Paul Walsh, founder of Path2Max, discusses the evolving role of facilities management in retail and mutli-site operations. He talks about how facilities have shifted from being an “invisible engine room” to a highly visible, strategic function.
Paul discusses the evolving role of facilities management in retail and mutli-site operations. He talks about how facilities have shifted from being an “invisible engine room” to a highly visible, strategic function.
Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar. A podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance.
On today’s episode, we talk with Paul Walsh, CEO and Founder of Path2Max. Paul dedicates his time and expertise to mentoring others in the industry and helps them pursue excellence.
TIMESTAMPS
00:44 - About Paul
06:51 - The built environment and retail
13:55 - Where is the industry now?
23:47 - Be proactive, not reactive
30:37 - AI in the industry
37:57 - Shifting consumer expectations
41:34 - Avoiding burnout
45:46 - Where to find Paul
46:34 - Sid’s takeaways
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar, a podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance. On today's episode, we'll hear from Paul Walsh, CEO of Path to Max.
[00:00:12] He'll talk about how to operate your facilities proactively, not reactively, and how to bring your business into the technological here and now. Now, here's your host, Sid Shetty.
[00:00:24] sid: Welcome to season five of Elevating Brick and Mortar. Thank you for joining us. I am here today with industry veteran and thought leader, as well as CEO of PathtoMax, Paul Walsh. Paul, welcome.
[00:00:36] paul: Hi, Sid, how are you? Great to be with you. I'm looking forward to our conversation.
[00:00:42] sid: Likewise. Really excited to have you on. So Paul, let's just dive right in. Right? You, you've been part of the retail and facilities world at some really world renowned brands for over two decades now. Um, can you share your journey with us?
[00:00:55] paul: Absolutely. You know, my journey Sid actually started, um, when I was right outta school. I grew up in Ireland and, uh, it was a small knit community and I think I learned from that resourcefulness. Learning just how to fix things, how to figure things out. And that curiosity actually led me into software long before I thought about facilities.
[00:01:16] So I would say the real turning point came for me when I moved to New York. I joined what is now Service Channel, the company you're with. Back then we weren't talking about, you know, SaaS or automation. We were basically sort of hand building tools, workflow tools for service companies.
[00:01:34] Um, it was the early days of digital transformation before anyone called it that. I would say during my seven years there, I had the privilege, the opportunity to work onsite with more than over 200 service companies across the entire, you know, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York. There were air conditioning companies, refrigeration, electrical, janitorial, fire protection.
[00:01:56] And, you know, I got the opportunity to sit with dispatchers, technicians, office managers, the owners themselves. And it helped me see sort of firsthand where friction occurred. Um, I saw where communication could break down and, and it kind of taught me early that when workflow wasn't aligned. Um, it could completely impact or change performance.
[00:02:19] So I think those experiences sort of shaped everything I believe about operations today. From there, I moved to Los Angeles. I ran IT services for a division of IBM.. Um, that was sort of my introduction to corporate America. You know, I learned about scale, governance, compliance, um, business continuity. And after that I moved that into sourcing, moved that into facilities.
[00:02:43] And then, um, I, I moved over to Apple and, basically overseeing the health and performance of, um, what I still believe is the most iconic, uh, fleet of stores in the world. So I think every step sort of built on the one before it. Um, I think when I talk to my kids and I do a lot of mentoring today, that, you know, our careers aren't just sort of one vertical, um, one step after the other. There was a lot of, uh, crisscrossing that helped me build experience and get me to where I am. So,
[00:03:14] sid: WOW, that's fascinating. I couldn't agree with you more. Um, so, you know, you've had different roles and different types of companies, right, from a tech company, to a service provider, um, then of course in the retail side for many years. But even in, in retail, you know, you did sourcing and then facilities, you, you know, supported development. You're doing your own advisory and consultancy. How has that shaped your perspective on the industry as a whole? Everything that touches the built environment.
[00:03:41] paul: It's changing. It's, it's changed. It's, it's changed dramatically over the last. 10 years especially. Um, you know, my passion was ended up being facilities. It, it, everything I did in a sense touched on facilities. And I would say that, you know, facilities was viewed as the sort of the quiet engine room. It was invisible. It's where everything worked. But the moment that something got in the way of the customer or the employee experience, um, it then became highly visible. And I think that nothing more, uh, I think COVID changed that dynamic, um, almost overnight, you know, so I, I remember, I recall back in the days when leaders who had never once asked about, you know, air handling units or, or filtration standards or cleaning protocols, suddenly they needed detailed answers in real time.
[00:04:34] And, you know, it came down to decisions about, you know, safety and continuity and hey, can a store open? And it all came down to facilities. So, um, I think that the industry has. Shifted. Um, we went into COVID, sort of in an invisible mode, um, and we came out of COVID. Um, highly visible. I can talk a little bit more about that, but yeah,
[00:04:59] sid: Yeah. And I, and I'd love to dig in deeper in, um, in a, in a, in a short while, uh, but today you, you know, you have your own consultancy advisory, uh, firm in a Path to Max. What, what made you start that and what is a North star, uh, in terms of what you're looking to do, uh, with the experience, you have.
[00:05:10] paul: Yeah. Thank you, Sid. I took time off when I, um, when I left Apple and, and you know, I, I sort of started just, I started to offer my knowledge to different people. different people would reach out asking what I was doing, and, and in a sense, I'd, I'd stepped back and I really wanted to, to think deeply about what my next thing would be. People would say, Hey, you retired and that's amazing. And, um, I did for about a week and, and then I would start to get started getting phone calls and, uh, emails and texts and, you know, I spent a, a quite a bit of time just giving back in terms of like just mentoring folks, um, younger people.
[00:05:44] My youngest son graduated from college, so I've been spending time with him. And then his friends started reaching out as they started entering the workforce. And then I had other friends whose, you know, their kids were somehow involved in either sourcing facilities or construction development. Um, so spending time with them it sort of made me think, well, what can I, how can I package everything that I've, I've learned over the last, uh, two decades or more and, and sort of put something together that can actually help, help other folks.
[00:06:17] And so that's really the, yeah, it was a term that I'd heard in, in my gap days that, uh, we had a leader and he talked about what's the path to Max? And, you know, folks would say, well, what does Max mean? And in a sense, it's sort of maximum, you know, productivity, maximum profits, maximum, you know, it could, it, a lot of different nouns can go after, after that. So it's an adjective for, for, you know, for exceptionalism and, um, and excellence.
[00:06:50] sid: I love it. I love it. Paul, you and I have spent many years talking about just the role the physical built environment has in, in delivering on a brand's promise. Fernan, you've worked at brands that take that very seriously. Right? Can you share with our audience, what do you think about that? What do you think is the role of the physical space, uh, when it comes to employee experience, customer experience, and how it represents a brand?
[00:07:18] paul: I did have the opportunity to work for two amazing, uh, companies, GAP brands, um, that encompassed Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Athleta, outlets. And, you know, that was a sort of fast retailing environment. Um, it was the criticality of ensuring that the space looked great.
[00:07:41] I had a, a retail leader I worked with who sort of talked about that first five steps when a customer walk into the store. Um, they would form an impression about, you know, potentially will they go further? Uh, what will their experience be like? I was acutely aware of, of that piece and, you know, for that fast retailing piece, it was, you know, operational.
[00:07:57] Let's make sure that we get these, keep these stores running. Um, we would have to do quick remodels. You know, they were all managed, traded, so they had to report quarterly. So sometimes our ability to invest in the, and, and I use the term invest when it comes to facilities, um, many folks talk about it as an expense.
[00:08:20] Um, I see it as, I always seen it as an investment, but our ability to invest sometimes would, um, depend on the, the, the company's performance. So it was about trying to maximize the dollars that we were stewards of. To ensure that we were delivering a comfortable, safe environment, um, that was equally, um, equally allowed our employees to have a good work environment, but then also for our customers.
[00:08:50] And then I, I think I just took that through to when I worked for Apple and um, and I learned a lot from Apple around, um, about the sort of levels of excellence and, you know, like we can never strive for perfection. But, you know, there was a, uh, a mantra that we're never gonna compromise on the customer or the employee experience and being able to use that as sort of a guide for decision making helped me and it helped the teams that I managed, um, sort of do the right thing. Um, and sometimes it meant, yeah, we would go over budget. We would have to ensure that we were balancing that later on in, in some form or fashion, but, you know, how do we ensure that that experience is seamless?
[00:09:37] So, so yeah, I mean, I think that what I learned from those, um, two amazing experiences was developing a value proposition. Bringing it back to, you know, very simple terms around ease of use. How can we make it easy for our store teams, whether it be in an Apple store or in a, a Gap Store, in our Republic store, easy to use the systems that we need them to participate in, in order then to go out and find the right vendors. How do we make it easy for our vendors to interact with us? Some of the key takeaways that I took from, from my time with those brands.
[00:10:15] sid: Yeah. That's amazing. I mean, you're spot on, right? When the first five steps you take in, you know, when you enter, um, a location like that feeling that you get that experience you have, that's the brand right there. Right. And I think many a times brands, um, you know, tend to marginalize the importance of the physical space.
[00:10:36] I think iconic brands that, you know, like Apple, that they don't call their team facilities, they call it preservation. Right. Which in itself says something about how, you know, a brand should look at what it means to preserve a space to maybe day one of, of opening. Why do you think the industry is perceived that way? And to your point. We don't necessarily always, um, use the word invest when it, comes to facilities. We, you know, it is seen as a cost center. How much of that is self-created and, and how do you think we can kind of change that mindset and the narrative around what the teams are doing? I
[00:11:04] paul: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question, Sid. I kind of temper everything with pre COVID and, and, and post COVID. I believe that we had a PR issue in a sense with, um, you know, and so part, uh, uh, Part of my career, I also led. The Prism Association, which is now called Connects.
[00:11:17] And, and one of the things that I, I, I tried to do there was sort of elevate the role of the FM so that they were more visible, um, especially somewhere in the C-suite so that, you know, it, it was kind of like you would hear things like, nobody even know, knows that I exists until there's a major problem and they're not seeing all of the, you know, the hundreds, thousands of work orders that are taking place that are executed, um, perfectly.
[00:11:48] They only see the, the one or two that turned that into firefighting issues. So, so I think that there was a piece around, um, the folks that were in facilities were good at fixing issues. They were good at responding urgently, um, but they were not great at telling their story internally.
[00:12:10] And, and that was one of the things I worked on when I was in the, when I led Connects, was how do we elevate that role? How do we give our fms especially, and those that were leading FM departments, the tools to be able to tell stories in the same language that A CFO or, or chief Procurement Officer might recognize.
[00:12:33] So talking about KPIs, talking about linking why the investment in facilities was important and how that would translate to, you know, maybe an increase in sales or, uh, an increase in, uh, employee morale by, you know, doing something that worked, you know, helping the employees in their spaces.
[00:12:57] So I think that's the part. I think that, like I said, you know, through COVID, you know, really that a lot of that sort of, um, invisibility, it was like an invisible cloak was shaken and, you know, it became then very clear that, um, you know, that this, uh, facilities team or preservation team were a critical asset to any type of multi-site, um, you know, organization.
[00:13:30] sid: Just digging into the, the, you know, how the industry has changed, especially during the COVID era, right? You've been in, in the space for some, for a long time and you've seen the industry kind of evolve, right? In terms of how it embraced technology in terms of, you know, maybe how the industry is perceived.
[00:13:48] I think there's a lot, there's a long way for us to go as you, as you pointed out. What, what is your view on kind of how far we've come? As you look at, take a step back and you look at the past 20 to 25 years, and then you put in the middle, like this, this line in the sand, which is, which was COVID. I think there was, to your point, there was immediately like a lot of focus and spotlight and facilities.
[00:13:55] I'd love to hear your perspective on like, did that then again go back to the same old, you know, perspective or do you think that there's a lot of progress made? Yes, it did probably, you
[00:13:55] know, uh, Scale back a little bit in terms of the focus on facilities, but then we have, we are much better off today than we were probably 20 years ago.
[00:13:55] paul: Yeah, I mean like, listen, if you go back 20 years ago, you know, the evolution has been dramatic, right? 20 years ago, we were, much of the work was manual. People were faxing, invoices, data lived in spreadsheets, and people's heads and expectations were lower. And, you know, if there was an issue, um, on a Friday or Saturday, you would get a memo on your desk on Monday morning to try and go back and, and address it.
[00:14:20] We were depending on store teams to try and figure out, um, you know, how to solve for themselves, you know, so I think some of us structural, if you're always fighting fires, um, you're, you're not going to be able to tell a strategic story, but in order to tell a strategic story, you need, um, visibility.
[00:14:39] And so you need that clean, clean asset data, for example, right? You need to see performance trans, you know, like really performance transparency. We need to see clarity on, on spend, um, alignment, right? Like making sure that all the teams that touch facilities, finance, operations, facilities, providers, um, you know, that they all had come, needed to come together and, and then structure, right?
[00:15:10] You know, I'm a big believer in scorecards, business reviews, capital planning, and I think that technology enabled that, um, the platforms, for example, I've worked solely with Service Channel through my time at A BM and then into Gap and, and Apple. Um, being able to pull it all together into one place so that you could have one view that was sort of for me, the game changer, um, over the last 20 years now.
[00:15:43] Today we operate with, you know, we've got IOT, we have connected assets. Um, we have even more modern service platforms. Um, we've got mobile tools for technicians, for example. We've got higher expectations for consistency, but we also have more complex environments as well. We need to shift again and we, we have, but we need to continue to shift from fixing what breaks in a sense to engineering sort of reliable, consistent experiences. I think that's the key. Um, and like I said, I think COVID accelerated, um, everything.
[00:16:16] sid: Yeah. I want, I wanna unpack a lot of the great things we just talked about, right? So let's start with service providers, right? So in facilities like you ultimately, like the, your program and how well it excels is gonna be very dependent on the providers that you partner with. 'Cause that would mean the difference between delivering great service and, you know, uh, someone not showing up for three hours when, compared to when they said they would show up.
[00:16:45] How do you kind of, you know, go and find the best provider partners out there? How do you manage them? How does, how is that done? Well, um, you know, because I, I'm sure you've seen when it's not done well and, uh, it leads to kind of chaos, right? You, you just don't know what you're gonna expect and then, you know, you, you can manage that if you just have the right framework.
[00:17:08] paul: Finding the right providers, um, you know, obviously being part of an association or industry associations is critical because it allows you to, to network and, you know, being curious to ask a retailer in a similar space to the facilities department that you're managing, asking them, for example, like I, I had a question I would ask.
[00:17:37] Um, anybody that I, that I met, it didn't matter what facilities team they were managing, I would say, Hey, who is that one vendor that, um, if you had to fire them all, you had to get rid of them tomorrow, who's that one that you would fight tooth and nail to keep? And, um, and when they would provide that name, it was somebody that I would. You know, hey, I've gotta go reach out to that person and, or reach out to that company and, and find out a little bit more. So it's like being curious, asking, using the network to try and identify who might be the right, um, the right vendor network for, for your team. I think that once you identify the right vendor network, the right service provider network, um, you know, ensuring that you have communicated clearly to them what the expectations are and how they will be measured in turn, and then how will they be managed.
[00:18:32] I was a true believer in, um, you know, finding vendors that were an extension of me so that, you know, I could trust that I could give them any issue, deal with anything, and they would do it as if I was doing it myself with the same care, the same perseverance, the same high level of expectation.
[00:18:58] Answering your question in a roundabout way, really going out and talking to your vendors. I learned that like from my early days, as I said when I was, um, installing software and, and uh, teaching service providers how to, to leverage it so that they could do, they could manage their business.
[00:19:15] You know, going out, talking to the owner, talking to the team that's gonna be managing the account, your account, developing that human connection with them, um, so that they could see that, hey, it's just not a big corporation that's sending work orders. And it's, um, that, you know, there's a lack of connection, you know?
[00:19:36] And then once you have enough data and you know, obviously leveraging a work order management platform to collect the data. Um, being able to explore, you know, do some analysis to see, hey, are there trends here? But then also, you know, the most important part for me, uh, establishing a review, whether it's a yearly review, a quarterly review, a monthly review.
[00:20:00] In some cases I would do biweekly reviews, um, to just talk about a little bit about what the data's seeing. But, you know, one of the big questions I had for when I would sit down with them was like, tell me, um, where am I getting in your way of doing great work for us? Tell me where are we making mistakes?
[00:20:22] Tell me what you're doing for your other customers that we might benefit from. Um, so like creating again, that partnership. It rather than, Hey, I tell you what to do when you do it, you know? Or, hey, jump and you know, this is how, how I want you to jump. So I, I don't know if that answers your question, but you know that that's sort of my approach or has been.
[00:20:45] sid: No, I It absolutely does. At a superficial level, many times, you know, folks can, can feel that. If I call a provider and they pick up my phone, like, that's great service, right? Yeah. They might pick up your phone, but like, they might be terrible in all the other areas.
[00:21:01] And you know, yes, there is a subjective aspect to it, but you know, to your point, if you use the right scorecards, if you use the right metrics and you use the right KPIs that are gonna tell you how are they performing your expectation, then you have an open dialogue. Dialogue about how they're holding up to your expectations.
[00:21:18] That's a better way of managing a provider than thinking about it as you know. Yeah. I, I call John and, you know, he always takes my call. Yeah. But you know, there might be some really big underlying issues there. Um, and I know you've been a big proponent of, of using objective data and subjective information to hold reviews, but there should never be a situation where you show up to a business review and the provider's, like all gang go saying, yeah, we, we killed it. And then you're like, wait, what?
[00:21:35] paul: I think that one of the things that I would be most proud of, um, through my career is having developed vendors so that they became a little bit more professional, that they were starting to learn that it's not just a matter of, Hey, I think I'm doing a great job.
[00:21:54] They're actually coming in with data to support why they thought they were doing a great job. , I think the, a sign for a vendor that they're, they might have some challenges in this area, is when an RFP comes out and all of a sudden they think they're doing great, but they find out, Hey, we're doing RFP because we are not getting the service or the performance we expected.
[00:22:21] That's failure right there that they, if you didn't, if you're not in touch with your customers and, and you know, so then if your customers aren't initiating business reviews or they don't have the time because they're short staffed or they don't have enough people, it's incumbent on, on the vendor to self-report.
[00:22:39] I think our vendors, um, some of them are now doing a great job at that. Um, there's still a lot of opportunity and, and it's something that I'm very passionate about helping the industry overall.
[00:22:50] sid: Facilities in general is extremely complex, like you mentioned, right. Uh, and the spaces that we now support are even more so, right? We tend to kind of get into this mode of being reactive just because of the nature of the business, right? You're always chasing what needs to be fixed.
[00:23:06] Um, but you can get out of that mode. You can, with the right tools, with the right technologies, the right framework, and the right programs. Get to a state where, you know, more of your work is planned and, you know, your, even your reactive work isn't as critical because you have a program that is allowing you to take a step back and be more, you know, um, and get more predictability. You'll never get away from a situation where there's never emergencies and there's never reactive work. Of course not. But it can be better than just always chasing fires, right. In your view, like how does one essentially do that? How do you get to that state?
[00:23:47] paul: I think there's two pieces here. One is you have to examine your team and, you know, are they, are they firefighters or are they, you know, strategic? You know, are, are they, do they think strategically? Um, but in order for anything, in order to operate, to fix anything to, to move forward, you have to start with visibility.
[00:24:10] I, you know, if you don't know what your, your assets are, for example, if you don't know your spend patterns, for example, um, if you dunno how your providers are performing, you're always going to be reactive in a sense. Um, if you haven't built some structure or taken the time to really understand what are the workflows within your organization, you know, how does, how even how your vendors, what their frameworks are.
[00:24:35] Have you built out programs that you can. Leverage and, and pull on at a moment's notice. Um, you know, you're never going to get away from that reactivity piece. Um, I, you know, I think there's, there's a kind of a, uh, uh, you know, a story around, you know, the, the most, um, famous or the, the, The most famous arsons in the world are, are firefighters that they thrived in the, in the thrill of putting out the fire that they started sometimes setting them.
[00:24:59] And, and I think that's a subconscious thing in a way. Um, and it may just be like, by not setting up your, your vendors for success or your, your stores or your, your whatever you're, you're managing and if it's especially in a multi-site space. So, um. But yeah, I think that there's, there's this piece where somebody needs to come in.
[00:25:15] Um, and that's where I think the educating our facilities teams, um, leaders around moving away from reactivity is, um, is what's going to help them, not only their department, but help them grow in their careers as well.
[00:25:33] sid: Yeah, and there's such great technology out there today, right? You've got service automation platforms, you've got IOT platforms, you've got energy management solutions that can really get you into a proactive state. We are using, you know. Automation, you're using AI and so on, which we'll talk about in a second as well. But you have to get started, right? If you don't know what your assets are, you know, most likely your providers do, you know, you are always gonna be in a spot where you're gonna be reacting and, you know, there's a massive blind spot, right?
[00:26:06] Why is that so hard? What do what retailers struggle with when they think about, well, I've got these HVAC units on my roof, I've got all these assets, but it's gonna take some dollars to go and, you know, do an assessment. Tag them to, to put them in a system. Have a system, right? And sometimes, you know, it takes courage to show like there's an ROI to it. Why is that a struggle?
[00:26:31] paul: In this environment, I think where, you know, again, if you, if as a facilities manager or leader, if you are unable to articulate the value that you or your team bring, where again, you're not looked on as just as, as a, as an expense.
[00:26:52] You're actually looked on as a, as a critical, um, business partner within your organization. Like if you're not there, it's very hard, very difficult to, to move and get your, your, whether it's a CFO or whoever to support that type of investment. And, you know, you'll run into things and I, and these, this happened in my career where, hey, I'm sure the development team, the construction team have all the data because they built all the stores.
[00:27:24] Why don't you go and ask them for it? And you know that. That could, that those, those efforts always, um, crash because, you know, our development teams and construction teams were building stores they weren't great at providing data. Um, you did mention one where your vendors typically have data that can be re registered, like, you know, you mentioned air conditioning equipment.
[00:27:49] That's a very good place to start. Uh, I had a, a, a member of my team, especially at Apple, who went out and worked directly with all of our, um, service providers and we were able to pull in all that information. Um, but I think it's then looking for, are there, are there outside, uh, companies that can support you on this mission.
[00:28:01] And then are there other folks that can help you articulate, um, up to the C-suite what you're trying to accomplish or help, help you, you know, sort of write the story or put that story together? Um, I think that that is a critical self-awareness for especially our facility for my peers in facilities, that knowing what you're really good at and then equally knowing where you have opportunities or where the blind spots are, but not letting them get in the way of what you're really good at.
[00:28:35] So I think the opportunity is there. It's a no brainer that we would be trying to move and we should be moving to where everything is much more proactive than we reactive. If you can tell the story, if you can, first of all, you know, do you have access?
[00:28:52] Have you built some credibility within your own organization? Um, so that means, again, telling the story, that means capturing the data. That means if you don't have a system to capture all that data, you know, that's where you need to start from day one.
[00:29:07] sid: Yeah. And I completely agree. I mean, I think one thing that we all agree on is this is a journey, right? You're never gonna get to a hundred percent on day one. Uh, but if you're starting out and you have nothing today, you know, start by getting the right technology partner, whoever it is, right? Get the right pla, the platform to be able to even have visibility to what's going on.
[00:29:28] Then you know, you gotta figure out how to kinda get the right providers. And once you get the right providers in, like. Then next is assets. Try to figure out how do you get all, and you know, your arms around what assets are out there so you can have visibility into what's going on. Because from there you can build up on, okay, now I have the assets.
[00:29:35] Now how do I enrich those assets? So I know more about it, you know, using, uh, technologies that exist out today that, you know, can scrape the web and get, you know, a lot of information, um, into, you know, your platform about the specs and the telemetry data that's, that is intended, uh, by asset type and so on and so forth.
[00:29:37] Then figure out how do you kind of, you know, get the right iot player and partner so you can connect those assets and then control them and monitor them and manage them, and then energy management. It's a journey. This is gonna take some time. But I think to your point, it starts with positioning, right?
[00:29:49] Your team has to be positioned the right way, the way you say, we're not a cost center. We impact the brand, we impact the consumer experience. This is what we do. The impact we have is not fixing broken things faster. It is, you know, elevating the, you know, the experience a consumer has. And then from there you build upon and kind of to your point, ask for the right investments to kind of get on this multi-year strategy of, of transforming your facilities team.
[00:30:13] paul: Absolutely. 100%.
[00:30:15] sid: We talked about AI a little bit, right? , AI is everywhere. And you know, it's interesting, right? You, there are many companies that just put a.ai after their brand name and you kind of peel the onion a little bit and you're like, where's the AI here? There are some really phenomenal, you know, companies out there that are doing some really interesting things and it's, it's making its way into the built environment as well. What's your perspective on, on how AI is already influencing our industry and what it's going to do, you know, to our industry?
[00:30:45] paul: AI if used correctly will help remove friction across the entire workflow from triaging issues to diagnosis, dispatching, communication. You know, we talk about asset modeling, capital planning, but what it does really well is it augments human expertise. It allows teams to operate with far more intelligence and far less noise.
[00:31:11] So, you know, I think at a macro level, that's how it's going to help influence our industry. Just being able to duplicate avoidance and predict things, um, like maybe even be able to predict service level expectations down to the type of unit or. The, the city or the zip code, helping match the right vendors, detect those pattern detections, um, asset lifecycle modeling.
[00:31:44] Um, I think anything that provides information, modern, you know, manual analysis or, uh, we have to use intuition, um, I think AI can do them instantly. And I think we, you know, most people even listening to this will, um, will have used AI in some form to help them in, um, whatever capacity.
[00:32:09] sid: Are there any companies that you've come across in your different roles that might be an early stage or growth stage that excite you?
[00:32:19] paul: I'm excited about companies where able to combine sort of the steep operational understanding and leveraging them with ai. I truly believe that those that will be successful in a sense, will those that really understand the complexity of real workflows and I think that those that can build tools, then that will empower both our, our users, um, and our providers. Again, it's supplementing them, but not replacing them. I'm working with, um, with a company. They're, they're, it's, they're called Site Call and you know, they have been able to create these bots that take every single piece of information relative to a, like one element.
[00:33:14] It could be a motor and train that, that bot to be a support to, um, in a sort of a, in a contact center where, hey, I have an issue with this motor. You know, the bot has like this amazing amount of information. It's looked at work orders, it's looked, it's. I've taken all the manuals that are out there, um, providing and supporting.
[00:33:41] I think that's where it's gonna really be helpful, um, in the industry. I will be leading a, a session at the Connects national show around ai and, and showing some two or three real sort of, um, like live solutions today around how AI has been, um, effective in, in solving some real world problems.
[00:34:06] I'm definitely excited. It's something I've been, um, sort of waiting for for a long time and like I said, I'm not afraid of it, or I know a lot of people have some fear associated with it, but I just see it as a, an amazing tool that will help support, not replace, um, you know.
[00:34:24] People, but it, it's definitely gonna help enhance, um, our ability to provide great service.
[00:34:30] sid: We don't know fully all the areas that's gonna, you know, affect the industry, but we do know that those that don't adapt and those that don't educate themselves and those that don't leverage AI for everything that it can do to help solve real problems, um, you're gonna get left behind or you're, you know, it's gonna be like a freight train coming at you, right?
[00:34:52] There is no option of putting your head in the sand and saying, ah, it's gonna go away. This is not a fad. Right. And I wonder like, you know. Is our industry ready for that? Is our industry embracing AI and all that is available out there in terms of the, technologies and the partners that are coming up with new solutions to solve the problems they've had, versus trying to solve it just the way we've always done things for the past, you know, 25 years.
[00:35:20] paul: It goes back to very simple, um, term that we used, um, that we've always used, which is, bad data in equals bad data out type thing. And, um, and then sort of a, a language, a unified language. Across facilities is important for the bigger picture of helping helping the industry move forward.
[00:35:44] And I think that's, that's not there today. We have to be very careful with ai. And I am nervous when I hear about, you know, I'm talking to, again, vendors and, uh, my peers where, hey, they're, they're internal iT department is taking on, um, any AI project, including around, um, safe facilities. And, and that makes me very nervous because, we're gonna have just a whole massive bunch of AI tools that are not really then connected. I look at the manufacturers for example, especially when it comes to any type of, um, equipment that they're in a great place to help support, and be able to help our vendors, technicians troubleshoot issues because, they have all the information that sort of AI needs.
[00:36:38] We just need to feed them the service data. But I've seen some amazing use cases around, um, I gave, I use that example again, side call where leveraging these tools have significantly reduced cost, um, and improved uptime. The data is real. So, so I'm, I'm excited, I think that we're in, in the infancy. If we can help it in the very least, get us to a predictive maintenance model and get away from reactive, I think that would be, um, a huge step forward.
[00:37:07] Um, I think if we can get to, I, you know, I, I, I'm afraid that it's gonna give us so much data that we'll be frozen into, um, in, into inactivity in a sense. And so, you know, creating a dashboard that has, that can then drive real actions and decisions, um, I think it's gonna be helpful. Helpful there. Um. But, you know, I think that, you know, I, I'm excited to see what our, how our providers leverage it, especially in this environment where we're seeing, um, such a shortage of, um, trained technicians across the workforce.
[00:37:07] And I think that, and, and within facilities as well. You know, I think that, that, um, that's why it's, it's, it's, it's, it's equally as important as well, that it's that, you know, that we are rooting for its success.
[00:37:07] sid: yeah, yeah. Agreed. You have to adapt, embrace it, educate yourself, learn how to make ai, uh, a massive tool in your tool belt that'll allow you to kind of, uh, maximize, you know, your productivity and your ability to just do so much more with your time, right?
[00:37:28] And so I think, uh, you know, doing things the old way is no longer an option. Um, you know, go find the right partners. Uh, and if you've got a team internally that is looking to, you know, build tools that will help your team, you know, dig in, dive in, um, and, uh, you know, this is, this is gonna be really transformative for, for all of us and, and the industry as a whole.
[00:37:28] Right. There's no question about that. As you, As you take a step back, uh, Paul, and we kind of wrap up, I'd love your perspective on just the macro, you know, environment around consumer behavior and consumer expectations and how that ties into how, you know, our, our audience are, you know, folks in the, you know, that support the built environment should think about, you know, how they support the brands that they, that they work for, right? What is, what do you see, uh, you know, with consumer behavior and expectations that you think we need to be, we need to be aware of?
[00:38:01] paul: I'm a consumer. You're a consumer. We want, and we've been trained not to want immediacy. We want predictability. Um, we want to be an environment that feels sort of intentional. We're talking about multi-site where you're customer facing.
[00:38:17] Um, we are seeing retail's becoming a little bit more experiential. Experimental, um, the experience really matters. And I think that there's a lot of work being done to try and understand what the consumer wants and to create that environment. And so, you know, I would say then the physical environment is becoming sort of a central expression of the brand.
[00:38:43] I was in, um, in France, uh, not too long ago. I was, um, very fortunate to get the opportunity to, to go to Paris and I was walking along the, which is one of the major, uh, shopping areas and, and there's all the ma, these amazing brands, the Gucci and you name it, of the world.
[00:39:03] And I saw a McDonald's in there. I'm going like, what's McDonald's doing here next to a Gucci, and, and really, you know, when I thought about it , and I read about it afterwards, it's really just sort of the, they want to express the brand, and make it the center, right? So this, the space, the physical space has actually become a marketing tool for the brand.
[00:39:25] It's being able to move quickly as consumer habits and consumer, you know, whatever drives them, changes, it's being able to to, to move quickly.
[00:39:38] sid: As you look at the future, is there anything that that excites you? And is there anything that you know, worries you?
[00:39:47] paul: I think what we're seeing is we're seeing, and I've experienced it firsthand, and I've also heard of them from vendors that we're seeing, uh, groups coming together closer. Before I left Apple, there was great leadership in place. Troy Hinson, for example, he leads Apple team globally, development and preservation. And, you know, he's done a fabulous job of bringing design, operations, preservation, um, vendors together. If those teams are working together, we can get to a faster solution that ultimately will allow the brand to portray itself, um, in the best possible light and be, so I think that can happen for any.
[00:40:31] Any company, um, if there's a separation internally where it's in this, there's silos, I think that really impacts, um, that's what I would be concerned about.
[00:40:44] I am concerned a lot about the drop off in experienced, um, technicians and many walked away. I think it was, you know, coming out of COVID, , I think a lot of folks stepped back. Um, even personally, I can give a personal anecdote just to, you know, as we get to the end, Sid, where, you know, I suffered from, from burnout. The stress of managing and leading, you know, through COVID. and I saw that same stress across my peers and, and across the entire industry in a sense.
[00:41:16] And I saw many of them, they just walked away. And, um, and it's not because they lack capability or passion. I think for many the mental and emotional toll became unsustainable and I think that, that the industry hadn't seen, like, or the industry saw it, but you know, it just sort of hit.
[00:41:34] We can talk all day about SLAs and work orders and assets and uptime. But I think we rarely think about or talk about mental health in our industry. And I think that our facilities, teams, service providers, they carry such an enormous responsibility. But sometimes they don't get the visibility or support that's needed to sustain that. So
[00:41:54] sid: That's true.
[00:41:54] paul: For me, I think when people burn out, the entire ecosystem feels it right. The quality, consistency, the customer experience. And I think the pandemic forced the industry to recognize sort of the scale of, you know, the responsibility that facility is carrying.
[00:42:10] So it definitely shaped my personal philosophy where, you know, it's not just an operational function, it's deeply human work, right? I think that to me is like, what really, um, you know, now I'm sort of feel so super inspired again to, to, um, support and to, to help in any way.
[00:42:31] And I, and I love, like I said at the beginning, I love mentoring people. So if anybody ever wants to reach out and ask me a question or, you know, based on my experience, I'm happy to give my time. And I'm a big believer in that.
[00:42:44] sid: I love it. As we end, Paul, what advice would you give the people that are starting out in their career and entering into the world of facilities now looking to kind of have longevity and, and a successful career in this space. And or leaders who are, you know, maybe feel that today they're not. Positioned the right way and they, they're looking to kind of take some steps that will, you know, ha get them a seat at the table.
[00:42:58] paul: For leaders that are, that are in place, I think that look, investing in your people, um, allowing yourself to be vulnerable, I think it's so critical that, um, that leaders are seen as authentic and, and so, so, you know, I think that is the piece around like train your people, allow them to go to conferences, um, allow them to network, build those relationships.
[00:43:26] That's critical. Um, if you have outdated systems today, you need to modernize those systems. A great book that I remember reading years ago at the start of my career was like, Who Moved Your Cheese? Um, I think that if you are a facilities leader and your head is in the sand, um, you then become a victim when something unexpected happens to you or your department.
[00:43:50] So I think that it's really critical that you are, um, staying, that you're connecting and you're understanding what are the tools out there? What are, what, what is helping? And, and you do that through networking primarily. And I think building a strong provider ecosystem, that's critical as well. Um, getting back then and designing workflows that, that support your teams.
[00:44:12] Not that don't strain them because, you know, don't add unnecessary work, but try and identify workflows that will help support your teams. And, um, and then I think, you know, as a, as a leader, you've gotta be consistent in, in executing. So I think the other part of that question was, you know, for anybody new entering, um, I think being curious is critical.
[00:44:36] Before I left Ireland, um, my mother, she gave me a few words of advice. One was, she said, always say yes. You can say no later. So, uh, and the reason I say that is that, you know, if somebody asks you something, um, it's best to, to say yes and see how you get on, even if you feel like you don't know it or if you're uncomfortable. So I think that, you know, um, embrace opportunities to learn. Be very curious. Read. You've done such a great job, Sid, helping the industry here, um, going to associations, learning there.
[00:45:14] Um, if you're young, starting in the industry, you know, go out, visit your vendors, find out how they manage, spend a day with them, see it from their side. Um, those are all the, the things that, you know, if you're passionate about facilities and you feel this is your calling in life, you know, then sort of really get into the details.
[00:45:34] sid: I love it. well, with that, Paul, I just wanna say a huge thank you. I really appreciate you being on the show. Fascinating conversation. For folks in our audience who might, who might wanna look you up and, and reach out to you, where can they find you?
[00:45:46] paul: You can email me, paulwalsh@pathtomax. T-O-M-A-X, or, um, you can go to Path, path to max.com. Um, and on LinkedIn as well. So, um. Yeah, but look forward to hearing from anybody and if you have any follow up questions, I'm more than happy to to, to have a chat and continue the conversation.
[00:46:06] But thank you Sid, so much. I wanna just recognize you. I've known you for a long time, um, and we've worked together on many initiatives and, I just wanna thank you for inviting me on today and, I really appreciate and thank you.
[00:46:18] sid: Yes. No, tha thank you as well. I, I really appreciate your kind words and again, I love that we're having this conversation on the show. And for all those in our audience who are here, thank you so much for joining us, and I'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick and Mortar.
[00:46:34] Well, that was Paul Walsh, CEO of Path to Max. One thing Paul made incredibly clear is that facilities is central to delivering on a brand's promise. But only when teams have the right tools, programs, and partners to operate proactively instead of reactively. As technology, data and AI reshape the built environment, the organizations that invest in their people, their partners, and their programs, we'll be the ones that break out of the reactive cycle and elevate the function.
[00:47:08] Whether it's plant maintenance, IOT, AI or smart provider management, the path out of chaos is real, and it starts with intention and investment. Paul highlights how much opportunity is ahead for those willing to lead the transformation. With that, I'm your host, Sid Shetty, and I'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick and Mortar.