When mistakes cost lives, leadership stops being theoretical and becomes real.
Speaker BOur customers today leave their homes in the morning and fully expect to return home to their families at the end of every day.
Speaker BAnd the disaster that occurs in a high voltage environment or situation is not an acceptable outcome.
Speaker AThat's Parker Burke, group president over at Fluke.
Speaker ALeading teams whose tools stand behind a normal day in catastrophe.
Speaker AIn power grids, hospitals, mines and data centers around the world.
Speaker BYou have to stop thinking about the what ifs and you have to think about, potentially the wins.
Speaker AMost leaders manage spreadsheets, but Parker leads in environments where a 99% success rate still isn't good enough because the remaining 1% can mean injury, disaster, or death.
Speaker BHaving spent time in these environments where the consequences are real and these decisions that you make as a leader become incredibly practical, they become real to those who trust you.
Speaker AIn this episode, we break down how to lead teams when failure isn't an option.
Speaker AHow purpose replaces fear as the motivator.
Speaker AAnd how high stakes leaders make decisions under pressure without freezing or cutting corners.
Speaker AAnd this is what high stakes leadership actually looks like.
Speaker AWelcome back to Lead the Team.
Speaker AI'm your host, Ben Fanning.
Speaker AAnd this conversation that you're going to hear is meant to challenge, inspire and ripple out.
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Speaker AIt's a positive movement to build better leaders.
Speaker BAnd.
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Speaker AThis helps more bold leaders discover the show and keeps the mission alive.
Speaker AEnjoy.
Speaker AYou've consistently chosen leadership paths that carry life and death stakes, and this immediately jumped out at me.
Speaker AYou're a Marine Corps officer.
Speaker AYou led industrial scientific work.
Speaker AExplicit mission was to end workplace death.
Speaker AI mean, talk about a noble calling.
Speaker AAnd now you lead Fluke, where the tools are the only thing standing between a technician and a potential catastrophic arc flash or a grid failure.
Speaker AWhat is that like carrying that weight?
Speaker BWell, you know, I can tell you, for many years, I pinch myself every morning waking up and with the opportunity and the trust that I've been given by others throughout my career, truly an honor and one that and a responsibility that I don't take lightly.
Speaker BAnd this trust that others, my team, our customers, my Marines over the years inspire and motivate me each day to give best to my team and our customers each and every day.
Speaker AHow much responsibility do you feel?
Speaker BYou know, I, you know, I think that having spent time in these environments where the consequences are real, you know, whether during my time in The Marine Corps, whether spending time with customers in a mine, a steel mill, or more, you know, I have to stop thinking about the.
Speaker BThe what ifs.
Speaker BAnd you have to think about, you know, potentially the wins and these decisions that you make as a leader become, you know, incredibly practical.
Speaker BThey become real and consequential to those who trust you.
Speaker AYeah, I bet.
Speaker AAlthough I've never experienced this firsthand, you know, I look at your industries and you know, obviously in war or two, where, but especially in these, in these industries, where a 99% success rate, where a lot of industries would just be like, you know, you'd be like in the Gartner magic quadrant in the top or upper right hand, and you'd be getting recognized.900 success rate for you guys is, you know, like at Fluke is not good.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AYou're striving for perfection.
Speaker AAnd, you know, think about your Marine teams, think about other teams you've led.
Speaker AHow are you managing a team of thousands and thousands of people?
Speaker AWould that fear of the 1% failure rate sort of hanging over your head and still able to innovate and move forward with things that a lot of people would perceive to be risky?
Speaker BYou know, I mean, I think about the responsibility that Fluke people around the world, industrial scientific people, or the Marines that I've led, you know, they have the opportunity of responsibility, which means that consistency in serving those who trust us is imperative.
Speaker BYou know, our customers, absolutely, as you note, demand perfection and consistent execution.
Speaker BAdherence to tight processes, and really, more than anything, a true desire to lean in and serve others is something that I think ultimately makes our teams successful.
Speaker BYou know, we pay them the compliment of extremely high expectations to deliver for our customers.
Speaker BEach and every day, all these staff.
Speaker AMeetings go when you're, you're like, wait a minute, like you.
Speaker AI mean, because perfection is impossible.
Speaker AI mean, do we, do you.
Speaker AI mean, we agree with that.
Speaker AI mean, I'm assuming, like, this is the reality.
Speaker ALike you say, sometimes it's not if, it's when.
Speaker AHow do you, how are you talking to your team about that and, and helping them live with the challenges and the life and death stakes that you're.
Speaker BYeah, man, I think it, you know, it's, it goes back to.
Speaker BYou're really measuring what matters.
Speaker BAnd again, that relentless adherence to, to processes and standards.
Speaker ASo it's like trust the process.
Speaker BYeah, I mean, it's process, but it's also, you know, there's, there's process, but there's hiring people, building people, developing teams that have a true desire and are inspired by serving others in an incredible way.
Speaker BAnd ultimately I think that's what helps to deliver to those extremely high expectations that our customers have for us.
Speaker AThinking about your career again and sort of these, like the long line of your career and you've chosen these industries.
Speaker AWas there a time early on in your life or something you saw or a person who, you know, you went to the, went to the Academy, the Naval Academy, and you decided, hey, I'm going to just go all in on these types of things.
Speaker AAnd you figure.
Speaker AAnd then the second question is, was there a moment when you discovered that you had a knack for leading teams and businesses that do you have this life or death stakes?
Speaker BYeah, I mean, I think back to times, you know, my time is at the Naval academy.
Speaker BYou know, September 11th happened my senior year right before graduation.
Speaker BAnd it really codified in me a desire to serve others.
Speaker BAnd seeing the catastrophe and disaster that occurred in New York city and Washington D.C. and the fields of Pennsylvania that day, and more importantly those first responders who ran up the stairs of the Twin Towers to save people and bring them to safety, just something that truly inspired me towards a life of A leadership and then B safety and protection of others.
Speaker AThen you went into the military, experienced combat.
Speaker AWhat was all that like the stuff that you had prepared for at the academy that you'd been Inspired by during 9, 11 and then, you know, thrown into an environment in a war zone essentially.
Speaker BUltimately it's about taking care of those men and women to your right and to your left and ensuring that they're brought home safely to their families at the end, at the end of a deployment.
Speaker BAnd you know, that's, that's where it all started for me.
Speaker BAnd that continues into my life of service and leading companies and teams that do incredibly honorable things for the world.
Speaker BOur customers today leave their homes in the morning and fully expect to return home to their families at the end of every day.
Speaker BAnd a disaster that occurs in a mine or a steel mill or an accident that may occur in a high voltage environment or situation is not an acceptable outcome.
Speaker BAnd the responsibility that our employees around the world have to prevent that is critical.
Speaker AWhat do you think leaders in your specific industry can teach sort of the rest of the world about relay?
Speaker AI'm thinking about, maybe it's about like how to inspire to a high level of quality or maybe it's, I mean like there are a lot of things I could think about, but what do you think?
Speaker AMaybe like one of the bigger lessons is from these high Stakes industries can really teach those that are maybe in businesses that, that don't have the same stakes.
Speaker BYeah, I mean I think that in, in today's world I'm reminded every day about the purpose driven culture is what really inspires teams to go out and do great things.
Speaker BWhether that is, you know, previously industrial scientific to the strive to eliminate death on the job by the year 2050 or here at Fluke where you know, we strive to, to keep the world up and running each and every day.
Speaker BRallying teams around the world around a purpose driven, something that really makes the world a better place is, is an imperative.
Speaker AYeah, that makes, it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker AYou guys have really mastered the leadership of purpose and making sure that this is communicated, making sure everybody along the supply chain understands it.
Speaker AAlthough when I think about sort of like the supply chain inside the organization, you kind of control that.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AThey know who you are.
Speaker ABut today, in today's business and I want to get into sort of the direction Fluke is also heading in.
Speaker ABut you're probably going to be more dependent on people that are not at Fluke.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AThey're in your suppliers, they're in other organizations.
Speaker AHow do you get those people aligned to this life or stakes mission that everyone seems to understand inside a Fluke?
Speaker BYeah, I think that as we look to both our suppliers and or our customers, we strive to partner with people who have similar mindsets that we do.
Speaker BAnd when you look at a supplier and they have the opportunity to support us and also participate in our mission of keeping the world up and running each and every day, we want suppliers that are inspired by that.
Speaker BAnd I think about our fantastic team who in that interacts, engages with and develops this supply chain.
Speaker BThat's something they focus on in their daily work and they've done a great job of it.
Speaker AYou know, I think about you guys in this because other leaders listening like they, I think organizations right now are being sort of forced to think outside their company about their suppliers more than ever, especially with digitization and AI so that they can't necessarily be experts always inside the organization and recognizing that if your suppliers don't understand your purpose and your mission and you're then they're not tied in, it's making your job a lot harder.
Speaker ASo it sounds like you guys have got a plan for that.
Speaker BAnd we do.
Speaker BI mean I think, you know, we spend time, you know, we're a.
Speaker BThe Ford business system truly drives our productivity, efficiency and quality of products that we deliver to our customers each and every day.
Speaker BAnd, and we spend time with suppliers in doing different Kaizen events, continuous improvement events, where we also help them to deliver the same productivity, efficiency and quality in the products that they deliver to us.
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Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AWhat a great way to build connection with your suppliers than to actually help them fix their problems.
Speaker AIt seems like it's a great way to be.
Speaker ANow, for the listeners that aren't familiar with Fluke, and I didn't understand it as well as I do now, I mean, Fluke, like, the brand is iconic with the industry.
Speaker AIt's got like a special yellow color and design and like, if you're in this business and you're in the industries like that Parker was talking about, like, you know, Fluke, and it seems like it would be easy for Fluke to sort of hang its hat on.
Speaker AHey, we're, you know, like, we're the, we're the legends in this industry.
Speaker ANo one can beat us.
Speaker AYou know, I would say probably most people who need like your measurement devices, they're just going to get a Fluke, right?
Speaker ALike, they're going to get that device.
Speaker AIt's almost like ubiquitous.
Speaker AUbiquitous with like Googling on the Internet.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AYou're going to get Fluke.
Speaker ABut, you know, you, you've talked about, you know, there's something broken in your industry.
Speaker AYou've got a bold fix for this.
Speaker AWhy?
Speaker AWhy is Fluke, like, what is the big change you're doing?
Speaker AAnd why not just chill out and like, why start innovating so much when you have the brand, you know, you already have the trust and you also don't have a lot of margin for error in what you do.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYou know, first off, I'll touch on Fluke overall.
Speaker BYou know, you commented on the Fluke brand.
Speaker BIt is a tremendous brand because of the legacy we've built since our founding.
Speaker BAnd, you know, one of the unique things about the Fluke brand is that our customers are equally as invested in it as we are, because in many cases it defines who they are in their careers, which products that they use, and you know, those that use Fluke devices have reached the pinnacle of their, their careers.
Speaker BAnd, you know, I have the opportunity to try to travel around the world and spend time with our teams.
Speaker BAnd as I tell our team, I've never actually walked through an airport with a Fluke shirt on, a Fluke pullover, a Fluke vest, and haven't had somebody stop me and ask me if I work for Fluke and what a fantastic company it is.
Speaker BAnd they've used a Fluke product or they've had a Fluke product that has been passed down through their family for many years.
Speaker BAnd so the brand truly is a fantastic one.
Speaker AIn the airports are testing their H Vacs, they're testing all their electrical equipment.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AThey're using that Fluke device every single day, multiple times.
Speaker AAnd it's just.
Speaker BThat's right.
Speaker BAnd it doesn't matter if it's somebody that's, you know, I've been in national laboratories where our calibration equipment is defining the definition of a vault all the way through to the technician who's coming into each of our homes and helping us keep our home electricity up and running.
Speaker BThere's a lot of people who trust our products to help them get their work done safely and efficiently each and every day.
Speaker BAnd as we look at the world is changing dramatically with the advent of AI or the proliferation of AI, the growth of data centers around the world.
Speaker BAnd our customers are demanding that we do things that are new to the world, that are helping them be more efficient, more capable and delivering on the needs of their customers in a way that we haven't seen before.
Speaker AWell, do you think these technicians are going to be open to this?
Speaker AAll the changes that you guys are making?
Speaker AI mean, it's, they've got a certain way of doing their, doing their jobs and they might, you know, I read a little bit about the digitization and it sounds like you're really revolut trying to revolutionize this whole thing.
Speaker ABut this is an industry that's used to it.
Speaker BYeah, I mean, technicians are asked, are being asked to do more and more each and every day.
Speaker BAnd you think about, you know, artificial intelligence and the, the enormous potential that it has to support the technician on the job.
Speaker BWell, you know, as the, their, the, the needs that they have stack up, their capacity is only so great and AI enables them, supports them to do their jobs better.
Speaker BIt will never completely replace human interaction, but, you know, the accountability always will remain with that person doing the work.
Speaker BBut the technician needs these capabilities to do their jobs more efficiently and more safely.
Speaker AAnd not to go too far down in the weeds, but I want to explain what I understand about this because I think it applies to a lot of different industries.
Speaker ASo Flu Cat's this amazing tool they use every day, but it stores all the data on the tool.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AIt doesn't give it uploaded.
Speaker AThere's no predictive analytics to what's going to happen on that H vac system or in the laboratory.
Speaker ASo, so they can't get ahead of it.
Speaker AAnd it's like more and I'll say it sounds like it's like these operators or technicians operate in a more of a human intuition capacity.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AThey're, they're sort of locking into their job experience and a human intuition on this thing.
Speaker AYou guys bring in this whole digitization predictive analytics to be ahead of the problem.
Speaker BYeah, I mean you look at some of these large factories that are becoming more, the loads on them are only increasing and the reliability of those systems is becoming more and more of an imperative.
Speaker BWhether it's in an industry, in an industry where productivity efficiency is becoming even more important because of rising costs or lower prices.
Speaker BReliability is critical in those environments through to some of the fastest growing industries in the world.
Speaker BThe cost of downtime is only increasing each and every day.
Speaker BAnd our products services capabilities to help them predict reliably the uptime of their, of their equipment is, is something that they're striving towards.
Speaker AIf you were to leave Fluke tomorrow, what's the one survival story that you'd want a technician to tell about Fluke that saved their life or someone else's?
Speaker BYeah, you know, it's funny because the stories, the survival stories that matter most are the ones that nobody ever hears, you know, a technician using a Fluke tool in an incredibly hazardous environment.
Speaker BThey trust the reading that's delivered by the device, it does the job that's required and ultimately they go home safe to their families like any other job, whether it was a high stakes environment or not.
Speaker BAnd you know, those are the survival stories, the ones that happen each and every day.
Speaker BThey're not necessarily dramatic.
Speaker BAnd that's the point.
Speaker BWhen our tools operate as expected, in tough conditions, we live up to those customers expectations day after day, month over month.
Speaker BThat's the legacy that Fluke has, has had since its founding and one that I can, that I strive to continue to deliver.
Speaker AGetting your crystal ball out, you guys are really at the, the, the way I think about it, you're sort of like the picks and shovels aspect for, for the energy industry that you mentioned with, with data centers proliferating, the draw on the energy grid is greater than ever yesterday.
Speaker AI understand this.
Speaker AWe're actually recording this in 2026 for our listeners.
Speaker AIt's supposed to increase over 4 to 5% a year.
Speaker AIn terms of our energy draw mainly being driven by AI that we've already talked about.
Speaker AThe flip side of this is we got the technician side and we've got issues because people aren't going into those industries necessarily.
Speaker ASo there's probably, there's a lot of forecasting on having shortage of workers in those.
Speaker AAnd so here, here comes Fluke sitting sort of at the, sort of at the intersection of these two things.
Speaker AWhat and what.
Speaker AAnd I'm thinking for our leaders, what are the trends happening out there and the things keeping you up at night in terms of the, the these two industries?
Speaker BYeah, I mean, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Speaker BWe're in a unique intersection where the increase of power usage is going up at a dramatic rate at the same time in which we have a technician retirement cycle and we have experienced technicians who are leaving the workforce and going, enjoying retirement after incredibly successful careers.
Speaker BWe have new technicians who are coming in to learn these trades and help carry us into the future.
Speaker BAnd you know, in addition to providing the greatest, the latest and greatest technologies to serve the increasing demand of power, Fluke is also actively involved in participating in the training, the development of the technicians of the future.
Speaker BWe're in trade schools each and every day teaching training, showing our products and teaching that next generation how to operate on the, on the best products in the world.
Speaker AYeah, I like that.
Speaker AOne of the things I'm taking away is you guys are being so proactive in developing your ecosystem.
Speaker AIt's not all about Fluke.
Speaker AIt's about your suppliers and the customers and doing their jobs.
Speaker AAnd you guys are getting involved versus standing back and just sort of pointing the finger at all the gaps.
Speaker AYou guys are, you know, leading the team.
Speaker BYeah, I mean, I just look at the legacy of this company and this team and it's what we've done since our founding is to be a leader in an industry, you have to truly lead an industry.
Speaker BAnd we have the opportunity, I believe, to co invent what the future looks like for the customers we serve each and every day.
Speaker AI've got a few questions more on the personal side.
Speaker AI could spend time talking about all these other things a lot and fluking all this, but I want to hear a little bit more about Your Marine background?
Speaker ABecause my understanding of the Marines is.
Speaker AAnd Simon Sinek wrote that, wrote a great book, Leaders Eat Last.
Speaker AAnd that's Marine culture, right?
Speaker AEat last, put the mission first.
Speaker ABut the corporate world is driven by ME metrics a lot of times, right?
Speaker AYour goals, you achieving, and then you're kind of hoping or you're planning where everything else is going to kind of trickle down to everybody else.
Speaker AI'm not saying you're running your team that way, but I do want to ask, what is the.
Speaker AWhat's that friction like between military values and the demands of being a great president?
Speaker AGeneral?
Speaker BYeah, but I mean, you know, the officers eat last mindset is a mindset that permeates leadership in the Marine Corps.
Speaker BAnd if you were to be with a group of Marines, whether you were in the field and eating MREs or you're at a formal event, you'd see an interesting phenomenon that by nature, naturally, Marines line up in reverse rank order with the idea that they need to serve those who they're responsible for first, nourish them before they take care of themselves.
Speaker BAnd I think about how that equates to my role leading Fluke.
Speaker BYou know, I'm so fortunate that I lead what is the most talented team in the industry, in our market, and in geographies around the world.
Speaker BOur customers trust this team.
Speaker BThey trust that we're designing the best products in the world to meet their needs.
Speaker BThey trust that we're out communicating the value, the capabilities of these products to ensure that they have the best products in their hands for the job that they're doing.
Speaker BAnd they trust that we're manufacturing these things at a standard that far exceeds the expectations that they have when they come to work.
Speaker BYet your day and I have the best job of the world.
Speaker BAnd my role in all of this is to support the team, to be successful in meeting these needs of our customers and the trust that they provide in us.
Speaker BSo as I think about how it relates to, you know, my, my training, my nature of officers Eat Last environment, you know, my role remains the same here.
Speaker BHow do I feed, nourish service, and support an incredible team each and every day before I serve myself, because this is what ultimately is going to enable Fluke and our employees to reach our potential overall.
Speaker AWhen you see the.
Speaker AAnd I can just imagine going to an event, there are a bunch of Marines there, and, you know, everybody gets in line and they're, they're sitting, they're.
Speaker AThey're standing at the back of the line.
Speaker AWhat, what is the result that you saw of this in the Marines.
Speaker AAnd what's the result that you see of how it translates in the corporate environment?
Speaker ALike on a day to day?
Speaker AYou know, I think you see it.
Speaker BYeah, it, you know, I think it's all about servant leadership.
Speaker BAnd when you serve those who you lead first, ultimately it gives them the opportunity to deliver a better outcome for those that trust them, Whether it's, you know, in the Marine Corps or the military, as they, as they seek to towards their mission, or whether it's in the corporate world.
Speaker BWhen you serve, when you nourish, when you treat others, before you treat yourself and serve yourself, ultimately the organization has a better opportunity to succeed.
Speaker ABeing in the corner office, it can be a terrible place to get feedback because everyone's working for you, right.
Speaker AEven if they want to give you good feedback, a lot of times they hold their tongue because they're like, Parker's the boss.
Speaker AWhere do you go when you need to get real feedback?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd how do you go about asking for it?
Speaker BYou know, I, I think that the, the best, first off, the best place to go is the place where the work is done.
Speaker BWe use a term called gemba, which means a place, a Japanese word indicating where the, the work is done.
Speaker BAnd that work is being done in a variety of places that could be being done on the factory floor where teams are assembling and putting together our products to go serve customers, or they can be being done in the hands of an electrician out, out in the market.
Speaker BAnd, and I think that I seek to, and encourage my teams to get to those places where the work is being done in order to, to get the real truth, to seek out the truth and then have the courage to speak up and speak the truth back to the broader team.
Speaker AWow, cool.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AGamba.
Speaker AI'm like, I'm dusting off my 10 years of Honeywell.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ABut it's so, yes, I, I believe in the Gamba and a gimbal walk, as we talked about a lot.
Speaker AAnd I love it when the President's coming in and like, yeah, we get, it's like I, you know, I go through to feedback, I go to the floor and I look to see what's happening.
Speaker ABecause the corporate office can be a little bit about guessing or assuming that we know what's happening.
Speaker AAnd unless you get on the floor, do you really even know?
Speaker AYou might be surprised.
Speaker BYeah, that's right.
Speaker BI mean, I think back to early in my career, one of my first roles when I was with Gilbarco Vitorud A former Fortif company, I took the opportunity to go work first shift in a convenience store for a week where I took out the trash, I cleaned the gas pumps, I rung customers up at the point of sale and with the desire of how do I truly learn how customers use our products.
Speaker BTake another opportunity to go right along with salespeople, spend a week with them behind the windshield and understand their day to day interactions with our products, with their own support teams and our customers so that I can help design systems, processes and capabilities that enable them to be most successful in the work they're doing every day.
Speaker ADo you have an example or a favorite example or instance where you did the Gemba?
Speaker AYou worked in the convenience store and then ended up paying off in your decision making for the organization?
Speaker BYeah, I mean I have countless examples where you're spending time with a salesperson writing and understanding the challenge that they face every day.
Speaker BAs I say, sometimes the hardest roles in a company are the ones that are the furthest away from the flagpole and seeing the challenges.
Speaker BWhether it's how our own support team serve and support those salespeople or how our customers and the demands that they put on our salespeople.
Speaker BYou know, when I see those things firsthand, it enables me to work with the team and and help design systems processes that ultimately make those people as successful as they possibly can be.
Speaker ARight on.
Speaker ASuch a power in that.
Speaker AAnd leaders don't forget it.
Speaker AIt's easy to get glued to that chair when you got a lot of emails coming in and presentations coming up, but it can pay off so much to get out in the field.
Speaker AParker, here are a couple of rapid fire questions for you.
Speaker AWhat is the one thing you do every morning at 5am Other than this interview because you're up early on the west coast?
Speaker AYeah, y' all get hats off to Parker for waking up so early.
Speaker ABut what.
Speaker AWhat is the one thing you do every morning at 5am to prepare your mind for the day?
Speaker BWell, the best the thing that I think is best about 5am is generally speaking it's the time in which nobody bothers you and it's the time where you can settle your thoughts, get ready for the day ahead, prepare yourself for for what lies ahead.
Speaker BFor me, I'm typically in trying to get some physical activity in.
Speaker BAt 5 o' clock this morning it's by my alarm went off and I got on my peloton and did a couple of different workouts.
Speaker BIn prior lives I've been a part of different boot camp and workout Groups that inspire and drive me towards, towards my best.
Speaker BBut I think that's the beauty of 5am is that it's a time in which, generally speaking, nobody's there to bother you.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd they're not there because most people are sleeping.
Speaker AAnd if you're willing to get up early before other people.
Speaker AYeah, the world is quiet.
Speaker AAnd I mean, that can be some of your most clear headed work.
Speaker ATom, thinking back over your career, could be in the military, could be, you know, one of your other executive jobs.
Speaker ABut is there a moment that you still replay in your head sometimes wondering if you could have handled those stakes differently?
Speaker BYou know, we've noted before I've been given incredible, the honor of incredible responsibilities to take care of others, whether it's my time in the Marine Corps or my professional life.
Speaker BAnd I can certainly say my record is far from perfect.
Speaker BAnd I think what devastates me is when I hear about somebody who was injured or killed on the job, someone who left their house in the morning to, to go to their shift or in the afternoon to go to their shift, kiss their family goodbye and didn't return home that day.
Speaker BAnd unfortunately it, it happens far too often.
Speaker BAnd you know, those are the things that, those are the tragedies that are painful and, and those are the things that, that devastate me because it means that we still have work to do that we have in design, systems, processes, tools that are simple enough to use or straightforward enough to use that ultimately take care of those who trust us.
Speaker AHow much does being president at work make it harder to be relaxed and father and friend at home?
Speaker BWell, you know, as a noted, I, I've got the best job in the world.
Speaker BI lead an incredibly talented fluke team around the world.
Speaker BHowever, the best title that I'll ever have is certainly being a dad.
Speaker BAnd I hit the jackpot with an amazing wife and mother, two or three fantastic children.
Speaker BPeople, when they want to get to know me, they asked, often ask me about, you know, what my hobbies are, what I love to do outside of work, and, and I can honestly tell people that my best joy in the world is spending time with my family, spending time with my kids, whether it's, you know, this time of year, skiing in the mountains, summertime, we love to ski on lakes, coaching them in ball fields across town.
Speaker BYou know, my children are certainly my biggest blessing and I've got three of them at home that wait for me every day when I leave the office.
Speaker AI love coaching, man, I love it.
Speaker AMy daughter's 15 now, and I don't get to coach her anymore.
Speaker AAt least I try to coach her, but sometimes she's so much easier.
Speaker AWhat's the most uncomfortable truth about leading a legacy brand like fluke in 2026?
Speaker BYou know, I think about, you know, if you think about the legacy of a brand like Fluke is that we can't rest on the laurels of a reputation that we've built over years.
Speaker BOur customers trust us because of the decades of performance that we deliver to them.
Speaker BBut we have to earn that trust day after day, week after week, month after month.
Speaker BAnd legacy doesn't buy us relevance forever.
Speaker BWe have to, as a business, continue to invest, continue to innovate, and continue to improve the service that we deliver to customers every day and every time they need us.
Speaker AWhat's the one thing you've sacrificed over your career that sometimes you think, maybe not sure that was worth it?
Speaker BYou know, I think the biggest sacrifice that.
Speaker BThat all of us make in life is time where.
Speaker BWhere we choose to spend it, who we choose to spend it with.
Speaker BAnd I think that, you know, I'm fortunate that I don't have any regrets on where I spend my time.
Speaker BBut my hope every day is that no matter the quantity of time that I'm able to dedicate, each moment is one of quality.
Speaker BAnd whether it's spending time with valuable team members around the world, whether it's time spent with friends, my wife, my family, or my children, you know, I strive to make each of those moments as high quality as I can, because there's never going to be enough quantity, never gonna be enough of it to do.
Speaker AYeah, just that simple recognition of it's not about quantity, it's about quality.
Speaker AAnd there's research that.
Speaker AThat goes on that how uninterrupted conversations make a bigger impact than interrupted conversations.
Speaker AAnd anyone that's been having a conversation with a friend that's important and they pick their cell phone up in the middle and they look at it and you realize, okay, I'm not the most important thing here.
Speaker ALike, you.
Speaker ALike you quickly realize, hey, it's about equality and executives with high time demands.
Speaker AI mean, that's a really powerful thing to land the plane on.
Speaker ABut before we do that, let me just open it up to you, Parker.
Speaker AWhat's your parting thought for our listeners today?
Speaker BYou know, I think that you appreciate, Ben, you having me spend time with you and the audience today.
Speaker BI'm honored to be able to share some of my experiences, but, you know, more excited maybe, to learn from others.
Speaker BAs Ben, you continue to interview and spend time with others who have had differing experiences.
Speaker BYou know, we all bring something unique and interesting to bear and whether it's our experience or the work that we're doing.
Speaker BAnd I'm most excited to learn from the others who've had maybe different experiences that I have that I can apply to the work that I do is that as I strive, as many of us do, to deliver the best outcomes for our people and our customers every day.
Speaker AThanks for coming on.
Speaker ALead the team.
Speaker AParker.
Speaker BThank you, Ben.
Speaker BAppreciate it.
Speaker BAll the best to you want to.
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