Connect with Theo Etzel
Email: Theo@TheoEtzel.com
Website: TheoEtzel.com
Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers' Network podcast. I'm excited to introduce our guests today, Theo Etzel. Theo was CEO of conditioned air for 23 years. The company grew from $2.7 million in revenue to $55 million in sales at that time.
He stepped down as CEO in June of 2018 and is currently Chairman of Conditioned Air, now a 60 plus million dollar regional organization in the residential and light commercial HVAC markets. Conditioned Air employs over 375 full-time co-workers and has branches in Fort Myers and Sarasota.
Theo is the author of the book, Invest your Heartbeats Wisely, released in April of 2016. The book focuses on practical full philosophical, and principled leadership concepts for business and life. Theo, welcome to the show.
Theo Etzel: Thank you, Lisa. I really appreciate being here. It's always a joy.
Lisa Ryan: Great! Please tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to do what you're doing.
Theo Etzel: Well, my background is that I'm a native Floridian. I grew up in Miami and attended Stetson University with a focus on finance and economics. That got me started on the business side of things by developing hotels for hotels' national chain and traveling around the country.
Even into some entrepreneurial things after that. Developing an area franchise model for Ben and Jerry's in the Atlanta area. We were living there and did that for several years. We ended up selling those stores and having the opportunity to come to Naples, Florida, back down on the west coast.
I took over a small air conditioning company, Conditioned Air, and applied sort of the entrepreneurial people skills needed at that time. It helped me grow the business. I would say that I didn't have any experience in the HVAC world specifically, but I certainly had business experience. I'm a people person, so I tried my best to bring good practices, good ethics, good people treatment into the company and learn the HVAC business as I went along. I wanted to build a team that could really help that process grow.
Lisa Ryan: So you walk into this small HVAC company without any industry experience, and you're about to take it over. What were some of the things you did right off the bat to connect with the people who work there, develop that passion for the business, and build the culture you did?
Theo Etzel: I think the first challenge that I realized that the company had organizationally was that the person in my chair previously had not been forthright and straight-up with the staff. My number one goal was to establish trust with the staff, which required a whole level of transparency of telling people what I was going to do and making sure that I did it so that they saw that there was consistency in word deed.
Building the trust probably took the better part of a year to be truthful because there was skepticism. He's young. He hasn't been in our business before. What does he know? What's he here for? I mean, you have you know people. People will make up their minds a narrative to support their suspicions. If allowed to, and so that's where I do think in any organization, no matter what size.
Terrific communications have to be the key, so you have to tell people what you're going to do constantly. Set expectations and carry through with those. Solicit input for what works and what doesn't work. Ask questions and respect their opinion doesn't mean you have to adopt it. But it means you have to communicate with them if you don't choose to adopt an idea that someone suggests. You do need to explain why we can't do it exactly that way.
Lisa Ryan: So what would be an example of something specific that you did to
