Making Markets EP 20: Quick Take with Honeywell: Looking Back at 2021

In this Making Markets quick take, host Daniel Newman talks with Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk about Honeywell’s faster-than-expected dynamic growth in 2021, along with the challenges they faced.

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Transcript:

Daniel Newman: I’d love to get your take, just on 2021 at a glance. How you’re seeing it for Honeywell, what you’re seeing in the macro economy. And we can dig in a little further, but just, what a big year for you guys, and so many accomplishments.

Darius Adamczyk: Well, thank you. And certainly, 2021 turned out a little bit different than we expected. Whether, it’s the dynamic growth, that was probably faster than we expected. On the positive, our markets coming back in a very strong way. Those are the good things. The economy is booming right now. But, we also had some challenges. Whether, it’s the supply chain challenges we had to deal with, whether it’s inflationary pressures, whether it’s some of the labor shortages, freight and logistics challenges. So, it certainly didn’t pan out exactly how we would’ve thought.

I mean, we thought that at the end 2020, we certainly would’ve thought demand coming back, which it has, but probably even more pronounced than we expected. What’s a bit different, is some of the challenges, which is, the supply chain challenges, especially in the area of semiconductors and so on. So, it’s definitely turned out much different than we expected. And I think probably, the waves of COVID that really have hit us, because we had the first wave that ended in March, or April 2021, after people started getting vaccinated. We had the Delta wave and now we’re unfortunately, starting this Omicron wave, but hopefully it’s a very last one we’re going to see.

Daniel Newman: Yeah. And it is a big, very persistent, fast spreading virulent wave. I think, we’re still waiting for evidence. How much is this going to impact? But, we’re seeing pullback. I just got some alerts, even this morning. CES is a big event in the tech space. Companies like Amazon, a bunch of the tech media, a bunch of social companies like Meta and Twitter, all pulling out. So, here we are, again, two years later and we’re having 2020 nightmares. But, at the same time I got on a plane to come out and visit you yesterday. The airport was absolutely bustling, which is good for Honeywell. The planes are flying. The planes are full, Uber lines are longer, restaurants are packed. So, you’re seeing a lot of encouraging data too. And so, I think we’re in this inflection point, where what happens next, is going to be really interesting.