Straight Talk – an ISSA Podcast

Accountability comes easily when the conversation centers on employees, supervisors and frontline managers. Expectations get set, performance gets tracked, and someone steps in when results fall short.

What does the future of advocacy look like for the IICRC and the industries it serves?

At The Experience Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas recently, three physicians spent their days talking not with patients but with carpet cleaners and disaster restoration contractors. 

What happens when a cleaning employee reports harassment—and is your company prepared to handle it correctly?

It's time to give the next generation the opportunity—and freedom—to lead.

When a hurricane makes landfall, a tornado tears through a community, flooding overwhelms a town, or a wildfire forces thousands to evacuate, restoration contractors often arrive ready to help—but long before that first truck rolls in, an enormous communication network is already hard at work.

What did it take to bring two distribution giants to the same table? This is the inside story.

Collecting 5-star feedback is the easy part. Putting it to work is where most cleaning and restoration companies stop short.

Why do so many business owners dread conversations about accountability? The answer may surprise you. 

Hiring employees is hard enough. Doing it without an HR department can feel nearly impossible.

Most facility teams can say how much soap a building goes through in a month. They can pull cleaning frequencies, towel usage, service calls, and complaint logs. What almost none of them track is whether the person who walks into the restroom can finish washing their hands and get back out the door without touching something.

What does it take to launch a manufacturing company in today's commercial cleaning industry?

Sustainability is no longer limited to environmental responsibility. For today's professional cleaning organizations, it is increasingly connected to efficiency, customer value, risk management, regulatory readiness, and long-term business resilience.

Laura Craven joins ISSA as Vice President of Marketing and Communications, bringing years of industry leadership and a passion for building strong member relationships. 

Insurance has always been about managing risk, but many restoration professionals believe the claims process has become increasingly difficult to navigate. 

For decades, the restoration industry has played a critical role in helping property owners recover from water damage, fire losses, mold contamination, storm events, and other disasters. Yet despite its specialized expertise, restoration has never had its own dedicated federal industry classification. That may soon change.

Artificial intelligence isn't just changing how service companies operate. It's changing how customers buy. Companies that rely on outdated sales tactics or slow follow-up may lose business before they even know they were being considered.

Growth is exciting. More customers, more employees, more trucks on the road all look like success. But behind that growth, many building service contractors are discovering a harder truth: revenue doesn't automatically translate into profit.

As ISSA President, Laurie Sewell has had the opportunity to connect with professionals from every corner of the cleaning and facility solutions industry. 

AI is transforming the workplace, but is it also changing the way employees think?

At just 12 years old, Olivia Haynes accomplished something few people in the restoration industry can claim: She has earned dual IICRC certifications in Water Damage Restoration (WRT) and Applied Structural Drying (ASD). 

What does it take to build a cleaning company that thrives for more than 40 years? See how KB Building Services made it all work. 

Disaster preparedness doesn't begin when the storm arrives—it starts long before the first warning is issued.

In this episode, Allen Rathey, founder and executive director of the Indoor Exposure Index (INDEX), discusses why ISSA's leadership role within the Healthy Buildings Workgroup through WELL could help elevate the cleaning industry's influence in the broader conversation about occupant health, wellness, and building performance.

How much does your facility really spend on cleaning—and are you measuring real costs?

Can AI really help cleaning companies hire better employees—or is it just another overhyped technology?

What does it take to build a restoration company that stands the test of time?

What does it take to build a restoration company that scales across multiple states while maintaining a strong culture and family foundation?

Krystie Reeves, the owner of BioteamAZ, shares the story behind the company's growth from a family-owned startup to a statewide provider of biohazard remediation, trauma cleanup, and specialty restoration services. 

Artificial intelligence is no longer the shiny new toy it was a year or two ago. Most business owners have experimented with it, many use it daily, and some are already building AI-powered workflows into their operations. As adoption has matured, so have the mistakes.

But they won't save a business that doesn't know its numbers.

What does it take to keep one of the nation's largest university facilities and housing systems running smoothly? 

Most organizations invest significant time and effort into winning new customers, but far fewer focus on what happens after the contract is signed. 

America turns 250 years old this year, but according to today's guest, one thing hasn't changed: Small businesses still carry the water.

Experience can be a powerful advantage—but it can also become a liability when professionals stop adapting. 

The conversation about the labor shortage in cleaning and facility services usually sounds the same: “Nobody wants to work anymore.” Add to that, “Turnover is at an all-time high.” But what if the real issue is that cleaning companies are competing against entirely different industries, POWERFUL industries, for the same people—and losing? 

What does it take to prepare a cleaning company for long-term success? In this episode, Paul Greenland, CEO of Ikigai Management Consultants and an ISSA Consulting partner, discusses how organizations can strengthen leadership, improve operational performance, prepare for CIMS certification, and build systems that support sustainable growth. 

The future of facility management is becoming increasingly connected, automated, and data-driven. To help cleaning and facility professionals navigate this changing landscape, ISSA has partnered with Smart Building Bootcamp to provide practical education focused on smart buildings, artificial intelligence, robotics, workplace technologies, cybersecurity awareness, and more.

In this conversation, Derek Oliveira, ISSA's Associate Director of Education, Training, and Field Services, shares insights from a career dedicated to professional development, industry advancement, and supporting cleaning professionals at every stage of their journey.

As the world prepares for the largest FIFA World Cup in history, the focus extends far beyond the stadium gates. With 48 teams, millions of fans, and thousands of support personnel moving through hotels, airports, training facilities, transportation hubs, and public venues across North America, cleanliness, infection prevention, and operational resilience will be critical to the tournament's success.

Grassroots advocacy is no longer just a conversation happening in Washington—it's happening at the state level, and restoration professionals are being called to participate. 

Most companies believe they have a hiring problem. In reality, many have a hiring process problem.

Steve Ashkin, founder of The Ashkin Group, discusses the key themes from his article about advocacy and sustainability.  

Just how smart is artificial intelligence these days? It depends on whom you ask. And when it comes to resilient flooring, AI may not be as smart as some people think.

Autonomous cleaning is everywhere right now—but what actually works in the real world? In this episode, Chris Ford, EVP of Robotics and Innovation with KBS, shares a grounded, provider-side perspective on how robotics and AI are being deployed in cleaning operations today. 

Laurie Sewell, president of ISSA, shares insights and strategies for C-Suite professionals.

Most business owners have experimented with AI—but many walked away frustrated by generic answers, weak output, and complicated prompts. In this conversation, Dean Mercado explains why the problem usually isn't the AI tool itself. It's the missing foundation behind it.

A great proposal should build confidence—not confusion. In this conversation, we explore why clarity often outperforms complexity in cleaning and restoration proposals, how overloaded estimates can hurt sales, and what business owners can do to create proposals customers actually understand and trust. 

What does it take to develop effective enzymatic detergents for today's healthcare environments? In this episode, we explore how detergent manufacturers validate cleaning performance, differentiate their products, and support healthcare facilities searching for safer, smarter cleaning solutions.

Winning a contract is only half the battle—executing a smooth transition is where the real pressure begins. In this episode, Randy Burke and Jason Little at DCS Global break down one of the biggest hidden challenges in the cleaning and facility services industry: transition anxiety. 

What happens when a university engineering project turns into a global technology company helping major facility service organizations digitize operations?