The Wisdom You Can't Write Down | John Molloy
In This Episode
Some of the most valuable knowledge in the valve industry has never been written down. It lives with the people who have spent decades solving problems in the field, and when they retire it can leave with them. In episode 7 of the Fully Open Podcast, Gil Welsford Jr. sits down with John Molloy, Training Manager for Fluid and Motion Control at Emerson, at the Valve Manufacturers Association headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, to talk about what actually works when a company tries to pass that knowledge on.
John has spent 28 years at Emerson, starting in inside sales, moving to field sales, and eventually building and running the training function. That path shapes how he teaches. He is not trying to hand new hires a thicker binder. He is trying to give them the judgment that only comes from watching someone experienced work.
Sales is teaching
Gil opens with a line from an earlier episode: sales is teaching, not selling. John agrees without hesitation. His own strength in sales was troubleshooting, and he describes those calls as teaching moments rather than sales moments.
It wasn't about trying to convince anybody. It was kind of more of the, hey, what happened here or what can we do here to make this better?
The payoff, he explains, is trust. Once a customer sees that you are reliable and knowledgeable, they come back with the hard applications, sometimes with a drawing they have been staring at for days.
The informal buddy system
Emerson has no formal mentorship program, and John is candid about that. What happens instead is that every new hire gets matched with someone senior, and the veterans consistently choose to make time.
It's a lot of tribal knowledge that you can never seem to capture at all.
Gil recognizes the pattern from his own team, where long-tenured commission salespeople sit down for hours with newer colleagues to walk through a P&ID or build a quote, with nothing in it for them directly. He also describes his own version of it growing up: windshield time, riding along with his dad on sales calls and carrying the catalogs.
Coffee chats and soft skills
One internal practice Gil shares is the coffee chat: a senior rep sits down with the team for an ask-me-anything conversation, deliberately without management in the room so nothing is held back. John describes Emerson's more structured counterpart, including negotiation and presentation skills courses, and notes that he retains a surprising amount even when he is hosting rather than attending.
Day one advice and the 90-day rule
Asked for the single lesson a new hire should have on day one, John does not hesitate: do not try to learn everything at once. His practical remedy is a calendar habit. Block the time for training, because training is the easiest thing to push off.
Don't try to learn everything at once. It's overwhelming.
On the technical side he works to a 30, 60, 90 structure. Within the first 90 days a new hire should have the fundamentals and, just as importantly, the language: the terms and terminology that let them follow a customer conversation. He favors blended learning, with self-paced work first so the vocabulary has time to settle before an in-person class. He cautions against the opposite approach with a real example: a new hire who joined a class a week after starting and asked months later to take it again, because after a few days of shifting topics perhaps twenty percent had stuck.
What a spec sheet cannot teach
Gil asks what engineers get wrong that cannot be learned from a spec sheet. John reframes the question. The issue is less design than what happens after design, when a product gets locked into the category it was specified for. A general-purpose product may be an excellent fit somewhere nobody thought to look, and recognizing that takes experience rather than documentation. He is careful to add that this never means operating outside standards or putting a product into a hazardous location where it does not belong.
Why 28 years, and where AI fits
John describes training as a natural fit for a long-standing instinct to give back, and credits Emerson with continuing to offer growth as the business changed. A company leader encouraged him to get involved with VMA, where he now serves on the education and training committee.
On AI, John was an early adopter, nudged by his son while he was still in college. He built an agent with a set of prompts, and now feeds an existing slide deck to it to draft a leader guide or quiz questions, then reviews the output himself. It saves real time and occasionally surfaces an in-person activity idea he had not considered. Gil adds the caution his own team works to: use AI to assist, but never paste an answer without checking it.
Key takeaways
- Treat sales conversations as teaching. Troubleshooting builds the trust that brings customers back with harder problems.
- Pair every new hire with a veteran, even without a formal program. Tribal knowledge transfers through relationships, not documents.
- Tell new hires not to learn everything at once, and have them block calendar time so training does not get pushed aside.
- Use 30, 60, 90 as the benchmark. Fundamentals and the customer's vocabulary come first; blended learning beats one long immersion.
- Experience is what lets someone see that a product specified for one application belongs in another, within standards.
- AI can draft leader guides and quiz questions from existing material, but a human still has to review every output.
Listen to every episode on the Fully Open Podcast hub.
Read the Full Transcript
Transcript is auto-generated from the episode audio and lightly edited for readability. Tap a timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
I am always so inspired by how much
these people are willing to pour into
the next generation. They're commission
salespeople. It's not self- serving for
them to do this. There's a lot of folks
that are looking at retirement over the
next few years. How do we shift this
wisdom and this knowledge that's been in
the industry for 40, 45 years and bestow
it upon the new entrance to this
industry as quickly as humanly possible.
a lot of tribal knowledge that you can
never seem to capture at all.
>> The technicalities of valves, I think
you can learn through a spec sheet, but
that wisdom piece, how to handle
difficult [music] customer, how to ask
the right questions, it's hard to
capture. One of the thing that we have
done internally is
Welcome to the show. I'm Gil Wellsford,
third generation Valve entrepreneur and
founder of valveman.com. Join me as I
hear stories, [music] learn wisdom, and
get industry inside insights. This is
[music] more than vows. It's business
legacy and resilience. Let's [music] get
into it.
[music]
Hey guys, welcome to the fully open
podcast by Valveman. My name is Gil and
I am very excited to have John Mallaloy
from Emerson here on the show with me
today. John is the training manager of
fluid and motion control at Emerson. He
has a very uh long awesome career in the
Valve business. He's done everything
from sales to training and I'm excited
to learn a little bit more about him. I
am here at the VMA headquarters in
Alexandria, Virginia. And John is
actually a veteran of the VMA and he
sits on the VMA education committee. So
John, I really appreciate you being on
the show and happy to uh to explore uh
more about Valve and training. I know
that's something that we talk about a
lot in in our company.
>> Thanks, Gil. Appreciate it. Glad to be
here.
>> Yeah. So, John, the reason I was really
excited to have you on the on the
podcast is you really are the valve
training veteran of the industry and I
think there's a ton that people can
learn from you and I talk with a lot of
other guests about this is that there's
this this huge, you know, shift that's
happening in the industry right now.
There's there's a lot of folks that are
right on the brink. If they haven't
already retired, they're they're looking
at retirement over the next few years.
And there's a new uh group of people
that are coming in. And it's exciting.
It's an exciting time. But I know it's
something that we talk about is how do
we shift this wisdom and this knowledge
that's been in the industry for 40 45
years and and bestow it upon the new
entrance to this industry as quickly as
humanly possible. [laughter]
>> Good point. >> So when So your title is the training
manager of fluid and motion control. Can
you um just for our guests define what
that what is fluid in motion control as
defined by Emerson and then maybe also
what is training you know what do you do
as the training manager?
>> Sure thing. So fluid and motion control
basically look at the different brands
under Emerson for fluid motion control.
You have your fluid control products,
your solenoids and areas where you're
controlling the water perhaps oils,
gases, things in process uh and many
different systems. Motion control would
be more of your fluid power. Uh perhaps
more your air inert gases, your
filtration
perhaps um valve manifolds, cylinders,
actuators, perhaps more the it's not
necessarily always indoor applications,
but you could think more of like your
packaging and process food and bev. So
your motion control would be more in
that that um hybrid space if you will.
And again the um the fluid control which
kind of where I grew up more on that
side in the industry was always more of
your you know control of your your
waters your fluids your airs uh uh gases
uh combustion applications dust
collector applications process so many
uh different applications out there that
uh we focus on not just a specific
product but where does it go where does
it do so in my training what I've been
doing for years um I started as you said
in sales uh we learn you know not just
the product but what industries we serve
what's upstream downstream of the actual
product itself where do we fit what do
we do how do we best fit and so that's
part of the training is we teach folks
how to you know take the best selection
take a look at the applications uh
understand a lot of the principles the
physics uh perhaps engineered uh product
heavily engineered product. So you want
to make sure that you you uh touch on
all those areas that are necessary for
that best fit. Also industries change as
you mentioned the different uh uh
markets. Um you have folks that have
been in industries for a long time. You
have new folks coming in. So training t
seems to be more on the folks that are
newer. Uh sometimes refreshing training
for some folks that have been in the
industry for a while. uh perhaps they're
coming from another um parallel or or or
lateral industry. Maybe they know a
little bit about what we do, you know,
from say another side of a of a
application. And so it's great to have
those folks who might be veterans uh or
a lot of knowledge of application but
protect perhaps don't know how those
products work. So that's kind of a good
summary hopefully to to give everybody a
little picture.
>> Sure. That's great. That's great. Well,
so on a prior episode, I think it was
episode two or three, Scott Grimes from
Donaldson's Filtration had joined me and
one of the nuggets that I took from that
conversation was he says sales is
teaching. So he doesn't sell by
convincing somebody to buy a product. He
he really teaches his customer. So you
moved from sales to training and
teaching.
>> So
do you I I guess my first question is do
you agree or disagree with that? And
what did your sales
experience? How did that influence the
way that you teach today?
>> That's an excellent question and I do
fully agree with with that comment. uh
many of our folks even sales now they'll
take on kind of a training role um in
fact I sometimes lean on some of our
senior um district sales managers and
others to meet to participate in the
training u class with me because that
experience that customer experience um
understanding the customer's needs comes
down to the experience one of my
strengths when I was in sales was
troubleshooting so if I'm working with
the customer. It wasn't about trying to
convince anybody. It was kind of more of
the, hey, what happened here or what can
we do here to make this better? And so,
to your point, it was more of a a
teaching moment sometimes. And sometimes
it was, I hate to say it, but sometimes
a mistake on the customer's part where,
hey, they installed the valve backwards,
you know, and you went in and you you
talked to him for a few minutes and then
you saw what was going on. But that
strength of understanding
uh uh how to to better serve that
customer um and you show them the right
way to do things, that was more of a
teaching moment than a sales moment. But
then what happens is they see that
you're reliable, you're knowledgeable
and and they'll come back to you for
those, you know, questions and and say,
"Hey, you know, help me out here. I've
have a I have an issue or I have an
application that I'm struggling to
figure out." But I have many engineers
that have sat back and said, "I've been
looking at this drawing for days. Help
me out here." You know, it's it looks
like a spaghetti mess, right? So, we'll
sit down and we'll talk and and and look
through some things. Sure.
>> Is is most of the training that you're
doing, is it all internal or are you
also doing external training? Meaning,
are you also
>> internal training as well? Um
>> Okay.
>> We internal for sure. New hires. Um
continuous education as far as like we
have new product releases. is I think
most companies do that you have a new
product coming out you want to train
your folks first uh you know anybody
that's dealing with the product
externally we work with our channel
partners uh there's times we will work
with our end users and sometimes that's
where the training you know salespeople
to work with end users I you I can't
always be the one in place to do that
training but have them available so they
know that they can train some folks on
how to get up and running you know hey
they bought a certain platform and these
engineers are working with a certain,
you know, product, their their end
product, and they want to have some come
in and and do maybe a a one day or two
day course on all the equipment that
they bought. So, yeah,
>> that's great. That's great. So Rick Wel,
who was episode one actually on Fully
Open,
he and I talked about this concept of,
you know, preserving what industry vets
have built and what they've sort of
owned and and how do you do that? And I
mean, I don't I don't know if everyone's
necessarily like cracked the code, but I
know at our company, we have we have
some some folks that have been with us
on the sales side for like 40 years and
then we have, you know, a new guy
starting in two weeks, right? So, how do
you how do you teach the next generation
what the industry vets know? And it's
not and my question comes not from like
a technical standpoint, right? Like
everybody can can learn how to calculate
a CV and and this and that, but like
that that like institutional knowledge,
how do you pass that from from, you
know, industry vet to the newer folks
that have been in the industry for, you
know, two, three, four, five years.
>> Great question. I think that's something
that gets brought up a lot. What we look
at and see is that you have your folks
that are, you know, near retirement and
you want to, you know, have some kind of
download or whatever it is. There are
time sometimes where you have the I I'll
go from the sales side, even thinking of
engineers and others. Um, you know,
having some of the newer folks, you
know, kind of buddy up with them a
little bit. Um, show them, you know,
whether it's a territorial type
situation. And again not the technical
side but you know perhaps um you know
the ins and outs of the industry uh what
to look for you know um you know
experiences that they have as I
mentioned earlier could be a
troubleshooting things like that you
know where their strengths are so kind
of we don't have a formal buddy system
but it seems like whenever we have a new
hire we're always matching them up to
somebody that's you know a senior person
you know that that's been around for a
long time in sales maybe some other uh
roles as well. Um it becomes a challenge
when some of those folks leave. It's a
lot of tribal knowledge that you can
never seem to capture at all. And uh so
we we do our best as well, you know, I
think to to to show a new person, work
with this person over here, get you up
to speed. Um some power users perhaps uh
some folks that are just have a good
reputation, you know, um you know, in in
the industry as well. Um, and it's great
though that those folks also um open up
their time to those newer folks and show
them. I think that's what it comes down
to as well. You know, I I could think
I'm just thinking without naming names a
few people that it's like whenever
there's a new person, it's like they
they almost take them under their wing,
you know, and hey, let me talk to you
about this or you know, um, whatever it
may be, it it's like they're they're
there for them. Um, kind of show them
the ropes, you know, to use that
expression there. Yeah, you know, I I
love that and thank you for for sharing
that because we have a couple of the
more senior sales reps that have been
with us for a long time and I I am
always so inspired by how much these
people are willing to pour into the next
generation cuz the I mean the way we
work like they're they're commission
salespeople and they but they're but
they will take their time. They're not
doing it to to it's not self- serving
for them to do this. And they are
buddying up and they're mentoring and
it's just been it's so amazing and
honestly inspiring what they are how
much they're like pouring into the into
the next generation. sitting down with
them for two hours going through a PND
and explaining it and and helping pull
together a quote for a customer or my
dad always used to call it windshield
time. So, one of the ways that I learned
this industry
>> was
>> skipping school. Uh, which [laughter]
>> you know, I don't know you can have
certain feelings about that, but I
would, you know, man, starting in middle
school, I'd ask my dad, you know, every
every few weeks, every few months, maybe
he'd let me skip a day of school and
we'd go out on the road and he would
sell valves and I was there, you know,
carrying his briefcase and carrying his
cataloges. And I learned so much of that
like wisdom piece, right? Like the again
the the technicalities of valves. I
think you can learn through a spec sheet
and and trudging through it or you can
do what we have something called valves
101 like teaching our our folks about
the basics of valves. But that wisdom
piece that you know how to how to handle
a difficult customer or how to how to
handle this this situation, how to ask
the right questions is that that wisdom
that's that's it's it's hard to capture.
So uh one one other thing that we have
done internally is we do coffee chats.
So our team, our one of our senior reps
will
sit down and it's ask me anything you
want and it's just a very casual
conversation. We purposefully do not
have management in those conversations
because we want it to be, you know, just
like fully open. There's no, you know,
nothing nothing held back and that has
actually pro proved to some some great
fruit as well. So, we talked about this
technical side of valves and then we're
talking about this like wisdom side and
I call it like some maybe soft skills
and I think we would both probably
agree the soft skills is is harder to
teach but you know how do you guys and
and how it it do you have any type of
formal training for soft skills cuz part
of it can be learned through osmosis but
you know asking the right questions and
being a lifelong learner and there's
certain like soft skills that I think
come into and also hiring the right
person. But h how do you teach the soft
skills side of the Valve business, not
just the the technical side?
>> Oh, it's a great point. So, we've had a
different approach
over years of maybe, you know, bringing
a consultant in and and helping our
sales force out, you know, with
negotiation skills perhaps. Um and some
of those programs have changed but it's
still negotiation skills right so those
are areas that we've we've uh used um
you know coming from Emerson now it's 28
years uh with with Emerson I started
with you know ASCO as one brand and
there's many brands now that I under
under Emerson that I uh I touch however
um Emerson has always done a good job
too of having uh a lot of developmental
type programs. Um, not always virtual,
you know, sometimes in-person classes,
you know, sometimes you're with your
peers. Uh, sometimes you're with peers
from other divisions and things like
that. So, that's always a beautiful
thing. Um, so I think that's really the
area of soft skills that's that's been
great uh within our organization. And as
I said, you know, it could be
negotiation skills that I had, you know,
15 20 years ago maybe is going to be a
different program today. However, those
types of courses and classes are things
that we we do with our folks. There may
be some others that are more informal.
Um, you might have some some directors
or area VPs that that say, "Hey, let's
do some things within our region
and and have come what you talked about
a little bit of like community type
classes. uh you know might be online
with your with your group, bring a guest
speaker in, things of that nature, share
with each other, teach back moments, you
know, uh that's always always a good
thing, too. Um you know, presentation
skills. There's only other areas that
you could touch on. So there's areas
that uh some folks, you know, um will
need those skills. As I said before, it
could be they're fresh. They never had
any kind of those skills uh presented to
them before previous roles or through
their former education. And then you
have um you know folks that have been
veterans for years and never had a
formal presentation skills class or
negotiations class and things of that
nature or some type of salesperson you
know um class. So those are offerings
that we we do or have um touched on over
the years and uh I myself because I came
from sales or I was the one who I I'm
the person organizing maybe the class.
I've sat in many of those those courses
and I tell you it's interesting how much
you retain uh even if you're not the
participant you're there as the host and
you're like oh yeah okay there's a
there's that that thing that I I need to
use more of or try applying those those
skill sets that are total soft skills
nothing technical whatsoever and uh high
value for sure. Yeah, I think in those
types of environments very often does
the teacher become the student and the
student become the teacher.
>> I know that that happens a lot for me
and oh this is how I've I've done it in
the past or I've I've learned this way
or I just had this experience happen and
this is how I handled it and it it's
it s amazing It s it s great So I
know you work with a lot of like the new
folks coming into Emerson. If there was
one lesson that a new hireer would have
on day one, what would it be in the
Valve industry?
>> Don't try to learn everything at once.
[laughter]
It's overwhelming. I I work with, let's
say, new hires on boarding usually
within 24, 48 hours, the first few days,
you know, make sure they have all their
equipment, that kind of stuff, laptops,
whatever. Right? Once all that's settled
and then they have to learn, hey, I've
got this learning path for all the
technical issues of a valve. I have to
learn the systems are coming from
another organization. Oh, this is, you
know, these systems, you know, internal
uh software, what have you, you know, um
this is where I think that mentorship
comes in or or buddy system because how
do you navigate all the different people
you you have to come in contact with?
Um, so the biggest thing, and I do let
folks know right off the bat, is is you
have a lot on your plate. You have a lot
of things going on. I always recommend
um you're you're new, you have your new
laptop,
put some time on your calendar,
especially in your first 30, 60, 90, and
usually they're their their um hiring
manager, director or VP or somebody um
is helping them with that learning path.
I'm expecting this and the 30, 60, 90,
that kind of stuff. And I'm usually, you
know, coordinating with them.
I asked them to put that little space on
their calendar so they they can remind
themselves, I need to do a little bit of
training. I need to do a little heads
down over here. Sure, I got to meet my
new customers. All that kind of stuff.
Rather get overwhelmed. Use that
calendar wisely. Um, they may know that
coming in, but it's a good reminder
because there's probably so many things
coming at them. they may have windshield
time the following week and say, "Oh, I
got to go out and and meet all these
customers with this other uh partner and
and and meet all these folks." So, um
you know, I just I kind of give them
that it's okay. You got a lot on your
plate. We know that. So, uh just use
that calendar wisely. That way you don't
forget about that those training whether
it's self-paced or you have something
coming up, you know. Um that's that's
the advice I typically do give.
>> Yeah. One of our sales managers really
is always talking about segmented work
and making sure that you know you you
schedule segmented work for heads down
headstone work and I'm a huge fan of
segmented work. I actually turn off my
emails or close my email application.
I'll you know silence my phone and do
headstone work. And I think often it's
hard to
it's easy actually to push training off
to push it off further and further and
you you do have to schedule that. So
what is your
expectation from? Now this is from the
technical side of a of a new hire like
at at what point
where do you expect them to get to from
a technical side in what amount of time?
because you know saying don't try to
learn everything at once but also like
>> you kind of need to know like some
basics so that you don't look like you
know uh an idiot in front of your
customer. So like how how what's that
balance? So you go from my own
experience when I came on board years
ago
there was kind of like that 90-day role
everybody has you know um within that 90
days there's there's a good amount of
basics that you're covering certain
fundamentals understanding you know
we're talking about solenoid valves
understanding certain principles of
solenoid valves um at at a very basic
level but that basic level are all the
right things to know that when your
customers talking the language that
they're talking, you're understanding
that language, you're understanding, you
know, certain terms and terminology. Um,
because I think that was the biggest
biggest issue when I came into this
industry. I didn't know much about
solenoid valves. I knew of a few
solenoid valves. I didn't know how they
worked. I didn't know the language of
and so within that, you know, 30, 60,
90, there was a a a buildup. You know, I
had my peers that were helping me. there
was some formal training within that
time frame you know so the biggest
challenge I think is that 30 609 I said
you know um within the first month you
should have on self-paced or some
self-paced learning you should have
accomplished and then in that
accomplishment we know that you've
come across certain terms
terminology glosserary what have you um
let that resonate a little bit and then
you you know have different stages let's
say there's an in-person class and the
in-person class. Hopefully that little
those things are marinating so your
questions are are going to come up
versus getting to that class and going I
have no idea what that turn was. They
should have known we should have taught
them within their first 30 60 90. So I
think that's a very important thing. Um
learning pathwise when it comes to new
hires you can't expect everything to be
learned in those first 90 days. I recall
give an example. I remember there was a
new hire. I was hosting a class
and it was a new hireer who started the
week before and they're like, "Hey,
let's get him in the class." And within
a few months, he's like, "Can I take
that class over?" It was so much at
once. The hands-on he got it was pretty
good, but there was so many terms,
terminology,
uh, shifting gears from one topic to the
next to the next to the next. after a
few days, you know, there's probably 20%
that's stuck. So, you got to be careful
that you don't overwhelm with too much
at first. And uh that's why I do believe
in that that little bit of self-paced or
blended learning approach has been
helpful. But if it's all one area, it's
you have a hard time measuring it
If it's let's say all online, if it's
all in person, sure, you can get a lot
out of that too without the the previous
because we before we had all the online
tools, we were able to learn in a
classroom environment.
But I find that uh a blended learning
approach, some prerequisites, things
like that. You help out, some self-paced
learning, and then the inclass I think
is is still something that is that is
needed. the interaction with folks, um
the the ability to do hands-on. So
hands-on or more spatial. It doesn't
necessarily have to be touching the
product. It could be conceptually let's
talk about a market and what's needed in
that market. You know, what's the
standards in that market, you know, that
kind of stuff. So there's a lot of areas
where a new hire,
>> you know, you could be anywhere from
that that 90 days for your fundamentals
and then look at that first year, how
much how, you know, where are they at
and measure then they should measure
themselves as well. where was I at when
I came in to where I am in you know and
[snorts] do we need to areas
>> and and are you guys testing like like
literally like a quiz at the end like
hey do you know this or do you not or
>> some of our online courses have builtin
questions as you move along and then
there's a lot that that I I could say
that are probably more forgiving.
Um, I'll say this, we do a lot of live
webinars. We do uh make attempts to ask
survey/quiz questions as we're moving
along in the program. Um, so if someone
ends up watching that as a virtual on
demand class, they're getting questions
and quizzes. However, they're not being,
you know, um, held to you must get it 80
or better. Um, have we've done that
practice? Yes, we have. Um there was
there's certain courses we were much
more strict on for sure.
>> Yeah, that makes sense. And I mean this
is probably a good time to sort of shout
out uh like Valve basics that that VMA
puts on through like uh the VMA
education committee that I know you're a
part of. And VMA has a lot of really
great and I know you guys are working on
even more training resources for small
businesses like ours to be able to use.
Emerson, you guys, I'm sure have many
more resources to build stuff like that
for but for small businesses like ours
and others that are listening. Um,
definitely be sure to to to check that
out.
So, John, over the decades of teaching
like people how valves work through just
not just just your training, but also
through sales, what would you say that
you see as the one thing
engineers
get wrong that you can't learn from a
spec sheet?
>> Okay. So, I was in a conversation just
the other day about this. Um, some
products
can be general purpose
and they may fit into applications that
aren't so general purpose. You might
have something that's designed for
general purpose, but oh well perhaps
maybe this valve could also work in a
medical analytical application.
So I think sometimes and it's not so
much design I think it's the the post
design where something gets you know too
rigid inside a framework of where that
belongs and sometimes there are certain
products or valves or other that may be
able to go outside of their specified
area and I don't mean outside of
standards or outside and and put
something in a hazardous location that
doesn't belong in a hazard
Not that at all. It's more of the um you
know if if um for example uh I'll go
with proportional valve. Proportional
valve is something that in the field you
can change the settings and things like
that. If a customer is taking a
proportional valve and actually using it
right out of the box, wow, how about
that? that would be close to a miracle
that someone could not have to reset,
you know, the the the 40 to 20 milliamp
somewhere on that. So, um I don't know
if the engineers get that wrong, but
it's like if if if certain specs and and
and things that this is used for or it's
you know um pigeon holed to a
certain industry, it may actually belong
in another area. And that might be a
blend. I don't want to put all on
engineering. that could be just
something that in the design or
development that was the focus and
nothing else was considered cuz I'm as
we're talking I'm thinking of many
applications myself and others have had
that you're like yeah this also worked
over there you know and it was the right
fit or better fit than their original
solution um yeah
>> but it wasn't
>> you know I mean I think that's that's
amazing and I I I agree with you
wholeheartedly. I I didn't really have
like an answer to the question that I
was asking. So, I was really glad that
you came up with that. But I you know,
now that you say that, that's the value
of like an industry vet, right? Like
somebody that actually knows knows
valves and can hear an application and
goes, "Oh, well, you know, we could do
this and we could do that and we could
put this on top of that and and build a
custom assembly." I mean, that's what we
do every day at at Valveman and at Wells
Ford and I know you guys do as well at
Emerson. So,
I Yeah, I mean, I think that's that's
really like the the secret sauce, right?
like, you know, I it's it's kind of easy
to, you know, buy buy a valve that's on
80° water and, you know, at at
20 PSI. But really when you get into,
you know, certain uh chemical
compatibilities and pressures and
temperature uh pressure temperature
curves and all this kind of stuff, you
really do have to get creative, I think,
sometimes and and know, oh, well, you
know, this valve does this and this
thing, I can actually use it over here
as well. So, I I like that. I like that.
That's awesome. So, I'm gonna I'm taking
the the conversation a little bit uh
little bit different here. a aside from
training, but you know you so you said
you've been at Emerson for 28 years. Is
that correct?
Wow. I mean that's that's amazing. So in
the world of
we live in sort of a job hopping era
these days and
that's you know good or bad I it it is
what it is. Why so long at Emerson? I
mean what is it? Are you just a I go
deep kind of guy? I mean that I guess
that does sort of um talk to your your
position of training manager. Uh but
like why why so long at at Emerson?
>> As I said, I started out in the sales.
So I actually inside sales, did that for
several years, field sales, uh really
enjoyed that. Um and then was pulled in
now and then to do training. And I think
it's part of, you know, the training
role, the training area. Um, just always
I've always had a knack for for giving
back in some way, shape, or form. So, it
was a natural fit for me. I didn't plan
on be being a training manager. And the
I'll say when I first took on the
training manager role, I was only
dealing with the Asco brand. And over
time as as Emerson was growing in some
of these areas of this fluid emotion
control um you know I had to uh upskill
myself and and learn more of the fluid
power market and things like that. I
guess the the
why so long was that um Emerson's been
good to me. Um, so it was just, you
know, moving with the changes,
um, is something that I think, uh, we
all can do and it's something that I'm
okay with. I'm okay with change. Some
changes are more drastic than others,
but moving with those changes, um, you
know, there's been some really fun
aspects of the role. You know, I I gotta
say, meeting with so many people all the
time, uh, engaging with new hires, and
as I said before, sometimes it's
engaging with the our channel partners
who who also represent our products, um,
and seeing how they're getting something
out of this and they're, you know,
developing their career, uh, and what
have you. So to your point, you know, um
is it attractive to look other places or
go other places? And there's always been
more reasons to keep doing what I'm
doing or there's been some growth
opportunities within this role. you
know, it it's kind of like the behind
the scenes, other projects, things I've
worked on, um, that maybe are indirectly
impacting,
you know, folks in the sales field, but
also have to do with training. Um, being
involved in some other projects that
were, you know, you know, some of the
fun side of of the business, you know,
uh, planning some events, getting
involved and and being part of a some
small subcommittee. Well, let me s say
this, too. And I don't know if it has to
do with just Emerson, but when I got
involved with VMA, it was it was a
leader in our company that said, "Hey,
John, I need you to attend and and and
be involved in VMA. We have other people
and other trade organizations." And as a
training manager, I checked it out. And
and I was like, "Hey, I like this this
organization."
And it was kind of a uh it was the right
fit to get involved. And so I found
another outlet to
you could say be part of VMA, represent
Emerson and and uh you know and keep
carrying that torch forward. And yeah,
as you said before, I've been now on the
training committee in VMA for some time.
I've become a veteran where I can
remember when I was the new E.
[laughter]
>> That's awesome. Well, my brother and I
are still the new guys. We've been
coming to we've been part of VMA I think
for three years and we're still I I
every time we go to an event I'm like
I'm still the new guy but it's great.
So last question that I have for you is
the thing everybody's talking about AI.
>> How has AI changed the training
landscape for you and just the I guess
the overall like training industry? I
will say that I myself I saw that early
adopter if you will with certain things.
Let me learn how to do prompts. There
wasn't anybody mandating say hey you
must do this now. So um it was act was
my son was still in college at the time.
He's like dad you got to check this out.
So so he he influenced me early on 22 23
to get involved with chap and and so on
so forth. So I did some selfarning. Hey
I'm a trainer. So I did some
self-learning and uh on on prompts and
other areas and I said well where can I
use that in training you know um so I
have used a few areas and there is
encouragement with within Emerson as
well. I mean, you know, to use it
wisely, the tools that we have, uh, you
know, within our systems now. Um, and to
be honest with you, I wish there was a
few more tools, you know, um, you know,
I would like a couple extra spreadsheets
to be done for me, you know,
differently. But, for example, I'll I'll
give you an example how I may be
using u AI.
I have a slide deck. It's an existing
slide deck. It doesn't really need any
updates.
and perhaps I want to make a new
leader guide or I want to create some
new quiz questions which I've done and I
take the slide deck and I made some I uh
actually created a um um an agent and so
that agent basically has six built-in
prompts and I could always modify them
but just basic one. So I drop in that
deck and I get some good information
back and I got to look it over. Do I
agree with those quiz questions or not?
Do uh does the the um leader guide So if
I'm not the one doing the training and
I'm going to hand this off to somebody,
here's your leader guide based on that
slide deck. So So they're not lost or
they're not have to make anything up and
they could just use it as their guide.
Right now in the past could have easily
done that just break out word document
and do all that kind of stuff and make
the outline and everything else. So,
I've saved a lot of time, made quite a
few documents and a lot existing
slide decks and been able to, you know,
save a lot of time and say, "Oh, wow. I
have a nice package here. I've got the
summary. I've got a overview. I've got
some good quiz questions." And I'm even
challenged like for in person, what
would this, you know, how could we use
this for an in-person activity? And some
of those activities I haven't used yet
because I do some in-person activities
as well when we're doing classes, but
I'm like, "Oh, that's a different idea."
So AI has given me a few extra, you
know, tidbits to to look at uh for um
you know, going forward with face tof
face classes.
>> Yeah.
>> So that's my you know.
>> Yeah, that's awesome. And I do think I
mean just to I've talked about this with
so many people, but AI you you still
need to look at it, right? like you
still need that human oversight and we
and it's one of the things we talk with
our team internally about is hey do not
just put something into a prompt and
then copy and paste the answer that's
just not the you know it it will it's
your job still to make sure that it's
done correctly but you can use AI to
assist with that. So I uh I I love that.
That's that's great. Glad to hear that
that you're using it. I know we talked
about it
>> two years ago at the the VMA in uh in
Utah. So
>> awesome, John. Well, hey, this has been
amazing. Thank you so much. Some of my
takeaways are I love the buddy system
that you shared uh with with uh parent
industry vets up with the with the new
folks and 90 days uh to understand what
your customer is is saying. That's
really really uh really helpful from a
uh as as we on board uh knowing you
[clears throat] know a good a good
benchmark. So thank you so much for for
taking the time to to chat with me. I'm
looking forward to
>> seeing you in in Quebec at the VMA here
in I think it's September
>> and uh it'll be a good time. So thanks
again, John.
>> All right. Great. Glad to be here.
Thanks again.
>> Have a good one, man. Bye. Thanks for
listening [music] to Fully Open. If
something stood out or sparked a
thought, I would love to hear it. See
you on the next one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is John Molloy?
John Molloy is Training Manager for Fluid and Motion Control at Emerson. He has been with Emerson for 28 years, beginning in inside and field sales before moving into training, and he serves on the Valve Manufacturers Association education and training committee.
What is fluid and motion control?
As John describes it, fluid control covers products such as solenoid valves used to control water, oils and gases in process systems, while motion control covers fluid power applications including air and inert gases, filtration, valve manifolds, cylinders and actuators, often in packaging, food and beverage environments.
What is the 90-day rule for new hires?
John expects a new hire to cover the fundamentals within roughly 30, 60 and 90 days, including the terms and terminology needed to follow a customer conversation. He recommends blended learning, with self-paced work before an in-person class so the vocabulary has time to settle.
What advice does John give every new hire on day one?
Do not try to learn everything at once. He recommends blocking time on the calendar for training so it does not get pushed aside by customer visits and onboarding tasks.
How is AI changing valve industry training?
John uses an agent with a set of built-in prompts to turn an existing slide deck into a leader guide or quiz questions, then reviews everything himself. He describes it as a time saver that occasionally suggests new in-person activities, not a replacement for human oversight.
Your Host
Gil Welsford
Founder and CEO of ValveMan, a B2B industrial valve distributor, and a third-generation leader of a family business founded in 1965. Gil is also the host of the Fully Open Valve Podcast. A valve nerd from around 4 years old, he's spent his career helping engineers, contractors, and facility teams source the right valves for the job.
About the Guest
John Molloy
John Molloy is Training Manager for Fluid and Motion Control at Emerson, where he has spent 28 years. He began in inside sales, moved to field sales, and later took on training, initially for the ASCO brand and then across Emerson's broader fluid and motion control portfolio. He builds and delivers onboarding and continuing education for new hires, channel partners and end users, and serves on the Valve Manufacturers Association education and training committee.
