GA 347 | Leveraging Deliberate Practice with Billy Taylor

And they looked at me as not a cost, but an investment. And they would also remind me that investing in yourself and others that you lead is like banking. If you don't deposit anything in, then how do you expect to withdraw anything out?

Today I'm excited to welcome Billy Taylor to the show. Now we are releasing this episode on Thanksgiving Day here in America. So if you are listening from America on the day this is released, Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you're able to take some time off and relax and enjoy your family and. Yeah, so today it's actually appropriate that we have Billy Odden because I'm very thankful, quite honestly, to know Billy and to be able to work with Billy. I've known him for, for many years. And I gotta say, he's one of my, one of my. One of my favorite people of all time is when I say one of my favorite lean people. But he's just one of my favorite people to know. And I learned so much from Billy and I'm inspired so much by Billy. So today on this podcast, we kind cover a couple different topics. Billy was here today in our studio in Keller, Texas, delivering a live stream keynote presentation from our studio. And so we spent some time talking about that. We talked about the practice that went into delivering this performance today by Billy and Gemba Academy's team behind the scenes. There was a lot of orchestration that needed to happen. This wasn't just like a typical zoom call. We had multiple cameras and control rooms and guys talking to each other over headsets. And it was of quite the. Quite the ordeal. And so we talk about deliberate practice and what it took to deliver the performance today. And so I think there's a lot of lessons in there for all of us about how we all need to be able to practice in a deliberate way. So that was a very tangible example. We then get into Billy's business that he's in now. Billy will talk about his background with Goodyear and all the good things that he did there. But we talk about his current role at Linked Excel and what he and his organization do and how they help folks by being operating systems architects. So he spells that out about what that means and then there's lots of lessons learned. Even if we. If you don't ever bring Billy and his team in to work with your organization, I think you're going to get a lot of value from what he's talking about and the way that he's approaching things. So Billy is a teacher and he inspires and I think that's what you're going to get from this episode today. So show notes for this episode can be found over@gembapodcast.com just look for episode 347. Again gembapodcast.com and look for episode 347. Okay, enough from me. Let's get to the show. Billy Taylor, welcome to the show. How's it going?

Thank you. Thank you very much. It's going very well. Very well. Great day today.

Oh my gosh. It was a great day and it's going keep being great. But we just got done. For folks that don't know, Billy did a live stream presentation with us today from our studio here in Keller, Texas. And it's the first one that we've done live like that. You know, we make a lot of videos obviously, but it's always, you know, just shoot the video and edit it up. But this bad boy was live, man. It was, it was hot. It was hot. So we, we practice and we practice, Billy. And man, thank you for doing it and just a fantastic job, man. Fantastic job.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well, listen, so you've been on the show before. I should have looked up the number. I don't have it up in front of me. We'll put it in the show notes. This is going to be episode 347. But Billy, before you tell us about who Billy is in case folks that don't know, you know, we do like to begin all of our shows with a quote. So do you have one that you want to share?

Yes, I do. My favorite quote is if you make people visible, they will make you valuable. And so behind that quote is a, is a action. And so when you go into restaurants, when you walk into hotels, how do you treat people? Yeah, and, and often when I go into restaurants, I speak and the, the response back. They remember you the next time. Yeah. And they feel valued.

Yeah.

So if you make people visible, they'll make you valuable.

Nice. I like it. I like it. That's a good one. Billy, in case folks aren't familiar with your story and who you are, give us a little rundown on, on who Billy Taylor is, a little bit about your background and maybe how you first got into all this continuous improvement stuff. And then, and then definitely we'll talk about your, your, your, your company Linked xl. But tell us maybe how you got going in that as well.

Well, right out of college, started as a management trainee with Goodyear. So I spent 30 years with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company running their union and union free Plant. So I've ran their world's largest plant and as far as union free and their world's largest union plant. And at that point, we were just now at the. I'm gonna call it the infant stage of operational excellence. Continuous improvement. Really tool focused, and really learn how to blend the cultural aspect with the technical aspect of Lean. And so when we mastered that, we started to build a operational excellence philosophy based on the culture. And as one of my friends talked about, it was based on the culture, environment, and capability. And at that point, I started to go through the ranks at Goodyear as kind of like the fix it guy. I would go to our harder plants, our tougher running plants, and it's all around shaping culture. And after 30 years, years with Good Year, I came to the point that I was ready to retire. And. And actually at that point, I really wasn't thinking about going and starting another business. You know, I love speaking, I love coaching, working with people, and it's kind of how I stumbled into the next chapter of my life, which is Linked xl. But I was really an operational excellence guru. Learned a lot from Shingo, the Shingo Institute, learned a lot from ame, just benchmarking different people, yourself, other people that were out in the industry. And that's how we started to form relationships.

Yeah. One thing I know I've never heard you talk about, Billy, I'm curious at Goodyear, talk about some of your early mentors, because I'm sure you had some. Some mentors that helped you along. You don't have to name names or anything, but maybe just talk about the relationships and, And. And how they helped you grow as an individual, because that's obviously what you're all about now is helping people grow. But people have helped you grow originally. I know your mom played a big part in your life, you know, early on, forming you and the man you became. But. But talk about those, Those professional relationships.

My professional. My. My mentors, and I'll call them by name because they deserve to be valued. Chuck Grunder was one. Actually. We hit it off on the wrong foot. And he made the statement once that, that's Billy Taylor. He'll never get promoted as long as I'm here. Mm. And it was why I was kind of like this, this. This wild spirit, tough guy, you know, and. And not fully embracing what it takes to lead. At that point. Chuck kind of took me on his wing. But it was after I met a guy by the name of Larry Robbins. He's the deputy superintendent for the Kansas City School district. Larry actually taught me the value of the standard. He would walk, take me on a gimbal walk before there were gimbal walks every morning, every tread trap had to be in line. Every. Everything had to be picture perfect. And, and I would think, you're unrealistic. And then one day I thought I was getting ready to get a raise because we got promoted. He brings me in the office and he writes me up. I still have the letter. And we had became friends at that point and he, he reminded me, what's the standard? What's the standard? I'm not going to compromise on the standard because we're friends. The standard is a standard. From that, he, he kind of connected it back to Chuck Ronder and said, hey, when Chuck asked you for something, what's the standard? When you're driving excellence, building your team, what's the standard? And so at that point, Chuck started to mentor me then. And Chuck gave me my first big promotion. He and Larry. So those mentors, it was tough love.

Yeah.

But it was process driven love. It was process driven love. And it was around continuous improvement. I would get where I was one hour over my overtime budget. And that was just as painful as being 200 hours over, you know, because they wanted to reinforce the fact that the standard was the standard.

Yeah.

And so my mentors were, were those that were investing in me and, and they looked at me as not a cost, but an investment. And they would also remind me that investing in yourself and others that you lead is like banking. If you don't deposit anything in, then how do you expect to withdraw anything out?

Yeah.

And so my mentors, I was coached on how to mentor and you know, and so that was interesting for me. Coming up.

Yeah, I love young leader. Got it. So, all right, so you have this successful career, a good year. You know, we explored it in great length at the, in the, in the, in the keynote today, talking about taking the, the Gilligan's island plant, which you gotta just give it like just a quick version of that story because that's, that's, that's incredible. You gotta give a case. Folks weren't on the podcast or the.

Keynote at that point. I gotta, I was, I want to say, awarded a job in Fayetteville, N.C. at that point. The plant was really struggling and Goodyear kept putting leader after leader after leader into this plant.

And for context, you had just got done winning the Shingo prize and all the rest of it at another facility.

Absolutely.

Like breaking all kinds of records.

Breaking records and we were like, so.

Now you're, you're set for your next move, Right? And it's going to be a beautiful move and you'll be corporate America taken care of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so that's, that's the context.

Yes. I'm seeing greener pastures now. And you know, and I get the phone call, I remember seeing it on caller ID and I'm thinking, yeah, this is a call. And the person on the other end says, we'd like you to go to Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was something out of a horror movie in my mind. I thought, no way am I going to that place. I've seen that place churned through leaders. And I remember telling him this, and I said, that place is like Gilligan's Island. It starts out on a three day trip, but you never come back. And I said, I've never seen nobody make it out of the way. The show gets canceled eventually. Yeah, the show gets cancelled eventually, but you don't make it back. And so when I took that job, it was, it was actually a pivotal point in my career and probably the best lean operational excellence assignment I've ever ventured because I understood the lean tools, understood lean processes, but I didn't understand lean culture. See, I knew how to come in and teach, how to do Kaizen events. I knew how to teach demaic. I knew how to teach all A three problem solve. I knew all of those things. But the cultural aspect is what most people miss.

Yeah.

And that's why most leaders fail.

Yep.

Leaders fail at operational excellence. And in my history, I've seen a lot of leaders struggle with the cultural piece.

Yeah, yeah.

And they think they've earned the technical right to change.

Yeah.

But they ignore the cultural right or need to change.

Okay, so I want to fast forward now. So, so you, you, you finished this, this great career at Goodyear. I'm guessing they probably didn't even want you to retire. But you did anyhow. But why did you decide then to just jump right back in and get going with this linked Excel, which is your current venture?

I really did not. I actually was going to take a break. I had a plan to take a break and explore being an author, keynote speaker, coach. One of my former plant managers called me. I'm speaking to a women's group in Cleveland in Flores. And he goes, I've got this strategy around operational excellence and building this daily operating system. Can you stop by and look at it and give me some feedback? Because I cannot penetrate the workforce and I show up at his office and I look at his strategy, it's great. And I look at him and I'll never forget and I said, it's great, but it's a secret and you can't manage a secret. And you're so concerned about putting this in the X matrix where it'll be a bigger secret. And so he videotaped it and then I remember saying, I want to come back and work with you. And we're going to architect an operating system that fits this culture and we're going to build this system that's suitable for your culture. And what we did is we put this process in place and I think his productivity, it jumped over 50% and he had, I mean 40 plus percent, I think he had over 50 plus percent percentage improvements in waste. But here's what's interesting. It wasn't about the CI event, just the technical piece. He built a system around ownership and people were running the organization. So their operating system embraced the technical right, but it engaged people from the cultural right.

Yeah.

And they focus on KPA's. And so at that point I just thought, wow. Being a business operating system architect is what's needed and helping people shape their culture. It's like if you hired an architect to build your house, the architect doesn't come in and tell you what you need. The architect looks at the foundation and then the structure, environment and the capability and then at that point they start to architect your house. Basically. I felt that that was the, the need for businesses today.

And that's kind of your, your mission, I guess at linkedexl.

Yes, yes. To be business system architects don't walk into an organization with a predetermined notion of what they need.

So talk a little bit about, I mean there's a lot of different consultants running around out there, you know, a lot of them doing good, good folks have different focuses, you know, on, you know, maybe different specialties or whatever it might be. But talk a little bit about what's different between Linked Excel's approach, you know, compared to other lean initiatives.

So from a business system architect, it's an end to end process. Right. We talked about it on, on the call. It's end to end and end to end means one defining winning, what winning is. And you know, you look at some lingua, lean languages, it's a current state define winning and you also assess what your future state should be, aligning the win, what should people own and you start to incorporate that where it's extreme ownership at every level, every function. And you Marry the functions and tiers. So before you start doing continuous improvement, you create a structure where you know who's at every intersection so you can manage the intersections. And if you're lying winning now, the executing winning, it's around your visual management systems. They're centered on keep KPAs, they're not leading indicators. So if a start of a shift, an operator walks up and you say, did you do that safety check? Did you walk your area red or green? Did you see if there were any safety alerts, quality alerts? Did you actually make sure everyone signed that new quality release? Yes or no? Yeah. Red or green. And so those are changing on every single board. None of our no KPAs are alike. KPIs are non negotiable. See, each function has its own issue and then when they flip it red or green, when a manager walks up, you put yourself in the greatest position to win.

Yeah.

Instead of focusing on the KPI. So what's different, it's an end to end process where you are, you're architecting based on what the team needs instead of saying, hey, I know 5s and everybody needs to do 5s. Now that may be an element of your operating system, but what's the core need? And that's what we do differently. And we come in and we work with you, we do it with you, we build it with you. Instead of doing it to you, we do it with you.

I like it. I like it. What about, where do you see the biggest gaps in organ? I mean, you work with different companies. I mean there's a lot of different gaps that we, that we see out there. But what are some of the big ones that you've identified over the last few years?

This is one that was, it was the same with me and it's the same when I go out there and work with clients. And one would think it's a shop floor. It is. The leadership, the leadership there are the hardest ones to break, to become evangelists, to drive it. They say they want it, but they don't want to let go. Yeah, the, the shop floor in every situation I've been engaged with, they're ready. And I warn the people, okay, you want to go put boards up, you want to go do these visual things, but you as a leadership, you're not ready. Because when they start identifying things and you can't fix those, and you can't support those, you've done twice the damage than what was there before you put the board up. And so what I've seen is leaders not being on board and leaders get exposed and then they shut it down. And in some cases, the leaders don't want to let go. Right. And we call it letting go without letting loose.

Yeah.

And so the biggest challenge I've seen is leadership and it's that middle level. Right. Some senior executives say they want it, they endorse it, they write the check, but they do a horrible job of aligning those leaders that are going to deploy, govern and enable. And therefore the people are ready, but at the end they're constrained.

Yeah, that.

So that's been the biggest challenge for me. The, the, the, that level of management, middle management and leaders at the top say they want it. Now what I've also seen, which is tricky, very tricky from my experience, they don't stop it. So it's like malicious obedience. They don't support it.

Yeah. Oh, man, I've seen it. I've seen it in my own career when I was in a corporate world, you know, I had my, I think one of my last bosses, you know, he had a sales background and he was. But he was, I kind of, you know, in charge of continuous improvement somehow and some operations and different things like that. He was in that role, but again, he had sales background. And the fact I used to say that, you know, maybe is a little bit not true, but there was some truth to it. The fact that we actually had to produce a product was annoying to this person. You know, there's someone to sell, sell, sell. Bookings, bookings, bookings, you know, and then of course, you make it, you know, duh, you know, just go make it, you know, and get it out and get it out on time and all the rest of it, you know.

Absolutely.

And so continuous improvement was just like, okay, well, you know, that's just something that we've got to do. But to your point, I guess I was grateful that they didn't stop me, but they didn't support me.

That's right.

You know, and that's tough. It is. You know. You know, in fact, we kind of promised the folks today on the, on the keynote that we didn't get to all the Q&As, and some of them. There was actually one of them that was related to that. And the question was about, hey, I'm not, I'm not senior leader, you know, you know, maybe I'm lower to middle management, something like that. Right. You know, frontline supervisor or something like that. What advice do you have for them when they're. What we. Sometimes I use, I use the Analogy that they're pushing on a rope.

Yes.

You know, they wish someone was pulling a rope, but they're pushing the rope, you know, so what, what advice and how do, how do you, how do those folks, you know, survive or thrive even?

Well, right there is the end game. Right. The goal. What's winning? Right. So then start deploying from your level.

Yeah.

Don't wait for that. You know what winning is for you and you have a team. How do you deploy from your level and then you start building that credibility with your leader.

Yeah.

That's how I broke through personally as a young manager coming up. At that point, I understood operational excellence. I invested in me learning and cascading to my team. I was one of the very first one in the company to do visual management. Here's what I didn't say in the keynote. Goodyear had no idea that the plant was pursuing the Shingle Prize. No one from corporate America knew, no one in the organization was engaged with us. Now, I could have said I didn't get approval from my senior executives, but I knew what we didn't know. And so we didn't go after the Shingo prize for the prize. We went after the Shingle Prize for the process. Yeah. And at that point, our CEO calls me and said, hey, Billy, tell me what's going on with the Shingo prize. Yeah. And then I said, oh, by the way, Rich, we'd like to have you as a keynote speaker. Right. So I built Evangelist. So start where you are, right where you are. I don't care what level of the organization you're in. If you're an operator, you can do 5s. Yep. You can identify defects. So start where you are. And then you'll build that Evangelist.

Yeah, yeah. You know, I used to. And I did it even with that boss. And he wasn't a bad guy. I don't mean to make him sound like this big evil guy or anything, but, but my goal was I always just wanted to make him look good.

Yes.

You know, so every month he had a big, big meeting with the, with the C suite, you know, folks, and he would go in there to the CEO, CEO and all the rest of he present, and I'd give him three or four PowerPoint slides of some of the things that we were doing, you know.

Yes.

And I, I heard stories. I was never in those meetings back then, but, but I heard stories, you know, this was a, you know, multi billion, dollar, five billion dollar company, publicly traded company, you know, and so, I mean, they're, they're on, you know, Wall street calls and all the rest of it. And I heard stories that when he would be this guy, my boss would be presenting his slide decks. Everybody's just kind of like, leaning back in their chair, kind of numb, you know, with another graph or another PowerPoint, another this or that, you know, and then all of a. The continuous improvement section would come up, and there'd be pictures, you know, like before and after or something like that, you know, and they said that, you know what? The. The guys would actually sit up in their chair, they'd lean in, and they'd like kind of look at the slide and look at the pictures, you know?

Yes.

And so my boss is like, he. Eventually he gotta be. Hey, you got some slides for me? Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

On their way. And so that's how you can drive as well, right?

That's exactly right. Yeah. And you trust. Remember we talked about the trust factor and making them look good, but actually you were valued. Yeah, right. And it really. The fact that, remember, make people visible, they'll make you valuable. What were you doing? Y. Making invisible. You were supporting him. And at that point, that value proposition was a 50, 50 split y.

Exactly.

And. And so I would tell that person that asked that question, start where you are. Start where you are. Build that credibility.

All right, I got another one. So this was from Jeff. So, Billy, what are some key. This is a tactical question, I think. What are some key methods you use to help create the performance map of a plant or department?

So this is great. I actually have a tool for those that reach out to me, and I send it to them. And my email is Billy Tayloroodyear.com or you can reach out to me on link in. Yep. But what we do is we build a purpose map. And I actually took it out. I remember we were going through was actually initially inside of the keynote. A purpose map is like a strategy on the page. And what it does is you identify your purpose and then you identify your SWOT analysis. This is all on one page. So I use analogy. What was my purpose? To get healthy. That meant losing 50 pounds. Then I look at what's my strength? It says, well, my strength is I love to eat salad. Right. What's my weakness? I also love to eat candy. Right. Opportunities and threats are things you don't control. And so opportunity. Consider it a gift. What's an opportunity? There's a gym down the street, although I don't have one in my house. What's a threat? A threat can sink the ship. What's a threat. My mother in law just moved in and she loves to bake cakes. Okay. And so now I've got that SWOT analysis. Then you put your critical performance indicator and then identify where you're going to focus and wherever you're going to focus, attach a measure to it. And if you build that strategy on a page. Home run hitter. Yeah, home run hitter. So those that would like a copy of a purpose map, email me, reach out to me.

Yep. And we'll link to everything in the show notes. Go gemba podcast dot com. This is episode 347. So we'll link to everything to be able to connect with Billy. So. Okay, got another question that I know is right up your alley. Billy, with your passion. This is from Frederick. He says, he says he's Billy Taylor's nephew.

Yes, that is my nephew. Okay.

I was like, I hope he is. As I'm saying it here on the podcast, he is.

He is.

How important is a diversity to you and what value does it bring to an organization?

It's critical. Here's why it's critical. And I'm going to start with Lean Operational excellence. Diversity is what drives excellence. It's different thoughts, different ideas, different types of innovation. It's not just race, gender or demographic. Diversity is critical. Those things are important because when those people feel comfortable that they can come to work and be their authentic self, you get their very best. And see, that's what drives innovation. And if you look at stats, companies that are more diverse are more productive. And one study done by Deloitte said that they're 80% more effective than companies that are not. Okay. And Deloitte is a company in Australia now. When I talk about inclusion, inclusion is what drives excellence. It's those innovation, innovative ideas, embracing people, embracing thoughts of ideas, including people.

Yeah.

And so it's critical. Diversity and inclusion is critical. But remember, diversity and inclusion, diversity in itself is different. It's not a gender. There's mothers that are out there working in the manufacturing fields. There are women out there in the field. That's diversity. There are people that have disabilities that are out in the work. That's diversity. Yeah. So it's, it's. We all have. Where none of us are alike. So it's critical diversion. Inclusion is critical. Yeah, it's a key element.

Yep, absolutely. Okay. This is a longer one here. I was skimming it here trying to. It's more of a statement, but maybe we can just reflect on it. This is from Kim says. Hi, Billy. Thanks. Really inspiring to Hear. It's been a challenge to me for years to drag management to talk and listen to their employees. But every time I see a manager truly understand it, it's all worth it. It's not like they don't want to. The whole system is just not built that way. We are on a journey with a COO that really show the way to the shop floor. Ask for standards and do try to really understand and we are succeeding some places. But there's still a lot that just watch and more than that that wait. Luckily we in continuous improvement get to work directly with our COO on this joint action to change. I and my family will be moving to Houston and have to build trust there too to support that winning team where I'm not the direct manager or just an influencer. But that's where my strength is. Looking forward to the following the effect of your talk on myself. So we're not really question just more of a statement but. But it's interesting just hearing the, the different stories and this person right now is, is from Europe. They're in there in Europe and getting ready to move to, to Texas.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's, you know Ron and I both are here in Texas right now. I'm originally from Texas. I live in Akron, Ohio. But one thing I would say even on your next journey, celebrate the process. That's where you get the buy in.

Yeah.

Celebrate the product. That's what changes culture, embrace individuals.

Okay, let's see. I gotta, let's get a couple more here. Here's an interesting one from Kevin. You go into it a bit in a KPI vs KPA discussion but how do you measure around critical attributes that can't be quantitatively measured?

So I'm going to go back to the illustration. So when I first started in operational excellence, our red green boards were about numbers quantifiable. Okay. A kpa. Here's what I'm going to. I'm going to break it down. If you had a visual board and I want you to. I'm trying to visualize this for you. On the left side of the board we're going to call that the KPA side of the board. Actions on the actions on the right side of the board, we're going to call that the KPI Indicators. Indicators. Okay. Now in your mind don't you think about losing weight on the right side is standing on the scale to see the numbers on the left side. It's what we're going to eat.

Yep.

Okay. Now let's say it was quantifiable. Well, let's go back to management safety. What's the KPI? Let's just call it osha. Recordable Accidents KPI. So we're not going to get to that KPI until the shift starts. But before the shift starts, a KPA is. What is it that I need to do to give me the highest probability that I will not get hurt or injured? Yeah. Kpa. Think of red. Green. Did you walk your line and eliminate all trip hazards, make sure there weren't any leaks and report anything you found, Red or green? Yeah. That's not quantifiable, but it's an action that if you did that and eliminated all trip hazards, do you have a high probability of being safe? Yes. Let's go to quality.

Yeah.

What. What's the KPI? Waste. Okay, start of the shift. What's the kpa? I look, made sure there was no quality deviations that I needed to sign off of. I did all of my spec checks and certified that everything was right, all my measurements and where I needed to review a quality issue. I brought the team together and made sure everyone was aligned and signed off on that. Pause. Now, do I have the highest probability to getting the best quality product? Yes. So my KPA drove my KPI and it's not quantifiable. Yeah, right. Even with house keys. I call it workplace organization wpo. What's the kpa? Did I walk my line and make sure all shadow boards were up to date and I do it at the beginning of my shift and the end of my shift? Yep. And if there were, if there was a leak, I made sure I got the leak fixed, mopped up before I can start my shift. I have turned that tag red or green. I'm working with a company called Continental Structural Plastics and we did a project on a bonder, a bonding unit. It Housekeeping was not the best. We did an initial assessment. We put the KPA KPI board up, transferred the ownership from them, waiting on management to clean their equipment up or a machine cleaner. I walked out into the building about a week ago. They don't run on the second shift. Just to observe. It was immaculate. It was immaculate. And if anybody put something in the area, they deal with it. And so it's driven by the kpa, not the KPI. And so that's how you do that. Yeah. Build your daily operating boards with KPAs as well as KPIs.

Love it.

Because KPIs. You're just reporting.

Yep.

And guess what? It's already Happened.

Yep.

Yeah.

Good stuff, man. Billy, man, it's been fun. We've been. Had a good day. I don't want it to end.

No, we've had a. We've had a great time. And Ron, you said it best. And we have to be transparent with you. I love to be transparent because that's the only way we can help you and this podcast becomes beneficial.

Yeah.

I show up yesterday, a day ahead, and Ron and I talked about it, and we come in, and we're still working through the elements of what we're going to do today. We get the whole team. This was a team effort, and I advise you to see the live stream if you haven't seen it yet by the time the podcast comes out. But we deliberately practiced. We broke this thing down into two elements, and we perfected the elements from the videotaping to the microphone to the transition of slides. It was a collective team effort. It was really genuine scientific thinking.

Yep.

A way we put prompters up mixed with deliberate practice.

Yep.

And when the final product came out, we should have saw us all at the end. We knew.

Yeah.

We just. Our actions looking at each other. We knew.

Well, you know, we, you know, we both are into sports and. And coaching and. And all the rest of it. And, you know, I walked in today and I just saw, you know, yesterday there was some stress, you know. Yes, you had some stress on your. On your eyebrows. I could see it. Greg was a little bit. Greg and Carlos were kind of running the technical behind the scenes. Greg's in here in our control room. I mean, this is not this easy deal, man. He's like, out of these buttons, he's got this camera. This camera, this camera. Play that video and switch over here. And meanwhile, he's got to follow you on your slides and all the rest of it. I mean, and so there was an incredible amount of rehearsal that's needed to go into that. So yesterday there was some stress, but we worked so hard yesterday. And even before yesterday, if you remember, we did a zoom call.

Yes, we did.

You know, and you did a presentation on a zoom call, you know, just for us to get an idea of what you're going to be talking about. That was a couple weeks ago, you know, and that began the journey. Your slides weren't even done at this point. That's right. You know, you had these rough slides, weren't all polished like they were today.

That's right.

But. But today. This morning when I walked in was interesting. There was like, everybody was just kind of light. Everybody Was kind of loose, kind of, you know, you're kind of dancing around, you know, kind of all jiggy, you know, and it's like. It's like we always say, you know, coaching youth sports is you. You know, if you coach in the right way, you know, the work is done in the practice.

That's right.

You just turn up to the game to, you know, to do your best, and what happens, happens. But it's. All the work's already there. You're not going to get any better on game day. That's right. Right. I mean, you know, you make some adjustment here or there during the game, but, you know, at the end of the day, you're either in shape or you're not. You either know how to run your plays or not. You know, that sort of thing. So the work is done in the practice, and I just hope people don't see a presentation like yours and just think, oh, well, yeah, that Billy, man, that's. That's Billy. You know, it's Billy Taylor. I mean, of course he's good, you know, but no, man, you know, it's. It's the deliberate practice. It's the work.

Yeah. That's so far from the truth, too.

Right.

It's. It's like you have to put the work in that deliberate practice.

Yeah.

Talent will only take you so. So far.

Yep. Yeah.

And so that deliberate practice, and this is a perfect example of deliberate practice. And we are like, well, we're all at that place this morning, like, okay, we're ready. Yep, we're ready.

Yep.

And so that's what I would tell companies and organizations out there on their journey. The scientific thinking is critical, but what develops that is deliberate practice.

That's right. That's right. And when we say deliberate, I just. I mean a few examples from yesterday, because I think sometimes we hear those terms and we probably overuse them in the community and with deliberate practice, people sick of hearing it. But, like, one example was in your opening. You've got this very scripted, you know, opening that you do, and it starts with boom. And then down goes Muhammad Ali.

Right.

I mean, I can see it now. I could do it myself. I saw it so many times. But we practiced. Now, what was tricky from a live stream perspective was that we were playing a video that introduces you, and Greg's in here in the control room, cueing that video, playing that video, and Britta was right beside him, kind of monitoring the video side of it. And then as soon as the video fades out, we hit a button, and then it goes to the camera. One of the cameras. We had three cameras on you. We had one that went to the main camera. But that was important was that we can't have you sit there for five seconds and then say, boom.

That's right.

But we also can't do it too quick. And then half the boom gets cut off. So it was all this timing and this sequencing, and we practiced that dang opening probably 15 times yesterday.

Yes.

Do it again. I felt like a coach. Do it again.

Yep.

Do it again. You know, I mean. And we did. Until you felt perfect. Carlos was out there giving you the cue to start that he got from the head from some Greg in here hitting the button. Buttons.

I mean, and that's just. That was the. L was an authentic pool system. Yeah. We were actually. Right. Pulling from the source.

Yep.

But we're all aligned.

That's right.

We're all in cadence. And. And you. You could see it even. Even this morning. Right. We were going over. Then you were asking Carlos, and Carlos says yes. I give him a sign, Right?

Yep.

Right. We have the process. We have the exactly out. And we discussed. We built the process off of deliberate practice. Practice.

Yep.

We broke it down. We knew what we had to do.

Yep.

Beautiful.

Anyhow, Billy, what's the best way for folks to connect with you if they want to get more information on Linked, Excel or just keynote speaking? Billy. And all the rest of it?

Yes, you can reach out to me one on link. LinkedIn. I'm out there on LinkedIn. Also, you can go to the website www.linkedxl.com, which is a business operating system firm. And my email's out there.

Yep.

On any of those sites. And. And I answer my own email. I enter my own social media, and if you. You write me, I. I generally get back with you.

Got it. And we'll link to all that up on episode. This is episode 347. So gembopodcast.com look for 347. We'll link to Billy's company and his. In his LinkedIn and all the rest of it. So. But anyhow, Billy, thanks. I know this isn't the end and we'll do. We're gonna do more of this down the road, but, you know, I feel so blessed, you know, to be able to. To know people like you and to be able to work with you, and sometimes I gotta pinch myself. I was like, is this real? Like, you know, like.

Yeah, but not. Thank you. But it's genuine. You know, I remember going with you. I was In. We were in, I think, Charleston. We were at a cottage event. Yep. And we went to dinner.

Yep.

And then when I was in Austin, I remember coming back to my hotel room and I get a text from you and Billy, we're going to dinner. Are you coming? Yep. Right. That thing meant so much to me personally. That's to make people visible, and they'll make you valuable. And your team treated me as if I was a member of your actual staff, your team. And so that's why when you pick the phone up, when I see I was joking with you today, I'll be in meetings, and I'll see his faces on his caller id. And you know what? I pick up immediately. I walk out, and I'll talk to him, because. Right. He's created a value system with me, a trust system with me that when he calls me, I'm going to answer. I want to talk to him. And, you know, when he pitched the idea with me, I'm like, man, I'm all in. Yeah, just let me know.

Yep.

And so that set that organizational trust, friendship, trust, the value.

You know, the funniest thing about that dinner. I don't know if I've ever told you this, Billy, but we've gone to dinner several times now. But I remember that first time, you know, you were the big keynote guy, you know, and this and that. And I knew, you know, we shaking hands and talked a few times, you know, but I didn't know you well at the. That point. And. And I said, man, I was home for Billy. I want to invite Billy Taylor. You know, we had some other folks. They were like, well, I'm sure he's, you know, Billy Taylor, man. You know, you know, he's not going to come, you know, and then. And so what I've learned over the years, you never know. Just ask, you know, just ask. And. And, boy, I'm sure glad we did. That was a fun dinner. Remember?

It was a fun dinner.

Michael Lombard was there and. Oh, yeah, we had a good time.

You know, I was flattered to be asked. I'm seriously. I was flattered. And we had. We had a great time. A great time. We sure did.

Awesome. All right, my friend. Well, you. You keep up the great work, and I know our paths will cross many, many times down the road, but. But today was special, and I think it's one that we're going to both remember for a long time.

I. I agree. Thank you for having me.

Take care.

All right. You do as well.

Thank you. Thanks for listening. Whether you've been on the continuous improvement journey for many years, or perhaps you're just getting started. Gemba Academy is here to support you. And while we're best known for our more than 1500 Lean and Six Sigma teaching and virtual tour videos, we also have a team of experienced Lean and Six Sigma practitioners available for one on one coaching, as well as a variety of Lean and Six Sigma certification options. To learn more and to schedule a demo, head on over to gembaacademy.com.