Management
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Sustaining Momentum: It Isn’t Something Someone Gives You
- July 2, 2026
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
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People ask me how I’ve managed to sustain momentum as a leader over the years. How do I keep going, and how do I keep fresh on all the new developments and changes in leadership? They assume there’s some leadership trick or motivational technique that keeps me going when things aren’t working. There isn’t. It’s
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I Cut Workers’ Compensation Costs by Fixing the System
- May 13, 2026
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Management, Manufacturing
When I first looked at what we were spending on workers’ compensation, I knew something wasn’t right. For one thing, the costs were ridiculous. Not because we had an unsafe workplace or people were getting seriously injured every day. It was because the workers’ comp system itself encouraged abuse. People would file claims for injuries
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The Leadership Blind Spots That Hold Back Manufacturing Transformation
- April 30, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Digital Transformation, Innovation, Management
After a few decades in the manufacturing industry, I’ve seen every kind of manufacturing transformation initiative imaginable. Some succeed spectacularly, and they deliver game-changing efficiency and growth. Others plant themselves on their faces, getting bogged down by delays, wasted investment, or resistance on the shop floor. What separates the winners from the failures? It’s rarely
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The Rise of Resilient Supply Chains: What Every Manufacturer Must Prepare For
- April 23, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing
I’ve been in manufacturing leadership for a long time, and I’ve seen some amazing technological advances. Gains in efficiency, gains in productivity, an increase in safety and sustainability — they all came from tightly-tuned (tightly-wound?) supply chains. For decades, the goal has been to adopt the Japanese method of “lean manufacturing” and reduce redundancy, minimize
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Developing Executive Presence: What Sets Great Leaders Apart
- March 26, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
Great leaders are great communicators. They don’t just spew all the leadership bon mots that they memorized from the leadership course they went on last week, and they had better not get their inspiration from those damn posters! Instead, you need something of a personality, and you need to be really, truly interested in the
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Manage Upward: How to Influence Those Above You in the Org Chart
- March 19, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
A lot of leadership blogs all talk about the same thing: How do you motivate your staff? How do you get them to buy into your vision? How do you make them do what you want them to do? But how do you influence those people who are above you in the organizational chart? How
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How to Identify and Nurture Future Leaders Within Your Organization?
- March 12, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Leadership, Management
Some of the best leaders for your company are the ones who started as fresh-faced newbies a few years ago and had trouble navigating their way around the office. Now, they’re one of the people that everyone turns to when they need help with a project or advice on something bothering them. They’re the team
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How to Avoid Micromanaging Your Employees
- March 5, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management
Micromanagers are some of the worst managers there are. They get bogged down in the details that, if we’re being honest, should no longer concern them. Managers should be executing visions and motivating employees, not on the front line, producing and counting widgets, or performing the functions of the people who work under them. A
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The Biggest Professional Mistake I Ever Made
- February 12, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management
We’ve all made big mistakes during our careers. Not just the little “oops” moments like a late report or missed deadline, but the big mistake that you’re sure is going to derail your career and see you switch to becoming an insurance claims adjuster. While I never switched my career, I did end up switching
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The Angriest a Customer Has Ever Been at Me
- February 5, 2025
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management, Manufacturing
You can’t go through your business life without a customer getting angry at you. The thing that defines you is how you deal with that problem. Do you fix it, ignore it, or twist it around so it’s the customer’s fault and you can wash your hands of the entire problem? I remember an incident