David Marshall

  • Kris Kumnock: Win Hearts With Iconic Events

    • December 12, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership
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    Kris Kumnock, a great organizer of iconic events.

    I recently had a chance to ask some of my old friends and reps to contribute a guest article to my blog. “What do you want us to write about?” they asked. “How about something you’ve learned in our years working together?” I said. I’ve been in the “iconic event” business for several years, helping

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  • Managers, not HR, Should Spend Time Doing Talent Recruiting

    • November 28, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Management
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    A young man on a job interview with a mature woman. It's the hiring managers who should focus on talent recruiting, not HR.

    When it comes to finding new talent, the onus shouldn’t be on Human Resources to do all the work. HR can find potential talent by ticking off all the boxes, but it’s ultimately the manager who should be responsible for testing the individual skill sets and determining whether they would be a cultural and talent

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  • Innovation: Make Something When You Don’t Have the Equipment

    • November 21, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Innovation, Manufacturing
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    On the ruta 13, near Sena, Pando, Bolivia. In places like this, you have to rely on innovation more than equipment.

    Sometimes I think we’re spoiled in this country (and I include myself in that sweeping generalization). For many companies, the solution to a problem is to throw money at it. Years ago, we had a plant that was faced with frequent absenteeism and drug test failures, a plant that created a lot of excess pollution

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  • How We Helped the Oil & Gas Industry Save Millions

    • November 14, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Innovation, Productivity
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    A "nodding donkey" oil field pump.

    When it comes to innovation, some companies look for problems to fix and then fix them. That doesn’t mean they create the problems. Rather, they look for a problem or a pain point that people might have and then figure out a way to solve it. Then they market that solution and hope the people

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  • The Time There Was Nearly a Knife Fight on My Factory Floor

    • November 7, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management, Safety
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    Safety signs from a steel factory.

    You run into all kinds of problems when you’re managing a factory and running a business. I’ve had to fire people for sleeping on the job. I locked my own son out of a meeting for being late. And I once had to talk a naked guy down out of the rafters. So it shouldn’t

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  • Leaders Shouldn’t Have to Motivate Others

    • October 31, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
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    A woman lying face down on a pile of mail. It's nearly impossible to motivate others, and that shouldn't be our goal as leaders.

    I recently read an article on LinkedIn about how leaders shouldn’t have to motivate others, and I had a bit of an “amen!” response. To me, motivating someone means applying some kind of pressure to get someone to do something they might not otherwise do. As author Maurice Evans said: Motivation has to do with

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  • Top Skills I Looked for In My New Hires: How Important is an Executive Résumé?

    • October 24, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
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    A woman standing at a lectern giving a speech. Good communication skills don't always show up on an executive resume, you have to suss them out.

    When I was hiring executives, I wasn’t always concerned with the issues that the human resources department thought was most important. For example, I often didn’t care whether someone had a degree in their field unless it was absolutely required. I’ve met some PhDs who were absolute idiots, and I’ve met people with nothing more

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  • How I Handled Interpersonal Conflict Between Employees

    • October 17, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
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    Photo of two mockingbirds arguing. This is a good analogy for interpersonal conflict in the workplace.

    It’s inevitable that you’re just not going to like someone at work. They’ll rub you the wrong way, get under your skin, and generally irritate you with everything they say and do. Don’t worry, they feel the same way about you too. But even if this is the case, I never wanted — or allowed

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  • The Secret to Managing Discipline in a Large Business Setting

    • October 10, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Manufacturing, Measurement, Productivity
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    Highway management sign: The key to managing discipline in a large business setting is by establishing objective measurements, and letting associates manage their own performance.

    Managing discipline in a large company starts with the hiring process. I’ve always believed in hiring slow and firing fast. But I also had a rule that nobody could be fired without my permission. What that meant was any issue that looked like it could end in termination would elevate to me so a manager

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  • How Much Influence Should Employers Have In Employees’ Personal Lives?

    • September 26, 2018
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Management
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    DDD

    There are all kinds of stories about social media misbehavior. In the early days of social media, there were plenty of stories about people who would complain about their jobs or their supervisors on Facebook and Twitter only to be fired once the company found out about it. Even today, there are stories of people

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