means to life coach participants. (Erickson had hired Olson from DynCorp, initially to help business development and financial management of its government business.) “I have a whole trailer full of workout equipment for the nonprofit. We offer workout classes to whoever wants them, ranging from students or people that were laid off who can’t afford high-level coaching and training, to
professional athletes and
doctors. In a workout, titles and positions don’t matter. It’s about how much effort you have. It’s about pushing yourself physically, but more so about breaking through mental barriers that hold you back,” he says. When Olson returned to Erickson after 18 months, he relinquished his Element Fitness managerial responsibilities, but still coaches weekend and 5:30 a.m. classes before reporting to work at Erickson. As coaching is his passion, it’s no surprise that leading the classes is his main hobby. “That’s what I spend my spare time doing because it’s really who I am,” he says. “I’m a coach both at Erickson of a business team and a fitness coach away from work. In both roles, I have to get people to trust me to make adjustments to unlock potential they didn’t even know they had. That can happen in a workout; that can also happen at work.”
Fueling Faith
Where does all this motivational drive come from? Olson finds fuel in his faith. “Faith is probably the most important part of my life. It helps guide me. For me, spending time in the Bible is most important,” he
shares. Still, he takes in much more than his go-to Bible. He also reads “a ton of business books.” Some faves are Extreme Ownership, Team of Teams, and Traction. Outside of business books, right now he’s also reading The Joy of Movement by Dr. Kelly McGonigal about the benefits of group fitness, and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield that explains how to unleash the creative inside of all of us. “So that’s on the mental and emotional side,” says Olson. “I feel like we should be constantly and intentionally growing emotionally, mentally, relationally, and spiritually. I also think it’s incumbent for me and everyone else to challenge ourselves in these areas.” His hardest physical challenge was training for and finishing a recent triathlon.
Rotorcraft Challenges and Erickson Opportunities
In addition to challenging himself, Olson also thinks that the rotorcraft sector is being challenged, but it’s a trial that Erickson Inc. is positioned to turn into an opportunity. Olson sees the biggest challenge for the rotary-wing sector as the volatility of the market of customers like the oil and gas industry that purchase rotorcraft services. When a downturn happens in a customer base, it ripples throughout the rotorcraft industry. “As our rotary-wing customers’ markets fluctuate, it’s very hard for helicopter operators to acquire increasingly expensive helicopter assets and maintain those assets,” Olson says. “The cost of new helicopter technology keeps rising, and the cost of that technology gets scary
high to invest in and maintain if you don’t have a stable market you serve. I honestly think the misalignment between a very asset-heavy business (like rotorcraft) and a very volatile end market is what creates a lot of challenges in the market today.”
This misalignment that Olson perceives also creates opportunities for Erickson. “We at Erickson are sitting in the middle of all this. We are a small enough OEM that can take some new technologies and integrate them into legacy models to enhance that legacy’s application performance in its niche-specific mission set, and also enhance the legacy’s sustainability. When we successfully integrate new technology (e.g. engines, avionics, composite rotor blades) with tested and proven legacy models, we have an application that does its specific job very well, and the new substitute for that is going to be very expensive because by the time when newly integrated models are finally certified by the FAA, they cost a lot of money.” An example of this approach is the recently announced development agreement that will integrate Sikorsky’s modern Matrix autonomous technology into Erickson’s fleet of S-64 Aircranes to fight wildfires. Olson says, “There probably isn’t a more honorable way to commercially use Matrix technology than fighting fires.”
Olson is obviously big on honor, whether it’s his family, his faith, his rotorcraft career, or charitably coaching his community.
rotorcraftpro.com
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