Intro/Outro (00:01):
Welcome to TEKTOK digital supply chain podcast, where we will help you eliminate the noise and focus on the information and inspiration that you need to transform your business, impact, supply chain success, and enable you to replace risky inventory with valuable insights. Join your TEKTOK host, Karin Bursa, the 2020 Supply Chain Pro-to-Know of the Year. With more than 25 years of supply chain, and technology expertise, and the scars to prove it, Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and tell their success stories. Join the conversation, share your insights, and learn how to harness technology innovations to drive tangible business results. Buckle up, it’s time for TEKTOK, powered by Supply Chain Now.
Karin Bursa (01:13):
Okay. Welcome back, supply chain movers and shakers. Karin Bursa here and I want to thank you for joining us today on TEKTOK, the digital supply chain podcast. I want to thank you also for helping to make TEKTOK a recognized member of a couple of top lists recently. TEKTOK was just recognized on the Feedspot Top Supply Chain Podcast. We came in at numbers 16. It was so exciting. I know you guys are probably laughing at me right now, but it was just a lot of fun. And Supply Chain Now, who produces TEKTOK, is still number 1. So, thank you so much for tuning in to Supply Chain Now and for helping TEKTOK get recognized at number 16 on that list. Now, I want your help though, help me stay on that list, and when you hear from our guest today, you’re going to want to share this episode with a couple of friends. So, I want you to think of three friends and be sure to forward this onto them, give them your recommendation, and ask them to tune into TEKTOK, because they’re going to want to learn from my new favorite author. My new favorite author is Billy Ray Taylor, and he is the CEO of LinkedXL, but he’s also the author of a brand-new book. And the new book is called The Winning Link. Billy, thanks for joining us today and congratulations on the book publishing.
Billy Taylor (02:48):
Well, thank you, Karin. One, thank you for having me and congratulations to you. That’s a major accomplishment to be on those lists. Well deserved.
Karin Bursa (02:57):
Yes, it is. It’s a lot of fun and it was a big surprise. So, I am just thrilled that the listener base for TEKTOK continues to grow and that those that watch the market are seeing the numbers climb. So, it’s an exciting thing. And, Billy, we’re going to talk about it in just a few minutes, but you’ve got a new show that’s part of the Supply Chain Now portfolio as well. So, I’m going to come back around to that, because our listeners are going to want to become your fans as well. I am confident, confident that they’re going to get fired up and inspired by what you have to share. So, tell me about your book. So, the book is called The Winning Link: A Proven Process to Define, Align, and Execute Strategy at Every Level. Billy, is it fair to say that this has been a labor of love for you?
Billy Taylor (03:51):
Absolutely. It’s what I’m passionate about. It’s like my purpose in life, right? How do you engage people through a connected business model? Through 30 years with Goodyear tire and rubber company, I often went into the most challenging situations or environments, and the common thread was that connection, that connected business model, because if you don’t clearly define what winning is, then winning’s a secret. And as I often say, you can’t manage a secret. It’s impossible. It’s impossible.
Karin Bursa (04:22):
Yeah, Billy. We were just talking in the pre-show and I know that you’ve got a winning attitude, a winning mindset, and you really understand what it takes to bring teams together, but I was hooked right away by something as I was skimming through an early release of the book, I saw a statement, “You’ve got a great product, you’ve got topnotch talent, you’ve even mapped out a solid process, but what’s missing? Why aren’t you winning?” And I was hooked right away, because I’ve seen it hundreds of times, the best product doesn’t always win. How did you get this concept, Billy, around The Winning Link?
Billy Taylor (05:07):
Well, it’s from failing. I went into organizations that were struggling and I was struggling as well. And I had to understand, why were we failing? We had a great strategy, but we were failing to execute. And what I’d say is—what I figured out was strategy plus execution equals results, but why were we still failing, the plus? Who owns what in the strategy? What do we want to accomplish? Do people know how they contribute? And when we start building that model, we looked at the accountability pyramid, where 5% of the people think they make everything happen.
Karin Bursa (05:49):
Wow. 5%. Oh.
Billy Taylor (05:50):
And those are those top dudes at the top. They sit in the conference room, they sit in the boardroom, and they come with these elaborate strategies, but they don’t deploy those strategies. They don’t connect them. And then, 15% watch and 80% wait. What we figured out is how to flip the pyramid, where the 80% are executing. That business model there is what drove results, and great leaders real should realize you work for the people, they don’t work for you. You should enable them, eliminate constraints.
Karin Bursa (06:21):
Yeah. Now, you said a couple of things there, too. You said leaders. Not managers, leaders, right? And that may sound like I’m playing with vocabulary here, but it’s a very different mentality to lead a team than it is to manage a team. Tell me about that.
Billy Taylor (06:41):
Managing, in the old school, they’re directing people. That authority versus influence. Leaders are very influential, right? When I was a young manager, there was this management style called Theory X. It’s authoritarian. You force people to do and you pound it on the table, and that worked back then. Today, Theory Y is what works, right? Get people influenced. Why are we doing it? Help them understand their purpose and the team, and also, the team’s purpose in them. And so, what we realized was as a leader, you influenced, so they can impact, right? Good leaders, they do change with the people, not to the people. And see, a leader, I always say, egos erode effectiveness. A lot of managers have egos. It’s all about them. And for a leader, it’s about us. And so, how do we engage people, have round tables, communicate to people, be very deliberate of what we’re doing. Leaders are deliberate. They don’t force things on people. They engage people.
Karin Bursa (07:52):
Yeah. And I think that that’s really important, because even as a marketer, I’ve spent years and years in marketing and market strategy, we get tired of a message before it fully penetrates the marketplace. So, to share that and recognize when the team is living the goals, if you will, I think, is really important to making sure that they take ownership of the outcome. It’s not that leadership, or that C-suite, or the people sitting in a conference room, it’s what you said, Billy, it is the team members that are out there walking the walk, and talking the talk, and doing the small things every day that help to create that competitive advantage. And I think that it takes longer, right? It takes longer. Twenty years to be an overnight success, right? It takes longer to drive success than most anticipate. Give us an example, maybe, of some early indicators that a company is making a transition in this thought process or in harnessing The Winning Link, if you will. What are a couple, two or three things, we can do early in the process that are going to help us maybe change our mindset?
Billy Taylor (09:17):
Well, one is when you talk about engagement, it’s around, what are your key KPAs? Most companies only focus on KPIs, they key performance indicators. The influential companies focus on the KPAs, the key performance actions, that drive. So, when you’re building your strategy, first, identify the actions you’re going to take, and then connect those to your measures, and that will tell you if your actions are really driving the bottom-line results. And so, what we do is create a process called purpose mapping. It’s really a strategy on a page. It’s your soap. And what it does, it says, here’s what we’d like to accomplish, and let’s just use the example, I want to lose weight. If I stand on the scale, that’s a KPI, that tells me my weight, but what I should really focus on is, did I watch my calories? Did I work out every day? Did I get all my steps in?
Billy Taylor (10:15):
If I do all these things, how is that impacting my results? Let’s take that in companies. I can focus on safety and I’ll measure accidents, it’s too late. I should measure on MI compliance, are people following the rules? Those are KPAs that I should track on a daily basis, and that will keep me safe. The other is too late and I’m reactive. After someone gets hurt, I go out, right? If we look at spend and other things, focus on your KPAs that drive your KPIs, and then you win. And the other point is, and this is one where I was a young leader in my, I’m going to say late 20s, and I went to be assistant plant manager as an African-American in the deep south. So, I’m there, the person I’m replacing, doesn’t even know I’m coming, and they didn’t have-
Karin Bursa (11:12):
Oh, no, and you just show up.
Billy Taylor (11:14):
And they had no minorities on the leadership team, and I was kind of handpicked. One because of my ability to work with people. Well, three days later, they let go of the plant manager, and they give me the keys, and say, hold on, until we hire someone, we’re 6 million in debt.
Karin Bursa (11:33):
Oh.
Billy Taylor (11:33):
At that point, that’s when I realize it’s really not about me, it’s about us. And I spent the majority of my time engaging with the people, hearing the people, doing round tables, people want to be heard, they want to be valued. And so, my greatest strategies came from the shop floor. And so, to turn that organization around, I created platforms to hear the voice of the people. And so, that’s what really changed, and that point of celebrate the process, not the individual. Embrace the individual, right? Celebrate the person following the process, because if you celebrate the individual, you create arsonists, people that set fires to be recognized, and you don’t want to do that. And one of my sayings that I talk about is at that point as a leader, to make it not about me, I was hard on the processes and I led easy on the people.
Karin Bursa (12:39):
Hmm. That’s great advice. I like the, it’s not about me, it’s really about we, how do we do this together? But I do, Billy Ray, I like the focus on the process, because I think that manufacturing personnel in particular are very process-oriented. They look at these problems on a regular basis and their brains immediately think about efficiencies, and quality, and process improvement, and meeting goals. I mean, these are things that are inherent in the mindset of a strong manufacturing team. You give them a problem to tackle, they enjoy the intellectual exercise on helping to define how to get there.
Billy Taylor (13:31):
Absolutely. And sharing with them, I share a lot of my mother said stories. Well, one of the things that I’ll never forget that she talks to me about as a leader, it was kind of connected to being a parent. She put me in position so I could fail, but she made it safe for me to fail. But she’d often say, if I fight all of your fights, son, I’ll steal all your victories, so I have to let you go through those cycles of change so that you can grow and mature. It’s that way with organizations, and those things resonate with me. They resonate quite often just about life. Leadership is not about just working. It’s about being a good person in life, being process-oriented in what you do, from the way you dress to the way you carry yourself. How do you show up?
Karin Bursa (14:23):
Now, you’ve captured a lot of this in your book, The Winning Link. Tell me about, when is that going to be available? I know it’s publishing in August, right? Late August?
Billy Taylor (14:36):
Yes, August 19th, it’s officially released. It actually shipped from the warehouse today, to those that preordered. So, August 19th is when it officially hits the shelves.
Karin Bursa (14:51):
That’s exciting. Congratulations. I know that that is a big, big milestone, to actually see it and know that it is shipped from the warehouse, and I’m really excited to get a copy myself, and we’re going to make a couple of copies available to the TEKTOK audience. So, when this podcast publishes, we’ll give you details, TEKTOK movers and shakers, on how you can be entered in a drawing to get a copy of the new book, The Winning Link. And, Billy, it’s really like a field guide. It’s very practical. I want to thank you for the opportunity to skim through some of the pages, but I was really impressed with just how practical and methodic it is in going through that transition of how we think about a problem, and how we motivate our teams, and then how we empower them as leaders to get the job done, and to innovate, and in some situations that you shared, to even go beyond what expectations were in driving results.
Billy Taylor (15:57):
Yes, it was—actually, I rewrote it three times. It was interesting, because I kept looking at it, I didn’t want to sound like a scientist, I didn’t want to sound like it was so difficult to drive change on operational excellence. And so, we made it practical for a leader at any level of an organization. It was interesting, you’ll appreciate this, a conversation I was having over a cup of coffee with a senior leader, and he goes, Billy, I was listening to the monkeypox story and the breakdown in the management system. We knew about monkeypox. We knew how to control it. We even had the treatment. What broke down was the management system, the governance and sustainability, and they could have used your book. And he goes, because it was around those things, you know what, they quit looking at the KPAs, the key performance actions, and now, they’re trying to play damage control. And so, I thought that was really interesting.
Karin Bursa (16:57):
That is interesting. And it’s interesting that once you see a good process, a good framework, how you are able to apply that to a number of different types of problems or opportunities as well.
Billy Taylor (17:09):
Absolutely. Yes.
Karin Bursa (17:11):
So, I think as it becomes part of your DNA, which, Billy, obviously, you’ve been doing this for decades and have been doing the hard work in the details as you were motivating teams for improvements. You told us just a moment ago that you were thrown into some pretty dicey environments and turned them around. So, that’s amazing. Congratulations.
Billy Taylor (17:36):
Thank you. Thank you very much. And I think that’s where the core of the book comes from, those assignments, and the lessons learned, and the relationships I built with people. And I would say through that 30 years, I was more the student than I ever was the teacher. I mean, from Sammy, the janitor, to Rich Kramer, the CEO, I had mentors that didn’t even know they were my mentors.
Karin Bursa (18:04):
I love that, but do you know what I really like about just your philosophy there, more the student than the teacher, is I think that we have to remain teachable, and we have to ask ourselves, am I willing to learn and think about this differently? Obviously, you bring that mindset with you every day. If you still think of yourself today, 30 years later, as more a student than teacher, I think that that just shows how it’s instilled in your DNA, Billy. And I think that that is a very, very important personal attribute that we need to remember, especially as we advance in our companies, and become managers, leaders, executive team members, I would often tell my teams, look, it doesn’t mean I have all the answers, but I got a whole lot of questions I need your help figuring out.
Billy Taylor (18:59):
That’s right. That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. And if you can have that mindset, people will want to follow you, people will engage with you. They’ll want to be around you, right? They’ll own it. In those leaders, we’re talking ego, one of the things my mother used to say to my brothers and I, when we got to thinking, we will start to be a little full of ourselves, and she would often tell us, I know how I could retire, and we’re like, what do you mean? She says, I like to buy you three boys for what you think you’re worth and sell you for what you’re really worth.
Karin Bursa (19:38):
She’s working the margin out already on you.
Billy Taylor (19:41):
And we looked at her, and she’d say, the issue with being successful with some people is when you know enough to know you’re right, but you’re not willing to know enough to know when you’re wrong. And I took that to heart as a manager growing up, you know what, like you said, I know enough to know when I’m right, but I have to be open-minded to know when I’m wrong. And I would say, yeah, I had 13 degrees, and people see, yes, I was really smart, I earned two and I hired 11, right? And I used all 13, but that was some of the things, as a leader, really, my struggles were my greatest assets. My journeys and my setbacks were my greatest assets. And I often say when I speak to people, what qualifies me to be up here speaking to you is because I lived through it, I failed through it. I can talk to you from a practical perspective. Even the book, it’s written from a practical perspective. It’s not about how to do it right, it’s also about what I did wrong and how we overcame.
Karin Bursa (20:52):
Yeah, and it is. And I highly recommend it. It’s called The Winning Link. Now, Billy, that’s going to be available in just a matter of days here in August of 2022, but you’ve got some other exciting news. You’ve not been sitting back on your laurels, you’ve just launched a podcast by the same name, called The Winning Link, and it’s going to be published through Supply Chain Now, as well. Tell us a little bit about that and what you hope to achieve with the podcast.
Billy Taylor (21:23):
Well, it is bringing on practitioners that I went through similar journeys as myself that have something to offer, from next generational leaders, these are leaders that are supposed to be next generational leaders, but they’re leading now. One CEO of this company called Bounce Innovation Hub, Jessica Sublett, she’s the CEO, young lady, is making changes. She is one of the most credible leaders I’ve ever been around. She’s just going to talk about her story. And as I’ve said to her, imagine that young lady looking at this TV talking himself out of being successful, and when they see you, they’re going to think, wow. And it’s seasoned leaders, myself, that have something to offer the audience. It’s about personal development and business development, right? How do you grow yourself? How do you take that ownership to make change in yourself? Because often, you’re your greatest enemy, right? And I often say this repeatedly, coming up, my mother would never let us focus on the glass ceiling. She would always say, focus on your sticky floor, things that you can control. When you do that, people can’t break you down. People can’t convince you that you can’t achieve something. Yeah, you may fail, but you’re going to fail forward with that mentality. You’re going to grow from those opportunities. So, my show is about growing, getting people to grow, just getting outside your comfort zone.
Karin Bursa (22:54):
That’s awesome. I can’t wait to tune in and listen to it again. The podcast, for our TEKTOK listeners, is called The Winning Link, same name as Billy Ray Taylor’s new book called The Winning Link. So, Billy, I want to thank you for giving us just a little sneak peek today. You’ve mentioned your mom a couple of times, and she sounds like an incredible woman. And she’s got a way for putting things that just gives you a tremendous word picture. In fact, I love the dedication in the front of your book. I always like to see who people dedicate all of this labor of love, this hard work to. There’s a story in there, and you’re going to do a better job explaining this than I will do here, but it is about when a bird lands on a branch, right? And you’ve also mentioned failing and not being afraid to fail. Tell us just a little bit about that story in learning to trust, really, your potential to do good things, not a desire for perfection.
Billy Taylor (24:06):
Absolutely. Well, I was running the world’s largest tire plant and I knew I was going to Corporate America, but the phone call came and it wasn’t to Corporate America. I was being reassigned to the worst plant in our footprint. And I called my mom, and I said, I’m not going to take that job. I said, no way, it’s not fair. I said, and everybody I know that went to that job, it was like, Gilligan’s Island, you started out on a three-day trip and you never came back. So, I said, no one, and she says to me in a stern voice, I’m disappointed in you. And she says, I’m very disappointed in you that you’re not going to accept that opportunity. And I said, what do you mean? She said, well, I’m going to ask you a question, and then I have to go. She says, son, if a bird lands on the branch, does the bird trust a branch or does it trust its wings?
Billy Taylor (24:54):
I said, well, what do you mean? She says, hmm, let me give you a clue. I’ve seen many birds land on branches, son, but what I have never, ever seen is a branch breaking, the bird fall and die. Trust yourself, trust the process, and you will be okay. Now, call me tomorrow and let me know if you accepted that job or not. And I took the job and it was the best turnaround assignment I’d ever had in my career. It launched me. So, she was right. Trust yourself.
Karin Bursa (25:25):
That’s amazing. Thank you for that inspiration and just sharing that story with us here today. Billy, what’s the best way for our TEKTOK listeners to get in touch with you?
Billy Taylor (25:37):
Through LinkedIn. I’m often looking at it late at night. Instead of a TV show, I’ll catch up on what’s happening in the business news, and I reply to all of my LinkedIn comments, and replies back. And so, that’s the best way to catch me. Recently, even the book wasn’t somewhere available, a couple of people reached out, it’s not letting me order on Amazon. I wrote them back personally and called Amazon the next day or called my publisher and we got the issue fixed. So, I answer my own personal LinkedIn messages.
Karin Bursa (26:10):
That’s it, doing the in the details and doing the work right alongside everybody else. So, Billy Ray Taylor, thank you so much for joining us today and congratulations on your new book called The Winning Link, as well as your new podcast also called The Winning Link. Listeners for TEKTOK, if you’ve enjoyed the conversation today, I encourage you to check out the podcast and get a copy of that book. I think you’re going to be inspired to do great things and your teams are going to thrive. So, thank you once again, Billy, for joining us.
Billy Taylor (26:43):
Thank you, Karin. Thanks for having me and what a great show you have as well. Thank you.
Karin Bursa (26:46):
Thanks so much. Alright. So, TEKTOK movers and shakers, thanks for joining us today. Remember, I’m challenging you to share this episode with three, three people so that they can learn more about Billy’s new book and also become fans of TEKTOK. So, we need your help in spreading the good news. Our goal with TEKTOK, the digital supply chain podcast, is to help you eliminate the noise, and focus in on the information and inspiration you need to transform your business, and replace risky inventory with valuable insights. And today, I think maybe we gave you just a little bit of inspiration from our friend here, Billy Ray Taylor. We’ll see you next time on TEKTOK, powered by Supply Chain Now.
