Kentucky program preparing the industry’s next leaders

Clay Albright is a regular at the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association’s (NSSGA) Young Leaders Annual Meeting, which regularly brings industry professionals 40 years old and under together for education and networking.

The meetings are tremendously valuable to Albright, the assistant quarry manager at Caldwell Stone in Danville, Kentucky. In fact, he’s made some of his closest friends by attending the Young Leaders meetings over the years.

“You have some fun and you learn a lot,” Albright says.

At 35, Albright will have a few more chances to attend NSSGA’s Young Leaders meetings. But he also recently had the chance to participate in another series of meetings designed for up-and-coming industry leaders like him.

These meetings, however, take place closer to home for Albright and the others who attend.

Within Albright’s home state, the Kentucky Crushed Stone Association (KCSA) launched a program called Emerging Leaders to provide education and networking opportunities to rising professionals within its member companies. KCSA hosted its first leadership program in 2017-18, and Albright was one of 18 members of the inaugural Emerging Leaders class.

KCSA’s Emerging Leaders program, which recently completed its second year, consists of four quarterly sessions that each span three days. Each session is made up of four components – technical skills, self-development, networking and politics – to give attendees a range of benefits to take home and apply to their work.

Over the course of a year, the Emerging Leaders hear from a wealth of speakers, visit a variety of aggregate sites and explore parts of Kentucky they might not otherwise see. Perhaps most importantly, though, the sessions provide a forum for the Emerging Leaders to meet others like them.

Making those connections as an Emerging Leader, and building on them in the years that follow, should serve Albright and other Emerging Leaders well as they get deeper into their careers.

“For me, the most important thing was meeting people you’re going to deal with for the rest of your life,” Albright says.

Building emerging leaders

KCSA’s Emerging Leaders undoubtedly provides a platform where up-and-coming professionals can lean on each other, and the program came together behind considerable support from KCSA members.

Nick Rodgers, the executive director of KCSA, joined the association in 2015 and raised two key questions to his board of directors early in his tenure: Is it time to do a strategic plan, and, if so, when?

“They said let’s do one now,” Rodgers says. “I said oh my goodness.”

According to Rodgers, the association examined everything – its mission, vision, committees and ways to get people involved in the association. In the end, four areas were identified that Rodgers should steer as executive director: building relationships with other organizations, maintaining a high political profile for KCSA, working with committees, and getting young people involved in the industry.

Once that last area was identified, Rodgers proposed forming a committee to develop a program for KCSA.

“I got 12 responses from people willing to help with this initiative,” Rodgers says.

Initially, Rodgers envisioned building a weekend program covering management, leadership and negotiation. The committee saw value in these areas, but it had different ideas as well.

“We all agreed we need to look at having multiple sessions throughout the year,” Rodgers says. “We’d look at going to different places in Kentucky and hit it from a technical standpoint.”

The committee also deeply considered who could become an Emerging Leader and how they could become one. Currently, the program aims to include 75 percent producer members and 25 percent associate members. Associate members are manufacturers and service providers.

Additionally, the committee did not want to put an age limit on Emerging Leaders because it realized someone could ultimately fit the profile in their 40s or 50s.

“You could be 22 out of college and be an Emerging Leader,” Albright says. “Likewise, you could be 55 and become a leader in your organization.”

To become an Emerging Leader, KCSA member companies can now nominate one employee as a candidate. Candidates must write short essays on why they should be an Emerging Leader, and the committee reviews and selects each class.

“They’re pretty analytical in choosing people,” Rodgers says.

Content is king

Rodgers and the committee also recognized that high-quality content was essential for the program to provide value and be sustainable. To that end, KCSA has brought in high-level speakers who drive home messages on leadership, politics, finance, customer service, negotiation, and work-life balance.

“Some of the speakers we have had for our program are just incredible,” Rodgers says. “We had Bill Samuels, owner of Maker’s Mark, come and talk to us for three hours.”

One takeaway the Emerging Leaders pulled from Samuels is not to attack their competition.

“He always said, ‘Don’t attack Jack,’” says Rodgers, referring to Jack Daniels whiskey. “Even though that guy is our competitor, we still want people to experience bourbon and whiskey. From a respect level, that was very encouraging.”

Former governors, including Martha Layne Collins and Paul Patton, also addressed the Emerging Leaders.

“Martha Layne Collins is the only female governor of the state of Kentucky,” Rodgers says. “She’s known for bringing Toyota manufacturing to Kentucky. She provided comments on how she understood the Japanese culture in order to make that pitch to them. She told me about the negotiations that took place. Those are moments you do not forget.”

Visits to KCSA member sites have been valuable for the Emerging Leaders, as well. The companies hosting have also received value from giving tours.

“These guys take real pride in the group coming to their quarry,” Rodgers says. “This is your industry coming to visit you. They take it very seriously.”

Valuable experience

Jesse Holloway, superintendent at Quality Stone & Ready Mix in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, is a member of the 2017-18 Emerging Leaders class who enjoyed being a part of the program.

Like Albright, Holloway works for a family-owned company situated in a small Kentucky town. Holloway’s father and two uncles continue to work in the family business, and a third uncle worked at Quality Stone & Ready Mix for a number of years before stepping away.

But today’s family businesses face a new set of challenges than the family businesses of the past. Finding and dealing with employees is different, for one, and the industry’s approaches to safety, community relations and the environment are vastly different today than they were a generation ago.

These are the kinds of areas where competing producers can confide in each other, and KCSA’s Emerging Leaders program is facilitating introductions for the next generation of producers around the Bluegrass State.

“My dad and [his] brothers were all brought up with the same parents and worked at the same company together,” Holloway says. “They know it their way. If I speak with one of these other young leaders, they might have a totally different culture within their company dealing with employees, issues and safety. We’re all in it together as far as those types of issues.”

Brian Holloway, Jesse’s father and a vice president at Quality Stone & Ready Mix, agrees there are opportunities where competitors can collaborate. And KCSA’s Emerging Leaders, he says, provides a platform to kickstart lifelong conversations.

“There are quite a few people in our area who are kind of in the same position as Jesse, coming up in a family company,” Brian says. “I think it was very valuable for all of those young people to talk with each other and share what they’re experiencing as they come up in the industry. They’re facing new problems, and I think it helps them knowing there are other people around in the same position.”

As Brian came up in the industry decades ago, family-owned companies like his looked at other companies as the competition. But times have changed, he says.

“They’ve gotten to be pretty good friends, pick up the phone and ask each other questions,” Brian says of KCSA’s Emerging Leaders. “Back then, everybody else was your enemy. I think it’s good they talk because there are fewer people wanting to be in this business. It’s difficult, and I think it helps the ones who are trying to stay with it.”

As Brian reflects on his earlier years, a program like KCSA’s Emerging Leaders wouldn’t fly back then. Decades ago, the next generation of a family-owned company was expected to step up and take over. But there are fewer family businesses today, Brian says, so sticking together across companies now offers greater benefits.

“I can’t imagine something like [Emerging Leaders] being functional back in our day,” he says. “It’s pretty neat.”

For Jesse, the KCSA Emerging Leaders experience has been critical to positioning him as a leader within his own company.

“I’ve learned a lot from it,” Jesse says. “I’d say most importantly it’s the relationships we’ve formed.”