THE INTERVIEW | JUSTIN BROWN


Unirope technician assembling a Grade 100 chain sling.


allowed him to adopt a fresh viewpoint on the business and watch how key decisions compound over time. “I have seen how a product decision can improve efficiencies for a customer, how an investment in training strengthens future performance and how a short-term compromise can create a much larger problem years later,” he remarks. “That long-term perspective has shaped how I lead. It is easy to measure the immediate result of a sale, a cost reduction or an operational change. It is more difficult but equally important to consider how that decision affects the company’s reputation, technical capabilities and ability to serve customers in the future.”


A spark of passion The industry drew Brown in very early. The chance to meet people who had spent decades working with wire rope and rigging, yet were still learning something new every day, was inspiring. “That combination of experience and humility made a strong impression on me,” he says. “It showed me that this was an industry where expertise is never complete and where curiosity remains valuable at every stage. I was also attracted to the tangible nature of the work. The


38 Fall 2026 | ochmagazine.com


products we supply and the advice we provide are used in real operating environments.” There is a direct connection between a


technical decision made and the performance of equipment in the field. That responsibility and purpose motivate him. Though the products themselves can appear simple, they have an underlying complexity because manufacturing tolerances are precise, product variations are extensive and the range of applications is almost endless. “A wire rope or rigging component may be


relatively small, but its performance can have an outsized effect on safety, productivity and reliability,” he explains. “At first glance, selecting a product may seem to be a matter of meeting a required strength. In reality, the strongest product is not always the right one. The optimal solution depends on understanding the full application. “The real expertise lies not only in knowing


the technical specifications, but also in knowing which questions to ask.” Brown’s love of the company, and the job, is due partly to his willingness to learn from others. Along with his parents, he has been strongly influenced by mentors within the company. He cites Unirope’s former president Knut Buschmann


as the most important professional influence in his career, as both mentor and close friend. “What made Knut such an effective mentor was that he did not simply teach me how the business worked. He taught me how to think about responsibility, judgment and leadership.” Buschmann believed the devil is in the details. Although many aspects of the industry seem simple, the volume of information and the small variables that influence performance – how products are manufactured, tested, selected, installed and used – creates complexity. “Any one of those details may appear minor in


isolation, but together they determine whether a solution performs as intended,” Brown believes. “That lesson shaped my view of business more broadly. Strong companies are often distinguished not by one dramatic decision, but by their ability to make thousands of small decisions well and consistently. Attention to detail is an organisational capability that protects quality, reduces risk, strengthens customer confidence and prevents problems.” Brown learnt many crucial lessons from this


relationship, including the fact that purpose and profit are not competing priorities, and that leaders should remain close to their industry,


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