The Innovation Mentality for Manufacturing

Ed Ballina 

I’m Ed Ballina.

 

Alvaro Cuba 

Hello guys, Alvaro Cuba here.

 

Ed Ballina 

Nice to be back with you. Welcome to the Manufacturing Media podcast. This is the show where we kick back on our downtime, get real about efficiency on the shop floor, and hopefully share an idea or two that may resonate with you. So, welcome.

 

Alvaro Cuba

Hey Ed, what about the hat? 

 

Ed Ballina
The hat. Okay, so listen, we tried this. It doesn’t work really well with our headphones, but just want to remind you that we actually had the last two episodes were focused on back to school and we were able to provide a high school program and a college program. So if you watch our two podcasts,

 

Alvaro Cuba 

Yeah, and we graduated on both, right?

 

Ed Ballina

We proofread it first, and we got the tassel—you move it from one side to the other, right? But if you haven’t heard us give a lesson, you may take one or two nuggets away from that that you may find helpful. So that was our band.

 

Alvaro Cuba 

And I can tell you it was a blast having Ed as my teacher and my colleague and my everything. Thank you so much. Yeah.

 

Ed Ballina 

We both gave each other detention. Twice we sent each other to detention, but we’re the principal, so figure. So,  just happy to be back with you and particularly excited about this podcast, because this will be our second podcast celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.  And very quickly, I have another hat.  First of all, I am wearing a Cuban guayabera.  Very typical of  Cuban wear and because my friends call me the Cuban redneck, I just had to represent. So here I am.

 

Alvaro Cuba

That’s so cool, amigo. I love it.

 

Ed Ballina 

But this is about our guest, Glenn Llopis, a Cuban American author, speaker, leadership strategist.  I had the pleasure of meeting Glenn many years ago, attended one of his courses and, you know, have followed his career.  And we thought what a great opportunity to bring him to us. This is a person that’s written a number of books, including The Innovation Mentality.  He helps leaders break through the status quo and leverage what is unique about them. And one thing I really like about Glenn is he looks at individuals as a whole. Every one of us is different. Every one of us have different experiences and we can all bring uniqueness to  our lives and to our business. So, Alvaro.

 

Alvaro Cuba

Yeah, it’s going to be great to have Glenn in this episode.  But before going to that, on that note, leverage diversity, guys, help us to grow up this meetup. The more we are, the better, the more diverse, better ideas so we can join and we can for sure bring our diversity and lead through the growth of everyone. So please subscribe, invite your pals to join us in the meetup.

 

Alvaro Cuba
Hey Glenn, how are you? Welcome to the show.

 

Glenn Llopis

Well, how are you guys doing? I mean, as I was waiting, I thought I was about ready to listen to a comedy show. I mean, this is unbelievable. I mean, especially during Hispanic Heritage Month, you couldn’t have two Latinos that are as engaging and as entertaining as both of you are. So thanks for having me on the show. So what’s the agenda today, guys? Because I mean, I like the way you guys kind of flow. And I know the objective here is to add value.

What are we going to do to inspire and educate people?

 

Ed Ballina
But one thing I wanted to share for sure is while we are here celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, right, and obviously we’re all very proud of our heritage, we want to include everybody under the tent. This is for everybody. What Glenn is gonna share with you, right, can apply to you no matter where you’re from, you know, whatever your differences are. Take Glenn’s perspective as something that can help each one of us, because we’re all individual and unique human beings.

 

Glenn Llopis
You know, if I can jump in on that, Ed, I want to make sure that people are clear. What is Hispanic Heritage Month for today in 2025? I’ll give someone a perspective that maybe they haven’t heard of before. You see, we’re known as a community whose population is growing fast, a population who has a purchasing power that would make it the fifth largest country in the world.

 

But what it doesn’t have, it doesn’t have enough strategic influence in the world. And so when we think about Hispanic Heritage Month, we can certainly celebrate our heritage. But I’d like to double click on that and say the following. We can celebrate it. The question I have for people is how do we get people to understand it and respect it? Because the purchasing power is one thing. And has that changed our influence as leaders?

 

Absolutely not. The opportunity here is to acquire a mindset that gives us the strength, the confidence, and the endurance to start becoming very strategic global leaders so that when people talk about Hispanic Heritage Month, it isn’t just about celebrating heritage, it’s celebrating the influence of a community.

 

And as you think about where we’re at in America today, unification, inclusion, respecting people for who they are and working through differences really is what we should be ultimately celebrating. Because if we don’t have that, then what is the value of our heritage?

 

Ed Ballina
Wow, well said, well said, especially at times like this, right?

 

Alvaro Cuba
I love that perspective, Glenn. And on that note, you are an excellent example here. You’re inspirational. You have understood the challenge, come here, and done a lot for the community, for everyone, as Ed was saying.

 

Particularly in this month, how your heritage and your immigrant condition at the beginning, how it shaped your experience to become the leader, the thought leadership that you have and the work that you do.

 

Glenn Llopis
Thank you for the question, Alvaro. First of all, I was born here in the United States. Both of my parents were immigrants of Cuba, but I was raised, of course I, oh come on, no, no, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, Alvaro, if you’re gonna go there, might as well, because I understand that there’s Cubanos in Cuba that even listen to this podcast. I wanna make sure that we’re,

 

Alvaro Cuba
Mmm. But you are Latino, right? In the heart.

 

Glenn Llopis
I want to make sure that everyone is very clear of how Latino I am. One, I can speak Spanish. Okay? Let’s be clear about that. Number two, so basically, yeah, of course. So number one, I can speak Spanish, but number two is the culture has been very much ingrained in my DNA. Why? mean, my parents were both entertainers. And my dad and mother actually ⁓ met back in the 50s during the fame Tropicana Nights. My dad was a leader of a quartet. My father was actually one of three chemists who formulated Miller Lite. Could imagine how fun my high school years were. He graduated from Cornell with a degree in chemical engineering. And then when he came back to Cuba and he explored his chemical engineering degree, he went back to his original passion for music and there his brother and his cousins. And then later the quartet became known as Los Llopis. And they actually were the pioneers ⁓ of what they call today crossover music. He integrated the rhythms and sounds of American rock and roll into Cuban music. So I share that with you because there wasn’t a weekend in my home as a child that the music wasn’t playing loud. And it’s funny, they call these things, what do they call them about? They still have these MTV unplugged.

 

We were having those things when I was a kid. So believe me, I understand the responsibility of being Latino, but seriously, how is this shaped the person that I am today? I’ll do it with a very quick question that I’d love to ask the audience. And if you’re not Hispanic, you could appreciate what I’m about to say. You oftentimes I ask this question to… young Latinos in particular. What question is more inclusive? Number one, to know who I am as an individual, you have to know my culture. That’s question one. Question two,  to know who I am as an individual, it’s important that you understand my life experiences, the ways I think, the ways I’ve been shaped by my culture, the success stories and failures that I’ve been through. That’s how you know me as an individual.

 

And why do I ask those questions? Because the more inclusive one is B. But what we have done in this country is A, why? Because we’re still in 2025 struggling to find our narrative. Because when you’re an immigrant coming to a new country with nothing but faith, hope and love, opportunity is the mother of success. But if you have to fight hard for people to know your identity, it’s because you haven’t been discovered yet. And that’s my point. During Hispanic Heritage Month, we should be reflecting on that singular question. Do people know our contributions first and then the fact that we’re from Hispanic backgrounds? Or do you want them to know that you’re Hispanic first only to find out what your contributions are later? Even though the latter sounds like a good bet, it’s actually a…it’s the one where people need to know what you contribute because then it becomes about you as an individual and then adding the fact that you come from a Latino background only double clicks the respect that comes from our contributions. So I share that because what I’ve learned as a Latino,  Alvaro, is that I’ve worked really hard to make sure that our culture is seen, known, and respected.

 

I think the days of trying to earn recognition are over. And why do I say that? Because recognition explodes and subsides while respect reverberates and multiplies. See, the recognized man appeals to the head where things are easily forgotten, while respect really gravitates towards the heart and the heart doesn’t forget.

 

Alvaro Cuba
But even more, thank you. Not only the words are very, very impactful, I think our audience will appreciate, but for your contribution, your personal contribution to all of that. So let’s go into the show,

 

Ed Ballina
Let’s do this.  So we had a couple of questions. We have many questions, but you know us, we can go off scale very fast. So we had to constrain ourselves to just three key topics, right? and by the way, please, if you’re listening to this podcast, take the time to understand his whole book. Okay. We had to pick three out of six really important keys that he drives. So please get, you know, to do justice, you need to understand his whole model because it really speaks to us. But with that, what do you mean by this innovation mentality, right? And how is it different from the way many leaders think today?

 

Glenn Llopis

Yeah, you know, thank you for that question, Ed. I know that quite, you know, the innovation mentality, it sounds like something that we’ve probably heard before. But the twist with the innovation mentality is this. I could have called it the immigrant mentality. But what I decided to do, because I believe in being inclusive, is to call it the innovation mentality that was born from the immigrant perspective.

 

And so when I wrote this book, and this goes back years, It was to help organizations realize that what we’re experiencing today in 2025 should have happened back 10, 15 years ago, that we’re living at a time where our business models are changing. And one thing has become very clear that we don’t have the level of predictiveness that we used to have. Why? Because consumers have changed, generations have changed, the ways we work have changed. And the effort from the book was to introduce at a very high level, I’ll share them Ed, six fundamental strategies to have an innovation mentality.

Number one, see opportunities in everything, that inspiration to see things that others don’t.

Number two is the flexibility to anticipate the unexpected. This really means that we need to be able to ⁓ see the world through what I call circular vision, that ability to see around, beneath, and beyond what we seek. So that we’re always out in front of change before circumstances force their hand.

Three is unleashing your passionate pursuit. This is not just doing what you’re told to do. This is about having the determination to navigate environments and navigate roadblocks in search of endless possibilities.

Number four is what I call living with an entrepreneurial spirit. And let me make sure I’m clear with this. You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. You just have to have the entrepreneurial attitude. And I’ve always felt that when you have strategic focus and that ability,

to really build relationships that can multiply ideas. That’s when you start building momentum.

Number five is working with the generous purpose about getting feedback. I’ve always said, more you know, the more you grow. And you know more by sharing more rather than holding things back because you feel like you’re either A, gonna get judged or B, someone’s going to inflict fear for you, to making someone else look bad just because you had a better idea. So always work with a generous purpose.

Then finally, I think the one that we’re always striving for, especially as Latinos, Ed, is the respect to leave a legacy. That success comes most to those when you’re surrounded by people who want their success to continue. And what it’s really interesting is I’ve been teaching this for many, many years. And when people go through it, they enjoy it, but when they find out that it was born from the immigrant mentality, they say, boy, don’t I have a lot to learn because I want to think this way all the time.

 

Alvaro Cuba
We all have a lot to learn. And bringing this, Glenn, into close to our audience, which is manufacturing audience, you know a lot of challenges, 2025, you know, the workforce challenge. There is not enough people in the plants, supply chain disruptions every single day, and the digital transformation that requires.

 

How you apply this into manufacturing?

 

Glenn Llopis

Well, let’s discuss some of the fundamentals of manufacturing. Number one, ⁓ you’re dealing with high speed operations that require a lot of attention to detail, quality, and leadership quite candidly. I mean, a line can go down abruptly before you know it, and then you’ve got to quickly pivot and keep the lines moving because we’re talking about volume, cost per unit, et cetera. So the first thing is recognizing how can we all start seeing opportunities in everything. In other words, just because there have been certain ways that we’ve done that work, doesn’t mean that we can’t change the ways we’ve done that work. And so being able to see beyond the obvious at a time where markets are reinventing and the ways people want to work and engage in the plants, it’s important, and I’m speaking here to… you know, plant super manufacturing supervisors is spend the time to understand what your people see that perhaps you’re not seeing and stop making the assumption that you know what they should be seeing just because you’ve done it for 20 or 30 years. And I think this is the issue, right? We are so focused on efficiencies that we don’t realize that efficiencies come through difference, not sameness.

 

Alvaro Cuba

That speaks to several things that Ed and I were discussing and sharing and several of the questions. So let’s…

 

Ed Ballina

You know what’s, I was just gonna reflect, Glenn, when I went through your course, many, many moons ago, obviously that one was kind of geared more towards a Latino audience, but it’s interesting to see how you have pivoted and changed your approach to make it bigger tent type stuff. ⁓ Because the book, the stories about your father, and you’re gonna talk about some of these items before, the sowing and the reaping and all that ⁓ really resonates, and they are legitimate opportunities for everybody. You do not have to be ⁓ an immigrant. You don’t have to be a Latino because sometimes you may wind up, you may be native born, right?

 

You know, American born and you may wind up in a place where you feel like you’re the immigrant, right? You’re not sure about, you know, the facility and the people and, you know, so it resonates with everybody ⁓ under the tent. So I really, I’d love to see that. That’s been awesome.

 

Ed Ballina
So I’m going to start off with the first one, which is unleash your passion and pursuits, right? ⁓ So you’ve got a lot of strategies. As I mentioned before, we’re focusing on three of them. ⁓ How this passion fuels exploration and energy and accountability. ⁓

 

If you’ve been in a place for a while and you start looking around and everything feels like it’s all part of the woodwork, how do you ignite that passion? How do you bring that to work that’s starting to feel routine?

 

Glenn Llopis

Well, you just basically said, how do we get out of our comfort zones? And I think a lot of people are dealing with this right now. But let me go back to why it is that we’re having trouble unleashing our passionate pursuits. I mean, Ed, and we know this, and you’ve lifted that in corporations, because we’re looking, again, it’s about the numbers and it’s about efficiencies and about you know, meeting quarterly, if you’re traded company, quarterly results, there’s a lot of strain on making sure that we find efficiencies by doing what we’re told inside the box you’re given. So here are your things, go do it. This is what I expected. This is what I want. But that doesn’t mean that the very individual doing that work believes in that specific approach that’s been given to them.

 

And so what I’ve learned over the years and now more than ever, just because someone dictates to someone what they should be doing, doesn’t mean that that person is passionate about that work. In fact, my research, and I talk about this in my book, Unleashing Individuality, the research is very clear.

When we treat people like cogs in the wheel, they easily get suppressed to the point where they’re just going to give you what you want. Now, it may not be the best quality, may not be on time, but they’re going to give you what you want because they feel obligated to do it. But are they going to give you the discretionary effort to actually unleash rather than suppressed if the very supervisor doesn’t have a clue on who that individual is because they’re viewed as an individual contributor or a manager or they’re just viewed by their title and responsibility rather than what they’re capable of. ⁓ It’s hard for someone to unleash their passionate pursuits, but why is this strategy so important? Because if people don’t unleash what they know, they’re actually putting the organization at risk. And that includes a supervisor. Hey, supervisors out there, there’s nothing wrong with unleashing your passionate pursuits and saying, guys, I don’t have a clue how to help you today. Why don’t you just say it? Right? Because, I mean, why don’t you just be honest with your people? Because you know what that level of passionate pursuits does? Well, first of all, it’s gonna start making up for the long time of people not respecting you potentially. But number two, you’re gonna garner trust from your people that will ultimately lead them to start rallying behind you because if you’re not winning, then how can they? So I just share this because if we’re all in this together, if there’s one, two, three members on your team that aren’t unleashing their passionate pursuits, I got news for you. You’re never going to, you’re not going to, ⁓ not only are we losing, but we’re not going to make the numbers. And then when they come back and do that evaluation about, cost per units. The answer isn’t that someone on the line did this or this on the line happened. Or no, it’s we’re not unleashing ourselves because we’ve created an environment of fear where it doesn’t allow people to express the opportunities that they actually see so that we can fix it, pivot, and move forward knowing that we’ve built a team. So anyway, I went a little bit deep there because I think

anybody who works on the plant could appreciate that story.

 

Ed Ballina
No, absolutely. you know, it’s about, there are probably 80% of the answers to what ails the plant are sitting in the shop floor, right? But unfortunately, people are tired. An operator that is savvy is tired of talking to this, you know, the new manager that just came in that he knows is going to be there for a year and a half to two years, that is kind of green, but thinks they know what they’re doing. Folks, be humble.

 

Explore humility. Ask people for help. It’s not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of respect to them that you value their perspective. And then watch your performance as a team take off. And it’s a lot more fun to work in a good environment than in a crappy one.

 

Alvaro Cuba
Yeah, and everyone has its moment of passion. You feel it when you are full of passion, energy flows and opportunities come. So go for it, guys. I choose for Glenn another one, which is live with entrepreneurial spirit. I love this one. I work with a lot of startups and there you live it every single day, every single minute.

 

And in Latin America, there is a lot of this entrepreneurial spirit. So Glenn, this risk taking innovation, vision, all these characteristics of entrepreneurial spirit, how to bring it up incorporations in the plant floor.

 

Glenn Llopis
Sure. Well, it goes back to one fundamental thing.

Do we really have authentic relationships in the plant?

Are we investing in those relationships? Are we discovering the value of what everyone there can bring? Why is this so important? If you think about what’s happening in 2025, I mean, again, change, volatility, unknown, all these things, I actually think it’s the most opportunistic time in modern history. This is, everyone at some level, is going through serious reinvention right now. But if you haven’t learned, especially in manufacturing, and by the way, AI is a tool, it’s not a solution. So you…

 

Alvaro Cuba

Especially manufacturing, a lot of reinvention. Yes.

 

Ed Ballina

And there’s a lot of discussion about the AI bubble that is out there because, you know, four years ago, if you were a CEO and you couldn’t spell AI, you were out the door, right? And now figure it out that, hey, maybe we kind of jumped on this. And to your point, there’s this whole relationship and connection with the people on the floor, incredibly powerful, but it has to be genuine.

 

Glenn Llopis

Well, and that’s it, Ed, because if it’s not genuine, how can we maximize the utilization of resources that those relations bring? So look, I mean, like I said before, entrepreneurship isn’t just a business term anymore. It’s a way of life. And you just, we all have an entrepreneurial attitude. Why? Because let’s face it, when you’re in those plants, you have to care. You have to care. 

 

And if you don’t care, then you don’t belong in the manufacturing plant because this is an environment that requires an intense amount of unity, understanding and trust. And in other words, you can’t be entrepreneurial and agile and quickly assess, interrupt and pivot if we don’t, we haven’t formed that bond of unity amongst our own people because things are changing every single day.

 

My question is, how can you have an entrepreneurial spirit when we’re reacting to things rather than responding to them?

 

Alvaro Cuba 

And guys, hear to this because we have been discussing with you and there is no plant that has, that doesn’t have a problem with shortage in labor. Well, this is exactly the answer. If you unleash this entrepreneurial spirit, then everyone will jump in and then you can do much more with less and this is an excellent point to go after the labor shortage, for sure.

 

Glenn Llopis
Well, it’s interesting you say this, Alvaro, because as I was listening to you, when’s the last time, you know, qualifications “bring your entrepreneurial spirit”. No, no, no, but it’s, not there. Why? Because in manufacturing, I mean, again, I have a pretty strong view on this. People think that this is super hyper standardized. Okay. And to a degree there are standards that are non-negotiable, but tell me the standard that exists in how you treat people. There is not one. So my point is maybe we should start recruiting people by using words that get them excited about knowing that finally someone views manufacturing as a different type of environment

 

than it’s historically been. Because I’ll tell you right now, people just don’t go to work today. They go to work and they’re thinking about their families. They’re thinking about what’s going on in the world. They’re thinking about what’s next. mean, let’s face it, it’s not like it used to be. Our mind share is filled with a lot of things. So we have to maintain a level of strategic focus if we’re gonna be entrepreneurial. And that begins with how we start recruiting that talent, onboarding it, and making sure that they remain engaged.

 

Ed Ballina
And it’s a challenge because to your point, we try to bring processes and standards and best practices to our money. Lines don’t like change, right? And we try to minimize that with raw materials and all that. But if you want to think about where you could really make a difference, Listen, you go into a plant, you’re an operator, and you figure out why all your cans are falling down before they get into the infeeder or your packer.

 

There isn’t one person who’s going to say, hey man, that’s like too crazy an idea to change that rail. You can make a name for yourself for thinking a little bit differently. And the other opportunity, and this is dangerous, I’m going throw it out there with a warning, but I have subscribed to ask for forgiveness instead of ask for permission. Okay? Now, you got to be sure you know what you’re doing because you’re placing a bet, right? And I may have been known to get a little chalk on the tip of my shoes, I never step over the line, but I nudge it a little bit. If you have that capability and trust in the organization, sometimes it’s okay just to take a leap of faith. Let that entrepreneurial spirit fill you because, yes, I’ve failed, but most of the time I haven’t, and boy, does that feel good.

 

Alvaro Cuba
But even more powerful, if you generate the environment that is like that, not in the individuals, but generate the environment that everyone feels free and empowered to go and take this  entrepreneurial spirit and you  encourage it and then you reward it.

 

Ed Ballina

One simple thing,  give every operator and mechanic on your line the power to shut your line down. Don’t, don’t, shut it down. Don’t look for the supervisor, don’t look for the big wig. You are empowered to take this line down because I trust you to make the right decision. Just start with that.

 

Alvaro Cuba

Yeah, safety or quality problem. Shut it down.

You have the power.

Plus, plus bring one new idea every day. Think about it, bring it. Okay, let’s go ahead.

 

Ed Ballina

Absolutely. Let’s go. We can get carried away with this quite a bit.

 

Glenn Llopis

You know, but if I may, just, I want to make a comment guys, the things that you’re talking about now are so important. And while I’m your guest, the truth is you guys are the thought leaders. So I love how you’re translating the commentary that I’m making to things that you’re experiencing and seeing yourselves because in the end, I mean, people are here to walk away with tips that you’ve deployed and that you believe that are of value. So I appreciate your insights.

 

Alvaro Cuba
And we appreciate what you have done because these six principles seem so, for us that we are in the plants, seem so natural, intuitive, but so difficult to find. To have someone like you to bring science behind it and help explain and put it in a way that people can understand and go for it. It’s a great contribution to manufacturing.

 

Ed Ballina
It really is. It helps articulate. So I’m going to play gatekeeper and switch to the next topic. And this is one that I’m really passionate about. It’s about working with a generous purpose. And I’m not going to go through all the reasons why it’s right morally and all that. I would just leave it with none of us have gotten to any leadership role by ourselves. We had a lot of help, right, along the way. And to me, this is about giving back. And it’s about doing your part to bring the next generation of leaders, whoever they may happen to be, right, up to the table. Because one day you had a shot and you made good of it. It’s time to give back. But it goes across also how you manage. So Glenn, your thoughts on that one.

 

Glenn Llopis

No, I love what you said, Ed. I’m gonna throw a different take on this whole thing. We’re now dealing with different generations, these younger generations that may not be so excited about manufacturing. Well, guess what? We need to find a way to make it exciting. And I’ll tell you what won’t work.

 

Telling them what to do and how to do it. And part of working with the generous purpose is being able to provide in the moment feedback. And I share this because how many times have you been given the opportunity to provide in the moment feedback? I’ll tell you one thing, this next generation would certainly appreciate it. But so would…the colleagues that you’re working with now. One thing that I’ve learned about working with generous purpose and the numbers don’t lie. We don’t do it enough. And why is it? It goes back to what you said earlier, Alvaro. We don’t create environments for sharing and giving. We actually create environments that are hyper siloed because people want to remain in their box so they don’t get in trouble or they don’t feel like there’s, they get penalized for crossing that line. And by the way, I agree with you too, Ed, that you’ve got to touch that line often. Why? Because the ones that move things forward, they have to. Because if we confine ourselves to outdated playbooks, how can we evolve? And one thing that I’ve learned about working with the generous purpose, this is the most momentous thing that you do because it’s all about multiplying opportunity. again, generous purpose, feedback, providing an environment of teamwork in an environment that’s open to new ideas. I mean, this sounds so fundamental, but yet we don’t do it enough.

 

Ed Ballina

I think there’s a little bit of a, providing feedback, especially kind of instant on point feedback is challenging.  You know, we tend to be at times too polite, right?  I remember when starting in an industry where it’s far from polite and you were read the riot act if you screwed up, right?  And now the pendulum, rightly so, has swung to a more open way of engaging with folks. But sometimes I wonder if we haven’t reached a little bit of a pendulum too far because in some cases it feels like lack of accountability. We’re not holding people accountable. So all that gets in the way. You don’t want to create an environment where people feel like, hey, you’re not giving me good feedback. You’re not giving me positive feedback. And to be honest,  I love good feedback like anybody else, but constructive feedback is what has helped me grow the most. Painful. Some of it I disagreed with and I didn’t like it and I didn’t like the person delivering it. After a while, wow.

 

Alvaro Cuba

I’ll bring a little bit different perspective. For me, purpose and related to what you said, Glenn, mission, vision, no, no, before mission, vision strategy, purpose. Why are we there? No, if people don’t have a purpose to do it, yeah, it could be the KPIs, it could be we want to win, but…

it has to be clear what’s in it for me. You mentioned Glenn, the family.  I’m safe for my family. I do this for… So having a purpose, everyone of… And given, not only having, because you can have your own personal purpose, but when you go to work in a manufacturing plant and work with several people…The leaders have to put the purpose where everyone’s buy in and everyone is passionate about that purpose.

 

Glenn Llopis

You know, it’s interesting.  I took a note here listening to our conversation and I think it was you, Alvaro, that said, yeah, these six strategies as a whole, they make a lot of sense. But think about a thread that has taken place throughout this conversation. It’s the environment. How can one adopt an innovation mentality if the environment doesn’t consistently allow us to. And so this is my big push for anyone running a manufacturing operation.

 

What is the environment that you’re creating and what’s holding you back from creating one that can propel the ability to see, sow, grow and share opportunities. Because that’s what this whole model is about anyways. It’s all about, it’s about opportunity identification and opportunities that we can all collectively take action on. Because oftentimes in the plant, people can see things, but are we creating the environment to bring those opportunities to life? So don’t look at this as insubordination supervisors. Think of it as opportunity. Because if there’s one word that we use, but don’t know actually what to do with it, is opportunities.

 

And so don’t look at those people that may be on the front lines as a threat. See every single one of your people as an opportunity.

 

Ed Ballina

You watch how you unleash, when you unleash the power of people, right?  It is just incredible. I’ve been in some locations where you are in a doom cycle, right? Sometimes you get into these plants and you can’t get out of your own way and it just gets worse and worse. It’s the negative snowball. I can also tell you that I’ve been involved in places where we were literally the worst ranked plant in North America for a particular company, right? And we rallied and we got engagement and the next year we won plant of the year, right? There’s no way you do that without first, having an honest conversation and owning, what I used to say, if your baby’s ugly, call your baby ugly and we’ll deal with that from there, right?  But then share that with the shop floor and let them know you actually care and you’re willing to do what it takes to help support them.  It is incredible how it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

 

Glenn Llopis
I’ll add to what you just said, Ed. I bet you guys won plant of the year ⁓ because you finally figured out what the identity was of your people. In other words, the team finally realized, Alvaro, what the purpose was for why they existed and how they were contributing to that operation. You know, exactly.

 

Ed Ballina

You talked a little bit about this already, but your immigrant upbringing, how did that change how you looked at opportunities and  a little bit of a story of how your experiences growing up ⁓ led you to a particular leadership approach.

 

Glenn Llopis

Sure. Well, I think I mentioned earlier that when I was born, my father was 50. And he made one thing very clear to me. He said, son, the United States is the greatest country in the world. He and I don’t know if you’ll understand this yet. And he shared this with me when I was 12 years old. He said, but with its powerful capitalistic system, I see a country becoming one fueled with tremendous envy. In other words, he said, I feel like we’re heading down a path where people will be valued more for what they have versus who they are. And I share this with you because that moment in my life, and he told me when I was 12, up until I finally understood what he meant, and I’m still learning from that statement, I came to realize that my path, my leadership journey was defined to do one singular thing, was to help create future legacies. I could have easily been a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but what I decided to do is to do what my father did for me. He saw something special in me, and I realized that there’s opportunity when you can start seeing something special in others so that they can begin to self-direct their own reinvention journey. Because I believe that we’ve now reached a point, and my dad was way ahead of his time, is it constantly challenge standards and norms, not by saying what they’re doing wrong, but focus on what they can do better. And I believe that applies to business as it does in life. And that’s what has fueled me to become the leader that I am today.

 

Alvaro Cuba

What a great words to close, to be closing in the episode. Yeah, guys, we have a lot that we could, we could have, we could feel three, four episodes stuck into Glenn and all that. We recommend you go and check his books, several books. And it’s not only a theory, he put it in practice, great results. So go for it. We really want to thank Glenn for being with us today and for all his wisdom and his Latin spirit. Thank you, Glenn. Thank you.

 

Glenn Llopis

Thank you very much. Alvaro and Ed, thank you. You know, it’s interesting. This started like a podcast and I feel, no, no, no. And I feel like it’s ended as if we’re about ready to have a cafecito at the coffee table.

 

Ed Ballina

That’s what it’s a meetup. Yeah.

Alvaro Cuba
Let’s go. It’s a meetup. This is a meetup. So let’s go and yeah, not only a cafecito, maybe a beer. Let’s go guys. Join us. Yeah. Join us in the bar in the corner. Thank you so much, Glenn.

 

Ed Ballina

We tried to do this in a bar or at a cafe, whatever beverage, maybe a beer, maybe a Cuba libre.

 

Alvaro Cuba

Well, friends, with that, are wrapping up this episode. So thank you very much for ⁓ joining us. Please, as we always said, follow, subscribe, give us a review. More important, give us your questions, your comments, invite your friends, bring your pals. And as we are inviting you, let’s go for a cafecito, let’s go for a beer.

 

Bring your pals and let’s grow this meetup. Thank you guys.

 

Ed Ballina

So if you like this and you want to keep this conversation going, you can email us at mmu@augury.com. We also have links to Glenn’s work in the show notes for this episode. We’ll see you next time, but I’ll end it by saying.

 

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month and Viva Cuba Libre!