From Sailor to Strategy Executive
An unconventional career path holds lessons for FMs
BY STEVEN PYATT
There are more than 25 million facility management practitioners worldwide, according to IFMA, and thousands more enter the field each year. But few people kick off their career in FM the way Brian Haines did. In 1982, Haines enlisted in the U.S. Navy and, as an electronics technician, first class, spent four and a half years maintaining, repairing and adjusting a range of electronic equipment on the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarines USS Groton and USS Dallas. The experience and life lessons he gained in that role would propel him through an illustrious career in the industry, culminating in his current role as senior director of business development and strategy for Johnson Controls.
The opportunities and challenges Haines encountered throughout his journey provide valuable lessons for FMs and showcase just how dynamic and exciting the role has become.
Navigating the Navy
When Haines joined the U.S. Navy, he carried on the legacy of his dad and uncles, all of whom had served in the armed forces. Most of his family members felt it was a foregone conclusion that Haines would one day become a sailor. Less certain, however, was the matter of what he would do once he signed up. Not long after he enlisted, Haines took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), a test used to evaluate the skills and abilities of military applicants. His results on the ASVAB were not helpful in narrowing down his choices.
“I scored high on the test,” Haines explained. “So that meant I could be pretty much anything I wanted to be.”
Haines was fascinated with mainframes, personal computers and other digital technology that was emerging at the time, so he decided to become an electronics technician — a role that shares several foundational skills with FM, including preventive and corrective maintenance. He spent the first two years of his enlistment in school, where he studied different aspects of electronics and FM, including preventive maintenance scheduling and how to run through corrective maintenance procedures. As his training progressed, Haines began managing equipment on real navy vessels, a pivotal moment in not only his young life, but in the shaping of a mindset that has served him well over the past 40 years.
“At just 19 or 20 years old, I was given a lot of responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep of these systems that essentially allowed the ship to operate. I took great pride in that, and it has motivated me throughout my career,” said Haines. “People will offer you responsibility. If you want it, you have to take it. Otherwise, someone else will.”
Volunteering to go nuclear
Even at his young age, Haines understood that, while some opportunities are offered, others must be taken. As his navy schooling neared completion, Haines decided that he wanted to carry out his role on a submarine rather than a surface ship. While many positions in the armed forces are assigned, submarine duty was voluntary and hard to attain. Having a grade point average near the top of his class was just one of many requirements he would have to meet to achieve his goal.
“I was sent to submarine school, and the real purpose of that is to weed out people who can’t take the pressure,” said Haines. “They would put me inside a closed steel tube to simulate a machine room, then flood it or fill it with smoke. My job was not just to stay calm, but to stay on task under very difficult circumstances.”
Haines passed those tests and was assigned to the nuclear submarine USS Groton, where he worked with equipment vital to navigation, communications, detection and tracking, recognition and identification, and electronic countermeasures. Haines spent four-and-a-half years on active duty, followed by two years of reserve duty, before he was honorably discharged.
From Bubbleheads to Wildcats
After being stationed in U.S. waterfront locales like San Diego, California, Great Lakes, Illinois, and Groton, Connecticut, throughout his enlistment, Haines chose someplace a bit more arid for the next step in his career journey: Tucson, Arizona. In 1992, he enrolled at the University of Arizona to pursue a bachelor’s degree in architecture. Not long after arriving on campus, Haines took a work-study job working on computer-aided design (CAD) plans for the university’s Center for Computing and Information Technology. Once again, Haines recognized an opportunity and was prepared to capitalize on it.
“I had been taking a class in AutoCAD back in Connecticut, and was probably one of the earliest people to become an expert in it,” said Haines. “I was only in that work-study job for about a month before the space planning department offered to pay me to take over their AutoCAD library, which consisted of plans for 100 buildings and 10 million square feet of floor space.”
Despite also having to make time for an architecture school schedule that Haines described as “brutal,” he was able to parlay that job into a full-time position.
“It didn’t take long for me to become the de facto office IT manager, installing servers and things like that. I pointed out to my boss that I was doing the work of multiple employees, so they created a new role for me,” said Haines. “Within two months, I had gone from being an out-of-state student with a work-study job paying four bucks an hour to a state employee with health insurance and in-state tuition. It was like winning the lottery.”
While it was not quite the same as having to perform complex tasks in a flooding, claustrophobic tube, juggling the demands of being both a full-time student and full-time employee was not easy for Haines. Nevertheless, he earned a promotion to management analyst and remained in that role until he graduated in 1997.
Heading back east
After kicking off his FM career with the hands-on role of maintenance technician, Haines traded in the soldering iron and oscilloscope for more software-based tools as a CAD technician and management analyst at the University of Arizona. Now, with an architecture degree in hand and a couple years of space and occupancy analysis experience, Haines discovered that he was a hot commodity.
“When I started putting my resume out there, it was a tough time for the economy. Most students weren’t getting jobs very easily,” said Haines. “But, because I had this technical background and knew AutoCAD like nobody’s business, I had more offers than you could imagine.”
The offer Haines accepted took him back to New England at a unique architecture firm in New Hampshire. The firm was funding a startup that developed software for managing large construction projects. While Haines initially split his time at the firm between helping the startup and working toward his required architecture internship, he eventually shifted focus to the software company. As director of product and professional services, Haines was instrumental in guiding the business through acquisitions and an IPO.
“For as long as I can remember, my career decisions have been guided by three principles: embrace opportunities, don’t be afraid to take responsibility and be open to learning new things,” said Haines. “This role really required all of those things from me, and it ended up being a turning point in getting me where I am today.”
From sailor to strategy executive
Where Haines is today is approaching his 13-year anniversary with FM:Systems, now part of Johnson Controls. As senior director of business development and strategy, Haines plays a leading role in guiding development of the company’s OpenBlue digital platform.
Though his time in the U.S. Navy is now several decades behind him, Haines still relies every day on some of the tenets and approaches he learned back then. Regarding problem solving, for example, Haines emphasizes the importance of boundless creativity and being able to do a lot with a little.
“If something broke at sea, we couldn’t just order a spare part online for next-day delivery. We had to be creative and find a solution with very limited resources available,” said Haines. “Sometimes, that meant making what you needed out of whatever materials you could find. The solution didn’t have to be sophisticated; it just had to work.”
He also shaped his systems approach from his naval experience.
“When something goes wrong, many people search for a solution by going at it directly and focusing on the details,” explained Haines. “I tend to stand back and look at the bigger picture and figure out a path to go forward that way.”
Though he admits that it might not be the best advice to follow as an electronics technician on a nuclear submarine, Haines still follows the mantra, “fail fast, fail forward.”
“Don't be afraid to fail if you can iterate quickly based on the lessons learned from that failure,” said Haines.
Conclusion
Brian Haines’ journey from his enlistment to his current role reflects the broad range of know-how and experience today’s FMs embody, running the gamut from working with their hands in tight spaces and high-pressure situations, to being able to navigate complex technology applications and platforms and make important decisions based on multiple data inputs.
As the FM role evolves alongside workplace expectations and smart building technology, Haines’ journey underscores the importance of adaptability, systems thinking and a lifelong commitment to learning.