Leading a brand built to last

In the final episode of this season of Pave It Black, we welcome Jim McEvoy, President & CEO of Wirtgen America, to talk about the role strategy plays in building lasting success. Throughout the conversation, Jim unpacks what it takes to lead a company known for cutting-edge roadbuilding equipment. He explains how strong internal processes, paired with a dedication to service, build the foundation for industry leadership.

One of the key takeaways from this is discuss is the importance of truly understanding your customer. Jim shares stories from all stages of asphalt production and how Wirtgen has become a household name in the construction space. He also dives into the value of being present in the industry and the importance of attending tradeshows. If you’re curious about what it takes to develop your company’s identity, the season finale is full of practical insights and strategic wisdom.

Here’s a sneak peek into this week’s conversation but be sure to tune in to the full episode for all the insights. Listen now

What are some leadership lessons that have stayed with you on your journey?

I’m 37 years in the industry, which means I’ve done a number of jobs. Starting from an assistant to the marketing assistant to my current role. I would say that you learn from every experience, right? I’ve seen people do some things I know that I never want to do in my career, but I’ve also seen a lot of people and been inspired by a lot of people. You learn and get a good North Star from these people in the way that they conduct themselves. I think the lessons have always been around some fairly simple things that everybody hears, maybe on a regular basis, but the ones that really resonate with me are, trust. It is paramount. Building trust as a leader, trusting your leader is a huge component of that. I think that comes from leaders that listen. I think empathy is a good word. I think understanding is a good word that you use in being a leader. I think some of the best characteristics are leaders that think. They maybe don’t respond too quickly, but they have a tendency to pause, think, and look around and ask a lot of questions. Usually there’s many inputs into situations, issues that can come to your attention as a leader. Make sure you take the time to dig in and look around and understand the big picture all the way down to what may seem to be, a very selective problem or opportunity that you have to solve.

Wirtgen is known for innovation. How do you position a company to stay ahead as a technology leader in the construction space?

To be a leader in that innovation space requires a deep knowledge of application. How the machine’s used and how you can overcome the challenges of the customer. From the big picture standpoint, how these machines become interconnected in the production system and how the intelligence comes off one machine. The information and data that go into the machine that follow the process from milling to paving. There’s such an important tie between how a surface is milled and then how it is immediately paved back in. Feeding data across that production system is the type of thing that I think will keep our customers very excited about the technology and the innovation that’s coming out of the Wirtgen Group right now.

What innovative technologies do you think will have the most impact on the future of asphalt?

I think there are opportunities in the material side, in the intelligent use of recycled materials. We’re all getting better at that as the industry moves forward in that space. So again, there’s opportunity for a lot of process improvement in that space. The thing I love about asphalt contractors, and this entire industry, is they’re kind of gamblers in a way. They’re all bidding for a job and they all have their parameters set on where they think things are going to be, but there’s still a lot of risk. I think the opportunity to mitigate risk or let’s say if you know the job is 80% sure and 20% we’re not so sure exactly how things are going to go. I think if we can help contractors improve their efficiency and risk. There’s opportunity for higher quality work. There’s opportunity for better returns for the road owner. As far as the quality of work that’s left, I think there’s opportunity for the contractor, for profitability, in that 20% space where technology, innovation, data, and information can help them be more efficient in that risk space.