Geoff Mitchell - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Geoff Mitchell from Mid-South Roof Systems.You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Megan Ellsworth: Welcome to Stories from the Roof from Rooferscoffeeshop.com, where we tell the stories of roofing professionals from around the globe.

Hello, my name is Megan Ellsworth here at Rooferscoffeeshop.com, and this is Stories from The Roof. Today I'm here with Geoff Mitchell. Hi, how are you?

Geoff Mitchell: Great. How about you, Megan?

Megan Ellsworth: I am doing great. I'm super excited to hear your story. Thanks for being on Stories from The Roof this morning.

Geoff Mitchell: Thanks for the opportunity. I'm really excited to be talking to you today.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay, yeah, me too. Okay, let's just dive right in and have you introduce yourself, years in the roofing industry and a little bit about you.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, so Geoff Mitchell, Mid-South Roof Systems, currently as the CEO. I've been in the industry for 27 years, I think, and in the role for about 10 years. Love what I do, love the company, love our industry and excited to be talking about it today.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. Wow, 27 years, that's amazing. So how did you get into roofing?

Geoff Mitchell: I think I was 17 or 18 and I needed to get a real job, and I'd been working in the restaurant industry for probably two years and was looking to go to college and was dating/engaged and just needed to get a real job. So happened to know the founder of Mid-South Roof Systems through church, and I started working here as... At the time the company I think had maybe 30 employees working out a small house, the way a lot of companies are, I'll use the terms 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. So that was Mid-South Roof Systems 1.0. It was very entrepreneurial, not a lot of process. They needed somebody who knew about computers because hey, we'd heard about that before. Needed somebody to run around and pick up plans because that's still what you did then, and somebody to read specs and just wear all the different hats from a project management and estimating standpoint. So that was the entree in.

Then as things grew, obviously a lot of times when you get into 2.0 mode, companies move into having processes and people specializing in roles, and so I ended up specializing in, what I would call the get side of the business. So, estimating, lightweight sales and then IT just because I had an IT background. So yeah, and the [inaudible 00:02:27].

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, wow, that's amazing. That's so cool that you were able to work your way up and grow with the company and see your progress and its progress.

Geoff Mitchell: It has been a lot of fun. I feel really lucky and blessed to have been a part of that evolution. It is definitely a team effort. I'm sitting here telling my story, but maybe 30 employees at that time to 200-plus employees at this time. Clearly as you go through those 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 evolutions, it's a team effort. It definitely takes managers and leaders to the new hire, everybody to get that done and to continue to grow the company and develop it.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So who would you say taught you about roofing?

Geoff Mitchell: So, I think as I look back at it, I think if I were to take the question and broaden it a little bit, because I don't want to overemphasize any roof experience I have because I definitely have been on the office side. So I don't want to want to over represent actual field chops here, but I'll say the founder. The founder, Ron Newton's approach to inside the business. You never say, that's not my job. So just being willing, particularly in the 1.0 era, to do whatever ends up in front of you, whatever responsibility there is to take, make sure you take it on. Never be afraid to learn by just jumping in and figuring it out. Find somebody who knows about how to do that and learn from them, regardless of whether they're outside the company, inside the company, might be a different kind of business, but doing something similar, or asking really good questions to your foreman, your lead men, those guys are going to know. For example, in the estimator project management, when there's challenge, obviously those guys are going to know the real answers or have the real ideas.

So yeah, I think, and then taking it into the 2.0 mode, I think for me, learning about roofing in 2.0 was really getting involved in NRCA's FEI program. So really learning about the rest of the industry because we were very self-involved as a company. That's probably the wrong way to say it, but we were very insulated. So going to the FEI program then NRCA and realizing like, oh wow, there's all these other great companies out there. There's all these other, there's a peer group of people that you can ask how they're doing stuff. So then beginning to learn from others, really turbocharging learning from others and being able to ask others about how are you solved this problem? Have you run into this before? I think it's a really broad answer, but that was really important.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, no, I mean, really, there's a lot of times never just one person or one thing that teaches you throughout your career or about your career. So I think that was a great answer.

Geoff Mitchell: Well, and to answer one of your later questions about favorite thing about the RoofersCoffeeShop and just the podcast and everything else is just, I'm jealous of your, I really enjoy involvement with NRCA to meet and talk to other contractors and hear their stories. That's been one of the neatest things about the industry that I didn't realize probably until I was in my late 20s, but that's something that you get to do obviously every day in a lot of different ways. It's really cool.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, thanks for saying that. We love interacting with all you contractors and providing this space for community and interacting with all of the association partners and all the great work that they do across the country and internationally. So it's our pleasure and I'm glad, I'm glad you said that. So what are some of the most valuable lessons you've learned about roofing, even just about business too?

Geoff Mitchell: I think broadly speaking, the most important lesson has been just that when you're younger or you're starting out in this industry, a lot of times you end up thinking about it from the perspective of the company you're working with or around, like they do it the right way and this is the way you do roofing. I think through the NRCA and just broader involvement through the associations, like running into... There are so many different thumbprints of way to do this. Each individual company has their own approach to things.

A lot of times there's not really a wrong or right way. There's a wrong or right way to put a roof on or to the completed a product can be good or bad, but when it comes back to different companies approaches or how they do things, what they specialize in or whether they're regional or just one city, there's so many different business models and thumbprints of those companies. I think when I entered into this a long time ago, I probably carried a lot of, well, we do it the right way and realizing over time, wow, there's so many different ways to do it that you got to be really careful carrying the, we do it the right way and this is the only way to do it, kind of motto.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, I think that's a great lesson and I think a lesson so many people have to learn across careers and across industries. Yeah, well said.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, there's a lot of different ways to approach it.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, so if you were to go back, going off of that, if you were to go back to the start of, or the beginning of your career, what would you do differently, if anything?

Geoff Mitchell: That's a hard question to answer because I think at times if I said, get involved with NRCA sooner or go to FEI sooner, those things happen in their own season. So you've got to be, it's like trying to get an 18 year-old appreciate a sunset. That may or may not happen depending on the 18 year-old.

Megan Ellsworth: So true.

Geoff Mitchell: [inaudible 00:08:19] couldn't have at that point. So yeah, I don't know. That's a great question. Yeah, maybe even just by saying that, just try to be more involved with the broader group center just to learn from others.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, and I mean, a lot of the people that have been on this podcast have said, actually, I wouldn't do anything differently, and that makes me happy. I think that's a perfectly lovely answer.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, it's hard to. It's not to say that everything was correct or anything like that, that's for sure.

Megan Ellsworth: But everything happens for a reason.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, I think that's one thing about negative experiences. Clearly person mistakes, business mistakes, all those kinds of things. As long as they're not terminal and you can learn something from them, then they're not, you're paying for an education. If it's terminal or someone really gets hurt by it, then that's obviously not okay but I think broadly speaking, mistakes are learning opportunities if you allow them be.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely, yeah. So maybe also going off of that, all these questions build.

Geoff Mitchell: Right, yeah. [inaudible 00:09:33] I mean you could definitely feel that in the list.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So what would you say is the best thing you've ever done for your business or career or both?

Geoff Mitchell: I think jumping back to NRCA involvement because I think that was a... I'm referencing that over and over again, but it was really a pivot moment. Again, that timing and maturity and age, and where was the company, we were moving into that 2.0 mode where we had, once you break probably 80 people, maybe 50 people, you've really got to start to build process. So we were building process, and so getting involved with NRCA and FEI and that size and timing resulted in the ability to learn things. If we'd still been a 30 person company, I probably would not have had the time for or been asking the right questions.

But I also think just looking at the last five years, we've really learned a lot of internal company lessons around org chart structure, reporting lines. We've really over the last three years, engaged with vision, mission, core values, having public company goals that are shared internally. Really trying to all be on the same page as a leadership group. I think I've had an executive coach for about two years now, and that was similar to FEI, that really changed a lot. I can look at a lot that we did over the last two years, that coaching, I don't think we would've done that without coaching.

So yeah, it's hard to pin that down to any one thing. These are all, I'm moving to business topics as opposed to roofing topics also, but my role is... I read [inaudible 00:11:13] technical details, I do that, but broadly speaking, the job at this point is much more focused on business topics.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, and I mean, that's what is so important. That's I think why a lot of people listen to this podcast is to hear other people's growths challenges, whatnot, in starting a business and seeing that grow and continue. So I think you're hitting it right on the nail.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, so if I were to, I can obviously screen share, but this is a graphic. We just had our first ever offsite leadership conference.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh wow.

Geoff Mitchell: This is a graphic that we used in it. We had, I think 24 department heads or leadership team people in that meeting, and that graphic that I just showed off has mission, vision and core values, and then a metaphor that it's using. That really represents five years’ worth of work to get to that. It literally emerged in the last month or so as we were working towards this meeting, but it represents all those ideas put in one place. Part of working towards that meeting, none of us involved could have articulated that metaphor in that format, but doing that work, but that's 3.0 stuff. So 1.0 was all managerial, 2.0 is more process and stuff, and then 3.0 is truly professionalizing and moving into a realm where you've got managers managing managers, and you've got people spending time on that kind of stuff. Then not just putting it on a wall, but making sure we're doing, we're making a commitment to everybody in the business, we're communicating it to them. Part of that's a commitment that we're actually going to do it because if we say it and we don't do it, that's not where you want to find yourself because everybody knows when you're not doing what you say you're going to do. So anyway, yeah. So that broadly fits back on the topics you started with.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Well, that's really interesting that it just came about within the last month or two before this conference. It just shows that the pieces fall into place.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, if we weren't doing the work to have that conference, I don't think we would've come up with that metaphor and be able to put all it together. The test of it was when we showed it to people, you can talk about all these layers in the metaphor of the running team, but you don't have to talk about a lot of them because a lot of them, people can just look at and not only have they seen vision, mission and vision already, but then the metaphor is self-explanatory to a point where you can talk about some of the stuff that's obvious, but on the other hand, people are like, ah, a lot of it just clicks.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah. So going off of that again, since you are high up in the company, you've gone through 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, with all that experience, in one word or a small sentence, what do you think the most important trait in an employee and a co-worker?

Geoff Mitchell: So, I think that's a fairly easy answer. The key you see in this is forward together. So, I think that's, and the forward together idea conceptualizes teamwork, self-improvement, constant improvement, and it takes those two things and puts them together.

So, I think when we're evaluating a promotion for someone or a new hire or maybe even a challenge that's come up or someone's review, that forward together concept is, it has to be paramount. It has to be a lens that we're looking at everything through. So even if somebody has the technical skills or is a great business development person or a good project manager, but they're not on the forward together part, we've decided that's a core, that is the thing. So if you have somebody who's a high performer in other ways but doesn't have that aspect, then... Even putting this together for the conference and as I'm working on my presentation and realizing like, uh-oh, I've got two situations I've got to go address because if I stand up here and say all this stuff and don't address these situations, then people will know. So doing the work, doing that work, making the time for that work, I think has been instrumental. You asked if I could summarize. I think the forward together idea is the key.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah, I think so. That's such a great way to put it because I mean, when you're working for a company as co-workers, you want to all be on the same page and all feel like you are going forward together. So that is so true.

Geoff Mitchell: I can think of, and I definitely wouldn't sit here and say it's the right way for all companies because I can sit here and think of, I can think of vendors, I can think of some of our customers who that's not why they're doing it. They might be doing it for profitability or they might do it for excellence in work, or there's all kinds of different reasons that you might do it, but it might be a different kind of environment. You've got environments where it's a fairly, it could be a cutthroat really, but also a really effective environment where they do great work, but the teamwork atmosphere might be different. So it's definitely, I'm not saying this is the right way for everybody, just it fits what we're doing.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. No, and that's awesome. So moving on, who is the best boss you've ever had and what did they teach you?

Geoff Mitchell: So that's another one of those broad-based and questions that reflects in different areas. So I think going back to our founder Ron Newton and talking about his approach to things where the idea of forward together, the constant improvement idea that's in there and the teamwork idea that's in there, both of those come directly from him. So I would say in learning from him, always learning from him, but also particularly in the first five to 10 years and that 1.0 mode, those are really valuable concepts. The idea of forward together also harks back to being a great place to work, which is the reason he started the company, is he wanted to create a great place to work. That idea has evolved over the years as we continue to define it, but I would say that's probably a really key point.

Then also I would say, just even my personal relationships, like learning from my wife Diana and just learning from just the things you learn on the personal side and how they actually reflect in what you're doing day in, day out, relating to people.

Then just as I continue to work with our leadership team and just talking about the last five years as we've done work around these topics. We're very collaborative. So you used the word boss, but at the end of the day, I'm in a support role for all the key... Our new hire from a week ago was out in the field trying to get stuff done. At the end of the day, my role is a support role to make sure he's got what he needs, or she needs, get the job done and, if they don't, then I'm not in doing my role. So looking at the whole group is my boss. The leadership team over the last five years have been really instrumental in understanding, what am I supposed to be doing?

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah, like seeing that 3.0 version come to a head and emerge. Interesting. So what makes you smile when you think about your job? I love this question.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, that's a really good question. I've never heard that one on a podcast. Nice job with [inaudible 00:18:37] question. I'm a huge podcast fan, which most people are these days, but.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, that's a good question. I think I would put three things. I was thinking about that ahead of time. So I would think three things would apply to that. I've got the disease where I look at not only am I proud of and I have to be careful with relatives and friends. Instead of pointing at, we did that building, we did that building. Restrain that and remember who's already heard that comment. At the same note, you ever end up in a high rise or anything like that, looking at all the roofs? So just being proud of the work that we've done as a company. That makes me smile.

I would say secondly, just thinking about the leadership conference. I love my job, I love the company, I love the industry. So just all the things that I get to do on a regular basis, whether it's working with the leadership team doing NRCA stuff. The leadership conference we have was a lot of fun. I had outsiders look at the video we put up and saying, "Hey, that looks like fun." It's like, wow. Yeah, not only did we get good work done, but we also had fun. So I would say that. Then there's a lot of things I get to do day in, day out that makes me smile. So it seems like a unique position in life. So I'd definitely be grateful for that.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome, I love that question because it really shows the heart of the person I'm interviewing. So thank you for sharing.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, it's a leading question on the positive side too. Yeah, it pulls it in a very positive direction.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. Well, we're going to stop for a quick commercial break from our sponsor, Johns Manville.

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Megan Ellsworth: So now we'll hop into some questions related to our sponsor, Johns Manville. Thank you, Johns Manville for being a partner with us and sponsoring this podcast episode. So Geoff, how important is a relationship with your manufacturer like Johns Manville?

Geoff Mitchell: The manufacturer can play a really important role in everything we do from the basic idea of what we bid and how we price it, and how we relate to our customer, and how we get work to the types of jobs we're picking, to how well we actually do the work and everything from training to research and development. I think Manville does an incredible job of being at the cutting edge of those things.

I got a chance to visit their R&D facility out in Colorado a couple of years back and that-

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, nice.

Geoff Mitchell: They have some really unique things there, and that was a really neat experience. But also a lot of times we get focused on what's happening on this job or what's coming up next month, and just lose sight of what it takes for a company like Manville to be on the cutting edge of both materials, but also process. At the end of the day, the customer experience for us includes not only buying the product, putting the product on, but then also the support that we get around that product. Technical details, bidding and warranty services. So it's definitely, being out there and seeing facilities and stuff is a great reminder of what it takes to do that.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. They do such great work. I actually live not even a mile from their headquarters in downtown Denver.

Geoff Mitchell: Oh, cool. Yeah, man, Colorado. It's an amazing place.

Megan Ellsworth: Love Colorado.

Geoff Mitchell: It's an amazing place.

Megan Ellsworth: So how important going with great products, how important is that ongoing training and education around new emerging products? How important is that for y'all?

Geoff Mitchell: So, I think that the training on new products is really important, and I know Manville has been at the leading edge of that with the BURSI School and just their approach to that, the training facilities that they have both in Colorado and then also in the local markets and what their technical leads are willing to do. But we've always appreciated also our local reps and the level of engagement they've had with us around training and creating opportunities for anywhere from a crew, foreman, to get training on materials and products, to our estimators and project managers. Also make sure we're up to date on whatever process changes they have. They've really emphasized, again, the whole customer experience, when it comes to commercial roofing and what we do from beginning of from estimating stuff all the way to wrapping a job up.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, they're so great. We love Johns Manville.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, yeah, they've done a great job too. We're fairly niched for roofing company and definitely they're very active in our niche, so I think that lends itself to us partnering well with them too. We both have a common interest there.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So I can't believe it, but we've come to the time. We have hit our last question. So, and that is, how long have you been following RoofersCoffeeShop and what's your favorite thing? I know you already mentioned a little bit, but we can go deeper.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, and I was thinking, I saw the question, I don't know on the date. I want to say all the way back to probably 13 or 14 years ago, but I don't know.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow.

Geoff Mitchell: Because I feel like it was right after I completed the FEI program with NRCA and I don't when RoofersCoffeeShop first emerged on the marketplace, but I feel like that was fairly early in the era of when it was largely... I mean, posting boards is the way I would've called it. I wouldn't call it time. I had been pushing NRCA for a long time to have a posting board for the future executive class because we were emailing probably once a week as a group, and it's like, hey, this posting, there it is.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, maybe we should get a forum for you all.

Geoff Mitchell: Well, I think people are on, I think people will come on and off your forums doing stuff like that, but yeah. Yeah, that's probably a good idea because a group of, I mean, there's each of the classes. Obviously FEI Class Four is the best class.

Megan Ellsworth: Obviously.

Geoff Mitchell: But yeah, I think each of the classes is pretty active as a small group.

Megan Ellsworth: That's great.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, but you guys provide an incredible platform for people to share information, get to know each other, network, and just it's a great place for the industry to connect.

Megan Ellsworth: That's what we think too. So thanks for confirming our belief. Well, Geoff, thank you so much. This has been so informational and a blast getting to hear your story and your experiences with Mid-South Roof System. So thank you so much for chatting with me today.

Geoff Mitchell: Yeah, thank you for the opportunity and thanks, Johns Manville.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes, thank you Johns Manville for sponsoring. Everyone, make sure to subscribe and get notified when we post every podcast every month. So come on out to rooferscoffeeshop.com and listen to more stories from the roof there and wherever else you listen to podcasts. We'll be seeing you next time on Stories From The Roof.

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