NKBA Live’s “Brave New Business” Episode 11 focused on “Leadership in Times of Disruption.” By Dianne M. Pogoda

 

Disruption means change. Change is inevitable, many times, good — and is often necessary.

That’s how NKBA CEO Bill Darcy began the most recent webcast in NKBA Live’s “Brave New Business” series, which explored “Leadership in Times of Disruption.”

“To say we are in a time of disruption is an understatement,” he said. “What’s going on in the world around us is unsettling. Today, we are in the midst of two extraordinary,  disruptive events — the global pandemic and resulting devastation to the economy, and the struggles for racial equality.

“There are many examples of positive disruption throughout history,” he added. “It can be a global, societal change, like the transition from horse-and-buggy to the automobile, or the fact that we now say ”Google it” to find information we need. Think about the change from a largely analog world to a digital one. It was jarring for many, painful for some, and meant skill sets needed to change…and people needed to adapt. The trick is to manage these changes in positive ways to help ensure a smooth transition that’s potentially less disruptive.”

Darcy welcomed two individuals who are both disruptors of the business models in their sectors, and strong advocates for diversity in the industry: Jean Brownhill, an architect and founder of Sweeten.com, a home renovation service that matches projects with vetted general contractors, and Alex Capecelatro co-founder and CEO of Josh.ai, a voice-controlled automation system for the connected home.

“As leaders, we need to step up and embrace change,” Darcy said, “whether it’s part of our own organic business plan or if it’s thrust upon us — and ensure our teams feel confident in our vision, and that we’ll all grow and thrive together.”

He asked the panelists for their thoughts and strategies on managing through crises, what led them to take the risks that they did to start their businesses, and how they are prospering in such uncertain times.

“As an African-American, female founder of a tech company focused in construction, I definitely have faced my fair share of challenges, in this current time and in general in my path forward,” Brownhill said. “The first thing — which we’re all learning now — is that the only thing you really need to be good at is navigating change. That’s the core competency you need as a professional, because things are constantly changing, and the sooner you accept that, the more successful you’ll be.

“The second thing: Someone once told me that entrepreneurs focus on the calculus, not the statistics,” she added, regarding her odds of getting into Cooper Union and Harvard, raising millions in venture capital to start her business and the rate of small business failure. “If I had looked at the statistics, I’d have just stayed in bed! Instead, I looked at everything as a problem that had an answer, and I was convinced I could solve it. And I did that over and over again, we do it in our business, and that’s how we’re navigating this unprecedented time.”

Capecelatro, whose tech career began working with the government, started his company about five years ago, and even though other voice assistant systems weren’t yet in wide use, Josh.ai now competes with the likes of Apple, Amazon and Google. He said like Brownhill, he was inspired by a mantra to solve a problem.

“I was frustrated working in government labs where I couldn’t talk about the work or commercialize it. I really couldn’t impact people’s lives,” he said. “My co-founder and I both had deep technical backgrounds, we were both renovating homes at the time and we found that the tech options were very disappointing — expensive, complicated and didn’t offer the experience we wanted. So we started thinking about what the ideal smart-home solution would look like. And in a time with A-I, machine learning and voice control, none of it was available for the home.”

Their goal was creating transformational technology that makes people’s lives happier, increases their health and wellness, makes their homes more secure. “Our business is constantly reinventing itself,” he added. “It’s all disruption. That’s what we do as business owners.”

Sweeten opened three new markets during the pandemic, and has more on the way later this year. Brownhill said it was both a tactical and strategic decision, at a time when some people might not want to take such a risk.

“We always look for ways to support a renovation project using digital tools, but at the end of the day, we are facilitating an offline transaction,” Brownhill explained. “There will be a contractor coming into the homeowner’s physical space. [When COVID-19 hit], all the markets we were already in — New York, L.A., Chicago — were severely impacted by stay-at-home orders. All our projects came to a halt. So, first we stabilized, made sure our employees and contractors and homeowners were safe, then we saw a real market opportunity. People were staying home, vacations were cancelled, and homeowners were going to be looking for ways to renovate with minimal face-to-face interactions. We decided to open new markets — to speed up growth instead of slowing down.”

The conversation turned to the second crisis enveloping the country: the protests and civil unrest surrounding the struggles for racial equality, and much-needed conversation on the inequities rampant throughout society — and the industry.

Josh.ai has an aggressive diversity policy based on a set of company core values, and  Capecelatro recommended that business owners establish such a set of values that are non-negotiable.

“Put together core values that you really stand behind — a small number of values that you really believe in. If you have too many, then none of them are really meaningful. For us, embracing equality and diversity across the board has always been a core value of our business. It’s not just the right thing for our employees and our customers, it’s the right thing for our business, and the right way for our business to grow.”

He said this is manifested through blog posts and communication, the company’s hiring policies, activism in the industry — for instance, posting guidelines on hiring for racial diversity in a field that’s not particularly diverse. He said part of this includes paying attention to how and where recruiting takes place, as well as creating a welcoming environment for a diverse workforce.

Brownhill said there are three simple, tactical things that companies can do right away to encourage diversity.

“First, look at the diversity on your own team, then look at your purveyors — your lawyers, your accounting firm, the people you hire to support your business,” she said. “If you’re a showroom, there’s a 15% pledge going around that gives 15% of shelf space to African-American-owned businesses. Finally, look at your philanthropy, the causes you’re giving to, if they’re helping to support African-Americans in any areas — like education or housing. There is incredible inequity in so many areas, there are lots of place you can help.”

For NKBA’s part, Darcy was asked about what the Association is doing to foster diversity in the K&B industry. He pointed out that in exploring why young people not pursuing professional paths in kitchen and bath design — in the skilled trades as well as careers in professional trades like design, architecture, or sales and marketing — the Association discovered awareness is a huge problem.

“Literally no one is suggesting these careers to kids, and if they don’t have a personal connection to the field, like a friend or relative, it’s just not on their radar,” Darcy said. “This is why we initiated our NKBA NextUp program and partnered with the BridgeYear organization, to show high-school students first-hand that there are great career opportunities across the design and remodeling industry.”

The Bridge Year/NKBA Career Tour brings these hands-on experiences to high schools in underserved communities. The program reached almost 6,000 kids in Houston-area high schools between January and March this year, and more than 90% of the students came away with positive views about careers in the kitchen and bath industry.

“We have a great start, but it’s just the beginning. When we surveyed the kids, they told us they loved the design aspect, but they don’t know any designers. So if they didn’t know the career existed and they don’t know any professional designers, we have a lot of work to do. Our industry needs talent. Everyone deserves an opportunity to be part of this industry, and it’s a tragedy when someone gets to high school and doesn’t even know this career exists.”

To view this episode of “Brave New Business,” click here.

“Brave New Business” livestreams on Thursdays at 2 pm (Eastern Time) and features thought leaders across all segments of the business in a free online forum, sharing best practices, experiences and advice on topics of critical interest to K&B professionals, as well as survival tactics for small businesses and independent operators.

The next episode livestreams on Thursday, and will discuss “The Global Marketplace: Is It Less or More Important Than Ever?” with Veronika Miller, CEO of Modenus Media; Volker Irle, Managing Director of AMK, the German Kitchen  Association, and designer Jeremy Parcels, AKBD, from Christopher’s Kitchen & Bath in Colorado.

To register for this week’s Brave New Business forum, fill in the form below.