John Wilson 0:00

Gary, I can't thank you enough for being with us on the CO Global Network podcast today. I know you've got a lot going on. So thank you so much for being with us. And I know you're going to share some leadership lessons with us that I'm really looking forward to. So thank you for being here.

Gary Pearson 0:13

Great to be here, John. Yeah.

John Wilson 0:15

I just want to let our audience know a little bit about you, Gary, before we get into the questions. I've got some questions for you I'd like to get to in a second, but I want to let everybody know that our guest today is Gary Pearson. He's the founder and principal of Pearson Engineering. Gary is a civil engineer, University of Ottawa grad, over 25 years experience in land development and municipal infrastructure. And in 206, Gary, you must remember this day, I'm sure you do, just like it was maybe yesterday. Gary opened a single office in Barrie with his name on the door. And how good is that? And so this year the firm is going to celebrate its 20th anniversary. More than 1,700 projects behind it, a team of over 30 engineers and technologists, offices in Barrie, the GTA, Ottawa, and Owen Sound, and covering customers throughout Ontario. The company designs the groundwork that communities are built on, subdivisions, site servicing, stormwater, roads, and now structural work on buildings and bridges for developers and municipalities across the province. Outside of the office, I just want to mention, Gary, something that you're involved with outside the office. You sit on the advisory committee for Georgian College, Civil Engineering Technology Program, really helping shape the engineers of the Morrowind. And your firm is also under your leadership. You support everything from Berry Minor Baseball and Hockey to Habitat for Humanity, Gildas Club, and local food banks. And Gary, I also want to mention everybody that you are a member of SEAL Global Network and a and one of the founding members of Ron Baugh's CEO group. So welcome. It's great to have you here and really looking forward to the next few minutes we have together. Thanks, John. Glad to be here.

Gary Pearson 2:01

Yeah, it's great.

John Wilson 2:02

Are you ready for the first question?

Gary Pearson 2:04

I'm ready.

John Wilson 2:06

Okay. You've led Pearson Engineering for 20 years, as I mentioned. What has changed most about the way you lead as the company has grown? I mean, you started it up and now you're a major company. How has your leadership changed?

Gary Pearson 2:21

Yeah, definitely giving staff, having confidence in the staff. So it's a growing, it's a growing process and building the blocks to be able to lean on them and actually just get the work off of my desk and onto them and then trusting them. And really you're trusting yourself to trust them. And I think that's one of the biggest hurdles. And I mean, I think I got through that relatively, not gonna say easily, but over time it happened. But early on, I mean, you got your fingers on everything and you can't do that as you're growing. It just doesn't work.

John Wilson 2:55

It just doesn't work. Yeah, good for you, though. A lot of entrepreneurs have difficulty with that for sure. Now, engineering teaches you to solve complex technical problems. How have you learned to approach the people side of the business, the people problems that come with building and running a business?

Gary Pearson 3:14

Yeah, it depends on the people. Like your staff, they have personal problems and we support them with through our company. I try and stay a bit hands-off. I just don't have the capacity to deal with my staff's problems, but we have structure in place that they can sit down with other people that can support them. And then we're supporting them through our health plan and all the support services. And then dealing with, I don't know if this is but the municipal and conservation regulatory, all the approvals. I mean, the problems we have with those people is just trying to manage their lack of experience and trying to get them educated. So you're sitting down with them a lot and trying to walk them through the process because we do submissions into municipalities where there's like 100 years of experience on a submission. You got a guy, a lady or a guy with three or four years experience trying to review it. So on that end, it's a different kind of a problem, but yeah, it's a people problem.

John Wilson 4:09

Yeah, yeah, for sure. That would be a challenge for sure. As the leader of the company, your role puts you at the intersection of clients, municipalities, project teams, tight timelines, all that stuff. How do you make good decisions when those priorities are competing with each other?

Gary Pearson 4:26

Yeah, you have to listen. You have to listen to your staff and take your advice and also listen to the reviewers at this on the other side of the table. And because they're not always wrong. They come with good ideas, and you've got to incorporate that. So listening definitely and taking advice from others and being able to accept that.

John Wilson 4:47

Yeah, collaboration, eh? Collaboration's huge. And that that'd be very important. After 25 years in the industry, Gary, what leadership lesson has taken you the longest to learn? Is there one that kind of bounces off the page? This took me a little longer than any of the other leadership lessons over the years.

Gary Pearson 5:04

Anything come to mind? I think as I get older, patience is one that, you know, and I've always been patient. I don't fly off the handle, don't get angry with people. Whether it's your people or somebody else's people, you got to know how to vent without getting angry and just being patient. And if something's really going haywire, is just take a knee, wait a day, come back to it the next day and see how it feels then. And if it's really challenging, get other people involved that can support in that decision making. But a lot of decisions are made by me, and you gotta make a decision and stick to it.

John Wilson 5:44

Yeah, 100%. I like that phrase, take a knee, eh? Sometimes you gotta take a knee. I'll truth that I'll truth that. Now your company recently celebrated, as I mentioned earlier, 20 years. What do you think has allowed the company to stay relevant and keep growing over two decades?

Gary Pearson 6:04

For sure, staff is huge. We have good and great staff. We don't keep kind of laggards or whatever you want to call them, and there's nothing wrong. It's a challenge because we feel that we're higher performing than most other companies. We may not be better than all, but we're as good as all of them, and we're very high performing. So getting the right staff in the door and then holding them. And if they're not right, letting them go. We're pushing 40 staff now, and every single one of them are really awesome. And even the new staff picking that new person. And so that's part of the reason I've been on Georgian College on the board for a while. It gives us access and gives us that piece of knowledge before we even sit down with them that is so helpful.

John Wilson 6:51

Well, that's terrific. And you do have a very successful co-op program, don't you, Gary, that you use with the students? That's the board I sit on, is the co-op advisory board. Yeah, yeah, good for you. I got one last question for you, Gary. Okay. Okay. As your company grows, how do you decide what still needs your attention and what you need to trust your team with?

Gary Pearson 7:16

Yeah, I mean, these projects, there's just dozens of them at any time. So it's touching them at the beginning, understanding what the scope is of the project, putting the right sources, the right team together, and then just touch pointing it along the way. And I always tell my clients, nobody has my cell phone. You can't call myself, call into the office, call my email. I say if there's something going on, call me, I'll deal with it. Otherwise, we've got a great team, and you gotta, again, it goes back to that previous question, just trust them. But you're able to get a lot more work done. And it's that building and holding that that layer of middle management and then their support staff. It's a big part of it.

John Wilson 8:00

That would be a huge part of it. Absolutely. Well, good for you. Good for you for building that team, right? I mean, that's crucial. Absolutely crucial. Gary, I can't thank you enough for being with us today. I've really enjoyed, you know, our time together. We've got some good leadership nuggets from you in in like 10 minutes, which is just wonderful. So thank you very much, Gary. Love to do this again down the road with you.

Gary Pearson 8:22

Welcome, John. It's been great. Yeah. Thanks a lot.