The Art of Airborne Leadership with Mario Rodriguez

Embark on an intimate exploration of leadership and perseverance with Mario Rodriguez, the visionary leader at the Indianapolis Airport Authority. His tale, a tapestry woven from his parents' daring escape from Cuba and their indomitable spirit to triumph in a foreign land, is nothing short of cinematic. As we chat with Mario, you'll experience the vibrant streets of Miami, where his family's dreams were recast amidst the city's cultural mosaic. His mother's reinvention as an attorney and his father's entrepreneurial rebirth sketch a portrait of resilience that sets the stage for Mario's rise in aviation leadership.

Our conversation with Mario then takes flight into the complex skies of airport management, where community voices harmonize with the mechanics of commerce and crises that test the mettle of the most seasoned leaders. Discover how airports become hubs of sustainable innovation and human connection, thanks to Mario's forward-thinking initiatives. Join us for this episode, a masterclass in the art of leading with both head and heart.

Chapters

• 0:05 Leadership and Immigration
• 9:31 Finances and Community Engagement in Airports
• 22:56 Building a Sustainable and People-Centric Airport

Transcript

Sarah Hempstead: Welcome to Luminate, where we talk to some of the most creative people I know who light up the world through their leadership. I'm Sarah Hempstead, CEO of Schmidt Associates, and I'm joined today by my friend and an inspirational leader, Mario Rodriguez, executive director of the Indianapolis Airport Authority.

Sarah Hempstead: Mario has far too many accolades to list them all, including serving on the Biden Harris Presidential Transition team. He was appointed by both President Obama and President Trump's administration to the United States Department of Transportation's, committee for Aviation Consumer Protection. He's been honored with the United States Congressional Recognition conferred by Congressman Andre Carson in 2019, and he was a recipient of one of the state of Indiana's highest honors, the Sagamore of the Wabash.

Sarah Hempstead: As Deputy Executive Director for the New Orleans Aviation Board, Mario received recognition for his leadership in developing the flood protection system around the New Orleans International Airport before Hurricane Katrina and his leadership during the city's evacuation and recovery. Under Mario's leadership, the Indianapolis Airport Authority has experienced record breaking growth, announced major economic development projects, and has been recognized as the best airport in North America and the United States for 10 years.

Mario Rodriguez: 11. 

Sarah Hempstead: 11. Yeah. It's gonna be 12. It's gonna be 12 for going on 12 years. 

Mario Rodriguez: David, my, my team has assured me that we'll have 12. 

Sarah Hempstead: One of the things I find most fascinating about you is your journey, uh, from your childhood to here. I know your parents were refugees, right? From Cuba. Can you tell me a little bit about that story?

Sarah Hempstead: Well, I, 

Mario Rodriguez: I, it's fascinating, but remember, you have to detach yourself from what you think you know. Of immigration. Right? If you, if, if you come out with a blank slate, I could explain it clearer. Mom and dad didn't know each other in Cuba, so I'm actually a product of a revolution, for lack of a better term, because they would've never met in Cuba.

Mario Rodriguez: Dad was in, in the farthest eastern area of the island, and my mother's from Havana. Okay, so my mother studied law with Fidel Castro, and she made a part of the first government. When the Batista government came out. So Fidel Castro has a revolution, takes over and puts in an interim government until elections could be held for some reason or another.

Mario Rodriguez: Elections were never held, right? 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, yeah. It's really difficult to hold an election. It's 

Mario Rodriguez: really hard. You gotta get people to vote and stuff like that, so he figured it's expensive. 

Sarah Hempstead: Sure. Yeah. 

Mario Rodriguez: So my mother, uh, lasted, the government lasted for I think for about seven or eight months. And then my mother decided that she was gonna resign in, in a big Hoff and puff, I guess it was, what's the saying, that age and guile beats youth enthusiasm and a bad haircut all of the, all the time.

Mario Rodriguez: So, you know, 

Sarah Hempstead: so she was disillusioned. 

Mario Rodriguez: Disillusioned. So you don't get disillusioned and totalitarian dictatorship because then you get accused of really interesting things like. Like, uh, anti-revolutionary acts and they're gonna either imprison or shoot 'em. Sure. So she ends up being smuggled out of Cuba as a nun 

Sarah Hempstead: really?

Mario Rodriguez: With papers as a nun, and they end up, she ends up in New York. 

Sarah Hempstead: Okay. 

Mario Rodriguez: Uh, with the government in exile waiting for something to happen. So my dad on the other side of the island has businesses. These businesses are taken over Sure. By the government. They're nationalized because it's a communist government.

Mario Rodriguez: So in, in nationalizing it, he figures he's gonna go back to, to Spain. So he buys passage on a ship that goes from Havana, New York, New York, Spain, right? Yeah. Somehow when he landed in New York, and I guess you could do that back then, he figured, well, what the heck? I'm just gonna hang out over here. Now, mind you, the mindset, remember 

Sarah Hempstead: D different kind of travel.

Mario Rodriguez: They weren't. Immigrants. They liked where they lived, so they figured, well, heck, how long can this guy last? You know? Sure. Eventually there'll be a change of government. Someone will either bump him off, or the government or the military will coo the government again, and we'll just go back and my mother could hang out her shingle and my dad could reestablish a business.

Mario Rodriguez: So they never had a long-term plan in the United States. They loved the, they loved this country dearly. But they never had a vision of staying here. 

Sarah Hempstead: They were always gonna go home. They were always gonna go home. 

Mario Rodriguez: So my dad and my mom meet in a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, and they figured, well, you know, they got married, had me, and they figured, you know what, let's go back.

Mario Rodriguez: Let's go to Miami, because it's closer to Cuba. 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, right Then the next commute will be just, yeah. Then the next 

Mario Rodriguez: commute will be smaller. So, so it really is, it really is fascinating. So it took them a very, very, very long time. To admit, I guess, to themselves mm-hmm. That this, they were gonna stay here for the long run.

Sarah Hempstead: So tell me about growing up in Miami. 

Mario Rodriguez: Miami was fascinating because it, it really is, it's less of a melting pot and more of a gumbo, right? You have all these constituent parts of things. First of all, the architecture is beautiful. Uh, you know, you have a wonderful mix of people from around Latin America and around the world, and it creates this wonderful culture, mixed culture in there.

Mario Rodriguez: But remember, Miami is a barometer for whatever's happening in Latin America. So if things economically are bad in Argentina, the Argentines set a foothold in Miami, Nicaragua, Cubans, uh, Venezuelans now. So it really is a barometer to what's happening in Latin America, and it's fascinating because. Miami sees things not in domestic.

Mario Rodriguez: Issues. It sees this, it sees things in international policy issues. 

Sarah Hempstead: Sure. 

Mario Rodriguez: So if you pick up a newspaper in Miami, unlike other places, most, most of the front page news is on foreign policy. Mm-hmm. In foreign governments. So it really is fascinating. Okay. 

Sarah Hempstead: So you're growing up, just you mm-hmm. Only, only kid.

Sarah Hempstead: No, no, no. 

Mario Rodriguez: My sister. My sister. And your sister. 

Sarah Hempstead: All right. In, in Miami. And, uh, your parents eventually they're gonna go back to Cuba. What do they do when they're there in Miami? 

Mario Rodriguez: Uh, my dad established a, uh, uh, an export company. He did rather well later on in life, and my mother studied law again in the United States and became a lawyer in the United States.

Mario Rodriguez: She, she graduated the same day. In from law school that I graduated from engineering school. She was brilliant. I mean, brilliant. 

Sarah Hempstead: So what was their vision of a future for you? 

Mario Rodriguez: Education, education. It, it, ba they were, we, I grew up incredibly poor. Obviously you, you don't, you don't have a lot of means because they, they expended all their means just by trying to live here until they could move back, which they never moved back.

Mario Rodriguez: Uh, but I grew up with very limited means. But my, my parents were incredibly well educated and, uh, the political conversations were incredibly in intelligent. And everybody talks about the polarization of the. Uh, of the two parties over here. But imagine, imagine me growing up with my mom, who was a social democrat, and my father was as close to a right winger.

Mario Rodriguez: He, he was, he was a, he was a backer of the Batista government. Sure. 

Sarah Hempstead: Yeah. 

Mario Rodriguez: So, so both of them were, had lovely conversations, but they were thoughtful and intelligent conversations. And, uh, although they agreed, they mostly, uh, although they disagreed, they agreed mostly to disagree 

Sarah Hempstead: and they stayed married. Oh, of course they were married 

Mario Rodriguez: all their life.

Mario Rodriguez: Yeah. And that's why the political rhetoric that's happening right now is foolish because at the end of the day, we're all human beings. 

Sarah Hempstead: And you've seen it work. 

Mario Rodriguez: I've seen it work everywhere in Latin America. I've seen it work in many, many places. So, so 

Sarah Hempstead: who encouraged you on the engineering track? Or was that something that was in, in you?

Sarah Hempstead: Well, I, I, 

Mario Rodriguez: I want her to be an architect. 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, it's not too late. No, it's never, I mean, your mom went back to school. It's 

Mario Rodriguez: never too late. It's never too late. Or be an architect. But, uh, at the time I was incredibly good at mathematics and engineering and stuff like that, so that's what I studied, studied civil engineering.

Sarah Hempstead: My calculus teacher told me to be an engineer and not an architect. So there you go. That's how, that, that's how that rolls. 

Mario Rodriguez: It's, it was, it was an interesting journey. It was an interesting journey. 

Sarah Hempstead: So how do you get from engineering to aviation? It 

Mario Rodriguez: very simple and it, it really was a lucky sort of thing.

Mario Rodriguez: So I went from. Engineering. My first job was building Fort Lauderdale International Airport. 

Sarah Hempstead: Really? 

Mario Rodriguez: So from then on I 

Sarah Hempstead: like build, building it, working on the construction team? 

Mario Rodriguez: No, developing the designs and, ah, on the engineering team and basically construction administration that, you know, the side of the side of the construction that are engineers do, uh, and architects do obviously.

Mario Rodriguez: Sure. Uh, so it's, it was developing four Lauder at that time it was a terminal that you could park in front of. Right? Mm-hmm. You get outta your car, you cross the street. That's a minute ago. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a minute ago. And they needed longer runways and a bunch more capacity. You know, south Florida was growing and Miami International Airport was capped at that point and still is.

Mario Rodriguez: Uh, so it was a wonderful. It, it was really a wonderful experience and I got to design part of the Hong Kong airport, which was very cool, very cool, uh, and been in many places and obviously I started getting into more of the finances as I went along. But finances in the airport world are not more complicated, but they are very different.

Mario Rodriguez: How are they different? 40 United States. We live in, in a realm, basically in the public sector realm. Right. But most of our contacts are private sector, which are the airlines. Got it. So it's sort of that amalgamation and how do you actually deliver? How do you monetize the value of these things back to you?

Mario Rodriguez: Sure. And back to your listeners, which actually own the airport. Mm-hmm. So it has to be done very thoughtfully, and it has to be done through, uh, through basically a calculation of public value calculation. Mm-hmm. How, what do we add to the community at large, whether it's economic development or whether it's keeping, uh, rates low in the garage or whether it's actually buying local.

Mario Rodriguez: Local products and using local services to enhance our community. You know, all of that built, I think the last number I saw was 88% of everything we spend at the airport. We spend local, 

Sarah Hempstead: you know, I'm glad you opened that topic up. Mm-hmm. Because one of the things I think is really interesting about you is how much time you spend doing community activities mm-hmm.

Sarah Hempstead: That one would not nor normally associate necessarily with, with the airport authority. Oh yeah. So talk about that. How'd you learn to do that? Did, um, did someone. Encourage you to, or did it just become obvious that the airport is a community trust? It's obvious. 

Mario Rodriguez: It, it really is a no brainer. Uh, first of all, a CEO's job is outward facing.

Mario Rodriguez: Sure. Alright. It's guiding the organization, guiding the organization and how, what I'm trying to do is guide the organization to maximum public value creation. So what that actually means is to make sure that we monetize. That organization that, that you all own as much as possible and transfer it to the community.

Mario Rodriguez: Now we can't do it in dollar and cents. Sure. But we have to do it through an equation which is acceptable to the federal government, which is economic development, buying local, and things of that nature. So, you know, and it stands to reason that if we don't contact the community, and I don't listen to everybody, I don't know what you guys want.

Mario Rodriguez: This is your facility. What do you want with it? So that's why you see me out all the time, 

Sarah Hempstead: direct flight back to Paris. Can we have that direct? That's what we want. 

Mario Rodriguez: That is gonna happen sooner or later. 

Sarah Hempstead: All right. All right. You heard it here first. 

Mario Rodriguez: I could go to the, I could go into the excruciatingly painful, detailed explanation as to why it's not there now.

Mario Rodriguez: But eventually, 

Sarah Hempstead: eventually, eventually 

Mario Rodriguez: it'll come back. 

Sarah Hempstead: Well, so a CEO's job is to be outfacing, but it's also to, uh, create culture. Yeah. Uh, so talk a little bit about that. 'cause I, I, where I see the airport making kind of formative differences is in the diversity of your staff. Mm-hmm. And then, um, commitment to kind of alternative, uh, training and employment, like the apprenticeship program.

Sarah Hempstead: Oh 

Mario Rodriguez: yeah, of course, of course. You know, first and foremost, and I don't know if you've ever heard this term. Leading with love, but you know, I believe that everybody puts on their pads the same way. Our organization over the years has been purposely flattened, so it works like a matrix. So we have a lot of leaders that are developing new talent, and internally we've developed an internal group to bring in new talent, reach out to underserved areas.

Mario Rodriguez: That may or may not have the opportunity to work at the airport and tell 'em about all the wonderful careers that we have there, which include architectural engineering, accounting, law, uh, you know, plumbers, electricians. Sure, yeah. Terminal services. And 

Sarah Hempstead: it's a small city. 

Mario Rodriguez: It's, it's a small city and we've increased.

Mario Rodriguez: Salaries, the minimum salary even for terminal services janitorial is $18 an hour starting. That's great. Well, it's a livable wage. We wanna make sure that our people, our people cannot give it their all if they're worried about food on their plate, if they're worried about a roof over their head. So we wanna make sure they live a, they live a good life.

Mario Rodriguez: Mm-hmm. Um, benefits we have, we will pay for childcare, $10,000 per child. 

Sarah Hempstead: Wow. 

Mario Rodriguez: Education, free of charge. And you don't have to pay for anything upfront. That's not a reimbursable thing. You go to school, you go to college, and we will pay in arrears, you don't even see a bill and you can study whatever you want.

Mario Rodriguez: Hmm. That's pretty awesome. Elder elderly care. Mm-hmm. We have a gym. We have an instructor. It, it's basically trying to set the conditions to give our people the best life we could give them. 

Sarah Hempstead: That's pretty, that's, that's pretty impressive. And they reciprocating how many people work at the airport? 

Mario Rodriguez: Five 50.

Mario Rodriguez: Wow. But overall, within all the companies, it's about over 10,000. Ours five 50. Got it. 

Sarah Hempstead: Got it. So I, I wanna ask about COVID and where the airport is now. Mm-hmm. But before that, I'll, I'll ask about your other emergency management training, which was really being, uh, in and around the airport, um, when Katrina hit New Orleans.

Sarah Hempstead: Um, we've talked about this just a little bit. Mm-hmm. You had the foresight to have some protections built around the airport. Dumb 

Mario Rodriguez: luck, 

Sarah Hempstead: foresight, and or dumb luck to have, what, nine, nine foot? 

Mario Rodriguez: Yeah. We raised the levy. Well, I would it. I've been recruited and I was recruited to New Orleans, by the way. I was recruited here also, but I was recruited to New Orleans.

Mario Rodriguez: And New Orleans is a fascinating place. I mean, fascinating because it's an epicenter for the creative class. 

Sarah Hempstead: And I know you love New Orleans. 

Mario Rodriguez: I love New Orleans because, but it, it doesn't function. And I'll explain why. Because it, it's an epicenter for the creative class. You have musicians, artists, painters, philosophers.

Mario Rodriguez: But you don't expect a philosopher to work. Right. So what happens is New Orleans has come up with this very cool term that's called elegant decay. So anything that you see in New Orleans that's falling apart, it's an elegant decay. 

Sarah Hempstead: Okay. So it's not broken. 

Mario Rodriguez: It's not broken. It's an elegant. Got it. 

Sarah Hempstead: Okay.

Sarah Hempstead: Good word. 

Mario Rodriguez: So. So I got hired in New Orleans and the first call was from the FA going, Hey, we're gonna have to close down the airport because the runways are deficient. The 

Sarah Hempstead: FA does not believe in elegant decay. 

Mario Rodriguez: No, they don't. They don't, they don't believe in elegant decay. So we rebuilt the entire le, the entire airfield, and I think it was over $300 million at that time, which was an expensive amount.

Mario Rodriguez: Sure. And I'm looking around and the levies didn't look right now. You know, it's not that hard. The Egyptians were building levees. Right. It's true. So it's a big hill. It exactly. It's a big hill. And then, and they had sheet piling in a bunch of stuff, and, you know, and in a railroad area that they sandbag during storms.

Mario Rodriguez: It was, it was horrifying. Uh, so, and by the way, it wasn't our responsibility, it was a levy board. And if you know anything about New Orleans politics. It's indecipherable. That's what it is. So nobody knows what's going on. Only people that are multi-generational in New Orleans actually know what's going on.

Mario Rodriguez: So I went to the levee board and explained to them that we needed the levee build, and they said, no, we've we're maintaining the levee. I go, well, that's not maintaining the levee. And then I said, no, we'll rebuild the levee for you and we're done. And they said, what's in it for us? And I said, well, the new levee, the levy for you.

Mario Rodriguez: And finally, I, I finally, we just went off and did it. 

Sarah Hempstead: Really? 

Mario Rodriguez: So 

Sarah Hempstead: yeah. You asked forgiveness later. 

Mario Rodriguez: Yeah. Yeah. I figured if the levees breach, we flood a brand new airfield and, uh, my next job will be in Siberia, so I better dress warm. But we, we raised an armored levy raised at nine feet. And there was an area for the railroad that they used to put sandbags in.

Mario Rodriguez: So we actually put a proper compression gate in there. Mm-hmm. And finished the project a month ahead of schedule. Three days before Katrina, the water comes within a foot of over topping the levee. 

Sarah Hempstead: You really finished three days before Katrina came? Yeah, 

Mario Rodriguez: we had, I even have the cups somewhere. 

Sarah Hempstead: Oh, that's amazing.

Sarah Hempstead: We were 

Mario Rodriguez: handing out mugs and stuff. Cut the ribbon on this thing and it was like, oh my God. I still have it, but it. 

Mario Rodriguez: It's, it's fascinating in that that small action with the team that I had saved thousands of lives. 

Sarah Hempstead: Yeah. 

Mario Rodriguez: Because that was used as the epicenter for the, for the entire evacuation of the city.

Mario Rodriguez: It became the busiest airport on the planet for three days, and the team was such an incredible team. What it teaches you is that people have an un boundless ability to give. Mm-hmm. If the right circumstances, uh, appear and our team lived there. I lived in the airport with my team for two months. Lived in the Hilton across the street for 71 days.

Mario Rodriguez: Very cool. I became a Hilton Diamond member, so my wife on businesses uses it and we walk into a Hilton and people like drop to their knees. We are now worthy of your presence here. It's like the most amazing thing. And uh, we built a trailer park on the airport. For everybody to live there. And it wasn't just us, it was American Airlines, it was families.

Mario Rodriguez: Sure. And we built a, a trailer park. Um. FI, I think it was about 150, 160 families lived there. Geez. And, and we had soccer fields and stuff. E even FEMA came over. They said, this is the nicest trailer park we've ever seen. I said, it should. You paid for it.

Mario Rodriguez: Barbecues and stuff like that. And every evening we'd have cookouts. It was wonderful. Among the horror. 

Sarah Hempstead: Right, right. It 

Mario Rodriguez: was wonderful. 

Sarah Hempstead: So fast forward to. To COVID, global pandemic, different kind of crisis. Yeah. Um, but it was, it 

Mario Rodriguez: was Katrina in slow motion 

Sarah Hempstead: were equally impactful to the airport and, and travel.

Sarah Hempstead: Mm-hmm. So, so what did you learn in that first, kind of, first round with chaos that you could use in this slow motion disaster? Well, 

Mario Rodriguez: we had, uh, when we went in, into, uh, COVID, I had, I had reserved 400 operating days. In liquidity. So in other words, what that means is the, the airport could operate for 400 days without revenue.

Mario Rodriguez: Now we've got about 600. So it, it really helped us, you know it. And really, it's the right thing to do, right? It's the right thing to do. We made sure that all our staff stayed employed. It would be incredibly inhuman to release staff. You know, things are happening. Nobody knows what's going on. You know, somebody asks me, well, what happens if you run out of reserves?

Mario Rodriguez: Well, 400 

Mario Rodriguez: days zombies will be popping out of the ground. Then we'll have another problem. You know, if this thing doesn't get solved in more than a year, we're in pretty big trouble right there. We might as well pack it up and go, 

Mario Rodriguez: you know, go try to survive in Alaska. Right? So, but we tried to make sure that our people were well taken care of.

Mario Rodriguez: And that everybody at the airport knew where the next meal was coming from, or I sent everybody home only on me, and a very, very small staff stayed at the airport. 

Sarah Hempstead: Right. And we 

Mario Rodriguez: stayed there every day. We used to go there. It was, it was, it was like Stephen King. We'd walk in. Walk down the, the concourse, there would be two flight 

Mario Rodriguez: people.

Mario Rodriguez: The, the flight crews. There'd be one passenger. You'd wave greets, tell the passenger bon vage, and that would be the flight. Well, let's go back to our offices now. 

Sarah Hempstead: So, so, uh, so now we're, now we're out of the pandemic. Yeah. Are things back to normal? Are are things different? 

Mario Rodriguez: Nothing is ever normal. Every, everybody believes that you should go back to a time.

Mario Rodriguez: Uh, so an idyllic time that never existed in the first place, by the way. Sure, sure. So everything changes. Everything changes. Now, COVID, what it did, it compressed time. So change happened quicker. So during COVID we were able to think about how our new organization was gonna look, who actually needed to be there, who could work remote, and so we had it all.

Mario Rodriguez: You know, I guess it's, it's the benefit of having a lot of time on your hands. Mm-hmm. So we got our financial ducks in a row for the future and everything worked out perfectly. I haven't heard of another organization that was back to work 100%. Now, back to work, 100% of the people in need to be back. Sure.

Mario Rodriguez: We do have permanent remote and we're looking at how the, or we looked at how the organization looked. Post COVID and now we're looking at how the organization looks 10 years from now and developing a structure for that organization to slowly move it into that direction. 

Sarah Hempstead: One of the things that I think is really interesting about what you're doing is the, uh, I know you've got the first ever Envision Platinum Award.

Sarah Hempstead: Oh yeah, absolutely. And, and I think that's indicative of looking forward into kind of what airports in the future are gonna need, need to do. So that's carbon capture, right? 

Mario Rodriguez: Oh, yes. Carbon Look, it's the first time that any runway has ever. Use that sort of method. Mm-hmm. So I think it equates to about 1.4 million trees or some, or some, something along those lines.

Mario Rodriguez: But we've gotten to the point that we need to do something and we, we, we, we need to do something a long time ago, but like human beings we're like frogs. We can't, we really don't react until the water's really boiling. Right. But guess what? The water's boiling. So, you know, whatever we could do, we have, and this is in the Midwest by the way.

Mario Rodriguez: We probably have one of the most cutting edge environmental program of any airport in the United States. You know, everything from LEED certified buildings. Mm-hmm. To electric buses, to carbon capture, and to one of the most sophisticated storm water treatment systems on the planet. I mean, what we're trying to do is mitigate.

Mario Rodriguez: The damage that we would've otherwise done in the environment because we have airplanes flying around and they cause damage. Sure. So we're trying to mitigate that. 

Sarah Hempstead: So I have to ask, because you mentioned the Midwest, you, you have lived in and come mm-hmm. Worked in some of my favorite cities in the United States.

Sarah Hempstead: Oh, Miami, new Orleans. Uh, California la Love la. Alright. Now you're Indianapolis, which I also love, but that is a major cultural shift from New Orleans. Oh yeah, yeah. 

Mario Rodriguez: Oh, absolutely. You know. I am here for one reason, because I love the people here. The people are the finest people that I've ever met in my, in my life.

Mario Rodriguez: I live around the world and genuinely nice, honest, hardworking people, which is kind of hard to find on this, in this world. And that's why I'm here. I'm not here for the weather. The weather pretty much sucks. 

Sarah Hempstead: That's fair. Well, I tell you, that is the number one thing I hear about our airport. It is beautiful and it is, uh, an easy place to navigate.

Sarah Hempstead: Mm-hmm. But when I have guests, the thing that people always say is, everyone at the airport was so nice and helpful and friendly and 

Mario Rodriguez: well, you, you're, you're an architect's. True. I'm an engineer's. True. You and I could build that building over and over and over again. Mm-hmm. Anywhere. Concrete sets, what is it at 21 days, whether it's here, 21, 28, 21, 28, 7, 28, I say 28 days.

Mario Rodriguez: Whether it's Moscow, whether it's Berlin, whether it's the real sauce is is people, right? That's the real capital we've got. And think about your stays in different high level hotels. Sure. One of the best hotels I've ever stayed is the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. 

Sarah Hempstead: Ah, yeah. 

Mario Rodriguez: It's over a hundred years old.

Mario Rodriguez: Mm-hmm. It doesn't have the size and the dimensions of a brand new hotel, right? No, not at all. But the people will make the difference. And, and really in most of these cases it's, we think it's bricks and mortars and that couldn't be farther from the truth. Now the bricks and mortars are, are very attractive.

Mario Rodriguez: It's a tool, it's a tool. But it has to be used by a really, really good team. And that's why we win awards all the time. We beat brand new airports all the time, and it has nothing to do with bricks and mortars. It has to do with our people. 

Sarah Hempstead: So what's next? What's the next big thing at the airport? 

Mario Rodriguez: We are rebuilding all the air, the infrastructure, the airfield, um, um, the runway that we're rebuilding right now.

Mario Rodriguez: We're pouring enough concrete to build a road from the airport to Terre Haute, just as an example. Uh, or to build a small pyramid of Giza. I had the engineers calculate it out. I figured it was kind of, sort of close. 

Sarah Hempstead: Yeah, it feels about right. 

Mario Rodriguez: Yeah, it feels just about right. So, and, uh, we're doing that. So that'll give you infrastructure for the next 40 years, right?

Mario Rodriguez: Mm-hmm. We're looking, we're expanding the, uh, the, the garage. We're looking at a new hotel. Mm-hmm. Which will be beautiful. It'll be stunning right in front. And we continue to add amenities to your experience at the airport. And by the way, all of this adds up to a better economy. 'cause all of this goes to local firms.

Mario Rodriguez: Hmm. 

Sarah Hempstead: So as you look back, you've been doing this for 30 years? 

Mario Rodriguez: Uh, more than 35. 

Sarah Hempstead: All right. More than 35. What, what would you tell, uh, young you about, uh, life, career? What advice do you wish somebody would've given you? 

Mario Rodriguez: This might sound weird, but follow me. None. All 

Sarah Hempstead: right. 

Mario Rodriguez: Because I truly believe, see, uh, we have technical knowledge, right?

Mario Rodriguez: Mm-hmm. And our technical knowledge is all the same, but your tacit knowledge, how you do things, really, it depends on the experiences you had in your life. 

Sarah Hempstead: Mm-hmm. 

Mario Rodriguez: I am who I am because of the experiences and the mistakes I've made. So I. Nothing, I wouldn't tell myself anything. Maybe buy Apple stock, but, um, a lot of it, but, uh, I am who I am because of the experiences I've had, good and bad.

Mario Rodriguez: And, you know, I could have told myself, don't go to New Orleans. But that was, and by the way, that was a flipping, horrifying experience. Uh, but uh, but then I wouldn't have that experience. 

Sarah Hempstead: That's right. That's right. Alright, so two, two final questions. Um, let me, let me start with, do you have a favorite story of being in the airport with all the experiences you've had?

Sarah Hempstead: What's your go-to story? 

Mario Rodriguez: I like to, and, and it just popped into my head. I like to see the families. Greet their loved ones. It's just such a heartwarming experience that you have little girls, like with signs and little boys waiting for their daddies and their mommies to come home or, you know, fiances to, to, there was a, there was a couple that even, uh, over in Long Beach that Southwest told us about, that they had gotten engaged on the Southwest light and, uh, we basically threw 'em a party when they came back.

Mario Rodriguez: So, you know, all these human connections are really what's important to me. And I still get calls from people that, that went through Katrina and went through the airport and kind of sort of remember me and caught my, and got my name and my email, and I still correspond with 'em. So it really is, it really is, it, it really is heartwarming to, to be able to make people's lives a little bit better.

Mario Rodriguez: That's awesome. 

Sarah Hempstead: All right, final question I ask everybody. Um, what are you reading that you would recommend everybody read? 

Mario Rodriguez: Hmm. There's two things I would recommend the classics, uh, like a a hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which everybody has to read that because it's a bizarre enough book, but please have a bottle of wine handy.

Mario Rodriguez: Um, and then there is this writer, Canadian writer called Louise Penny, and she writes a series. Of murder mysteries, but it has nothing to do with murder mysteries. That's a backdrop to a sensory experience, to croissants, to red wines, to beef ion in little taverns. And it's all based, it's all set in the eastern townships, east of Montreal and the Quebecois sort of cuisine, everything.

Mario Rodriguez: It's fascinating. And she, it, it's a, it's, it's like a rich tapestry. With kind of, sort of murder mystery in the background. 

Sarah Hempstead: Again, I think with a glass of wine in your hand's a perfect Exactly 

Mario Rodriguez: that. That would be the perfect thing. Yeah. 

Sarah Hempstead: Mario, thank you for spending time with me today. It's been such a pleasure.

Sarah Hempstead: And to learn more about the Indianapolis Airport Authority and why it's been voted the best airport in North America, visit i d.com And thank you for listening to Illuminate Navigating the Unknown through creative leadership. We hope this episode has inspired you and supplied valuable insight into the world of creative leadership.

Sarah Hempstead: Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcast so that you never miss an episode, and we'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. So connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at Schmidt Associates. Until next time, keep navigating the unknown with creativity and confidence.