by Gary Mintchell | Jul 6, 2017 | Leadership, Marketing, Productivity
What one thing could you do today, this week, this month, this year that would have the more impact on yourself, your company, your organization?
“One of the most empowering moments of my life came when I realized that life is a question and how we live it is our answer.” So states the theme of The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, Gary Keller with Jay Papasan.
Jim Truchard, known as Dr. T within National Instruments the company he cofounded, recommended this book last May when I was down in Austin at the company’s conference.
The journey toward the ONE Thing begins with a question. Keller says, “Voltaire once wrote, ‘Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.’ Sir Francis Bacon added, ‘A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.’ Indira Gandhi concluded that ‘the power to question is the basis of all human progress.’ Great questions are clearly the quickest path to great answers.”
Keller calls this the focusing question. What are you trying to solve? Where do you want to go in life? What sort of person do you wish to be?
Find your question.
Understand and believe it
The first step is to understand the concept of the ONE Thing, then to believe that it can make a difference in your life. If you don’t understand and believe, you won’t take action.
Use it. Ask yourself the Focusing Question. Start each day by asking, “What’s the ONE Thing I can do today for [whatever you want] such that by doing it everything else will be easier or even unnecessary?” When you do this, your direction will become clear. Your work will be more productive and your personal life more rewarding.
Make it a habit. When you make asking the Focusing Question a habit, you fully engage its power to get the extraordinary results you want. It’s a difference maker. Research says this will take about 66 days. Whether it takes you a few weeks or a few months, stick with it until it becomes your routine. If you’re not serious about learning the Success Habit, you’re not serious about getting extraordinary results.
Keller talked about habits, something I’ve discussed regarding Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit. Or as Keller puts it, “People don’t decide their futures. They decide on their habits. Their habits determine their future.”
What one big thing will double my sales next year?
What one big thing will stabilize financing for my nonprofit?
What one big thing will be the service that defines our organization?
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 26, 2017 | Leadership
Listening is a vastly underrated leadership skill.
We all know people who must fill in every gap with sound. It is as if a lull in the conversation might cause people to lose interest in them. There is a guy who hosts a technology podcast that is a round table discussion with two to three invited guests. But he talks right past his guests. Claims his early career in radio causes that. There can be no dead time in radio.
When you are in a conversation, where is your focus?
Are you focused on the other person; or are you focused on your response?
Leaders need, indeed good ones crave, input. We need all the ideas and insight we can get. Meanwhile others on the team need validation as a valued member of the team.
When you listen, you focus on the person. You watch their facial expression, posture, movements. Listening involves more than your ears.
Do you need to respond?
A good habit involves allowing a short break at the end of the other person’s speech. Pause, breathe, activate that switch between what was said and what you need to say. It’s like a timer in a control circuit.
What you say now has more impact.
Listening has always been an important leadership skill. Working with today’s workforce listening becomes an essential leadership skill.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 23, 2017 | Leadership
I learned a leadership lesson about collaboration and design this morning.
The store where I buy birdseed is on a corner. Think small streets, not like a busy city intersection. The primary street has been dug down to dirt, and the contractor is in the process of laying cement pavement, walks, and gutters. The little store built from an old grain elevator has a drive built from pavers.
As Bruce was watching work progress, he noticed that they had raised a manhole three inches. Sure enough, they raised the sidewalk three inches. That meant that if they laid the pavers back where they were, there would be a three-inch drop from the traffic entrance/sidewalk to his drive.
When the engineer came one morning to look at progress, Bruce went out and asked him about that. The contractor said, no problem, I can build that up, make a grade and replace the pavers.
So Bruce asked, what about my neighbor’s drive?
Hmmm. They had built themselves a problem that snowballed as they looked down the street.
Who designed this? Bruce asked. I did, the city engineer replied. Well, guess you messed up, Bruce replied.
If only the engineer had gotten up from the CAD station, walked the one block to the site and asked people about the design, he would have avoided what might be a costly mistake.
The same concept applies to mechanical design, hardware design, and software design. Oh, and to leadership.
Get away from your desk. Wander around. Ask people for ideas and feedback.
by Gary Mintchell | Mar 28, 2017 | Automation, Education, Leadership, Technology
Manufacturing in America—an event bringing together vendors, academia, end users of controls and automation. Siemens Industry, collaborating with its local distributor Electro-Matic, held a trade show/seminar series/thought leadership summit at the Marriott Renaissance Center Detroit March 22-23. The show has a distinct automotive industry feel, as you might expect, even though Detroit, and indeed all of Michigan, is reforming itself along high tech lines with less reliance on traditional automotive.
There was certainly a lot of thought leadership opportunity at the event. There was the Siemens Industry President of Digital Factory. There was the Governor of the State of Michigan.
And then, there was the group of high school students competing in the FIRST Robotics competition known as the ThunderChickens—Engineering A Better Way To Cross The Road. The picture shows a model of their robot. Such passion. Such creativity. The mechanical guy pointed to the control module. “It limits me to 6 motors,” he said. “Last year we only had one, but this year I could have used many more.”
Six motors!! What I’d have given as a kid building stuff to have one! Oh well, they were great.
Raj Batra, President of Digital Factory for Siemens, said the focus is on digitalization. Digital Twin is a piece of digitalization. This is the digital representation of a physical thing—product, machine, or component. Siemens brought all this together through the 2007 investment in acquiring UGS to form Siemens PLM. “Companies thought it was hype back then, now we know it drives value,” said Batra. “If you are a pure automation company how do you accomplish all this without a design component? You can’t have the digital twin. Meanwhile, a CAE company that doesn’t have automation and control do manufacturing—what do you get?” Batra added challenging the competition.
Batra continued, “We are close to a new era of autonomous manufacturing. And there is the growth of IIoT, we call Mindsphere. This all means manufacturing is no longer a black box to the enterprise. Indeed, it is strategic to the enterprise.”
Paul Maloche, vp sales and marketing Fori Automation, manufacturers of automated guided vehicles, discussed the methods by which collaboration with suppliers (in this case with Siemens) leads to innovation. Fori was diversifying from reliance on building machines for automotive applications, and evaluated the aerospace industry. The Siemens rep came in and said they could help get them into that market. But Fori would have to convert to Siemens control. The Fori team replied, “OK.” This led to development of automated guided vehicle technology and products. The partnership opened doors. Fori won several orders in aerospace market for the new AGVs with Siemens control.
Alistair Orchard, Siemens PLM, riffing off a space movie, began his talk, “Detroit, we have a problem.” All the old business models of trying to ship jobs overseas has not worked. We need to make stuff to be successful as a society. “So much of what we do has not changed in 50 years in manufacturing,” he noted, “but digitalization can change everything. Additive manufacturing can lead to mass customization due to 3D printing using the digital twin. You can try things out, find problems in design or manufacturing. You can use predictive analytics at design stage. Digital enterprise is about manufacturing close to the customer.”
Governor Rick Snyder, Michigan, touted his manufacturing background as former operations head at Gateway Computers. “As governor,” he said, “it’s about how you can build an ecosystem and platform for success. Long term, success needs talent. His philosophy contains the idea that we shouldn’t tell students what they should study, but let them know where opportunities are and how to prepare for them. The private sector needs to tell government what they need in the way of talent.”
Michigan has grown more manufacturing jobs than anywhere else in the country. Not only manufacturing, though, Michigan is also a center of industrial design. But the economy not only needs designers and engineers, but also people in skilled trades. “We need to promote that as a profession. We must break the silos that said your opportunities are limited to your initial career choice.”
Michigan has invested a lot in students, especially in FIRST Robotics, where Michigan teams have risen to the top. The state has also started a computer science competition in cyber security.
How are you innovating and making the world better?
Josh Linkner, CEO Detroit Venture Partners, gave the keynote address on innovation. I’ll leave you with his Five Obsessions of Innovators.
1. Curiosity—ask open ended questions
2. Crave what’s next—future orientation
3. Defy tradition—use Judo flip to turn idea on its head
4. Get scrappy—grit, determination, tenacity
5. Adapt fast
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 16, 2017 | Education, Leadership
“I have a dream.” Most Americans and people in many other countries know how to complete that introduction. Americans today celebrate the life of of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
His dream–that all peoples would be judged on the strength of their character rather than the color of their skins.
Many laws were passed in his wake. Much has been done to make society more fair in America–and probably many other places.
But almost every news I see from everywhere in the world, people are still wrestling with bringing this basic respect for other people–especially those who differ from us–into our thoughts and lives.
I heard a couple of guys talking in the locker room recently. They were talking about black people in the classic “they are lazy and on drugs and always looking for a handout” manner. I’m sure I didn’t confront them, because I’m personally pretty non-confrontational. But I must have said something, because one said, “Do you think we’re racists?” I thought to myself, “Well, yes, I do.” But he didn’t think he was. <sigh>
Respect for people is the foundation principle of Lean.
A workplace with a diverse group of people outperforms one where everyone is the same.
We know these work.
It only takes a small step every day to bring that dream into general reality.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 22, 2016 | Leadership
Let’s make 2017 the year of leadership in manufacturing. Lean leaderhip.
When we started the magazine I ran editorial for ten years, one of the founders talked about how Lean and Six Sigma were so old that she hoped I wouldn’t write about it. That was in 2003. The topic of Lean thinking is as fresh and useful today as it was then.The good thing is that these are skills that can be learned.
Perhaps for the new year, we all evaluate our leadership and look for ways to elevate our effectiveness in 2017.
A few years ago, a publicist sent me a copy of “Anatomy of a Lean Leader”, by Jerry Bussell with Emily Adams. The book is organized around ten traits of a Lean Leader.
If you are not familiar with Lean, it is a proven effective way of thinking and leading manufacturing organizations. It’s core elements are continuous improvement and respect for people. I’ve included a brief description of the ten traits. Perhaps you can pick up some ideas for self-improvement this year.
Purposeful—this trait relates to having a strong, but brief, mission statement. An example from a medical organization: “Alleviate pain; restore health; extend life.” As Peter Drucker said, your mission statement should fit on the front of a T-shirt.
Respectful—a respectful leader is in service to the people.
Transparently honest—Bussell says, “I found that morals and principles were a source of strength in everyday behaviour.”
Influencer—to affect real, lasting change requires more subtlety and time—it needs influence. Influence means guiding people to finding the right answer on their own, so that the right path becomes their natural inclination.
Continuous Learner—the continuous learner asks questions and relies on observations to hone his or her understanding of the issues. A problem well-defined, I have learned, is a problem half-solved.
Persistence—persistence means showing up every day, ready to tackle problems afresh—even when your entire company seems outmoded.
Holistic Thinker—to think holistically is to think broadly about the implications of an action on the entire complex, interconnected organization. When Paul O’Neil was CEO of Alcoa, he made workplace safety a priority. Seems strange, but thinking holistically, he said, “If we bring our injury rates down, it will be because individuals at this company have agreed to become part of something important. They’ve devoted themselves to creating a habit of excellence.”
Problem Solver—take a methodical approach to problem solving. Define the problem clearly; investigate the current situation; list all the options, including the ideal; plan and implement a solution; and, check results.
Results-Driven—the modern CEO interested in changing her ways to become more results-driven must first look at the organization’s processes. The CEO must have confidence that the organization’s approach to problem solving and analysis is sound. Only then will she have confidence that her results will be reliable and foreseeable. The results-driven leader is also a holistic thinker, working through the process with care and consideration of the whole organization.
Courageous—courage is embracing change that is substantial, unafraid of failure, inclusive, respectful, honest, and persistent.
Make 2017 your year of leadership bringing your organization to growth and success.
