Joel Weiler, the human resource operations manager at his family's manufacturing company, shares his non-traditional path to working for the family business after five years as a dentist. He discusses his close relationship with his sisters and the challenges faced by family businesses. The importance of family communication and having a spot in the family is also emphasized in the episode titled "Never Go Against the Family" from the UNI Family Business Center podcast.

Transcription

Katie: You're listening to Never Go Against the Family, a podcast by the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center. In this episode, Dan Beekan interviews Joel Weiler. Joel serves as human resource operations manager at his family business. Weiler, a manufacturing company in Knoxville, Iowa. Joel had a non-traditional route to working for his family and even practiced as a den for five years before joining up, he talks about Weiler's forward thinking, family governance and communication structures among other challenges unique to family businesses. Keep listening to learn more about Joel and his journey back to the family business.

Dan: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Never Go Against the Family. I'm Dan Beekan and I'm joined today by Doctor Joel Weiler, former practicing dentist in the central Iowa area who now is with his family company as a second gen leader. Is that right? Yeah. OK. And Doctor Wyler, it's just pretty crazy to say, Doctor Weiler. And you're working for your family business, which is not a dental practice. So if you could, our audience would love to hear a little bit about how you made that change. Why you made that change, and, and just how, how you maybe started the path that you started on to begin with, maybe we could start there. So I assume you took all the science classes you could in high school and then probably ended up at the U of I, but that's a guess. Can you kind of take it from there?

Joel: Yeah. So, first off it's been a while since someone’s called me doctor. So, thanks for that. I kind of forgot what that sounded like. But, but yeah, I think I was probably the last one to know that this was gonna happen. I kind of looked, from the outside in, it seemed to make more sense too than me and I just kind of had blinders on and was chasing what was in front of me. But, I guess my parents, starting at the beginning, started Wiler, which is a manufacturing company. we do make asphalt paving equipment and, and forestry equipment, down here in Knoxville, Iowa and, you know, I was 13 when they, when they started the company, spent pretty much every summer growing up and, and through, most of undergrad, spending my, my summers here working, doing every, every odd job under the sun. I think the tactic was to spend nine months of the year coming up with a list of stuff that no one else wanted to do and then they cross the table to me at the beginning of the summer.

Dan: So that, for the kids, huh? Yeah.

Joel: Yeah. And wouldn't trade it for anything. I mean, it was great, great experiences and, you know, stuff that I still lean on today just having some background in, in manufacturing. But, but, yeah, so, you know, we were a small company when we started and, you know, had four employees in 2000 and have, you know, 530 in Knoxville now. So, you know, going back to middle school and high school math was the one subject that I just did not care for at all. Then it didn't come naturally to me and my dad was an engineer by trade. And so I kind of thought if I wanted to be in the family business, I was gonna need to be an engineer and, and that seemed like there was a lot of math involved. So, my parents were great with all three of us kids encouraging us to do, you know, whatever we were passionate about. And really, if anything about, I would say they went further towards talking us out of joining the family business and kind of highlighted the, the negatives about that here as far as just, you know, your responsibility to the community and your employees and, you know, it's not a job that you get to leave, you know, on your desk when you leave and go home for the day. So, they really hammered that home with us. And, so, yeah, I, I originally was gonna go be a medical doctor. and then I got in a fight with the wood floor playing basketball and, knocked two front teeth out and, had a good experience at, at the dentist that day and a bad experience at the, and so, so, yeah, I changed course and got into dentistry. and really just kind of wax full speed ahead on that. Didn't really think a whole lot about joining the family business at any point. I mean, it was discussed in our family board meetings as we got that going. But, you know, I, I had just kind of made it clear to the family that, you know, I didn't think the business needed me and I, you know, liked the path that I was heading down.

Dan: And are you, do you, you have at least one sibling? Do you have other siblings too?

Joel: Yep. So I've got two sisters, at all. so I get picked on a lot and good for you. It's been fantastic. It's kind of a sidebar. I mean, I work with my sisters, pretty much every day. I mean, they both, they both work here. My older sister beat me here. By a few years. My younger sister joined the company in January of this year. So, you know, at different times I, I work with my, my older sister on, on a number of different things just in our roles within the company. And about every day I think actually my younger sister and I were looking at our outlook report out or whatever and we collaborate most with each other out of anyone in the company, which is a little depressing because any time I get an email from her it's usually bad news. But, it's just fantastic working with them.

Dan: So seven or eight years ago you thought you would be filling cavities, right? 10 years ago?

Joel: I don't know how long it's been, but, yeah, and was filling cavities. So, I mean, it was a practicing dentist for a little over five years.

Dan: That's kind of a long time. Like that's not, oh, let's see if I like this or not. And, oh, I don't like this. Mom and dad. Do you have something I could do over there? I feel like at that point you kind of had, you know, probably established patients and, you know, they were looking forward to seeing Doctor Dobbs every six months or whatever. Right.

Joel: And that was the hardest part. honestly, because I, I would say one of my, I don't know if you call it a strength or a weakness. But one of the things I enjoy doing is just interacting with people. I got into dentistry, I mean, you get them trapped in a chair, they can't go anywhere. They had to listen to me talk. So, I really enjoyed that and, you know, I lived in the community, I was practicing so I was seeing these people at the grocery store and at kids sporting events and, and all this stuff and I, I ate that up. Yeah. And the day to day stuff I actually really enjoyed too. So it was kind of a weird place to be in. because I loved being a dentist. I, I wasn't, you know, I never got to the point of that burnout that gets common with dentists. I mean, it was taxing but I enjoyed it every day. I looked forward to going to work every day and it was really the tipping point for me. The dentist that I worked for, who owned the practice, was a fantastic mentor to me and really took me under his wing and, and about treating me like family and going into that arrangement, you know, we had talked about me buying into the practice. you know, four or five years after we kind of had our engagement period, make sure it works. Yeah. Yeah. and we started having those conversations and that's when, I don't know, it hit me like a bus. It was like, and I'm, I'm calling my dad every other week to see what's going on over at the factory. I was, you know, having that cushy dentist schedule. I had every other Friday off, so I was working part time for the company too just to kind of keep my fingers in it. Ok. and yeah, I just, it just, like I said, it just kind of hit me that, you know, I really felt like I was gonna regret it if I didn't give the family business a shot. I mean, we had grown to the point where I didn't have to do a lot of math. they could find somewhere to keep me away from a calculator here. So, that really led to about 18 months of soul searching and really open conversations with my boss at the time who, you know, as we were talking about buying in and he was really invested in me. I mean, it's, it's hard in small town Iowa to find, you know, an associate that you are, you know, gonna, gonna take over your practice. So he had a lot of eggs in that basket. He was, I mean, fantastic, super understanding. And, so we talked openly throughout that and, like I said, a lot of soul searching and, and finally decided I just couldn't bring myself to sign on the dotted line to, you know, to, to hitch my wagon to a, to a practice and, and keep doing that. So, so, yeah, I mean, thankfully since I was a drawn out process, I was able to stick around until he found someone to replace me because that was kind of one of the conditions I had is that I wasn't, I mean, within reason I wasn't gonna leave him high and dry and, and, and all that. So, so yeah, and just kind of, I think if I, my memory is a little on this, but I'm, I'm pretty sure we had a family board meeting and it was, it was around Christmas time. I had a family board meeting, you know, I kind of doubled down on saying I wasn't joining the practice. And then my older sister called me the next day and said, hey, you know, we, you obviously enjoy what you're doing. We support whatever you want to do. But are you sure you're not gonna regret it if you don't? you know, if you don't come give this a try at some point and it, I was the last one to know, I feel like so, and that's really what got me started down that path. And yeah, I mean, it took a lot of not, not encouragement. I don't know what word I'm looking for, but a lot of conversations with my parents, you know, does the business need it? Like you guys don't owe me anything. I mean, some exploration there, right? Yeah. So, I mean, are you guys making a seat for me or is this something where I, I can really add value and then, you know, with a lot of back and forth on that, this, you know, you could figure out how to drill, you know, 0.1 millimeters out of a tooth and, you know, make that look good. And so we're, we're pretty confident you can figure something out here.

Dan: So what you mentioned that you were kind of working a little bit part time for the business as you were in practice. So how did that come about? What kinds of things were you doing to kind of keep your, as I think you said, kind of keep your thumb on things or keep your eye involved? How, what was that like, what were you doing? And, how did that come about? Have you ever had that opportunity?

Joel: So if I remember right, there was a, for a few months, I was helping out on the payroll side, which is ironic since, you know, we've talked about math not being in the deal for me, but we had someone out on maternity leave and, you know, rather than hire some temp help or something. I helped out with, ok, time sheets for a while and then clicked on whatever random projects came up, whether it was, you know, looking at capital expenditures or different things we had coming up. So, I have to keep someone involved in the business and, you know, keep learning the new faces that were coming on because I used to be able to walk through and I could tell you everyone's name and the plants and in the office. And, you know, as we had grown, I had lost some of that. And, so, yeah, it was just kind of like Fridays and weekends. mostly, mostly working from home, just on different projects and things, but I'd come in and wander around a little bit too. So, so, yeah, it was a unique opportunity that way to where it was like, you know, whatever time you can put towards it is and you're obviously growing as a company that whole time.

Dan: So there's probably things you're seeing, you know, changing as you're coming in one Saturday and then a few, you know, a month later or whatever, a few months later I'm guessing, I mean, that's, that's prideful, right, as a family member.

Joel: And that certainly played into it. You know, it was just intoxicating, you know, the growth that we were going through. I mean, borderline catastrophic growth at that, at that point. And just, yeah, there was, there was a year we hired over 100 people and we just, you know, just seeing that stuff escalate and we kept adding on to the building and it's man, it's like fun and, and fun to be a part of.

Dan: So you mentioned that another thing too here doc you mentioned some family meetings that you guys had. I didn't anticipate asking you this, but since you brought it up, I think that's really cool that you were doing that. That must have helped you also stay and your siblings stay not only together but, and, and knowing and hearing everything firsthand about what's going on, but also, well, just knowing, I guess and having some knowledge, it wasn't like you were just coming over strictly to have, you know, a couple of beverages and, and watch a game with your dad or something like that. But you guys were having, I'm assuming some sort of an informal formal type of family meeting on a regular basis to kinda can you kind of talk through that a little bit and how that I would. Yeah.

Joel: So governance played a role in, in things credit to my parents on that. I mean, they were very forward looking on that. I can't remember when exactly we started our board of directors, which, you know, is not necessarily best practice, but it's, it's just us family members on the board. So we started having those quarterly meetings and, you know, Pat really looked all three of us kids in the eye and said, hey, you know, you guys are all off doing your own thing, which is awesome. You seem to be enjoying what you're doing. But, I mean, my older sister was a corporate attorney for State Farm and my younger sister was a civil engineering professor at Iowa State. So we were kind of off on these non-smokers.

Dan: You guys weren't just subway sandwich artists, were you? Ok.

Joel: Yeah, we got lucky, I guess. But, that's cool.

Dan: So, you had very good careers.

Joel: Yeah. And I mean, of anyone, at least my sister had some law experience that she could, she could bring to the table and I guess, you know, my younger sister Caitlin having some engineering background. I was kind of the odd duck that, you know, not a ton of crossover from, from dentistry to manufacturing, not your typical career path, but you can have cavities on lunch breaks. That's, well, there's a lot of people who have been, are still asking for that a little bit. They think that'd be a great employee but they could just set up a chair and, you know, maybe on Fridays do something, knock a couple out. Right. Yeah. But, but, yeah, my, my dad kind of looked us all in the eyes and said, hey, you know, none of you are involved in. That's fine. But, you know, if this, if this is gonna stop me in a family business when I retire, like that's, I'm gonna manage this differently than, you know, if, if I'm building for the future, you know, if I'm building this place to, you know, eventually sell it or be, or eventually have someone else outside the family, run it. I'm looking through a different lens than if you guys want to be actively involved in it. So, that was probably a, you know, a good 1 to 2 years, an ongoing discussion of, you know, us, us selling him that, that we did want to stay in the family was the first thing that we decided. And then, you know, over time, we all decided that we wanted to be a part of the day to day operations.

Dan: That's pretty cool. And I'm sure some of that came from being a close family in general already. Right. And, and, and, and recognizing the opportunity and the ability to be even closer through the business, I'm sure. Right.

Joel: Or we're, we're stupid, lucky. I mean, it's, I've, I've seen and read and, and, you know, like I said, seen firsthand how some dysfunctional family dynamics can, can get in the way of, of one your family and the, and the business. We're just insanely blessed that we all get along outside of here. You know, we can, we can put it in the shop. Yeah, we talk. We're not great about not talking shop sometimes when we'll get together but not to the point where our spouses complain too much about it. but yeah, we go on, on family trips together still then, you know, my parents and my sisters and our spouses. So we, I mean, we choose to spend time together. That's really cool.

Dan: It's really healthy. This is really cool. I just hearing your story here a little bit about, you know, for other families who sent their kids off to do whatever, I think one message I'm hearing from this and I've heard from others in your shoes too is that sometimes mom and dad are so, you know, it doesn't have to be mom or dad, but the generation prior is so wanting to be protective of, of the next Gen's freedoms and abilities to make their own choices, career wise and otherwise, like, you know, where they live, et cetera that they often subdue the opportunities that exist within the business to a point where, that next Gen doesn't think there are any opportunities or doesn't, or, or, or doesn't feel like there's a spot to bring it up, you know, maybe, and they're making assumptions on their end of, well, mom and dad don't want me around here or, they've got other plans for this business or the, you know, whatever, whatever 100 different assumptions are, they can't stand my wife and they don't want us to move back or whatever it might be. Right. Or they can't stand my husband. And so, I think that's really great just to, to hear from your perspective, that one, you know, one underlying takeaway I'm getting from, this is just the openness of communication and the, and the fact that that communication doesn't just take place one time as far as your dad saying, hey, do you guys want in or out? You know, and it was like, and it was like one little hour long conversation, it was over the course of time and it was, you know, probably I'm sure bringing in in your spouses and their opinions and you having conversations in your own households and, and with your siblings and can we make this work? And how long does that, you know, that that doesn't happen in a day or a weekend? Right. And it takes a little time, but just knowing that, you know, each generation is kind of reaching toward the middle to have those kinds of conversations I feel like is so critical for, you know, for what you guys have done. Obviously. I mean, there's, there's always the potential that you could still be a practicing dentist right now. Right.

Joel: That type of thing, you know, I actually went all in, I let my license expire the first renewal period. No, all gas, no breaks. So, yeah, I would have to go back through recertification and, yeah.

Dan: So have you been in a dental chair a few times since you left?

Joel: I still go to the dentist that I used to work at. So, it's kind of a reunion every six months and it's, I get to bring my kids in and they've heard 1000 stories about my kids. So they love royalty there. They get to go back to the toy chest and, oh, yeah, pick out a pencil or a witch ring or whatever they get.

Dan: So, are you a flosser? I gotta know that I suppose.

Joel: Am I supposed to be a flosser? Yeah, I still have to answer to those hygienists that you can preach to patients. So I can't, I can't slack on that.

Dan: And what about, you know, not that this is a product placement but my good friend Mountain Dew, he's, it's OK once in a while. Right? 

Joel: Dan, there's people that can look at a can of Mountain Dew and get a cavity and then there's people that can drink two liters a day and never get a cavity. So it's all right. All right. I can't condone it. Not great for your teeth, but I've, I've seen plenty of people get away with it.

Dan: Oh, that's awesome. Ok. Well, I really appreciate your time. I'm gonna wrap us up again. You're listening to never go against the family here. Our Family Business podcast from the UN I Family Business Center. I'm with Doctor Joel Weiler. Maybe I should say kind of former Doctor Joel Wyler, but that sounds a little weird. So Joel, we appreciate your time here. Thank you for joining us. Sharing a little bit about your story about family communication and just knowing that there's always, there's always a spot, right? So you never know. Thank you so much.

Joel: Thanks Dan. Always good seeing you.

Katie: Thanks for listening to this episode of Never Go Against The Family, a podcast produced by the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center. You can find more information about the center membership and upcoming events at https://unifamilybusinesscenter.com. As Vito Corleone advises, never go against the family.