Reflecting on 50 Episodes: Our Journey So Far

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[00:01:32] Erin Courtenay: Oh yeah. Yeah. That's, that's the best part of this gig, isn't it? Like all the incredible people we've gotten to chat with.

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[00:01:42] Lori Highby: You know what? We should do this episode is talk about some of our favorite episodes.

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[00:01:50] Lori Highby: All right. Let's dive in.

So, what was the, I don't even remember the exact date we kicked this off, but I've been podcasting for seven or eight years now, I want to say. But I know this is kind of newer territory for both of you, Kris and Erin. What has the journey been like for you so far?

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That is really mind blowing. I mean, we had a guest and he's basically like, walks manufacturers through a mindfulness meditation practice. I mean, who would have expected that? We're just bucking all of these stereotypes left and right.

And that's, it's, it. Just wonderful. So yeah.

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Like there is real value. And as I thought about what are my favorite episodes, which is incredibly challenging now that we've done 49 of them. So figuring out which one was really your favorite, that, that was almost impossible. But I think just talking about some that have different value and bring different value has been so wonderful.

So I'm, I'm so glad that we're here today and I can't wait to keep doing this.

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So, that I want to just share a little note of gratitude to all of our listeners. It's been really cool to kind of be out and about and hear people saying they listened to the show. They love the episode, you know, or it's seeing folks commenting on stuff we post on social media. It's just really kind of heartwarming and, and just really grateful for all of our listeners and their continued support of A Broadcast for Manufacturers.

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[00:05:22] Erin Courtenay: Indeed. And I just want to throw this in before we move on. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in another conversation, but it's really appropriate here. I was at a party one night and I was telling someone about our podcast. And I said, well, it's about manufacturing, but you know, it's about a lot of things.

It's about life. And when you think about manufacturing, it's not just a narrow interest. Everything needs to be made. And so it creates this wonderful platform to have interesting conversations about everything from geopolitics to high tech to positive psychology. Like it really invites those conversations, but grounds them in a very real and relevant topic.

And so I think we just landed on something incredibly special with this, with this topic.

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What is your, your favorite episode or two or three or whatever?

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But two that really have stuck in my head for really different reasons are our interview with Nicole Donnelly. And she, she runs a firm very similar to the area that brought us all together, digital tech websites, e commerce and so forth. And then also Nicki Vo, who's a STEM advocate for Women in STEM.

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[00:07:31] Nicole Donnelly: Anytime you're going through a digital transformation, the most important part is the people part. And you have to get that right in order for it to really work and make sure everybody's on board and a part of the process and you get them through all of those phases of change. So you can't escape them.

They're painful, but part of every project there's going to be those phases. So it was a really fun and exciting event and I loved it. I want to do it again.

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[00:08:21] Nicole Donnelly: So I would say the first thing is they're to the point of education. These technical partners are sometimes so technical that they're way up here.

Gotta step down and really try to meet these manufacturers where they are. So the first thing I think is important is to help them in the discovery phase. Really understand what are their business constraints, like what's their pricing model? How are they shipping products now? And really understanding those constraints very well that you can architect a solution that's going to address and taking a crawl, walk, run approach to say like, we can't solve all these problems all at once.

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[00:09:00] Lori Highby: Which I love. I love that question. Yeah, that was such a great question to ask, by the way.

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So to have in a very casual, comfortable format a nice deep dive into e commerce and into digital transformation offers the listener the chance to just absorb the information in a non stressful environment and hopefully turn that into some of their business practices when they, you know, when they arrive at the office after listening on their way.

So I, I just loved it for that reason. In addition to the fact that Nicole, she just hit the ground running as far as like guest ability to just like fit in and have fun. And so it's just a, a fun listen, in addition to having a lot of nugget value.

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And I, the next time we got together, I said that episode was fantastic and we needed to have Nicole back. It was just over and over. She was delivering information that people want to hear, need to hear. And there was a big benefit. So, I loved listening to that.

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And I thought cool, that's now my favorite.

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You can't just be like, here's the end game and let's do it. You gotta, you gotta crawl before you walk. So I'm glad that she brought that value.

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They've been running for a long time. They've been running very, very well, very efficiently. And now somebody says, okay, get down on four and crawl. And they're like, no, I am not interested. That sounds horrible. I'm super good at running. And the way she breaks it down where it, it doesn't have to be, it's a hardship, but it doesn't mean that you're not doing things well if you're struggling.

And I think she made that point very eloquently.

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[00:12:21] Nicki Vo: I was in a high level math course, and the professor said out publicly to the class that women should be in the kitchen, and we cannot do math. Oh, my God. I was, I was blown away. Oh, yeah, I think it was me, me and one other female in the class, everybody else was, you know, obviously a man. So that was, that was a little hard to hear, but he also challenged everybody in the class that nobody would finish his math exam nor get, you know, even an A in the exam.

So I was like, game on, I'm up for this.

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[00:13:03] Nicki Vo: Well, I handed in my exam halfway through the period that he gave us and I got a hundred percent.

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[00:13:20] Nicki Vo: So I think he, he was, he was caught off by surprise because he didn't think any women can actually do that.

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[00:13:31] Lori Highby: I'm just laughing relistening to that right now. It's amazing.

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[00:13:37] Erin Courtenay: Yeah.

And you know, sometimes people will give you like a humble brag story and you're like, I feel like that's not the whole story. And with Nicki, it was like, Oh my God, I, I know that happened and that is insane and I am so glad that you showed that guy. And the whole conversation was really just how, I mean, she's experienced some stuff. She's been through things and she just maintains this optimism, this levity, this delight. She just has an absolute delight in STEM and what it can do for women and what it's done for her. And again, that's, that's bucking a stereotype of, you know, kind of a pocket protecterly, you know, no affect person being in STEM. She's not that at all. She is a firecracker and I loved it.

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[00:14:56] Lori Highby: Yeah, she was fantastic. And I love the story that she shared about just like, take it Mr. Professor.

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So, yay!

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So I, this, I, this goes back to like, I want to say middle school, maybe even elementary school, but one of my favorite, like history lessons was learning about Amelia Earhart and I just thought she was the coolest chick ever. Like even when I was in school, I'm not going to tell you how old I am, but you know, that was like, it was not a very common thing to hear about a female pilot.

Right. But then to learn that, like, this isn't even like, you know, today's day and age, this was, you know it was, you know, before my time that this was even happening. So I just thought that was she was fascinating, not just as a pilot, but she just had So many things that she did that were outside of the gender stereotypes, you know yeah.

So growing up, she played basketball, you know, she was like active on the courts and when she was in college, she took auto repair courses, you know, so, and then. Yeah. And then she wanted to take flying lessons and, you know, obviously we know that history and that backstory, but she set multiple aviation records, kicking numerous, you know, male records out the door.

And then. You know, we, we know that, that tragic story of, of her trying to, you know, fill another record, but I just think it's awesome. And there's a quote that I found that she said, women must try to do things as men have tried when they fail, their fail, their failure must be, but a challenge to others.

And I love that. Like I'm, I'm all about the challenge and I'm all about, you know, women stepping outside of their stereotype and doing the things that kind of Motivate them and drive them. And I just think that she had this like ambition and grit and just was like, I can do it attitude. And like, let me show you the way. So I, yeah.

Yeah, I didn't know that was gonna be all me talking, but that's okay. I, I liked the episode because we really highlighted a number of fascinating women in history and I just, I'm always a fan of that.

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And in a lot of ways, that's not too surprising, right? Like, women's history has always been a little bit less available to us through schooling and so forth. And just to have a, a chance to, to s pend some time with these wonderful figures of the past. It was a great conversation for that reason. And I learned a lot. And I instantly, of course, thought of Kris, though she was not with us when you mentioned basketball, because she's like our sports fanatic. So Amelia Earhart, horn went out for you right now, dear.

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So thank you both for that episode. You know, and I really hope, and I think it's true as well, that for young girls growing up today, that has changed. I do think there are more stories and movie lines and, and things that are oriented toward young girls and women. And even the availability of women's sports today and, you know, organizations and podcasts like ours, where we're focused on conversations that are for everyone, but often include women and any of the situations that women are facing. So I really think that this is changing and that's my hope as well.

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[00:19:39] Lori Highby: Well, all right. Again, that was episode number 25. The next one I picked was with Tato and I'm fascinated with her story because she purchased a sleepy manufacturing business without having any manufacturing background. That's episode number 35. Let's take a listen.

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Right? Like, I'm losing money. So what's happening here? Keep in mind. It was a massive supply chain crunch. So we'll just throw that in. My raw material cost went up 75%, pretty much the day of closing. So we were, we were already underpriced by at least five years. And then you throw that in the mix. It was such a mess, but I couldn't just go to all my customers and say, Hey, I'm new.

I know absolutely nothing. You don't trust me at all. And also your price just went up 40%. So, you know, you have to, again, with the ball of chaos, you have to take like, what are all the problems and And what are the most important problems and what is, what are the biggest things I have to do, you know, before I can knock the rest down.

And so it was product education for sure. And then also customer trust. I had to become the best friend of each of my 12 customers and not just get them to like me as a person, which is, I would like to think, you know, pretty easy, but really trust that I could execute on the data on the day to day, such that if they didn't know the owner, ownership transfer.

They would have no idea or wouldn't think to ask. And so I made that my first and foremost priority.

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[00:21:28] Lori Highby: Yeah, I just, I can't even imagine. Like I said, let's, let's buy a manufacturing company where I don't know anything about the process at all. And then you've got your materials increase, none of your clients know you like just issue, issue, issue.

And I mean, she just. Man, she's got the tenacity and the grit to just get it done and her story is just fascinating.

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[00:22:15] Erin Courtenay: Yeah. There's two things that really struck me about our conversation with her. One is we have a a model for several guests and I, I absolutely love this where they take over from a male relative, usually a father, but it might be a father in law, what have you. She did this on her own, entrepreneurially, you know, that's, that's just a cool example.

Secondly, when you listen to her, the humility that is so available and that she's not trying to mask is, is to me, one of the strengths that a strong woman leader can bring because In our, in our culture, it's okay for women to share their vulnerabilities or their things that they may not be awesome yet or what have you. And she uses that as a strength. Whereas I think sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes men feel so much pressure to demonstrate just full knowledge. Full confidence that they, they don't have the ability to lean into that vulnerability to help people kind of become attracted to them and trust them and build relationships with them.

And that clip does such a good example of showing how she navigated those two things so, so beautifully. And I, I want our listeners to listen to the podcast and to know that she, she's incredibly successful. It is going well. It's just a lark.

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All right, Kris, what do you got for us?

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Why don't we go ahead and play the clip from episode 24.

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Mm-Hmm. . And we started to just really think about the people portion of it and how we engaged everybody and how, you know, we are who we are. And we're a little crazy and fun sometimes, um, but, but we're also, you know, 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 them 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's 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, Erin, you know, we, we thought we had a very special connection that we created and we wanted to show how women empowering women does exist and that it can generate some amazing accomplishments when we uplift each other.

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[00:25:54] Erin Courtenay: Yeah. I want to, I want to applause. Can we edit in like applause?

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[00:26:02] Erin Courtenay: Yeah. That was great.

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So from start to finish. It was just really enjoyable. And I think that that's what I loved about it was the chemistry. I mean, there were five women on and we were exploring our conversation. And they discussed something that's very difficult. A lean transformation in a manufacturing organization is a really big transformation.

And what I loved is that how they made it real. You know, it's a continuous improvement journey. We're all on continuous improvement journeys, so we can all relate to having to you know, go through what it takes to effectively bring change to an organization.

But they did it. They were successful. They wrote about it. And I have to say, although I don't have a clip and it didn't include it in the clip because I didn't have enough time, Erin pronounced Steel Toes and Stilettos twice. And every time, both in the episode, I was laughing and I never said anything, but, and I laughed again the second time, cause you pronounce it stilettos.

And then Lori said, you know, she asked a question to the ladies and she said Steel Toes and Stilettos, which is how I pronounce it, but I just kind of giggled each time, so every time I listen to this episode, it's not.

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[00:27:53] Lori Highby: I don't wear them, so I don't know.

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[00:28:05] Erin Courtenay: Yeah, I'll have to listen. Isn't it funny when you listen to yourself? Like sometimes it's painful and other times it's like, Oh, I had no idea. That's yeah.

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I mean, Kris, I couldn't have wrapped it up any better than, than you have. They, I just remember like nodding my head constantly going, wow, these, these ladies are amazing. And what they're doing is, is just fascinating. So and the book, I love the name of the book.

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There's going to be a lot more learning that's going to happen for folks. And I think they bring that uniquely to the world of lean transformation. And so that's really cool.

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[00:29:24] Kathy Gallowitz: Beyond that is of course, our love for small unit integrity, right? And with that integrity comes teamwork, leadership, camaraderie, right? All those things come from that small unit integrity, if you will, in the military, we're broken up into small groups and into bigger groups, and it facilitates problem solving, critical thinking, chain of command.

And all that stuff mirrors the manufacturing industry because everybody's got to know their job. You got to do your job right the first time to create that product to meet mission. Then there's other attributes like I've heard employers describe. Military people's anchors. I love that. You know, what do you think?

What do you think, Kris, as a sailor, right? They're anchors because we're used to managing, you know, stressful conditions, high ops tempo, potentially conflict, right? And so we're pretty good problem solvers, critical thinkers, and calm under pressure. And so that anchoring has ripples throughout the organization and really makes a difference.

And the other key attribute that I should have introduced way up front is technical skills and aptitudes, right? Now we may not have the exact training on the exact piece of equipment, but one thing we do do is train, train, train, and train some more.

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But then she also gave us an idea of the resources that are available. She encouraged all of us to get organized and also to participate. So I just love the passion that she, she brought. And in a world today where there is a workforce shortage, you know, in, in the first 50 episodes, we've talked about women can fill the gaps, right?

So there's definitely space for women, veterans can help fill gaps. And then we've had a lot of different people who've come with different strategies. So I really just love this recent episode.

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And it's great that we can draw on that from you. So I really appreciated that opportunity to.

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And I just loved that. And we've obviously we connect with everyone on LinkedIn, but she's just posting amazing stuff constantly. Advocating for hiring veterans in the manufacturing space. And I just think that's amazing. And just hiring veterans in general, but definitely leaning towards the manufacturing.

So great pick again, Kathy Miller and Shannon Karels was episode number 24. And then retired Lieutenant Colonel Kathy Lowery Gallowitz is episode number 48. Wow. That was exciting and fun to kind of walk through some of those past episodes.

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But there was, there was really only one slightly odd one which I had told myself I wasn't gonna talk about. But since one of our guests brought it up, Lori, you and I got into a little bit of a tussle on one of our episodes. We weren't exactly seeing eye to eye. I, that's not on my favorite list, but it was.

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[00:33:44] Erin Courtenay: And everybody's going to go now. They're going to be like, what is it?

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So even if we weren't on the same page, that's okay. Yeah. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that.

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[00:34:16] Lori Highby: That's okay. It's okay. We're, we're not perfect. Yeah, so,

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[00:34:57] Erin Courtenay: Well, it's funny that you say that Kris, because my husband recently introduced me to a podcast where all of the hosts had really different perspectives. And naturally it's somewhat political in nature, but they do it so well.

I hope that is. Yeah. It's like a relief. It's a relief to listen to people having reasoned disagreements. And not to dive too deep into that, but I, I do believe that one of the strengths of our show and our listeners, I hope would agree is that we're, we're all about the conversation. We're not just trying to toot our own horns. We're not just trying to sell things. We're really trying to have vibrant conversations that bring people to the table when it comes to manufacturing. And I, I, I feel as though we have done a remarkably good job of that. And that it is hard to find in any, you know, format sector of media to find that kind of essential hesitate to use the word authenticity cause it gets thrown around a lot, but I think you're spot on with that.

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I know we've got a lot of really great, amazing episodes and guests coming up. There's, there's no stopping anytime soon. We've got quite the lineup and we've got tons of amazing episodes that we've already recorded that you'll be hearing soon listeners. But more importantly, we've got quite the queue of some phenomenal human beings.

All right, so that's, that's all I got to bring to the table today. This is a super fun episode. Episode number 50. Yeah. Thank you for our listeners to be, you know, having you here means a lot to us. And again, if you ever have a thought for someone that we should interview, definitely reach out because we want amazing stories and guests on our show.

And definitely rate, review our podcast too, because that's going to help other people find us as well. All right. I think that's going to wrap it up. And so what is, what is my new tagline now that I made up last time?

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[00:37:27] Lori Highby: Oh yeah. Go make something awesome. Yeah. All right.