A Thank You to my team at Stiles

As some of you might already know Friday the 9th of July was my last day as the Vice President of Operational Excellence at Stiles Construction. For the last five-plus years, I was given the opportunity to work with a team of people who made success easy. Now many of you might wonder “Why did you leave then?” I will get into that in a little bit, but first I want to say thank you to all of those who have worked with me and supported me over the last several years.

Assembling a dream team

People often say that there are no bad teams only bad leaders. However, I think having a good team can allow a leader to go from good to great. The folks on the OpEx team at Stiles genuinely are a team that I would put up against any other like it. From big to small our squad truly changed the way that Stiles works on a daily basis. Seth, TJ, Jose, Oscar, David, Paul, Joe, Omar and Bryan (sorry I left so soon after you joined) really helped shape what is a genuinely bright future at Stiles. Each of them brought something unique to the team. Most importantly they backed me up and delivered on every promise we made to our Co-Workers, Clients, and Leadership. This allowed me to focus on where we wanted to go next and to challenge the status quo. I never had to worry if the work would get done because they always made sure it did. People often ask me how we have been able to research, pilot and deploy so much technology. The simple answer is a team that never quit and believed in the mission. They often took leaps of faith with me on tech that might not have been ready for prime time, but in the end, our success rate was extremely high. We could not have done it if it wasn’t for the help of each of the team.

Changing a culture

One of the things I am most proud of is how we affected the culture at Stiles. The culture has always been great at Stiles, but anything can get better. A family-owned company driven to deliver best in class services to their clients has been a household name in South Florida for over 60 years. Our group continues to shape the way we deliver on that promise by encouraging a culture of change, not just technology but safety and process improvement. Longtime employees have become more and more engaged in the efforts providing their support, knowledge and social capital to push these initiatives forward. I believe that they will continue to drive this culture well into the future long after my departure.

An opportunity to change the way the world builds

With all of the success, we were having at Stiles many of you are likely wondering why I would even consider leaving such a great team and a good company. Well, I felt driven to make more of a difference not just for myself but for the industry. Driving change and excellence at Stiles was very satisfying, but as I continued to work with more outside parties through consulting and industry events, I realized I could help more than just those who worked for Stiles. As the saying goes, “A rising tide lifts all boats,” and I felt like I could help lift the industry as a whole. There seemed to be no better fit than going to work at Procore. After all their mission is to “Build the software that builds the world.” It seemed like a fantastic opportunity to affect the lives of those across the industry, from laborers to executives. So I look forward to the challenge and opportunity to work with more of you in the future and to continue to help push the industry forward improving the lives of all of those in it.

Stay tuned as I look forward to sharing more about my experience at Procore and the great work that so many people are doing here.