Keron - Logistics and Transportation Professional with 16+ years in Operations and Contract Management

So, locksmithing is actually one of those things that I've been interested in for a while, and just wanted to understand how these things work. I love mechanical things. I actually was a mechanic for the Air Force for about 10 years. I still work on my own cars and motorcycles, but just, you know, the idea of how the lock works and all those little things that move on the inside, it's just something that interests me in general. How I see myself contributing to the team is just being able to be willing to participate and be a positive influence, you know, having a good attitude. You know, it's sounds like, you know, it's a kind of a fluid situation with locksmithing, because, you know, a lot of times you don't know exactly, you know, what the workload is gonna be or, you know, how many calls you're gonna get, and just being willing to be flexible and be, do it with a good attitude. And just being willing to be a team player, I think is a big part of it. So that's how I see myself contributing to the team.

One example of having to learn something new is recently I've been learning to use different AI tools, and how I approach it is just recognizing that there are going to be frustrations and sticking points because it's something new, recognizing that I'm not going to know everything. But I do approach it from the standpoint of being able to getting the learner's mindset and then also being willing to ask questions, being willing to have somebody that I can reach out to to address issues, and then also be willing to do the research on my own and slug through those sticking points. With AI, for example, right now I think I'm learning it pretty well. I just recently published a kid's book that I used AI to generate the images. And so it's just, you know, persevering there during that whole process, there are were lots of areas that I didn't know, a lot of questions that I had, but, you know, I either just did the research or, you know, just to figure out the solution to it and ultimately accomplish my goal. So that's kind of how I approach when I have to learn something new.

So one recent example of having to learn something quickly is I've been learning some new technology, learning to use AI. Um and I guess my approach to it is recognizing that I'm not going to know everything right away. It's going to take a little bit of time to learn it. Um and then also that they um You know, it's something new, so there's gonna be some growing pains and some um uh some frustration probably, but just not to, not to give up, um you know, just take the time to um learn the details um and then also to try and have somebody who I can um talk to or um like I'm involved in a in a group that deals with AI if there are questions, I can um go and ask a question, but also being able to being willing and able to do the research on my own and um kind of slog through those um sticking points um until I understand the subject. Um I mean, and then I think um I'm, you know, learning pretty well in this particular example, you know, like I actually recently published a kids book that I used AI to um create the images for, um and so I think I'm doing pretty well. Still still lots of stuff to learn, but um you know, I think I'm doing pretty well and that's kind of how I approach things when I'm trying to learn something new.

So one issue that comes to mind directly is when I was working for the Air Force as a contracting officer, I had a contract that I didn't write, but I was pulled into it to administer this contract where there was some discrepancy between what the contractor thought they were providing and what a customer or the unit thought they were supposed to get from this contract. What ended up happening or how I solved this problem was I had both parties on a conference call, and I created a chart, basically outlining side A, for example, what the contractor was supposed to be providing, and side B, what the customer or the unit thought they were supposed to be getting. We went line by line and detailed where the disconnects were, and ultimately, we were able to resolve it. What ended up happening is the customer got what they needed, the contractors were clear on what they needed to be providing, and that also helped to open up communication between the contractor and the customer so that they could, in the future, work out any discrepancies or issues at the lowest level possible. And in the end, the contract worked out fine. The unit got the support that they needed, and the contractor was happy as well.

One instance that comes to mind directly is when I was working for the Air Force as a contracting officer. I had a contract where there was a disconnect between the contractor and the unit that was getting the work done, where the contractor felt that they were performing the work, the unit or the customer felt like they were not getting what they needed. I ended up bringing both sides together and basically building a chart with side A showing what the contractor believes they were providing and side B, the customer, detailing what they thought that the contractor was supposed to be providing. Ultimately, we were able to go line by line and reconcile where the disconnects were and that helped to open up communication between the contractor and the customer. The customer was able to get what they needed and the contractor was clear on what the customer's expectations were. That also led to opening communications between them so before any issues escalated, they could talk to each other and work it out at the lowest levels possible.

So probably one instance that I can think of that comes directly to mind is when I worked for the Air Force as a contracting officer. I had this one situation where we had a contractor, I was supporting a contract that I didn't write, but they had this issue where the contractor and the unit that needed the work were having difficulties agreeing on exactly what needed to be done. It was for an IT, an information technology contract. The customer felt like they weren't getting what they needed to be done, and the contractor felt like they were providing what they needed. And what I ended up having to do is, was to bring both of the teams together and have them basically build like an A and B chart. You know, the one side was what the contractor thought that they were supposed to be doing, and the other side, it was what they, the customer or the unit thought they needed from the contractor. And we reconciled, we went point by point and reconciled what the disconnect was, and then ultimately came up with a solution for the, to make sure the customer or the unit was getting what they needed from the contractor. Both sides were willing to work together and work out the details, and in the end, we ended up with a satisfactory solution where they opened communications, where if there were issues that came up, the unit...