458 Hiring Olympics and High-Performance Culture with J.D. Roth
Release Date: 01/09/2026
463 Mapping the Future of Water Innovation with Paul O’Callaghan
Scaling UP! H2O
“If you say something over and over often and enough, it becomes true because perception is reality.” has built a career at the intersection of water science, wastewater realities, and the practical question every operator and executive eventually faces; what actually moves innovation from idea to adoption. As Founder and CEO of, Paul explains how his team helps decision-makers put capital to work more efficiently in water by reducing uncertainty and separating signal from noise. He describes patterns he’s watched repeat across water entrepreneurs, pilots, and...
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462 From Lab Chemist to Field Mentor: Water, Culture, and Representation
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial water work rewards people who can move between precision and practicality. brings both. She started as a lab chemist, then transitioned into field service with , where much of her work supports healthcare facilities and high-accountability programs. Lab habits that protect your tools and your data Katie describes the first surprise of field work: a central plant is “very dirty,” and the job demands good technique without chasing lab-level perfection. She shares a couple of simple practices that prevent expensive problems. Use proper lab wipes on...
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461 Corrosion, Lead, and Algae: New Tools for Old Water Problems
Scaling UP! H2O
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460 Building Boiler Talent: Fundamentals, Online Training, and Better Partnerships with Eric Johnson
Scaling UP! H2O
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459 From Wastewater to Resource: Water Reuse with Dr. Veronika Zhiteneva
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial water professionals are increasingly pulled into conversations about scarcity, resilience, and “where the next gallon comes from.” , CEO and Co-founder of frames water reuse as an implementation challenge more than a technology gap—and explains where the practical starting points are when the scope feels overwhelming. Moving reuse forward when the technology already exists Waterloop Solutions was founded to accelerate implementation: clarifying end-use quality, identifying post-treatment needs on the back end of...
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458 Hiring Olympics and High-Performance Culture with J.D. Roth
Scaling UP! H2O
"Stay curious. And you only have one reputation. Guard it with your life." Hiring for judgment, not just rehearsed confidence Industrial water treatment is full of decisions made with incomplete data—on sites, with customers, and inside the business. (Managing Director and Co-owner of ) builds his hiring around that reality. His aim is straightforward: protect the team and the culture by selecting people who can think, collaborate, and lead under pressure. JD frames the organization as a group of people choosing to work toward a common goal: building a better future for...
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457 2026: A New Year with New Intentions
Scaling UP! H2O
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456 The 12 Days of Scaling UP! H2O 2025
Scaling UP! H2O
A year-end recap is more than a highlight reel—it’s a practical reset. In this New Year episode, Trace Blackmore walks through 2025 using a “12 Days of the Scaling Up Nation” format, tying together performance, community growth, listener engagement, and the sponsor support that keeps the podcast and its companion tools available at no cost. Year-end by the numbers Trace explains how he used to track every stat closely—and how that shifted into an unhealthy measure of self-worth—so the team now uses numbers as feedback, not validation. He notes the...
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455 Mentors, Mindset, and the CWT: Owning Your Water Career with Nella Fergusson
Scaling UP! H2O
“So one thing I never do is try to start giving remediation or advice before I truly have understood and diagnosed the problem.” Mentorship and certifications don’t replace experience—but they can accelerate it when paired with the right mindset and a disciplined approach to learning. (District Manager, Southern California, ), lays out what “growing up” in industrial water treatment actually looks like: repeated exposure to real problems, strong diagnostic habits, and a willingness to keep learning long after year one. Learning that keeps...
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454 Water Recycling, Innovation, and Industry Wisdom with Dr. Kelle Zeiher
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial cooling is one of the biggest levers industrial facilities can pull on water use—and it’s getting harder to ignore as data centers and other high-heat operations grow. Returning guest (Project Manager at ) breaks down what water reuse looks like when you move past slogans and into the realities of pretreatment, concentrate management, footprint, and cost. Cooling water reuse: the scale of the opportunity Dr. Zeiher reframes “drought” beyond rainfall, emphasizing aquifer recharge and the limits of focusing only on household restrictions. She...
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"Stay curious. And you only have one reputation. Guard it with your life."
Hiring for judgment, not just rehearsed confidenceIndustrial water treatment is full of decisions made with incomplete data—on sites, with customers, and inside the business. JD Roth (Managing Director and Co-owner of Guardian Chemicals) builds his hiring around that reality. His aim is straightforward: protect the team and the culture by selecting people who can think, collaborate, and lead under pressure.
JD frames the organization as a group of people choosing to work toward a common goal: building a better future for communities, the environment, and staff. That priority shows how Guardian hires, who they keep, and what becomes a deal-breaker. If a candidate is misaligned with core values, JD is clear: performance elsewhere won’t override that mismatch.
The “Hiring Olympics” structure
For a high-bandwidth, project-based role (their Graduate Business Analyst program), Guardian needed a way to evaluate many strong candidates without consuming 40–50 hours of team time. The result is a four-hour, multi-station day that includes:
- Core values interviews (two-person format)
- Competency interviews (horsepower and capability)
- An individual case study (primarily math/business-oriented)
- A collaborative case study (decision-making and team dynamics)
The collaborative case study is the centerpiece. Candidates work with peers who are also competitors for limited roles, using real cases built around business decisions—often with imperfect or incomplete information—so the team can observe how candidates break down problems, delegate, support others, and present recommendations.
How decisions get made afterward
After candidates leave, the interview team convenes for a group decision. JD starts by looking for any “vetoes,” especially around core values to fit (he references an EOS-style standard of meeting 5 out of 6 core values most of the time). From there, the team compares notes across competency, core values, and observed collaboration behaviors.
Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps
02:20 – Trace Blackmore shares part of a real-world service routine and ongoing professional improvement
05:35 – Upcoming Events for Water Treatment Professionals
12:00 – Words of Water with James McDonald
13:52 – Fun Fact about 1903 from this day
14:28 – Interview with JD Roth, Managing Director and Co-Owner of Guardian Chemicals
15:20 - “A company is people”
19:00 – First solo site lesson: ask for help vs. pretend
25:10 – The GBA Program (Graduate Business Analyst)
27:50 – Hiring Olympics format + Efficiency
33:30 – “Ping pong balls in a jumbo jet” example
39:10 – Selection rules: Core values veto + EOS bar + Values list
Quotes
JD:“And if you've got great people and you take care of great people, they take care of your customers, and your customers take care of you.”
JD: “There really isn't a company. There is just a whole bunch of people who have decided to work together towards a common goal.”
Trace: “I can only imagine how empowered your team feels because they're so involved in this process and you're involving everybody”
Trace: “I love the fact that we're diving deeper into the most important thing, and that's protecting and enhancing our culture.”
Connect with JD Roth 
Email: jdroth@guardianchem.ca
Website: http://www.guardianchem.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-david-jd-roth-58714113/
Guest Resources Mentioned
Harvard Business Review Case Studies
Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
AWT Technical Training Seminars
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen. R. Covey
Fearless Pricing: Ignite Your Team, Own Your Value, and Command What You Deserve by Casey Brown
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg
Charles Duhigg — “The science behind dramatically better conversations” (TEDxManchester)
457 2026: A New Year with New Intentions
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Words of Water with James McDonald
Today's definition is an ion with a net positive charge, formed when an atom or molecule loses one or more electrons. Can you guess the word or phrase?
2026 Events for Water Professionals
Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we’ve listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.
