Episode 15 | Pod Zero: Introducing Dr. Ron Hurst
Welcome to It's Your Business Lead It podcast. This is cast zero. What do I mean, cast zero? I wanted to take a few minutes and introduce you to who I am, what this cast is about, why I think it would be in your best interest to listen to it and what my goals are in doing this process.
So what is this cast about? Over the last 17 years I've been listening to podcasts. I was first introduced to them with the very first iPod that I received for Christmas back in 2006. I've been listening to casts ever since. And you know, there's certain things about podcasts that I love, and there are other things that I don't. One of the things I don't love about podcasts are people that have what I call verbal diarrhea. They don't know when to shut up.
They really are not adding a whole lot of value and they just keep going. So when I see a podcast that's 30 minutes long. I start going, "Hmm. Yeah, maybe if it's valuable." When I see a cast that's 60 minutes long, it better be absolutely action-packed with value. In fact, there's only one cast that I listen to. It's a historical cast, and I think it's really important because it talks about our founding fathers. Most of the casts I listen to are 30 minutes or less. And when someone recommends a cast to me, I look at it. And the first thing I do honestly, is "is it over 30 minutes?" And if it is, I'm not gonna bother, there's just too much I have to do.
So with that in mind, I wanted to make this cast short, impactful, and action packed. I hope you'll find that the way that I think about leadership, the way that I think about management, the way that I think about performance improvement is to get to the point. It's not about talking about performance. It's about living performance. It's about action. It's about execution. And if we can't get to the place of execution, then what are we doing?
It amazes me the more that I talk to people in management roles, specifically in more bureaucratic organizations, whether it's in government or in education. Some of the organizations that I've dealt with over the last 10 years, I speak to people who tell me, I'm so busy, I'm in meetings all day long. And I'm like, do they actually have any outcomes? Do they solve any problem? Do they lead to action? It just seems to me that filling your day with a bunch of meetings, you become a professional talker or a professional listener or somewhere in between and I don't see value in that.
So this cast is 12 to 15 minutes long. Now it is my intention later on to introduce certain executives and interview them and talk about some of the subjects that I cover in the short cast. So I may make them slightly longer. I will not cross the 30 minute boundary, I guarantee you. However, the point is to be short, impactful, action oriented, and executable. You'll notice that at the end of every cast, there's a "who does what by when."
This was my favorite line that I used when I was working in someone else's business, I would end every one of my staff meetings, every one of my morning production meetings with "who does what by when." And the reason I would do that is I wanted this sense of clarity over what actions were coming out of the meeting. And when I had a meeting, when there were no actions, that was a warning bell to me that we didn't get to a decision. We didn't get to a point of execution.
So I'm gonna use that with you. And I'm going to recommend certain actions that you can take. You do what by when, it's not me, I've already done this stuff. But these are things that I believe that if you take action on, you're going to see benefit, you're going to see performance improvement.
Now this cast is about leadership and it's about continuous improvement. These are two really different topics. They go together really nicely, and you'll be hard pressed to find very many people that know how to bring these two together in a respectful and powerful way. Because as a Lean 6 Sigma black belt and master black belt now, I suppose, but as a Lean 6 Sigma practitioner, one of the things I found is who taught me how to do it? It was all these technical geeks that when you got them in front of people, they were monotones.
They knew how to talk statistics, but they did not know how to engage the imagination of a human being. They didn't know how to motivate. And it just seemed to me a stereotype that all of the continuous improvement people and the quality nerds, they're all these analytical folks that are really not that skilled with people. And there are exceptions, I'm not saying there aren't, but the vast majority of people that are drawn into these continuous improvement roles are technical nerds.
Well, the last I checked, the processes that they're trying to improve are run by people. And if you don't know how to engage the people, if you don't know how to do rule number one, never solve a paralysis problem alone, you're done before you begin. And you know, one of the core challenges that I see in continuous and problem solving is keeping the changes changed. And the number one root cause that I have seen throughout my career of why people can't keep changes changed, relates directly to what I'm talking about. Technical people solving a problem with technical solutions, but not engaging the actual people who do the work. It just drives me crazy.
So, yeah, I'm a degreed engineer. I started out with a metallurgical engineering degree back in Canada, working in a steel mill. I mean a pretty classic place for me to start my career in. I got this amazing education in the technical aspects of problem solving and process improvement from that organization. And then I moved to the United States, spent some time in Michigan working with the big three automotive boys and Honda and Marysville, Ohio, and then moved down to California to become a quality manager and Lean 6 Sigma black belt for the plant that I worked at. From quality manager, I went to operations and from operations, I became the plant manager of that facility and ran California operations for the company I was working for.
I learned so many lessons along the way, but here's the thing you don't really need to know that much about my resume. What you need to know is that throughout my career, I was tasked to be a problem solver. I started with the scientific method in a research lab very many, many, many years ago, but then moved into Duran problem solving and quality planning later in my career, learned the total quality management routine, learned 6 Sigma learned, Lean manufacturing learned Kepner-Tregoe. You name it, I've worked in it, but they're all technical guys. They're all technical. Lean is probably the closest to one that does human systems right.
However, I discovered along the way that I had as much passion for leadership as I did for problem solving. And that really is what transitioned me from a technical problem solver into a leader in a business, actually running a plant at the end of my career. And the skillset for leadership is so fundamentally different on the surface from the skillset of problem solving, or is it? Really it isn't. I actually, on the side, had this thing. I love to learn, so I've gone back and did an MBA, did a organizational development Master's degree and then finished my career off with a coaching certification and Doctorate in organizational psychology, because I knew that problem solving and continuous improvement in the end is about people. If we can learn to truly respect our people, we can transform our business.
So long-winded way of saying, What's this cast about? It's about marrying the ideas of technical problem solving with human systems problem solving, bringing them together so that we can create outstanding performance. And make no mistake, when you get these two really different ideas, when you bring them together and link them, you can create sustainable competitive advantage within your marketplace. That's what this cast is about. It's about bringing those two completely separate or seemingly separate ideas together and using them, leveraging them to grow a competitive advantage. So we're gonna talk strategy. We're gonna talk operational level process improvement. We're gonna talk about employee development or leadership development.
I'm gonna zip around and do cast on each of those three areas. I'm just gonna do the ones that really strike me and inspire me and get me going, knowing full well that these are problems that you face in your business. It is my sincerest hope that in doing so when you listen to this cast, it'll make you chuckle because you're gonna know that I'm talking about you, even though I haven't met you yet. You're gonna know I'm talking about you, your business, and you'll find it uncanny that it seems like I've actually walked in your facility or something. It's crazy. But the truth is that that business processes have the same challenges. It really doesn't matter what industry you in. You could be in medical, you could be in service, you could be in manufacturing or logistics or finance. Whatever it is, business processes have similar challenges. We just changed the acronyms and the technical terms, to confuse the tourists.
So how is this cast different? Well, as I said, it's a short, impactful, action oriented cast. I'm not gonna talk for extended periods of time, except in this cast, because this was one where you get to know me a little bit. So it will be short, impactful, action oriented. That's how it's different. Why should you care? Why should you listen? Well, I think you'll find that I've walked a mile in the shoes that you're filling. I know what it's like to run a business. I know the uncertainty of looking at your employees and realizing if they don't perform well, it's on me. I know what that's like.
I know what it's like to race into a plant at 3:00 AM and deal with an employee who's had a near miss that could have killed them. I know what it's like to be in a plant for 24 straight hours, trying to solve a problem that just won't be solved. And then eventually you get it and you have the euphoria that goes with it. I know what it's like to discipline an employee. I know what it's like to be a leader in a business. I've been there. I've done it myself. It's not my intent to boast with this. It's my intent to just say I get it. I've been there. I look at it differently though.
You see many, many consultants, coaches. They haven't walked a mile. They don't understand the context. They don't know what it's like to have an employee staring them in the eyes when they're trying to give them corrective feedback. They don't know what it's like to have to separate an employee in the great recession. They don't know what it's like to hire someone and to feel that excitement in the promise of bringing someone new in. They don't know what it's like to negotiate a contract with someone when you know what your budget is and this person wants more than that. They don't know that. And because they don't know it, they can't truly understand what you go through on a daily basis. I do.
My goal with this cast is to help you reflect on your business, to point out some of the problems that you encounter, to rub a little bit of salt in those open wounds, the things that irritate you, and then give you actionable advice that you can take and then do something with so that you can improve your business performance. That is my goal. That's why you should listen because this cast is about improving your business. It is your business, lead it. That's it. That's why you should listen.
My company Developing Leaders Inc. provides a number of performance improvement related services to companies such as yours. We work with the Fortune 500 and local so Cal Businesses. If your company needs support in developing their process performance or in enhancing leadership effectiveness, reserve your no obligation strategy session with us today.
Reserve Your Strategy Session
Welcome to It's Your Business Lead It podcast. This is cast zero. What do I mean, cast zero? I wanted to take a few minutes and introduce you to who I am, what this cast is about, why I think it would be in your best interest to listen to it and what my goals are in doing this process.
So what is this cast about? Over the last 17 years I've been listening to podcasts. I was first introduced to them with the very first iPod that I received for Christmas back in 2006. I've been listening to casts ever since. And you know, there's certain things about podcasts that I love, and there are other things that I don't. One of the things I don't love about podcasts are people that have what I call verbal diarrhea. They don't know when to shut up.
They really are not adding a whole lot of value and they just keep going. So when I see a podcast that's 30 minutes long. I start going, "Hmm. Yeah, maybe if it's valuable." When I see a cast that's 60 minutes long, it better be absolutely action-packed with value. In fact, there's only one cast that I listen to. It's a historical cast, and I think it's really important because it talks about our founding fathers. Most of the casts I listen to are 30 minutes or less. And when someone recommends a cast to me, I look at it. And the first thing I do honestly, is "is it over 30 minutes?" And if it is, I'm not gonna bother, there's just too much I have to do.
So with that in mind, I wanted to make this cast short, impactful, and action packed. I hope you'll find that the way that I think about leadership, the way that I think about management, the way that I think about performance improvement is to get to the point. It's not about talking about performance. It's about living performance. It's about action. It's about execution. And if we can't get to the place of execution, then what are we doing?
It amazes me the more that I talk to people in management roles, specifically in more bureaucratic organizations, whether it's in government or in education. Some of the organizations that I've dealt with over the last 10 years, I speak to people who tell me, I'm so busy, I'm in meetings all day long. And I'm like, do they actually have any outcomes? Do they solve any problem? Do they lead to action? It just seems to me that filling your day with a bunch of meetings, you become a professional talker or a professional listener or somewhere in between and I don't see value in that.
So this cast is 12 to 15 minutes long. Now it is my intention later on to introduce certain executives and interview them and talk about some of the subjects that I cover in the short cast. So I may make them slightly longer. I will not cross the 30 minute boundary, I guarantee you. However, the point is to be short, impactful, action oriented, and executable. You'll notice that at the end of every cast, there's a "who does what by when."
This was my favorite line that I used when I was working in someone else's business, I would end every one of my staff meetings, every one of my morning production meetings with "who does what by when." And the reason I would do that is I wanted this sense of clarity over what actions were coming out of the meeting. And when I had a meeting, when there were no actions, that was a warning bell to me that we didn't get to a decision. We didn't get to a point of execution.
So I'm gonna use that with you. And I'm going to recommend certain actions that you can take. You do what by when, it's not me, I've already done this stuff. But these are things that I believe that if you take action on, you're going to see benefit, you're going to see performance improvement.
Now this cast is about leadership and it's about continuous improvement. These are two really different topics. They go together really nicely, and you'll be hard pressed to find very many people that know how to bring these two together in a respectful and powerful way. Because as a Lean 6 Sigma black belt and master black belt now, I suppose, but as a Lean 6 Sigma practitioner, one of the things I found is who taught me how to do it? It was all these technical geeks that when you got them in front of people, they were monotones.
They knew how to talk statistics, but they did not know how to engage the imagination of a human being. They didn't know how to motivate. And it just seemed to me a stereotype that all of the continuous improvement people and the quality nerds, they're all these analytical folks that are really not that skilled with people. And there are exceptions, I'm not saying there aren't, but the vast majority of people that are drawn into these continuous improvement roles are technical nerds.
Well, the last I checked, the processes that they're trying to improve are run by people. And if you don't know how to engage the people, if you don't know how to do rule number one, never solve a paralysis problem alone, you're done before you begin. And you know, one of the core challenges that I see in continuous and problem solving is keeping the changes changed. And the number one root cause that I have seen throughout my career of why people can't keep changes changed, relates directly to what I'm talking about. Technical people solving a problem with technical solutions, but not engaging the actual people who do the work. It just drives me crazy.
So, yeah, I'm a degreed engineer. I started out with a metallurgical engineering degree back in Canada, working in a steel mill. I mean a pretty classic place for me to start my career in. I got this amazing education in the technical aspects of problem solving and process improvement from that organization. And then I moved to the United States, spent some time in Michigan working with the big three automotive boys and Honda and Marysville, Ohio, and then moved down to California to become a quality manager and Lean 6 Sigma black belt for the plant that I worked at. From quality manager, I went to operations and from operations, I became the plant manager of that facility and ran California operations for the company I was working for.
I learned so many lessons along the way, but here's the thing you don't really need to know that much about my resume. What you need to know is that throughout my career, I was tasked to be a problem solver. I started with the scientific method in a research lab very many, many, many years ago, but then moved into Duran problem solving and quality planning later in my career, learned the total quality management routine, learned 6 Sigma learned, Lean manufacturing learned Kepner-Tregoe. You name it, I've worked in it, but they're all technical guys. They're all technical. Lean is probably the closest to one that does human systems right.
However, I discovered along the way that I had as much passion for leadership as I did for problem solving. And that really is what transitioned me from a technical problem solver into a leader in a business, actually running a plant at the end of my career. And the skillset for leadership is so fundamentally different on the surface from the skillset of problem solving, or is it? Really it isn't. I actually, on the side, had this thing. I love to learn, so I've gone back and did an MBA, did a organizational development Master's degree and then finished my career off with a coaching certification and Doctorate in organizational psychology, because I knew that problem solving and continuous improvement in the end is about people. If we can learn to truly respect our people, we can transform our business.
So long-winded way of saying, What's this cast about? It's about marrying the ideas of technical problem solving with human systems problem solving, bringing them together so that we can create outstanding performance. And make no mistake, when you get these two really different ideas, when you bring them together and link them, you can create sustainable competitive advantage within your marketplace. That's what this cast is about. It's about bringing those two completely separate or seemingly separate ideas together and using them, leveraging them to grow a competitive advantage. So we're gonna talk strategy. We're gonna talk operational level process improvement. We're gonna talk about employee development or leadership development.
I'm gonna zip around and do cast on each of those three areas. I'm just gonna do the ones that really strike me and inspire me and get me going, knowing full well that these are problems that you face in your business. It is my sincerest hope that in doing so when you listen to this cast, it'll make you chuckle because you're gonna know that I'm talking about you, even though I haven't met you yet. You're gonna know I'm talking about you, your business, and you'll find it uncanny that it seems like I've actually walked in your facility or something. It's crazy. But the truth is that that business processes have the same challenges. It really doesn't matter what industry you in. You could be in medical, you could be in service, you could be in manufacturing or logistics or finance. Whatever it is, business processes have similar challenges. We just changed the acronyms and the technical terms, to confuse the tourists.
So how is this cast different? Well, as I said, it's a short, impactful, action oriented cast. I'm not gonna talk for extended periods of time, except in this cast, because this was one where you get to know me a little bit. So it will be short, impactful, action oriented. That's how it's different. Why should you care? Why should you listen? Well, I think you'll find that I've walked a mile in the shoes that you're filling. I know what it's like to run a business. I know the uncertainty of looking at your employees and realizing if they don't perform well, it's on me. I know what that's like.
I know what it's like to race into a plant at 3:00 AM and deal with an employee who's had a near miss that could have killed them. I know what it's like to be in a plant for 24 straight hours, trying to solve a problem that just won't be solved. And then eventually you get it and you have the euphoria that goes with it. I know what it's like to discipline an employee. I know what it's like to be a leader in a business. I've been there. I've done it myself. It's not my intent to boast with this. It's my intent to just say I get it. I've been there. I look at it differently though.
You see many, many consultants, coaches. They haven't walked a mile. They don't understand the context. They don't know what it's like to have an employee staring them in the eyes when they're trying to give them corrective feedback. They don't know what it's like to have to separate an employee in the great recession. They don't know what it's like to hire someone and to feel that excitement in the promise of bringing someone new in. They don't know what it's like to negotiate a contract with someone when you know what your budget is and this person wants more than that. They don't know that. And because they don't know it, they can't truly understand what you go through on a daily basis. I do.
My goal with this cast is to help you reflect on your business, to point out some of the problems that you encounter, to rub a little bit of salt in those open wounds, the things that irritate you, and then give you actionable advice that you can take and then do something with so that you can improve your business performance. That is my goal. That's why you should listen because this cast is about improving your business. It is your business, lead it. That's it. That's why you should listen.
My company Developing Leaders Inc. provides a number of performance improvement related services to companies such as yours. We work with the Fortune 500 and local so Cal Businesses. If your company needs support in developing their process performance or in enhancing leadership effectiveness, reserve your no obligation strategy session with us today.
Reserve Your Strategy Session