‘@ WORK: Gerardo Padilla

January 31, 2018

width=COMPANY: Seil Rentals
TITLE: Director
YEARS ON JOB: 15

I have been working at SEIL for the past 15 years. SEIL is a family-owned business that has three main divisions: forklifts and man lift services, rigging and spare parts. Part of my responsibilities, as director, is to create and follow up on the company’s strategic goals on a monthly basis. This includes meeting with sales, accounting, customers and other key processes throughout the company to ensure that all departments have the right resources to achieve their goals. Part of ensuring that our company succeeds is to make sure that our company culture is strong and applied to every employee. I am also responsible for anticipating market changes and preparing to adapt to them.

Entering the Industry

When I graduated from my MBA program, I started working for the GM headquarters for Latin America in Miami. At that time, my wife, Ileana, was working with her brother at a rigging company. A customer asked her if she could rent them forklifts. She sensed it was a good business opportunity, but did not want to undertake the new venture by herself, so she invited me and, together, we created the forklift division of the organization.

MHEDA’s Mexico Liaison

In October, I was asked by MHEDA CEO Liz Richards to attend the MHEDA Board of Directors Meeting in Chicago. MHEDA has been looking to expand its presence in Mexico and Liz asked me if I could speak with the Board about the business environment in Mexico and how MHEDA could further integrate with dealers in the country. I believe the whole region, the U.S., Canada and Mexico, have a competitive advantage if they collaborate together. I contacted the AMDM, a similar organization to MHEDA in Mexico, with the idea of bringing more collaboration between the organizations and to create new programs together to bring both industries to a higher level. At the conclusion of the Board Meeting, the Board asked if I would serve as MHEDA’s Mexico Liaison, a position that I accepted.

Tools of the Trade

The most important tool that I rely on to be successful in my position as director is emotional intelligence. You have to be able to understand and empathize with employee and client needs. Never stop paying attention to the details, because those are what are most important. I also rely on our ERP system, QDoc and QProcess, to track the company financial objectives.

Communication

Aside from the ability to empathize, the ability to communicate is the next most important characteristic anybody in this industry must have to succeed. Today’s customer needs are changing very fast. Companies need to understand how to communicate, not only with the customers but within departments. At Seil, we designed a communication strategy between departments to be efficient and to avoid communication gaps and misunderstandings. We use email, telephones, What’s App and other tools, depending on the type of communication.