What Advancement Demands of the Person Leading It
4 Aug 2026 · 40 min
In this episode of the Hardcore and At Ease podcast, host Shelly Rood interviews Stacy Eamon, Director of Industry Strategy at the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). The conversation explores the unique challenges of the aerospace, defense, and broader manufacturing sectors, especially as they confront rapid technological change such as AI, additive manufacturing, and digital workflows. Stacy shares historical context about SME’s origins during the Great Depression, its evolution into a modern hub for talent development, technology adoption, and industry events. She outlines a practical framework for leaders: recognizing that only a small percentage of workers adapt quickly (8%), many need extra support (15%), and some will never adopt (5%). Advancement therefore demands consistent, patient leadership that invests equally in all team members. The episode also covers policy drivers like the National Defense Authorization Act encouraging domestic machine‑tool production, the convergence of aerospace, defense, automotive, and the emerging Space Force, and SME’s educational pathways from K‑8 through advanced workforce training. Stacy offers a concrete weekly leadership exercise—spending an uninterrupted hour with the team member whose pace tests the leader’s patience—to model the discipline of advancement. The discussion ends with calls to action for small‑mid manufacturers to engage SME’s resources, events, and online platforms, and a reminder that the future of U.S. defense manufacturing hinges on nurturing talent, technology, and domestic capability.
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I really recognize that 8% of the people can come along and they can adapt. 15% of the people are gonna struggle. You gotta give 'em extra tools. We gotta help 'em. We gotta answer their questions. And 5% just won't come along. And that's okay. That's just people being people. And you can't get hardened by that. This show is powered by Others Over Self. Hit that subscribe button to keep training your brain.
From others over self, it's Hardcore and At Ease, a show about people who are keeping their edge without going over the edge. I'm host Shelly Rood. Advancing your team never happens on one single timeline. Sometimes that means leaving people behind while others are sprinting ahead, and nobody teaches us what to do about the opportunity in there. Well, I used to think it was my job to close that gap, but it's It's deciding what I owe each person while the gap stays open. You're about to hear exactly how one leader makes that call, and you're going to walk out today with one specific move to try with your own team this week.
This is Hardcore and At Ease.
Over here near Metro Detroit, we are the home of manufacturing. Picture for me a shop floor, decades of machine oil worked into the concrete. A man who has run this place since before most of employees were born, who fought for this country. He's never once needed anyone to explain hard work to him. Someone hands him a proposal to move his systems electronic. He looks at it and he says no, because the thing that already built his life has earned more trust from him than anything new could earn in just single afternoon. He makes the decision not to go electronic, and within a year, the phone stopped ringing. Within a year, the business that he built his whole life on is gone. It's not a story about a man who deserved to lose everything. That's a story about how disorienting change can be, even for someone who has earned every bit of trust that he's ever had. My guest today has spent over 40 years in this industry. And when this particular memory came up for her, it came as a quick mention because she has a career that has already seen so much change. Well, that story sat with me long after she told it. I've watched someone in my own team dig in against something new, and part of me wanted to stop investing in that person entirely. That's not a comfortable thing to admit out loud, but if we're honest with ourselves, it's what leaders do. This is what makes today's guest special. Every day she stands in the gap between people exactly like him and the technology that's already here, whether they're ready or not. Advancing anyone through that gap asks more of her than a plan or a rollout schedule ever could. It asks for patience that she doesn't always feel and care that doesn't get to run out just because somebody is slow to catch up. She doesn't get to choose how fast any one person can move with their learning environment. All she can choose is what advancement demands of her: to keep showing up with the same effort, one person at a time, whether that person catches on by Tuesday or takes years to get there. Before we dive into that, I want you to know that this conversation is part of our upcoming Macomb A&D Intel newsletter. That's aerospace and defense. This newsletter is brought to you in partnership with Macomb County and the Macomb County Chamber of Commerce. Every link and resource we're talking about today, including how to get that newsletter in your inbox, it's waiting for you in the show notes. Before we turn to today's guest, I wanna take a second to honor one of my listeners. I might be up here in Metro Detroit, but my friend Jason Burris is down in Florida. Jason is a fellow chaplain and leadership coach. He's the same guy who served on site at the Olympics and he chaplained for the Miami Heat. We trade entrepreneur ideas back and forth like old friends do, and every single time we talk, he inspires me by bringing to light that no matter what level of success you think you've reached, there's always more. My friend, that reminds me that we're not alone in our quest to be hardcore and at ease. It's good to know you, Jason, and I know he'll enjoy today's guest as well. Her name is Stacy Eamon, and she has spent over 40 years inside manufacturing, from CNC machining to injection molding to building the very first online Kanban system 3 decades ago. Today, she serves as the Director of Industry Strategy at SME, that's Sierra Mike Epsilon, at the intersection of aerospace, automotive, and national defense, helping mid-sized and small manufacturers find their way into an industry that changes lives every single day. It has our nation's security sitting on the other side of it. Here's my conversation with Stacy.
This industry is unique and different for many reasons, and then very much the same as other industries for those technical and talent development part of it. So it's a unique behavior that I think most people don't even know exists. There's an entire industry behind our defense of our country. And I think it's— it has many layers to it and changes. Like, it's not the first time we're going through change. And so it's just— it's very interesting to me. And I very much appreciate the opportunity to give to my warfighter. That's how I position it in my behaviors.
The defense industry changes with not just the standard business practice changes, like new technologies coming up, and now we're— how do we utilize AI, what it looks like to work at home versus remote versus virtual. On top of all of that, the defense industry has the added layer of global economics. And wartime and peacetime efforts as well. And so I think the most capable people that have to shift and lift and adjust consistently every day are those that are in our nation's defense industry.
Oh, completely agree with you. And, you know, for the changes that are happening both organizationally and the requirements for what they need in the Department of War is needed to happen, but in a more uniformed way, we now can practice business a little quicker to market. And that will really create that economic uptick that benefits our U.S. warfighters, our ability to be economically a powerhouse in manufacturing, which I believe is our mainstay, is our bread and butter. And so for me, the development of the worldwide operating system that's happening in the Defense Department and all of the entities from all of the 6 sectors, you know, how do we make sure we're servicing them with the most advanced technology? And you mentioned AI. We have different rules for inside the walls of the Department of Defense and outside the walls of Department of Defense. And what What does that mean, and who is it, and how do we bring them forward? But it's going to mean something different in manufacturing because it will accelerate our ability to analyze and evaluate and move our production volumes higher. Just one example of so many things that are happening right now simultaneously.
I so love this conversation and your point of view because I work with a lot of different spheres in the business world. And there's still this shadow of fear around AI, and it's almost like we need to get over that at this point. AI is not going anywhere anytime soon. This is how we do business from here on out, and this is how we even relate to each other as human beings. And to know that there's a company out there like SME that is embracing it, but embracing it smartly. Can you talk to me a little bit about what your company provides in the national defense industry and how all this works together.
Yeah, so I'm going to tell a little bit of a story, right? So Society of Manufacturing Engineers started during the challenges of the Great Depression, and it was 33 tooling engineers at Ford that gathered to discuss how do we do this? We might not have the same materials to build with. We might need to evolve differently when we come out of this. What does it look like? And it was pre-World War II. So we're positioning manufacturing in a way that had never been positioned, and that just maintained how we behave today, which is technology and talent is critical for advancing manufacturing. So somebody has to stay in the game all the time to move it forward. So recently at our organization, We actually brought somebody in for our very first chief manufacturing officer, Dr. Connor, that actually has a little bit of an expertise in additive, but, and also AI. So we're staffing up for that because what does it mean to all the different levels of manufacturing? We're going to unpeel that and help people understand how to apply it within their organization, because again, we're going to have to teach people how to use it. So on our talent side, how do we develop those specifics for those students from K through 24, right? So K to Shop Floor, I think I like better, is that engagement of that, what is AI for them? And then what is AI for a manufacturing company? I mean, Shelly, think about it. A lot of times you're talking to somebody who got into their family business. They may or may not have post-education.
You just nailed it. I can think of 3 people right now that I know.
Oh, they're fantastic companies. And so their adaptability rating might be a little lower than some because they have to, to be able to be strong for the development of their company as they go along. So years ago, I sat before a World War II veteran who was telling me how he lost a particular big, huge chunk of business because they didn't They didn't go to the electronic system. He didn't believe in it. And he lost his business. And within a year, he lost his whole business. And God bless him, he was there for our country and he was loyal. But the adaption to the new technology, how do I talk to that person who might not be a younger person in our country, might be an older person who's held on to this company for decades and decades. And how do I get them to come along? What does additive manufacturing mean to somebody who's been doing subtractive or CNC machining for 40, 50, 60 years? I don't know. I try to help them bridge that understanding of where it could help them or assist them.
Yeah, so much of what you do, Stacy, isn't trying to get ahead of everything, right? We're not trying to just group everybody behind us and plow through forward. We're actually trying to build something together. And as you've seen with a growth like a company like SME that is so large, you can't just plow ahead because you're going to leave behind all your suppliers and all of your talent pool that's coming up in the next 10 years. Tell me a little bit more about how you move forward and can have those conversations with people who don't even understand each other, right? I mean, marketing and manufacturing, that is a huge gap potentially, but you've figured out how to close that gap.
Yeah, and SME has been around long enough that there's, there's a deep aptitude, right? And they can, they can evolve and they can figure out how to identify that value ecosystem language out in the industry. And so because there's several parts to the organization and we all together are the puzzle that tries to provide the solution, You have major event platforms that engage and educate all kinds of people, very technically, to the ones who just want to find out what it takes to get into this equipment. And then you have those technical activities that kind of evaluate how all these different OEMs are implementing these AI or ML or additive manufacturing or new age, you know, when it was CNC machining, That is all important. And so when you're talking about those couple of things, then we have media that engages people from around the world on various topics and becomes an education resource for people in manufacturing. And then we always include members, but members are a different thing here. It's really those people who want to educate themselves in advanced technologies, in advanced talent adoption and creation, right? And so those are really important. So when you really look at it from a top level, on top of it, we add this really, really deep knowledge in workforce development that's been going on for a very long time. We recently just made an acquisition of Milestone C, which added a whole nother K through 8 level of talent adoption. How do we educate those people at that level so that as they come along, manufacturing is just part of their instinct? And I'm one of those people. I started when I was 16. I got to learn what manufacturing was. I thought I wanted to be an accountant, and I didn't. I was too noisy for that. I can't imagine you as an accountant. Production operations management with an emphasis in robotics. Absolutely where I should have been. To again change the way people were doing business to make it efficient and advance our manufacturing. And it's so critical, and I've been doing it for 40-plus years, which is a really long time, but it's evolved, it's changed, and we stay on top of it. And SME has too, and they, they've put a leader in charge of SME that's been there for decades. But her excitement about our organization and the new focus really heavily on defense industry professional— not professionalism, but like, how do we make sure that defense industry gets everything they need in talent and technology? And what else do they need? And how can we get it there? And how fast do we get it there? Speed to market, innovation, you know, engaging surge capacities. Like, how can we contribute to the success of of the U.S., but that isn't just here. So there are other countries looking and evolving their defense industry, and it's new. It's, it's been pushed out. And you have Canada looking at it and you have other countries really articulating that they need to look inward to look outward and to be a good partner in the world. We have to all evolve.
We do. I know SME does so much specifically in aerospace and defense., and I wanted to chat with you just a little bit because SME also produces like a supplement. They, they have a report that they put out every year specifically on aerospace and defense and the manufacturing business that I know that I'm geeking out over this, Stacy, because I get so excited when I get to see the depth of the layers that you're unpacking for us. Can you just share with us a little bit about like what boots on ground to work in manufacturing and aerospace defense looks like? Like, what are the parts that we're talking about?
So when you look at the different abilities in that industry, you know, if you really look at manufacturing, our supplement for aerospace and defense is really efficiently put together because we try to look at the top conversations going on and how can that contribute back to the small and mids in manufacturing. So if you look at aerospace and you look at defense, you look at automotive and you look at industrial, just as a grouping of manufacturers, generally aerospace is moving their needle in technology faster. So their talent is growing faster. So the various OEMs, the Boeings, the Raytheons, Lockheed, and Airbus, they're going to help us in the commercial side. Airbus and Boeing kind of move things forward and then we adapt that into the Air Force. Research laboratories and they test and figure out what's best for the next generation of Air Force support. And then that kind of pushes, comes back into your various land systems. But now that we have a Space Force, Shelly, this is a whole new aptitude that was under the cloak of Air Force and in other sectors many years, right? And so now we can focus on it. What materials, what new age technologies do we need to develop and get to market so that we could build smarter rockets, smarter satellites, land systems that support these things in a more efficient manner. So it— that aerospace to defense continues to migrate, but automotive plays a critical part in it right now, that commercial solution opportunity. It's really critical that we're listening to our commercial partners and understanding what they're doing in adoption of materials, adoption of technology, how are they advancing their talent? And it gives us a new opportunity to adapt. Look at the ISV vehicle. That wouldn't have transpired if GM didn't dip their toe back in defense. Now there's a new opportunity.
So I gotta pause you there. ISV vehicle is— what does that acronym stand for?
Oh, I don't actually know anymore.
I love this.
You're right, there's so much jargon that's flying out there, you know, and then we're talking about going to the Moon, right? I mean, right. And yeah, sending astronauts to the Moon in 2028, additive manufacturing is a huge part of that. 3D printing extensively used in Artemis. Yeah. And that falls in line with Space Force and everything we're gearing up for.
Yeah, exactly, Shelly. And so the world of manufacturing has always been an intersection of many, right? It can't be just one moving forward. And so for us to strengthen You know, one of the things I just firmly believe in is manufacturing is the way we strengthen our abilities in our country. And we have to be able to do that really smartly by educating those young and bringing them up and then also taking what we know today and adopting it through manufacturing. And then we bring the talent and we bring the technology, and then we're the new age manufacturing resource of record, you know what I mean? Like, we can really bring people forward and we can strengthen our base. It provides a great opportunity for job growth. It provides a great opportunity for us to be able to learn what we don't manufacture here and figure out how to do it. So recently at SME, one of the education pathways that one of my journalists wanted to take was how is the electronics industry really organized around the world? And he focused in on the hub of that. And he's— he went there and he educated himself and he's figuring out how that, that particular industry could really generate new opportunities in the United States. If you look at building equipment here, we haven't done a lot of that in many decades, and we need to bring some of that back. And what does that mean? And is it new age jobs? And now these new age jobs, something we're educating for. So it's all that full circle, you know.
Let's unpack that a little bit. You know, what do you mean when you say we aren't, we haven't been manufacturing a lot of these equipments and vehicles in here? What are we talking about?
Well, mostly the equipment, right? Our vehicles for defense are manufactured here, but our vehicles in other areas like automotive have, you know, we took a growth opportunity across the global entity, didn't know what that was going to look like, and now they're kind of recalibrating that, right, as to what that looks like. But for us in, in machine tool industry, a significant amount of our intellectual property and our ability to build efficiently for the purpose of getting it into manufacturing around the world, we lost the ability to manufacture an entire machine in the United States. Very small percentage of machine builders in the United States usually customized. And so we need to build that infrastructure back up. And I think that's what everybody's kind of leaning to. If you're talking about the new NDAA, if you're talking about last year's NDAA, you look in that National Defense Authorization Act and you really read the details, you'll see that we're pushing back. We're saying we need to bring these types of manufacturing here. Here's incentive to do so that we can be stronger.
It's absolutely fascinating, Stacy. I love that from the inside of this country, we're standing up as a nation and saying it's time to bring it back home.
It's not an easy thing to do.
I mean, it doesn't stop here, right? I mean, this is just one of. So what's the next generation and what are we supplying other countries that now just keeps building our aptitudes as a workforce, as a nation, and our advancement of technologies? I mean, some of the biggest technologies were created here, and they were created by people who had intellectual education that allowed them to really envision things that none of us could envision. An iPhone, whatever it is, the technology. And how do we, how do we continue to promote that? Right. And that's big here. How do we make the next generation entrepreneur? And half of those are Not half of them, but a good percentage are those people who come out of our veteran communities and come back home and kind of sit and go, but they're missing this over here. They're missing this over here. So that part of our landscape of small and mids that are building, these are really loyal, dependable, thorough thinkers that can bring new-age technology back here too and look at our applications in defense and kind of break it apart and build it back up. More efficiently.
I so appreciate that point of view because I'm sitting over here as one of those veteran-owned small businesses, and that's why we even get to have this wonderful discussion today. There is so much that is to be said about the next generation of entrepreneurs. Can you maybe share some hope and some enlightenment into the suppliers that SME interacts with and those small businesses that are like, Stacy, we want to do more in aerospace and defense and we want to do more in manufacturing. What advice do you have for them?
So it's fun because that's my, that's my job every day. I get to bridge that gap. And so with the One SME being able to really strengthen the workforce and strengthen that kind of platform that these companies need to come into to educate themselves I'm really lucky because I can be talking to somebody who might be an aerospace supplier today, but they really want to get in over here in defense. And how do I do that? And when we do that, we position it holistically. So looking at the complexities of manufacturing, you have energy resource, you have education and how-to. So an Apex Accelerator would be very vital to some of the systematic behaviors that have to occur. So we position those people as a knowledge resource for them. And then you look at technology and machine manufacturing, machine options, and you want to make sure they can touch and feel those and see what it really means to do that. So we have next year in '27, we'll have 13 events from the top of Canada to Mexico and a majority of those in the United States. That just help people touch and understand better technology and its adoption for their own purposes. And then you look at how we bring in that kind of education at a technical level so our engineers can get better educated so they know how to do application engineering as it relates to what they're doing. So not only do they get to educate themselves across industry, it might be important in a conference to offer a variety of tracks so that people can educate themselves on what they're doing in automotive and then in defense, so that there might be some crossbreeding there that needs to happen for us to really increase surge for capacity in the defense industry or adapt something in the automotive industry that we just really hadn't thought about, but the defense industry had to.
Well, you just said it so well, because if you are a manufacturing company or you're looking to getting into it, where do you go to answer those questions? You know, you could, like, to be a CNC machine operator, you can take a course, you can go to your local community college and probably knock that out. But when you want to make a tangible difference in that next layer of defense for your country, you know, when you want to be a waymaker and a path layer, where do you go for that type of conversation? And that's the path that SME has built, and So thankful that somebody stood up, right? Those— did you say the 26 initial engineers back then?
Yeah, 33 guys from Ford.
33.
Like, how crazy is that?
Like, and here we are today still doing it. You said somebody always has to be in the game.
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely. Stacy, how did you get in this game?
I was lucky enough early in life to have an opportunity through my high school to engage with a co-op program. They don't exist much today, but It's too bad. So I went to work for a machine tool company called Tavliig Machine, and I worked in their tool division. And I was, I was the filer when we used to have paper in our offices, but I was also computer inventory management. And so I learned how to manage inventories, and I used to go around to their other facilities and manage those inventories as well. So when I got to pick a major in university, I truly was going into something I already kind of had an idea what I was doing. So it was very easy for me to get through in 4 years and move on to my work in various industries. So my father was a World War II veteran and a captain in the Navy, and he was an engineer and he was very smart about if I teach my children what they need then they can go out and do it. Whether that is a university opportunity, or for my brother, it was to go to Vietnam and be on a naval ship and help create that infrastructure and support for the land part of the Vietnam War. And so we used to talk about those things and what was needed and what maybe wasn't there. So it's just, as I crawled through my career of injection molding and expandable sealants and extrusion and CNC machining, fabrication, and welding, and all the good stuff, all these different things that come together to make up manufacturing. I'm just really lucky. I got to own a business for 9 years that just helped small businesses get into the defense, automotive, or aerospace world. And some could and some can. And that's when I learned, as I went through my life as a change agent, I really recognized that 8% of the people could come along and they can adapt. 15% of the people are going to struggle. You got to give them extra tools. We got to help them. We got to answer their questions. And 5% just won't come along. And that's okay. That's just people being people. And you can't get hardened by that. So as we've moved along, I've had opportunities like inventing the very first online Kanban system called iSupply 30 years ago. It's probably longer than that. And to just implementing computer systems or helping people understand the bridge between what SME is and what we can do for the manufacturing community. So it's fun. I've had a great career.
I can tell that you're genuinely passionate about what you do. So if I were to say that Stacy is hardcore, because I believe that you are, I believe that you are.
I think so too. I'm a hardcore engineering lady and I'm proud of it. And I'm not going to let people sit back and let it pass them by when we have great opportunities, especially in the state of Michigan. It's been amazing, the collaboration across associations, economic development groups, state and local governments. It's amazing. But when you look at our federal as well and how everybody positions themselves, you don't get that everywhere, Shelly. And that's kind of how we met, is having those conversations.. But nationally, we're pretty great and we need to keep going. And, and nobody's going to tear manufacturing down while I'm here.
No, because you're, you're in the game. You're going to stay in the game. Well, Stacy, we started the conversation talking a little bit about where you live, and you live on a golf course. I learned that you golf. You know, to be on our show, we always ask, how do you stay at ease? Because what I admire so much about you is that you aren't just pushing so far as that hardcore manufacturing lady. Listen, I've seen a lot of hardcore engineering ladies and they have gone over the edge. But Stacey, you are just a beautiful, beautiful, wonderful professional woman. How do you stay so at ease?
So thanks. And just to put a pin in it for something else, and thank you for your service. I'm proud of what I do because I help people like you, Shelly. When you were in the service. And that's really important to me. So how do I stay at ease? I'm really lucky. My husband and I have worked very hard. We have two beautiful adult children that are on their way to their careers and their worlds. And one of the things we did early on as a working mom is we all golfed together. Badly, some of us, but we just did it as a family to kind of stop the motion, right? Stop the motion of life. It goes by pretty fast and it allowed us to network. I'm one of those people that made dinner for my family every night. I, I'm just that person. So my at ease is in my home, breathing fresh air. I was lucky enough to be raised in a cottage in Canada and a home in Royal Oak, Michigan. So I have this weird blend of some simplicity and city or country city girl kind of thing. And so that's kind of where I put my quiet. I have a place up north that I go and the minute I get there, all of my energy just relaxes and I can really think and look up at the sky and see what beauty we have before us. And now I look up at the sky and go, my gosh, we're building that too. Yeah.
You don't know if that's a star or satellite anymore.
Yeah, because the sky's not the limit anymore. It's an unlimited amount of space now.
Oh, you are the woman embodiment of play hard, work hard. Absolutely. So, Stacy, I know we're coming up on our time here and I want to be respectful for you. Is there anything else that you would like to add to our message today or make sure that our small business who's listening hears?
So I really do. I'm really lucky, Shelly. Me that I've gotten this opportunity with SME to kind of forge that platform. It makes me emotional. And I just want people to understand, if you don't know, go look at our sites, advancedmanufacturing.org, sme.org. Engage with us. We have many opportunities for you to engage and, and build your business better in your vision, and we can help you. And, you know, the defense industry is a tough industry to get into and work in, but there's lot of opportunity there, and there's a lot of people talking to try to help people lift them up and get them engaged. And the other industries that are part of our manufacturing thoroughbred, we need to continue to keep those stepping forward. And we at SME are here to help do that. And, you know, through talent and technology, we're here to build that future-forward workforce, make sure your technology is getting advanced in your companies, We work with organizations to make sure that they understand what's happening in different regions of the country, and we will continue to do that. We are those ambassadors of manufacturing, and we want to continue to move that needle and help the industries really advance their future-forward business capabilities. I know I keep saying it, but it's true.
100%. 100%. And you are the changemaker and the waymaker. And for that, Stacey, Southeast Michigan, Michigan, and all the region and even our nation, we thank you so much for what you put into your work.
Thank you very much, Shelly, for having me today.
And that was my time with Stacey Eman. Quick loop to close here. Stacey mentioned the ISV vehicle. I had a feeling, but I wanted to make sure before I brought it back to you. She was talking about General Motors Defense Squad Vehicle, the same commercial-to-defense pipeline that she described a moment earlier. It's built on a platform that started as a civilian truck before it ever wore a uniform. I'll leave that link in the show notes if you want to check that vehicle out for yourself. Maybe you're a nerd like I am. Now, Stacy said, most people adapt, some need real support to get there, and a few in her own words, just won't come along. Now, she didn't say this directly, but I keep replaying in my head all that managing people must be asking of her. Advancing a team doesn't ask you to sort people by how fast they move. It asks you as the leader to keep showing up with the same effort and the same care, no matter which one is standing in front of you on that day. This isn't a management problem that we solve once. This is the work, the people work, for leaders every single day for as long as you're in the seat and have the pleasure of leading. As you move forward, what advancement demands of you is not a skill that you learn and check off. It's a discipline that you rebuild every single day should you choose to keep going. So here's your small step this week. I want you to pick the one person on your team whose pace has been testing your patience the most. Maybe they're way too slow, or maybe they're way too fast. Advancement doesn't ask you as the leader to slow down for them, but what it does do is asks you to give them the same real investment that you're already giving the ones who are catching on at the right pace. So picture it. This week, you're sitting across the table from that person. You're giving them your full attention, not this distracted, checked-out version of you that you've been offering this person lately. Do this for 1 hour, and maybe that 1 hour isn't going to close the gap entirely. Maybe it's not going to change super quickly how they're moving, but what does change is what you're demanding of yourself as their leader, and that was always the part that's in your control. I want to leave you with one more example of that same idea in motion. I am proud to work with CNS Healthcare, a provider that keeps taking real steps to advance service in their own field of expertise. This Friday, I have the honor of giving a short presentation at their board retreat on how I use AI in my daily life. That is exactly what advancement looks like from the leadership leadership side, you simply present the opportunity to the whole team and it's up to each person to decide if they will act on it. You can only offer the opportunity. What people do with it, it's up to them. This episode gave you one clear thing to do this week. Show up for the person whose pace has been testing you the most. Head to the show notes for the full conversation, the McComb A&D The Intel newsletter signup and everything that Stacy mentioned about SME. That's all for today. I'm your host, Shelly Rood, and I'm so glad that you spent this time with me. Season 2 is off to a truly incredible start, and I couldn't be more grateful that you're here for it. Next Tuesday brings us another unwinnable situation for us to navigate together. Until then, stay hardcore, be at ease, and try Trust the process.
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Joel here with Notion Design Group. When it comes to your website, people don't really care about your company or my company. What they care about is how we can make their lives better or easier. Think about your website for a minute, the top of your home homepage, it should answer two questions. Number one, what exactly do you do? Number two, how does it make your customer's life better? If you answer those two questions, it will drastically improve the effectiveness of your website. Want to learn more? Grab our homepage cheat sheet at notiondesigngroup.com or schedule a call with us. We'd love to chat with you. At Notion, we design sites that drive sales.
Hi, I'm Doug Slocum, the author of the book Violent Positivity. I was blessed to spend 35 years in the US military, the Air Force, working with some of the most amazing men and women you'd ever want to meet. Well, throughout my life, throughout my career, I learned lessons. I developed this leadership style that I like to call violent positivity, and this book was my opportunity to tell that story but also put forth those principles. violentpositivity.com, more information on how to order the book.










