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Everybody Else is a podcast about the invisible people who make life happen. What began as conversations with behind-the-scenes builders in the music industry has grown into a broader exploration of how people think, work, and carry responsibility across industries and across disciplines. Hosted by Wes Luttrell, the show centers on thoughtful dialogue with creatives, leaders, and operators whose work often goes unseen but shapes the world we live in. New episodes streaming every Tuesday.
speaker-0 (00:00.834)
This is the Everybody Else Podcast.
speaker-1 (00:09.902)
But most of the authors of the human story are unnamed. Invisible contributors to the greatest story ever written. So who are the invisible people writing our chapter today? Because behind every great city, industry, movement, and way of thinking are people who dedicate their entire lives to work that'll go virtually unnoticed. Work that builds on where we've been, shapes where we are, and points us towards where we're going.
There are those in the spotlight, and then there's everybody else.
speaker-2 (00:57.024)
into. You were young, Yeah, I was right out of high school. decided to go in. Actually, there's several reasons, several things that drove me into doing it. One is it was, I'm fourth generation. My sons are now fifth generation Navy. So went back, that my adopted family. So I knew what it had done. You were? Yes.
is.
speaker-1 (01:18.414)
Adopted.
Yeah. So this, the whole.
traveling and me being located and living all over the country and then finally settling here in Evansville goes back to birth to my young childhood. So I was actually born into a drug addicted family. My biological father ended up committing suicide. My mom was in a lot of trouble and stuff and we were looking at being taken by the state, me and myself and my siblings.
I luckily, my aunt took us in while my mom was going through her legal trouble. I don't want to say she was arrested, but she was going through some legal issues. She's never come out to me and said that I actually got arrested, but there was a reason we had to move in with my aunt at the time. My aunt started my faith journey. She was a very religious, very caring, very giving woman. She, if I remember correctly, was Baptist.
There.
speaker-2 (02:18.828)
She would take us to church with her. She also ran a center for illiterate adults. So she would work with adults and not only teach them to read, but she would teach them crafts like crocheting, cross knitting and stuff like that. And my brother and sister, they're the oldest and I was not in school yet. So she would take me with her to these things to be able to work with people. then actually taught me that it's funny with my family now is I'm the one that does all the sewing.
I
speaker-0 (02:46.03)
all the
knitting and all that stuff because she had taught me. anyhow, that was in central Kentucky. We moved from central Kentucky to Tennessee to stay with my aunt. When my mom got all her stuff straightened out and she remarried and got custody of us back. And I'm assuming it was custody. I say that in the way she took us back. She got us back and she married who I call my dad, Robert Peters, who my son is named after.
is shitting.
speaker-2 (03:16.12)
But I was around seven or eight years old when that had happened and they'd went through the adoption process and got our names changed to their name and all that good mess. And we moved to Western Kentucky. Paducah. Stayed in Paducah for a while. Got to travel quite a bit. My brother is six years older than I am and he joined the Navy before I did. And I would go and stay with him. Had a pretty rough childhood. was a bit of a hellion.
I was though I was not I don't
think by any stretch of the imagination was I a good kid? Was not a good kid?
So anything that my...
I say that, and this is probably one of the things that is going to hurt some feelings if they hear it, it was still a relationship. My adopted dad was a very abusive physically, mentally, verbally. Today's standard would not get, and not at all. And there wasn't a very loving relationship there. So any opportunity they had to get rid of me, any opportunity I had to get out of the house.
speaker-0 (03:59.778)
decent.
speaker-0 (04:05.251)
man
speaker-0 (04:11.978)
No.
speaker-2 (04:23.382)
I was gone, so I stayed with my brother. lived in San Diego and I went to San Diego and stayed with him. And this is still 15, 16 year old kid and I stayed in San Diego with him. He was being transferred for a year. He went to Okinawa, Japan. So I came back to Western Kentucky and then he got stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. And I went down there with him and stayed with him. So I knew when it came time,
for me to get out of Western Kentucky. And was something there that I wanted out. I wanted out of Kentucky. I wanted to be gone. But then also I got into the situation I was in. I was drinking all the time. I had gotten into drugs and ended up getting arrested.
the
speaker-0 (05:11.832)
was six.
17 years old, wasn't quite 18 yet, but I had gotten arrested and it was a situation that I had gotten arrested in. I got arrested for a DUI because we had been drinking all day. When they had pulled me over, they didn't know that we were actually out there trying to find drugs, to buy drugs. And so it actually saved me because I got arrested before we could do it. And it was the good Lord speaking to me telling me, you got to separate yourself from this.
So that might.
Monday, I got arrested on a Saturday evening. let me out Sunday. That Monday, my dad and I went to the recruiter's office and I was like, whatever you can give me. I went out of here. That started the traveling. I had to get a waiver because I had gotten in trouble. So I had to get a waiver to get into the military. I went back out to San Diego. From San Diego, went to Millington, Tennessee, then to San Diego.
Portsmouth, Virginia down to Mayport, Florida back to Chesapeake, Virginia. then the whole scenario with my wife and I, I had shared with you our first four years of marriage. asked for every deployment I could get on. time. Christy and I actually met on a blind date. My brother had come. old were you? We were, she had just turned 16 and it was her 16th birthday.
speaker-1 (06:27.822)
How'd you
speaker-0 (06:40.096)
I didn't
was she was not allowed to date until she turned 16. On her 16th birthday, my brother was dating Charity, who is his wife now. And I asked Charity, was like, set me up with one of your friends. Cause Christie went to a private, she went to a Catholic school. I went to public school and I'd asked Charity, was like, set me up with one of your friends. And she was like, I don't know what you like. And I was like, well, I can get a date. It's no problem. was like, hook me up with a good girl. I want a good girl for a change, you know?
wanted
speaker-2 (07:11.502)
remember when we went to pick him up, my brother was home on leave and we went to pick him up and I was like, Cory, my brother's name is Cory. And I was like, said, I'm telling you seriously, if we pull into this driveway and she comes up, she's hideous. Let's get out of here. That's, that's how my mind. So I didn't want to get to know her. She didn't look good. I didn't want to know her. Yeah. Very superficial guy, but she did. And when she came out, I was like jaw dropping and I was like,
You
speaker-0 (07:35.778)
though.
speaker-0 (07:41.282)
and he goes like, you want me to?
leave and I like, nope, I'm gonna get in the backseat with her. But we met then, dated for a while. I was the first guy she ever went on a date with, it wasn't anything serious. She dated a couple other guys and everything. And I remember we had a party at the house and Charity was there and I was dating, kind of dating another girl at the time, what Christy had called Charity.
So.
speaker-0 (07:52.718)
the
speaker-2 (08:09.998)
told Charity that she wanted to come over. So Charity came and asked, hey, come pick her up. And I was like, duh. I told her I've got to go. The other girl that I was talking with, I got to go. it became a whole big ordeal and an argument. And I didn't actually get to pick Christy up that night. But I went the next day and took her out. And we've been together ever since. So it'll be 30 years in January. celebrated 29 years. January 4th was our 29th year.
too much.
So
speaker-1 (08:37.582)
Wow, congrats. Okay, so you're with her and then the first, like you were saying, the first four years of your journey in
first four years, so I actually joined the military and I went to training. had training out in San Diego and I had told her, she stayed in Western Kentucky and we were engaged at the time. I had told her, I can handle the separation, let me get through my training, let me get everything done. And when I get my first permanent duty station, if we can handle it till then, then we'll get married.
we can
speaker-2 (09:13.952)
Me, I'm going through my training, getting a fleet ASW out in San Diego, anti-submarine warfare.
Why, how did that, why that?
I didn't.
My dad told me I needed to do something in electronics because he knew electronics were coming. They offered me miniature and microelectronics to do electronic courses. So I was like, perfect. And I wasn't a very intelligent person. So when I took the actual ASVAM, I didn't score very high, but I took the best technology, technical position that I could take. into that because it gave me, it's crazy.
good.
speaker-0 (09:39.671)
as
speaker-0 (09:47.736)
So, so I'm- Me and-
Not only do you study the electronics and learn miniature and microelectronics, but you also have to study some oceanography and something. You're in Western Kentucky, oceanography is not a word that you use.
Yeah, right.
But I did that.
time that I was going through training and everything, Christy was planning a wedding. Her mind was made up. We're doing it. We're getting married. And left San Diego, December of 96. I took 30 days off because she had planned the wedding for January 4th.
speaker-0 (10:19.38)
There is all this. It's a tech. So, so I.
speaker-0 (10:29.774)
8.
speaker-2 (10:41.152)
Our honeymoon was spent driving to Virginia beach to try to find a place to live. And we spent a week there, came, caught a plane to Bahrain out in the Persian Gulf. But that point she stayed in Western Kentucky because we didn't have a place. And then I didn't think it was right for my 19 year old bride. Yeah. I was 20 for her to be moving to another location that she knew nothing, at least at home. She's there in Paducah. She still had mom and dad that could take care of her.
I back home and then I...
speaker-0 (11:00.152)
We good?
speaker-2 (11:10.84)
So I was gone for six months. We moved out there, moved her out there, everything that we had fit in a little five by 10 trailer, box trailer that you pull behind the trailer. That's actually my dad moved us out there. He put everything in his box trailer and that's what we had. At that point, our first place out there, an apartment attached to a house and it
I came home.
speaker-0 (11:35.448)
was.
Maybe.
five, six hundred square feet. There was one bedroom, kitchen and dining room all together. I think it was funny to actually go into the restroom to use the toilet. You would have to step into the bathtub and turn around and close the door to get around to use the restrooms.
And
speaker-0 (11:58.274)
But
We did that, I was home for a month or two, deployed ball tops. It's in North Atlantic. For a couple of months was deployed again. it really, was anything that they would offer, any training that they would offer, any deployment that they would offer, any crews that I could go on, anything I could do, I would volunteer for it. And a lot of the reason behind that I shared with you was if you went to the golf, it was tax-free money, hostile pay, tax-free money.
time home.
speaker-2 (12:27.918)
And anything that I could do to get that paycheck up and save as much money as we possibly could, I would do it. And I did that for a little over four years. So I share with everybody and Christie likes to share it as well that our first four years, five years, four and a half years of marriage, we may have spent about a year together though, because I was constantly gone.
down.
When my first daughter was born, my oldest daughter was born, I got orders to stay stateside. So I was working at the shipyard at the time. had taken orders to work at the miniature and micro electronics shop in the shipyard. When I took the orders and actually reported for duty, the senior chief that was in charge was like, don't think you're supposed to be here. Well, I had the orders to report to this building and I was like,
Well, I had the orders here. So he takes it we ended up making some phone calls and everything. And he was like, we're over staff. They had three females that were there on medical hold because they were pregnant. So they were filling up three of the bullets. And I was like, where am I going? And he was like, you're going to 71 Bravo. And I was like, what is that? And he's like, corrosion control. And I'm like, the hell is corrosion control? know, so was anyhow, I've got orders and it wasn't even on the same base. It was at a, on a different base.
So I
speaker-2 (13:49.784)
show up over there. was like, we weren't actually, weren't expecting me at the time, we needed you. had a spot for me. so to understand what corrosion control is, it's actually sandblasting, thermal spray and powder coating. So all this stuff that's on the weather decks of the ships has to be sandblasted down and recoded. I went from doing miniature and microelectronics to now I sandblast thermal spray and powder coat stuff. And I loved it. Absolutely loved it to the point.
So.
speaker-2 (14:20.494)
was another thing. did that for the Navy from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. I worked for the Navy. I took on a second job running a civilian powder coat facility from 4 p.m. to about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. I would go home, shower, get a couple hours sleep, and head back into the Navy again. And I did that for the next four years. That just had a young family. Robert was coming. We had another baby on the way.
speaker-2 (14:48.206)
Of course, we were that young and dumb and credit card everything. Swiping credit cards, so we got in major credit card debt. So I was working easily 16 to 20 hours a day trying to get everything paid off and good to make ends meet.
doing what we can.
And then what had stated my oldest son, Robert, we were due to have him. When the day that Christie went into labor with him, my dad had passed away back in Western Kentucky. We knew he was sick. had, well, they thought he had the flu for a couple of weeks, misdiagnosed him with having the flu. One day he woke up and couldn't move his legs. His lower extremities wouldn't work. And that's when they realized that he had Guillain-Barre syndrome.
which is an actual virus that attacks your nervous systems. Flu-like symptoms, but then it actually start attacking your nervous system where your extremities won't work. And that's how they figured that out. So he got hospitalized. And the way I found out is I was calling home to let everybody know that Christie was in labor, Robert's first grandson in our family. Was a big ordeal with dad adopting us. He didn't get to name any of us. So he was going, naming the first grandson.
So, in it-
speaker-0 (16:00.76)
He was so.
I was calling home and I couldn't get in touch with anybody, couldn't answer the phone. Finally, my mom had called me back later that evening and explained everything to me about dad being in the hospital. They were having to do plasma transfusion, blood transfusions, and he coded. As they were trying to do the transfusion, they claimed that the actual virus was attacking his nervous system or his heart.
Yeah. No one would.
speaker-0 (16:28.814)
and
caused his heart to go into defib. And so they had brought him back from that one. As she's telling me all this, I can hear him in the background. So he wants to talk to me, gets on the phone with me. And I was like, dad, what's going on? So again, he explains it to me. I was like, BS, if I need to drop everything, be, you know, I'm 900, 1,200 miles away. It's 12 hours. I'll be home today. And he made me promise. And of course, talking to him was like, you and I sitting here right now talking with each other.
No.
speaker-1 (17:00.558)
He's cognitive.
Yeah, you would not have known two hours earlier, they were using defibrillators on him. Yeah, he was fine. so he had made me promise. was like, boy, don't you leave my grandson out there to be born without his daddy. And I was like, Arnie's like, you promised me. And I was like, promise. And I was like, you just promised me you'll be back in that bike shop. And he's like, I'll be back in no time. Right after it wasn't Katrina, I can't remember the hurricane we had, but it was 2000.
It was in 2003, we had a major hurricane tropical storm come through East Coast. had a Navy buddy that had gotten out and he had an Arbitra company down in South Carolina. Well, this hurricane was like devastating. It devastated that area. Well, I had him and his whole crew up there staying with us, working on the cleanup from the hurricane. And I'd gone out.
After getting off the phone with dad, I went out there because they were having issues with one of their chipper trucks and it was just the wiring on it. So we were out there rewiring and Christie comes out there and was like, Chris, your brother's on the phone. At this point, I'd been in a little over eight years. My brother had never called me. Never one time had he ever called me. So when she had told me your brother's on the phone, I was like, crap. And that was it. They tried the transfusion again. Heart went into deep him.
yet.
speaker-2 (18:24.054)
and they couldn't bring him back that time. Worked on him for a half hour, 45 minutes and couldn't bring him back. So dad had passed away. Christie's in labor. I just promised the man I wouldn't come home until his grandson was born. So I had to, one, I had to honor Christie with what she was going through, we were going through with getting ready to have a baby. Had to honor my dad because I had just told him I wouldn't leave my son there to be born without his father being there.
through what
speaker-2 (18:52.768)
And then with all the stress and everything, usually stress induces labor. With Christie, it all stopped. Everything stopped. was a week later before they actually induced labor and took Robert from her. By the time I got home, the funeral was done, the ceremony was done, everything was already done. was gone. So that was my decision to get, was going to be deployed again. And I had asked him.
though.
speaker-0 (19:12.514)
He was
speaker-0 (19:17.439)
out.
speaker-2 (19:21.976)
Please just give me the opportunity to stay stateside one more year. Just extend me one more year on my duty assignment now." And they wouldn't do it. It told me I had no other option than I was going and I was like, no, there is another option. I'll just get out and go home. And that's what led to us, you know, with the idea of going home and helping run the bike shop in Western Kentucky. And realized.
So, what?
attention.
This one in Western Kentucky.
speaker-0 (19:51.448)
When I got
back and the family went into turmoil. My brother and sister were fighting over who has the business and he didn't have a will. I mean, because it was a year later. Finished my obligation. Dad passed away October 9th of 2003. I got out December 18th of 2004. So I still had a year left of.
He didn't have a will.
No, they were.
I still, I, you know,
speaker-0 (20:13.994)
of
speaker-2 (20:18.292)
obligation and I finished it and by the time I got home it was a complete mess. My brother and sister weren't talking. My sister had my mother in court over probation court of such that was supposed to belong to her.
So, I just remembered all about.
going back and forth and I was the middle guy. was supposed to be the non-biased guy and my sister would tell me something and my brother would tell me something and my mom would tell me something. And I had left the military where I had structure. had. But,
And you have a young family.
Yeah.
speaker-0 (20:49.292)
Yeah.
Can I say something? Sure. So what's interesting is when I hear you talk about you identified that you were somebody who would take opportunities when they would come up. You're somebody who had a you would have you had your your Navy obligation then you would go to your civilian thing and you were trying to save as much money as possible. You so so you grow up this kid. So by the way those are two
Those are two qualities of leadership. Initiation, someone who takes initiative. And then another person is a saving man. The one who holds, the one who has, you know, self-restraint and self-control to save money for, to delay gratification, to save money for a future day. But you grew up as a kid who was a troublemaker, who was getting into shit.
But once structure was presented to you in the form of the military, you all of sudden, and I'm assuming that within that structure is embedded leadership, these other guys and these leaders who are shaping you. this is something interesting to hear you talk about. You actually excelled, whether you realized it or not, you transformed under structure.
and under leadership. Do you remember at all some of the leaders that you encountered or like the what some of the characteristics were of the people who made an impact on you as a young man?
speaker-2 (22:38.402)
Brother, I want to tell you something that you asked this because I just did some of my employees' reviews today. One of them was the outgoing supervisor that we've transferred him to Western Kentucky. He's actually in the Paducah and Catawba facilities now. He's got Western Kentucky. I was his, I hired him in here for me to mentor him and work him up. my leadership style or mentoring style is sink or swim.
It's awesome.
speaker-0 (23:01.122)
actual
speaker-0 (23:07.062)
Yeah, it is.
is a here's what I need done. If you need help, come ask me, but figure it out. You know, cause that's how a lot of mine was. So I go back to my childhood again, when mom and dad got married and we were adopted and we moved to Western Kentucky, we lived in a trailer house, little 16 by 60 trailer house on rented property on a farm. Well, 2,800 acre farm, Mr. Childress, Carol Childress was his name.
and at eight.
years old, he would let me come up and clean the dairy barns and let me. Then you made 3.75 an hour, $3.75 an hour. He would let me do that when as I got older, I had more and more responsibilities. Hardest man I ever had to work for. I mean, you were a dog. would cuss you out. He would take care of you, but you knew where you stood. He would cuss you like a dog. If you didn't do something right, you were the biggest piece of. So it actually, and I.
the in in it
speaker-0 (23:47.608)
So, ben-
speaker-0 (24:04.664)
Shut out the-
speaker-2 (24:08.414)
I've shared this with him since then. Now he's 80 years old now and broken down. He's an old farmer, know, bad back and just, But I shared with him that I went into the military, even boot camp, cause boot camp, try to chew your ass and try to break you down and all. And I'm like, man, I grew up working for us twice as mean as y'all. I didn't do anything right.
It didn't matter how good of a job you did, you could do it better in Mr. Childress' eyes, Carol's eyes. You can always have done it better. What would you have done different? So he, I mean, he programmed me for when I got in the military, I just took off. These guys would come to me and tell I want it done like this. Why would go above and beyond? Just sweep the floor. Why would sweep the floor and make sure every single crumb was off of it because Mr. Childress is going to chew my ass if it's not going
Yeah, I
speaker-0 (24:59.808)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So he prepared that and I actually shared with Ryan, Ryan Quinnell is the supervisor who we just moved down to Western Kentucky. I shared with him today doing his review that I hope I was a good mentor to you because I am a very, you're going to sink or swim. Learn how to do it. If you need help, call me. And it, Lagarde, senior chief Lagarde.
Lenny.
speaker-0 (25:26.976)
STG was
guard, one of my chiefs in the military. He was one that was like that would give you a lot of responsibility. One, because I trust you. I wouldn't give this to you if I didn't trust you. Don't let them down. And you didn't want to let them down, know, and that's the military. You don't want to let anybody down. You don't want to let the guys reporting to you down. And you definitely don't want to let your superiors down. It installs it in you. And then I look at with Marathon and I told him the same thing because he knew.
and
speaker-0 (25:40.386)
minutes.
speaker-0 (25:51.406)
So it that
speaker-2 (25:57.85)
who some of my mentors were, he was an actual operator. So he was an hourly guy when I was up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and he worked in green Bay. I was the manager there in Milwaukee and my boss was Matt Brown, gentleman named Matt Brown. He's retired now and has lives down in Tennessee now. But, Matt Brown was the same way. was brand new at this. Let people in the military was a leader in the military LPO, lead petty officer and stuff like that.
When I got into the petroleum industry, I'm trying to figure things out. Couldn't even spell petroleum when I came to work. So I'm trying to figure out how these things work. All I've ever done has been an operator. So I'll go out there and turn valves, flip switches, do stuff like that. Well, now they've put me in a leadership role. And Matt Brown was exactly like that. Figure it out. Don't call me. That's your place to run. Simple things like.
Yeah.
speaker-0 (26:49.963)
and
When trucks are loading, obviously the tank is going down. When you have a minimum level that you can run that product tank, that petroleum tank too. I shared this with Ryan today and I was like, I remember it getting to the minimum where we had a truck loading when it hit the minimum and shut off. So you can lower your minimum for one truck and let them complete loading. But then you have to shut that tank off. So I called Matt Brown, who was my boss at the time and was like, Hey,
had to put this tank below minimum working so this truck could finish loading. He's like, what the hell are you calling me for? And I was like, well, the procedure tells me I have to have area manager, which he was an area manager. I have to have your approval. You don't need my approval to do run your business. And I'm like,
Okay, so yeah
But it did, working for Mr. Childress, the military, leaders like Matt Brown, Chief Lagarde, Lenny Lagarde, Mr. Childress was the, he was the go-getter.
speaker-0 (27:50.092)
He and according I also take.
with criticism, you're not going to hurt my feelings.
Yeah, I am I am one was a but
Between my dad and my adopted dad and I, there was no doing. And he was very belittling, was everything under the sun. I was the dumbest person he'd ever met in his life. He used to say little jokes to me like, I never really understood him, but he'd say, you put your brain in a hummingbird's ass, it'd fly backwards, which was an insult, but I don't really know what it meant.
Yeah.
speaker-0 (28:14.754)
And I
speaker-0 (28:24.43)
So, and then it...
One where the one that finally registered with me, was like, holy cow, that was mean, where he had said, put my brain edge of a razor blade, it would look like a BB rolling down a four lane highway.
So he didn't think I was very intelligent.
I guess it's easy.
my gosh.
speaker-2 (28:47.95)
But I did, I got in the military and it was the school structure, I'm extremely hands-on. like to look at hands-on. Only in third years as I'm getting older, comprehension and stuff like reading and really coming to work for Marathon has done that for me actually because I've been involved in so many projects in engineering and actually
I am a
speaker-0 (28:59.01)
older is it.
speaker-0 (29:05.237)
It's really...
speaker-2 (29:13.964)
having to visualize it on paper before we put it to work out into the field and everything. So I've really gotten a lot better at that. Most of my career, military included, I was a hands-on person. Let me turn the wrenches, let me test the wires.
I've
speaker-1 (29:32.487)
So tell me about joining Marathon.
So Marathon was, Christy and I got out, moved back.
history.
Quick for context, what's your role today?
I am
speaker-2 (29:43.018)
Southern Indiana, Terminal Operations Manager. So I've run the Marathon Petroleum for Southern Indiana.
How did you get it? When it began?
When I got out of the military, a few things, I came home to help run the business, my family's business, the Harlow-Davison company down there. With all the turmoil and everything that was going on, I don't want any part of this. I've survived 10 years without y'all. I'm sure that I can do 10 more without you. So I cut ties with everybody. I'm done. So the first job I actually took was at a nursing home.
I did a like.
speaker-2 (30:22.646)
Metropolis Nursing and Rehab in Metropolis, Illinois. And I was an assistant physical therapist because some of the classes and stuff that I took in the military were for physical therapy and dietary.
They transferred over.
was enough to get me in there.
So I wanted
to do it, thought that it was like sports therapy and stuff, getting in working with athletes, not working in a nursing home. That's not what I wanted to do. Yeah. I up applying, put my resume on Monster Jobs. Back then it was Monster Jobs, like Indeed now or- Got you. Had a company that had called me out of Russellville, Kentucky. It was a biodiesel plant. And the reason that they had called me is because my resume
speaker-0 (30:49.912)
So
speaker-0 (30:59.436)
Nah.
speaker-2 (31:10.242)
The head hunter, when you get out of the service, when you get out of the military, they have services provided for you. So I actually had someone write my resume for me when I got out of the service. And on there it had military leader. And then when I was on the SWAT team in the BBSS, Visit Board Search and Seas, which is an at sea SWAT team, when I was on the SWAT, Navy, we would take over vessels. Any vessel coming in or out of Iraq, we would take those vessels over.
team in the
speaker-2 (31:35.724)
And we would look for them smuggling anything, any medical supplies, dates, crude oil, anything like that. Well, on my resume, it had crude oil that I would inspect these vessels for crude oil. I would inspect the vessel. they were smuggling crude oil, we would bust them. And that was it. That was my extent of petroleum products. Well, they had seen that I had the leadership and that I had worked with crude oil and offered me a supervisor position at the biodiesel plant. So I took it.
That's all I do is I.
speaker-2 (32:05.932)
And it was rendering biodiesel. So rendering plant and biodiesel, we started producing our own plant-based bio. And so I was there as a supervisor for a little bit. Then they made me assistant plant manager and worked there.
And
wasn't the best.
Conditions like the plan itself was just a hazard people getting hurt every day and augers being held up by belling wire It was just it was an ocean nightmare And I was offered a job with the company called Intertech Caleb Brett as an inspector We were not a third party non-biased inspector that would go into petroleum industries to your marathon to your axons Transmontanes and stuff like that. We would do their inventory control
off then.
speaker-2 (32:51.116)
And then we would also pull samples and test all their product that they were loading on barges that they were putting in tanks and
Who hires that inspection company? Does Marathon and Exxon or is it the government that's like Exxon?
the government that does it. there is an agreement like if we were exchanging products with Country Mart or, and can't be metered. Like we sell product to Country Mart in Mount Vernon right now. We have a metering system between us. There is a pipeline that connects the two of us. So there is no transportation. There's no nothing. So at that point, we don't have to have a third party inspector. But for me to take it and put it on a truck or put it on a barge and it's going,
or if it's
speaker-2 (33:34.178)
down to Tennessee or something like that. Someone has to be there to inspect it. When it's loading, they run analysis on it once it's loaded. Once it gets to the discharge point, it has to be tested again. It has to be inventory controlled. have to gauge it and make sure what you said you put on it is actually what it shows up with is how much they had on there. then the, is Caleb Brett that does it. Marathon has to third party them in when they do those barges.
since.
speaker-0 (33:56.268)
it is
speaker-2 (34:03.18)
Like we still load barges for Shell in Mount Vernon, we'll send Shell product out. And when we do those, we have to have a third party inspector come in and do the analysis and inventory control on it. That's what I was doing. I'd worked for that company.
Kind of
gives you a little more insight too on you know it's like people complain about people complain about like the price of a concert ticket well let's just break down what goes into the cause of right so you think about people complain about a gallon of gas well let's go like let's just unpack what is what it takes to produce a barrel of oil right and you think about that's what I was interested in like who like or you know even the fact that there is an inspection layer
that adds cost to the product.
Yeah. It's a just in the inspections and petroleum because my facility out in Mount Vernon, it's a pipeline receipt facility. So there's a refinery in Robinson, Illinois, direct pipeline into us. So it is, the product is made, has to be tested before it can be put into a certified tank.
speaker-0 (34:52.353)
Yeah,
speaker-0 (35:05.582)
it.
speaker-0 (35:10.987)
it has.
speaker-2 (35:16.19)
They make the product, they test it there. They put it in the certified tank, they ship it to us. It gets to our location, we test it. We sample and we test it. Before we move it out of that tank, we take it from that tank and put it on the barge. We sample and test the barge before it can leave our facility. It leaves our facility and gets to the discharge facility. It is sampled and tested again before it goes into their tank. And then there's monthly samples you have
tank.
speaker-0 (35:40.782)
So it's, yeah, it's layers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And.
yeah.
That's getting into the petroleum side of things. think when you, when people, like if you go to a BP gas station or you go to a Marathon gas station or Shell or Exxon or Sitgo or Flying J or whoever it is, and they claim that they get bad gas, it's not, what happens at those is you get groundwater in the tank. And into the tank there at the station itself. It's, BP has.
It's not that.
been inspected 20 times.
speaker-2 (36:15.336)
Right, right. It's not that BP has bad product. It's that station, that gas station has an issue with their tanks.
and beer.
Yeah, that is, but so when real quick the the just so I have a little more understanding about the the industry that you work in today It's it's highly regulated. correct. And that regulation comes from the government. Yes, and those those agencies would be like They're protecting nature. They're there's are the ecosystem. There's Like what you're saying, which is is that quality control that they're inspecting so that like the
Market like what you said like what what you say you're loading on that truck is actually getting delivered over here It's like getting messed with in between right so that's controlling like the quality or you know the product itself but like so your job like when you work in this industry you are you are You are obeying a lot of or your you are aligning with a lot of restrict or you have to
You have to obey a lot of rules that are placed on the industry. And you also have to run an efficient company. The organization itself within that rules has to be well organized. You know, from the people to the procedures to all this stuff. It's amazing how hard that probably, mean, just this seems like a challenge. seems like a big challenge. Challenging thing.
speaker-0 (37:52.334)
See you second.
Yes, dude, it is separating.
multiple the dish.
It's so challenging I can hardly articulate what I'm trying to
Un-b-b-b-b-
speaker-2 (38:01.934)
There is an unbelievable effort to get one gallon of gas to the consumer, to someone to pull up to the pump and put it in their vehicle. Incredible the work that goes into getting that one gallon of gas to that gas station. So, at my facilities, there's three.
dude too
speaker-0 (38:15.788)
It's.
speaker-0 (38:23.118)
with a
speaker-2 (38:27.512)
There's probably a dozen parties involved in doing it, but three major parties involved in doing it. You have the refinery that actually makes the product, certifies the product. Then you have Marathon Pipeline, which it's a whole different group. You have a pipeline group that works all your right of ways, all your booster stations, because that's another added expense that goes into just moving it. You can only pop product so far, so fast, to where you have to have a booster station to continue pushing it.
90 miles down the road and they maintain all that equipment. Then when it gets to our facility, maintain everything inside our facility.
maintain
speaker-0 (39:02.51)
we maintain.
And it's.
Are you like a distribution center then?
We, I guess the best way to look at us is a bulk storage facility. Okay. So it comes.
us we have time where one tank will hold.
speaker-2 (39:17.696)
at any given time.
speaker-0 (39:23.128)
So, eight there.
And you're getting gasoline or oil? You're getting gas and diesel?
We have to think they can change.
Ever so often the tanks, which you put, but as of right now, for the last couple of years, we run a premium gas, we run bling grade gas, and we run number two diesel street, road diesel. it's funny when it goes from there because I can sell that like to my Evansville facility. I load straight number two diesel onto a barge. It's just number two. That's what your road diesel is. That's what your school buses work with. And when it gets to
Evansville, my Evansville facility, they offload it. And at that point it becomes two different types of these. They have just regular ULSD, two ULSD diesel, is for your diesel trucks and all that stuff. And then they have a red dye that they.
speaker-0 (40:15.725)
Yeah, and to it tractor. Yeah
for your tractors, for all your tax exempt equipment that's out there, all your road working, cities, states, all that. So that goes into that.
Yeah.
And every, so by the way, just out of curiosity, every time it gets like cut and turned into something else or cut and transferred to somebody else, every time that happens, that person is adding a margin on top of the product.
speaker-1 (40:47.566)
So when it goes back to the organization and how it's structured today, who are, like when you look up at your seniority, what is the relationship there? Are they still, hey Chris, you're on your own down there, or what is the relationship?
So it's a position now to where the trust factor is there. I run my business. So there's different levels from grade 10 to grade 13 when it comes to terminal operations manager. 13 is the highest you can get as terminal operations and you go to area manager. So I'm a I'm a 13 terminal operations manager.
I was entertaining the fact of going area manager, but they wanted me to go to Nashville to do it. Christie doesn't want to leave here, so turn down that.
And you guys have moved around forever, so.
bounced everywhere. Like my kids, my oldest daughter was in three different high schools. Robert was in two different high schools. The difference here, we've been here six going on seven years. My youngest one, the 12 year old knows nothing but here. She started kindergarten here. She's in sixth grade now. So this is, yeah, this would be home. the oldest kind of had it rough, bounced all over the place, lived everywhere in the nation. The two youngest will actually have those true childhood friends, the kids that they
speaker-0 (41:46.542)
Thanks
speaker-2 (42:14.542)
grow up with. So it wasn't really fair to my oldest one, but it got us to where we are today. yeah, It really, we still have to, lot of what I do now is stuff that's rolling down from corporate, new ideas, new policies, new procedures, new stuff like that. I have to roll it out to the guys. And it's actually one of the things that we were talking about today when Ryan, who I told you, we moved to Western Kentucky.
Thanks
speaker-0 (42:22.914)
they do.
speaker-0 (42:44.828)
One of the things that they're asking us to do, the new phrase that they're using, it's not a new phrase, but what's hot on the table right now is trust but verify. Trust that they're doing the job, but go out there and verify that they did it right. So Ryan was asking me how do you feel about that? How do I do that to my guys without making them think that I don't trust you? I'm following behind you. Exactly.
That's what
And when we were talking about it, I was like, brother, you're going to get accused of drinking the Kool-Aid. That's one of the phrases that they use. you're just drinking the Kool-Aid. So I told them, In the position we're in, we don't have to chug it, but we have to take sips off of it. They're asking us to do something. They pay us to follow these procedures, to be the cheerleaders for Marathon and to do what's asked of us.
Turn into a suit.
speaker-0 (43:25.678)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (43:33.134)
Yeah
speaker-0 (43:43.022)
We have.
to find the proper wage to deliver that to the hourly folks because they are the, some of them will listen to this. are the, the back, they're the laborers and a lot of them are, it's a bunch of good old boys. My employees are local right here, grew up in Mount Vernon, grew up in Evansville. But just let me go out there and get my job done.
work and they don't allow them. It's most
speaker-0 (44:09.333)
yes.
I don't need all these procedures. I don't need all this stuff. I don't need this and that. But then we have to be the cheerleaders on that we put these procedures and policies in place because look at our safety record. We have phenomenal, no one's getting hurt anymore. No one's getting covered and taking baths and diesel anymore. None of this stuff is happening anymore because we put these things in place. So we have to be that cheerleader and that spokesperson for that stuff.
Yeah.
speaker-1 (44:39.79)
Just like the, is it this is seal saying that slow is smooth and smooth is fast? You know, it's like that same sort of principle. I know that it's gonna, it's gonna be a little more inconvenient on you, but if you follow this procedure, it's just like, you know, like we heard that at the last church leadership meeting, but I was asking my mom about it. My mom worked at Toyota for over 20 years and I said, do they really require you to hold the pan rail when you walk up the stairs? She's like, yeah. She said, I had a manager one time tell me,
and I really, you need to be holding the handrail. And it's like, like Ted said, he's like, you know, the thing is it prevents nearly a hundred percent of falls if you hold the handrail. And you would never, I you're like, but it's, just the fact of being on that campus. that's, this is how we keep, this is how we keep good safety ratings. This is how we keep the business going.
If you go one of the
I had sent another supervisor I was mentoring and sent him up to Finley for a conference or a meeting, training, whatever it was. But it is the same scenario there. It's the same scenario everywhere. But to walk into an office and he had gone to one of the coffee bars and had fixed himself a coffee. Well, he didn't put a lid on it and went to walk away and he was stopped and had told you put a lid on it. If you spill that, you can burn yourself. That's why we have lids here.
and
speaker-0 (46:01.194)
No.
It's almost insulting. But it's, hey, look, this is how we, what's funny though is I think that that as maybe petty or inconvenient as you might think it is, is the sign of a healthy organization when the authority and the responsibility of the mission and the procedures are lived out by everybody in the organization. It's the accountability.
Every minute.
Yeah.
speaker-1 (46:32.264)
is alive within the organization. you might think that's, you know, but it's like at a scale, that's how that thing stays. That's how things get done is by, you know, that's sort of, yeah, just through line of that existing throughout the corporation. Cause if that doesn't exist, well, at this slide, well, we'll let that slide too. That's going to echo through, it's going to ripple through the culture as well.
Yeah.
speaker-2 (46:56.652)
Yeah. So I have challenged my guys where they say, there's no, we call them stop my stop help. Do you see something unsafe or you see something that's not right? is your responsibility to pull the stop card.
claim that there's a problem at start.
speaker-0 (47:13.07)
Get help.
And then we'll start back up. A lot of the argument we get from some of the employees is that, that's fine until you start losing money. And then corporate is going to be honest about you got to get this man. I was like, challenge them. Next time something happens, shut it down and see how they respond to it. And Marathon doesn't care. If you're down for two days, you're going to be getting pushed. You're going to what are we doing?
Yeah, what are we doing? But you're a shock absorber, Chris, right? Like you're the guy who's absorbing the... Yeah. The buffer. Yes. Yes.
Yeah, I'm the buffer.
The marathon stands true to what they say. They truly practice what they preach. So if you have something that's unsafe, you shut it down and we're not starting back until we come up with a solution for this.
speaker-0 (48:04.823)
And it
That's within the last 10 to 15 years. I've been with the company going on 16 years now. When I first came into it, it was keep it running, keep it going, stuff going, keep product moving, keep it going. It was in a swing at that point. They were shifting directions. I don't think that they quite still knew at that point which direction we were going, but they got the right people in place. And that's what's, when I talk to the guys and we get to reminiscing.
It's not the same company. It is the same company I came to work for. It's just a lot safer. And I feel a lot better. I don't go to work thinking I need to make it home safe tonight. I go to work knowing I'm going to make it home safe tonight. There is no worry that I'm going to get shocked by something or I'm going to spill millions of gallons of fuel. All those things that we used to do by the fly by the seat of our pants, it's no longer, it's not, it's not.
in
speaker-2 (49:03.79)
not even accepted, it's not expected. We don't expect you to go out there and just get it moving to get it moving. So, that's one of the things that I brag about and I absolutely love about Marathon is they practice what they preach and the proof is in the pudding. we have in the industry, we are a top leader when it comes to our safety program. We're a tier one company.
Yeah.
speaker-0 (49:27.167)
That's a distinguishment given by like Osher or
Yes, I'm trying to remember the actual name of it, but it's the Platinum Safety Award from OSHA. We've done it multiple years and it's like we are a leader among our peers. When you compare other petroleum industries to us, everybody wants to be like Marathon. Not only performance wise, I think our competition is like Phillips 66.
And
speaker-0 (49:50.358)
Yeah, we were one of the
speaker-2 (49:58.892)
some of your BP's and stuff, your big name. They're global companies. They're not American based companies. So, marathon is.
Here,
speaker-1 (50:07.246)
And marathon is? So take me into, we're gonna have a ton of time left, take me into, I'm really interested in when you step into, like you have went in and turned around several refineries in your career, right? And so, like tell me about the process of, because,
I think that this work is echoing in other areas that we share where there is now, there has been a culture that has been slowly losing sight of mission and now it's just how it is. Then downstream there's problems that occur and challenges and people don't know what to do. So then you gotta go swim upstream and get it at source. Now we're gonna pass down the information. But take me into...
When you get a new assignment in the past and you go into a dysfunctional environment, how do you begin the process of transformation?
So.
There's two of them for sake of time, I'll share two of them with you. It's probably the most, two recent ones. I got asked to go out to Canova, West Virginia, Catlissburg, Kentucky refinery. In Canova, there was an issue. There was a mass moral disruption. 26 people lost their job pretty much well overnight.
speaker-1 (51:37.262)
Mass moral, means a of people broke the rules.
Yeah. Right. Took advantage of a program that was out there. it was an awards to motivate. You can write people best cards and you got points and you could put them into this catalog and build so many points and you can give free stuff.
Yeah, so any.
26 think it was 20 20 some odd people lost their job. I was asked to go in help rebuild it At this one. It wasn't so much to me. It was pretty simple The people we were having issues with no longer work here. I just have to hold it together with the folks that are here So when I get there, it's how are we structured? What are we doing? Who is doing what?
I was not welcomed at all because Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia is a very close knit community. If you're not from there, you don't belong here. literally, West Virginia. When I say I would walk into a building, people would glance at me and walk out the other door. Would not speak a word to me. Wanted absolutely nothing to do with me.
speaker-0 (52:31.393)
Yeah
speaker-1 (52:37.506)
for generations.
Absolutely
speaker-2 (52:52.48)
Even though I wasn't the one, I wasn't there when everybody got released, let go fired. I wasn't the one that did it. I'm just here to rebuild it though. Yeah. People did not like me. I tell you, I was like, you know, I'm not here to make friends. So we started changing things. I had a couple of supervisors out there that we brought in and was working with them because it's a 24 hour facility. So we were having to hit every single shift.
and
It was really, there was a, there's a lot of pushback. When you know something is right, you stand fast. You don't waver from it. So there was a lot of pushback and a lot of grumbling, a lot of bitching and griping about why are y'all changing things and just trust the process and see what it does. So we actually started structuring things. We changed up some of the inspections. We changed up the,
So
speaker-2 (53:45.632)
schedule on how they were loading and did all this. And one of the simple things that they had noticed was I had shared with them a few months into there that we just had record throughputs. We put more product through this facility than we ever had before. There's no way that's right. There's no way we did. We're not as busy as what we usually are. And I'm like, no, you're busier. It's just structured now. There's just a way. And that's what I had to say. Guys, the numbers don't lie.
efficiency now.
speaker-2 (54:13.87)
It is a record throughput for this facility, but there are structure to it now. There is a way that we're doing it now. So that won some of them over. then when you had two or three people carrying the whole workload and I was like, so there's this system to where you go in and I'll use this just as an example, 176 fire extinguishers in that facility. One person was signing off that he did the inspection. Well, 176 fire extinguishers.
Good.
speaker-2 (54:43.48)
And I'm like, how did you do that? You would be busy every day when, how did you get a chance to change the filters on the, that's all you, well, I'm not doing it. They're doing it, but I just signed it. And I was like, no, if you sign it off, you're saying you did it. And he was like, and I'm like, if something was to happen and I go in there to see who signed this off, you're who I'm coming to, not someone else who told you they did it.
You would only be doing
speaker-0 (54:58.381)
yet.
speaker-0 (55:08.814)
it up.
restructuring and all of that and assigning certain folders to this doc will do this, this doc will do, we had five different docs. The maintenance department will do this. Admin is now responsible for doing this. So each one of them had, when they went into this program, the rounds program, each one of them had their own folder that they were responsible for, for going in and signing off. And I tell you, the reason I came up with that is because exit signs, your emergency exit signs is a monthly task.
Check the backup battery and make sure it's good. We had five docs and one out of the five docs, actually worked. It was just something I'm curious that trust but verify. Trust they're doing it, but verify it's done. So I'm just curious if they're actually working. So one out of the five docs I went to, and that was as simple as a exit light, an exit sign. So I was like, there has to be way more stuff that we're missing. There's no way it can be getting done. And I was like, no, that's not how we're doing this.
But then once we got it structured, eyewash stations, weekly inspection on eyewash stations. Well, the guys on the dock tell me they're doing them and I just check it off. I had to train the guys on the dock how to do an eyewash inspection. So they weren't getting done. They didn't even know how to do it. So that was one of, that was as simple as administrative changes. That one was simple.
That one's almost like, to me, that one's almost like you make your bed in the morning, you set yourself up for a day of structure and care. It's almost just like, if you guys can inspect an eye washing station properly or change a battery, then we will most likely do your other jobs more efficiently and with quality.
speaker-2 (56:52.738)
Yeah. It was pretty rough though. It wasn't as rough as I think as I was shocked that this place had.
Yeah, that one was.
speaker-2 (57:06.4)
operated so long without something bad happening because it was just a matter of time.
Picking time bomb.
So, they had to me when I was there.
We're good.
I, when I was there, I had gotten the call. So back in 2017, I was asked there was issues here in Southern Indiana.
speaker-2 (57:30.712)
There was environmental issues where they were loading, there's a vapor recovery system. So when you're loading gasoline products, there's an actual system that reclaims the vapor so the vapors don't go to the atmosphere. They were bypassing the vapor system and just vending to the atmosphere, which is a huge no-no. EPA will have a field day with you. So that was one scenario. The other one was they had misaligned some valves. So they were loading gas and diesel, supposed to be loading a gas barge and a diesel barge.
when they had a crossover open and they were loading gas and diesel to the same barges at the same time. Ruin, or no, it's 1.1 million per barge, so almost two and a half million gallons of fuel just wasted. Then they caught the vapor recovery unit on fire. Don't want a fire in a patrol, you don't want to fire anywhere, but you definitely don't want one in a petroleum terminal.
one point.
speaker-1 (58:23.502)
Thank you.
Yeah.
So that went, and then there was a ton of leadership issue. I found out since I've been here, like the manager at the time would come in and actually wouldn't even stroll into about 10 o'clock in the morning, may spend an hour or two there, say he was going to one of the other facilities. The other facilities tell me they hadn't seen him in six months. He's just belling out at the bar doing whatever he's doing, but he's not.
speaker-2 (58:54.446)
He's not leading. We had a lot of egos, some major, major egos. But anyhow, 17, I told him I would come here.
My boss at the time was like, you're not going there. And I didn't know at the time that they were already making plans for me to go to West Virginia. So, and I told them, was funny. We were in myself, my boss at the time, area manager who was over Southern Indiana, we were were going golfing. And the area manager for down here got a phone call from the manager here and was like,
and the
speaker-2 (59:35.298)
Why is environmental here? Why I'm having chest pains on this and that. And David had told me, you know, you give them all the information, you're under inspection or investigation right now. So you give them all the information you need to get them. And when he hangs up the phone, I wasn't in the car. I wasn't supposed to be in the car. When the phone rang, he told me, be quiet. You're not in here with me. So I sat there quietly and didn't hear anything. When he hung up the phone, he was like, I just need, cause his office is in Indianapolis. He said, I just need to move down the.
and
speaker-2 (01:00:04.086)
Mount Vernon, I was like, and he said, somebody needs to manage that place. I was like, no, you need to put a manager in there, get rid of his ass and put a manager in there. And he's like, will you go? And I was like, I'll go in a heartbeat. me down there. When my boss at the time is like, you're not going. You have to do a two year commitment and then you can apply or go wherever you want to go. So I was like, I've done my two years with you. This was at the Robinson refinery and terminal.
like this here.
speaker-2 (01:00:30.45)
I like, I've got my two years with you. don't need your permission anymore. know, well, in a roundabout way, he was telling me, you're not going, you're going out to West Virginia. Well, I get out there and things just, within a year we had Canova, West Virginia turned around and it was just well-oiled machine. We had, and it wasn't just me, we put the right supervisors in place, manager out there. It was just.
The right people, there's four of us that we fed off each other and it was easy. I mean, it turned around like that to the point in 2018, I was only there for a year. The big boss calls and like my boss's boss and he was like, Chris, you still interested in Southern Indiana? And I was like, absolutely. I'll go today. Well, you're my guy. It's not carved in stone yet, but you're my guy. I'm like, all right, cool. Well, Christie wanted out of Eastern Kentucky anyways.
She was miserable out there. The church we went to, we attended this church for a year. one family. church. Catholic church. Yeah. Met one family. No one would talk to us. I like to believe we're pretty outgoing family. We'll talk to you. It was miserable. It was miserable. And then her brother passed away and we were six hours from home and all that.
I
Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. It was.
speaker-2 (01:01:55.412)
It couldn't have come at a better time when Larry had called me and asked me if I wanted to come out here. It was right with Christie going through the loss of her brother. She wasn't happy there. Robert, my oldest son was in high school there and it was just, yeah, he was not used to that. We were in Milwaukee. Yeah. He wasn't used to that high school where he was miserable. So I was like, dude, I'm gone. So I didn't even say anything to Christie when he had told me.
Yay.
speaker-2 (01:02:21.902)
You're my guy. So I didn't want to get Christie's hopes up because they can pull the rug out. I tell you, I'm in. You say win.
and
It wasn't maybe a couple days later, my boss, the one that I absolutely loved, had called me and he was like, talk about different leadership styles. He was like, hey, you remember how Matt used to be like, he talked about himself in third person. Remember how Matt used to be like, just give me the meat, potatoes, I don't care about everything else. And he used to tell me, just finish your email with a period. Don't keep going, just a period, I'm done, just give me what I need to hear and put a period.
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I remember that. And he was like, so you're going to work for David. And I was like, he's like, throw all that out the window. He will be in the weeds. He wants to know every detail. How did it happen? When did it happen? What are you going to do to fix it? What's it going to cost us? What's it? And I was like, all right, I can handle that. Well, the issues here, so I came here to Southern Indiana and the issues had been going on for so long that David, the Indianapolis area manager,
had gotten so used to spending so much time here, he was here two or three times a month. I go months without seeing my boss. Phone call, how you doing? We're doing great. Well, he was in the same scenario where he would come here.
speaker-0 (01:03:38.231)
Yeah, anyway.
speaker-0 (01:03:44.974)
W-what?
He would come here week after week just to check on us. And I remember one of his first conversations after being here a few months and being like, Chris, I can't believe what you're doing with the place, but I have to admit one thing. And I was like, what's that? He was like, it scares the hell out of me the way you talk to these guys. Like I it's a bunch of good old boys. It's a bunch of shade tree mechanics and stuff. like I said, we had a lot of egos. had a lot of...
guys that thought that they were the cream of the crop. Well, I would tell them if they mess up, I didn't have to sugar coat with you have to know your audience. when someone pull your head out of your ass for it to make sense to them to do it. that's how I would talk to them. And that's how they expected to be talked to. And it worked. you got to know.
The... It gets...
speaker-0 (01:04:36.13)
You gotta know, in each one of them, you can't.
I'd say it worked in group of them all. Yes. Each one of them is their own personality and you have to know what they have to be stroked and pat on the back. Great job. You're doing awesome. You're doing, they need that reassurance that they're doing great. Other ones, when you try to pat them on, dude, I'm just doing my job. Get off me. Yeah. Leave me alone and let me do my job. So you have to understand that. you had to, I get, there was one individual
some of
speaker-2 (01:05:06.764)
that just thought he was, it was his facility. We were going to do it. We've always done it this way. You're not going to come in here and change things. So that's like, I was actually told before I got here to get rid of them, to fire them, just get rid of them. And I was like, I don't fire people. they're going to get fired, they're going to fire themselves. I don't fire them. So I was like, give me a chance, let me work with them. And he was my project. The way that I did it is when I first got there, took
in
You're my right hand man. You're who I need. And I brought him in and every move he made, was there with, I'm not critiquing you. I just need to learn from you. I don't know this, but well, why don't you do it this way? Why are you doing it? Why don't you? Well, that's the way we went. Why don't we try it this way? So it was written. It would get to the point where he get frustrated. Wouldn't you just go back to your office and I'm like, brother, I need to learn this stuff the same as you. Yeah. And,
What?
speaker-2 (01:06:00.556)
the big breaking point with him because I am very good at the mechanics. know the ins and out the operations and barracks and all that stuff.
We had an issue.
And at this point in your career, you've already seen bad systems get turned around into good systems. So you know, you're picking at it because you know what a good, efficient system looks like. Yeah, we're gonna tweak it till we get there.
We're going to get there. absolutely. 100%. Though his biggest ego buster, when I finally got through to him and things started to click, I would show up every morning at about six o'clock and I would walk the facility and I'd walk through what we call the load rack where the trucks pull in to load. And as I'm walking through there, I'm hearing a clicking. Well, I thought it was a drip at first. Well, I get to looking back there for what it is and it's an actual actuator that opens and closes the valves.
speaker-2 (01:06:54.484)
It's not seeding, it's not hitting the limit and staying closed and it's bouncing back and forth. So I take a short video of it, shoot it and send it to the group chat. We need to take care of this when y'all get in here. So we do a morning meeting, seven o'clock morning meeting every day. This is what we got going on. This is you're working on this, you're working on
that. Well, the gentlemen.
That was my project said, do you want me to put a work order in to get the technician to work on it? And I was like, no, I want you to fix it. that, cause we're the technicians, that's our job. The other technician is a vapor control systems technique. We work on that stuff. And I could tell the frustration in his face. And he just looked back down at his desk. I was like, do you need help? I'll get it. And I was like, do you need help? I'll get it. I was like, do you need help working on it? I can teach you how to work. I just never done this before. It blows up. I was like, brother.
Need help?
speaker-0 (01:07:45.655)
And it bl-
I am here to teach you just as much as I am to learn from you. So if you want to learn how to do it, I will. And we had one on the shelf. So I had him, we go out to the shop, take the one off the shelf, take it apart. I'll show you how to adjust the clutches on it. No, go out there and do it for real. but that's when he, I think that respect was gained from him that I've done it. I lived it. I've done it. I've worked on it. I've seen it.
teach you how to do that.
speaker-0 (01:08:04.568)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:08:10.338)
Try it.
speaker-2 (01:08:15.168)
I can teach you how to do what you don't know. Just follow me. Just follow me. Just trust me. Yes. Yes. I think one of the breaking points where it started to turn around and then it's just, it's at the point now where I don't care which facility I'm at. I know the other one is fine. And I know if it, the same, my operators, my hourly guys operate the same way that when I mentor supervisors.
And that was...
speaker-2 (01:08:41.142)
One of the things that I shared with him when I got here and I had HR was here, this place was, it was in trouble. was in major spotlight, not for good reasons. So when I got here, came, area managers came, it was everybody. Wanted me to introduce myself to them. And I don't say anything to those guys that I wouldn't say in front of HR. So I told them point blank right there. I'm not a micromanager.
Hands on deck.
speaker-0 (01:08:59.421)
in it and they
speaker-2 (01:09:11.05)
If I have to micromanage you, I don't need you. I need people who respond, who think, who act on their own. I don't have to tell you every move you make.
So I have solutions, but if you come to me with a problem, chief of the garden, Lenny Lagarde, who I was talking about earlier, if you come to me with a problem, have a solution. I might not agree with your solution. We might go a different way, but don't come to me with just a problem. You come with some idea of how to fix the problem. And I remember this several years ago, sitting in there, my office is down the hall, but they know now I can hear every conversation that's going on in their office. And I hear them in there talking, well, we got
this and let's just go ask Chris and it was Cody, one of the other operators that says, Chris is going to ask us what we anyways. So I'm like, they're getting it. get it. It is. And it has gotten the point at all the facilities that I can step away from it and know that it's fine. Another manager comes in behind me. He's going to have a good ship to navigate.
doing.
speaker-1 (01:10:02.955)
It's working.
speaker-1 (01:10:19.982)
It's really something, man. It's really something. You know, as you were just talking about how you're walking with somebody, first of all, I feel like that reflects what I know about the military, that I'm not going to send you into a place I wouldn't go myself. But it also reflects, at least in my eyes, if you think about a relationship with
Absolutely, 100%.
speaker-1 (01:10:48.758)
God with the divine, you say, I don't know why I'm doing this, but you seem to know more than I do. Even if I get frustrated at this direction that I'm headed, you seem to be calling me in this direction. And I might get frustrated like the guy was getting frustrated with you. And you still, that's what I think is really interesting and powerful about, you know, like the leadership style that you've inherited and that you learned from was that
It was challenging, but it was held with love. And that's the difference between somebody who is asking more of you because they know you have more in you versus somebody who's just kicking you while you're down. That doesn't make somebody, it doesn't help. But when someone is asking more of you, and I think that
I think it's really interesting because I think that our culture, this is why I'm so drawn to conversations of people who carry real responsibility within organizations is because I think like so much of our culture has become nice and overly kind and overly and compensated. Yeah, we compensate so much. And I actually think that it's backfiring or it probably has been. And I see it in, I see it in certain parenting styles. I just think like,
you think that you are helping the kid by doing everything. The kid's probably gonna grow up to regret you. So you're chopping your knees, you're screwing yourself at both angles. It's a hard noun, it's gonna be hard later. Versus, I just think that the hard route, taking the hard route, do it right. That thing, that spirit, it feels like...
We need it now more than ever as humans in this general like it's time you we need to bring back Just to just do it right you can do it do it right you can do it like you got it in you and I think that's I just really admire your your spirit of leadership and your Your ability to say yes to things and take on responsibility. I think that it's a I'll tell my wife this other day. I'm reading a book and he talks about how
speaker-1 (01:13:13.902)
men in their 40s and 50s so many men in their 40s and 50s will become complacent and start looking for start looking for meaning in the you know in the temptations of life and in the in the areas of life that are you know gratifying like Indulgent you start looking around another for other pleasure outside of you know
You know what I'm saying, like the 40s and 50s, you enter the, whereas the real call would be to go deeper into learning about who you are and your spirit and nature and your connection with the greater universe that you inhabit. And so I find myself just being surrounded more and more by men and women, frankly, and my business coach is a woman.
I feel more more drawn because I think to myself, this is the way. At least for right now, this is the way for people who are holding responsibility, asking for more and evolving in their lives. And I just don't think it's a, I think it's a huge blessing that I met you, that you came into my life and that I can have this conversation with you. And I feel just grateful that, yeah, just being surrounded by more and more of it.
So that's probably one of the things that I have failed to say the most is there is only one thing that has led me to where I am today and it's Christ. was my journey and my faith has absolutely led me to where I am.
If
speaker-1 (01:14:58.542)
This is the whole end of the podcast right here. We haven't even touched. I had a whole page here on religion.
The spirituality. is every step, every decision, and that goes for anybody. Regardless where you're at in your faith journey, every decision you make is going to lead you. Look back like I can look back when I was a teenager and regret 90 % of the things I was doing as a teenager. I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't be sitting here talking with you today. So I accept what I did.
You
speaker-0 (01:15:33.432)
And
was a stepping stone to get me to where I'm at today. It's all, thank my Aunt Pat for introducing me to Christ. I thank my wife for committing me to him. So many leaders within the church, so many good friends and with us, the relationships that I built in it, I don't trade for anything.
and it...
speaker-0 (01:15:48.014)
And it
speaker-0 (01:15:53.462)
like saying.
speaker-2 (01:16:00.596)
also impacts what I do at work as well. treat people with the respect that I'd want to be getting. It's amazing that you have these rough neck guys that work in this petroleum industry where we can sit in the break room and talk faith. I'm the only Catholic there. So, and there's a lot of questions about Catholicism and Corey, who's actually, I just went to his house last night for the football game.
I think it's non-denominational, but they do trace DS, which is our chrissie. And so a lot of their practices are based off the Catholicism practices as well. So, but it's just amazing how I went, when I showed up here and it, is not me, this is the good Lord leading us and putting the right people in the right places to where our relationship there, when I, our conversations, when I first got here was.
Gotcha.
speaker-2 (01:16:53.538)
how effed up everything was, this is just, conversation, not probably, conversations that weren't intended for a workplace. To where now when we sit in there and have lunch, it's what we are doing for the church. I get to go to do a podcast tonight and we're for sure, it's a healthy, masculine relationship. And I give it all glory to God. That's the only reason I'm sitting in this.
in
speaker-1 (01:17:22.67)
It's awesome dude. It's so good. You know, I was thinking about this this morning. I was thinking about how my birthday was last month. I turned 32 and I was thinking about I have my third kid coming in June and I'm switching my career. At this point, I'm all in and I have full faith that I'm headed in the direction that is for me. That this is...
This is my life now and I'm all in on it. And I was thinking about how there was a period of time last year where I was looking back at my 20s as like, I thought, man, I screwed that up. I built a company and I made this mistake and I let that person down. I did this. I didn't know what I was doing there. That was a bad deal on that thing. I spent all this money on this shit. I had all this stuff.
And I was thinking, who would ever work with me in a capacity that I am as an advisor, as somebody who's giving advice on how to do things. then somebody told me that, it was my coach told me, that, weren't all of those experiences, like your real life degree that you earned, you earned.
Like you went through it all you did all that stuff and this morning for some reason maybe it's because I was thinking about today and seeing you and I was thinking about how How grateful I was for my 20s right about how all the times that I even all the stupid shit But all the times that particularly like I have a whole I'm a writer I write and so a journal every day and I write a lot of thoughts and I've got a I've got a
you know, computer, printer, paper, box that it comes in full of journals that I wrote all throughout my 20s. And I've got just like, and I've read a lot of books and I've done so much stuff that was quiet that to me, always, know, a lot of times I would feel, kind of grow up doing this stuff. I really adopted in my early 20s. I felt so much resistance towards doing it. Like, no, you need to be out like, you need to be out like.
speaker-1 (01:19:43.278)
get the next opportunity or doing something more productive. You know, go do something. This isn't whatever. But what I realized this morning was every time I did one of those activities, every time I read another book, every time I poured into myself, went to a retreat, just did quiet things is actually, thank God I did that because that's formation. And I had no idea, but I always sort of carried a little feeling that
One day, this will be useful, the stuff that you're pouring into yourself, the activities that you're learning. just last Thursday, my wife walks in and goes, hey, my sister sent me a video. It says that it was like studying this culture of women who live to be like, are these like people who live to be in their hundreds. And the one thing they all had in common was that they wrote every day. They wrote their thoughts out every day. I was like,
I didn't even say it, I'm just like, good to know. know? Cool. So you know, it's just like those little subtle things and I'm like, I had no... So then today I was thinking, well if I'm really grateful for the version of myself 10 years ago and five years ago who was pouring into myself, like think ahead 10 years, and I'm in my 40s, just act today that will make that guy pleased. That will set that guy up for some sort of success.
Makes me grateful to sit in the-
And I don't want you...
speaker-2 (01:21:16.814)
And not that you are discouraged, but I don't want you to think that where am I supposed to be? Because when I was 33, when I came to work for Marathon, still wasn't sure that it was what I was supposed to do. Knew that there was something about the company. Yeah. Everybody that I had met that worked for Marathon was 20 year employees. They were retiring. So I knew the company was doing something to make their employees happy. So I knew there was long longevity, longevity there.
Even when I came to work for them at 33 years old, was like, I don't know if this what I'm supposed to be doing. But then fast forward three years, they want me to be a leader in their company. And I'm like, I really don't. That's what I'm supposed to be doing.
And I, you know.
would not trade it for anything. It became a point, I guess about two or three years into it, that I was like, this is home. This is what I enjoy doing. This is what I'm meant to do. Everything I did leading up to that was, like I said, a stepping stone. I wouldn't change one. I'd go back to work at that nursing home if I knew I'd be sitting right here with you today. I wouldn't change any of it.