe us because they know we'll tell the truth when we did. That's a a really critical thing. So that's integrity. The next one on the in the value is fairness. And fairness can mean a lot of things, but I I see it as kind of treating people with respect and consistency, kind of regardless of who they are. So that this kind of deals with like discrimination, it deals with uh simple favoritism. That could be internal and external, right? So, you know, it's it's doing the right thing by all of our customers, even if some customer is somebody you have a personal relationship, right, uh, with, or or or the same thing with drivers, right? That we're gonna we're not gonna shove the last load on everybody, even though people sometimes think that that happens. It's it's just all computer driven by whatever is the recommendation from the system, right? So yeah, so that's kind of fairness. You got anything on that one, Moore?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

No, keep going. Stick with your definitions. I'll I'll chime in.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

All right. Honesty. I really think honesty is the backbone of trust. Being dishonest is the easiest way to destroy a relationship, right? So if if we want to lose a customer, let's lie to them. If you want to cut your own feet off, that's the best way to do it. Because uh honesty is so critical to trust. People have to believe what you're saying. And if they're going to believe it, you gotta tell them whether it's good or bad in any other situation. But yeah, if we if we want credibility, honesty is the only way to get it. I don't think I have to define honesty. It just means, you know, don't lie. So that's that's really, really important. Okay, and then ethics is a more difficult term. So if we say be ethical, being ethical is is kind of following a system of morality. I think for us, this is don't do bad stuff. Don't do things that are illegal or you know, are are morally wrong. You know, we're not going to engage in fraud or misrepresentation or collusion or coercion or anything else that's illegal or you know, those types of things are are So I should appreciate that you chose the small word ethical instead of all of these other bigger words. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

That you just summarized all of those words with being ethical instead of listing out that we aren't going to be.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Oh, sure. Yeah. No, I mean the yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

You so you could have made this one even longer than it is.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

No, it's it wouldn't have fit on the side. So um you know, we just we just need to be above board and on how we act, right? So we have a re reputation that we have to protect, and and that's another way that if if you ever do any of those things that aren't right that or legal or whatever, that again, that can shatter any trust that the community or our customers or our fellow employees have in us. So we just can't do those things. And then we come to transparency. And this is like my calling card. Uh my wife, if she ever listens to this episode, will be rolling her eyes right now because she always tells me I am way too transparent.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Um You do overshare frequently.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Oh, yes. Lex is nodding.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So transparency is being open, clear, and forthcoming with information, right? I see it in in terms of us as kind of leading with the why, saying this is why we're doing something is a is a major part of that. And this whole podcast is about transparency. That's really at its core. We're trying to be transparent about what we want to do here and and how we want to do things. And this is a great way to do it. So yeah, so that's that's what transparency is all about, and and and yeah, my it drives my wife nuts that I'll tell anybody anything about me. But uh, I I don't I don't think I don't think it's a flaw. I would rather overshare than undershare. And I think it's it's valuable for us to be transparent with our employees. It's valuable for us to be transparent with our customers. You know, uh we're not dealing with state secrets here, right? Like it if if somebody learned everything there was to know about this place, you know, the the nuclear launch codes don't go off. It's like it's we're made concrete, right? We're proud of that. We have a lot of fun doing it. It's not rocket science, really. Uh it's it's chemistry. So so anyway, we're happy to be transparent, and I think that's can be beneficial to our employees and our customers. So what how to do it on the definitions? Is that all right?

SPEAKER_01 15:20

I we're almost out of time. So I hope you're ready to No, I think I can summarize all of those definitions by thinking about being easy to work with. It's it's easier to be honest, then you don't have to keep track of your stories. It's easier to be transparent, then everybody knows where you are. And I think that is why a lot of our customers choose to work with us because we're easier to work with than the than the other alternatives.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

They know what they're getting.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Right. Yeah. It goes back to consistency, right? So if we're um if we're gonna be in their corner and and and do things the right way and be honest about when we make mistakes, because we do. I mean, this industry has so many variables. We are going to make, we have made mistakes, we are going to continue to make mistakes. We do everything we can to minimize them and everything we can to make them right, but we need to be honest about them and transparent about them. And then, you know, we that allows us also to be honest and transparent about our our successes, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Yeah, one thing that I wanted to talk about that that you didn't mention in terms of transparency is in our internal interactions and giving direct feedback and letting people know when they're on track and when they're not on track. Yeah. I think about that really frequently. Like I want to know if I'm doing something wrong. Um, you know, we've talked a lot about being clear is being kind, and that I think about that a lot.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Yeah, absolutely. That goes back to, I think it was episode four, was clarity that we did.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

So yeah, that's that harkens back to that.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

So also going back to last week's episode about taking action. I said I I always want to take action. And this value sort of reigns me in sometimes where my first instinct is to do the easiest, fastest thing. And sometimes that isn't the right thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Long term. So I do I think that through before I take action of something might be more difficult or more challenging or take more effort, but it is the most fair, most ethical thing to do.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Yeah. So I think that we could do a whole podcast on kind of ethical dilemmas, right? We get caught in uh sometimes what's the right the best thing for somebody is not the best thing for another person. And so it's it's hard sometimes to navigate those waters. And I think there's two things there is if if you're stuck in in what you perceive as an ethical dilemma, one, it's okay to to take your time and really I think the most important part is best intentions, right? So just have good intentions and you can kind of work through any of those. But then also ask for help for somebody else, get somebody else's opinion, right? And it'll help navigate those and you can compare how you view it versus how somebody else views it. And sometimes your different ex experiences or life views or whatever can can color that in a different way, and you could see how maybe that ethical dilemma might be uh observed or or interpreted by whoever the affected parties are.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

So yeah, I wanted to go back to what you said also about integrity being doing doing the right things even when no one is watching. And another thing we talk about a lot around here is that our our trucks actually are a billboard. So uh whatever you're doing, although we're all working like really independently and can be far away where we think no one can see us, they actually can see us. And everyone also has a cell phone now and they're recording videos and sending it back to us. So even more than anyone else, we need to keep in mind that what we're doing is being observed and can be can come back to us.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yep, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Uh we have tried to come up with some examples to talk about when we go through these values, and it felt a little weird to toot our own horns about the ethical decisions we make around here. But an example that I that I did think we should share is our people are operating really independently and are frequently have opportunities where they could be dishonest. And they're not. That's that's why we don't have a lot of uh of good examples. Um but one thing that did come to mind that we've run into a few times over the years that I've been here is like time card fraud. Um we have people that you know come in early before any managers are around and clock into their truck and you know, operate really independently, and the opportunity has been there for people to be dishonest, and it always comes out and it always ends up a disaster for everyone that's involved in it.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

And quickly before that, like so when that has happened, you know, unfortunately it has happened, and that's always ended in termination of the employee. And and for me, that's not about the money, really. It's not, it's about now we've lost trust. Exactly. We can't work with somebody we don't trust. And that is um that's why we kind of have a zero tolerance for that. It's it's I mean, yeah, the money, you know, that is taking away from other things we want to spend money on here, but really for me, it's about the trust.

unknown 20:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Or any other mistakes or you know, things that come up always, always feel comfortable calling in and letting somebody know what's going on so we can get it fixed rather than covering up or being dishonest about it.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah. Do we have any loaded questions? I tasked Bear with sending me one while we were recording. And ooh, he asked about the importance of control joints. So a little technical question. This we get to talk technical twice. I'm out. She's out. Okay, so I'll I'll just be brief on that. So because we talked about how concrete uh sets and the resulting hydration products when when water reacts with cement or flash or slag, take up less space than the raw ingredients. So concrete will shrink, actually. Which, if you poured concrete in a cube in space, would be no big deal because it would shrink by the same amount in all directions and it would just get smaller. Um unfortunately, here on Earth we have uh terrible things uh such as gravity and friction. So anytime you pour, you're normally restrained by the ground the concrete is sitting on, or steel beams, or you know, whatever the concrete is in touching. And those things are not shrinking, and concrete is sticks to those. And so when it shrinks, it cannot uniformly shrink across the whole length of the concrete. So when we think about concrete flat work in particular, it's sitting on a subgrade and it needs to shrink, and it literally cannot, the friction of the ground will not let the concrete shrink proportionally in all directions. So when that happens, it's restrained, and then you get a crack. As it shrinks, it's taking up less volume, but it can't move, so it cracks. So that's what you hear the old adage: there's concrete gets two things. It gets hard and it cracks. That is mostly true. And so we know the concrete's going to crack, so we put control joints in, either tooled, sawed, or they have a thing called zip strips, you don't see much anymore. But we put a joint in the concrete to make the crack happen in a predictable and uniform and basically aesthetically pleasing manner. So we can most of the it's squares, concrete like squares. You put the joints in before the shrinkage is done happening, and then it will crack on that weak spot where you saw it or tooled a joint. And so a lot of times if we get a crack that is not where we anticipate, the first thing we do is we go look at the joints and look if there's a crack inside that joint, because there ought to be. And if there's not, that means that the crack was either or the joint was either put in too late or not deep enough to create a weak enough spot, or um something else is happening, right? So that's why we put control joints in concrete.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Excellent question and answer. I'm pleading with everyone to please send in questions that are better than that, where we can talk about stuff that people want to hear about.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Oh, that's so mean.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Okay. Anything else?

SPEAKER_00 23:54

I got nothing. Lex? He's shaking his head for all of you. Uh great radio voice. Nothing for your buddy. All right.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Thanks for listening to Loaded the Han Radio Mix podcast. Please remember to subscribe wherever you're listening, and we will talk to you again soon.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Thanks so much.