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Killer Quote: "At ChemPoint, we're not just focused on distributing chemicals; we're pioneering a digital transformation in the industry. By combining frugality with cutting-edge digital solutions, we're able to redefine efficiency and reshape how suppliers and customers interact. It's about creating a seamless, innovative experience that keeps us ahead of the curve." - Austin Nichols
Welcome to The Chemical Show™, where chemicals mean business. If you're looking for insights from business leaders of mid-market to Fortune 50 companies, this is the place to be.
Featuring interviews with industry executives, you’ll hear about the key trends impacting chemicals and plastics today: growth, sustainability, innovation, business transformation, digitalization, supply chain, talent, strategic marketing, customer experience and much more.
Episodes are published every Tuesday.
Host Victoria Meyer gained her industry experience at leading companies, including Shell, LyondellBasell and Clariant. Before taking those insights and experiences to launch a strategy & marketing consultancy, Progressio Global, and The Chemical Show podcast. Victoria brings a informed and engaging perspective, making this podcast not just about the chemical business, but about people, leadership, business challenges and opportunities, and so much more.
The Chemical Show brings you the latest insights into trillion-dollar chemical industry. You will hear from leading industry executives as they discuss their companies, business, markets, and leadership. You’ll learn how chemical, specialty chemical, petrochemical, material science and plastics companies are making an impact, responding to the changing business environment, and discussing best practices and approaches you can apply in your business.
This podcast is a must-listen for executives and business leader everywhere, leading B2B process businesses and industries, driving strategy, harnessing customers and suppliers, and driving business innovation.
A key component of the modern
world economy, the chemical
industry delivers products and
innovations to enhance everyday life.
It is also an industry in transformation
where chemical executives and
workers are delivering growth and
industry changing advancements while
responding to pressures from investors,
regulators, and public opinion.
Discover how leading companies
are approaching these challenges
here on the chemical show.
Join Victoria Meyer, president
of Progressio Global and
host of the chemical show.
As she speaks with executives across the
industry and learns how they are leading
their companies to grow, transform, and
push industry boundaries on all frontiers.
Here's your host, Victoria Meyer.
Victoria: Hi, this is Victoria Meyer.
Welcome back to The Chemical Show
where chemicals means business.
Today, I am speaking with Austin Nichols,
who is the CEO of ChemPoint, a chemical
distribution company and a wholly
owned subsidiary of Univar Solutions.
Austin has a wide variety of
leadership experience, both in
and out of the chemical industry.
And we're going to be talking about
that digitization distribution and more.
Austin, welcome to The Chemical Show.
Austin: Thank you so much
for having me, Victoria.
Victoria: I'm really
glad to have you here.
So let's start with your origin story.
How did you get interested in
chemicals and distribution?
Austin: So when I graduated from college,
I'm an engineer and I, Was pursuing
this dream of trying to make the U.
S.
Olympic team for rowing,
not a glamorous sport.
And I never made it.
So we'll just, we can
cap that right there.
It's like, you know, the dream was there.
It didn't happen.
But while I was on that
journey, I moved to Seattle.
I ran out of money and recruiter
contacted me and said, you're
an engineer who can talk.
Have you ever thought
about chemical sales?
And my immediate reaction was no.
I have not thought about chemical
sales, uh, but tell me more.
And so we had a conversation and it
seemed to check a lot of boxes for where
I was in my life and the experience
that I had with organic chemistry, my
backgrounds, biomedical engineering,
one thing led to another, and I am an
entry level sales rep at ChemPoint.
Victoria: Wow.
And you've stuck with it since then.
Austin: Yeah.
It was one of those things where
I, I got into the industry.
I saw the value of.
What I brought to the table from an
engineering perspective, and it gave
me great flexibility early on as a
fast paced, dynamic, young company,
our average age at that time for
employees was 26 years old, and I
fit right in that that demographic.
And.
I was going to camps and working remotely
at times, able to perform and succeed.
And I, I really started to build
a, a real love for the chemicals
distribution world, which I don't know
if anybody says until they're in it.
Victoria: Right.
Okay.
Austin: and then opportunities just
started to open for me from there.
As I continued to grow within ChemPoint,
Victoria: Very cool.
So, so tell us a little bit
about ChemPoint, um, just
who and what the company is.
Austin: I like to tell people
that ChemPoint is one of the best.
Biggest open secrets within Univar.
, so we're a wholly owned subsidiary.
We are 25 years old.
A lot of people don't realize
that we're a 25 year old company.
Um, we, as.
As a standalone chemical distributor
within the North American distribution
space, we're in the top 10 by
sales for specialty distribution.
So we're actually fairly significant.
We have this reputation of being a
univar solutions, digital business.
But interestingly enough, we have our own
supply chain, our own warehouse network.
We have our own Salesforce.
We have our own, uh, Hunter kind
of technical sellers that are out
there working with, with customers.
So we really are a, a fully functional.
Standalone distribution company within
the broader Univar organization.
It's actually quite fascinating.
If you think
Victoria: That is interesting.
So that gives me several
questions to talk about with you.
So, 1st of all, you reference digital
and that's where ChemPoint started, right?
Didn't it start as a digital
platform, um, for Univar?
Austin: Yeah.
So the original hypothesis was in 99
when we started was Amazon is taking off.
These guys are hitting it.
There has to be a play for chemicals here.
So the hypothesis was, let's go let a
couple of guys start this up as a startup.
We'll incubate it.
We'll go hands off.
Univar went hands off for about 10 years.
And we built a, yeah, and we built a
pretty strong business that we thought
would be e commerce in those days.
And as everybody in the chemicals industry
can relate, we're still not there.
Right.
And we, we made that bet 25 years
ago and quickly pivoted into more
of a digital marketing inside
selling organization where we
used the digitization of processes.
To create a very efficient business
and we hook ourselves to suppliers
in the sense that we are suppliers
entryway into a market very efficiently.
Victoria: Yeah.
That's really interesting.
And I think your point about, you
know, assuming that because digital
was taking over the consumer world,
there was a hypothesis that many
companies had that digital made sense.
And in chemicals, when I worked for
Shell around the same time, I helped
start up a couple of different e business
platforms, uh, including the customer
lounge, which still exists, Alamica,
and, um, kind of the same hypothesis.
And what was really interesting is
what we found is that individuals that
companies really did enjoy the digital
aspect of it, the transparency, placing
orders, seeing where their invoices
are, et cetera, but still within the
context of the broader relationship.
Very few digital only customers, a lot of
digital business with existing customers.
Austin: Yeah, it's fascinating.
You know, the thing that we saw in
those early days that and we still
see an element of it today is the
value proposition around digital is
how do you make a buyer or a research?
You know, an R and D chemist lives
easier in their day to day action.
Like we're, it's hard to say that buying
online is going to replace an SAP, a
direct connection and SAP for procurement
to a major multinational corporation.
That's the longterm view.
But if you have a customer who's buying 10
products and they need 10 conflict mineral
statements and they can go to your website
or a portal that you set up for them
and get those in a way that it's easy,
seamless, and takes burden off of them in
their day to day, that's a real distinct
value proposition for a distributor.
Victoria: Makes sense.
So how do you really fit within
the broader Univar, right?
You mentioned that, ChemPoint is 25
years in business as a wholly owned
subsidiary of, I guess, Univar or a
predecessor, was it Univar at its origin?
Austin: Yes,
Victoria: Yeah.
It was still origin.
Austin: been a part.
Victoria: Got it.
Um, so 25 years of the wholly owned
subsidiary and yet also would be
considered a top 10 distributor
on a standalone basis, that kind
of stuff doesn't normally work
very well for most companies.
Right.
Let's be honest.
So how, how does this work for you guys?
What makes it work?
Austin: No, that's a
really great question.
So I think one of the things that
ends up happening is our customers
in some cases end up different.
Our value proposition to
suppliers is different.
So I'll give you a great example.
Um, the Univar team, has exclusive
relationships in a specialties business,
where they'll partner with a supplier
or they'll have suppliers where they
have categories like, citric acid and
solvents and all these other things.
Our general philosophy is
we're not a business that
distributes on a category basis.
We Only partner with suppliers.
So if you look at our portfolio, sometimes
in a market, it might look incomplete
because our distribution products are
only places where we have a strategic
relationship where Univar your own.
You want to own a customer and you want
to echo a supplier sentiment for us.
We want to supply a customer, but
really echoing that supplier sentiment
in a lot of ways, efficiently
and more hard to reach places.
, a great example is we
generally don't do the bulk.
Univar is great at bulk.
Univar makes money on
products that they buy well.
Our products are typically ones where
I don't have to go pit a supplier
in a category against one another.
Um, there's different ways to skin the
cat in distribution, but our focus has
always been, let's pick up a supplier
product combination and go to market.
And that allows us to concentrate on
it to give that supplier data, rich
feedback, and it allows us to really
seamlessly market on their behalf.
So if you go through our product
listing, if you're Googling a
product from one of our suppliers,
we'll choose like a Dow Methasell.
We are routinely in the one,
two or three position in SEO.
We optimize our business digitally so
that we come up first in search or second
in search right there with the supplier.
We're the first in line for that
contact from the chemist that
purchaser is looking for the product.
And then we have a two hour
maximum follow up time when
someone makes an inquiry.
Victoria: Wow.
Austin: So our parent company.
Sister company, however you want
to view it, that's just not their
model and their model is great.
I've been in it.
It's fantastic.
I loved working the Univar
side of the house, but that's a
different model than what we do.
Victoria: Yeah.
That's really interesting.
I'm thinking about that aspect.
And so in some ways I'd say it's,
it sounds like you're a bit more
supplier centric perhaps than a typical
distribution being, or certainly
Univar being, but also figuring out
how to still harness that digital edge.
Aspect to be customer responsive.
Yeah.
Okay.
So sidebar.
Off the wall question, not on our,
um, what I would typically ask.
So when I think about this, 1
of the challenges that a lot
of chemical companies have is.
The commitment of resources
to build an effective digital
platform that allows customers to
find them, find their products.
You talk about being a SEO search
engine optimized and stuff.
That's, that's not.
Easy to do.
And so a lot of companies struggle
with this idea of how much resource
and effort do you give into digital
when it's not necessarily, fully
additive to the business, right?
Cause you've already referenced
that a big part of your business
is just core distributions.
You're not making money because
you're a digital company.
You're making money because you're a
distributor and people would argue,
well, why spend the money on that when.
Customers are going to find us anyway,
and it's all in the relationship.
How do you guys think about that?
How do you think about just managing
the amount of resources you apply to
your digital platform versus elsewhere?
Austin: No, that is a great question.
And it's one we get from suppliers
whenever we talk about the strategy.
So the way that we've And I can, I
could tell you the exact number of
sales dollars and customers that
came in 2023 and this year, 2024 from
our digital work, it's roughly four
to 5 percent of our enterprise and
new sales come from our digital work.
And the way that we manage that and
understand that's where those come
from is we actually split our sales
force into, for lack of a better, the
simplest way is hunters and farmers.
So we have.
Sales reps and we have market
developers and our market developers
actually sit with our digital group.
They own no accounts and all they do
is campaign work around our SEO SCM and
anytimes the product managers in our
product group want to launch a campaign.
Let's say we're doing sick nurse
for Dow into personal care.
So we've got a personal
care market developers.
Well, they can spin up opportunities
and flip them over to them.
They'll run those down.
And see what makes sense.
But while that's going on, our digital
marketing manager is spinning up an
SEO, optimized microsites or web pages
for products were paying for SCM and
when those people click on our website
or click the links, you know, they get
a cookie and all the digital stuff that
happens in the background where we can
track them automatically feeds into our
CRM and that market developer gets a
pop up that says, Hey, we had someone
you got essentially they get put on a
two hour timer to follow up with that,
That lead gets spun up.
They call them email them.
And then we follow that through.
So that thing where people talk about
it, it's really hard to quantify.
It is if you don't put in the
effort and we're really strong
following it from being to come.
Victoria: Which also tells me
that your hiring profile is
probably different than the typical
chemical company and distributor.
You referenced the fact that
you got hired because you're
an engineer who could speak.
How does that play out when you
think about who ChemPoint is hiring
and bringing into the organization?
Austin: So I think over time, what
we have learned is that there's a lot
of talent across the U S that, that.
Is wanting to upgrade their
skill set on the digital side.
So if you look at our market
developer workforce, they're scattered
through the pretty much the regions
of major chemical manufacturers.
A lot of them are, you
know, ex, Dow, ex, BSF.
So we've got those types of
people on our staff and we can
train them up in this process.
I won't say that we gamify the
process of lead qualification through.
We have very clear
metrics and deliverables.
We don't do commission
with these guys, right?
It's it's, Hey, we've
got these inquiries.
We're trying to beat an
effort energy target.
Let's follow it through.
And we manage these people, even if
they're not, I like to say, if we hire
someone who's a two finger typer, you
know, there's a lot, there's a lot of
us in the industry who are like that.
Our system even works for
those types of folks coming in.
Our farmers, our farmer staff, they're
mainly located in Bellevue, Washington,
which is where our home base is.
Typically a slightly younger demographic,
more entry level sales force.
And then we, they can graduate up into
those roles with a lot of training, a lot
of technical training with our suppliers
and our internal engineering resources.
Victoria: All right.
That's cool.
Cause yeah, I think the, um, often.
As you say, the intersection of
the 2, chemically, um, proficient
and technically CRM and digitally
proficient aren't necessarily the same.
Although maybe as the demographic gets
younger, it is, I know we, we talked
early on about the, the podcast, but
before we started recording, I'm often
getting from the folks that are helping
to publish the podcast and stuff.
Like, I don't understand.
Half of what you guys were talking about.
Oh, okay.
So, so work on the things that you can
work on, which is the, sound quality
and getting rid of the stupid stuff.
And we'll, yeah, we'll
figure out the rest of it.
So anyway, interesting.
So we, started talking a little bit
about how you guys are using digitization.
But, you know, when we think about
distribution and digitization, where
are You know, where are we currently
and where do you see us going or
either ChemPoint or the industry?
Austin: It is a great question.
I was just at the ACC and there are.
You're established chemical
distributors, you know, Brantag,
Univars, LSINCD, I'm there for ChemPoint.
You've got, um, AgilisNode.
So you've got this broad spectrum of
participants in the space who bring
a disparate value proposition, right?
And What I think is we're still
in that fragmentation mode where
traditional distributions is growing.
It's consolidating digitization is
playing a key part in that you look at
the Univar team and the Univar Solutions
business and how they digitize their
business in a way that's different than
ours, but really strong class leading
in that traditional distribution space.
And then you look at where we
are, where we're not quite that.
But we're not quite where the guys who
were just software as a service are,
and I think that there's a hunger for
somewhere, you know, a lot of people
who meet us realize that we're in the
middle of that space, like setting up
a marketplace that managed all documents
and just was providing leads to suppliers.
That's very doable.
, we've explored this a number of times.
Is it something we might do in the future?
Maybe.
But the revenue models are hard
for a distributor or software
as a service company to actually
be profitable doing that.
And we see that with the growing
fragmentation and people coming
up and people ducking out.
We have an actual core distribution
business, I think we're the best
position to say, what is the
digitization path look like when
you have a healthy distribution
business behind that innovation?
So as we spin up different initiatives
with suppliers, like we have this
whole marketing as a service function
that we offer where, hey, you're
not ready to do distribution.
With us or anybody too early
in the life cycle product.
You want market feedback.
Okay Well, what we can do is we can build
you a digital marketing plan get you a
micro site positioning on our website And
then we'll apply some market development
resources against that And we'll do this
for a period of time for a fixed cost
And if the product takes off great if it
doesn't we can both exit gracefully and
try to find another project So there is
.
A need in that direction
I don't know that anyone has You Of
all the names that are out there right
now in the major players, I don't
know that we have that sorted out
completely, which is why you're seeing
some of our are not in kind competitors.
Pivot.
Victoria: Got it.
It's complex.
And as you point out, 25 years into
the journey of digital in chemicals
and it's still a journey, right?
It's still a journey.
Austin: I mean, I mean, I think back
to it was before my time, but you think
about like plastics additives dot com.
Like everyone thought that was
going to be the things for plastics.
Well, I was in the plastics industry
next year for about a year and a half.
And I can tell you being in that
industry, they'll be ready in another
20 or 30 years based on they've got
some, they're a little behind chemicals.
It's very interesting.
They are different than chemicals.
Victoria: Yeah.
I could see that.
So how do you share
technology and processes?
And I think about, you know, it
sounds like you guys have figured
out a pretty sophisticated online
marketing to CRM approach.
Do you share this insight
and information with Univar?
Are you guys operating autonomously?
Is there some behind the scenes
alignment that takes place?
Austin: That is a great question.
We have relationships that
are exclusive to each of us.
So we do have to be sensitive.
Like we do firewall our businesses.
There are engagements with specific
suppliers like Dow, where we share
product lines into different segments.
We have done marketing as a service
for our Univar colleagues in the past.
We use Univar warehouses as a
3PL, like an arm's length 3PL.
Like we, they provide a service level.
That's very good.
Class leading.
And so we use them for, I
think, 15 of our warehouses.
But then we have another 15.
They're like, you know, XPO,
Kuna, Nagel, and others.
So I think, in the digital world, we
are very separate where we have best
practices and where we have suppliers that
Have us authorized in similar tangential
spaces on similar tangential products.
It all depends on the supplier.
Victoria: Got it.
Great.
So let's talk about AI because
everybody, I don't know if people want
to talk about AI anymore, but we're
here, and it's not going anywhere.
We're struggling to figure it out.
Um, how are you and ChemPoint
thinking about AI in your business?
Austin: It's really interesting.
So in my role before this, my wife
and I own a small business and 15
people, um, you know, a good business.
And I found great utility in
AI because we were not staffed.
I mean, we're just a small business, so
I could use it to write like HTML code
for me or put a widget in HTML code.
I can put it on our website.
Right.
Uh, coming in back into Univar after that
experience, AI is fascinating because
the first thing about it , is are the
AI platforms and the tools secure.
There's still a lot of it security
issues around AI as everyone's realizing.
That is.
You know, the number one concern
for anybody in a big corporation.
So would we do customer facing
AI stuff, you know, like chat
bots and things like that?
I think that will come.
I honestly believe it's going to come.
I think the biggest value for AI
right now in the distribution world
is actually in some of the back office
work, like receiving disparate types
of POs and using machine learning AI.
How do you use it for document management?
Can you use machine learning to
harvest data from data packs from
suppliers or customers that they need?
If a customer makes a request, can
you automate the response using AI?
I think in the short term,
business efficiencies are there.
I think interacting with AI will come
in the not, I mean, it's going so fast
that it's going to be here, don't
quote me but I think, in 12 to
24 months, someone's going to be in
the space using a chat bot to help
solve problems with R& D chemists.
I think that's coming.
Now will it be accurate if you've used it?
Accuracy is until it gets more
accurate, we got a long ways to go,
Victoria: Yeah.
I personally like asking
questions about my own business
and seeing what it has to say.
Austin: I'm sure the comparisons
to like, yeah, not quite as many
followers as Joe Rogan podcast.
Victoria: Yeah.
No doubt about that.
Although I've listened to Joe
Rogan, uh, only one episode.
Cause by the way, it's like two hours.
I think I listened to it on a road
trip with my husband, fell asleep
partway, woke up and I'm like,
Oh my gosh, it's still going.
And what are they talking about?
It was like just some
random randomness anyway.
Austin: That's too funny.
Victoria: Yeah.
So anyway, so you see it coming
into the backend, but you recognize,
obviously everybody's still trying to
figure out the rules of engagement.
Austin: Yeah.
And I think we're in our industry where
we'll see it as on the manufacturing side.
I mean, you look at what they can do
from a synthesis modeling perspective
now, especially in the biotech side,
they can take years off the R&D pipeline.
I mean, coming from biomed now
I'm far enough away that I am
not a biomedical engineer, but I
have friends still in the field.
And they're telling me about the things
that they're doing and how they're
harnessing AI to speed up research into
COVID therapeutics and things like that.
And you're just like, wow,
this makes a big difference,
but it's not in my world yet.
I'm going to be the recipient
of that speed in industry, but
distribution's not using it that way yet.
Victoria: makes sense.
So I think, yeah, stay
tuned still to come.
It's part of this, if it took us
25 years to get to this point, AI
will speed it up, but maybe it's five
to 10 before we see a big impact.
Yeah.
So let's talk about your employees.
I mean, we talked a little bit about
your supplier value proposition.
We've talked a little bit about
your customer value proposition,
and let's just think about that
employee value proposition.
We're here.
Did we count it four years post COVID?
I'm not actually sure when
we start that time clock.
My perception has been that always
been that distribution has been
a little bit distributed from
an employee perspective, right?
People out in the field a lot.
And then, you know, along came
COVID, and this real shift to
hybrid work and working at home.
What does that look like today
for you and for ChemPoint?
Austin: So we actually cut across the
grain historically, the opposite of what
people would expect from distribution
because we're predominantly inside sales.
We officed everybody in our regions.
So Bellevue was our north was our global
headquarters, but we have an office
in the Netherlands and Maastricht.
So we have a European, business.
Um, and then we have an office
also in a small office in Mexico.
So pre COVID everyone's in
the office five days a week.
And it's interesting in my time being in
distribution before going to Univar where
Univar is a distributed workforce, right?
All the sellers are in the
Victoria: Right?
Austin: My experience was
everybody in the same office.
COVID happens, I come back to ChemPoint
and I'll be here on a Monday and
there are five people in the office.
I'm like, what happened?
You know, my first day back, I was like,
there were six of us on my first day.
Um, so for us, We went
hybrid and it allowed us to
change how we attract talent.
So we're, we're in Bellevue, Washington.
You can't see it, but I've got Amazon
buildings all around me, Microsoft
buildings, not exactly a hotbed of
chemical engineers and chemists.
Victoria: Yeah.
Austin: are out here, no doubt, but what
COVID allowed us to do was to attract
talent in the areas that our suppliers
are in, which has been a net add for us.
I think it's a real, real coup that
COVID happened and kind of pushed
us to pivot in how we recruit.
So we've got supply chain individuals,
you know, All over the country.
We've got finance individuals
all over the country.
We've got our customer services largely in
the Northwest, but not in Bellevue proper.
It's actually.
Increased our employee retention and
support functions, which as you know,
as a business owner and someone who's
participated in many businesses, customer
facing attrition's hard on any business.
Victoria: Yeah.
Austin: And so reducing that
has our NPS scores are where
we want them to be, right?
Like we've, we've actually got
better NPS scores now than when we
did when we were all in the office.
So I think it's a good thing.
Now, COVID was a bad thing, no doubt
about it, but this outcome for us,
I think it strongly shifted our
base, tipped our iceberg, you know,
and I think it's been good for us.
Victoria: How do you build culture in
an alignment in a workplace that's now
highly distributed what it was before?
Austin: That is a question.
We just had a manager's training.
We had 15 managers in, and we were talking
about this as a group and I'm about
three months back into the business.
And when I was at Univar, you know,
to build the culture, I was, I
was running their food ingredients
business for North America.
I did a ride along with every
sales rep at least once.
And I went out with a, branch driver
to learn about how, what it was like in
the day to life of a driver delivering.
As a leader, you have to spend
time, but you have to figure out
a way to bring people together.
Now that usually means
getting people together.
And if they're fragmented,
you have to, aggregate.
So what we try to do, at least with our
industry teams, um, we tend to aggregate
at the major trade events and we'll do
a, we'll do a team event at the major
trade events for our finance group.
We'll bring them all in.
Um, so we, we budget for these
things to ensure that we can build
that alignment, but it is hard.
We don't take the
approach and I apologize.
I can't remember the CEO.
It was Dell.
I think it was Michael Dell said anyone
who stays remote is no longer promotable,
that is not the approach, right?
Victoria: That's a hard one.
Austin: That's a hard one.
Um, but there is some element of, you
know, um, Peter Huntsman said at the ACC
deals are done in the hallway, right?
You do need to see each other.
I mean, teams meetings can be
hard to build that rapport.
You have to fight more
for those interactions, I
think, as a leadership team.
And you have to try to create that
inception that this needs to happen.
So I think we're still figuring
that piece out as a business,
how to do it really well.
But I'm genuinely impressed with our
culture and how we're communicating.
We've got some technology tools.
I'm doing every two to three week
blog posts and, you know, trying
to connect with folks that way.
And I think that stuff matters.
Victoria: Yeah.
Do you have Slack channels that are
active or team channels that are active?
Austin: Yeah, we do.
We have team channels that are active.
And then we use a, um, we use a
software, it's confluence where people
can post blog posts or, or chat lines.
So they get company updates there.
Um, but it's, it's a lot like
slack with a couple of other things
around, um, employee resources.
Like, where do you go for this?
Victoria: Nice.
All right.
So let's talk about leadership.
Um, you have been in and out of Univar
and ChemPoint, uh, you've formed your
own businesses and led businesses,
um, and have been in other companies.
What do you see as being really key?
To successful leadership in not maybe
not just chemicals and distribution,
but thinking about the, world
that you're operating in today.
What's critical to leadership.
Austin: I think every leader, we
all strive to figure this out.
And, you know, I think one of the
things for me that's been helpful
is I grew up in a small business.
My dad was an electrician and
he made me customer facing it
like eight years old, right?
Like I was working with him at
houses when people were there.
Right.
So you can't as an eight year old,
you can't be complaining about
crawling in a crawl space, right?
It's like you go under there and
you smile because you're there
with the customers home, right?
Um, so I think always having an eye
for the customer is a big part of it.
I find that I am almost direct to a
fault, which is one of those things
that I'm always working on to make
sure that I'm, you know, in a moment of
vulnerability with you in the audience.
Um, I always have to check that
because I'm highly competitive,
you know, I pursued elite sports.
I'm, I, I love winning, um,
like most leaders do, um, but.
You have to have that directness
while also coming from a place of
I can walk a mile in your shoes.
I'm not afraid to sweep the floors,
you know, in my wife's business.
When our shop helper quit, I ran
the Zamboni in the back under
the, in the work area, you know,
cleaning the grease off the floors.
Like, and that was three years ago.
It's not like I was 22.
Like I'm very established in my career.
I think there's an element of, show
me, don't tell me Be willing to do
the work and then Realistically,
being able to create a culture where
the accountability actually matters.
I think one of the things that going
back into small business from Univar,
ChemPoint, Nexio, and then going
into a small business that we own
was when every dollar is your dollar,
you think about things a little bit
differently in how you spend it.
Like when every When a half million
dollars of inventory is a half million
dollars, that's not in your bank account.
It changes your perspective
on how you coach and lead.
Because you think you knew what
that was like and but when you
finally do it yourself, it's
very different, very different.
So it's, I'm always trying to connect
people to that, like, hey, your
decision impacts this this way.
Let me tell you about my experience.
I'm not saying the way you're doing
it's wrong, but if you had to, if you
were going to bet a paycheck, you're
not actually having to bet a paycheck.
But like, would you make this decision?
And people take a step back like, I don't
know how to make the decision this way.
And here's why.
Um, and so I think creating that
accountability responsibility,
is mission critical, especially
at where I'm at, right?
Because I can't do everything.
There aren't enough hours in the day.
And so that's the thing that I'm
consistently trying to make sure
that I'm prioritizing is all right,
get functional leaders in place.
Who will run through walls for me and
that I would run through walls for them.
So that's, that's kind
of the way I approach
Victoria: That's a good challenge.
It's a good
Austin: it's working so
Victoria: know, it's awesome.
And so, you know, the other thing
I was thinking about is we were,
you were talking about this is,
yeah, I have to find what, which.
Part of game theory it is, but
there's some game theory examples
that maybe apply to this.
So, your example around when it's,
when it's your money and your
business, you're, you're looking for
where that half a million dollars
is, or, you know, in my case.
It's around parking.
I personally, I hate to pay for parking.
Hate it.
Like, hate paying for
Austin: I'm with you.
Victoria: I, I'm a person that searches
for the free parking spot or the meter.
I'm plugging the money in the meter rather
than paying 30 dollars into a parking lot.
Um, and I go to a Houston
chemical association.
Great group of, uh, a great association
here in Houston has monthly luncheons.
Um, and it's at a, At a venue
and there's usually valet parking
and I'm like, I don't know.
I parked on the street.
What do you mean?
Like, it's my business.
If I'm paying 3 versus 30, I know it.
Um, and, and, you know, and they're like,
ah, I just never even thought about it.
And so this whole aspect of, uh,
within an organization, within a
group, it's always better to be
the defector, so to speak, right?
Like if I'm the only one that pays, you
know, that does valet parking, it's best
for me now, but when everybody does valet
parking, that 30 expense multiply it by
3000 people or whatever is, you know, all
of a sudden you're at a million dollars.
So, uh, And you don't really
think about it inside the big
context of the organization.
It's easy to lose sight.
And to a certain degree,
you say, is it material?
No, it's not material.
Um, but you make different decisions
along the way, depending on how you
view your place in the ecosystem and
what your effect is on the ecosystem.
When you're a small business owner,
it's one to one, you know, exactly
the effect that you're having.
When you're inside the, a big
corporation, it's harder to
see how you move the needle.
So finding ways to help people
understand how they move the
needle becomes really critical.
Austin: Yeah.
All of us in our roles and I'm sure you as
well, we read business books and you ever
a consistent theme and in the greatest
leaders, you know, the, uh, you know, the
Buffetts of the world is if as a leader,
you're not thinking about the frugality.
Of how you run your business, the waste
adds up, especially if your business
scales, it's one of those things
where you're like, Oh, you know, if,
to your point, if, if one person does
valet every time they travel, but they
travel once a month, once a month, or.
Once a week, right?
You're like, Oh, that, that adds up
really quick in your T and E line.
Victoria: Yeah.
Especially when you multiply it
by a hundred or a thousand or
whatever your number is, right?
It's, uh, it jumps fast.
So anyway, it's interesting, but,
but, you know, I think these are
the challenges and opportunities
we all have, um, in the industry.
So what's next for you and for ChemPoint?
What should we be looking for
Austin: So one of the things
that I'm really working to do
is, is evangelize the brand.
So I think we are one of the, we're,
uh, uh, I'm not a secret within Univar,
but a lot, there are suppliers who
still don't even know who we are.
Um, so one of the things that I'm really
working on, especially for our size,
giving suppliers an eye into what
this organization is, what the future
of digital looks like, the things
that we're doing and what's working,
when you look at the scale of our
business and, you know, we bring in
20 to 30 million a year in digital
sales, um, that's a real number.
That's real sales and suppliers.
It's material, and the suppliers that
are part of us are benefiting from
that, and we're hitting the goals for
them, and there are suppliers that
don't know that that's an option.
I always, I joke around, um, for
as big as BASF is, we have a very
small relationship with BASF.
We enjoy our relationship with BASF.
They have a distribution partner
who they're strategically
aligned with in a lot of places.
Um, but that's one where you
would think, just because of our
scale and size, That's on me.
That's not on BSF.
That's on ChemPoint.
We need to do a better job evangelizing
who we are to that organization.
Um, and so over the next 12 months,
well really the next three to six,
you'll see a bit of an uptick in our
activity, um, with me coming back into the
business and working on some new digital
solutions to bring to those suppliers.
You'll start to see some things crop up.
We'll start advertising a few
things that we're working on, you
know, in the vein of some of the
digitization we've talked about.
So we're really
Victoria: Yeah.
That's awesome.
I think it's exciting and I'm, I'm
looking forward to seeing where
you guys head into the future.
Austin: We appreciate it.
Victoria: Yeah.
Well, Austin, thank you so
much for joining me today.
I've really enjoyed speaking with you and
learning more about you and ChemPoint.
Austin: Oh, thank you for the time.
And I look forward to continuing
to watch your podcast.
I love it.
Victoria: Absolutely.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
And thanks everyone for joining us today.
Keep listening, keep following,
keep sharing, and we will
talk with you again soon.