Can You Engineer Unicorn Feedback?
How can Gecko Robotics, its CEO Jake Loosararian, his alma mater Grove City College, and Dunder Mifflin's Michael Scott help extend your leadership shelf life?
Find out in Episode 124 of The Energy Detox.
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
If I told you that a robotics and AI company worth over a billion dollars got its start at a Western Pennsylvania College, which college do you think I'm talking about?
00:11
Well, for a lot of people, you probably don't think of Grove City College, which is where I, Joe Sinnott, am standing today amidst homecoming weekend activities. But alas, Grove City College is where 2013 alumnus Jake Loosararian began what would ultimately become Gecko Robotics, one of the sexiest, hottest companies in the world, and a unicorn company that emerged out of Grove City College and Pittsburgh, where it is headquartered today.
00:38
And here on The Energy Detox today we're going to talk about the origins of Gecko Robotics. We're going to talk about the pretty remarkable story of Jake Loosararian, and we'll talk about the remarkable, unique story of Grove City College, and weave all examples from those three things into some lessons that you can use to mirror what it is Gecko Robotics does. That is, identify things that could cause problems, identify hazards, cracks, corrosion, and all kinds of different things in critical infrastructure that can limit the effectiveness of that infrastructure, to do things, to capture data that can extend the life of critical infrastructure, which impacts everybody, all around us. It impacts you and impacts me, and in fact, it impacts the world of oil and gas in particular.
And today we're not talking about the physical attributes, of course, the physical AI, if you will, that Gecko Robotics does so well. But instead, we're talking about figurative data, figurative analysis that can help you identify those cracks in your leadership approach, the corrosion in your leadership and your communication that can limit your effectiveness, and, quite frankly, can limit your useful life as a leader.
01:45
But to do all those things, I'm not going to continue doing it right here at Grove City College, because my primary role today is not to record a leadership podcast, but instead to manage my four children so that my wife can actually enjoy her 20th reunion here.
01:59
So with that, we're going to continue the conversation about an hour south, closer to Pittsburgh, where Gecko Robotics is headquartered, and again, lay out some practical tools, some real world tools that you can use to discover those hidden cracks, hidden corrosion, if you will, that could be impacting your leadership abilities.
02:19
And now that I am 45 miles south of Grove City, the kids are back in school, and my wife, I think, is continuing to bask in the afterglow of an enjoyable homecoming weekend, let's dive into those three themes that I alluded to in the opening...that being Gecko Robotics, Jake Loosararian, Gecko's CEO, and Grove City College, and in particular, Grove City's fierce independence. It's independence from federal funding, and, in turn, the freedom that it is able to enjoy because of that.
02:47
But let's start with Gecko Robotics. Let's start with, again, what it is that they do, because ultimately, what they do is collect data, collect insights that are otherwise unavailable. They go forth, or the robots go forth, and they collect, if not create, data that can then be used to paint a clear picture of what's going on with critical infrastructure, so that people can take actions. And that's the goal today. That's the goal on all episodes of The Energy Detox, is to have actionable insights.
03:18
And again, as I alluded to in the opening, Gecko robotics prides itself on physical AI. We're talking about real, tangible infrastructure that needs to be examined.
But that same idea applies just as much to these figurative concepts, the softer skills, if you will, communication, decision making, leadership, because at the end of the day, it's all about actions, whether, again, we're talking physical or figurative concepts, it's all about taking action. So what actions can you take to mirror what it is Gecko Robotics does? What actions can you take to mirror the robots that are going forth and collecting, if not creating this data?
04:00
Well, first actions that I can speak to are certainly what I do on a regular basis as an executive coach, because I go forth as a robot, if you will, go forth and actually collect data that wouldn't otherwise be there. And I do it, in fact, by, you know, not being a robot, by having conversations, not just sending out a form for people to fill out, but having human conversations with stakeholders that allow me to go multiple levels deeper than most other feedback approaches would. And again, that's exactly what Gecko does. They have sensors that go multiple levels deeper than just the surface level inspections. But instead, they can go forth and actually see what's going on with insulation or multiple levels of physical layers that make up some sort of tank or infrastructure, pipeline, whatever structure is out there that needs to be inspected. But I'm not here to say you need to go forth and get a coach. Of course. I'm here to say, "What actions can you take today to actually send forth some robots?"
04:59
And one of those is to make sure that you do not allow yourself to have some false choice between anonymous data and transparent data. Because I see it so often where people will say, "Well, you know what? I don't want to just send out some sort of anonymous form, because, you know you that got to take that data with a grain of salt. You know, I want to go forth, and I want to hear it firsthand. I want people to be able to tell me, to my face, you know, what I could do better, or maybe what I'm doing well and need to do more of."
05:25
And that's great, but that false choice, again, between anonymous and super transparent, leaves data on the table. And of course, when it comes to AI and AI models, and being able to paint the clearest picture possible, you want all data from all sources. And then hopefully you have a team in place, or technology in place to sort through that data. So the first piece of advice to you is ask yourself, what data is available, regardless of where it's coming from, regardless of how accurate it might be. You want that data, and then you can spend the time trying to make sense of it.
05:59
The second thing you can do under the umbrella of getting data that you might not otherwise get is to embrace Michael Scott from The Office. And I say this because it's actually fresh in my mind, because somebody I was working with today actually was describing the need to break down silos and build alignment, all the things again, that you would expect for any sort of leader. And where we landed in this conversation was basically saying, hey, next time you have that meeting, a recurring meeting with multiple levels of management, why not have a bit of a roast? Why not get to the point where people can freely share observations, maybe observations they never even thought of before, but by giving them permission to say, hey, you know, roast me, give me, you know, 10 things about me, 10 elephants in the room, 10 whatever they would be...ugly babies, I think was actually one of the terms we talked about. You know, I want to hear 10 things that I can do differently.
06:56
And if you give somebody that permission, well, guess what? You're going to get data. You're going to get insights that you wouldn't otherwise get. And one way to attack that is, again, in an episode of The Office, if you're not familiar, the team there, Dunder Mifflin, they roast Michael Scott on Michael Scott's birthday, and they're all sitting around at the evening event, and they're basically going around and saying, Hey, Michael, you know you stink because of x, you stink because of y.
07:21
And, you know, it kind of upsets Michael Scott, and he comes back the next day with a whole list of things that he is now roasting others. He said, you know, "Boom! Roasted! Boom. Roasted."
07:30
Again, most of those are inappropriate, but at the end of the day, the temperature in Dunder Mifflin changed a bit. People's guards were down. They were laughing. And again, I'm not necessarily recommending you take that path, but ask yourself, how you can model this idea of roasting, giving other people the permission to roast you, and in turn give you a chance to roast them, or make it a little bit easier to address those elephants in the room, to call out things that you know either you're holding on to and haven't shared, which is not ideal, but more significantly, to actually take the time to say, Well, what else? What other small little thing that, again, could be catastrophic from an infrastructure standpoint, can I share with that other individual?
08:11
Now, that being said, I probably shouldn't be at least implying that there's any sort of parallels between Dunder Mifflin in the office and Gecko Robotics, because I think, from a from an interest standpoint, Gecko Robotics had something like 40,000 applicants for its last round of interns, and they accepted, you know, 0.1% of that, or some obscene numbers. So again, I think a lot more people are probably clamoring to work for Gecko Robotics than Dunder Mifflin. But again, it remains to be seen that, you know, when you take a fresh approach, a non robotic approach, if you will, to leadership and to feedback, it's going to attract people. It's going to make people want to work for you.
08:49
So that's the encouragement today. Where else can you get this data? And I guess one other thing I'll throw out there in terms of, hey, where can you find this extra data? Don't be afraid to bring non professional people into the mix. Again, as a coach, when I'm having those conversations, I have conversations with spouses. I have conversations with friends and other family members. It's not uncommon for me to have a conversation about a leader, even though the ultimate goals are primarily professional in nature. It's not uncommon for me to go forth and to hunt for those things that might be hidden in their personal lives. So I encourage you to do the exact same thing. How can you unlock that data?
09:28
That being said, let's transition to the second theme here, and that is Jake Loosararian, the head of Gecko Robotics, again, the person who was given an assignment as an electrical engineering student with his fellow electrical engineers there at Grove City College back in 2012 to design a robot that can go forth and basically perform some inspections that were traditionally being done by human beings. And in addition to the safety benefits of this robot, ultimately, Jake said, hey, you know, there could be a whole business behind this, right?
10:01
Well, wrong, at least in the eyes of a lot of people that Jake was sharing this with when he said, Hey, maybe we can turn this into a business. And these are Jake's words. He said people were saying, "There's no f----ng way...it's not going to work." There's no effing way that this is going to work.
10:18
But it did. And the lesson here isn't as much about perseverance, which Jake had to do. It's not as much about overcoming obstacles which Jake had to do. It's not about him having to, you know, sleep at various facilities and find places to sleep at friends' apartments or whatever, just to get by, because, you know, he didn't have the money to, actually keep things going for much longer. That's great. That's a great story. But more significantly, it was Jake, not just hearing, Hey, that's not going to work. It was him saying, Yeah, but what are the odds? What if it did work? You know, what are the odds that it would work? And then what's the upside if it does?
10:59
You know, it's that small twist to say, hey, let's look at this, not as a black and white "this is going to work, or it's not going to work." Jake looked at it statistically. He looked at it from an engineering standpoint, and said, Well, if it does work, even if it's in this, you know, seemingly small at the time, although we're finding much bigger, niche of infrastructure and inspections. Well again, what if it did? And of course, the outcome now is, again, a company that's valued at over a billion, valued at over a billion dollars.
11:25
But the lesson for you is when you get feedback, and again, we're talking about feedback today, when you get feedback that is, in essence, the whole, "this isn't f----ng going to work," ask yourself, "Well, what if it did?" Ask the other person, "Well, what if it did?" And this works for behaviors, too. You know, ask yourself if somebody said, Hey, you know you need to stop doing X, Y and Z. It's fine to say, Hey, thank you for that feedback. But what if I didn't stop it? What are the real implications? What are the costs?
11:53
That's the difference between a sustainable leader, a conscious leader, and one who just gets this feedback, ingests it, and then goes forth blindly and says, "Well, this is what I was told to do."
So, again, put on your Jake Loosararian hat and make sure that you hear what other people were saying, but then also have the logic and the wherewithal to say, "Well, what if that feedback is wrong?"
12:15
Which brings us to the third and final theme today, that being Grove City College and its independence. And if you're not familiar with the story of Grove City College and its Supreme Court case from 1984, well, basically, Grove City College said, hey, you know, we don't want to have to abide by these Title IX requirements that the federal government is putting forth.
But the Supreme Court case, which Grove City lost, basically said, Well, no, if you're accepting this money, Pell grants and all these different things, then no, you do have to do have to abide by it, which caused Grove City to say, Well, fine, then we're out. We're not going to take any money. And that's where they stand today.
12:51
And despite that, here's a headline from the paper that I snagged...“College gets top ranking” in terms of its value.
12:59
So despite not taking any money from the federal government, because they said, "Fine, we're going to go forth...we value independence more than anything else." Well, now, guess what? The cost of Grove City is about half of what a typical college would be, and the value is through the roof. You know, they're consistently ranked number 1, 2, or 3 in different regions in terms of value.
13:16
But again, today, we're not here to just promote that value of Grove City and the independence. It's again, for you to get to the point where, when you receive that feedback, just like the feedback that Jake received years ago, it's okay to pivot. It's okay to acknowledge and say, "Hey, you know what? We lost the Supreme Court case. That doesn't mean we now need to go forth and do whatever the government tells us to do. There is another path. I'm going to consciously choose this other path."
13:42
People will respect you for that, right? To say, "Hey, I understand this decision. I appreciate the feedback. I'm going to consciously go in this direction, but I'm doing it again with a full view, a full picture of where things stand, what data I need to consider," just as Gecko robotics paints that clear picture.
13:58
So that being said, channel your inner Jake Loosararian. Channel your inner Gecko. Channel your inner Wolverine (the Grove City Wolverines, not Michigan Wolverines, just to be clear here). And go forth, seek that data, ingest that data, and then make a conscious decision on how you are going to act with that feedback data.