Dave Cain: Welcome to unsuitable on Rea Radio, the award-winning financial services and business advisory podcast that challenges your old school business practices in the traditional business suit culture. Our guests are industry professionals and experts who will challenge you to think beyond the suit and tie, while offering you meaningful modern solutions to help you enhance your company’s growth. I’m your host, Dave Cain. It’s always fascinating to talk to young entrepreneurs. I enjoy learning about why they chose to pursue business opportunities and business ownership and what they are doing to continue their professional development by promoting the continued development of fellow team members.
Today we have the pleasure of talking with Kyle Quillen, founder and chief technology officer of Agile Networks, a telecommunications company committed to enhancing public safety communications, extending the reach of existing fiber assets for government and education, and serving as a catalyst for economic development, and expanding broadband in previously under served markets. Being a young leader himself, we’re going to ask Kyle about his own journey and we’re going to ask him to share what others can do to emerge as leaders in their own industries. Welcome to unsuitable, Kyle.
Kyle Quillen: Thanks for having me, I appreciate it.
Dave: How do you like our Rea Radio studios in downtown Dublin?
Kyle: I’ve got to say, it is absolutely not what I expected at all and that’s a good thing.
Dave: Good, good. We want to start out today talking about Agile Networks. If you can just give us an elevator speech. I looked at your website prior to today’s meeting and you’ve got a phenomenal website and maybe we can ask our listeners, as they do a lot of task switching during the day, to get on your website. Maybe give us the web address and a little bit about the company.
Kyle: Yeah. Well, you clearly did your research. After that intro, I don’t know what else I can say.
Dave: Well, I didn’t write that. I have a ghost writer.
Kyle: Oh, is that what happened?
Dave: I can’t take-
Kyle: Okay, all right.
Dave: Credit for that.
Kyle: Well yeah, our website’s www.agilenetworks.com. We do telecommunications services for private sector, for government, for healthcare, schools both in urban and rural areas. Most notably, we look at a solution that a customer needs, or a problem that they have and figure out how we can leverage our infrastructure and our network to solve those challenges. Often times saving them dollars on their connectivity and telecom costs. Usually those are viewed as cost centers and not as the ability to really enhance their business. What we found through a number of different cases studies that we’ve got on our website and some of the kind of cool projects we’ve gotten to do, that by enhancing their telecommunications they were actually able to expand their business beyond where it was before. They didn’t have good connectivity that kept them from hiring three or four more dispatchers for a trucking institution, for example. Another really interesting neat project we’ve got a video case study on our website about. You may have watched it, I don’t know. We did a program with The Wilds out in Zanesville.
Dave: Okay, okay.
Kyle: We pumped 100 megs of bandwidth into their facility and lit up three or four of their roaming buses that go throughout the acreage and prior to that, you couldn’t even make a phone call out there from a cellphone. Now they’ve got great connectivity, basically 45 minutes from a closest interstate. We get to do some pretty cool things and-
Dave: Sound pretty cool.
Kyle: Got a great team and-
Dave: Yeah.
Kyle: We’re willing to figure out how we can help any of your clients and our clients.
Dave: Great, great, great. You guys are located in the Hall of Fame city, Canton, Ohio.
Kyle: We are, we are. Proud to say we’re in downtown. 213 Market Avenue. Anybody’s welcome to stop in. That’s where we have our 24 by 7 network operation centers, so it’s a good thing.
Dave: our footprint is all over not only Ohio, but I imagine contiguous states as well.
Kyle: We have some network across the borders of Ohio, but predominantly we’re inside the borders of Ohio. All 88 counties from Chillicothe and Portsmouth, all the way to Cleveland to Toledo. We’ve got network just all over the state.
Dave: Yeah. During your elevator speech you mentioned your team and today’s topic is about leadership and certainly I could tell the moment you walked in the room you carried yourself like a leader.
Kyle: Thank you.
Dave: We want to talk about leadership, so here we go. All right. As you were a startup in this industry several years ago, obviously leadership was critical. Can you share with us maybe some things that you tried right out of the gate as you guys opened and got going that worked for you?
Kyle: Yeah. I think I was fortunate that I had some good mentors, we had some good partners, a lot of people that were very interested in the idea that we were bringing up, and early on I realized that you have to be acceptable to coaching. Even if you disagree with where that coaching is coming from, or the direction that it leads you, you need to at least listen to it and hear it. That’s something that our staff is predominantly, I believe, under 30. We strive for that every day to kind of get them, and grow them, and coach them. I’ll attribute that to some of the early coaching that I got as we kind of got going from an Agile perspective.
Dave: Sounds like the culture of Agile is a lot of mentoring, a lot of coaching, and it sounds like it’s taken hold pretty well.
Kyle: Yeah, yeah. I think we’ve been successful in implementing some programs, the Rockefeller habits, and other from a management perspective to kind of keep people accountable. If you look at our core values, it really drives those kinds of things. At the same time, we’re dealing, because our age group and our demographic of our employees is so much younger than a lot of probably our competitors, there’s a struggle in there to make sure that they get what they need in order to be successful, and we coach them in the right direction, and that they’re open to that coaching.
Dave: What do you think young leaders are looking for?
Kyle: As I was kind of sitting down preparing for this, I was kind of thinking of myself and then thinking of our staff and what they, some of the leaders inside of our own organization, and as I look at it, it’s the affirmation that, “Hey, you’re doing a good job,” but at the same time, the freewill to be able to kind of have flexible work hours and be ingrained in that technology world even more. We have a lot of customers who, the senior leadership in their organization, or in that government entity, maybe pushed back against, “Hey, this new cool app is out,” or, “What’s this Instagram thing,” or, “What are those?” They push back against that and what you’re seeing is you’re seeing the younger generation running to that, versus, pushing it away.
I see that as a challenge just kind of over and over. I run into that myself and I’m only 32, but I’ve got a 25 year old network engineer that comes and says, “Hey, we need to implement this for the team for collaboration.” It’s like, “Well, what’s wrong with what we’re using today?” They give me all the reasons why and lo and behold we go and start using those. I think what they’re looking for is affirmation and technology, flexible work schedules, and fun, cool environments. It’s the old put on a suit and tie just doesn’t apply. Breaking that kind of normal go to work mentality, relaxed atmosphere, that’s where I see our staff really thriving.
Dave: I think, as you explain the environment, I think there’s a lot of trust in your leadership. Sounds like there’s a lot of trust. You’ve got to trust that team to do the right thing when you’re not around, and especially when they’re making a sale’s call, or out at a client, or working from home. Was that difficult for you to let go of some of that trust early on?
Kyle: It is a struggle for me over and over. There’s a certain control aspect and at the end of the day, most of our employees, all of our employees, people in general, they want to do the right thing, they want to head in the right direction, and they just need a little big of guidance. While we’re kind of, I don’t want to say, loose, but there’s constraints there, and checkpoints, and weekly huddles, and those types of things that really keep everybody rowing in the right direction at the same time.
Dave: Certainly in the environments that Agile works with, you mentioned government and educational, certainly your leadership skills have to roll over into that industry as well as you deal with those groups.
Kyle: Yeah. I guess I’ve been fortunate in my past to have … Over the last decade, to have to push through that barrier. When we started Agile seven years ago, I was 25, and we were working with large government entities, and a 25 year old walking in the door saying, “Hey, we’re going to be able to solve all of your problems, and address this, and effect that.” “You’re not old enough to be able to do that. What do you … No gray hair.”
Dave: Yeah.
Kyle: That’s exactly right, I didn’t have any gray hair. Being able to identify that young talent that’s out there, like I was seven years ago, I think is extremely important as your customers and your partners look at it and say, “How do we engage this younger generation and get them to grow?” Because that’s ultimately what’s the most important. I kind of went and did the Chamber of Commerce things, and went to those meetings, and unless you’re in the group, you kind of just stand off to the side corner. My advice to somebody that’s in that position, just insert yourself right in the conversation. Because what I’ve seen is, I don’t know what the politically correct way to say it is, but the older generation they actually care and want to find out what that 21, or 22 year old, or 23 year old fresh out of college wants to do and what they have to say.
They’re actually intrigued by that, because it’s a different perspective. At the same time, I think they’re a little bit scared of it. My advice for the younger generation is just bulldog your way in there. That’s the only way that you’re going to get heard. That’s the only way that squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? I think at the same time, the more senior members of those types of organizations or community, you see that younger person standing over there, reel him into the conversation, because more often than not, they’re looking for guidance, they’re looking for that to be brought in.
Dave: Yeah. That was one of our keys today we wanted to touch on, is how are today’s leaders different from yesterday’s leaders? You’ve touched on a few, but there’s a lot of similarities it sounds like between your younger leaders and you as well.
Kyle: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I think at the end of the day it comes down to, how do we communicate with them and how do we get them where they want to go? I think that it’s like everything else, you’re going to have your ones that stand out. You’re going to have your employees that stand out, you’re going to have your leaders that stand out. They’re going to bring new innovative ideas and those to the table and how do you not put them in a box? Because one of the things that I’ve struggled with personally, is slowing down to the pace of business. Just because it makes sense, just because it … All of the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed and it should be a slam dunk, doesn’t mean that you can just start doing it tomorrow. You got to slow down, and look at the bigger picture, and communicating that and kind of controlling that vigor, if you will, I think is important.
Dave: We’re going to talk about leadership innovation in 2017 or some new techniques in ’17 and maybe start out with, kind of the analogy is that you don’t want your leadership to be kind of like a flip phone. You want your leadership to be more like a smartphone. I think that’s more like 2017.
Kyle: Sure, sure.
Dave: Would you say you’ve moved away from the flip phone?
Kyle: Well-
Dave: I got a flip … I used to love those things.
Kyle: Well, I’m going to tell you, I was actually … A couple months ago I was looking for a Motorola Razr. Greatest smartphone, or greatest phone on the planet. I almost bought one off Ebay just so that I could get away from the email and get away from-
Dave: Oh, yeah.
Kyle: The other things.
Dave: Wouldn’t that be cool?
Kyle: Yeah. Then I realized it probably-
Dave: Make it happen.
Kyle: Wouldn’t work and so I didn’t end up doing it.
Dave: Yeah.
Kyle: I think you have to adapt and I think we’re at this kind of inflection point in the professional world where it’s acceptable to come in on a Friday in sandals and shorts, because the intellectual property you’re bringing to the table totally is different than what your dress code is. I think we’re at that inflection point and the flexibility is there and I think that that’s what the next generation’s going to want. It doesn’t mean that they don’t work any harder, or they work any less hard, or that their work product is any worse, it’s just a different way of doing things and breaking that norm is important.
Dave: I’m sure as your leadership developed, you probably struggled with, “Hey, here’s the team coming in in flip-flops, and cut-offs, and rock and roll T-shirts, and things like that. Hats on backwards.”
Kyle: I could name off about six names right now. Yeah, absolutely.
Dave: That’s your staff, huh?
Kyle: There may be a few, maybe a few. I think it’s we ask a lot of our team and when you ask a lot of your team, you want to have them be as comfortable and productive as possible, within reason. If there are important things going on and they need to up the game, they’ll up the game, but I’ve yet to see a more dedicated bunch of individuals, especially in that age range and that growth path that they’re on is absolutely stellar.
Dave: Sounds like a little commercial for some recruiting for Agile Network.
Kyle: Hey, we’re always looking for talent. There are not a lot of high-tech companies in Canton and Tuscarawas County, Stark County. We’ve got some younger staff that if they went to a big box organization they’d be answering the phones saying, “Hey, reboot your cable modem,” versus, doing some of the cool things that they get to do today. It’s really advancing their career as well.
Dave: Sure, sure. Sounds like you got a great place to work, great environment.
Kyle: We’re pretty proud of what we’ve built so far. I think the team’s very proud of what they’ve done. I know I’m proud of them and I’m proud of seeing quite a few of them grow into the leaders that they need to be.
Dave: That doesn’t happen by accident, you have to work at it every day 24/7.
Kyle: Yeah. Again, I can’t take credit for it all, because I’ve been very fortunate to have what I’ll call that previous generation, to me, do a good job of mentoring me on what’s important and how to put the right checks and balances in place. That’s important at the end of the day.
Dave: As we move forward into 2017 and ’18, we all have challenges no matter what business, what industry we’re in, or what industries we serve. I think we’re going to have to work even harder going forward on our leadership skills. What do you see, what’s the biggest challenge for young leaders in 2017?
Kyle: I don’t know that this is just 2017. I think this is always going to be there, is if you have an idea, if you have something you want to do, or working with individuals, and opening their contacts, and their knowledge up to you, I think is extremely important. Because one thing that I’ve learned over the course of the last seven years is that relationships are what really matter in the business world. You’re going to do business with people that you trust. You’re going to consult them and be on their point. Leveraging those relationships and really doing the right things, is what’s going to ensure your success. I think that’s the most important thing that I would say for any young leader, is always do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it. Then at the same time, leverage your contacts and the people that you know in order to continue to foster those relationships.
Dave: We’re talking about young leaders and refer to young leaders. Let’s switch gears for a second. What about the older leaders in your company, are they worth saving? We’ll edit this out if you don’t like the answer.
Kyle: I think they’re all worth conforming. No, I think, what I’ve noticed is the older leaders that we bring to the table and that have come into the organization have actually been enhanced by the younger leaders, because there’s a natural … They want to mentor. They want to say, “Hey, I’m the old dog, I’ve been around for a while. I know how to do this, let me show you.” There’s a good dynamic there. The important part is you got to have everybody be open to that communication level, which was a struggle for us for a while and we got turned on to the DiSC profile. Some of your customers, some people listening on the podcast here might know about it, but we found it extremely helpful in identifying key traits and characteristics of, “This individual likes to have personal interaction on the front end of a conversation. This individual, as myself, it’s just, ‘Give me the five points so that we can get moving and-
Dave: Get moving, get going.
Kyle: Get going.'” We saw that that really helped with the communication across the board.
Dave: You mentioned too, it almost sounds like in your organization the young leaders are, I don’t want to say pushing out the older leaders, but pushing that group to maybe accept or study some of the younger leaders concepts and ideas.
Kyle: I think what we’re seeing as we … Just as I’ve grown, I’ve seen the acceptance of, “Well, just because we did it that way 10 years ago doesn’t mean we have to do it this way going forward.” That’s been more and more accepting across the board. I think at the end of the day everybody wants to have an impact and however they do that as a team is important.
Dave: Let’s go to the entrepreneur discussion, as you guys have built the company from the ground up, basically. Do you have one or two tips that you can give our listening audience that helped you along the way, whether it’s building the leadership, or just staying in there, be patient? Is there anything you can share?
Kyle: Well, I think one of the things I can share is, be prepared for some of the highest highs and some of the lowest lows to happen in probably a 24-hour time span and the rollercoaster ride. I was joking with one of our staff accountants yesterday actually. She said, “You should sell tickets for people to be here and experience the rollercoaster ride that it is.” I think it just comes down to the fundamentals. Leverage your contacts, leverage the people that you know, leverage your relationships to the max. Then, I go back to it, but always do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re going to do it, because that builds just a mountain of respect across all age genres and age brackets, if you will, because people expect you to do that in business. If I ask [Gray 00:20:16] to come in and do an audit and get it done in a week, they better get it done in a week, because that’s what they agreed to and that’s what I asked for, right? That builds trust, and that builds character, and it builds the willingness for us to work together in the future.
Dave: Great, great. Our guest today has been Kyle Quillen from Agile Networks in Canton, Ohio. To paraphrase some of your data from your website, you guys are the Ohio’s only one-gig transport network. Did I get that right?
Kyle: Yep, you got it.
Dave: You’ve been voted by one of your industry publications as one of the top wireless infrastructure solution providers.
Kyle: Yeah, yeah. We’re pretty proud of that.
Dave: Congratulations and you should be. Again, it sounds like your organization is off and running and prime to go from good to great.
Kyle: Well, that’s what we’re trying to do.
Dave: Thanks again for joining us on unsuitable today, Kyle. We’ve really enjoyed listening to your story. Some great ideas and I think many of our listeners will take away from some great points from today’s podcast regarding today’s leaders, what innovates leaders in 2017 and the biggest challenges that some of our younger leaders, as well as, the older leaders will have in 2017 and beyond. If you want to learn more about leadership and business ownership, let us know. Send us an email at podcast@reacpa.com. We’ve also included some great articles and insight on our webpage at www.reacpa.com/podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe to unsuitable on Rea Radio on iTunes. Until next time, I’m Dave Cain encouraging you to loosen up your tie and think outside the box.