Max Laughlin

Present. Agile. Energetic.

Current Employer & Job Title: VP Supply, Integrations Lead

Age: 36 | Hometown: Plattsburgh, NY

Education: BA in Spanish from the University at Buffalo

If enthusiasm could be bottled and distributed across the North Country, Max Laughlin would probably volunteer to lead the logistics operation. Spend five minutes with him and you quickly realize two things: first, he genuinely loves people; second, he somehow operates at a pace that would exhaust most normal humans. Max has mastered something many leaders spend decades trying to figure out—how to be intensely driven without taking himself too seriously.

In three words, how would others describe your personal brand—and where do those traits show up most in your work? 

Present, agile and energetic.  In my work, I always want to be available to all other employees in the company to help them with any scenario or to send them in the right direction.  I wear a lot of different hats in my current position as I did in previous jobs so agility and productive multi-tasking have always been a strength and need for me.  And I always bring energy, wherever I go.  Energy (and some volume) and positivity are infectious and help to bring out the best in people, and these traits are completely under our own control.

What aspect of your organization’s culture do you protect or promote most fiercely—and how have you influenced it? 

We are a very versatile and customer-focused operation.  To be clear, we aren’t perfect.  But we always try to do right by our customers and give them reasons to keep coming back.  In my current position, so much of what I do is based on improving our operations and trying to remove obstacles for our sales teams.  My impact is based mostly on my accessibility and dedication to getting better every day, as an employee and as a company.  If that rubs off even a little bit on someone, then it is a successful day for me.

Where do you invest your time outside of work, and what motivates your commitment to those efforts? 

Family and food.  I love spending time with my wife and two kids and love cooking, eating, serving, cleaning the kitchen; anything food adjacent.  Family is everything and there is nothing more important to me than being a stellar partner and father.  And food is a great unifying agent as well as something that makes everyone happy.

Who has most influenced your leadership style—and what specific lesson from them still shapes how you lead today? 

I would have to say my mom.  She has always been a stabilizing factor in my life and in her professional career and I strive for that, especially professionally.  Being present, available, and the hardest and most dedicated person in the room can take you very far in life and doesn’t take much talent but does require discipline and energy.

Where are you making your greatest impact right now—in your organization, industry, or community—and how do you measure it? 

That is a loaded question.  I suppose that would be in my work community because I am so involved with so many projects across our 17 branches.  Honestly, my main measuring stick is the feedback that I receive from my manager.  I work for a great boss whom I trust implicitly to point me in the right direction while also giving me constructive feedback (positive and negative) whenever needed.

What’s something about you that would surprise people—and what does it reveal about how you think or operate? 

I am a fairly competent Spanish speaker after having spent almost a year and a half in Spain while in college.  It comes out from time to time in our industry, especially when I am travelling to our out of state branches and I love using it when I can.  I think it mostly goes back to how I love diversity in life and work and always want to try new things and be learning.  Having a conversation with a native Spanish speaker as a fairly generic looking white guy always leads to fun interactions and high-quality engagement with people.

What is one lesson your career has taught you that you had to learn the hard way—and how has it changed you?  You are rarely the smartest person in the room.  I learned that early on and it has really helped me to always be listening and learning.

8. What is the biggest professional or personal risk you’ve taken—and would you make the same decision again? Why or why not? 

My wife and I moved out to Montana six months after getting married where I took a job working for my aunt and uncle in a completely unfamiliar and highly volatile industry.  I know we would both agree to do it again, 10 times out of 10.  It led to so much personal and professional growth; to be put in a new place, in a new job, in a new and difficult industry, with much less of a support group that we had previously.  It truly enriched our lives in a myriad of unexpected ways.

9. The North Country’s “Gen IQ” reflects how well we lead, market to, and innovate across generations. Where are we getting it right—and where do we need to evolve? 

We continue to be a comfortable and easy place to live, raise a family and enjoy life outside of work.  We check so many boxes for personal fulfillment and always have.  It would be great to see some evolution in our school districts, access to developmental resources and the familial/scholastic support programs that we offer.  My wife works at CVES and all the feedback that I get from her and her coworkers is that the resources for our most vulnerable children are extremely scarce in this area.  It seems to be to the point that there were more resources for impacted children where we lived in rural Montana than there are here in Northern NY.

What’s one idea, belief, or change you hope to see shape the future of leadership in our region? 

That change is good.  The North Country has been so constant in its offerings, quality of life and general environment for so long that I think it makes it easy to think “We don’t need to change.”  But change breeds growth and new opportunities, even if it’s hard or intimidating on its face.