Guiding principles

• Photo courtesy West End Photography, New Haven, Conn.
• Photo courtesy of Chris Volpe Photography, New Haven, Conn.
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• Photo courtesy of Chris Volpe Photography, New Haven, Conn.
• Photo courtesy of Aatish Puniani, Chicago.

Throughout our lives, we've all been given countless pieces of advice. And though much advice is ignored or politely declined, certain things people say resonate and continue to guide us. Professional Roofing asked several roofing professionals to share the advice that has most shaped them.

Conrad Kawulok

Roof consultant, Boulder, Colo.

I consider receiving advice like discovering golden nuggets of wisdom. We should search for nuggets every day. To begin, we need to be receptive to considering advice and willing to make a change in how we live, how we solve problems and how we recognize what is important. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. My former coach Mickey Fain taught me to recognize failure as a part of success and to let go of what happened in the past. On Dec. 17, 2002, Mickey also gave me one of the best nuggets I ever received: "The way to predict the future is to create it."

Jamie McAdam

President
F.J. Dahill Co. Inc., New Haven, Conn.

My father gave me so much advice while I was growing up and working in the family business, it is difficult to pick just one piece of his advice. But I think his best advice has to be about having a multigenerational business, and I still follow it. He said: "When making any decision, the thought process should be: 'What is the best decision based on us being in business for another hundred years?'" It is so common in business to make all decisions based on quarterly results. Being in business for 130 years gives us a unique perspective. Sometimes, it is difficult to do in a tough economy, but it has proved over time to be the best perspective.

Brian Whelan

Senior vice president
Sika Sarnafil, Canton, Mass.

My mother and father always gave me sound advice, but related to business, a wise and successful roofing and water-proofing contractor once said to me: "Sometimes, you make some of your best friends through adversity." He and I were in the middle of negotiating a challenging civil engineering project.

It took a while for it to sink in, but he was right. We remained professional friends for years. Twenty years later, the advice has helped me become a better negotiator and mediator. Throughout some of the most difficult negotiations, there is no substitute for being professional, fair and straightforward. Listening is always the first step to a successful solution.

Josh Kelly

Vice president and general manager
OMG Roofing Products, Agawam, Mass.

In my early days at OMG Roofing Products, leading people was not one of my responsibilities. As time went on and the company grew, I took on new responsibilities, which included managing people. This was quite different from managing products or accounts. One day, when I was particularly frustrated with a personnel issue, my boss at the time, Tom Wagner, got me to slow down, step back and ask myself a critical question: "Is the employee working hard and getting better?" If the answer is "yes," Tom said that person deserves another chance. What I've learned is anyone who clearly demonstrates the willingness to work hard and keep improving is worth coaching to become more effective and more valuable to the company.

Sarah Jane Jelin

President and general counsel
Karnak Corp., Clark, N.J.

"If you are just treading water, the current will push you backward." This advice serves as a reminder that in business it is critical to continually evolve and stay ahead of trends. Even when the economy is soaring and our core products are in the market's sweet spot, we can't relax and assume, "If it ain't broke don't fix it" (some of the worst advice I've ever heard). As a manufacturer, if we only produce to satisfy the current roofing market rather than also anticipate the market of tomorrow, eventually we will fall behind. In good times and challenging times, we must continually innovate and invest in people and technology to ensure prominence in our field.

Geoff Mitchell

Chief executive officer
Mid-South Roof Systems, Forest Park, Ga.

While attending NRCA's Future Executives Institute, I had the privilege of taking J. Keith Murnighan's leadership class. During an exercise, he asked us to complete a task in half the time it would typically require. Once accomplished, he asked us to do it again. At the time, it seemed impossible. By thinking outside the box, constantly re-imagining the process and using creative solutions, we were able to successively cut the original time in half repeatedly. Keith was able to use this simple exercise to illustrate time is our most valuable and most unrealized resource. He proposed the goal of leadership should be to serve a company by providing support, tools and direction to all employees, helping to improve and economize their time.

Ambika Puniani Bailey is editor of Profes­sional Roofing and NRCA's associate executive director of communications and production.