WWEMA Window: What Does Volatility Mean To You?
By Eric LaCoppola
Almost two years ago to the day, I contributed my first article after achieving the honor of joining the WWEMA Board of Directors. At that time, I could say I’d seen a lot in my 25-plus years in the workforce and was at a point in my career where I found myself thinking, but not saying out loud, “I’ve seen this before” with a bit more regularity.
Developing and building talent on teams is now my role versus proving and earning worth on a team, as was done during my early career years. What has transpired in the world these last two years has shattered any sense of thought of saying “I’ve seen this before” and given me a sense of freshness in thought to come up with new actions or measures to take to just get through the day or week. Projects have taken turns no one would have predicted pre-pandemic, and there’s no telling how a project will unfold. Supply chain challenges have turned us professionals into more resourceful employees who must have a plan B, C, D, and E nearly every time in order to make sure customer expectations are met. No one active in the workforce has lived through a global pandemic like the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it was new for all of us. An even playing field of sorts…
Connectivity accelerated the speed and timeliness of public information available. The level of science and epidemiology available was the best in history, yet we went through two years not feeling comfortable about what was going to happen next. Whether in our personal life or business life, it has been a wild, chaotic ride. Volatility has been present almost daily. It has been a way of life with no real presence of normalcy and no sense of “things returning to normal” anytime soon. To avoid the volatile swing of emotions from the daily barrage of information, it became common to ultimately turn off the news to regain some calmness.
As I write this, Russia has invaded Ukraine, causing pain, death, and a migration of millions of people leaving their country. So many innocent citizens have been uprooted and their lives changed forever by a senseless, needless act. As we struggle with ways to help Ukraine, I truly hope that this war is over soon and the people of Ukraine can start to rebuild their lives. I cannot imagine what their volatility feels like every day.
Americans are experiencing a rapid rise in gas prices these past few weeks as effects of the Russian invasion ripples through the world. Volatility in gas prices is hurting millions of workers who were already struggling living paycheck to paycheck.
I find it ironic that the same person who is irate that gas is $4.50 per gallon walks into the store and thinks nothing of paying $1.50 to $2 for a bottle of water. Converting a 20 oz. bottle of water bought for $1.50, to gallons, this consumer would need to buy seven bottles to get a gallon of water at a cost of $10.50. People who work at public utilities will rarely drink bottled water as they are proud of the tap water that they are part of providing to the community. They are the small minority of people who know bottled water can be 2,000 times more expensive than the tap water they put their skills and talents into making.
Having now worked in the water industry for over 20 years, I’ll never forget the first time I experienced the pride of a water utility employee and how personal the water they helped produce was to them. I was blindsided when I was called out for drinking water from a bottle. As manufacturers serving public utilities, we must be aware that it can be offensive to drink a bottle of water in the presence of these public servants.
I also find it interesting that over time, the price for a case of water has been relatively stable with not much volatility in pricing over 10 to 15 years. During my summer family vacation, at times, there is limited access to tap water, and I’ll buy a case of water. That case of water has been $4 to $5 for a few decades. I’ve been guilty on several occasions of making one of my children put back a single bottle of water for $2 and grabbing a case of 24 for $4 to teach the value of money.
The inflation in metal and resin commodities this past year has driven technical and purchasing teams to investigate new suppliers as well as alternative product materials that are more readily available, and to redesign costly, hard-to-get materials out of designs in order to keep product flowing to customers. The volatility seen in this area has been higher than in any other time in history, as evidenced by the London Metal Exchange halting the trading of nickel for a two-week period to slow its price volatility.
On a human side, we can harness all of this volatility to make us better, both personally and professionally. We can never be comfortable when it comes to learning in the sense that we will never know all there is to know. A great leader I’ve worked with uses a concept where a member of his team trains others on a topic for which they had no prior knowledge. You may be thinking how can you train others if you have no knowledge of the topic? They must research, learn, then present to the team the essential points. We must be quick on our feet to serve the water market as public utilities expect their suppliers to bring in best-in-class solutions, so never stop learning!
Eric LaCoppola is the President of Environment One, which is headquartered in Niskayuna, NY. LaCoppola serves on WWEMA’s Board of Directors. WWEMA is a non-profit trade association that has been working for water and wastewater technology and service providers since 1908. WWEMA’s members supply the most sophisticated leading-edge technologies and services, offering solutions to every water-related environmental problem and need facing today’s society. For more information about WWEMA, visit www.wwema.org