David Marshall
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The Importance of Having a Mentor, No Matter Your Role
- December 27, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management
No CommentsWhen you were coming up in your career, you no doubt had mentors, people who would help you in your job and prepare you for the next step in your career. These were people who were undoubtedly older, wiser, more experienced, and very knowledgeable. But does that stop once you reach the C-suite? Once you’ve
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The Importance of Being a Mentor
- December 20, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Measurement
Recently, I talked about the importance of coaching employees to help them become better. The other side of that same coin is the idea of mentoring. Mentoring is when you influence and guide someone who is less experienced and often younger than you are. In a professional setting, a mentor is someone who influences the
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How Do You Coach a Reluctant Employee?
- December 13, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership, Management
The problem with nearly every leadership and management book and philosophy is that they make one dangerous assumption: that your employees are willing and eager to be a part of your vision. They teach you how to communicate, how to lead, how to describe your vision, and how to get people to follow you in
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Truth is a Down Payment on Loyalty
- December 6, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Leadership
Scott Monty, a noted speaker and writer on leadership, recently wrote about loyalty in a blog post, “Why Does Truth Matter, Anyway?” Truth begets loyalty from your customers, from your employees, from your investors—from anyone you build a relationship with. It’s a long game, though. Relationships always are. But loyalty doesn’t come from transactions; loyalty
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Use Inside and Outside Experts for a Major Undertaking
- September 13, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Leadership
Manufacturing CEOs and COOs often deal with company-wide changes and projects that can affect how the entire business operates. One question we often dealt with at Robroy was whether to enlist the services of external experts during these challenges. The decision to bring in outside expertise can be a game-changer. There were times, like when
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Adopt a change management strategy when going through a major undertaking
- September 6, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Leadership
Years ago, when I worked at Robroy, our company never had a proper warehouse management system — software that tracked our inventory and helped us know what we needed to order and what we had too much of. Our raw materials and our products would just sit on the floor and oftentimes got damaged. Not
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5 New Technologies that are Revolutionizing Digital Manufacturing
- August 30, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation
The digital revolution has created some amazing innovations, like self-driving cars and smartphones that are basically computers you can call people on. The digital revolution is also spilling over into the manufacturing world and giving it some serious upgrades. If you’re still operating an old-school factory — and there are many factories still firmly entrenched
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How Can Leaders Prepare for Changes in Modern Manufacturing?
- August 23, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Manufacturing
The modern manufacturing industry is undergoing seismic shifts, especially in the last decade. But adapting to these shifts isn’t optional — it’s critical if you’re going to survive and succeed. So how do you navigate these changes without losing your way? How can a modern leader adapt to the changes in modern manufacturing? Do you
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What’s the Impact of Digital Manufacturing on Supply Chain Management?
- August 16, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation
Digital manufacturing has had a major impact on supply chain management, thanks to the growth and improvements in additive manufacturing and 3D printing. For example, more and more companies are turning to metal 3D printing in the automotive, oil and gas, biomedical, and defense manufacturing industries. We’re also seeing an increase in the number of
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Building a Sustainable Workforce: Strategies for Retaining Talent in Digital Manufacturing
- August 9, 2023
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Manufacturing
When you’re recruiting in the digital manufacturing era, some of the strategies are the same as they were 50, 40, or even 30 years ago when manufacturing was a semi-skilled profession. It was easier to find people, but now, because digital manufacturing is a highly skilled position, the demand for workers is very high. There’s