GREATER AUSTIN, Texas — Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) presented its “Spirit of Independence Award” to children’s book author, Ryan Kiscaden, during its annual conference held March 24-27. This recognition is the highest individual honor in the indoor environment profession, bestowed occasionally to an individual who is making an impact toward the overall success of the professional contracting industry.
Kiscaden’s book, “The Air Came To A Stop,” teaches children about teamwork, HVACR technology, and having an appreciation for the skilled trades technicians. This book was created to inspire the next generation of HVACR professionals and to overcome misconceptions on blue-collar industries such as the skilled trades.
Barton James, president and CEO of ACCA, celebrated the selection and the importance of providing children’s books as an effective outreach initiative. “We are proud to have Ryan as a vital member of the HVACR community. Recognizing his contributions to bettering the HVACR industry and our ACCA membership was an easy decision. He is an incredible partner to work with. As we continue the momentum and grow workforce development outreach tools for ACCA members, we couldn’t think of a better plan than to utilize resources such as The Air Came A Stop to accomplish our objective.”\
Kiscaden is an author and HVACR and plumbing marketing professional employed by a major plumbing manufacturer. Contracting Business had the chance to sit down with Kiscaden to discuss the book and his goals for the series.
CB: What started you down this path of creating a children’s book series?
RK: I've been in the industry over 15 years. We've always talked about workforce development challenges and labor shortages. I just got inspired by seeing everything that was happening at that middle school and high school age — whether it be grants and pre apprenticeship or apprenticeship programs — and I thought to myself, ‘Is that really the best time to start that conversation? Is that conversation better had in a period where the role model is going to have a bigger influence on the child or the person we're targeting?’
That kind of started me down this path of thinking if there was anything else we should be doing. And, as you research, surprisingly, there’s a lot of job exploration books for children aged 4 to 10. But there’s not many around HVAC and plumbing, so that kind of inspired me to say, ‘Well, someone’s got to write that book.’
I just felt compelled to try to do something, and address this in my own way. And then after research, I was convinced this could be a good opportunity, too. I was also inspired by my home life. I have two small boys — they’re now 6 and 8, but when I started the journey, they were much younger. It made me think to myself how can I inspire them and teach them more about our industry and answer those fundamental questions like what is this product or thing on the wall. But also, to help them understand the plumber or HVAC technician comes to fix something in our home and those are really good people helping us with a comfort problem.
And last, but not least, my wife certainly kept me inspired and on task with a red pen. Many times, I thought to myself, ‘I’m not a writer, what am I doing, why am I doing this?’ But every time I wanted to quit, there was always someone that was like, ‘No, you have to keep going. This is a good thing.’
CB: Have your boys read the books – can they identify all the equipment in the house?
RK: Of course, yeah. My oldest, he’s a great reader so he can read the books aloud by himself. It’s not his favorite book. It’s kind of like, ‘Oh, not dad’s book again.’ My youngest though, I think he really has an affinity for working with his hands. He loves construction and so he really took to us reading “The Air Came to a Stop” and “The Water Came to a Stop” to him. My boys are good at knowing what it is and kind of what these books were meant to do.
CB: There are two books out – is there a reason you decided to start with plumbing and HVAC? And is there a plan to expand into additional trades?
RK: We have a plumbing book called, “The Water Came to a Stop,” and then there is an HVAC book called, “The Air Came to a Stop.” Both are available in English and Spanish. For me, it was probably about the comfort level. Plumbing is probably the closest to my heart industry just based on my other work, but also, my brother-in-law’s a master plumber in New Jersey. I feel very connected there, knowing folks that do that work every day. And
HVAC was always the book I was going to do next. But my vision has always been three books in the series to tackle the MEP industry — mechanical electrical, and plumbing. If all goes well here, at some point in the future, that electrical book will also come out. I’m not putting a date on it yet. We’ll kind of see where it goes. But I also feel like they’re all related. Nowadays, you can install an HVAC system and you need to know a little bit of electrical, a little bit of plumbing, and a little bit of HVAC. There’s a lot of similarity there.
CB: What is your end goal? What do you hope to accomplish with these books?
RK: When I first started out, I'd be silly if I if I didn't have the same dreams that most authors do, which is commercialization. I want this to really impact personally, professionally, and financially. I think over time, what's changed for me, is I've started to realize that this is really about giving others tools to be successful. Particularly around contractors to tell their side of the story when they’re in homes solving problems. We use the word hero a lot, but never in terms of contractors being recognized in this profession — it’s just so unsung at times. So this is helping pay it forward, if you will, to tell their story.
I also think about legacy — it’s one of those things when I look back at the end of my career, which hopefully, isn’t for a while yet, and say this actually made an impact.
One of the best stories I’ve heard, I had the Calgary Construction Association reach out — one of their directors says, ‘Hey, just letting you know the water broke in the building recently, but not to worry because my 5-year-old son read your book so he just asked to be taken to the pipe because he knew how to fix it.’ Those little heartwarming stories inspire me to keep going. It just warmed my heart and I love sharing those stories on the impact it has with kids.
CB: Anything else you would like to add?
RK: I would just add that the industry is facing, you know this real [labor shortage] challenge. This concept, these books, are meant to not just talk to those who already know the issue — we have to change the hearts and minds of people who already have a misconception on what it means to work with your hands in the skilled trades. That’s what these books are meant for — to introduce concepts and vocabulary to younger kids and to those parents and guardians who many don’t know all these things either.
It’s also meant to help showcase the technicians as people to trust and appreciate for the noble work they’re doing. It's a positive message around what has historically been a financial conversation. ‘Hey, go work in the skilled trades because you’ll have less debt,’ or ‘You’ll make a lot of money.’ It turns it into an emotional conversation — this work an make you feel good, this work is necessary and it’s appreciated when it is done.
"The Air Came To A Stop," is available in both paperback and eBook versions, can be found on Amazon and through ACCA’s online store. In addition to the English version, a Spanish version is also available in all formats and distribution channels. For more information on The Air Came To A Stop or any of the Next Up Trades books, please visit www.nextuptrades.com.
