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Justin Madex is the Manager of Spatial Services at the Department of Transport and Planning in Victoria, Australia. He is incredibly kind, extremely thoughtful, and truly passionate about building good teams and evangelizing GIS. I was introduced to Justin at the 2024 Esri UC by a mutual friend and colleague. They were fellow Aussies who knew each other and were connecting there on site. I happened to be in the right place at the right time as I’m not sure how my path would have aligned with Justin’s otherwise, but I am so thankful for the networking opportunity. We had a great conversation during which I decided he would be a great interview for the podcast and I invited him to be a guest there on the spot. He had previously presented a keynote at an Esri Developer Summit and did a great job. I knew Justin would be diligent with his preparations and highly attentive to detail, but I did not expect the effort he put into getting ready to chat with me.
One of my favorite sections of Justin’s interview was his review of the earlier podcast episodes we had previously released. He took the time to listen to most, if not all, previous episodes that were available and was listening to the new episodes in order to prepare. I was truly flattered that he spent the time to do that and how he took the time to marinate and ponder over what the guests had said took me by surprise. He is the first person I have interviewed who gave me this level of candid feedback on air. He talked about how impressed he has been with the guests and the detail I put into the episodes. Justin and I were able to discuss how he really loves the personal aspect Geospatial Experiences brings to the genre and how we are filling a very much needed gap for this industry. He complimented the line of questioning and noted that he really enjoyed learning about the journeys our guests have gone through to find GIS. While he noted that the technically-focused products Esri produces are needed, he connects with this podcast on a personal level and truly found it inspirational as he was listening to the conversations. I loved the honesty and candor with which Justin expressed how much he has enjoyed the guests who came before him, how excited he was to be invited to be on the show, and how much he is looking forward to hearing all of the interviews yet to come. Our interview happened at a really meaningful time for me with regard to the podcast and it helped validate my view that this podcast is important, this work is necessary, and capturing these stories is something that needs to happen. Justin didn’t know how his words were going to impact me during our conversation, but his sentiments were serendipitously well-timed and desperately needed.
As I was preparing for the interview, I knew that I wanted to chat with Justin about his approach to mentoring, leadership, and developing teams. He has a careful and meticulous hand when bringing in new talent and he tries very hard to identify people who will fill talent gaps in the team. In other words, he looks for people who are passionate about GIS, but don’t necessarily have the same skills as other people already on the team. Justin takes seriously his role as a leader and recognizes that he has an opportunity to make a significant impact on each of the people who work on his team. He considers where their talents and interests lie and pairs people with assignments accordingly. Justin really has a really great perspective on leadership and I really enjoyed talking through those topics with him.
This interview was incredibly fun and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Justin. His was an early interview and he gave me so much inspiration that I used throughout the season. I kept going back to his comments on how this podcast has impacted him and it gave me motivation when I felt like I had too many things going against the season. By the end of our conversation, I knew I had made a new friend and I truly love it when that happens during this show. Our interview covered so much ground, but the thread that resonated throughout for me was the importance of connecting with people in this discipline. Whether it is the networking opportunity that led to this interview or Justin’s attentiveness and focus toward his team members back at the office, we kept coming back to the concepts of people: identifying their passions, connecting with them via new platforms, and nurturing relationships. Thank you to Justin for coming on the podcast. I enjoyed your enthusiasm and appreciation for this platform more than you can know!
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