Before Adam Johnson was an Ecolab leader, he was an Ecolab customer, having spent 20 years in retail food safety. As someone who worked with our organization closely, he understands the importance of building trust in our relationships — both within and outside of Ecolab.

In the latest episode of our IMPACTful Dialogues series, Dexter Davis, senior vice president, Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Human Resources speaks with Adam about developing trust and collaboration, and creating an inclusive workplace.

Here are some highlights.

Dexter: Trust is earned, right, and one way you earn that is providing empathy and really understanding where the customer comes from, but also delivering. How do you manage that relationship with the customer?

Adam: Ecolab at its core, we are in the trust business, when you think about it. Whether it’s brand standard audits, whether it’s pest elimination, whether it’s delivering chemistry — people must trust our solution. They have to trust our service. They have to trust our brand, and certainly I think we all know that trust can be lost far faster than it can be gained, right? It's one conversation at a time, one action at a time, and it really is building a culture of trust.

Dexter: Absolutely, I really like how you build that trust on the day to day, it’s so important. It also helps make the case for collaboration. If people don’t really feel that they could trust you, it’s hard to collaborate. And without that collaboration, you don’t get the results we want. Adam, how do you do that, thinking not single-minded about what’s the best outcome for me on this day, but what's the best outcome for Ecolab?

Adam: The key message for me, there’s room for everybody to win. Sometimes we feel like, “I’ve got to win, I’ve got to be the one to sign the contract.” As leaders, it’s up to us to set the tone. We as leaders need to recognize the 20 associates that worked on that same deal, whether it's marketing, finance, R&DE because that creates that culture of inclusivity where there is room for everybody to win.

Dexter: As I think about your role as a leader and champion for DAWN [Ecolab’s Disability, Ability & Wellness Network], could you share why you took on this role and your key takeaways from working with the team and also how that experience, influence and interactions influence you and your interactions with your customers?

Adam: As a leader, I think it’s been great because it has given me the opportunity to step back from the business and really get to know people and their true personal stories, which I think is the biggest power of DAWN.

I've got a lot to learn, right, because with people that I've worked with shoulder to shoulder for a decade, I wasn't asking enough questions. I wasn't present enough to know what these people were going through these challenges. I think DAWN has given me the opportunity and the access to learn more about people, to learn more about myself, to ask better questions, to be more present.