The Zenquest of Leaders with Host Jess Ollenburg

Bob Gross: The Zenquest of Leaders with Jess Ollenburg

• Jessica Ollenburg / Robert Gross • Season 1 • Episode 6

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Bob Gross talks leadership, life, family, travel, community giveback, his red EV mustang, music and so much more.  Landing page, contact info and topic resources are at Bob Gross - The Zenquest of Leaders — zenquest.online. 
 
As this episode releases, we raise a “Cheers” to Bob’s late father Eugene C. Gross. Administering guidance control systems, Eugene was integral to the Apollo program of missions. He would be 90 today, and we send him our grateful thanks! Cheers, Eugene!!

Robert J. Gross is both the CEO and the visionary of Gross Automation, LLC.  More than 34 years ago, Bob saw an opportunity to take both his engineering skills along with his incredible sense of humor and apply them to an industrial automation and controls business, born in an incubator on the northwest side of Milwaukee.  

Since then, the company has grown to currently include 31 employees representing 59 family lives.  Gross Automation now represents more than 50 manufacturing partners and has more than 10,000 unique customers, both locally and internationally.

Bob is currently the President of the Kiwanis Club of Wauwatosa as well as chair of the sponsored youth and youth services committee.  He also serves on the board of the Wauwatosa Lions Club.  Both the Kiwanis and the Lions support his passion for Scouting by chartering Scout units and he currently serves there as both a unit commissioner as well as on the shooting sports committee with his NRA certifications of rifle, pistol, and shotgun instructor, and as a chief range safety officer.  

Bob’s other passions include being an instrument-rated private pilot and having his baby grand piano in his office...  for those occasions when he needs to just zen!

Jessica Ollenburg:

Thanks so very much for joining us today. I am your host Jessica Ollenburg, and I am sending big thanks to our listeners and supporters. We humbly tell you this show continues to climb the charts and we credit that to our fabulous guests bringing great conversation and aha moments. Today we are talking with Bob Gross as Bob talks leadership, life, family, travel, community give back, his red EV Mustang, music and so much more. And as this episode releases, we raise a cheers to Bob's late father Eugene C. Gross. Administering guidance control systems, Eugene was integral to the Apollo program of missions. He would be 90 today and we send him our grateful thanks! Cheers, Eugene. Robert J. Gross is both the CEO and the visionary of Gross Automation LLC. More than 34 years ago, Bob saw an opportunity to take both his engineering skills along with his incredible sense of humor, and apply them to an industrial automation and controls business born in an incubator on the northwest side of Milwaukee. Since then, the company has grown to currently include 31 employees representing 59 family lives. Gross Automation now represents more than 50 manufacturing partners, and has more than 10,000 unique customers, both locally and internationally. Bob is currently the president of the Kiwanis Club of Wauwatosa, as well as chair of the sponsored youth and youth services committee. He also serves on the board of the Wauwatosa Lions Club. Both the kiwannis and the lions support his passion for scouting by chartering Scout units. And he currently serves there as both a unit Commissioner, as well as on the shooting sports committee with his NRA certifications of rifle, pistol and shotgun instructor. And as a chief range safety officer. Bob's other passions include being an instrument rated private pilot, and having his baby grand piano in his office for those occasions when he needs to just Zen. Welcome, Bob Gross! It has really been a pleasure to collaborate with you and to follow your accomplishments. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Bob Gross:

It is my pleasure to be here.

Jessica Ollenburg:

So good to have you. As it happens, today as we record is the same day you're being honored as a Titan 100.

Bob Gross:

Oh, you saw that?

Jessica Ollenburg:

I saw that!

Bob Gross:

I didn't know that... that... Okay.

Jessica Ollenburg:

That hit some social media today. So congratulations on yet another well deserved honor. Can you tell us a little bit about this recognition?

Bob Gross:

Well, the Titan 100 is a brand new program in Wisconsin. And we just finished the program year. And so it recognizes 100 I'm gonna say people that have distinguished themselves, in some way have done something awesome. I don't want to blow my horn too much. So I'm I'm truly not sure why I'm a Titan 100.

Jessica Ollenburg:

But you do awesome things

Bob Gross:

I hang with beautiful people. So (laughter)... I do enjoy being out and about I do enjoy talking being a part of projects of being part of the community. And that that's a big part of my life. However, I do not know specifically why I was or was was not chosen, why I was chosen in this case. But I'm not quite sure why. I'm very proud by the way to be here. It was awesome. It was an absolutely awesome night. We've we got together down with the veterans, and we stocked the veterans food pantry. So there's a service component to this. So I would recommend, I think June 1 they open and this podcast is going to be on June 6 as you're releasing it, so I believe at the time of this podcast, the applications for the Wisconsin Titan 100 should be open and available. So I would encourage everybody listening to this apply or if you don't want to apply, nominate somebody. I think that's how I got it.

Jessica Ollenburg:

That is really good information. Thank you so much for sharing that I'm sure our listeners definitely appreciate that information. And it seems like a worthy program. And thank you so much, Bob, for... you have a body of work in the business community and in the community at large and it, it all makes sense that you received the honors that you do. And we think we thank you for what you bring.

Bob Gross:

Thank you very much,

Jessica Ollenburg:

Bob, you have traveled quite extensively. What was your favorite country to visit? And why?

Bob Gross:

Oh, my goodness, this, this is not an easy question. So first of all, the reason I traveled in the first place is back in... I'm gonna just say ancient history, because I don't want to give away how old we all are... I took a course called Export tech, from Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, and a lady by the name of Roxanne Baumann...

Jessica Ollenburg:

Absolutely,

Bob Gross:

yeah, she - what a person,

Jessica Ollenburg:

Wonderful...

Bob Gross:

awesome person. And, I was I've been selling internationally just by accident for years and years and years. And she asked the question, she said, why? What would happen if you actually tried? Because you're not trying now? And look what's happening? What if you did try? You know, the whole bit? I'm not sure that, you know, no, no, and she wouldn't let go. And so fine. I took her class, and I had a team. And then we went, and I think the first program, the first WEDC trip, Wisconsin, and to give a little more background, Wisconsin does six trips a year, at least pre pandemic did six trips a year to various countries for economic development. And so you go with the state, they make sure that you're safe, you get a bodyguard, you get a driver, you get a translator. They help make your appointments for you. It's really about economic development and bringing business back to Wisconsin. And it is awesome. It is an awesome program. So that very first trip, I think was to Dubai and Qatar. And it was quite an experience. I got off the plane in Dubai. And my very first appointment was with someone who said, Well, you know, Shoshana, don't you? And it was like, Well, yeah, but he's over in India and next door. And so all of a sudden, you know, I'm finding that I go to the other

Jessica Ollenburg:

That's fabulous. side of the planet, and I already know people. So that was fun in and of itself being the first one. And since then I've been to Japan twice. I've been to South Korea twice. We've been to Australia, Germany, Poland, France, England, but I'm running

Bob Gross:

But in Vietnam, it was like 95 degrees when we were out. There's many, many more. But including the last Mexico, Canada are in there. The last trip that I just came back from was Thailand and Vietnam. And so right here in April, mid April, we were over in the Kingdom of Thailand and the (am I saying it right) the People's Republic of Vietnam. And so we still have people here that lived through and I am old enough to remember the Vietnam War. And so I was a little apprehensive going. But we went anyway, and it turned out to be I'm gonna say probably my favorite trip. Now, I loved Mexico, especially in February. Come on. It was 80 degrees in Mexico. The sun was shining, the there. April is the hottest month of the year for them sky was blue. It was awesome. because then it cools down as they go into their rainy season. But it wasn't overly humid. The weather was literally perfect. And most surprising to me is almost everybody spoke English. They spoke good English. It wasn't halting. It wasn't the end. They were good at it. And of the six appointments I had over two days in Ho Chi Minh City. Four of the companies I met with all had engineers trained in the US. It was like being home on the other side of the planet because Vietnam really is 12 hours offset from us. They were happy. They were a heck of a lot younger than us. They all treated me to food. And I just got a, I got an email yesterday from one of the companies that I had visited in April. And it was a picture because I tried to take a picture of, of each one of the groups that I met with, and I had my pictures and everything, and we're all standing outside their building in the sunshine smiling, you know, typical group picture, you get everybody together, we all say cheese and everything. I'm from Wisconsin, so you got to say cheese, then you explain why you say cheese and, and then they all have a good laugh and the whole bit, but they sent me a picture back the managing director there. And it was kind of funny, because there we are all standing. I don't remember this. But one of the girls reached over, and she put her hand on my stomach. And so I'm a large, full figured adult male. And every one of these guys is pretty scrawny, by our standards. And it was just like, you could just see it in the picture. She was fascinated with the size of my gut. And so here I've got this picture. So crazy things crazier things have happened. But I suppose bring me back home here. And let's just say, very recent, my most recent is Vietnam. And I'm going to say that was my favorite, just because of the warmth of the people, the goodness of the greatness of the food. And it just everything came together. Now, having said that, I leave on Sunday for Sweden.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And that'll be wonderful, I'm sure

Bob Gross:

We're gonna see what Sweden is like. So we're going to Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. And we're going to be there for a week and see what I guess surf and turf over there is herring and reindeer. So we'll have lots to talk about when I get back. That's,

Jessica Ollenburg:

that sounds like that will produce some stories.

Bob Gross:

It's about the fun. The stories are

Jessica Ollenburg:

It's so good to hear... Yes,

Bob Gross:

the little girl reaching over and, and and hitting my belly that that's just you can't make that up. And it just in the spur of the moment. Those are the make life worth living, I think I need to work on the belly. So we'll see if that does. We hope that doesn't repeat itself

Jessica Ollenburg:

Bob, who has made the most influence in your life?

Bob Gross:

I'm gonna go with my family, both from my dad early on to my kids and to my grandkids, or my grandkid, I shouldn't push the envelope yet I only have one. Again, I'm not that old. But growing up dad was a major influence for me. He... when I was four or five, six years old, we built our first color television set. And so I learned resistor codes, I learned capacitor designations, I learned electronics long before I went to school. Dad was part of the guidance and control systems team for Apollo. He put he was responsible for putting a man on the moon. We have a slide rule here in the business. They did

Jessica Ollenburg:

Okay it with 23 stars, and they triangulated the stars. And there are conditions? that's how we got our position in three dimensional space. Everything to three digits on a slide rule. And I can just see

Bob Gross:

and I can see it because he likes Legos and he the kids listening to this at some point going. What's a slide rule? And let's just say it's a mechanical device that predates calculators. And it was good. It worked. But that was growing up. I made an organ fancy actually an eight bit music organ to go with with the television that we did. Did we get a stereo system. But we built these all from kits and from scratch. And that got me going on the journey I basically am on. It starts and so yeah, my dad on that one. I've got both my son and my daughter in the business with me now. My son is an engineer as well. Hopefully, my grandson will be an engineer at least I'm putting that condition on the money that we're putting away for his college. He doesn't necessarily know it yet. But yeah, puts things together and we're good with that. They're both here. They're on on my leadership team and continuing to grow in leadership. And just as a just as a unique aside here, Jessica. If you look at the date that you're releasing this podcast, which is June 6, yes, that is the date of my dad's birthday, and the date of my daughter's birthday. Okay, so that is for both for both of them. That is. That's their day. Now dad passed away two years ago in November. But it's still a shared birthday with my daughter. And we will go out and I'm going to take a bottle of Crown Royal with me, because that was dad's drink of choice. And we're going to go out to the grave site, and we're going to have a toast to Dad's honor. And on the sixth, so when you release this podcast, we will be celebrating my dad, who would have been... he was 88, so he would be 90. So this would be his 90th birthday, if he were still with us.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And I would ask each of our listeners to also participate in that toast. Cheers to Your dad upon the release of this podcast.

Bob Gross:

There you go. Dad was very specific to Crown Royal. Back then that was the drink of choice. It was Crown Royal.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Well, that purple velvet was pretty cool.

Bob Gross:

Oh, yes,

Jessica Ollenburg:

indeed. Good branding. I hear you like coffee?

Bob Gross:

Yes, I do.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Might you have a coffee story for us, Bob?

Bob Gross:

Oh, did you serve that one up good. Now, was that a pourover? Was that a drip?(laughter) I had a opportunity. Okay, going way back. So I guess I gotta tell the whole story to for it to be except cars. Way, way back when I was in my early 20s. I worked for Allen Bradley out of the Detroit service center. One of the things that working for Allen Bradley is we had lunches and everything available for for for all of our customers and suppliers. Anybody else that happened to be in town every day. And so you had like hotdogs on Monday and spaghetti on Tuesday, and, and you had all this food and you had all the drink that you could drink? So we had Cokes? And let's just say we had Cokes? And so I spent the first nine months there drinking full strength, Coke. Ooh, 4,5,6 bottles. I mean, it was all you could drink, right? Sure.

Jessica Ollenburg:

I believe I was Mountain Dew at the time, but it was full strength.

Bob Gross:

And I was a mountain dew guy. But I had switched over to coke at that point, because becomes kind of funny then because the boss called me in and I just outgrown my next set

Jessica Ollenburg:

I am. of pants and everything. And he said, Well, Bob, you know, you really need to start drinking coffee. And it was like, now I hate coffee. Coffee sucks. No you don't get it. And he says you want to you're aspiring in a sales career. And so my advice to you in sales, is learn to drink coffee. And here's why. He said people are nice, they will offer you you go into their

Bob Gross:

I've been known to. I've been known to have a tea facility, you go into their plant, you go anywhere, they will offer you a cup of coffee, because they're nice people. And probably the coffee is back in the maintenance office, it's been on the burner for six hours. And it's thicker than mud and tastes like crap. But you know something, you're gonna like it. Because when they give you when they offer you a cup of coffee, you always say yes. Then you've got about 20 minutes, because nobody is going to throw you out during your cup of coffee. If you don't take the coffee, three to five minutes, you're not making your point...boom... they're tossing you, you got nothing. But if you want to get a good 20 minute, plus, take that cup of coffee and there they will be nice enough to you that you have an opportunity to make your case and do what you need to do. And he finally got me to the point where I could tolerate shop coffee, if you will, the bad, the worst of the worst of the worst. And that has so changed the game all the way through the last 35 to 40 years of my sales career. But as I look at my sales career, how many times I've used that and how effective it has been got you the FaceTime now today I am addicted you know I guess it's like anything else in life if you do it enough, you're gonna like it and I don't take cream. I don't take sugar. I don't put anything in my coffee and the darker roast it is the the heavier it is the better. And so I've really learned to like that. I use that with my team today and for those that call on me. I say, "Hey, my drug of choice is coffee. I'll meet you in the coffee shop at seven in the morning. You can determine also through just that little ritual, who is and who isn't in the game for the long term. But you know, again, you don't always have to like coffee. But if someone says, Yeah, I'll still meet you at seven o'clock, but I'll have tea instead. Okay, we're fine. Just like just like you're sitting there drinking tea right now. once in a while, and I've had to.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Well, truth be told, though... I did have at least three double shots of espresso.

Bob Gross:

And actually, let me dive back into you had asked me previously what country I liked. Yeah, Vietnam is known for their teas. They have some of the most exotic aromatic and wonderful teas I brought back to I brought back two containers of teas for my family. I didn't know any of that about Vietnam. Yeah, teas you think China, but they have the climate there for for just some wonderful flavors of teas that you can't get anywhere else in the world.

Jessica Ollenburg:

That makes sense certainly makes sense. I recall the tea plantations from our economic development trips that we had taken to China.

Bob Gross:

Well, you also have China's got what 1 billion plus people 1.1 billion. Yeah, they are gonna they are going to dominate the tea discussion. They've got the land, they've got the people. Vietnam I think was what 45 million people. But they've got the climate, and they've got more the the open space and stuff. But they don't have the processing power. And so I, I doubt if you go to any store, here, you're going to find Vietnamese teas. But you will find Chinese teas. So interesting form and development, that's a business for somebody else at another time. I'm going to stay with my programmable controllers, my operator interfaces and my industrial computers for now.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And that's fabulous. And I love that whole space. In fact, one of our longest standing and favorite clients over the years has been ABB. So the idea of automation, the idea of really anything that is innovative with regard to manufacturing, automation, power distribution, electronics, motor control, all things that I love to do.

Bob Gross:

That is my life.

Jessica Ollenburg:

My father was a manufacturing turnaround executive and an inventor. So like you very early on, we were taking things apart, putting them back together, figuring out how to make them better. And actually with just about everything, I have leveraged technology to scale. And it's always been technology that wasn't yet invented. So scaling HRS past 1500 employees was done entirely through developing an HRIS system that didn't exist yet. Before App Tracking was there, before monster.com was there, we created that original software and are actually recognized by the US Patent and Trademark Office for putting together the original time clock to payroll to labor distribution interface.

Bob Gross:

That is one of the things I wish I could do. And I may yet find a way to get a patent under my name. But I do have copyrights and I do have trademarks.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And they are important because people will infringe

Bob Gross:

never taken it to the point of a patent. We have our own designs and everything but it's far past where we can get patents on it but it still is our intellectual property. So we're that net we're in that little bit of Noman zone, but at some point, you know, that would that's one thing I don't have, and I've always wanted.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Well the innovation that you bring is always fun to watch. I have a particular interest in it.

Bob Gross:

Thank you.

Jessica Ollenburg:

So tell us what's new at Gross Automation. What excites you the most that's going on right now?

Bob Gross:

What excites me...Wow, life right now. Everything is it's like we're experiencing a rebirth. Okay, you know, COVID really knocked us down. It really kicked a lot of people in the teeth and even as far as ending last year into December, January, we're still starting, we're still fighting supply chain issues and pricing issues. And it's like with the weather getting better here in the spring, March, April, especially May here, life is good. It's changing. It's starting, we're starting to breathe again. You know, I just this morning coming out the door, the sun was shining and the in the sky was blue and the rabbits were doing rabbit things in the dog decided to go chase them down the block. But just awesome today, things that are happening. We I guess I should put some some stuff on that... our sales are up. May might be our best month might be we're, it's gonna take us a while to close the books and figure out what really did and didn't happen. I've got some manufacturing that we're starting finally starting to move forward, which includes our intellectual property. And that is it is exciting in and of itself because we are moving into solar and wind and many of the green technologies. So I as you may or may not know I drive an electric vehicle, I have one of those maki Mustangs. There's not enough, there's not a lot of them out there, it turns more hands than Tesla's. And so you know, I've got a good old fashioned Ford, that area, that part of technology is, at least for us, is really starting to move quickly. I'm not a tree hugger. But at the same time, our electrical infrastructure does need to be worked on. And golly - who happens to be in electrical infrastructure, but us. So we're building combiner boxes, we're putting in EV charging stations, we're taking the electricity from the pole, through the transformers, rebuilding all the infrastructure within a building, so that we can deliver the power where it's needed the most. And that is awesome. So what's new and what's excites me the most? It's that electrical grid upgrading that's going on right now. And this is going to be awesome for us, for society. We all win, everybody, no matter how you feel politically, everybody is going to win at this.

Jessica Ollenburg:

I love this. Is it weird that I feel so excited about this technology... that the science and math and me comes out all the time? And I just love technology. I love what you're talking about with just the electric vehicle that you're talking about. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Bob Gross:

Dad bought a 79 Mustang and all I remember is we squealed those tires. We could spin that sucker in a parking lot like no other. It had the five liter engine it was it was just awesome. So in my mind that is my baseline for a Mustang. So then I it took over a year and I've not had the car yet a year. I just on a whim placed one on order one of the new Mustangs and it is not my dad's Mustang. It has a SUV chassis because it has to fit the battery. so that makes it wide. Mustangs weren't

Jessica Ollenburg:

Okay, There you go(laughter)

Bob Gross:

my midlife crisis red. One thing it is and I did necessarily wide. But this makes it wide I can't tell exactly how much wider but for my large full-figured adult male body it fits. Maybe I got an extra three quarters of an inch to an inch ask I said alright, so this is the wrong body style. It's too high. It's not you know, it's not this, this and this and you can't squeal your tires because everything is computerized to the to the nth degree. And what makes it a Mustang and he said in the seat so it fits really nice. And it also in the old try and accelerate. So I went out to my to my mother's area out in town of Lisbon and I got out on JK and pointed my nose up a hill and stomped on on the pedal, I can't say the gas pedal because there's no gas. I was at 70 miles an hour in probably Mustangs you kind of slid down onto the floor when you get in three and a half seconds. And it didn't spin one wheel. It won't allow you to spin the wheels because it's always sensing and driving and, and everything else. But it is. I just wow, it's it's all Mustang for performance. And then one of the guys that was talking, he was talking about that new F1 50 and most SUVs you have to slide up or step up to get into. This Lightning, that that accelerates and has more power even than the Mustang. And I'm sitting there scratching my head going, Oh, okay. So muscle cars have certainly evolved at this point. I love the car. The car is is wonderful, it fits everything I one is just perfect at butt height, and so I can slide right want to do. The infrastructure for charging it sucks. I will take a gas vehicle if I got to go any further than O'Hare to the south and Madison to the west. So we're not there yet. That's why I said what what's exciting here is we're part of on in so it is it is an old man's Mustang that's it but I that solution. We're not, we're not part of the problem. Well, unless the problem is electric vehicles, but I can see and I'm driving and I'm drinking the Kool Aid already on the electric car. And so it's awesome. I just, yeah, anytime anytime you did buy it bright red. want to come over? Take me out of my hot red Mustang.

Jessica Ollenburg:

I will take you up on that. All right, here is the question for all of our Zenquesting leaders out there, Bob. We've learned that to optimize our capacity, we need to actively refuel our tanks before they run dry. What do you do to actively refuel and to actively recalibrate? In short, Bob, how do YOU zen?

Bob Gross:

So the old answer would have been no, I have a psychiatrist and I pay $300 an hour to sleep on the couch and lie about my past. But my mother actually got me she she was the the non technical side of the family. And she's still with us. She's 85. And she got me started on piano. She had started on piano, and grandma had started on piano. And so one of my collections, if you ever come over is I have music going on sheet music going all the way back into the early 1900s. From my grandmother and my even my great grandmother, couple of those pieces. And so when I was how I wasn't even four years old, mom had me at the keyboard on a piano learning to play. And so that has stayed with me, boy, my entire life. Every time I got picked on every time I got beat up at school or things went wrong. I'd come home and play the piano. Now some of it was forced because you got to practice for a half hour every day and you know, all that other good stuff. But it went beyond that. For me. It became my refuge, if you will. And I can even remember in high school. In the music room, I would go and check out one of the piano rooms and just go in there for half an hour or 45 minutes when I should have been at study hall, now, and that was a legitimate use of study hall, and just play because in my in my mind that calmed me down. That was what is it the old saying Music soothes the savage beast. And I can get to be a beast sometimes at least mentally in the brain. But I did so much on piano. And it was and I was an organist for a summer over at St. Therese in Wauwatosa and a couple other places while I was growing up, but I didn't even in high school, and I got a C in music by the way, because I didn't have, I didn't have a teacher. I was doing a lot of this on my own. And so towards my junior year of high school, I went and I reengaged a professional teacher to the point that and my senior year of high school I received my music degree by audition from the National guild of piano teachers. Fantastic. I have the certify that I had the skill level and all the equivalencies of a fully degreed person in concert piano. During that time I worked at Shakey's Pizza Parlor out in Waukesha. I was one of their piano players, if you, if you're old enough to remember and

Jessica Ollenburg:

I am old enough to remember

Bob Gross:

oh my goodness

Jessica Ollenburg:

Indeed. Yes, I

Bob Gross:

I was 16, 17, 18 years old. We were making money hand over fist. It was 101 slides, 35 millimeter slides. This is before PowerPoint. For the young ones listening to this, there was a time before PowerPoint. And we did get by, we call them slides. And so I had 35 millimeter slides of 101 of the old turn of the century songs. And I had a banjo player that worked with me and we sat there we, we drank beer, I helped people eat their pizzas and sang all night long. And that was, that was quite a way to get started. Went to the Rustic Inn in Oconomowoc for a while, Stefano's Supper Club here on on Appleton. These are all places I don't think even exist anymore. And then I started getting a real job in engineering because I had my engineering degree. So I switched from doing nightclubs, to playing a church. And I've been the choir director in the pianist for at least four different denominations, not just churches, there's maybe a dozen churches in there. But between the Methodists, the Catholics, and I am Catholic myself, the Lutherans and the Episcopal, I have run choirs in played as organist in all those faiths. And in fact, one of my last choirs is I had a 21 member all male chorus over at Trinity Pilgrim United Methodist, here in Brookfield, and we cut two CDs. So I have pictures and music, and they're hanging on the wall here in my office of the two CDs that that we cut as an all male chorus here, in Brookfield. Anyway, that all comes through to I've had a baby grand in my office, and I sit here and I play the piano, most of my staff knows, if Bob is playing the piano, you do not bother him. My piano is really the ... that's my $325 an hour therapist.

Jessica Ollenburg:

So you decompress.

Bob Gross:

That is I that is my way to, I can be angry at the world, I can have all kinds of things going wrong with me. And I need about 15 to 20 minutes on the piano and it's more better.

Jessica Ollenburg:

But it's so engaging. And I recall too, and I can speak on this also being... starting piano around the age of five playing for about seven years... still in my soul. I recall, earning money at a young age and spending all the money I would earn on my favorite music.

Bob Gross:

Yes,

Jessica Ollenburg:

and how completely therapeutic it would be when it's so difficult sometimes to be able to change the speed of your thought, turn off. But you can redirect to something that will be engaging, more soothing, or has less jeopardy. And that's

Bob Gross:

And it's not the same. It's not the same listening to somebody else's music. It's true. It's nice, it's nice, you got your top 10 for a reason you played in the car, and everything else. But there's just something about creating it yourself. And I hope I really, really hope with all the electronics and with all the technology in music right now, including killing music programs literally through the pandemic, that we don't lose that

Jessica Ollenburg:

Agreed

Bob Gross:

and not an electric piano. And in fact, I've argued I've had many knockout drag out arguments over real versus electric, because you can electronically and with sound sampling do almost anything you want. But it's not the same.

Jessica Ollenburg:

But without the electric, even the position and the pressure and the posture of just your fingers has such a dramatic influence on the sound. And some of that goes away or can be cheated.

Bob Gross:

Your fingers, your elbows, your shoulders.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Yes. How you're sitting? Absolutely.

Bob Gross:

The use of the pedals and playing the organ insurance is not the same. And yes, your your feet are very active using the lower the lower octaves but you're not. It's not the same. It's just like, give me us a piano. Good old fashioned baby grand. And I will be happy eventually. And I've got it right here in my office. Here with me.

Jessica Ollenburg:

That's wonderful. Thank you very much for sharing that. Lastly, how can our listeners learn more about you or reach you? Just maybe tell us what your website is, etcetera, give that kind of contact information so that those who don't have access to the show notes can. How can our listeners learn more about Gross Automation?

Bob Gross:

Well, we are on the web at grossautomation.com. That's pretty easy. But that is only one of about 50 websites that we have. We have literally created a vertical website for every one of our suppliers. So basically, you take a one of the manufacturers we represent, add sales.com to the URL, and you'll find us. The other way is I am on LinkedIn and as Robert J. Gross. I am on Facebook, although I don't go to Facebook often. I'm more on LinkedIn as a business tool. I am on Twitter,@RJGross is my Twitter. And I think those are the big three. We do multiple other outreaches emails and stuff. If you want to get on our mailing list, just drop me a email at Bob @ grossautomation.com. Additionally, I am out and about. Come join the Wauwatosa Kiwanis. Come join the Lions Club of Wauwatosa. Come to the IBAW breakfast. Come to the President's Club, The Dale Carnegie President's Club. I am out and about having fun last night we were at the Wauwatosa Chamber of Commerce over at Pizza Man and shaking hands and kissing babies.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And we love to see you out Bob.

Bob Gross:

Please look me up and by the way. I'm always a sucker for a good cup of coffee.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And you get extra time with the coffee.

Bob Gross:

There you go because nobody throws you out as long as you're drinking your coffee,

Jessica Ollenburg:

Sage advice. Thank you so much Bob. It is always such a pleasure talking with you and thank you for today's insight and letting us know all the wonderful things that you're doing and and I look forward to our next opportunity to talk

People on this episode

Contributor

Jessica Ollenburg

Host
Contributor

John Ollenburg

Co-host