18. Continuously Learn and Grow

Continuing our values episodes, Andre and Griffin discuss the first value under Level Up: Continuously Learn and Grow.

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

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

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Before we start, Andrea, I just want to say thank you for gracing us with your presence.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

One time. One time I'm late for an appointment.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

We can't give Lex the amount of grief that we give him and not turn around and give it to you. So it's okay. We've already determined that we're going to have Jeff give you a lesson on how outlook calendars work and keeping your appointments.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

The problem wasn't with the calendar. The problem was we're going to be. I don't want to hear it because you're going to say, like, oh, my lady has a broken leg and I'm going to feel bad.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I don't want to feel bad.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

No, there's no legitimate excuse other than that. It was not the time that I thought it was. But this is very important to me. It's top on my list of priorities each week to make sure that I'm here for this important podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Good. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

So let's start with our announcements. What do you have today?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

First and most important, it's very hot. It has been hot for the last couple weeks. It's going to continue to be hot. So please make sure uh that you're hydrating, you're keeping cool, um, whatever it takes to do that. If we need to get more sports drinks or whatever else, let us know. Um, we want to make sure that everybody's being safe out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

So yeah, it's hot all day and all night. Even when we get here in the morning, it's still hot. I heard I heard a couple people say there were problems with the tablets this week that were overheated when they started the day, basically.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Um also to consider that when we're talking about not idling the trucks, like obviously we want to use our best judgment when it's inclement weather like this. Yes, yes, or like we might have in the winter. So just do your best.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yep. Uh another one is very exciting. Fourth of July, we have trucks in two different parades. So the East Moline Parade, uh, Steve's gonna be over there, and I think we're gonna have four trucks over in the Bettendorf parade. So um, if you are around and and uh your families want to go go see the trucks march through the streets, I think that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

So it is a good time. I enjoy that parade. Uh I don't know why it has to be so early in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

The Bettendorf one? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Like 11 a.m. is like a good time for parades.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Well, I think it's okay that's early as hot as it is right now.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yeah. I'm gonna be ready to be in air conditioning or a pool or something by 11, I think. So yeah. Uh and the last one is we we got an email from the Illinois Radiamix Concrete Association. I just wanted to pass this on. It might be important for someone to know. Apparently, uh we're getting up to the deadline where you have to have the real ID identifications to fly. That's the little star in the corner of the um of the of your ID card. And apparently it's a pretty quick process if you have a standard license in Illinois. But if you have a commercial license, apparently it's taking four to six weeks to turn around. So if you are planning on traveling anywhere and you don't have your real ID, make sure you do that well in advance, especially if you live in Illinois. It sounds like that is a long process. So just wanted to pass that along in case that's important to anybody.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yeah, we definitely see a delay in processing just about everything we do through the state of Illinois.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

So Yes. Including jobs getting engineered. Uh so um it seems to take a while for the jobs to go from you know, ideation to construction longer than it used to, for sure. So all right. What are we gonna talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 3:50

We are back on the values today, right? One of our favorite things. We're moving on to the level up section. That was excellent timing. I'm not sure you have like the whatever approval you need to use real.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

I think it's about the branded the with the like it's I think it's like if someone would really have to dive in deep to get to get to that. Someone actually have to listen to this podcast to find us using music we're not supposed to.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Uh I give you a lot of credit for having that queued up and making it work.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

I did yeah, it was a lot of work to find the right spot.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Okay, so level up. What's that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 4:30

So to me, this is about getting better, more capable, more experienced, more knowledgeable, more efficient, you know, everything kind of along those lines, both as a company and as an individual. Um, we don't want to be stagnant. We don't want to accept the status quo for ourselves or as the company is good enough. We always have room for improvement in our processes, our knowledge, everything. So it's about constantly pushing ourselves to to become better, to learn more, to make things easier for our team members, to, you know, all those things. So yeah, that's what level up's about, and it's uh it's an important one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Okay. So within level up, which this is, by the way, one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yeah. I think you came up with this one.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

I say that a few times over the course of these values, but this one really is one of my favorites. And then within this category is to continuously learn and grow, which is very important to me and everyone here, I think.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yeah, for sure. I I agree with this. My I love to continue to learn. That's definitely a a character trait I have. My focus is on keeping it relevant to the things I learned, and not a Wikipedia spiral about snakes or something, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Yes, the things you find important and valuable to learn about don't always align with the people around you.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Correct. Well, you know, it I just I know sometimes they're not valuable, but you still like to learn. Yes. But anyway, I think a good way to think about this is that growth, whether that be learning or just growing as a person, is not a destination, but it's a mindset, right? It's a journey. It's a it's continuous, it never has an ending. So we really want to think about having a growth mindset. And I think there's some studies I've seen on LinkedIn and like people that have a growth mindset and they compared, you know, earnings potential and they compared, you know, job opportunities and all these things, and and people that identify that they have a growth mindset, you know, tend to be more successful because they are kind of constantly improving. So yeah, so when when we have growth and learning, you know, that can come from so many places. It's it's not just like reading a book or taking a class. Oh, those things can be part of it. I would say for for a lot of people and probably a lot of people on our team, growth and learning happens through doing. It happens through experience, right? So every day, if we look at every day when we come to work on what we can learn today, what can we take away from today that will make us better in the future? We we can't be afraid to fail, right? We sometimes learn and grow the most from failure. An example of this, there's a added, we talked about smoking meat with Dave last week, but there's a in the smoking meat community, there's a a kind of a phrase about the only way to learn to make good brisket is to make bad brisket. And I think that's definitely the case in a lot of things in life and and for our industry as well. We make mixed designs that don't work sometimes, like I've learned from that, where we've made a mix and it's just not worked the way that I thought it was. But you learn those lessons and they're less likely to happen in the future. So failure can be really, really valuable. Like failure can be more valuable than success if it's utilized properly. So that's kind of what we need to keep in mind every day when we come to work. It's okay, it's okay to fail. It's not okay to not try. It's okay to fail, but we gotta learn from it, right? And that's a you know part of an another value for later on that we'll talk about. But um, we take each of those opportunities to grow.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Yeah, I think even whether it's failure or not, if you're curious about a situation, that is the best way to learn. I mean, that's what I've done here for like 10 years is just ask why. Like, why are we doing that way? How do we do it? What happens when we do it that way? Yeah. And just asking the people who know what they're doing those questions. We all learn and we try new things and we get better.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

So Yeah. I found a couple quotes that are kind of along those lines about um not assuming we know everything, right? But that and the first is from Stephen Hawking, who, if you're not uh familiar, was probably one of the smartest people in modern times, was a theoretical physicist. Um, but he said, the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. So if we think about that, that's that's if we think we know it all, right? We think that we know slump just by looking at it, um, or if we think we know how to fix uh an issue with with concrete, or we think we know how to fix a truck, and we're never open to taking new suggestions, new ideas, new information, then we are then being the enemy of progress and knowledge, right? So that's what that's about. And then kind of similarly from Confucius, real knowledge way back way back, yeah. Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance, right? So if we can approach knowledge and and growth from a place of humility and saying, you know, we're we don't know everything that allows us to learn and grow and to gain that uh insights that help us get better.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, I think sometimes new people have the best insights to offer on the things that we've been doing forever. I try to talk to people about that when they first start with us. Like if you see something that doesn't make sense to you, please ask someone because there's a good chance that we're just still doing it that way because that's how we started doing it, or something happened that made us do it that way, and we just kept doing it that way forever. And so I always try to, you know, connect with new people and ask them, you know, what they see, what they think, because it's just the best. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Absolutely. Lex, I remember we had that conversation when you came on and I said you're gonna have a fresh look at at all this that could be really valuable if you you know bring new ideas. Still waiting, but I'm kidding. I'm kidding. He has lots of good ideas.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

So what about one thing I thought about on this is the different ways that people learn. Like you started there kind of talking about you know books and classrooms and things and then experience things. But I also think that just having conversations um and kind of asking people to tell stories about what they've done. You learn so much. Like I just spent a lot of time with with your dad, with Brian Hahn yesterday, and I asked him about you know winning this game of concrete. Like sometimes it feels like you're just not ever going to figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Um and he said, Well, you like that challenge, that's why you're here, right? And I said, I said, yes. And then he went through some of the things that he had been through over his time, and he's right. Like, as soon as you learn something and feel like you've completed it, and there's another thing that's gonna come your way. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

And you know, he's he's been doing this so long that he's probably seen a lot of cycles where the thing that worked once eventually doesn't work anymore, right? And so then you move on to uh the next thing you try, the next thing you learn.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Another thing I was thinking about on this topic is technology. I mean, it's impossible to keep up with all the technology. Right. And if you ever decide to stop learning, you're you're not going to be successful. Like even, you know, today we had a meeting with our technology support people, and they were talking about moving files to SharePoint and how to manage your email box. And just like, you know, we've been managing email boxes for 20 years, but yeah, the way you do it now is not the same way that you did it 20 years ago. So we all have to keep evolving and learning new ways to keep up with it.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yeah. And there I was talking to them yesterday, and the this isn't really on topic. I'm sorry. Uh he was talking about uh changing your voicemail to in your cell phone to just be the default because people can take your your your voice sounds and recreate, like the deep fake to recreate it, which is wild. But we do a podcast, so we are screwed because yeah, they have lots of data points in our butt going back to what you were saying, absolutely, the technology is ever changing. But we can also leverage some of those technologies for learning itself, right? So AI, chat GPT, things like that. Um we can use those to ask questions, right? Um, we did a thing recently where we threw up an evaporation rate calculator. I think we talked about that, and it was like teaching how kind of teaching how to code. I learned a lot about how computer coding, like not that I can do it now, but I learned a little bit about how it how it works just by utilizing uh technology. So, you know, and and some people are readers, some people are doers, some people are listeners, people listen in different ways, right? Or different learn in different ways. So I would challenge everyone to think deeply about how they learn and then intentionally try to go out and try to learn that way, right? So if you're a doer, then try new things so that you can learn. If you're a reader, then look for resources. You know, if you want to learn more about concrete, we have our tech bulletins, and there's, you know, I'll I'll hand you the PCA's design and control of concrete mixtures if you want to learn about concrete.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Send in a loaded question. Griffin would love to talk more about concrete.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

If you're a listener, you could listen to the loaded podcast, the loaded Hon Rebooks podcast, right? So then there's a a million other podcasts or audible stories or or whatever that um you can listen to. And I think another point I wanted to make was when we try to live this kind of from a management level, is we want to give the opportunities to learn. So we send people to classes to learn about technical aspects of concrete. We've brought in Steve Ott last year for our management folks the last two winters to have leadership growth. Uh so we've done classes with that. We've sent people to plant maintenance, to truck maintenance classes, those types of things. Um so if there is ever a resource you feel like you need to be better at your job or to grow, and it's something that we can help you do by by getting you the right, getting in front of the right classes or or or something like that, let us know and we will we'll make every effort because we really believe in in helping people grow and giving them the resources to do so.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Very good. Are you ready to move on to our loaded question?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

I think I just want to summarize that, you know, every time that each of us grow individually, that, you know, we are, as an organization, we're greater than the sum of our parts. But if any of any of those sums grow as well, then our whole organization grows. So every time an individual makes a step that, like, hey, I've gotten better at whatever it is I do, right? And I'm a loader operator and I've I've taken the next step, now I'm a really good loader operator. That makes our whole organization better. So just know that your individual goals help all of us, right? There are your individual growth. So yeah, that's that's it.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Good. Our loaded question kind of plays into this pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

I think this question came from Sam, and he said a reliable source of loaded questions. Thank you. Yes, is the answer to that uh in both uh aspects. So we the last, I believe the last 56 trucks we've bought have been Kenworth trucks with contact mixers on it. And we're trying to get consistency within um the shop, like we only have to carry so many parts because we don't have to have a part for a bunch of different trucks and try to keep things very similar. We had some engine changes through that. PACAR specifically purchased Kenworth at some point in that process. And so most of our most recent trucks have had PACAR engines in them. And whether it's PACAR specifically or just more recent engines with the kind of the emissions requirements that are out there now, we've had a lot of challenges with those engines, specifically because our trucks aren't idle a lot. So this is kind of why we've been put, you know, ringing the bell about turning the trucks off, because and when they don't aren't hot enough, I know that seems counterintuitive, but when the when the when the engine doesn't run hot enough long enough, basically the injectors and water pumps start having issues, is what we're seeing. So it's an engine that was designed for over-the-road trucking, and we're using it for kind of short hauls and and sporadic hauls. So that has been very difficult to have trucks that are off the road and people that aren't able to drive their regular truck. I can't I know that has to be so frustrating. And so, yes, we we've learned a lot about why that's happening. Um, we'll continue to keep learning on why that's happening and what we can do to maybe mitigate that because these trucks aren't going anywhere. We're gonna have them for a while. And also, we are going to you know learn what we can from other people that are in our industry and what trucks they're using and having more success from. I'm not saying we won't buy a Kenworth with a Pack R engine in it again, um, but we need to know what's changed, what's gotten better, and what the other options offer as well. So we'll be evaluating all those things when it's time to buy more trucks. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

It's kind of funny. When I was in Alito yesterday, there were different truckers in there picking up rock, and they said that they have other brands of new trucks and have the exact same issues.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

So that's why I I think it's it is bigger than just you know a PACAR issue, right? It's it's the way that engines are built now, they're looking for maximum efficiency and maximum or minimal environmental impact from over-the-road trucking, because that's the majority of the trucks that are out there. You know, if uh nobody from the engine manufacturer industry is listening to this podcast, but if they were, what I would tell them is maybe they need to make two different types of engines. You make your over-the-road engine and then kind of maybe a construction-focused engine where you're going to have a lot of idle time, a lot of more like an off-road. Yeah, right, exactly. Because that that would definitely be more appropriate for uh our industry. So at this point, it doesn't uh it doesn't really exist. I did, we talked a little bit with Steve a while back. I did ask a question to Contect, our the mixer manufacturer we work with about EV trucks and if he's heard of anybody doing that or they've done any installs on an EV truck and and they have not. And I sent a message to someone internationally to try to get some feedback on what they're seeing on EV trucks because I am interested to know. There's so many questions going down that road, but I am interested to know will uh the engine problems go away and and if you know the trucks need to get lighter, they need to get the range, and they have to be able to hold at least 10 yards, right? So those things have to happen before we would even consider it. But if those things could be done, and I think eventually those problems will be solved, then you know, I don't know how much a replacement battery costs or a charging station or any of those things. But with the amount of downtime we have and the cost of engine repairs and engine replacements and the variability of diesel fuel pricing, you know, I I think it could make there's an economic argument to be made that that might be something we need to look at. So I'm interested in learning and growing and plenty to learn about on this topic going forward. Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

All right. Well, thanks for listening to Loaded the Honready Mix podcast. Please remember to subscribe wherever you're listening, and we will talk to you again soon.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Thank you.