Building People First: Workforce Strategy and Manufacturing’s Future - Marietta Lee

Sal (0:11): We're back with another episode of the One Poor Problems podcast. I'm excited to be joined by Marietta Lee, President and CEO of the Lee Company. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Unknown Speaker (0:21): Thank you for having me, Sal. I appreciate it.

Sal (0:23): Absolutely. So before we dive into the episode, I think we need to talk a little bit about where we are right now because we have quite the view. Tell us about, you know, this, museum.

Marietta Lee (0:34): Okay. So we are at the Lee Company. We're at, in a building. It's the Museum of Early Engineering Technology. So there's a lot of artifacts of engineering lore and the space program, various, slide rules, which you probably don't remember, I don't remember, but engineers used to use them to make calculations before there were calculators, all sorts of doodads from the space program and rockets and all sorts of things.

Marietta Lee (1:08): So it was my father's project, he started collecting things, and then at one point had enough in his collection to open a museum. And it's great, because a lot of the things in the museum are things that were involved in the history of the Lee Company, We were involved in a lot of the early space missions, so it's fun to have some of that stuff here on campus.

Sal (1:29): Yeah, absolutely. We took a tour around earlier and we're looking at all the different things and there's some really cool stuff here. So I love the idea of having it here on the campus. And then that way, like, employees and customers and, you know, people can see it. I think that's really cool.

Marietta Lee (1:44): Yeah. Our customers love it. And some of our customers some of their artifacts are in here as well. And they love seeing sort of old old things that their companies made that we have parts Yeah.

Sal (1:56): Yeah. I love that. So now we'll pivot into the important part here, which is the drink. So we have, martinis here. Tell us, you know, why are we drinking these today, why are they significant?

Marietta Lee (2:10): So, I love martinis, and they're sort of a pain to make. You have to have the ice and the shaker and all sorts of measurements, and they're never, for me at least, quite cold enough. I have developed the icebox martini, which is basically vodka, you just add some water to it, and some olive juice, and you put it in your freezer. And we all know that vodka won't freeze, and most of the time, olive juice doesn't freeze because it's very salty. But the water will freeze in the vodka in ice crystals.

Marietta Lee (2:51): So, you basically come out, you can take the bottle of vodka and water and olive juice out of your freezer and it's like a slushie. Which my kind of martini.

Sal (3:00): Yeah. I love that. You made me do mine the old fashioned way, but I'm excited to

Unknown Speaker (3:06): have this Yeah, mine's colder than yours. Yes, it is. Cheers.

Sal (3:16): Alright, that's awesome. Great. So, president and CEO of the Lee Company, a pretty amazing history in this organization, I believe you're third generation.

Marietta Lee (3:30): Third generation, yeah. My grandfather started the company seventy eight years ago, basically with a good idea, and I think the story goes at $15 in the bank account, and a bunch of little kids running around at his dining room table, and started the company. He was sort of a mad inventor with all sorts of ideas, it went from there. My dad was his eldest son and he came back home after pursuing a legal career to help run the business. All of his siblings worked here in various iterations.

Marietta Lee (4:11): His youngest brother Bill, after my dad retired, took over as president. And then I came in as president two years ago, but I've been with the organization for over twenty five years.

Sal (4:22): Wow. Yeah. And I know your background is, I would say, not a traditional background into leading a defense aerospace organization. You started off in the media world as like an investigative journalist, right?

Unknown Speaker (4:39): Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (4:40): Talk to us about that.

Marietta Lee (4:41): Yeah. I was graduating college right around the time of, you know, the JonBenet Ramsey trial and the OJ Simpson trial and there were a lot of lawyers becoming journalists, and I thought that was so interesting. So, I became a lawyer, and then right out of law school went into journalism, and worked in journalism while I was in law school, working part time for the Supreme Court correspondent at ABC News and CBS News, doing their research and stuff like that. So, when I got out of law school, it was a pretty seamless transition, and went into investigative journalism, and then worked later for Court TV, which used to be live coverage of trials and things like that. Yeah, so very and then now I'm running a hydraulic engineering business, so total pivot, a member of the family, and, you know, I think journalism taught me how to ask questions, and that's what I continue to do today, and I think, you know, I'm very curious about a lot of things and willing to learn.

Sal (5:52): Yeah. So, what was like the moment that made you make the change, right? Because you're in a career that you wanted to be in. It was an exciting time to be in it. And again, when you came here, it wasn't like, alright, I'm going from, you know, what I'm enjoying doing right now to being the president and CEO of the company, because that is not what happened here.

Marietta Lee (6:15): That is not at all. What happened in I don't know that there was one moment, but I had two little kids, I was working in journalism, which is very demanding and you never, your schedule is not your own, ever. You always had to have your bags packed in case something happened and you needed to go out on a story. It was a very rewarding and fun job, but it was also very demanding and not family friendly. Yeah.

Marietta Lee (6:48): So, there became a point in time, I was living in Washington, where my husband and I decided we needed to be closer to our families on the East Coast and decided to make the move. And I was in Connecticut interviewing for journalism jobs. And my dad said, What do you think about joining the business? And I said, I don't think so. Anyway, long story short, after some long conversations with him, to.

Marietta Lee (7:22): Little did I know, after making that commitment to him and the family, that I would join the business that the family employment policy requires family members to take the job at less than the going rate for the job. Nice. So that was interesting. My job was the assistant facilities manager. I kept saying, I don't have any skills that correlate.

Marietta Lee (7:50): And he kept saying, well, you can produce a TV show and you can produce this. You can build a building. You can help. We need to build some new buildings. You can do that.

Marietta Lee (8:00): I wasn't quite sure, but I learned as I went and worked my way up from assistant facilities manager to facilities manager, and then went back to school at night to get a master's degree in engineering management, which led me into positions running some groups and things like that. And then eventually to COO and now CEO. So, yeah.

Sal (8:24): Very cool. I love talking to different leaders and specifically about like the journey to where they are today because I feel like when you talk to people that are entering the workforce now or maybe people in college, they think that it's a very direct path. And they're like, I'm gonna get into a job and I'm there and then I'm gonna climb all the way up and be at the top. And all I've had so many people on the podcast now who have all had such very different career paths.

Unknown Speaker (8:53): Mhmm.

Sal (8:54): Whether they were like one of them was an accountant who then pivoted to running the manufacturing for a shop in Connecticut and now is running the company. And it's like same with your background, very different, but then made the pivot and was able to continue to like grow and get yourself to be in the position you are today.

Marietta Lee (9:15): Right. I mean, there's so few people that actually do what they thought they were going to when they were five years old. Mean, I wanted to be a movie star, and then I, you know, I was going to be a psychiatrist for a while. I think I started undergraduate as a pre med student, you know, and you just sort of pivot all over the place. But I think there's so many things to be learned by different career paths.

Marietta Lee (9:41): And, you know, what I learned in journalism, I do take that with me every day, you know? Like, I'm fearless when I ask questions, you know? I don't never worried about asking a dumb question because, you know, all questions are good questions.

Unknown Speaker (9:58): Yep.

Marietta Lee (9:59): So, I bring that with me. Like what I learned in law school, bring with me and things like that. And I always say like to the high school kids, they're applying to college and people are like, what are you going to major in? I always laugh because I think there's not a chance that they're going to graduate majoring in what they set out to do. Same with career paths.

Marietta Lee (10:20): You never sort of wind up where you think you're going to.

Sal (10:23): Yeah. And I love the perspective of like, you can learn something in anything that you're doing and translate those things. Even for me, I'm an accountant. I should not be running a podcast. I'm typically you'd see me as somebody like behind a desk not talking to people kind of thing.

Unknown Speaker (10:38): Yeah.

Marietta Lee (10:38): But So what accounting skills are you using right now?

Sal (10:42): I am calculating how many ounces into the drink.

Unknown Speaker (10:47): Very good. Yes. So it's gonna

Unknown Speaker (10:48): translate a little bit of things.

Unknown Speaker (10:50): Yeah. You're a good martini maker.

Unknown Speaker (10:52): Something like that.

Unknown Speaker (10:53): On your podcast as a Exactly, result of your accountancy

Sal (10:57): see? So there's some things that'll translate, it is interesting to see the different paths that people might take. So, yeah, I think that's really cool and you've talked about bringing fearlessness into asking questions. Anything else that you can think of that you bring now into like you leading the organization that you took from that experience?

Marietta Lee (11:23): Certainly, you know, I never feel like I'm the smartest person in the room. I try to surround myself with really people that are smarter than me. Never want to be the smartest person. I always want to be asking questions and making sure that I understand the issue that we're facing or the problem that we're trying to tackle in that meeting. And certainly my legal skills translate.

Marietta Lee (11:49): Again, most lawyers ask a lot of questions. Never assume that they know the answer, but ask a lot of questions, get a lot of background.

Sal (11:57): Yeah. Very cool. So if we talk about your start as the assistant facility manager and working your way up, do you think that that had any impact on how people view you as the president and CEO of the company today? As far as credibility and proving that you've done the things to get there?

Marietta Lee (12:21): I like to think so. I hope so. I hope that they see that I've worked my way through the organization and not sort of came in at a senior level just because I had the right last name. I think my dad purposely gave me the smallest office in the whole company when I came in. You know, he didn't want it to look like I was getting any special treatment.

Marietta Lee (12:47): And I don't think I was adequately prepared for I wouldn't call it a microscope, but the eye's on me always. Like, okay, let's see what she's made of. Let's see, like, does she show up on time for work, or is she early, or is she late? You know, I felt like I wasn't prepared for all the eyeballs on me. I don't know that I think I was warned.

Marietta Lee (13:14): I think my dad said everyone's going to be watching you, but I didn't really pay attention until I was there. So, I think that is a particular challenge in a family business is making sure that the family members, you know, are worthy of the job that they're in. And I would say that they work extra hard to show everybody else that they're in it to win it, and not just taking a job a cushy job.

Sal (13:42): Yeah. No, that makes sense. And so, you know, thinking back to that time, like, there any, like, lessons you took away that you were like, these were the things that, like, I did to build trust in the organization and, you know, because you're a new employee at the time, but you're also a family member. Right? And so, you know, building trust with, you know, the people around you.

Sal (14:05): Is there anything that, like, you did in particular? Like whether came into work early every day? I always was like, I stayed late.

Marietta Lee (14:14): I tried to set a good example. I did try to like be early, certainly, you know, certainly never late, stay a little bit later than everybody else, certainly not leave early. I mean, I was very cognizant of that, and I was very cognizant of not overstepping in a way. Mean, you have to remember that a lot of the people that worked here worked with my grandfather. And so, they would say, well, we remember you when you used to come in in diapers, you know, and then I'd be like, oh gosh, and now I'm their boss.

Marietta Lee (14:48): And I was very, I tried to be very respectful of that. Yep. That I'm younger, that they worked with my grandfather, that they worked here at the company through the building of the company and the tough times and all of that. I felt like I wanted to respect that tradition and, you know, what they had given to the family and the business.

Sal (15:13): Yeah, and from the outside looking in, it certainly seems like you have. I know we talked on, you know, a call earlier in the month, and, I was telling you that my uncle works here.

Unknown Speaker (15:26): Mhmm.

Sal (15:26): And he's been here for twenty something years, so I'm not sure where in the family lineage if he was here at the time that your grandfather was here.

Marietta Lee (15:37): Probably just after. Yeah. Probably just after. Yeah.

Sal (15:40): But again, there's not a lot of people that stay in organizations for twenty something years anymore. And so I think it's a testament to like the culture and that culture transition through the leadership. You know, I think that's there's definitely something to be said about that for the lead company in particular.

Marietta Lee (16:00): Yeah, that's good to hear. I mean, we're very appreciative of our employees and I think well aware that we wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for our employees. And, you know, we try to really respect that. And, you know, we're a family owned business. There are family members that work here, but we really, we personally feel like the company is our family.

Marietta Lee (16:22): And the people that work here are our family and we try to treat them as such.

Sal (16:26): Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think that shows in the culture. I know there's when you hear the lead company, you hear a lot about like the benefits and the things that are provided for the employees, because there is, again, something to be said about take care of your employees and they'll take care of the clients and Mhmm. Like all that stuff kind of comes around full circle. You know, where did that people first mindset come from?

Marietta Lee (16:55): You know, it certainly was here when I got here. And I always get asked that question. So, I've come up with my theory of the case is that, you know, our family is very proud and we're very proud of what we've accomplished and we want to give back to our employees, but I think it really started with my grandfather. And my theory of the case is that he was like a mad scientist with these crazy ideas, a renegade starting this business, you know, risking everything to start this business. And anyone that came to work with him was in their own right taking a risk to come work for him.

Marietta Lee (17:39): I think he was so appreciative of that and realized that, you know, somebody just left a really good job with a well established company because they believed in him. And so, he felt like he needed to give back to them because he was so appreciative.

Unknown Speaker (17:58): Yeah.

Marietta Lee (17:59): So that's my theory of the case. And that sort of transcended. And I think also we feel like if you take care of the employees, everything else will sort itself out.

Sal (18:12): Yeah. I believe in the same exact thing. I I think it it definitely definitely helps when you step into a leadership role and you have that mentality where it's like, you know, you're you're the leader of the company, you're the one providing the paychecks to all the employees and stuff like that, but those employees are the thing that makes makes everything go round. And so if you get the mindset of like, I really appreciate these people and look at them like they're family

Unknown Speaker (18:40): Mhmm.

Sal (18:41): Because we're all in this together kind of working to this the same goal, you know, I think that helps as a leader because if you're thinking about it from a perspective where, you know, you're like, I am the leader of this company and like, people should be grateful to be here and that kind of stuff. Know, I think that sets a different tone.

Unknown Speaker (19:02): Mhmm.

Sal (19:03): And like I said, it's seventy eight years now. So, you know, it sounds like the right tone was set from the beginning and has continued to go through over the generations.

Marietta Lee (19:14): Right, right. And you know what, if we, I mean, certainly any leader of any organization is very cognizant of the bottom line, but that's not our main focus. And we always say, like, if a business school student came in and looked at our finances, they would say, like, are you crazy offering free health insurance? You know, you could make so much more money if you would just change that, or if you didn't have a profit sharing plan, or any of that. That's not what's important to us.

Sal (19:44): Yeah. And I'm assuming having benefits like that helps tremendously with retention.

Marietta Lee (19:50): It does. We have a lot of employees that have been here a very long time. In fact, we have service awards that we give out at regular intervals for And people's anniversaries and things like I've been privileged to give out service awards for people that have been here over fifty years, which is really amazing fifty if you think about years.

Unknown Speaker (20:10): Yes. That is amazing.

Unknown Speaker (20:11): So, that's really fun. You get a great service award for that because

Unknown Speaker (20:14): they they go up

Unknown Speaker (20:15): ratchet up as the years

Unknown Speaker (20:16): Oh, really? Go

Marietta Lee (20:17): Yeah, so you get something very nice like a grandfather clock or something like that. Yeah.

Sal (20:21): That's cool. Yeah. So talking about the benefits and like the employees feeling valued, you know, what what kind of like results have you seen because of, you know, your employees feeling valued?

Unknown Speaker (20:39): I'm not sure what you mean by that. What do mean by results? Like financial results Whether or

Sal (20:44): it's business outcomes or you've been able to achieve, you know, tough deadlines that allowed you to get products out that were used in

Marietta Lee (20:55): something Yeah. Like mean, don't have a specific example, but I do feel like when it's an all hands on deck situation, like, you know, we've got to get this order out for our customer or what have you, you know, there's cooperation and people rally around that. People get excited And, by you know, that might also have to do with our profit sharing plan. We have I think it was one of the first profit sharing plans in the country when it was established, and probably one of the few that still remain to this day. Most companies, you know, don't have the level of profit sharing that we do.

Marietta Lee (21:33): You know, we all share in the benefits of making our customers happy and things like that. You know, I have seen a lot of enthusiasm whenever it's all hands on deck situation, people really get excited. During COVID, we were making parts for ventilators. We actually turned we were even making it out of our automotive division. We have a medical division, they were, but automotive was sort of dead and we were able to make some ventilator parts in that division as well.

Marietta Lee (22:06): And we shifted one of our product lines to three shifts and trained people from different divisions on that and everything. And people were so enthusiastic. I mean, obviously we felt like we were doing something to help the COVID situation, that was part of it, too. But, you know, I think people really got excited about that. Periodically we have situations where there's, you know, airplane on the ground or this that and the other thing and we gotta get stuff done

Unknown Speaker (22:35): and Mhmm.

Marietta Lee (22:37): People will upend things to make it happen.

Sal (22:40): Yeah. And that again goes back to the culture. Having the culture that you guys have breeds that. It makes the team rally together, you know, when there's times that you need to hunker down and get things done, like, it's less of an ask and more of like a a natural thing where they're like, you know, we gotta get this done. They all rally behind it.

Sal (23:02): Like, think that, again, it all comes back to culture.

Unknown Speaker (23:05): So Mhmm.

Sal (23:06): I think that, you know, I think that is really cool. Nice. As far as like your organization today, so I'm curious like from when you started till now, how has the workforce changed? Or what has changed the most in that time?

Marietta Lee (23:24): I would say, I think we've got some more women in more senior roles, which is terrific. There was literally no women in any sort of management position when I started. That was twenty five years ago, and that's probably the case for most manufacturing companies in New England. It's probably not unique to us, but I have seen that change. I also think, I don't know, maybe I'm older, but it just seems like a lot of younger employees, more 20 coming here, which I think is great.

Marietta Lee (24:08): Like, people right out of trade school coming right here.

Sal (24:14): Yeah. And so, you know, having that change in the workforce, specifically for younger employees, you know, how has like, you know, the feedback of like how you engage with them and like actually get them interested, like, how does that how does that work? Right? Like, how do you actually get in touch with, you know, these younger people

Unknown Speaker (24:34): Yeah.

Sal (24:35): That you're you're looking to bring in?

Marietta Lee (24:36): You know, when I was running a manufacturing group here at the company, like I felt what was really important was for people to know what they were doing every day and what they were making a part, but what was that part being used for and sort of connecting the dots. So, I have tried to make a push for us to make sure that everybody knows you're not just making a check valve, your check valve is going in this spaceship. And this spaceship is gonna do this, that, and the other thing. And this is gonna be revolutionary because of this. Or it's going in this piece of diagnostic equipment, medical diagnostic equipment.

Marietta Lee (25:22): That helps diagnose this disease or that disease. So I think for me connecting the dots has been a big push. And the feedback that I get is that the employees really love to know what they're working on and what it's going in. It just gives more meaning to what they're doing every day.

Sal (25:42): Yeah, I think that's a common theme with a lot of people like now in the twenties coming into business, they're Gen Zs, and they're definitely feeling more like mission and purpose driven.

Unknown Speaker (25:56): Yes.

Sal (25:56): And so being able to connect the dots to say that this part that you're making is actually going into this, you know, is a I think one of the best ways to actually engage with them outside of making TikToks. Yes. We could do TikToks for them, but not a lot of people wanna make those. But no, in all seriousness, it's it's one of the ways that I like I think it is the easiest way to connect with them because they they're genuinely curious. They want to do something that has them feel like they're making a difference.

Sal (26:28): And so specifically in your industry, all of the defense side and aerospace, all of that is is making a difference every day because it's constantly evolving.

Marietta Lee (26:40): For sure. And I think even, I don't even think that's the younger generation. For me, knowing what we're doing every day, I think recently I was somewhere in my phone, something came up on the phone to show that I was connected to my phone service and internet through Starlink, like the little satellite thing that's new on your phone, and we're part of that. And I was like, I was grinning from ear to ear. I'm like, that is so cool.

Unknown Speaker (27:09): Yeah, that

Marietta Lee (27:10): So cool. You know, it is so great to know that we're not just making little metal doodads. We're actually part of sort of a bigger ecosystem that's making people's lives better in many ways.

Sal (27:22): Yeah. And I think that is great feedback for, again, any leader. Because in every business, no matter what you're doing, you're not just doing that specific thing. Right? There's always a bigger purpose and I think that is a perfect piece of advice to give to anybody to use that as a tool to be able to help bring the employees together, have them really charging towards something.

Unknown Speaker (27:47): Mhmm.

Sal (27:48): So I love that piece of advice for sure. Yeah. Yeah. We we were talking earlier about your growing workforce and you're roughly around like 1,100 employees today, but constantly growing.

Unknown Speaker (28:04): Yes.

Sal (28:04): And so how do you how do you stay competitive because we are in a very unique area of the state. And there's definitely some competition. Yeah. You know, so how do you stay competitive?

Marietta Lee (28:18): There is competition. And listen, you know, I also serve on the Connecticut Business and Industry Association Board of Directors. I have sort of numbers But at my Connecticut has about 80,000 people that are currently unemployed looking for work, and there's almost 100,000 open jobs in Connecticut. So, if every single unemployed person was able to find a job that fit their skills and get hired, we would still have 15 to 20,000 job openings without people to fill them. So, that's not a great situation.

Marietta Lee (28:57): And it is competitive. And we're in a, you know, not a very dense densely populated area of the state as well. So, you know, we try to, you know, push our, you know, family values and good benefits and good place to work and good work life balance and all of that. But certainly, it's competitive. Yeah.

Marietta Lee (29:26): And a lot of defense industry is growing right now and everybody's hiring. Oh,

Sal (29:33): yeah. So, yeah. And so, I feel like that puts you in a tough spot because at at the same time, depending on organizations, they have different structure of the way that they have benefits or compensation or incentive plans and stuff like that. But the younger generation feel like and this is from my personal experience, right, because we hire a ton of people out of basically like a trade school. They're just doing IT and the conversation is always about compensation.

Sal (30:10): That's it. What is my actual w two income? Yeah. And they don't think about some of the other things that go into a compensation package and different benefits. So, you know, if if you could give advice to, you know, a younger person coming into the workforce, you know, I know livable wages is is an important thing.

Sal (30:32): Right? But, you know, what advice would you give to somebody to like, what would they look out for?

Marietta Lee (30:37): Well, I can certainly give advice, but I can tell you when I first entered the workforce, it didn't even dawn on me to ask, you know, whoever was hiring me, like, what does the health insurance package look like? Because, you know, you're 25 years old, you're never going to get sick in your mind. So, it wasn't even on my radar. So, I can give advice, but I can tell you that I did not think about any of this when I was But, that you know, we have a really great profit sharing plan, and the '25 year olds, again, like you said, that's not on their radars. Want higher hourly wage, but I can point to people here that have a really great retirement plan package because of years of working here.

Marietta Lee (31:27): And I have adult children early in their careers, and tell them put as much as you can into your retirement plan now, you'll be happy when you are my age. I don't know if they listen, but, you never know, health insurance I think is so important. Again, the 25 year olds don't really look at that. So it's education, it's life experience, it's all of that.

Sal (31:55): And I think it's interesting for people that, you know, are below 26, they probably have their parents' plan or Yes. Something like But at the end of the day, if I could go back to a younger version of Sal, I would say, if I had the opportunity to have 100% covered benefits, I should come off my parents plan. Because like one, I'm managing everything on my own, getting some experience and learning that stuff, but I'm also saving them money at the same Right? And so like, we're we're helping in different ways, but that's me now as a dad and how I'm gonna lecture my kids into that.

Unknown Speaker (32:29): Right. Right.

Sal (32:30): But it it does it does make a difference. Right? And I think making sure people really understand that stuff Mhmm. Because they might think I'm making more in my hourly wage, but they're not gonna put anything away for retirement Right. The way that they would if that was something that they were focused on.

Unknown Speaker (32:52): Right. Right.

Sal (32:52): I think it's good perspective. Yeah. Yeah. And so, we're kinda going down the path of talking to the about younger employees and bringing them on. I know you believe in, like, development plans and, like, growing people and, you know, constantly, like, improving.

Sal (33:11): So what inspired you to build your internal training program?

Marietta Lee (33:17): Yeah, so we started right before COVID, Lee University. I love that. Which is an internal training program, just like you said. And I think it really came from it started out largely that we were having a hard time finding skilled machinists and tool makers. And we said, You know what?

Marietta Lee (33:39): We should really have sort of an internal apprentice program where we can skill people up for that. Know, machinists could become tool makers and such. And so, it started that way, and it was so successful, and the employees embraced it and saw it as such an opportunity to gain new skills and advance themselves in their careers here at the company that we started expanding it to, you know, you could become an inspector, a certified inspector, you could, now we even have just introduction to manufacturing classes. So somebody that maybe was working at, you know, in retail or at Dunkin' Donuts or something totally with no manufacturing experience could come in and, you know, within their first couple months here could run through a class maybe one or two days a week while they're on the payroll here.

Unknown Speaker (34:41): Very

Marietta Lee (34:41): cool. Take time away from their regular job to go and just sort of learn more about manufacturing and blueprint reading and So, things like it really took off in a way. I think we knew it would be successful sort of in the toolmaker machinist arena, but we didn't really realize how much we were going to expand it and how much the employees would really love to do it. Now we have waiting lists for some of the classes, so it's great. It's really great.

Sal (35:11): Our organizations are very similar because we did something that we foresaw the the issue coming down the line where it was, you know, we're we do things a certain way at Charles IT and we would bring in people who worked at other managed service providers and they would have all these preconceived notions and bad habits and all these different things. And that was like the first part of us thinking like, this is gonna be a problem. But the second part was it became really hard to hire people in IT just like it is in manufacturing.

Unknown Speaker (35:43): Mhmm. Mhmm.

Sal (35:44): And so we did basically the same thing where it was like we created an IT training program and we worked with different like state agencies to like bring people in and put them through like a boot camp basically.

Unknown Speaker (35:55): Uh-huh.

Sal (35:56): So, ours is a little bit different. It's like a ninety day program. Like all it's intensive ninety day. We pay you though for the entire program.

Unknown Speaker (36:04): Mhmm.

Sal (36:04): And then, you know, the ones that work the hardest, show the most, like drive and aptitude, you know, those are the ones that end up getting the full time jobs at the end of it. And so we were started off and it was like four people a quarter and now it's like we're doing like a like a dozen a quarter and our organization is about 200 people. Uh-huh. And so, like Uh-huh. You're still putting 48 people through the program, like, you're moving some serious, you know, people through training.

Sal (36:32): So the whole idea, again, was how can we train them on the skills that we want them to have and what will make them successful

Unknown Speaker (36:39): Mhmm.

Sal (36:40): And what our clients are looking for. So, again, I think it's one of the best strategies for an an organization who is in like a rapid growth and constantly looking for talent.

Unknown Speaker (36:50): Right.

Sal (36:52): But I love the fact that you have even like introduction to manufacturing. Yeah. So you can pivot out of anything into Right. Think that's really cool.

Marietta Lee (36:59): And our, you know, what we make is, it's all mission critical parts. So our quality is so so important. And our tolerances are very tight. And even machinists that come from other places, they're not trained in how seriously we take our quality. So, there's always a little bit of a learning curve there, and this has really been, to a certain extent, you know, you want people to come in that have skills, but you also want them to do things your way.

Marietta Lee (37:33): So, this has afforded us that opportunity, than on the job training, to really just drive home the importance of quality and make sure that everybody is operating with that in mind.

Sal (37:46): Yeah. It's cool. You get to take some of the the good of they were a different company with different experiences, but also get them into, like, this is how we do things here, and, like, I think

Unknown Speaker (37:56): really good. It's been really great for us. Yeah.

Sal (37:58): Yeah. Yeah. So if I can ask you a question that will potentially give some insider information to some candidates, that don't have manufacturing skills, What, you know, what makes it what characteristics of a person, you know, makes worth investing in them. Right? So if they what do you look for when you're you're bringing some of these people in?

Marietta Lee (38:25): Great question. And I I always think back to the the it's a sort of a case study on hiring, and it was Zappos, which is still around. It's like one of the original internet shoe companies where you could buy shoes. Yep. And they always said, we hire for character, we train for skills, right?

Marietta Lee (38:47): So, if someone has a good attitude, we can teach him everything else. Right? If you have a positive attitude and a willingness to learn, that's it. We can train for anything else.

Unknown Speaker (39:03): I love that.

Marietta Lee (39:03): And I stand by that. And I think that was a great model. Mhmm. And that was sort of revolutionary at the time, which is hard to believe that that was revolutionary, but everybody thought, wow, that's crazy that they're willing to hire someone just because they think they're a good person.

Sal (39:21): Yeah. No. I love that. And I think, again, for those watching, you're welcome. Now you know the the secret to getting in the door, but I think that's spot on for, like, most entry level jobs.

Sal (39:34): Right? Like, as long as, like, I look at it, I I usually go with humble, hungry, and smart, you know, like, those three things. Like, if you don't know IT, that is totally okay. Right? Yeah.

Sal (39:45): Like, we're gonna get you there. We'll be able to teach you that stuff, but I'm not gonna be able to teach you to be a good person, be, you know, charismatic, be able to empathize with somebody, like, you know, those are the things that, like, I'm looking for. And if you're willing to learn, then, you know, organizations like ours, organizations like yours, they're willing to invest. So I think that's that's really cool.

Marietta Lee (40:06): And it's great. Like, we have people here now that are very senior level vice presidents and such that came in as a summer intern then got hired in an entry level position and then used one of our benefits as a tuition reimbursement program to go get a college degree, and then went on to get a graduate degree, and now they're a senior employee, and it was just because they were a good kid Yeah. Way back when. And we we took them on and they've sort of thrived here.

Sal (40:40): Yeah. No. That's that's very cool. And I think that, again, that's a good case study for people coming in the door that, like, there is a path. There's a way to continue to move yourself up in the organization.

Unknown Speaker (40:52): For sure.

Sal (40:54): So our our last couple things here, specifically, wanna talk about your experience serving on some boards. And, you know, what has serving on those boards as a leader in the organization, you know, kind of either helped you with running the business or, you know, giving you insight into certain things or connections to people? You know, what has been like some of the major benefits on, like, your business in particular?

Unknown Speaker (41:24): Mhmm.

Sal (41:24): Because I I serve on a few boards myself and there's definitely a lot of, like, purpose of, like, why I joined the boards and, like, what I'm trying to help achieve there. Mhmm. But there's always something that, like, somehow ties back to bringing these skills back into the business. It's Do have so any true. Questions about

Marietta Lee (41:43): Yeah. I mean, I've served sort of throughout my career on a variety of non profit boards, for profit boards, etcetera. And certainly CBIA, Connecticut Business and Industry Association has been great, meeting other leaders throughout Connecticut, and learning that our struggles here at the Lee Company are not unique, you know. Certainly, all of us are sort of in it together with a lot of the same struggles. And I think even like some of the smaller nonprofit boards, very much similar struggles, just, you know, smaller scale, bigger scale.

Marietta Lee (42:22): But I think it's so important for anyone, whether you're a leader or not, in your community to give back in some way. And whether that's serving on a town commission or volunteering at the school or something like that. I think it's really important and it connects you and reminds you of, you know, who you are in the community in which you live, which serves all of us and our employees as well. Think it's so important.

Sal (42:50): Yeah, For sure. So we talked about the change in manufacturing earlier about there's becoming more and more women in manufacturing.

Unknown Speaker (43:00): Mhmm.

Sal (43:01): I've I've talked to a few different female leaders in manufacturing in particular. Mhmm. And you're definitely one of like the really well known ones in Connecticut. I think part of that is you getting yourself out there representing the boards, being at CBIA in particular. But, you know, what has that experience been like, you know, as a woman leading a a traditionally male dominated industry?

Marietta Lee (43:31): It has been it is great, because there is a pocket of us, female women in manufacturing in Connecticut. Think we all know each other. So, it's fun to see them at industry events and have friendships with them. But, you know, it's interesting, I grew up in a house, our mom died when we were a little kid, I was the only girl. I grew up in a male household.

Marietta Lee (43:57): So, I kind of didn't really know any differently. And then, here to the Lee Company was, you know, more often than not, and still am the only female at the board table and, you know, in the meeting. And, I don't know, it just sort of had I don't know that it it wasn't anything I thought about, it was just the way it was.

Unknown Speaker (44:25): Yeah.

Marietta Lee (44:25): You know? But it is so great now to have other females that I know that are sort of in the same position. I love that a lot. It is challenging, you know? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (44:40): It is challenging. So, I just spent the weekend with a bunch of girlfriends. It's different. It's different being at a table with all ladies and all men. I'm not gonna deny it.

Unknown Speaker (44:50): Yeah. It's not better or worse, it's just different. Yeah. Yeah.

Sal (44:54): Yeah. And I think and I'll I'll ask you as well, but something that I'm really optimistic for in the manufacturing space in particular, you know, as the years, you know, ahead of us, I think because the way manufacturing is changing and it's becoming less of like this grit and grind type like work, and there's a lot more technology involved in precision and stuff like that, I feel like that's starting to open the door to allow, like, it to be more appealing to women. And so I think that will help get more people in the door. And then once they're in the door, right, hungry humble smart, they can So, work their way up that's something that I think is, you know, an optimistic point in the manufacturing space. Curious

Marietta Lee (45:43): to No, you've we've seen that too. And I think sort of the vision of what manufacturing is like, you know, you think of the movies, dirty shop floor, like overalls, and a tool belt, and, you know, it's very different here. It's air conditioned, and we're wearing lab coats, and it's very clean, and, it's a great environment to work in. It's quiet. It's not noisy.

Marietta Lee (46:11): It's not dirty. Not that that's more female or male or whatever, but it's just less of what you saw in the Hollywood movie. And that, I think that sort of perspective is changing, and people are seeing it. And as we have more and more women come to work here, and I'm going to say this, and, you know, it is a little bit sexist, but our parts are so little and detail oriented. Women mostly are better at putting them together with tweezers.

Marietta Lee (46:45): I know that's probably not a PC thing to say, but

Unknown Speaker (46:49): The truth is the truth.

Marietta Lee (46:51): Biologically, like, we're a little bit more dexterous with our fingers and doing small things. And so, you know, we're not lifting giant things onto machines. We're putting together very tall, small little things. I think it is just a more female friendly environment than it has been historically. Yep.

Sal (47:14): So, outside of, I would say, the large bubble of manufacturing and narrowing back into aerospace and defense world, what excites you the most about being in this space now and again for the years to come.

Marietta Lee (47:31): Literally space. Space is what excites me right now. I am so excited by what the private space companies are doing. Exploring space, all the satellites, it's amazing and it's moving so fast. It's unbelievable to see sort of

Unknown Speaker (47:55): the

Marietta Lee (47:55): technology and the possibilities are really endless of what can happen in space, and, you know, if you listen to Elon Musk, he wants, you know

Unknown Speaker (48:04): Going to

Marietta Lee (48:04): Mars. Apartment buildings on Mars, and, you know, all sorts of things. It's crazy to think that, one day that may happen. I certainly don't want to live up there, but there's such amazing things that can happen. They're doing medical research in space because different drugs and different diseases behave differently in space than they do here, and certain drugs can be developed better in space.

Marietta Lee (48:33): I mean, it's endless. It's crazy. Every day there's something new that I find out is going on in space. It's so fun.

Sal (48:41): Yeah. Wow. That's very cool. Well, that's, the end of the episode here. So I really appreciate all the time and the perspective that you gave.

Sal (48:51): I think it was a great conversation.

Unknown Speaker (48:52): Thank you. It was really fun being on.

Unknown Speaker (48:54): Yeah. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker (48:55): Yeah. Cheers. Cheers.