Billy Ray Taylor (00:00):

Speed is the currency of leadership. That was the first thing I really learned, right? Everybody's got a plan, but the leaders who win are the ones who execute faster than the problems evolve. And so I just wasn't brought in to look at this. I was brought in to move the people, move the mindset. And so basically being transparent, most people may say it's farfetched, but in 90 days, if you're not moving the needle, something's not really working in your strategy.

Voiceover (00:31):

Welcome to Supply Chain Now the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights and real supply chain leadership from across the globe. One conversation at a time.

Scott W. Luton (00:43):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and the one and only Billy Ray Taylor with you here on Supply Chain Now welcome to today's show, Billy Ray. How are you doing, my friend?

Billy Ray Taylor (00:55):

I'm doing great, Scott. Great to see you. And it's great to be back, my friend. Great to be

Scott W. Luton (01:00):

Back. Oh, it's been too long. It has been too long. But you've been on this rock and roll world tour, which we'll touch on maybe in a little bit. And of course continue to move mountains out in the industry. But folks, we get a chance to learn from Billy Ray here today. We have a timely, highly relevant show teed up here today. Raise your hand if you need some key considerations and proven best practices when it comes to driving organizational success in this very disruptive year of 2025, especially if you're in the manufacturing and supply chain space. All our leaders out there. Well today, not only are we going to learn from Billy Ray, but we're going to touch on some of these critical elements such as from speed of execution to the potent role of clarity. That's right, the potent role of clarity to the power of a connected operating system, all that and much, much more. And we get a learner from a great friend of the show that's again moved mountains in industry. He's been there, he's done it, and now he's helping many others learn how to do it too. So Billy Ray, a pleasure to have you back here on Supply Chain Now. Again,

Billy Ray Taylor (02:07):

Thank you for having me. Looking forward to the discussion today.

Scott W. Luton (02:10):

I am too. So folks stick around for a great conversation. It's going to offer up tons and tons of actionable insights by the truckload. So Billy Ray, where we get started, I like my fun and warmup questions because life can't all be about doing all the hard stuff, right? We got to live it too. And I hear you just got back from a great trip visiting the Dominican with your beautiful broad Rachel and family and friends.

Billy Ray Taylor (02:35):

Yes.

Scott W. Luton (02:35):

So Billy Ray, I got to ask you what was one of the highlights of that trip?

Billy Ray Taylor (02:40):

The food. The food. It was great trip, but the food was outstanding, right? A lot of seafood. I'll tell you, I felt like Forrest Gump and Shrimp shoe, shrimp kebab. It was just shrimp food, seafood. It was great.

Scott W. Luton (02:55):

Oh, I love it. Now that's also, we were talking pre-show that trip, you and Rachel May be a lot like me and Amanda when we go somewhere. Amanda is a culinary maestro and she always finds inspiration whenever we travel. And I think y'all were finding some inspiration for your culinary adventures at home, huh? When you got back?

Billy Ray Taylor (03:17):

Oh yes. We've already tried a couple of dishes. Rachel came, right, I think I got sent to the store to go get some blue crab right away and she came back and she made her Caribbean style gumbo. So it was

Scott W. Luton (03:32):

Great.

Billy Ray Taylor (03:32):

It was great.

Scott W. Luton (03:33):

All right. You're going to have to UPS or FedEx me a bowl of that. That sounds terrific. But it's great to hear you had a great time and we're going to have to get pictures, so we have proof. But more importantly than that, it's great to have you back here. So for our earlier, rather our new audience members that may have missed many of your earlier appearances here, because fortunate to have you as a co-host from time to time. Let's make sure they get a feel of some of the things you've done in this career journey of yours, including your great work and leadership at Goodyear. So tell us about some of the stops in your career, Billy Ray.

Billy Ray Taylor (04:12):

Well, first of all, thanks God for having me. This is like family here. I love Supply Chain Now. Well, I spent 30 years with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and so I worked in six different plants arising from the shop floor to the executive suite. So I led six turnarounds in multiple plants, so both union and union free. And so it was interesting. I was trusted with most of the broken operations in the networks and it was just a great opportunity as I went in there, just those turnarounds, those turnaround, connecting the people, the mission. The mission as we sent out, it wasn't about profitability, it was to restore belief rebuild systems, and then actually results. Hey, we were selling speed not tires.

Scott W. Luton (05:00):

Wow. Billy Ray, I think we have got a snapshot of an earlier stop that kind of plays into what you're sharing here. So what are we looking at here, Billy Ray?

Billy Ray Taylor (05:11):

So this is actually when we won what's called the Nobel Prize of Operations, the Shingo Prize. And so to the left is Ritsuo Shingo, who was part of the Toyota system, and on the right is Stephen Covey. And so when we set all kinds of records, we made 65,000 tires a day and they wanted to come see how did we do it, what were some of the key points and lessons learned around this turnaround because it wasn't about profit margins, that was the outcome we focused on. What were the KPAs, not the KPIs, what are the key performance actions, not the key performance indicator. And I tell people, Scott, sometimes you stand on the scale and you got to just go to lose weight. Well, what's more important standing on the scale, that's the KPI or the KPA, I got to walk two miles, I've got to eat 2000 calories. That's what I need to measure. And so we focus on KPAs, not KPIs.

Scott W. Luton (06:10):

Alright, I love that. And folks, we'll probably touch on this later, but if you already like what you're hearing here from Billy Ray Taylor, you're going to love his book, The Winning Link. This has been a go-to for me and many, it's like a bestseller. I think it's Intuits second or third edition, Billy Ray, if I've got that right. But you got to check out because this KPA versus KPI thing is just one of the many nuggets, actionable nuggets you'll find in The Winning Link. So Billy Ray, and of course you're talking about just a portion, you've done a lot of things in your career, but I want to go back to the turnaround situation. I think six turnarounds is what you led there at Goodyear. What's been one of the most powerful lessons beyond the KPI versus the KPA? What's one of the powerful lessons you learned from those turnarounds at Goodyear

Billy Ray Taylor (07:03):

And not only at Goodyear? Now that I've been in industry, Scott, speed is a currency of leadership.

Billy Ray Taylor (07:08):

That

Billy Ray Taylor (07:08):

Was the first thing I really learned. Everybody's got a plan, but the leaders who win are the ones who execute faster than the problems evolve. And so I just wasn't brought in to look at this. I was brought in to move the people, move the mindset. And so basically being transparent, most people may say it's farfetched, but in 90 days, if you're not moving the needle, something's not really working in your strategy.

Billy Ray Taylor (07:36):

And

Billy Ray Taylor (07:36):

So that's what I mean, the speed of currency's leadership. The second thing is standards. Standards aren't constraints or freedom. Most leaders, they don't walk in with standards, leadership standards. My mother would always say, baby, what you accept, you can't change. A standard isn't what you write down, it's what you walk by. She would say, think about it Scott, if you're curvy for your child, it's 12, right? 12:00 AM and they come in at 1:00 PM and you say nothing. What's the new curfew? 1:00 PM 1:00 AM. That's

Scott W. Luton (08:11):

Right. That's right.

Billy Ray Taylor (08:13):

Those are two of the big things. Set the standard.

Scott W. Luton (08:18):

Love that we all probably have to pick and choose our battles these days with all the stuff coming at us in this very fast business environment that's not slowing down. But Billy Ray, I love the power of one of those critical lessons learned because when we don't speak up, when we don't lean into creating that standard, that's when we invite errors. We invite brand let downs, we invite defects, we invite, the worst part probably is we invite friction into our team, which hey, we got to protect the team. It's our family who makes it all Billy Ray, your quick comment and then I'm going to ask you about what you're up to. Now before we move into the five key considerations,

Billy Ray Taylor (09:02):

I'll also go with the standard, right? People don't rise to goals, they fall to standards. And so I don't like being a bad guy, all right? I don't like confrontation, I don't avoid it. But I tell people, just let the process be the bad guy. Be hard on the process so you can lead easy on the people.

Scott W. Luton (09:21):

I like that.

Billy Ray Taylor (09:21):

If you focus on the process, you can lead easy on the people because metrics don't move people. Meanings does meaning you make me feel valued. People don't understand making tires. They realize I've got to provide safe tires so nobody gets hurt. I've got to make a living. So those are some of the things that I looked at when I was coming through. And the last thing, Scott, I'll tell you, alignment is the new intelligence. Alignment is the new intelligence. The smartest companies aren't just data rich, but they're strategically aligned. And see the clarity became the core operating rhythm. So the clarity around that. Alignment, when people know what you expect, when people know what your standards are, the best coaches, Nick Saban, the coach, Phil Jackson, the people we know, they came in with a set of standards and people are adhere to those standards and they got alignment with that. So that intelligence, that's what moves mountains. That's what changes cultures.

Scott W. Luton (10:29):

Love it. I love it. Okay man, we got a lot more good stuff to go, Billy Ray, and you've already got me ready to run through that wall back behind me. Let's do this for context. I think this is important before we get into the five things we were referencing your previous time at Goodyear, where you spent a big chunk of your career and elevated up into the senior levels of leadership. But let's talk about what you doing now because you're still keeping a full plate. Lemme see if I got this right. CEO and president of LinkedXL, which we'll talk about in a second. Chairman of the executive board with the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, AME, author of The Winning Link, which we've already shared, board member, keynote speaker, you name it. For a variety of organizations. Billy Ray, what are you doing now? Tell us more about LinkedXL.

Billy Ray Taylor (11:19):

Well, we work with competence. We architect operating systems. Well, again, we sell speed. We show people how to speed for strategy deployment, speed for alignment, speed for execution. We architect those operating systems. And so we help people change. Scott, I was at an event last week and it really hit home. This company thought I came in to change their company and I told the CEO, no, that's not going to happen. I'll give you a full refund. I says, think of changing an organization around culture. Cracking a cold. It's like an egg. When the egg is cracked from the inside, life begins a chick is warm, but when the egg is cracked from the outside, life ends, we're having that egg for breakfast. So when I look at companies when I walk in, how are you going to crack your code? How are you going to crack your egg? I can help you crack it from the inside, but if you think I'm going to be the change agent when I leave, then the egg was cracked from the outside. So we architect these operating systems and that's what LinkedXL does. And then we have this thing called the connected business model that when we leave, everything stays, it moves beyond us. It's the glue, it's that governance model, and it's changing industry,

Scott W. Luton (12:43):

Okay? It's like the connective tissue is how I've heard some folks talk about it, right? Where all aspects of an organization are communicating and communicating effectively. And going back to, I can't remember exactly how you put it, but when we're doing those things and we're leaning into common meanings and common measures and common standards, we're creating that really powerful alignment that's going to help us achieve the velocities that you're referencing. Do have that almost all right, Billy Ray.

Billy Ray Taylor (13:14):

That is right. That is right. So when people feel that level of ownership change happens, we all want to feel valued. One of my favorite things, even with my kids in the absence of Comes blame. And if you don't have a system that lets people know what they own, the pre-show today, Josh knew what he owned. You didn't have to tell him he felt empowered. And that's what change happens. If Josh is waiting on you to tell him, Scott, it's never going to happen.

Scott W. Luton (13:46):

He wouldn't be happy, I wouldn't be happy. And by the way, big tip of hat to Joshua on our production team here does great work. And that's a great call out, Billy Ray, it's a great call out. And it kind of reminds me once more of what you said earlier,

Billy Ray Taylor (14:00):

Earlier,

Scott W. Luton (14:02):

Let the process be that if you've got to have a boogey man in the operation, let it be the process, right?

Billy Ray Taylor (14:09):

Absolutely. And then that process rise, ownership, going back to mom, one of the things I'll never forget, she told me when I ask for help, she says, if I fight your fights, I'll steal your victories. If I fight your battles, some of the things you have to go through and I'm here to support you, that's great leadership. That's change. Create that standard and that process and let them go out and fight the fight, they'll come back empowered, engaged, right? Because you have kids if you protect them, right? The old saying, if I give you a fish versus if I teach you how to fish, that's painful.

Scott W. Luton (14:47):

Yeah, they're coming back to me too often. They get these three mullets here at Billy Ray. We got to teach 'em how to catch their own. Probably not mullets, but let's see, brim, shell, cracker, you name it. That's right. Blue Marlin, maybe.

Billy Ray Taylor (15:00):

That's

Scott W. Luton (15:00):

Right. Alright, well Billy Ray, I love it. And better yet, I bet some folks hear your stories and hear your anecdotes, that's terrific. But you've lived it. And that's where I think you can really relate to where so many of the folks out there watching or listening to our conversation, you can relate to where they are. And that's really what's going to power this next segment because these are going to be very actionable. Five key tips and considerations for fueling organizational success really no matter the size of your team here in 2025, especially if you're in manufacturing or supply chain. So Billy Ray, the first one is going to probably be a common theme maybe across all five, but it's also one of the five in and of itself. So tell us why Strategy isn't the problem, but execution is, tell us more.

Billy Ray Taylor (15:53):

Well again, the truth is most companies, they don't fail because of bad ideas. They fail because they can't translate good strategy into consistent execution. They don't lack plans, lack follow through. I have friends that have businesses, small businesses, and they come to me and one of my recent friends had the best barbecue in Texas

Billy Ray Taylor (16:16):

And

Billy Ray Taylor (16:17):

He came to me and he had this idea and within six months he was out of business and he came back and we did a debrief and I was coaching him and he kept being concerned with working in his business instead of working on his business. Now let me break that down. His strategy, his vision, Scott, he knew how to make barbecue, but he fell in love with what he did and what he sold his products not making others fall in love with it.

(16:46):

And so people will pay for that value then. So everybody has a strategy there. They have beautiful PowerPoint, detailed Excel sheets, maybe even these big mission statements. But the gap is how do you connect it to the people that are going to execute it? And then you have to separate and who's working in the business? Scott, if you're not out there selling and if you're not out there growing Supply Chain Now, and if you stay behind that mic every day, you're not going to be in business long because you're working in the business. And so that's, most companies, people manage two levels lower than they should be and they're trying to do everybody's job, then you can't execute. So this strategy may be unflawed, but your execution plan, that's the problem. That's the problem I see in most companies.

Scott W. Luton (17:46):

You had me when you said barbecue, Billy Ray, you had when you said barbecue, and I got to meet that friend that had some of the best barbecue in all of Texas. But you're right, I've been there. I bet some days I still try to do everything. But the problem is one of the many problems there that you're kind of pointing out is I don't have any more time in the day than anyone else. And that is a constraint that AI is trying to create time for us. And a, it's making progress. But I think your greater point you're making is what would you say we got to create other folks that fall in love with executing execut on the art of the possible execut,

Billy Ray Taylor (18:29):

No other role because the bottom line's got strategy sets a direction

Scott W. Luton (18:34):

Execution

Billy Ray Taylor (18:34):

Gets you there.

Scott W. Luton (18:36):

Okay?

Billy Ray Taylor (18:37):

Right? So that's a key

Scott W. Luton (18:39):

Point. Alright, so that was just the first of these five key considerations for finding more success here in 2025 and really beyond because these five things are also, they've got a long shelf life. They're almost timeless truth. So that was the first one. The second one, we're going to get back to what you said earlier, speed of execution, the new competitive advantage. And I think we've got a visual here I'm going to pull up. So tell us more about this one, Billy Ray,

Billy Ray Taylor (19:06):

Right? It goes back to, so when you think of the speed of execution in today's market, speed isn't optional, it's just a differentiator and it's kind of connected. As you look at those five things, when you look at the first one, I thought about it, well, traditional businesses, you spend 40% of your time on daily operations. That's reading your emails. The other thing you have to do 60% firefighting, right? You're fixing everything. And at the end of the day, like you said, Scott, all you have is time. The time of the day is gone. When you have a connected system, any type of connected business model, you still have to do firefighting. You still have to do daily operations when you're talking about ai. But what's that 60% that gives you time to think about your business, growing your business. And so what I mean by that, the companies winning today aren't necessarily as smartest or the biggest. They're the ones that can turn insight into action faster than anyone else.

(20:03):

While competitors are still debating in the boardrooms, effective teams are already implementing, adjusting and delivering. Slow is broken. If you think I can take my time, then you're not going to get that. The companies I work with today, and I reinforce this all the time, we're going to talk about three things. Decision speed, alignment, speed, delivery speed, decision speed, get the right info to the right people as fast as you can. Alignment speed. Everyone has the move and sink from the top to the shop floor. Basically they need to know what their role is. They've got the data, right? Imagine going bowling and there's a curtain in front of you and you don't see how many pins you knocked down.

Scott W. Luton (20:56):

That would not be good.

Billy Ray Taylor (20:58):

What's the next, right? You don't know what to do next.

Scott W. Luton (21:00):

That's right.

Billy Ray Taylor (21:01):

And so when I say alignment, speed, you have to have that there in delivery speed. How do you turn plans into results without delay, confusion or bottlenecks? So the delivery speed is, I want it when I want it. Amazon. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.

Billy Ray Taylor (21:20):

I

Billy Ray Taylor (21:21):

Need a black shirt. I'm going to an event Saturday. My wife says, you're going to the mall. You know what my daughter says no, I can order it on Amazon right now. I have it tomorrow. That's the new expectation, right? And you see so many malls closing down, but I would say this speed used to be a luxury. Now it's the edge that separates the leaders from the laggers. It's not a luxury anymore. You have to find a way to get better. AI has helped me tremendously with that, but speed is now the differentiator and figure out how to get there faster resources

Scott W. Luton (22:09):

As you're sharing this, especially those three speeds, it reminds me of the double-edged sword that is the modern business environment because we hear a lot about small taking on big and mighty in really powerful new ways and that's the great thing. But what comes with that is one of the things you're pointing out, it's great to be in an environment where no matter how small you are, you can challenge the industry tightens of the world, but you almost have to because it's not like it's 1985. You can sit back and have your business move along at 35 miles an hour,

Billy Ray Taylor (22:48):

Right?

Scott W. Luton (22:49):

Customers won't put up with that, right? They won't. They'll leave you. Your competitors love to see that because they're trying to find ways of moving at 300 miles an hour,

Billy Ray Taylor (22:57):

Right? Yes. You know what? Customer loyalty now comes with convenience. Customer loyalty is tied to speed, it's tied to quality. So they're not compromising on what they expect, they want what they got faster. And we're the same way. We want a board faster when we get on a plane, we now want to move at speeds. Everything's fast.

Scott W. Luton (23:22):

That's right. No one likes to wait. No one likes to wait these days. No one. So the second one, I think we have really beat that dead horse around the speed of execution, how critical that is the new competitive advantage. I appreciate your thoughts there. We're going to move to this third one and we've got another graphic here. And here we're talking about the role of clarity, the potent role of clarity and ownership in driving performance. So Billy Ray, tell us more here.

Billy Ray Taylor (23:50):

So what I'll start with first, you can't manage a secret. You can't. And often businesses are flooded with secrets. So basically what I would say with that, you can't expect what you haven't made clear. Too many organizations are working in fog. People don't know their roles. And so if you can put the slide back up for me, I want to go over something. This is what I do, Scott. When I walk with companies, I say, here's a simple formula for winning strategy plus execution equals results. If it's that easy, why do so many companies fail? Why do so many teams fail? It's the plus strategy. Plus who owns what in the strategy? When you break that plus down, when you build your strategy, make sure you connect who owns what. And I have a saying, right? When two people owns the dog, the dog dies. Why Scott, I thought you fed the dog. No, I thought you fed the dog. No, I thought you fed the dog.

Scott W. Luton (24:54):

It sounds like my household, Billy Ray, it sounds like my household,

Billy Ray Taylor (24:58):

The dog never eats because I thought you fed. We never made it clear who owned feeding the dog. And so when you're talking about the clarity of ownership, when people can answer these four fundamental questions without guessing, you unlock performance. And when I say that, when I walk in the organization, I want to know what's my role.

(25:20):

Question one. Question two, what am I responsible for? Three, how is success measured? Define winning. And the last one is, how does my work impact the business? So if I can answer those four questions are usually end up landing right here. Clarity creates ownership and ownership creates momentum. But the bottom line is accountability thrives where clarity lives. When it's clear to me where I am and I feel that value proposition, I thrive, I thrive. You know what? We are wired to win. Scott, when you go to a football game, basketball game, tennis match, what's the first thing you do? You sit down and you look for what? The scoreboard.

Scott W. Luton (26:10):

That's right.

Billy Ray Taylor (26:11):

We're wired to win. So how do you know if your kids did good in school? They get what's called a report card.

(26:17):

And so we are wired that way since we were kids. But it's around clarity. And so that's how you unlock this human potential. But often those four questions I just put in front of everyone, they are secrets. When I hire someone, I look at three things and people think it starts with capability, it doesn't. It starts with character and then chemistry and then capability. Because I want to know what type of person are you? What type of character? Because you can tear the whole organization apart. The second one is can you work with these people? Can you blend in with our team and now I'm going to get to your capability. Can you add value? Most people go right to the capability, they go right to that, oh, they got degree from Harvard. And often they get in and that degree is what they lead with, not their character. So role clarity is key.

Scott W. Luton (27:23):

I like it. I like it. But just to be clear, there's no chemistry exams to join your team because as Ms. Beckham in 10th grade can attest, I am no chemistry pro, I struggle with chemistry. None of those formulas made sense. Billy Ray, oh man. But kidding aside, character chemistry and then capability. I love that. And back to the main point, we always talk about uncertainty, right? We've been talking about that for years. There's been different flavors of it, but it's the opposite of that. It's the beautiful powerful simplicity. Not that's easy to get, but the simple power of clarity. It's been around for years, it's going to be around for years, but we keep missing it as business leaders, right? Alright, so that's the third one. This next one we're going to be talking about as we work our way through this list leadership presence here in the digital era. So Billy Ray, tell us what you're thinking about there.

Billy Ray Taylor (28:27):

So when we're talking about your executive presence, again, I'll go back to something my kid told me when he was playing basketball on this last day of practice. He called me, we was crying, and he says, dad, I'm reflecting on what made the most impact on me. And I think you've missed a point when you think of your presence, you bought me. He said, but it was your presence you gave me. And he said, I'll never remember the thousands of basketball games you came to. Well, I'll never forget the two you missed because I always wanted you there. And so basically what I mean, leadership presence in the digital age with AI and all of these tools, people are living behind these computer screens. And so leaders are flooded with these dashboards data. But here's the truth, you can't leave behind a spreadsheet. And so leadership presence still matters. It's just evolved. So the old model is walking the floor today, it's about showing up with intentional visibility in person and on the screen. So basically you have to have these models that will enable you to be seen and to be heard. It is not about managing, it's about staying connected to the work and the people doing the work.

(29:45):

I recently spoke to a group of kids and it was interesting. And I said, there is one thing, my mom, she's been my greatest coach, but she shared something to me that I thought was a little misleading as I got older. She says, Billy Ray, it's not what you know, it's who. And she'd always tell me that. And as I got older, I was talking to some kids recently and I said, listen, I know a lot of people. I know LeBron, I know Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, I know a lot of people. I know Donald Trump, I know George Bush, I know Bill Clinton. I know a lot of people, but I've got one problem. They don't know me. So when I look at leadership, do people know you? Do they know your standards? Do you know them? The greatest gift you can give when you check into a hotel, when you next time, look at their name plate and say, hi, Susie. Hi Jim. Hey, thanks Susie. And watch their expression. Watch how they respond to you. And often I tip ahead of time so I don't wait until after my meal. I know what I'm going to get and I get in that area and I tip ahead of time.

(31:06):

Recently when we were on our vacation, the woman is coming in and the housekeeping and I tip right there and she gives me this look. And I think I had extra tiles, extra soap, I had extra. And all I did was show that value. So that leadership presence, see in this digital age, we start to get comfortable disappearing. We've got all this data in our hand, we think that's it. And so it's so you have to identify where the conversations are needed and then you have to show up better with better questions, not just more pressure. And I'm going to keep going back to reinforce standards without being physically present every hour. You don't need to be fit, but people need to know. And so in the bottom line, Scott, when you talk about leadership presence, leadership presence is no longer about proximity. It's about purpose.

(32:08):

It's about purpose. How do you show up? Lean in? How do you drive impact without being everywhere at once? Part of the thing in my business, when I first started struggling, everybody wanted a piece of Billy, we want Billy to do the keynote. We want Billy to be here to workshop. We want Billy to do here. And Billy can't be everywhere and stay married. And so we've created these systems where you still get some part of Billy, but others own their part and they feel empowered. My team will tell you this, I don't work for Billy. Billy works for me. It's Billy's job to eliminate the barriers and constraints that prevent me from doing my job. Billy's role, that's that leadership presence. I use AI probably better than most people. That's in my demographic, my age group. I study it, but I've never resisted that human element element. The Billy Taylor rule, you get within two feet of me, I say hello, I don't care who you are and where I'm at. And so that changes things. People buy in.

(33:18):

People want to run through walls. And so that's important when you're talking about change, just because you have this big title, this big position doesn't make you great. The best advice, the CEO EO gave me once, and I don't want to go into the situation, but he brought up a subject and I almost slid down in my chair and he saw it. He had the most intelligence to see it. He came to me, Scott, with his leadership presence, and he says, Billy, don't confuse naive with being dumb. He says, you didn't know I saw the look on your face because you're naive. No one's ever showed you, no one's ever taught you. He says, listen, you're in this room because what you know have to live what they know I can teach. He says, so you're the leader of this whole process. I'll never forget that that presence he made make people visible and they'll make you valuable.

Scott W. Luton (34:16):

Love that.

(34:18):

I love that man. Alright, so folks, again, and this is truly a genuine plug if you like the anecdotes. See, that's my favorite part. I love Billy Ray Taylor, but I really love his anecdotes because they come from real life that so many of us everyone can really relate to. So you have to check out The Winning Link. I'm telling you it's good stuff, okay? Leadership presence, how it's not the digital era has not ended the immense power and value of the leadership presence. How did Mark Twain put it? The death of leadership presence is greatly exaggerated. Is that a bad rip off of a Mark Twain quote? But anyway, so number five, staying with the executive gemba theme, but also working in what y'all have been helping lots of organizations with Billy Ray, a connected operating system in particular, I think y'all call it the connected business model. Is that right

Billy Ray Taylor (35:18):

Scott? The future of work isn't coming right? It's already here. And the new reality is fragmented tools, systems, they no longer drive performance. This workforce called the new collar workforce. In today's environment, a connected system is one that unites people process and purpose. And so when we look at, we build these models now. We work with companies, we look for the engine that ties the strategy to the people, the goals, the performance, the governance and a single platform. And so we walk into companies, we walk in and we build this platform that says, here's the strategy, and to the left is the heat mark with everyone that reports to you in that organization. Now, if I click on any one of their pictures, everyone has a strategy. I also have now performance. I can track any performance and the trends. But when I have my weekly meetings, it's one system that captures all those items. If you want to upload a file or a video, it's all in that action register. But what's interesting is you click that action register, it'll go back to the trend chart to tell you if it's working or not. But every meeting you have, AI now controls it, it updates all this, puts it on your calendar. It's a connected systems. And what we say by that, now we see that's the speed of execution because everyone's now acting like a CEO. We call it five clicks to reality.

Scott W. Luton (36:53):

Okay?

Billy Ray Taylor (36:53):

You can get there in five seconds. We actually pilot this with high school students. They came back and they could tell you what was wrong with the company. They couldn't fix it, but the system told them where to focus. And so what it is is elevating your workforce. And so think of it as like an ERP of execution. It's that process we use. And what we do is it's the missing layer between what leaders envision and what the teams actually do. So how do you connect those people? So synchronize it. And so what we're seeing now is what's your connected business model? What's your touch points? We call them doors, wars, and mores. Do you have a daily operating review? That's when you get lower in your organization. Do you have a weekly operating review that's functional HR sales? Do you have that monthly? If you're only having monthly, it's too late. That's an after action review. It's got a staggering. 85% of companies and leaders spend less than one hour a month on strategy. Wow, 85%. That's a study done by

Scott W. Luton (38:06):

Harvard. That isn't surprising to me. Maybe it's surprising it's not in the 90 percentile because do you find Billy Ray that sitting down and really leaning into whatever side of the brain that drives critical thinking and strategic thinking is tough. It's so much tougher than the doing. But I think one of the things that I think I'm picking up is by using a connected business model, like y'all have been working with organizations zone, it makes strategy easier, especially when you can see what's working as part of the overall strategy and what isn't. Absolutely. That's one of the beautiful simplicities that I'm picking up from you. Is that right? Billy Ray?

Billy Ray Taylor (38:55):

Yeah. And basically you nailed it and it allows leaders to let go without letting loose. And so you can see it, it's there. You become this executive coach that support, and what we say is psychological safety. Celebrate the red so you can harvest the green.

Scott W. Luton (39:13):

I like it.

Billy Ray Taylor (39:14):

Celebrate the fact. And so what we do, Scott, we go in and normally we tell companies, we don't want you to have any type of buyer's remorse. If anyone reached out and we'll give you three months, we'll let you play with it. We'll just give it to you because that's not the core of what a connected business model is. It goes back to some of the key points we talked about. How do you align, how do you execute with speed? And then when you see that, those are the KPIs.

(39:48):

The KPIs is you'll be profitable, you'll get great customer service. And so that's when we say change starts to happen, which is new call workforce. One of the things, I recently talked to a team that lost most of their leadership. They didn't have a hiring problem, they had a retention problem, people didn't feel connected. Those days are gone. Whereas I remember my great grandparents, they worked so they could live, then my kids come along, I worked, I wanted to pay bills. I wanted a better life. My kids want work and live. They don't want to just go to work and they want to go to work and then go to lunch and work out. Then they want to go back to work, then they want to come home and go to another event. And so if they're working and living, that's the new workforce. So you have to create this type of autonomy where you can get them connected, where they know what they own and then they'll thrive.

Scott W. Luton (40:52):

Yeah, I like that Billy Ray. It's not if work changes and the future work evolves, it's just how it does it. And if we don't stay in tune with this in terms of how we manage, how we lead, how we hire, how we develop, how we retain to your earlier point and a whole bunch more, how we improve and grow. We are going to be the ones lost in the Dustin of history as some Smart Feet people talked about earlier. Alright, so Billy Ray Taylor, I got $1 billion question, right? If folks want to connect with you about the book, maybe we got some aspiring authors out there that want to compare notes and figure out how a bestseller is written. If they want to connect with you about a ME and a really cool programming, great in-person events that y'all do at the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, or if they want to lean into the connected business model and the cool things LinkedXL is doing, how can folks connect with you? Billy Ray Taylor?

Billy Ray Taylor (41:54):

Well, you can look them up on LinkedIn. I'm there. I respond to all of my own personal emails on LinkedIn. My email address, you can email me at billytaylor@linkedxl.com. You go to the website www.linkedxl.com, but LinkedIn, and you get back with me. I always respond to all of my emails or LinkedIn posts within 24 hours. Really?

Scott W. Luton (42:24):

It's not Billy Ray ai, it's the Billy Ray Taylor, you

Billy Ray Taylor (42:29):

Billy Ray Taylor. It's me, Billy. That's

Scott W. Luton (42:32):

Part of my No Billy Ray bots.

Billy Ray Taylor (42:34):

Yeah, no Billy Ray bots at the end of every day. That's how I close my evening down. Love it. That's part of my standard work. That's what I

Scott W. Luton (42:42):

Do, folks. Look, I know this may be a little bit different than a lot of our shows here, but the cool thing, I've known Billy Ray Taylor for a long time, and it's been really cool to see this latest offering from him and his team. And I'm telling you, he's walked in so many of y'all's shoes out there. He knows what you at Leaders, what front lines, what professionals are challenged with, especially the manufacturing and supply chain, the greater supply chain space. So I encourage you, take him up, challenge him on this, see if he responds to your LinkedIn messages, right? But you'll love to add him to your network and follow up on the messages, leadership focused messages and work he does out there. So Billy Ray Taylor, a pleasure to have you here today with us.

Billy Ray Taylor (43:29):

Oh, Scott, it's always an honor to converse with you and connect with the audience. This a second home for me, and so I'm grateful for it and I appreciate it.

Scott W. Luton (43:40):

Well, I love that Billy Ray Taylor, we're going to keep the light on for you as whatever hotel jingle that went back in the day. But Billy Ray Taylor, CEO, and President with LinkedXL, of course, one of our very special and talented hosts here at Supply Chain Now. But here, folks, you got homework, right? All of our wonderful audience, incredibly brilliant audience members out there that we get the great fortune to hearing from regularly. You've got some homework, you got to take one thing. Billy Ray, as we promised, he backed up the truck and dumped a ton of actionable insights with you here on all of us here today. Take one, share it with a friend and share it with your team. Act on it. Put it to work because all about deeds, not words. So with all that said, Scott Luton here challenging all of our listeners across the supply chain, our ecosystem. Do good, give forward, be the change that's needed, and we'll see next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Voiceover (44:38):

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