CWJJ Episode 84: AGA Live: Rob Darden, Jon Smith, and Russel Treat

Thursday, October 28- Rob Darden, Jon Smith, and Russel Treat stopped by the Energy Worldnet booth during #AGAOPS21.

Quick Links:

Rob Darden on Linkedin
Jon Smith on Linkedin
Russel Treat on Linkedin

Episode Transcript

Coffee with Jim  James (Episode 84) (1)

 [0:00] [music]

Jim Schauer:  [0:19] James, I have to tell you. Tonight has been a whirlwind.

James Cross:  [0:23] 100 miles an hour.

Jim:  [0:25] The problem with me is I wish the audience was…I wish we were non‑stop. We had to stop for a few minutes because I’m keep getting pulled away. Somebody comes by and gives a yell to me. Somebody came by and gave a yell to you. 

[0:37] You’re off, we’re off in different directions, and then that one leads to seeing another person, to seeing another person, and seeing another person.

[0:44] Right now, our good friend, Rob Darden, is in the house.

James:  [0:47] Rob Darden is giving us the cold shoulder right now.

Jim:  [0:49] No. Rob’s coming in.

James:  [0:50] He’s so pissed.

Jim:  [0:51] Let him come in and say hi.

James:  [0:54] I love Rob Darden. For those who don’t know, Rob’s son Andrew worked for us for a while. Rob Darden in the house.

Rob:  [0:51] Hey, how are you guys doing?

James:  [0:53] Rob, nice to see you.

Jim:  [1:00] Wonderful, Rob.

[1:01] [crosstalk]

Rob:  [1:00] Good to see you.

Jim:  [1:02] Everybody should know that this is the first time that Rob and I had the pleasure of meeting in person, live.

James:  [1:08] Wow. I’ve met Rob so many times it’s not even that special.

Jim:  [1:12] It’s almost, roles have reversed.

[1:14] [laughter]

James:  [1:17] We love being with Rob. We had him on the show, for those that don’t know, “The Lost Episode.”

Rob:  [1:23] Lost Episode.

James:  [1:23] Lost Episode. I think it was maybe three months later Rob finally slowed down and went…

Jim:  [1:30] Hey?”

James:  [1:31] Did my episode ever”…

Rob:  [1:33] You’d filmed this thing in February. My son who used to work for you guys…

Jim:  [1:37] Andrew, Andrew Darnell.

James:  [1:38] Andrew Darnell.

Rob:  [1:39] Andrew Darnell said, “Hey, Dad, I thought you were going to be on that Jim & James thing.” I said, “I was. Right!” I emailed you guys. You’re like, [laughs] “Oh crap.”

Jim:  [1:49] Oops.

James:  [1:50] Yep. Then do you know where it was? It was on my computer.

Rob:  [1:55] A computer file. [laughs]

James:  [1:56] It was on my computer the whole time.

Rob:  [1:58] The question was. Was it that bad that you deleted it?

Jim:  [2:01] Yes, yeah, yeah, and it was a great episode.

James:  [2:03] Yeah. It was one other good one.

Jim:  [2:07] The funny part is that was the first time that we’d started doing these mass tapings, recordings.

Rob:  [2:16] Yeah. The very first one.

[2:17] [crosstalk]

Jim:  [2:18] That’s why it got lost.

James:  [2:19] That’s what we tell people.

Jim:  [2:20] This is true.

Rob:  [2:22] I believe it. I believe it.

[2:24] [laughter]

Jim:  [2:26] Give us your overall thought…

James:  [2:27] I’ve got it even better. Rob, tell us what you’re speaking about. I heard you’re a panelist on a panel of one.

Rob:  [2:33] [laughs] A panel of one. My panel isn’t available.

James:  [2:37] Tell us what you’re speaking on. Give everybody a little sample of it.

Rob:  [2:41] What am I talking about? I have no idea what I’m talking about.

[2:45] I’m talking about DCA. It’s the Distribution Contractors Association. What we’re doing is about what we’re doing for the industry on the workforce issues, on [inaudible], on pipeline safety management for the contractor side. 

[2:59] We’ve got 40 minutes on Thursday afternoon, and if all five people show up, we’ll be good.

James:  [3:07] There are at least five people here.

Rob:  [3:09] There are at least five people watching.

James:  [3:10] And there may be half of those people here Thursday afternoon.

Rob:  [3:13] That’ll work.

James:  [3:13] Steve Allen told me, if he wasn’t flying out, he would totally be there.

Rob:  [3:19] Steve, he was my backup.

James:  [3:21] I know, he said that.

[3:23] Hey, what do you think about the AGA this week? Getting back out here, how’s it been? How’s it been talking to people, checking in, kissing babies, as we say?

Rob:  [3:33] It’s just great to see people.

Jim:  [3:34] Isn’t it?

Rob:  [3:35] It’s so good to see people face to face. We had our annual convention in July, here in Orlando. We had 400 people show up.

James:  [3:44] You happy with that?

Rob:  [3:46] We thought we’d get 250, 300. We had 400. It’s just wonderful to see everybody here, in person. [inaudible] Karen [inaudible] said 1,800, Christina said she was hearing close to 2,000. Over 200 exhibitors. It’s fantastic. Look, the industry wants to get back together.

James:  [4:07] We’ll find a way.

Jim:  [4:08] The vibe is great. That’s what my daughter always says. The vibe is good.

James:  [4:12] You have to be excited, a little bit, at seeing this because you’ve got a DCA event coming down the road a little bit.

[4:21] I was telling somebody earlier, seeing AGA do this, we’re doing it safe, we’re out here, I think it’ll set a tone for SGA here in a couple weeks, another big show, and some of the others, and get some momentum as we go into ’22.

Rob:  [4:35] We’re all knocking on wood, hoping that the pandemic is slowing down, and God bless everybody who’s been affected by it.

James:  [4:46] Amen.

Rob:  [4:47] But hopefully that things are…turned the corner and we’ll get back to some sort of normality, whatever that is.

Jim:  [4:53] Amen.

Rob:  [4:56] It’s just great to be here.

James:  [4:57] Good luck at your speaking panel of one. It’s great seeing you in person.

Rob:  [5:04] Great seeing you, too.

Jim:  [5:06] Thank you, Rob.

James:  [5:06] I’m not being heartless. I hugged him earlier

Rob:  [5:09] I don’t have the green dot. I haven’t seen what the green dot means.

Jim:  [5:14] The green dot means that you’re approachable, handshakeable, huggable.

Rob:  [5:15] I need to get a green dot, because I’m a hugger.

James:  [5:19] I’m a hugger, too.

Jim:  [5:21] That’s between you two. Easy now, fellas.

[5:24] [laughter]

James:  [5:25] Rob, good to see you. Tell Andrew we said hello.

Rob:  [5:29] Thanks again.

Jim:  [5:30] Thanks again, we appreciate it.

James:  [5:32] Good luck.

[5:33] [pause]

James:  [5:35] We have Jon Smith going to join us too.

Jim:  [5:38] Our friend, John Smith, is here.

James:  [5:39] Jon Smith, for those who don’t remember Hydromax USA. We have Jon on.

Jim:  [5:46] Good to see you. Thank you for coming by.

[5:49] [crosstalk]

James:  [5:49] I’m going to reach over the table.

Jim:  [5:49] Have a seat. Join us.

Jon Smith:  [5:51] Are we hot right now?

Jim:  [5:51] We are hot.

Jon:  [5:52] [inaudible] hot breaks.

James:  [5:54] This is it.

Jim:  [5:55] I don’t call signs right now. We’ll keep that confidential. See what I did there?

James:  [6:00] Nothing but coffee.

[6:01] [laughing sound]

James:  [6:03] Don’t judge my reaction based on, I mean it doesn’t show how good or bad your humor is.

[6:08] [crosstalk]

James:  [6:08] Jon, you all are big sponsors here.

Jim:  [6:14] Huge sponsors, good [inaudible].

James:  [6:16] We have a big event later tonight that we’re going to be a part of. Tell everybody how AGA is going, what Hydromax USA is doing. You’re a friend of the show. Be on there soon again. We’re working on some with it. Tell us how AGA is going.

Jon:  [6:32] We’re working on a routine.

Jon:  [6:34] First of all, I’m really glad to be with you and to see you guys in person. It’s such a fantastic thing.

James:  [6:35] So [inaudible]. I used to see him in a box. It’s hard to put Jimmy in a box.

Jon:  [6:45] He looks like a little taller here. [laughs]

Jim:  [6:48] Oh man, everybody always says that. They’re like, “Jim, are you normally five foot two?” I’m like, “No.”

James:  [6:49] Everybody has [inaudible] that, thinner and taller than they expect, which makes me want to work out.

Jon:  [6:56] What it could be, right? [laughs]

James:  [6:58] Tell us how your AGA is going.

Jon:  [7:00] As I said, first of all, so glad to be here because this is [inaudible], seeing a lot of connections we’ve all made over the years and things like that, it’s such a great turnout. It’s really getting a lot of optimism for the other events that are coming in the fall. 

[7:21] Seeing everybody doing things safely. That’s our whole industry, safety first. It isn’t [inaudible] but the biggest thing for me is just looking at overall the industry and where it’s come since the last time growing up.

[7:37] Since the last time, we were all getting to see some of the vendors and companies we’re talking to. There is a shift in what people are looking for, a lot more transformation to digital solutions. 

[7:53] From the vendor’s side, there’s such a broad inventory of items that you can’t find what you need for your business here.

James:  [8:04] You’re probably not looking for right now.

[8:06] [crosstalk]

James:  [8:06] You don’t know how to look for it. We were talking about ‑‑ we’re catching that same vibe ‑‑ how everyone is open and receptive, talking, and listening. 

[8:21] I think having two years off to really get your house in order, know what your true issues are, your gaps are. Then, everybody’s coming out like, now I’m ready to shop, now I know what I don’t want, now they’re out here working, and that’s great for the vendors, I mean for us.

[8:39] I don’t want to say, we’ve gotten stale, but we were out here doing the work but people just, you get used to it, we did it.

Jim:  [8:50] [inaudible] you want to say.

Jon:  [8:51] The overall last couple of years also exposed some of the vulnerabilities, some of the things that people were talking about before…

James:  [8:59] But it wasn’t real.

Jon:  [9:01] or reality.

Jim:  [9:00] That’s a good point.

Jon:  [9:01] Some of those things that are moving forward in this industry just focus on the environment, on methane. Helping the overall energy industry by having energy options and natural gas has one of those. Huge.

Jim:  [9:16] The education of that aspect too because we talked about that before, that a lot of people are also unconsciously incompetent, meaning they just don’t know what they don’t know. 

[9:30] If they can become at least consciously incompetent, to know that they don’t know things, then they can learn to become…

James:  [9:37] At least become receptive.

Jon:  [9:37] The biggest thing for us, and for Hydromax USA, is we want to help all these customers accelerate changing goals. They’re all getting new goals, whether it be ESG, whether it be compliance regulatory, or whatever it is. 

[9:55] That’s what we’re here for. That’s what I’m seeing now in the industry is, people want to accelerate.

Jim:  [10:03] Yeah.

Jon:  [10:03] They realize now, standing still, and the other thing that I brought out is, especially the CEO scene. Don’t tell me something can’t happen. That’s the real thing in business planning now. Don’t tell me something can’t happen. You need to think about alternatives. We call it, military, war games, and stuff.

James:  [10:23] Right.

Jon:  [10:23] Even if you have a plan, you better be working it. You got to figure out what to do in the contingency. As leaders of businesses, you can’t stand still. What you were saying. A lot of this industry just stood still.

James:  [10:36] I felt like Brian Dressler is looking at me right now from our team. He’s saying, “That sounds like normalization of deviance,” right?

[10:46] [laughter]

James:  [10:47] Over time, you slowly get more complacent.

Jim:  [10:50] Yeah.

James:  [10:51] and the more you just allow things to slip a little bit more over time. We all got jarred and woke up and we’re like, “It doesn’t have to be like this. We can go to work. Let’s go to work.”

Jon:  [11:03] We got, I would say, complacent in some ways, but it wasn’t broken, so why fix it?

James:  [11:10] That’s right.

Jon:  [11:10] That’s the mentality a lot of people had. Not realizing there was a big hammer there, we need to break it.

Jim:  [11:17] Yeah.

Jon:  [11:19] Three years ago, who would’ve seen times when we’re all getting vaccinated. Showing your shot card to go into a conference like this, safely. We wouldn’t have thought of that, last time we were all together.

Jim:  [11:32] No.

Jon:  [11:33] It’s changing a lot of thoughts.

James:  [11:35] Jon, I hope it’s OK I bring this up. We kicked off a mental health series, probably a month ago now.

Jim:  [11:48] Yep.

James:  [11:48] You reached out to us about the topic, and I want to dive into that a little bit. Talk a little bit about what we have in the works and what we hope to bring your people if you want to take a minute and talk about…

Jon:  [11:57] Sure.

James:  [11:59] something we’re not discussing a lot and probably should be discussing a lot more of.

Jon:  [12:05] You’re exactly right. When it comes to mental health, and specifically, we should turn this around, veteran mental health. A lot of veterans in the world, I saw it in my teams. I know other people in other companies. You guys know my past, background…

[12:19] [crosstalk]

Jim:  [12:20] Yes.

James:  [12:21] Yep.

Jon:  [12:21] energy. It woke me up to a couple things. It woke me up a couple days about how I felt about some things, but it’s not only veterans, it’s overall in general. You guys had a great statement, which you posted, which was, “If as leaders in business, you’re not talking about this right now, you better be because you’re missing.”

Jim:  [12:43] Yeah.

Jon:  [12:44] I couldn’t have agreed with that more. When I read that, that was it. We got some things we’re talking about, upcoming discussion about how do you change leadership to understand where that is. There are some different requirements of leaders, especially C‑suite, whatever, even leaders in the field.

James:  [13:05] Yep.

Jon:  [13:05] today to understand and be aware of things they’ve ever worked for. COVID changed that.

James:  [13:12] Yeah.

Jon:  [13:13] We got a great discussion coming up about some opportunities on how to think a little differently about it. How to help and how to be an avenue for changing one person.

Jim:  [13:30] You and I talked about that. We can affect one person positively.

Jon:  [13:34] Yep.

Jim:  [13:34] It’s all worth it. Every bit.

Jon:  [13:36] Yeah. There’s some different characteristics in leadership when you’re talking about mental health issues. Look, I’m not a doctor.

[13:43] [crosstalk]

James:  [13:43] You disclaim that every time.

Jon:  [13:44] I had one semester of Psychology. [laughs]

James:  [13:46] Also, I’m not a money manager. I’m not… [laughs]

Jon:  [13:52] I do have some lessons learned over time, both personally and as a business. As a person dealing with people. For me, personally, it has changed highly. Some of the discussions we have, as a company, that I know [inaudible]. It’s going to be a great opportunity.

Jim:  [14:13] We’re excited for it. Go ahead, please.

James:  [14:17] You talked about leading. I try to drive home with our teams is…You can lead from anywhere. It’s not a title. right. You can lead your household. You can lead your family. You can lead your church. You can lead your group, whatever that is.

[14:34] This is one of those discussions when we talk about leadership and leaders, that we’re talking about leading from anywhere. It is not a title, CEO, a VP, it doesn’t matter. We’re talking about leading from where you’re at. Leading where you have influence.

Jim:  [14:49] Yes.

Jon:  [14:50] It is what I used to refer to as leading somebody out of the valley. I had it referred to me as that. When I was in the military, we started to realize this thing called PTSD. It was about taking one person and leading them out of the valley.

[15:06] It didn’t matter if they were a military member, or one of your employees in that. It could be a family member of theirs that, through your guidance, you help them help their family members. It has far‑reaching tentacles to go out and touch people.

James:  [15:26] I love it.

Jim:  [15:27] My excitement is getting back to it. About bringing something of awareness or understanding, whatever you want to call it, to somebody out there. The exciting part where you said that even if we touch one person, that one life could touch a hundred other people.

Jon:  [15:48] Yeah. It could. I’m excited to be back with you guys. Meet you in person, be here, and be sitting here…

James:  [15:54] What a blessing.

Jon:  [15:55] What a great setup you guys have here. Love the colors.

James:  [15:54] We leaned straight into Miami Vice.

Jon:  [15:57] Yeah.

Jim:  [15:57] Crockett, Tubbs. Or Tubbs and Crockett?

James:  [16:05] I’ve been called Tubbs my whole life.

[16:06] [laughter]

Jim:  [16:06] That’s another [inaudible].

James:  [16:07] Jon, we appreciate you stopping by.

Jon:  [16:10] Thank you guys.

James:  [16:11] We’ll see you later.

Jim:  [16:12] You’re a good friend. We are proud to call you our friend.

Jon:  [16:17] Same here.

James:  [16:18] We look forward to the episode coming down the road.

Jon:  [16:19] Sounds good.

James:  [16:20] Man, have a good conference. We’ll see you later.

Jon:  [16:22] Let’s make a [inaudible].

Jim:  [16:23] Thanks, Jon.

Jon:  [16:24] All right. Thanks a lot.

James:  [16:27] Love it.

Jim:  [16:28] Audience, what a great guy he is.

James:  [16:30] We got to know Jon quickly. You want to scoot that way.

[16:33] [crosstalk]

James:  [16:33] That’s an option as well. Jon has been very [inaudible].

Jim:  [16:42] Thanks, Jon.

James:  [16:45] We met through all these, and one of many that we’ve got to shake hands with for the first time. If AGA has done nothing, for me, personally, it has been that moment right there.

Jim:  [16:59] It’s all worthwhile, isn’t it?

James:  [17:00] I got to hug Jon Smith. I got to hug…It’s a laundry list. It never stop. Not that I wouldn’t have done it. You did it too. You’ve known him longer, but for me, I didn’t know how many people truly…because you don’t know.

[17:18] We look at stats. We look at followers. We look at all that stuff. Honestly, if you look at that everyday, you’d probably not want to do it. We know our industry lurks around. They listen, don’t listen kind of thing. We’ve had more people…

[17:36] Somebody came on to me and said, “Aren’t you that podcast guy?” Three or four different people and I’m like, “I guess. I guess.”

Jim:  [17:43] That happened to me today too. People that I’ve known in the industry as well as people that I don’t know in the industry or somewhat know.

James:  [17:52] People that I respect in the industry have come by and said that they…We just had two of them on.

Jim:  [17:58] Yeah.

James:  [17:58] Rob Darden came down and gave me a big old hug.

Jim:  [18:02] Yeah. It’s absolutely great. James, let’s take a break and get our next guests lined up.

James:  [18:10] Absolutely.

Jim:  [18:10] We’ll be right back after this station break.

James:  [18:13] Let’s go.

Russell Treat:  [18:13] [laughs]

Jim:  [18:15] Well, we are back again. We were on the road, gallivanting around the exhibit hall. We made it back with a very special guest, Mr. Russell Treat from Pipeliners Podcast. piplinerspodcast.com.

Russell:  [18:31] That is exactly right. Thank you for the shameless plug.

[18:33] [crosstalk]

Russell:  [18:33] I’m sorry, I’m doing the shameless plug.

James:  [18:35] No free sponsors.

[18:36] [crosstalk]

James:  [18:36] That’s the hashtag.

Russell:  [18:39] Before we get going, I got to tell the coffee guys that I have booth envy. These guys are set up. They got these fancy backlights.

James:  [18:47] You hear that, Coleman?

Russell:  [18:47] They got the 4 wide. I do have a better camera.

James:  [18:51] You do.

Russell:  [18:51] Beyond that…

James:  [18:52] We’re low‑budget, but we’re going to come around.

Jim:  [18:56] Did that include [inaudible]? Oh, that’s later. Sorry.

[18:58] [laughter]

James:  [18:59] When we go [inaudible]. Russell, you inspired us. I won’t lie. As you know, we’ve sponsored…

Russell:  [19:04] Yes, you’re one of our early sponsors.

Jim:  [19:06] Yes.

Russell:  [19:07] We appreciate it.

James:  [19:08] When I saw, honestly, how fun it was, it was selfish for me. I just dragged Jimmy along and was like, “You got to try, man.” He needed a platform.

Jim:  [19:18] Yeah, I did.

James:  [19:19] He was in the corner just…

Jim:  [19:20] Shaking.

James:  [19:21] There was nowhere to go.

[19:22] [crosstalk]

James:  [19:22] [inaudible] to go. He’s freaked. I’m sure you’re the same.

[19:26] [crosstalk]

Russell:  [19:28] Pretty much. The podcast is therapeutic during the whole shutdown.

Jim:  [19:34] Absolutely.

Russell:  [19:35] Still reaching out, meeting new people, and getting connected, and learning new things. Oh, my gosh. It’s so good to be here with real people again.

Jim:  [19:44] Yes.

Russell:  [19:44] Attendance is not what it’s been in the past. It’s probably 60, 70 percent, but the conversations are awesome. Everybody’s so glad to be here and be talking.

James:  [19:57] It’s fun.

Russell:  [19:58] I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like a lot of the conversations we’re having with customers about opportunities and projects. It’s like they’re probably more open and willing to talk that I have ever seen [inaudible].

James:  [20:09] We were just having this conversation over with [inaudible].

Jim:  [20:11] Yeah.

James:  [20:12] How innovation is busting.

Jim:  [20:16] People want to talk about, and they want to share, and they want to…

James:  [20:18] Inspire.

Jim:  [20:19] talk about ideas and how to be better and cross collaboration, even if it’s not even official. People just want to bounce ideas.

Russell:  [20:26] It’s always been the case in our business. It just seems for some reason, now…another thing too, for those of us that are actually here at AGA, this is operators, vendors, the entire community. 

[20:36] For those of us that are actually here, what’s very cool about that is that these are the people who are really committed to this industry, committed to this market, committed to gas utilities because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here. We got…

James:  [20:52] It’s a lot of work.

Russell:  [20:53] It is a lot of work. It’s a lot of cost. There’s some risk associated with it. It’s not the same kind of benefit because the attendance is a little lower but I’ve got my real people here. We just let the front members in the house this time. We’re not letting all the wannabes in the house.

James:  [21:11] Yeah, really. Because this year probably is a little different compared to…some people would have saw this as a vacation event.

Jim:  [21:17] Orlando, Florida.

James:  [21:19] [inaudible] but this year [inaudible].

[21:19] [crosstalk]

Russell:  [21:19] Have you seen the pool?

James:  [21:21] I heard about it.

Russell:  [21:22] Yes. My room overlooks the pool.

[21:24] [crosstalk]

James:  [21:24] They won’t let me [inaudible].

Russell:  [21:24] I spent a half a day…

Jim:  [21:26] Restraining order.

Russell:  [21:26] on some conversations. I just lean back and look at the pool. No, I can’t go to the pool, but it does give me a [inaudible].

[21:32] [crosstalk]

Jim:  [21:32] It’s a beautify complex. We’re at the…

James:  [21:35] Gaylord homes.

Jim:  [21:37] Yep…property here in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

James:  [21:42] In two years, we’ll be back in our home state or my state.

Jim:  [21:49] I’m still a Texan, no matter what. I may live in Florida, very happily, but I still got a little Texas in me.

James:  [21:56] It’ll be be great [inaudible].

Jim:  [21:56] Oh, that’ll be fantastic.

James:  [21:57] That’s in our backyard. We’re pumped about…

Russell:  [22:00] That’s where I used to go camping in the Boy Scouts, where that Gaylord is in [inaudible]. I used to be way out in the boonies when I was a kid. That was an hour and a half down a two lane country road to get out there.

Jim:  [22:10] And now, it is just part of the whole Metroplex.

Russell:  [22:12] It’s a whole different kind of camping.

[22:13] [laughter]

James:  [22:13] That’s for sure. Russel, it’s been awesome. Just getting to be with people, it was neat. You’re within eyeshot. We’ve been watching you record just over our camera there. 

[22:25] Russell came down multiple times like, “Man, we got to come on.” At some point here, very quickly, we’re going to come down, talk to Russell. Hopefully, it’s still a couple minutes on his show as well.

Russell:  [22:34] Yeah, absolutely. Guys, thanks for having me.

Jim:  [22:37] Russell, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

Russell:  [22:38] Thank you so much for being a sponsor. You guys know that doing this, and doing it well, cost money, right?

James:  [22:44] Time is money.

Russell:  [22:46] Well, you got production and all that kind of stuff, right? Very important, it really helps me do what I do and I appreciate you guys. Thank you so much.

[22:54] [crosstalk]

Jim:  [22:54] All right, absolutely.

Russell:  [22:56] Cool.

Jim:  [22:57] Be safe.

Russell:  [22:57] Peace out.