It seems that Eric Knight and Watershape University came together at just the right time.
It may seem like a major pivot for Knight to take over as executive director of Watershape University. After all, he earned his renown through his work with chemical producer Orenda, while WU first made its name as a design/construction school.
But, considering the trajectories of Knight’s career and of the educational organization, it makes perfect sense.
His career started with a passion for competitive swimming. But through the years, Knight accumulated a set of disparate skills and developed an educational approach that matched WU’s need as it embarks on some ambitious initiatives.
Personal mission
To Knight, pools have always been personal.
He began as a competitive swimmer with an American record for the 200-yard medley relay to his name and three Olympic trials under his belt.
After graduating from Virginia’s George Mason University with Bachelor’s degrees in government and international politics, and a Masters in Public Administration, he joined a professional swim team in Charlotte. “I was invited to join,” Knight says. “There were only 12 people on the team so it was a great opportunity that I could not turn down.”
Over time, pools took on more significance, as years of exposure to less-than-ideal indoor air quality left him with asthma and lung damage.
“My medical conditions made this a personal problem that I wanted to resolve,” he says.
At the 2012 Olympic trials, Don Baker, president/CLO of Paddock Pool Equipment Company saw Knight’s passion. “He hired me on the pool deck,” to help with its work developing a ventilation system to help solve indoor air quality problems.
After a few years, he partnered with a former swim coach to develop an app and website.
“I wanted to learn more skills and take that risk at a young age, before I had a family,” he says.
After selling part of the start-up, having learned how to develop apps and websites, he bonded with Orenda Founder Harold Evans over a desire to improve air quality, and subsequently joined the team. His original title of sales manager became more of a suggestion than anything, as his job came to encompass much more. There, he developed an app, as well as educational sessions delivered in-person or via video, and wrote documentation such as white papers and blogs.
“We joke that I was in breach of contract,” Knight says. “I never did what I was technically hired to do, but what I did was more appropriate to my skills and had a bigger impact, and I’m very proud of that.”
All these skills came in handy early this year, when Watershape University sought to hire an executive director, start an educational program specifically geared to service technicians and service company management, and provide more online learning.
The service program contains three tiers – Watershape Service Technician, Watershape Professional Technician, and Watershape Master Technician. Most courses are provided online, with more to come.
“Our idea is to allow small businesses to have a program they can put their employees through at a reasonable cost, mostly online followed by sessions at trade shows to get the in-person component,” Knight says.
Educational approach
Underpinning Knight’s approach to education is a desire to repair what he terms a status problem for the industry – namely, that many outside and even inside this profession underestimate the depth and breadth of skill involved.
“We are not seen on equal playing fields with electricians, plumbers, or the HVAC trade,” he says. “I think our trade should get the respect of the others, because it is a hard trade.”
To help with that, Knight wouldlike to see pool and spa companies referred to as “practices,” much like in the medical or legal fields. As he sees it, providing a vision of the pool/spa service trade as a career that’s both viable and fulfilling constitutes the most important component in accomplishing this particular status upgrade.
“One year of cleaning pools in the hot summer turns a lot of people away unless they see that they can be good at this and there’s a meaningful career to be had,” he says. “That goes far deeper than water chemistry. WU aligned perfectly with being able to solve that problem.”
Knight has come to believe that anybody can develop the variety of skills and expertise that he has. And that certainty proves foundational for his educational approach. It just takes work, training, research, and a lot of practice.
“I don’t believe anybody is naturally born with skills to be great at these things,” he says. “I don’t think it’s a talent, it’s a skill – and anybody can learn a skill.”
