Leading an award-winning enterprise is no easy task. Staying focused on finding success and working towards it requires being honest to one’s values, supported equally with passion and ambition. This is precisely what John Marrinucci, President and Managing Partner of RK Mission Critical (RKMC), offers to the company and his team.
“Success is becoming the person that represents what you believe. My ethos includes courage, honor, loyalty, integrity and selflessness. When I live my life day to day according to my ethos, I have done the best I can with the gifts I have been given,” explains John.
Serving as a United States Navy Nuclear Engineer on a fast-attack nuclear submarine, John developed values and priorities, like respect for all individuals and their input, an emphasis on training, team before self, staying mission-focused on projects and tasks, and maintaining full transparency.
Motivating the individuals on his team comes naturally to John. “I truly believe that my team is an extension of my family and my ideal team is happy, dedicated and hardworking. I care about their business and their personal problems. Caring for people and creating an environment to grow and develop is all people need to do their best and many times exceed expectations. I’m proud of my team and I let them know that every day.”
“Each individual is familiar with their roles and responsibilities, strives for excellence, and makes every effort to grow and learn. With all that said, I strive to create a safe and stress-free environment so each individual on the team is content, productive and has the opportunity for advancement and the ability to meet their personal goals. When a team is respected and encouraged to grow and succeed, they will perform at high standards and develop a competitive edge that exceeds all expectations,” he explains.
John believes he is a hands-on leader, and part of a ‘large business with a small entrepreneurial feel to it’. He mentions that his mother and father instilled a sense of pride in challenging oneself to use his God-given talents and make a difference in the world. Being a leader and being accountable is a way of life. He has always been a natural leader whether on the sports field or in a business environment.
“I have two primary responsibilities: one is to meet or exceed the financial goals for the company while establishing a sustainable competitive advantage. The second is to create an environment that allows all my employees the opportunity to develop and reach their personal goals.
“My day is made up of a mixture of phone calls, meetings, walking around my facilities, and helping my direct reports solve problems. Each day might be a little different and the areas of concern may also be different. I spend a lot of my time on the front end of the business getting work, talking to customers, developing future projects or products,” and these, he explains, are possible due to the one driving force – passion.
Challenges arise in any business, and construction is no exception. John likes to refer to them as ‘scars’. “I use a term for the wrestling with and experiencing the challenges regardless of the outcome as “scars. Each scar you get prepares you for the challenges you have ahead of you. You learn more from the challenges than you do when things are going great. You learn to embrace the challenge and conflict to learn and hone your business skills and decision making.”
Throughout his career, John has learned valuable lessons from his “scars and applies those lessons everyday day personally and with managing his team at RK Mission Critical. “A highly technical person who is one-sided in any field is only as valuable as he can relate to others and be a highly functioning member of a team. Team before self trumps all things. If you have the right people and they can gel and work as a team, they are unstoppable.”
Molding a Winner
RK Mission Critical (RKMC) is a Denver, Colorado-based company that started in 2015 providing industry leadership in custom-engineered modular systems for the data center market. Today, RKMC is an ISO-certified company and a top competitor for manufactured custom-engineered modular solutions for data, telecom, power and other mission-critical markets.
“Today’s speed to market requirements and the rapidly changing technologies requires companies to design, build, integrate, deploy and operate more complex mission-critical infrastructure than ever before. RK Industries is an innovator and leader in construction, manufacturing, fabrication, and building services, utilizing the latest technologies and strategies available,” he explains.
RKMC is an RK business focused solely on the implementation of offsite manufacturing techniques to reduce project risk and increase customers’ competitive advantage. The organization is a single-source provider with the experience and knowledge required to conceive, design, engineer, manufacture, and integrate the right products and solutions for industries addressing challenges in a constantly evolving mission critical marketplace.
“Products and solutions are designed in collaboration with our customers utilizing our library of reference designs, built offsite and integrated into our quality-controlled manufacturing facility and then deployed and seamlessly integrated onsite.
“We take on a holistic and organic approach with our customers. We develop a relationship with our customers that encourages a partnership that will enhance both companies, while we work together to become complementary to one another. This promotes transparency, honesty and teamwork.”
RK Mission Critical’s facilities consist of 280,000 sq. ft. of world-class manufacturing space. . The company builds out 95% of its products while controlling the supply chain with the support of RK’s other six RKI businesses, its 320,000 sq. ft. of fabrication facilities and its combined 1,400 employees.
From Brave Beginnings
John Marrinucci’s career began after he graduated from the US Naval Academy and was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy. He served on a nuclear power fast attack submarine. This experience is what he believes set the highest standards of personal integrity, performance, and leadership. “My best recognition was early in my career being early promoted to the Operations Officer position on the submarine because of my personal and my division’s performance in several critical operational situations at sea. All the experiences I have ever had have led me to this position of leadership at RKMC. I’ve found there is always a material reason for my being at particular companies I have led because of the special needs of a company or a special experience I can bring to make it successful. Sometimes the reason is only completely understood after I leave the company,” he states.
Doing what he does best, John admits that it is often difficult to maintain a balance, especially during periods of fast growth. He mentions that his “strategy for balance is three-fold: Hire the best people and delegate. Set daily limits for a time in the office. Don’t take work home.”
For RKMC and its employees, John’s main goal is continued growth and company success. “We will continue to be an innovator and a leader in the markets we serve. RKMC’s foundation is built on values prioritizing accountability, close customer relationships and a sense of urgency. “Our customers become our family and we collaborate extensively with them on all levels. Our goal is to become both a trusted advisor and a partner to our customers. Our team is driven to continuously improve. Utilizing the ISO 9001 and Lean Six Sigma principles, we adhere to the highest quality standards. We are a technology-neutral vendor and our attention to detail is second to none. Using our knowledge and experience with a wide range of cooling, power and manufacturing strategies, our technical solution engineers provide our customers with value-added, innovative solutions,” says John.
His advice to aspiring business leaders is to , live with honor and integrity in their personal and professional life. The two cannot be separated, care about and have faith in your employees and acknowledge their accomplishments, act justly, be humble and show compassion.
“It’s not difficult to stay motivated because I’m doing what I love to do. There is nothing more rewarding than to make an idea into a reality and develop the next generation of leaders in the process.”
