Episode 24

24: Using Lean Manufacturing for Optimal Efficiency: - with Kathy Miller and Shannon Karels

Links mentioned during this episode:

Meet Kathy and Shannon:

The authors of SteelToes and Stilettos. Is that just the best you have ever heard? Yeah. Kathy and Shannon share in their book, they share the finer points of a comprehensive change process, the challenges, the triumphs, and the real emotion involved during the quest for success and their endeavors. In the book, they each describe the professional journey from their unique perspective and the highlights of an endearing friendship. I love it. That was formed along the way. The story will inspire female leaders and everybody that's listening. I bet you fellas could get some out of this, too. In any organization, showcasing an example of high-performing women thriving in an intense and fast-paced world. These ladies are role models for those juggling, passionate, fulfilling careers alongside life's complexities. Such as dual career marriages and raising children. 

Erin: What is applied positive psychology?

Kathy: The science of human flourishing. I studied it decades ago.  Mr. D. Seligman, who's known as the father of positive psychology and a very renowned global psychologist, decided that if we could use psychology to take people who have issues, issues with their brain and get them neutral, why couldn't we study what could take people to neutral from neutral to flourishing. Or if you're already flourishing, more flourishing. Started this whole branch of science, and there are decades of research about it now and all the things you can do to help yourself and others flourish along the way. So he actually was one of my professors, and he just turned 80 this year. Yeah, it's a really exciting program. I just loved it so much.


Erin: So why don't you guys tell us, why did you decide to write SteelToes and Stilettos?

Shannon: Well, there were a few reasons. After we had both decided to leave our corporate jobs, we were spending some nice quality time together and reminiscing on how the three years we spent together, what made it magical? What made it successful? How did we do what we did? Because after that, we had gone on to different roles, took the same tools, and the same concepts, and had success in varying degrees. And so we kept just reminiscing and reflecting on why did it work so well when we were together? And we started to really think about the people portion of it, how we engage everybody, and how we are who we are. And we're a little crazy and fun, sometimes. Awesome. But we're also serious business people at the same time. And so we thought, man, maybe we have a really great story to share. And on top of the excellent business results we got, I mean, your results speak for themselves all the time. And we let our results be our calling card. And so we just said, you know what? We want to get this out into the world. And it is a true story. And it does have the nitty gritty of life that goes along with it. And there are a lot of lean books out there that are very prescriptive. This is what you should do. And we just wanted to tell what we  did do and how we did it. Not as much from a technical standpoint, but more of a storytelling standpoint. And then as you mentioned, Aaron, we thought we had an exceptional connection that we created. We wanted to show how women empowering women does exist and that it can generate some amazing accomplishments when we uplift each other.


And so much more… 


Connect with Kathy Miller 

Connect on LinkedIn!


Connect with Shannon Karels

Connect on LinkedIn!


Connect with the broads!

Connect with Erin on LinkedIn and visit http://www.earthlinginteractive.com for web-based solutions to your complex business problems!

Connect with Lori on LinkedIn and visit www.keystoneclick.com for your strategic digital marketing needs!  

Connect with Kris on LinkedIn and visit www.genalpha.com for OEM and aftermarket digital solutions!

Transcript
Speaker:

Laurie Highby, Kris Harrington and Erin

Speaker:

Courtney, three Broads, bringing you stories and strategies,

Speaker:

exploring manufacturing topics that challenge the status quo

Speaker:

while laying the foundations for future success.

Speaker:

Together with special guests, they'll celebrate what's working and unpack what

Speaker:

is not so you can learn, grow, and succeed.

Speaker:

You want to learn more about your hosts?

Speaker:

Make sure to listen to Episode 1.

Speaker:

You ladies know I've been geeking out about AI?

Speaker:

Here we go. Sorry.

Speaker:

The world is finally catching.

Speaker:

On, right? Yes.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Chat, chat, GPT.

Speaker:

Have you dabbled into it? Played with it at all?

Speaker:

I'm just curious.

Speaker:

I did the imaging stuff, but I haven't done the text generation stuff yet.

Speaker:

I did.

Speaker:

I dabbled

Speaker:

just before the holidays, and I was addicted for at least three hours because

Speaker:

I was shocked at how much information I was getting.

Speaker:

Then I took a break and just recently,

Speaker:

since I've been back, I started again just to see what it knows.

Speaker:

And it knows a lot.

Speaker:

I mean, it's quite shocking how much information it can bring back to you.

Speaker:

So yes, dabbled, I would say a little bit more than dabbled at this point.

Speaker:

Yeah. Erin, what's stopping you?

Speaker:

Mostly was my experience with the image

Speaker:

generation was that it wasn't free after a while.

Speaker:

I just didn't want to sign up for yet another thing.

Speaker:

I feel like it's inevitable that I'll do it.

Speaker:

I'm not resisting.

Speaker:

And I hear that they're constantly updating the intelligence.

Speaker:

So why not wait till it's better? I don't know.

Speaker:

It's going to be a forever evolution.

Speaker:

It's always going to be better.

Speaker:

And I feel like we're right at this...

Speaker:

I'm going to use the hockey stick analogy

Speaker:

of like, there's been slow adoption and now there's going to be mega adoption.

Speaker:

And we're just right at that pivot point. So if.

Speaker:

You're not in it, you better get in it. Get in it.

Speaker:

Get familiar, especially in your spot in your world right now.

Speaker:

It's coming for you. Yeah.

Speaker:

It was 7 30 in the morning two days ago that I was on.

Speaker:

And it told me that there was a high

Speaker:

volume of traffic and to be patient with potential response times.

Speaker:

And I didn't think it was slow at all.

Speaker:

But just the fact that it even had that messaging that there were

Speaker:

a lot of people there right now, I just found that very interesting as well.

Speaker:

Yeah. All right.

Speaker:

I'll get off my soapbox.

Speaker:

Oh, no, I'm

Speaker:

afraid of jumping in too hard because then they could take us totally off track.

Speaker:

And I don't want to do that because we have guests today.

Speaker:

They're amazing. Of course.

Speaker:

I'm just so excited to have this conversation.

Speaker:

Today with us, we have Kathy and Shannon, the authors of Steel Toes and Stylettos.

Speaker:

Is that just the best you have ever heard? Yeah.

Speaker:

Kathy and Shannon

Speaker:

share in their book, they share the finer points of a comprehensive change

Speaker:

process, the challenges, the triumphs, and the real emotion involved

Speaker:

during the quest for success and their endeavors.

Speaker:

In the book, they each describe the professional journey from their unique

Speaker:

perspective and the highlights of an endearing friendship.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

That was formed along the way.

Speaker:

That is awesome.

Speaker:

The story will inspire female leaders, everybody that's listening.

Speaker:

I bet you fellas could get some out of this, too.

Speaker:

In any organization, showcasing an example

Speaker:

of high performing women thriving in an intense and fast paced world.

Speaker:

Kathy and Shannon are role models for

Speaker:

those juggling, intense, fulfilling careers alongside life's complexities.

Speaker:

Such as dual career marriages and raising children.

Speaker:

So excited to have you guys here today to dive in, to learn about your experience.

Speaker:

And I just want to

Speaker:

point out that lean manufacturing tends to be one of your really focused areas.

Speaker:

So we'll be diving into that a little bit today.

Speaker:

And just welcome.

Speaker:

Do you guys want to say hi to everybody?

Speaker:

Hello, everybody.

Speaker:

We're so excited to be here.

Speaker:

We're so glad to have you. Welcome.

Speaker:

We're so happy to have you.

Speaker:

Okay, let's get down to business here.

Speaker:

Kathy, this is not on the list of

Speaker:

questions and I'm going to jump this at you, but I have to ask.

Speaker:

You have a master's degree in something

Speaker:

that's called applied positive psychology, which sounds super cool.

Speaker:

But what is it?

Speaker:

What is that?

Speaker:

Yeah, it's so amazing. It's.

Speaker:

The science of human flourishing.

Speaker:

Here we are already amazed. Yeah.

Speaker:

And so this is science and you studied it? It's true.

Speaker:

Yes. Decades ago, M r.

Speaker:

D. Seligman, who's known as the father

Speaker:

of positive psychology and a very renowned global psychologist, decided that

Speaker:

if we could use psychology to take people who have

Speaker:

issues, issues with their brain and get them to neutral, why couldn't we study

Speaker:

what could take people to neutral from neutral to flourishing.

Speaker:

Or if you're already flourishing, more flourishing.

Speaker:

Started this whole branch of science,

Speaker:

and there's decades of research about it now and all the things that you can do

Speaker:

to really help yourself and others flourish along the way.

Speaker:

So he actually was one of my professors, and he just turned 80 this year.

Speaker:

That's awesome. Yeah.

Speaker:

So it's really an exciting program.

Speaker:

I just loved it so much.

Speaker:

Well, that's great. That's inspiring.

Speaker:

I have a feeling that your openness to those concepts

Speaker:

has really inspired a lot of the work that you and Shannon did together.

Speaker:

So why don't you guys tell us, why did you decide to write Steel Toes and Stylettos?

Speaker:

Go ahead, Shannon.

Speaker:

Well, there was a few reasons.

Speaker:

After we had both decided to leave our corporate

Speaker:

jobs, we were spending some nice quality time together and reminiscing on

Speaker:

how the three years we spent together, what made it magical?

Speaker:

What made it successful?

Speaker:

How did we do what we did?

Speaker:

Because after that, we had gone on to different roles, taken the same tools, the

Speaker:

same concepts, and had success in varying degrees.

Speaker:

And so we kept just reminiscing and

Speaker:

reflecting on why did it work so well when we were together?

Speaker:

And we started to just really think about

Speaker:

the people portion of it and how we engage everybody and how we are who we are.

Speaker:

And we're a little crazy and fun, sometimes.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

But we're also serious business people at the same time.

Speaker:

And so we thought, man, maybe we have a really great story to share.

Speaker:

And on top of the excellent business

Speaker:

results we got, I mean, your results speak for themselves all the time.

Speaker:

And we let our results be our calling card.

Speaker:

And so we just said, you know what?

Speaker:

We want to get this out into the world.

Speaker:

And it is a true story.

Speaker:

And it does have the nitty gritty of life that goes along with it.

Speaker:

And there's a lot of lean books out there that are very prescriptive.

Speaker:

This is what you should do.

Speaker:

And we just wanted to tell what we did do and how we did it.

Speaker:

Not as much from a technical standpoint, but more of a storytelling standpoint.

Speaker:

And then as you mentioned, Aaron, we

Speaker:

thought we had a very special connection that we created,

Speaker:

and we wanted to show how women empowering women does exist

Speaker:

and that it can generate some amazing accomplishments when we uplift each other.

Speaker:

Can we peel this onion a little bit further about how is Steel Toes and

Speaker:

Stilettos different from other lean books out there?

Speaker:

So it's written like a story, and it's a true story.

Speaker:

It comes from both of our perspectives about the same events.

Speaker:

I was the general manager running the P&L.

Speaker:

Shannon was the transformation leader.

Speaker:

We had sometimes vastly different

Speaker:

perspectives and opinions on how we should go, and we present both of those.

Speaker:

It's a business book that reads like a novel as well.

Speaker:

And you get both perspectives.

Speaker:

So it's like reading two books in one from

Speaker:

a leadership standpoint and technical leadership standpoint.

Speaker:

Oh, I love that. I can see how valuable that would be, not

Speaker:

just for women, but for everyone to see the different perspectives.

Speaker:

Yeah. And I just love that you talked about

Speaker:

the human side of it, how your people and then a transformation.

Speaker:

It is really the people that are doing the work of any type of transformation.

Speaker:

I can imagine the

Speaker:

women empowering women just elevates that to a different level for you as

Speaker:

two women who got the results that you did through this transformation.

Speaker:

I'm curious,

Speaker:

if you were giving advice to other companies who also wanted to go through

Speaker:

this through a lean transformation, what advice would you give them?

Speaker:

Well, first of all, they'd have to have a

Speaker:

solid vision and leaderships who really believed in it.

Speaker:

If you've got a leader who's halfway in,

Speaker:

it just doesn't work because there's so many challenges along the way.

Speaker:

It's so different from how traditional

Speaker:

manufacturing has run when you're running batches and those sorts of things.

Speaker:

You've got to have a leader who believes in a solid vision, a lot of structured

Speaker:

implementation planning, how are we going to put the tools in place, but also

Speaker:

be very deliberate about how you bring everyone into it, when you bring them into

Speaker:

it, what tools that you give them, providing

Speaker:

an atmosphere where they can all feel psychologically safe to contribute.

Speaker:

Because chances are there are a number

Speaker:

of people in the business who haven't been asked to contribute.

Speaker:

They've only been asked to use their hands.

Speaker:

You're unlocking their hearts

Speaker:

and their minds at the same time, and they're not used to that.

Speaker:

There's different skill sets associated in that.

Speaker:

Leadership has to be visible and on the floor and asking questions

Speaker:

and supporting the team and really be passionate about where you're going.

Speaker:

When things don't go well, you just got to treat them as lessons learned.

Speaker:

When they do go well, you need to

Speaker:

celebrate success and recognize the people who contributed.

Speaker:

That's. Right.

Speaker:

Absolutely. Go ahead.

Speaker:

I was going to say I'm a big fan of getting the team's insight and

Speaker:

perspective because then they have more buy in to the change that's happening.

Speaker:

And that's one of the keys to sustainment.

Speaker:

People help support the things that they create.

Speaker:

Absolutely. Right.

Speaker:

And you know you're really changing the

Speaker:

culture when you have the people who are using their hands and owning the process

Speaker:

coming to you with ideas on how to improve it.

Speaker:

And that's when it starts to get really exciting.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

It's so interesting because the three of us, Erin, L aury, and I, we have been on

Speaker:

a digital transformation side with many of the customers that we work with.

Speaker:

So you on the lean transformation side, any type of transformation

Speaker:

can really benefit from two of the things I heard you say, having

Speaker:

a leader with a vision at the top who's involved

Speaker:

and present with the people, and then use the word deliberate or being very

Speaker:

intentional about how you engage with the people when you bring them in.

Speaker:

I love that.

Speaker:

We were just at a discovery session where

Speaker:

the president of the company sat there the whole time, was really involved in asking

Speaker:

his team the questions as well and interested in understanding how it works.

Speaker:

I think that's so wonderful.

Speaker:

What advice would you give would

Speaker:

you give when there is absent that vision from the top?

Speaker:

Because sometimes these companies do decide to go through

Speaker:

a little bit of a transformation or some type of change.

Speaker:

It might not be that transformational.

Speaker:

I know some people get overwhelmed sometimes by that word.

Speaker:

But when you don't have the leadership

Speaker:

or that vision at the top, what type of recommendations

Speaker:

would you give to a team that still needs to execute through a change?

Speaker:

I think that it's much more difficult

Speaker:

if they're trying to change things that aren't supported by the leader.

Speaker:

But everybody's in the business of continuous improvement, really.

Speaker:

I think it's important, no matter what you call it, a lean transformation, a digital

Speaker:

transformation, problem solving, whatever it is that you're being

Speaker:

tasked to do and paid for, come to it from a point of data and do your homework.

Speaker:

This is current state.

Speaker:

If we do this, this is the predicted future state.

Speaker:

And it's really hard to argue with someone

Speaker:

who's done their analysis and their homework.

Speaker:

Where do.

Speaker:

You think I.

Speaker:

Was going to say anything you want to add, Shannon?

Speaker:

Yeah. I think that

Speaker:

even if you don't have that top leadership support, you still have a sphere of

Speaker:

influence that you're working with, whether it's just maybe

Speaker:

it's your peer group, maybe it's people who report to you or team that you're on.

Speaker:

And as team members, you can still come up with great ideas.

Speaker:

You can still drive continuous improvement.

Speaker:

Like you said, it may not be a full transformation, but every change counts.

Speaker:

Every problem you solve counts.

Speaker:

And the more people that are doing that, whether it's huge or just in smaller

Speaker:

buckets, everything like that makes a difference.

Speaker:

And so you can still

Speaker:

make changes, regardless of what level of the organization

Speaker:

you have and what level of organization support you have.

Speaker:

What have you observed?

Speaker:

I mean, not to dwell on negative, but in instances I'm sure you've come across

Speaker:

where people are resistant or leaders are resistant, or maybe even

Speaker:

people on the floor are resistant, how would you describe

Speaker:

that resistance, where it comes from, and how can we, as people

Speaker:

who want to drive change, be empathetic to that and communicate around that?

Speaker:

What would be the secret?

Speaker:

The resistance comes from a number of different areas, but one is insecurity

Speaker:

because people have been successful in their roles.

Speaker:

They've been shipping products with the methods that they use.

Speaker:

So they may be insecure about learning something new.

Speaker:

They may be insecure about losing their jobs.

Speaker:

And so

Speaker:

you have to really provide that stability that allows people to try new things.

Speaker:

And it doesn't happen overnight.

Speaker:

You have to be very consistent with all of that.

Speaker:

And sometimes people are unable to make the transition.

Speaker:

And my philosophy was always to, when I was leading an organization,

Speaker:

was always to give everybody ample time to learn about it and to get on board.

Speaker:

But if you had

Speaker:

one or two people who were really being toxic

Speaker:

in the direction you have to go, you got to find a new place for them to be.

Speaker:

It doesn't take many. You know what I mean?

Speaker:

You don't have to move too many people or other people get on board.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

There's just a lot of we've always done it this way.

Speaker:

Then you come in with the next flavor of

Speaker:

the month, then, like Kathy always says, they're just waiting me out.

Speaker:

I felt like they're waiting me out, too.

Speaker:

Every couple of years, especially if you don't have a stable organization, people

Speaker:

are constantly cycling through with these great new ideas.

Speaker:

What we were

Speaker:

coming with, although it's been around for decades, they'd never heard of it.

Speaker:

And so that resistance comes from a lack of understanding and trust as well.

Speaker:

And so Kathy and I had to spend a significant amount of time gaining

Speaker:

trust. And explaining, and like we said, being present and explaining the why.

Speaker:

And I remember somebody looking at me one

Speaker:

time and being like, Well, how are you going to do that?

Speaker:

And I was like, I don't know.

Speaker:

This is what we want to do.

Speaker:

I don't know exactly how we're going to do it.

Speaker:

But I think that we'll all figure it out, and that's where that

Speaker:

little piece of optimism comes in that we will eventually figure it out together.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I love that with the why.

Speaker:

And then, Shannon, you mentioned the current state versus the future state.

Speaker:

I took a lean manufacturing course back in Detroit many years ago.

Speaker:

It's 12 years ago.

Speaker:

But I remember there being a lot of aha moments for me.

Speaker:

What were some of the lessons that you

Speaker:

learned when really implementing lean manufacturing?

Speaker:

I think one of the biggest ones for me was

Speaker:

that progress, we use the sentence, progress is not always linear.

Speaker:

And for those of us who are

Speaker:

high achievers or always trying to be high achievers, we're expecting

Speaker:

the line to constantly be going up and your metrics to constantly be improving.

Speaker:

And it requires a significant

Speaker:

amount of patience at all levels in the organization

Speaker:

until things really start to read out fully from a metric standpoint.

Speaker:

And there's a lot of two steps forward, one step back, and that

Speaker:

requires a lot of resilience to come back from.

Speaker:

And so I think that was a big lesson learned for

Speaker:

me is it's not always straight up the hill.

Speaker:

And I think.

Speaker:

Something that was really surprising to me when I was first starting to learn

Speaker:

about lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, is that sometimes less is more.

Speaker:

The sales people are always like, We need more inventory.

Speaker:

We need more inventory. I'm like, We need the right inventory.

Speaker:

We need it in the right spots.

Speaker:

It doesn't necessarily mean more.

Speaker:

The same was with people who weren't being productive.

Speaker:

I never advocate doing a lean transformation and letting people go.

Speaker:

Never. That's a no starter for me.

Speaker:

But using the people that you free up for

Speaker:

growth or to help more with continuous improvement.

Speaker:

But what you find is if you have a lot of

Speaker:

people who aren't productive, they're interrupting the people who are.

Speaker:

You do better sometimes with less for

Speaker:

trucks that are being used as personal industrial vehicles.

Speaker:

All these things where we always want

Speaker:

more, more, more, more to do better, a lot of them are just honestly

Speaker:

moving waste around that the customer doesn't want to pay for.

Speaker:

To me at first, that was very counterintuitive,

Speaker:

but I found it to be true in every single transformation I've been involved with.

Speaker:

Less is more. Progress is not always linear.

Speaker:

The right less. You got to have the right less.

Speaker:

That's right. Progress isn't always linear.

Speaker:

I love that. Both of those.

Speaker:

I wrote that down.

Speaker:

I got to tell my team that.

Speaker:

And celebrate the wins and learn from the failures.

Speaker:

Right? Those are the key.

Speaker:

I think it's a good time to get the switch

Speaker:

to what I love is that I just learned that.

Speaker:

So I'm going to throw it to Erin and finish this sentence.

Speaker:

Erin, what did you just learn.

Speaker:

Today or recently?

Speaker:

I'm really stuck in the head space of just having taken my daughter to the dentist.

Speaker:

And so while I cannot tell you a lot of

Speaker:

details about what it takes to be a dentist and do dentistry, I can tell

Speaker:

you that I did learn that a kind dentist goes a long ways

Speaker:

towards getting things done in a tiny child's mouth.

Speaker:

Yes.

Speaker:

And it is not easy for a mom to watch all that going on.

Speaker:

Not a big take away, but if, hey, any moms

Speaker:

and dads out there, if you got to take your little one to the dentist, just make

Speaker:

sure you got a kind one because it makes a big difference.

Speaker:

Chris, I'm going to pick you next.

Speaker:

What did you just learn?

Speaker:

Well, I was doing some analysis the other day

Speaker:

and I was looking at the number one sites in the world in 2022.

Speaker:

And the number six most traffic, which was like 4.8 billion, was Reddit.

Speaker:

And I never used Reddit.

Speaker:

So I thought I would ask you guys, all of

Speaker:

us here, do you guys do use Reddit frequently?

Speaker:

Are you some of those traffic people?

Speaker:

And what do you use it for?

Speaker:

What should I be using it for?

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So I have the app of my phone and I have an account and I get emails

Speaker:

with recommended topics, and I only go to it if the

Speaker:

recommended topic is of something of interest.

Speaker:

Other than that, I don't actively go there just to...

Speaker:

I know some people

Speaker:

are addicted to certain channels on their iPad and they live in that space.

Speaker:

But I know it is a big part

Speaker:

of digital marketing and it can be a strong strategy if used correctly.

Speaker:

Okay. Do you curate your content?

Speaker:

Sorry, Erin.

Speaker:

Go ahead. Do you curate?

Speaker:

What comes to you when you said that. You have to...

Speaker:

Yeah, I've identified things within Reddit that I'm interested in.

Speaker:

And they really pose it as a topic or

Speaker:

just a thread, like, Oh, you might be interested in this.

Speaker:

So sometimes I poke around and other times I'm not worth my time.

Speaker:

So it's like manufacturing a topic and digital topic?

Speaker:

Everything is a topic.

Speaker:

It's all over the place.

Speaker:

It's everything dark and ugly and rainbows and sunshines.

Speaker:

It's a wide spectrum of content.

Speaker:

There isn't a target audience.

Speaker:

Positive psychology.

Speaker:

And what I learned today, I could probably use.

Speaker:

Revit for that.

Speaker:

That's a good example.

Speaker:

You know how I think of it is

Speaker:

the comment section of anything can be gross or annoying.

Speaker:

But it's a comment section that you can really

Speaker:

choose, like, oh, these people know what they're talking about.

Speaker:

They've got something valuable to say.

Speaker:

And then you can contribute

Speaker:

and feel like, oh, I'm somewhere where people actually care about this subject.

Speaker:

So I think of it in that way.

Speaker:

So I like it. I'm a fan.

Speaker:

I think it's there for what you want and not just to show off.

Speaker:

It's not like the other social medias,

Speaker:

which are really braggie pants. Sure. Yeah.

Speaker:

I was surprised.

Speaker:

Number six in the world and I really never used it.

Speaker:

So that was interesting.

Speaker:

How about you, Laurie? Okay.

Speaker:

So I know we wrapped up January

Speaker:

and a lot of people were participating in dry January, and some made some major

Speaker:

life changes and some are super happy that it's over.

Speaker:

You followed you. Come on.

Speaker:

No, you know me.

Speaker:

I always got the data behind it. Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker:

Let's. Hear it.

Speaker:

Let's hear it. Google is really fascinated by this,

Speaker:

and they've said that over the past five years, search volume for the phrase

Speaker:

dry January just continues to increase every single year.

Speaker:

I thought that was really interesting.

Speaker:

And then Google trends, I love playing with this stuff.

Speaker:

So I just went in and typed dry January

Speaker:

and just for the last just this last month to see, what state in the United

Speaker:

States had the highest search volume for phrase, dry January?

Speaker:

So each of you take one stab at it.

Speaker:

What state do you think was the highest state in all of our 50 United States?

Speaker:

California.

Speaker:

New York.

Speaker:

Ohio.

Speaker:

I know the lowest, I bet is Utah. That wasn't my.

Speaker:

Question, though. Okay.

Speaker:

Wisconsin.

Speaker:

Alaska. What?

Speaker:

Yeah. There's not even anybody.

Speaker:

Up there. So what's.

Speaker:

The metric?

Speaker:

No, Alaska had the highest search volume for Dried January just this past year.

Speaker:

That I would like to understand more about that.

Speaker:

Did anybody here do Dried January? No.

Speaker:

No.

Speaker:

I did on the first and the second, and

Speaker:

then I went out with friends on the third, and I was like, Oh, no, we're.

Speaker:

Done with that. I tried.

Speaker:

New Mexico was. The lowest.

Speaker:

New Mexico was the lowest. But I did look up Dried Ret.

Speaker:

I did look up recipes.

Speaker:

That's why I think it's funny because I

Speaker:

was like, Oh, let me do something different on January first.

Speaker:

It was my birthday and we had people over

Speaker:

and I made a dry January cocktail but without alcohol.

Speaker:

But it only lasted till the third.

Speaker:

New Mexico. Was the lowest?

Speaker:

That's my home state, ladies.

Speaker:

And we're not interested in that foolishness.

Speaker:

That's it. That's.

Speaker:

Not interested. That answers the yes.

Speaker:

Okay, enough about me and my drinking habit.

Speaker:

Those of you who are not on the Zoom with

Speaker:

us can't see them sitting in front of my liquor cabinet right now.

Speaker:

Shannon, what did you just learn?

Speaker:

Okay, so staying with the kid theme.

Speaker:

I have learned my son is eight and is in third grade.

Speaker:

And there is a significant amount of drama

Speaker:

that happens at recess with third grade boys.

Speaker:

And I had no idea that this was a thing in life.

Speaker:

And it is like a coaching moment on a daily basis after school.

Speaker:

How was school today?

Speaker:

Well, there was unfair teams again playing football at recess.

Speaker:

The football, recess, and the unfair teams.

Speaker:

I am having the same thing.

Speaker:

I have a third grader and it must be like a national phenomenon.

Speaker:

What is going on with that?

Speaker:

It is so... It's very dramatic.

Speaker:

And it's all consuming.

Speaker:

We're going to get offline and do this.

Speaker:

We're not going to put everybody else through this because I need to know more.

Speaker:

How is it that, yes, it's the same thing.

Speaker:

Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

Speaker:

Kathy?

Speaker:

My husband and I have this thing that we do every year.

Speaker:

We call it power hours.

Speaker:

We set a goal for how many power hours we're going to do in power hours, where

Speaker:

you set your clock for 60 minutes and you do some major

Speaker:

cleaning, sorting, whatever in the house that's beyond your day to day thing.

Speaker:

I just learned in our last power hour, I came across in a bag of cards.

Speaker:

I don't know how this got in there, my kindergarten report card.

Speaker:

What it said was Kathy is able to cut all her shapes and everything.

Speaker:

The kids like her.

Speaker:

She's doing well.

Speaker:

Except when it's time to switch from work

Speaker:

to play time, I can't get her to stop working.

Speaker:

I have just learned that this productivity addiction that I have had

Speaker:

of working millions of hours since for years started in kindergarten.

Speaker:

And what I'm trying to learn now is how stillness helps me savor

Speaker:

and appreciate life's experiences a little bit more and the power of that.

Speaker:

That's real. That's what I'm trying to do.

Speaker:

It's really not. Your fault.

Speaker:

No, it's just you.

Speaker:

You.

Speaker:

Just are productive. You can't help it.

Speaker:

That is so cute.

Speaker:

I just love that.

Speaker:

Yes, I think that's so great.

Speaker:

You don't always want

Speaker:

things to be predetermined by what was going on in your childhood,

Speaker:

but sometimes you find out things, you're like, I guess this is me.

Speaker:

This is real. Yeah, it was fun.

Speaker:

I'm now trying to learn something else in Kathy 2.0 phase of life, and that's to

Speaker:

give myself a little bit of grace to experience some stimulus.

Speaker:

I just want to make a quick comment

Speaker:

because I would be sad if I didn't do this.

Speaker:

The partnership that you two describe with each other, that is so powerful.

Speaker:

And I'm so delighted to hear that you were able to do that in a work environment

Speaker:

and to grow that experience into something bigger for both of you.

Speaker:

But I also imagine that seeing your camaraderie, your trust in one

Speaker:

another, must have been so impactful for the people that you worked with.

Speaker:

And I met somebody recently who also had an

Speaker:

experience like that with a working partner.

Speaker:

And I just think that's good, Carma.

Speaker:

And you guys, thank you for sharing it with us today.

Speaker:

And thank you for sharing with the people

Speaker:

that you helped do something really hard and something new.

Speaker:

And that relationship

Speaker:

that you two have together, that's just a gift for all of us.

Speaker:

So I'm glad that you shared that with us today.

Speaker:

Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker:

We definitely terrish it ourselves. We do.

Speaker:

It's. Great.

Speaker:

Wonderful.

Speaker:

All right, tell us how to find you.

Speaker:

What do we do?

Speaker:

We're looking for you on the internet, probably.

Speaker:

Reddit. You go to our website.

Speaker:

We are at opsisters.

Speaker:

Com, and that's OPSisters.

Speaker:

And you can also find us on LinkedIn, and we are @ Opsisters on LinkedIn as well.

Speaker:

Awesome. Everybody connect.

Speaker:

Well, put all the info in the show notes, without a doubt.

Speaker:

Thank you, Laurie. Cool.

Speaker:

All right. Well, this was a phenomenal conversation.

Speaker:

We went pretty broad on the topics, without a doubt.

Speaker:

And.

Speaker:

Even pre show was really extremely broad, but we didn't hit the really hard button.

Speaker:

Thank goodness. Well, thank you so much.

Speaker:

As Aaron said, fantastic to have you guys on the show.

Speaker:

And thank you to our listeners.

Speaker:

We love hearing from you.

Speaker:

All right, this wraps it up and until next time.

Speaker:

This wraps up today's broadcast.

Speaker:

If you're looking to shake up the status quo at your organization

Speaker:

or just want to connect with these Broads, visit mfgb rdcasts.

Speaker:

Com.

Speaker:

Contact Laurie Hibey for your strategic digital marketing initiatives.

Speaker:

Contact Chris Harrington for OEM and aftermarket digital solutions.

Speaker:

And contact Aaron Courtney for web based

Speaker:

solutions for your complex business problems.

Speaker:

We've got a great offer specifically for our listeners.

Speaker:

You can find more information about the offers and your hosts at MFGBrodcast.

About the Podcast

Show artwork for a BROADcast for Manufacturers
a BROADcast for Manufacturers
The purpose of this show is to share knowledge, have fun and bring diverse, yet important topics in the manufacturing space to the forefront.

About your hosts

Profile picture for Lori Highby

Lori Highby

Lori Highby is a podcast host, speaker, educator, and founder of Keystone Click, a strategic digital marketing agency. Using her vast multi-industry knowledge – gained from experience and education, She has the ability to see the potential of greatness within the already established good of a business. Through strategic actionable moves, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies to micro-business owners, to achieve their marketing goals.
Profile picture for Kristina Harrington

Kristina Harrington

Kris Harrington is the President and Chief Operations Officer for GenAlpha Technologies. Kris joined GenAlpha in March of 2013 with the purpose to help B2B manufacturer’s grow revenue by implementing technologies that make it easier to do business.

Combined with the strength of her team, Kris is accountable for establishing customer relationships and engaging manufacturers in B2B commerce solutions that bring value to their organization and the customers they serve. Her discussions with manufacturing leaders tend to move into three different categories:

– Assessing the business for digital commerce readiness
– Finding ways to re-energize the sales channel by focusing on the customer experience
– Increasing options for managing the dealer vs direct sales strategy

Prior to joining GenAlpha, Kris worked for more than ten years in leadership positions with two large multinational manufacturing companies, Bucyrus International and Caterpillar, supporting the mining industry. In her various positions she had a responsibility to work with internal stakeholders, dealers, and customers to deliver business results both in aftermarket and equipment sales.
Profile picture for Erin Courtenay

Erin Courtenay

Erin Courtenay is VP of Digital Services at Earthling Interactive. Erin loves watching programmers work their magic, opening up the possibilities of the internet to small and medium businesses with powerful websites and custom software. Calling herself a “digital empathy practitioner”, Erin is determined to help clients move thoughtfully and compassionately into their digital future.