Patrick Decker is the CEO of Xylem. Xylem is the fourth largest water business in the World and a water and wastewater technology company that's well known for its motto: "Let's solve water."

Eleven years ago, almost day for day, ITT spun off its water business to create Xylem. That move itself didn't change much, but the eleven years' journey that followed profoundly reshaped the company and, by extension, many aspects of the Water Industry itself. 

Patrick Decker has been leading that transformation for now almost nine years, and in a sometimes very conservative Water Sector, he's bringing much of a fresh breath! 

For instance, a couple days ahead of his WEFTEC visit, he shared on social media which days he would attend and invited anyone to come to talk with him at Xylem's booth. And as we'll discuss today, as walking the talk is a critical pillar of his values, he also really had those informal discussions: the perks of being approachable.

Does Xylem need the exposure of this podcast? Not at all; they already draw 1 billion people to their campaigns through their partnership with the City Football Group. But I think we all need the inspiration Patrick shares today.

Before even recording, he mentioned how he would be worse of a guest than his brilliant colleagues Austin Alexander and Sivan Zamir that already appeared on that microphone. It wasn't humble brag but a sound respect for his team.

And during and after recording, he addressed me as a peer in this Water Industry - which arguably I'm by no means, as I would be aware if I was leading a 5 billion business. 

What I want to underline here is how inspirational it is to see this kind of Water Leader. We know the challenges ahead, and it's good to see those qualities in the captains of the boats!

Patrick was kind enough to stop by my microphone to share this wisdom shot. But he also had to continue his journey, as he was awaited on scene to give his talk, which makes for a short episode today. 

As you can imagine, I have dozen more questions that I would love to raise him, and that's where you can help me to provide you with the answers.

If you like that first session and enjoy Patrick's answers, share that episode around you. Recommend it to your friends and peers, and come leave me a comment under my LinkedIn post to encourage Patrick to come back! I'm pretty confident that with the right level of support from all of you, I can win him over for a deeper dive. So come one, do it, and I'll meet you on the other side!

What's Patrick Decker's Call To Action? Let Us Solve Water!