Episode 198 : STOP MANDATORY MEETINGS - Steve Matteson's 2-Year Blueprint for Unstoppable Organizational Change

A plant on the brink. Labor unrest, safety issues, shaky quality, and a community that had lost faith. Steve Matteson stepped into that storm with almost no runway and chose an unconventional starting point: listen deeply, walk the floor, and build a system people actually believe in. What followed is a rare, practical blueprint for turning a failing operation into a proud, profitable, and resilient culture.

We dive into the first 48 hours—hour-long one-on-ones, a real gemba tour, and the surprising power of choosing leaders for connection rather than technical stardom. Steve Matteson explains how he ended “mandatory meetings,” made safety and quality everyone’s job, and installed a weekly cross-functional cadence with clear inputs and outputs. You’ll hear how accountability with dignity defused tension, why inviting injured teammates into root-cause problem solving changed behavior, and how a simple, employee-led newsletter amplified trust and momentum across a 1,000-person workforce.

• starting a turnaround with gemba and one-on-ones
• selecting leaders for connection over individual brilliance
• weekly cadence, “no surprises,” and cross-functional glue
• accountability with dignity and ending mandatory meetings
• teaching safety and quality as everyone’s job with PDSA
• physical renewal, 5S, TPM, and visible standards
• handling naysayers through open forums and union trust
• bold process change with single-pass mixing and stabilization
• documenting habits so culture endures beyond the leader
• faith shaping mindset, humility, and service

This is a masterclass in sustainable change. We trace physical renewal and 5S as symbolic turning points, TPM to reduce downtime, and a bold shift to single-pass rubber mixing backed by meticulous stabilization and transparent communication. Steve Matteson shares how he documented a repeatable operating model in 31 concise chapters, built quarterly off-sites for senior leaders, and prepared the culture to thrive long after he moved on. Underneath it all is a candid look at mindset and faith—guarding the mind in crisis, choosing the next right step, and leading with humility and purpose.

If you’re trying to revive a team, unify a divided workforce, or make improvements stick, this story gives you the practical moves and the human touchpoints to get there. Subscribe, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway so we can keep equipping uncommon leaders.

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Chapters

• 0:22 Welcome And Episode Setup
• 1:26 The Turnaround Challenge
• 3:16 Early Career Context And Gemba Start
• 6:16 A Boy Scout Storm And Mindset
• 13:41 One-On-Ones And Finding Real Problems
• 17:29 Building A Cross-Functional System
• 22:44 Accountability With Dignity
• 24:04 Sponsor Message
• 26:01 Handling Naysayers And Union Trust
• 32:30 Hardwiring Culture So It Sticks
• 38:59 Bold Tech Shifts And Community Wins

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:22

Hey Uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast. I'm your host, John Gallagher. You know, there are times in your life when you get a chance to have leaders who have made a difference in your life. You get a chance to have conversations with them on the side, but you rarely get a chance to ultimately have them share their side of the impact that they've had. I've got a gentleman today, Steve Madison, who I've known for about 15 years, who's going to share his leadership journey and some of the things that have impacted not just his work, but his life as well. I'm excited about this conversation we're going to have. We're going to talk about manufacturing. We're going to talk about leadership. We're going to talk about faith. And we'll probably talk about a couple of stories we've had working together over the years that still make us laugh today. So, Steve Madison, welcome to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. How are you doing today, friend?

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Hey, hi, John. I'm doing great. And uh it's always good to see you and see your smile and people like you that smile and make a difference. So thanks so much.

SPEAKER_02: 1:19

Well, let's jump right into this conversation. I'm excited about it today, Steve. I know we're going to have fun. I'll probably overrun my time, but we'll see how that goes. The first thing I want to talk about, you shared a document with me that was really cool, the best job that you ever had. And ultimately was about your most fun job. But let me tee it up just a little bit in terms of what you said. You stepped into a leadership role of a plant where there was labor unrest, poor community image, a real threat of closure due to lack of profitability, quality and safety issues, low morale. In two years, you turned that around and changed that. And we'll talk about those results here in a minute. But why in the world would you take an opportunity like that? And what was the first thing that you did when you got that opportunity?

SPEAKER_00: 1:58

Well, that's a great setup and uh great question. Let me just say this. I didn't know it would be the most fun job or uh, you know, what I was getting into. So maybe if I hadn't known, or if I had known more, but you know, it was inside a company that I'd already worked in two states in different positions. So it was a promotion within, I'm not sure I was given a choice. And I will admit that I had toured this uh sister plant an hour away from where I was working. You know, I toured it in a month prior, and I was so grateful. I went back to where I was working thinking that I didn't work there. And uh, you know, I just had this image of thanks, and I was like, boy, I'm glad I don't work there. I'll never work there, was sort of what my head said. You know, and so anyhow, uh, I guess I was offered that job. I did accept that job, and I mean I jumped into it uh instantly, I think like a two-day notice or something. Two days where I was and away it went. And the day I arrived, uh, I made sure to meet all my direct reports over the next uh 48 hours. I think I had one-on-ones of an hour each and a real in-depth plant tour, and that's how I got started.

SPEAKER_02: 3:03

That's how we were always told, right? Go to the Gimba. That's how we were taught. You were taught by some of the best. Shingazitsu in terms of uh what you've done, and you've made a delible impact on my journey in terms of lean and A3 thinking. And we know that you know that first step in the process is to find the problem that you're trying to solve. And it sounds like you had quite a big uh challenge to solve that. Now, there are spaces, Steve, in your leadership and and the folks who've worked with you know uh how much fun it has been uh and the wisdom that you share with regards to your leadership journey. But let's go back in time just a little bit as to how that was created. Tell me a story from your childhood, maybe, that still impacts who you are today, even today as a person or as a leader.

SPEAKER_00: 3:46

Yeah, I really like that question. It gives me pause for you know a deep reflection. There were a lot of stories, but there's one that I replay all the time. And uh You know, I was uh rebounding from rheumatic fever. I lost 10 weeks of eighth grade. We've gone through my freshman year of high school, and I'd been released for my first physical activity, you know, outdoors, if you will. You know, no physid freshman year, you know, it was a difficult time for me. But I was I went off with the Boy Scouts to the uh Cimarron Sito area, the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, and with the Adirondack Council. So this is a trip 2,000 miles from home by plane, or not by plane, but by train and uh bus and other ways of uh getting there. It was a 23-day trip for 10 days of hiking. So somewhere in about the fourth day of hiking, it was abysmal. It was a dire situation. It looked pretty bad. We were in the monsoon season, so every afternoon we're getting dumped on with heavy rains. This particular day, the rain was fierce, and then hail came on top of it. It was a heck of a light show. And as we're setting up our tents, there were 12 of us, adult leaders included. And uh you're sharing a two-person tent. It's canvas, it's heavy, there's no bottom to it, but you know, it's a basic provision, you know, to get out of the elements. And we set up mine. Mine was one of the two that we had to move because there was a river running through it with all the rain off and runoff from the rain and and hail melting overnight. Uh, it was unbelievable trip. Well, anyhow, I remembered distinctly, and it was getting dark because the storm was so fierce. And this is about four or five PM. And so I looked at my backpack on the ground against a tree, getting wet. I took off my poncho, put it over the backpack to preserve that, and I told myself right then and there in my mind that I was gonna survive this, and I was gonna remember surviving this, and this would pass, and it'll come out of this, and it's gonna be okay. And I've never forgotten that, and it and it was okay. And it took forever to to dry out. We built a fire that night where we had to split wedwood to get into dry wood, you know, to start a fire to dry out and so on. But I've never I've never forgotten that.

SPEAKER_02: 5:52

I can imagine that was both scary. I mean, uh also again, we talk about a dozen people coming together and saying, We're gonna we're gonna make it through this. Too many stories, you know. We've heard the recent story of the camp, the the young children's camp, that where they went through a very similar process and the results. Yeah, Camp Mystic, yeah, that were not that good. But learning your scout seals were very important, no doubt about that, as you uh went through that journey. So and that prepared you, that got you ready for today, persistence uh running through. And I know you've been through a lot, Steve. Uh you look about your manufacturing journey just a little bit. Industrial engineer from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Now I know why uh you like the RIT so well uh when we work together at Simpler Consulting. Must be something about that in terms of uh connecting you there also. But let's move back into this transformation from a work standpoint. So we know a little bit about, you know, you may not have chosen that yourself. We know a little bit about who you are. What were the things when you had those one-on-ones that to be in that position with the team? What were the barriers or the wastes that you identified, both in leadership and maybe in the shop floor that told you, man, we I think we got a chance here.

SPEAKER_00: 7:01

Yeah, I like that question. I yeah, I was reflecting a little bit more about the summary I sent to you and and just real high level here. At this point, I was 15 years post-RIT. And uh I'd worked in four plants with three companies in two states, twelve bosses, five promotions. And so undertaking uh this job, I was reporting to the president of a division with uh three of the plants of the 12 around the country at Gen Corporate Automotive at the time. And basically I was given directions uh to pay attention to safety, quality, elimination of waste. And those are the March words. But what really happened was I was given freedom to just jump in, and uh which I'd been prepared for, didn't know I'd been prepared for, because I've been through a lot of things, and actually I'd been through a lot of things where I didn't I thought if I ever get into this position where I have more degrees of freedom, I'm gonna approach it the way that I would want to be approached. And so some of the lessons learned at that point were lessons of how not to do things. So how how I got started upon arrival was oh wow, these people will kind of wonder who is this guy? Uh, you know, the dozen plants around the country and the three in this division, this plant's unprofitable. It's uh there's more than just rumor about closing it. I wonder who this guy is. Yeah, here comes the corporate guy. He's here to help. Yeah, yeah, he's here. Where did they get him? What's he like? He's down the road an hour, we've heard about him. But so I thought it was very important. Uh, you know, I get an in-depth tour of the plant, but in less than 48 hours, I spent a full hour one-on-one with the direct reports. And I basically, you know, I just opened it up. I just said, look, I'm so-and-so, you're a so-and-so. Tell me a little bit about you. Also tell me what you do, tell me a little bit about how you do it, and then uh tell me what concerns you have. And uh, that was the first 48 hours.

SPEAKER_02: 8:51

That's uh pretty amazing in of itself. It wasn't about looking at the numbers necessarily. It wasn't about going out there and pointing out where you saw all the opportunities to improve from a manufacturing or engineering standpoint. It was about building relationships from a leadership perspective that was very important. And again, I got to believe that you know, working together, it probably felt a little bit like that rainstorm uh from the scouts way back when it was in terms of uh the challenges that organization have felt. So you go through that two years later, a transformed culture and operation, explosive top-line revenue growth, sustained profitability, labor and community harmony, breakthrough safety improvements, and a servant leadership culture. So, Steve, we teach systems guys, right? From a leadership standpoint, what were some of the habits in those two years that you put together as the leader of that organization to help turn it around so quickly?

SPEAKER_00: 9:42

Yeah. So as I met with each leader, part of that was sort of uh a style, if you will, you know, systems. How did they view their role? Where did they think they were connecting? And were they connecting? So, for example, uh, one of the ones I met with uh was in that position by virtue is an engineering area, by share talent, held a lot of patents and a lot of individual, I'm gonna say, uh, contributions, uh, and you know, all kinds of great service. But as a leader in the product design field, very uncomfortable in leading others. And uh that one almost threw me off. Uh and uh not completely, not in a bad sense, uh but in a sense that I didn't terminate anybody. Uh I did reassign people, and that was the first person I reassigned. Less than a month later, this individual uh became just an individual contributor, no change in pay. And a month later, I was flabbergasted when he and his wife invited us out to go to some uh outdoor, well, actually an indoor theater presentation, but an outside plant thing. And his wife uh she was so thankful for this change in position because it didn't fit him. And so then I went for a successor. So what I started to look for uh immediately was people that could uh connect with other people from the standpoint of what their function was, and then their function connecting with you know in a cross-functional way, all the functions. So when you talk about systems, you know, I was looking at, yeah, we need to we need to gather the senior staff weekly. We'll do it more frequently if there's a need for it, but it's gonna be fast and and people are gonna be prepared. There's it's not just a random meeting. What's gonna be the sort of input process output? Here's what I expect you to kind of bring. Here's what we're gonna discuss because we have a group, it's a cross-functional group, here's the output, here's where we're gonna go forward and you know take uh appropriate actions. And so some of that role that I did at at one point, I think I had 10 or 11 direct reports. At one point I had 22 when I was moving around, moving people around. I gave in the engineering area, I gave uh that was the crazy one, I gave four or five people a chance to lead engineering before I settled on one. There were others I didn't change at all. The the production person was the production person, for example. But I kept like a jigsaw puzzle putting together like in a systems construct that uh you know, we're gonna work together. We know the functions uh need to interact with each other. And uh I'm gonna say integrity, honesty, the whole idea, and my boss had said this to me, he said, look, don't shoot the messenger in any case, is what he said, Pope. Just shoot the person who shoots the messenger. And so it was open. If you've got a problem, I want to know about it. I don't want any surprises. And that became the moniker, no surprises. And then it became not just Steve, no surprises, but the team. As we built the team, and that extended to the entire alley workforce, which was you know, it was pretty big. I had a thousand employees.

SPEAKER_02: 12:43

Oh my goodness. And again, that just um overlays how impactful it was to be able to transform it there in two years. I don't want to walk away from that too much, but you know, you and I, when we worked together uh at the consulting company we worked for, you and I primarily got to work in healthcare hospitals and clinics. And that was kind of our area of teaching the Toyota production system and developing leaders. And you know, the problem you just identified with promoting the best engineer to the engineering manager because he was the best engineer is one of the biggest problems in healthcare today, where they take the best doctor and promote them to the chief, or promote them even worse, to the CEO and never give them the support they need on how to be a leader inside of the organization. So recognizing those who are the leaders, the influencers, the ones who are able to get folks to move forward, and recognizing individual contributors who you know need to help you make rain, basically, get stuff done, are so important on the leader's part. And again, you get this on your journey. Were there, and you mentioned what not to do, were there individuals who had an influence on you uh to help you develop your leadership style? How did how did you get to that point where it became so transformational and cultural versus you know demand and uh control?

SPEAKER_00: 13:57

Yeah, so there indeed were, and uh, and sometimes I didn't always appreciate or understand uh what was happening. So, so for example, the uh the prior year, 19, just one year prior to taking on this engagement, the boss I had at this time, at that time, was the third plant manager in this one place where I was for less than five years. And uh there had been a uh fairly militant strike. And uh and he actually, as a development project, sent me to the negotiation table uh four months prior to the strike as a key management representative. Now there was an HR executive, uh colleague up here, didn't have any union experience, which which I did. She did not and and so helping out with that. Well, we spent, I don't know, 60 days at the table over four months uh without getting a contract. Uh you know, it wasn't ratified. It was there's a whole inside story of that. But I remember kind of complaining. Uh, you know I can complain. I was complaining a little bit to my boss about this, and he was saying, look, he said, don't judge this too soon. He said, You you have no idea what you're learning uh by this. And uh, you know, this will be like take a manufacturing term, this will be like annealing you. This will be temporary, this will give you a larger capacity to deal with people. And no matter what the technology is, there's always people behind it. So stick with it. Do not prejudge what's going to happen, strike this, that, or whatever. And he was absolutely right. He was a top-down boss, but he eventually, starting with that and then post-strike, actually yielded his style more to and his boss was 25 years more senior. So he was very seasoned in a different way, but we shared the frontier after that. I think there was a uh deep mutual respect. I remember telling him at one point in a strike when I would disagree on how things were being done. Uh, he had two sons, they're about the same age. I said, I'm not one of your sons. Uh, you know, we're here to work together as a team. You know, I took some bold comments and we worked through them in a bold way, and we had great success coming out of that.

SPEAKER_02: 16:02

Love that. When influencers can help and you can look back on that and recognize who made a difference in that space. Steve, you share with me kind of uh a list of these 11 points. I think it's your book. You know, that's your point of view. It could be a book. I think it's that, and I don't mean that in a negative, I mean that in a positive as to how you did that turnaround. I obviously we don't have time to go through all 11 points that you gave me in terms of what happened over those two years. But there are a couple that struck me that I wanted to just kind of bring up because I sense that many leaders today are faced with the same problem some 30 years later in terms of what's happening. The first one was accountability with dignity. Tell me more.

SPEAKER_00: 16:39

Yeah. So uh this actual plant location also had a militant strike just two years prior. In fact, you know, there were some pretty high civil disobedience and rolling of cars, starting fires. It was a tough, tough environment. There were also on the management side, which I didn't see as a positive, there would be communications and meetings that were mandatory, which I always found that was like throwing a red flag like in front of a bull. Something's mandatory. So uh one of the things I instituted immediately was uh I got rid of mandatory meetings. And uh I had some small group shift meetings. I I ramped it up to eight of them a month where I would meet with somebody at a birthday or anniversary with the company, so twice a year they got to come to this meeting. But then I had broad meetings with everyone. And in the first broad meeting, which was done the first 30 days, I announced we didn't have mandatory meetings. I didn't feel that was an appropriate way to run things. I wanted people to come to meetings because they want to be part of the team, part of the success, part of where we're going forward. I did lay down uh independent of a union contract or management protocols, procedures, I just said, look, I here here's what I expect. I expect you to come to uh you know, come to work. I mean that's that's the first thing and follow safety rules. Come to work and be here and then be safe. And a third thing is be productive. And if you come to work and you follow the rules and you're safe and you're productive, we're gonna get along great. And I said we are gonna work together and I will continue to show you and share with you the future I see for this plant. And I think I packaged in at that point a comment about customer visits. And I said customers haven't visited in a long time. We're gonna have customers come in here, we're gonna clean up this place, it's gonna be a place of pride, and uh we're gonna own it, and we have it. And and that really that set the tone. I mean, two years later, people were bragging about working at the place, and there was some level of bling on an improvement teams with shirts and stuff, and so it is an unbelievably different vibe than when I got there.

SPEAKER_02: 18:44

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SPEAKER_00: 19:52

Yeah, yeah, that happens. And that's a great question. So I didn't know when I started this uh smaller group meetings where And that's how we got to know names. So a thousand employees in two years. Uh how many names did I know? Over half, over five hundred. So I didn't know every single person, but I knew quite a few of them. And I knew the rebel rousers. And, you know, and I I would make sure I find a place where I could engage with them on the floor. I was pretty fearless and always on the floor, seldomly in the office. The small shift meetings where they had a birthday or an anniversary. It was a big enough plant that it had a cafeteria. And so I gave away uh a cafeteria slip for a meal. If you so I put a little incentive, a little inducement. You come to one of these meetings, give you a chip, it's an old-fashioned term, and no problem, whatever. Well, in the first few meetings, uh, there were two unions uh at the time, and uh the leaders would come. They had a brick and mortar uh big enough place, so they had brick and mortar, you know, headquarters right across the street. And they would show up at all the meetings because they thought I would be the I'm the rebel riser, rouser. Uh but I just started to communicate the theme of uh safety, quality, elimination of waste. We have new products coming in. Yes, there's products moving out, yes, they're moving to Canada, even a different country. Uh, but we're vibration control, we're growing, uh, the new products are coming, the new customers are coming. And so I kept pounding on that vision. I pounded on the fact of how we're gonna approach problem solving. So, like safety, I said you may have heard that uh, you know, if somebody is injured, they're in an OSHA recordable, as we may call it, that person is gonna be on the uh problem solving team. Uh they're automatically drafted, they're part of it, we're gonna get their input and they're gonna be part of it. So to answer your question of how how did you overcome the the ones that aren't on board, what what started to happen is the the union leaders would uh not come to all, say, eight meetings. They might come to one just to kind of find out what's going on. Then they started to get excited and then they started to talk. And then there was also, I didn't mention in the stuff I sent to you, there was a company newsletter that was put together by the hourly people. And uh wow, I I think the second in command was also married to the head of the largest union. And uh I don't know why, but she really liked me. And we got along well. So it all started with could you write something for our newsletter? And they weren't used to getting, you know, necessarily the plant manager all the time. And so I wrote every month. Pretty soon they asked me to help out editing, which I did too. So what happened is the people, there's no mandatory meetings. I can get a cafeteria mail. Oh, by the way, I found out some interesting things. Oh, there's this newsletter, and of course, ultimately we had a company picnic the second year, the second summer. And so word spread. That's what I would say. Organic spread is what took care of, so there probably still some people, even knockleheads, you might, but they uh they were not showing up to mess with things anymore. There was there were not cigarette butts on the floor anymore, there weren't uh whole random holes in drywall, there wasn't graffiti in the bathrooms. All all this stuff got cleaned up and uh it was different. It was just different. And so now it was like if you're the rebel rouser, you're sort of the odd person out now. And it just changed.

SPEAKER_02: 23:04

And changed that because it's recognizing the continued performance of those who are making a positive impact. And while not ignoring, but certainly not allowing the energy of the rebel rousers to uh deflate what's happening inside of the organization. Too many times it actually ends up being opposite. The rebel rousers end up getting more energy from the leadership team. And we can talk about how that works in companies, how it works in families, that it's just not a good thing. I mean, it's something that happens. Steve, I I love and I could talk about the you know, the lean uh tools, the elimination of waste, the quality improvement. Uh one of the things you talked about was the physical renewal as a symbolic change. I'll call that the 5S and shining it up and getting rid of, to your point, getting rid of the graffiti, cleaning up the equipment. I'm sure that that was a huge part of what you had done as well. You get to this two point two year point, and this is where I'm looking for you to give some encouragement to leaders out there. They work really hard, you push the ball up the hill, you solve these problems, you get things going really well, and it's time for you to, you know, just take your next opportunity. You walk away from it and the ball rolls back downhill again. What were some of the systems, or how would you encourage other leaders to ensure that, you know, in essence, when they leave it better than they started, but also so that it stays in that condition even when you're not there anymore?

SPEAKER_00: 24:25

Yeah, which is uh which is a really good point. And the the time of this transformation, by the way, is I had had some lean exposure, uh, America can't compete and so on, but it was prior, just prior to joining Freudenburg NOK, where I got a deep dive. And uh so I had been to Japan, I've been exposed to Toyota, Toyota partnerships. And uh so we're using uh those principles 5S, TPM, and cleaning the equipment and and spreading that around. So, how how would you prepare so you walk away someday and that just doesn't roll backwards, as you say. So the I know what that looks like, but to build that is another story. What it looks like is that now people have, starting with their leaders, the servant leaders at the top, have actually committed to a new way of doing things. Their mind has been transformed, they're doing things differently. So take that example of a safety issue where someone was on the team and they had been injured or lost time, and now they had a chance to meaningfully participate in how that wouldn't happen again. Now their minds changed. Uh the senior leaders, uh I took them off-site quarterly. You know, we would start today, and then we'd take off, go to lunch, and then I would I've actually developed a whole manual for them with I think there were 31 chapters eventually of of key items and how to operate and uh move forward in old rat and things like that, uh, and some exercise and how to calculate and do things. So so there were uh cookie crumbs, I think, being developed on uh procedures, uh not to the point of what I would call standard work with tack time yet, but with key points. Here's how we're gonna do things, and that was with each department, each leader. And uh certainly there were things that uh let's talk about quality, for example. Quality was another spread across the entire plant, every single employee. So that was taught on the front end that yes, we have a quality department. Uh actually it changed the title. We got rid of quality control, told them there's no such thing. We don't have a quality control department. We have a quality department, and uh, they're knowledge people, and they're gonna teach problem solving PDSA, and they're gonna be the guardians of the methodology, but quality is every single person's responsibility. So we started to build in that sort of mentality as well. So now mentality is changing regardless of who's at the top, and we're building this culture where and you could see it in the newsletter spread with everybody want to be in a newsletter, talk about their area and what they had done, and we did it. And then you sort of got this, and we did it. And the more you got the buy-in, we did it, the more the ownership was transferred uh to the people actually doing the work. And I think that was a huge key in turning around this facility and uh in a two-year span.

SPEAKER_02: 27:14

Yeah, recognizing implementing those new disciplines, right? I mean, and the way we do things as leaders, though whether it's the quarterly management system reviews of what you have going on, the operating model that says this is how we're gonna run the departments. To your point, it might not be cycle time equal attack time, standard work in place, but it was the habits and disciplines to be successful as a leader. And you documented it, it sounds like you documented it. I mean, I can actually probably see your workbook as you documented that in the 31 chapters and and made it available to them.

SPEAKER_00: 27:45

It was it was there and and there were different uh we didn't leave anybody behind. So, for example, uh even in technology, you know, this plant uh went to what was called single pass rubber mixing, natural rubber mixing. We mixed uh rubber for five other plants, and we had we had four mixing lines. Only one was vibration control, our own division. The others are all synthetic, but we had partners in Germany and Japan that were two-passing rubber, using rubber just twice before they would mold it. We were doing three pass on the 1950s. We did a leapfrog at Christmas time of my first year, the single pass with every known critic you could think of, like are you people nuts? And then we had every chemist in the state of Indiana, so outside just our division on duty for two months after a Christmas shutdown to make the changeover, just to dial in all this stuff. Well, then this was newsworthy. Went in the local newspaper, and this was where some of the most macho people would work. And we actually, you know, were able to, you know, realize a couple crew reduction. And so, you know, the communication was we're gonna we're gonna advertise and sell rubber to the outside world, rubber and plastic news. So it was always having a story on how to move things forward. So all directed at your point of not wanting to fall backwards, because when I got recruited out of there, we were at the table getting actually getting a harmonious labor contract. Oh wow. And we had great relations in the community. I joined the rotary club, I knew the mayor, the chief of police, uh, you know, all these pieces were there were a lot of pieces. You know, back to thinking about being fun, uh, the best job I ever had. So I was moving so fast in the plant was I just didn't even have time to to recall how much fun it was. It was just ever every day was moving at lightning speed. And you're just as slow as a person, you don't even recognize it, right? And that's uh I didn't recognize at all. I just it was it was it was just good movement and every everybody was on board. And it was uh that's why highlight is the best job I ever had. I've had a lot of jobs since then, but that that one was uh it was unfettered in the sense that I hadn't had that much freedom part of that time, and I hadn't had a developed even script. I just wanted to be treated the way I would like to be treated, and I used some insights of how not to be treated, and I just look at the data and the landscape and started to push the buttons. Where did we need to be? I guess I was the chief person to prioritize things, but anyhow, that's and I when I left, by the way, that plant continued for almost two decades, and you know, it was it was bought.

SPEAKER_02: 30:18

That's the wedge that held there that helped allowed it to keep going. So cool. So great to hear that. Steve, look, we've gone through a lot. We've gone through kind of the scout days in terms of you being a scout, uh, industrial engineer from Rochester Institute of Technology, and certainly a successful executive in manufacturing. Uh you and I briefly talked about, and you know, from a time standpoint, we can never go in and we wouldn't get out of the holes of discussing working together for you're my first supervisor at the consulting company that we worked for. We did that, I did that with you for 10 years in terms of going through that journey and appreciated all the mentoring that you gave me to you know put some of those things in place in healthcare as well. And you know, we could debate, not you and I, but we could debate uh the impact that we've had on that industry as we look at where things are with healthcare today. But I know that the things we're doing were making it better. And your life isn't defined as any of those one things, Steve, in terms of what you did. But I also know that you're a strong man of faith. Um, when you think about your journey on the faith side as well and how your relationship with God has impacted who you are, how did that play a role in your leadership style and the things that you've done as well?

SPEAKER_00: 31:22

Yeah, I I like that question too. So I've reflected on that uh, you know, each and every year as I've you know become older and have uh strengthened my faith and my faith journey as opposed to, I think in the early days it was embedded, thankfully. And I didn't necessarily uh well, I'll just say it this way I didn't praise God enough for the things that were happening. I think I was not in tune enough to realize, hey, the Holy Spirit's really guiding me. You know, certain doors open, certain doors closed. And uh, you know, I was probably a little bit too much in love with self then, thinking I'm doing all this, and found out no, I'm not, I'm not doing all this. And maybe I've been blessed with some talents and equip. But and I I think uh you know, it goes back even to high school. You know, we we had a retreat on a given uh weekend with lay people coming to our church and answered an altar call then. I was uh president of the youth organization then, so I had a seat with the adults to plan the retreat. It was quite meaningful. When I was off in college and off campus, it was on campus and then you know, off campus the last several years. Yeah, and I was the guy running the townhouse. We had seven of us in it, you know, tried to get the cost down. I think I slept in the furnace room or something. But they ended we ended up uh we asked one person to leave who we didn't approve of the behavior, and we started to get people that had faith in Jesus. And I can remember at one point uh praying. I had to make up a course in physics in my later years, you know. It was a engineering back in uh when I went to school, there was a process to winnow people out. That was absolutely the philosophy. So, you know, a group of 150 mechanical, electrical, industrial when we graduated, you know, it was less than a hundred, and that included 20 transfers or so. So people dropped out. Now, one of the things in physics in particular, you know, if you could come up with a 30-point average on a hundred scale, you might get a C in the course. And, you know, uh straight on the curve. Just the way it was. And so I'll never forget in my Christian walk that uh one of the uh roommates suggested I was going, I was pretty nervous getting ready for this test near the end of the quarter and need to pass this. And he said, Well, let's pray. And I was like, Oh yeah, we've talked about God, we've talked about Jesus. Yeah, let's pray. So we prayed. And I never felt so calm in my life. I uh I went in, I took the test. Uh I prayed a little we had a group prayer at uh townhouse, but when I was in class before that, I just prayed to God and I just laid it out and I said, God, if it's not your will for me to be an engineer, then I'm not gonna pass this course. And uh if um I'll do whatever. So uh just give me peace of mind. I'm gonna do my best and I've got to move forward. And uh anyhow, I passed the course and and so on. Uh the the point of what I would leave going forward on this whole discussion is that listening to God and that faith in is just grown stronger and stronger. Now it is so very strong, you know. I even fill in the pulpit. So, you know, I was preaching last Sunday at a not my church, another church. I'm preaching this Sunday. I facilitate or co-lead a couple of studies. I'm in a study group Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. One one is Zoom only, the other two are in person. I find it indispensable as part of my life. And it's built into what I do with everyone, and that would be friends, family, and so on. It's uh and I want everybody to know Jesus. It's uh I don't know how many years I have left, I don't, but I I believe I was created for a purpose uh by God, and uh it's in my DNA to recognize God, serve God, and claim Jesus.

SPEAKER_02: 35:00

So I'm quite sure you'll have the you'll hear those words well done, good and faithful servant at some point, Steve. I love you sharing that and carrying out that great commission to make disciples. You know, your LinkedIn profile, and I'll put a link to that for folks because they can even send you a note there to be connected with you. It says retired on there. And you know, I'm sensing that you are not necessarily the traditional retired and just out playing golf and pickleball on a regular basis, but still very active in taking, you know, the things that you learned, frankly, in your manufacturing world and in our consulting and healthcare days and using them for the uh ministry uh and making a positive impact. And you know, for that, Steve, I continue to be grateful for what you continue to do, you know, the impact that you made on me and what you're doing in the lives of others, utilizing your faith as well. Steve, I want to give you the last word. This conversation's been great. I have way overstayed my time with you, but we may have to do this again. I always ask my first-time guest the question at the end about the mantra or message they really want to leave leaders with. I'll give you a billboard. You can put that billboard anywhere you want to. What's the message you're gonna put on that billboard and why do you put it on there?

SPEAKER_00: 36:05

So uh I'll tie this into the first question you had, the time and the downpour of rain and hail and how bleak and so on. So what I think what changed forever in me then was in my mind. So I put I put that situation in my mind. It was sort of like a mind over matter or positive mind. It was like, I know this looks pretty bad, I'm telling myself. And I'm going, I'm not gonna let it bother me. And what am I gonna do? Okay, everything everything's getting wet. Okay, you know, I can dry out. Let's throw this poncho over, you know, on top of the pack. I can preserve that, the rest I'll worry about later. So I did a little bit of prioritization, but the main thing I got out of that was the mind, the power of the mind. And so I would the billboard would be mind cultivation. It would be what you feed, what a person feeds their mind is what they become and what they can do. And you can have some control over that. I believe God has given us some control, a lot of control, really, in deciding what to feed the mind. And so I feed, I feed the mind scripture every day from the good book, from the Bible, and look for wisdom, not man's wisdom, but God's wisdom. And so my billboard would be watch your mind. And in your mind, your heart follows. So what's in your heart, what's in your mind, uh, you want to guard that. You want to guard your heart, you want to guard your mind, and you want to feed it not with junk food, but with the right stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 37:31

Amen, brother. Feed it well. You know, Philippians 4.8 is really clear. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, excellent, or praiseworthy. Think on those things and put those things into your mind, and then ultimately put those into practice. Steve, this has been fun. I know we don't get a chance to connect enough. I've enjoyed the conversation. I am so uh honored to chat with you, but also recognize that blessed to be able to uh be led by you and and to call you friend as well. I wish you the best going forward, and I want to thank you for being a guest on the Uncommon Leader podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 38:04

Well, thank you so much for gladly share with you. Thanks for those years where we work together.

SPEAKER_02: 38:38

You need to share this with somebody else. You may need to go back and listen to it. You can ultimately have some of the tips and some of the enforcement conversations if we share with somebody else. I know that's very helpful as well. And it helps us get it into the hands of more leaders with DDU that really well. I think I'll still leave us up with you. And that also gets it into the hands of more listeners. So until next time, go and go chat.