December 23, 2025 • 39 mins
This conversation cuts through the myths and shows you what’s really happening in U.S. manufacturing today — the opportunities, the urgency, and the cultural shift we need if we want the next generation to thrive.
Beyond Confidence is broadcast live Tuesdays at 10AM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Beyond Confidence TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Beyond Confidence Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beyond-confidence--1885197/support.
Beyond Confidence is broadcast live Tuesdays at 10AM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Beyond Confidence TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Beyond Confidence Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beyond-confidence--1885197/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsement for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:22):
W four WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
This is Beyond Confidence with your host d W. Park.
Do you want to live a more fulfilling life? Do
you want to live your legacy and achieve your personal, professional,
and financial goals? Well? Coming up on zvoparks Beyond Confidence,
you will hear real stories of leaders, entrepreneurs, and achievers
who have steps into discomfort, shattered their satus quo, and
are living the life they want. You will learn how
(00:48):
relationships are the key to achieving your aspirations and financial goals.
Moving your career business forward does not have to happen
at the expense of your personal or family life or
vice versa. Learn more at www dot givpork dot com
and you can connect with tv ants contact Dants givpark
dot com. This is beyond confidence and now here's your host,
(01:09):
div Park.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Good morning, it's Tuesday, and of course it's a wonderful
morning because I get to be with you. So there
has been a question in the past recent years because
a lot of recent college graduates are not getting a job.
So is there another route? What other options are there
(01:33):
for our youth and how can they have different careers?
And that's exactly what we will be talking about today.
Welcome Terry.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
W Thanks for having me. I'm honored to be on.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yes, it's no fantastic to have you on the show.
So usually we start out with a moment in your
early childhood or in your early youth. Do you recall
a moment or a person that left a post and
mark on you.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Oh boy, besides family members, because my dad and my
mom and of course my uncles were very influential. I
grew up as a single child of a single parent.
But I think playing ball, a lot of my coaches
were mentors to me, and some of my teachers in
high school were mentors to me. So there's numerous ones,
(02:26):
but Frank Anderson was an ap calculus and physics teacher.
He was a mentor to me and Dave Kenson and
Jim Kane, two of my coaches in high school.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And what is one of the things that you learn
from them and are still caring?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Well, I learned how a lot of character based things
that came from my family and my mentors.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
And the character prevails all and.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
It to how you act and how you conduct yourself
actually supersedes the talents that you have, however great they are,
because as you walk out the door, your talents will
be forgotten about, but your character will be remembered.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Very true. So as we talk about character, and what
would you say are some of the important values that
you still hold true today?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Well, first and foremost the two character components I think
that I've always been raising our children and even our
grandchildren is honesty, is an integrity are the top two
facets of any persona I think. But hard work and
diligence and perseverance are also a tertiary or secondary character.
(03:54):
But honesty integrity are my top two.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, No, definitely. And when we talk about hard work
and diligence, So there are a lot of youngsters right
now who have put in a lot of hard work,
a lot of diligence, and their college work. You know,
they're graduating, and sometimes they're putting in hard work even
in the jobs. And there have been a lot of layoffs,
(04:19):
and the career is no longer a certainty in American
culture like there used to be. Okay, you know, I'm
talking about several decades back. You go in, you join
a company, you walk out, you have a pension, and
your life is set. But now it is either the
careers get outdated, or companies layoff people, or that career
(04:43):
is gone. So amidst all of these, tell us you
champion manufacturing. So tell us your journey and also a
little bit about that.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Well, I was very fortunate in that this year we're
celebrating a one hundred year legacy in manufacturing, and I'm
at the end of my forty fifth year of being
in the manufacturing sector. But I think what's happening is
over the years, and I think our educational system has
the cost have risen so tremendously that they've outpaced the
(05:18):
salaries that they offer.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
In the general career set.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
But generally speaking, manufacturing has got a huge void because
our culture has somehow can come up with this perception
that manufacturing's not done in the US anymore, and that
it's outdated and it's not technology technologically savvy, and all
these perceptions that are incorrect.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
And as a result, there's a I call it return
on education.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Where your cost, your time frame and cost to develop
a skill set if it matches your natural abilities and inclinations,
the time frame and of getting into a manufacturing skill
based career is so much quicker, so much less costly,
and so much more financially rewarding in comparative terms.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So let's say someone you know, a youngster in high
school there deciding whether to go to college or whether
to go into like manufacturing as you're talking about, and
you still want a bright future, they don't want to
be capped at a certain level of compensation. So how
can they go about and what are any resources that
(06:35):
you can recommend?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Well, first of all, Diva, there's there's not a lot
of awareness of manufacturing careers, So that's first. So a
lot of times with young people, they're not even aware
of what they might be able to pursue. They know
that mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and most
of the family and friends are telling them, you know,
(06:57):
go down the four to five year college path. And
some of them want to go into student debt just
because they have to, which I say, don't do.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
But if we can just make.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Them aware of the manufacturing sector and how it's been
neglected in terms of a talent pool for so long,
and you know, chain do their research. Do internships during
high school. A lot of people are young people are
making the transition from internships in a manufacturing company into
(07:30):
having them pay for their education and their upskilling as
they grow within the company. But I think you have
to as a young person, you know, we go back
to those character based items, you know, integrity and honesty.
I tell young people, you know, arrive early, leave late,
and tell the truth and you'll be successful in no
(07:51):
matter what you do. And so if they just knew
about manufacturing, do their research, get into an internship.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Whether you have the money or not, even if you
have the money, give it a look and I think
you'll be surprised. And then when you get into supply
and demand, just the basic concept. There's a huge demand
in manufacturing and a short supply, which is now raised
in the bar, not only in the skill set you need,
but what they'll pay you as a result.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And what are some of the industrial sectors that they
can look for.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
You know, manufacturing is so broad based, and not only
is it broad based, but also there's more conventional career
sets that they also need. They need accountants, they need
legal representation, they need salespeople, they need HR executives and
thus dusty So I think, you know, aerospace is big in.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
This country, Defense is big in this country. General.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Manufacturing. Entrepreneurship is a huge element in manufacturing. The young
people probably have no idea that people young people go
into manufacturing and then next thing, you know, they either
develop their own product and make it, or you know,
start their own company and then start their own manufacturing subcontract,
machine shop or what have you. There's food manufacturing, there's
(09:20):
pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
I mean it goes. You know, chip manufacturing is making.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Not a comeback, but they're starting to realize the importance
of making chips in this country.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Microchips.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
So there's so many and it's such a broad definition,
and there's so many other career sets that are embedded
as well in manufacturing.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Companies.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
So what you shed is very powerful that Okay, here
you are, you're learning how to manufacture. You're learning inside out.
You know, what are the issues, what are the problems.
You're learning that pore competencies and skill sets. So of course,
now if you decide to open up your own company,
you just don't have that external knowledge. You have internal knowledge.
(10:09):
So that said, you know you were talking about the
chips and all that, So tell us more about is
there a parallel with gamers into digital CNC manufacturing. So
first of all, tell our audience what is digital CNC
manufacturing and draw the parallel.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Okay, well, in manufacturing today, there's a first of all,
a lot of automation. We have to be automated in
our processes to be competitive globally and many things. If not,
I'm not going to say everything, but a large double
digit percentage is digital based, is computerized. And so that
being said, there's also a concept called the digital twin,
(10:50):
which Siemens is a big advocate of, which means that
you can actually replicate a process in the digital world
and then understand potential failures potential improvements that can be
made in a digital.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
World before you implement it in a physical world.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
So when I wrote my second book, I didn't realize
my young I have three children, three adult children, and
my youngest child's who's no longer young.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Is a gamer.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
And I didn't realize in our world we have over
three billion gamers and that's how many did you say?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Three billion in the world.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Wow, So a large percentage of the population are gamers.
And so what I try to advocate, and I talked to.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Barbara Humpton it seemens about this is that there's a.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Connection between the prevalence for young people in gaming with
the digital world, the computerized world, the automated world of manufacturing.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
But if you don't know about it, you don't you
can't see that parallel.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Hmm yeah, no, definitely. So basically what you're saying is
that you can take a gamer skills and move into
the digital manufacturer.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yes, and it has to be I mean, there has
to be your your own interest and passion and your
own skill set intuitively has to match. But people aren't
making the decision about manufacturing because they know about it
and because they don't want it, and they've made that determination.
(12:32):
They either don't know about it or their perceptions about
manufacturing are so outdated that they kind of write it off.
And I'm here to say that, you know, there's a void,
and you know, once again supply and demand, you know,
take advantage of that, and you'll be competing with less
of a populace for a job. Instead of having thousands
(12:53):
of candidates, there may be dozens or hundreds of candidates,
and as a result, you'll stand out and if you
show pass for it, you'll definitely get a shot for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah. No, absolutely. So you have mentioned that you know
your family has a history in manufacturing. Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Well, my grandfather was the one in nineteen twenty five,
so we're one hundred years out now, and he started
with a machine tool builder in Chicago. His father, my
great grandfather, came from Norway and he passed fairly young.
So my grandfather had to go to work at a
very young age and literally, you know, figuratively and literally
(13:36):
started sweeping the floors for a machine tool builder. And
that started down our path, down the manufacturing route, and
then my two uncles and my father followed. And much
as I thought, I didn't want to work for the family,
for my father, particularly because he was his standards were
unbelievably high.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I gave it a shot. That was forty five years ago.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So tell us about your manufacturing journey.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Well, my manufacturing journey.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
You know, I was very good in physics and math,
you know, science and math, and I initially I didn't
think I was going to go that path. So I
considered photography, I considered psychology. I considered a lot of
different things. And then I realized, you know, the competitive pool,
the opportunities, and I'm like, if I'm really talented at
(14:32):
something and I have an opportunity within the family, I
would be silly and irresponsible not to at least try.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
To pursue it or consider it.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
So I started with my uncle at a machine shop
in Milwaukee, initially as a teenager I think I was nineteen,
and then maybe even twenty working actually eighteen and nineteen,
working summers for him. And then soon after my wife
and I got married, I worked for him for about
probably a little bit less than a year, and then
(15:03):
my dad called me and said, you know, would you consider,
you know, working for the family business for me? And
as I alluded to a minute ago or a second ago,
I almost told him no.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Immediately and then.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
I really thought about it, and I thought to myself, well, hey,
that's not fair to my wife. I should really talk
to her and see get her take on it. And I,
you know, out of respect for my dad, but even
my grandfather, I should really possibly give it a shot
and think about it.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
So, you know, I gave it a shot and started.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Wisconsin calling on machine shops and manufacturers for five years,
moved down to Illinois, started doing the same there, moving
into management and sales manager, vice president, president, and then
the owner.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
And that was a forty five year journey.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
So you worked your way up. It wasn't that like, Okay,
you know, this is my father's company and I'm just
going to step into the role.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Very well put, very well put. My family and myself.
None of us and nobody thinks that they want to
be that young person or younger person with that silver spoon,
at least I never did. And so my dad I
started running the company. And my dad had cancer surgery
(16:21):
when I was twenty six, and so he basically said, right,
you're gonna have to start running the company. And I
was ill prepared even five years in to do that.
So he wanted to give me a title, and I said,
I don't want the title.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And he goes, what do you mean you're going to
be running the company? And I go, I'm the son
of the boss. You were the son of the boss.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
And you should know that that in itself is not
necessarily a badge of honor. It's it can work against
you more than it can work for you. And until
people get to know you and see your work ethic
and that you're leading by example. And so it probably
wasn't for another ten years that I even decided to
(17:04):
take on like a managerial title.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Mmm. And that definitely speaks of your character, that integrity
that you initially talked about, because so many times what
happens is people will say, oh, that's nepotism, and so
many times people who rise up from the family there
even called nepple babies. And as you said that that
goes more against you, like because there are more things
(17:32):
tacked against you rather than in your favor, because it's
not easy to get the trust of other people.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
No, that's that's well said, and you know there's nothing
wrong with nepotism in itself, but it's up to you
and it's within your your character. How you accept the
nepotism and that opportunity, and you need to leave your mark,
and I think I did, In fact, I know I did.
And you need to take the opportunity that's been given
(18:01):
to you and make the best of it. But you
have being self aware. A lot of people don't understand that,
being self aware of how people perceive you and the
character or the image that you portray. Many times, that's
as important as anything that you stand for.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Mm hm. So in you and Johnny as he rose
in the ranks, what are some of the lessons that
you can share with her audience.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
You know, one of my favorite lessons was one of
my mentors besides my father who's who's passed, is another
individual who's since passed, and his name was John Comparini.
And I really had a tough time with making decisions
and wondering did I make the right decision, you know,
(18:51):
because you know, I was working for my dad and
once again, he had extremely high standards. So I second
guessed myself early early in you know, six sixth, seventh
and eighth year, moving into a decision making scenario. And
one thing he said, he said, he told me, he said, Cherry,
I never made a decision that I always think things
(19:15):
out very well that I thought at the time was
the incorrect decision or a bad decision. What you need
to understand is that circumstances.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Change and you need to revisit it.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
But if you do your homework and you really, you know,
look things seriously through and through and make a decision,
at the time, it was the right decision. But things
do change, you know, after the fact and forward, and
you need to revisit those things.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Absolutely, And so what I'm hearing is that no decision, well,
some decisions have to be final because you know, things
have been implemented, you can't do anything about it, yep.
But that said, you can revisit those decisions and adapt
to the changing circumstances. So in your course of experience,
(20:05):
have you developed any frameworks for decision making?
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, I think that's a really good question, Diviya.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
One thing I learned as a young person is that
people always came to me to make decisions, and my
dad taught me this as well, but then I honed
it is that people want you to make decisions and
they don't.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Give you all the facts that you need, so you
have to turn more times often than not.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Rather than given an immediate decision, you have to turn
things back and say, well, I need five more data
sets or I need five more questions answered, and then
I can give you a decision. And young people or
people that are new to the managerial profession or position
(20:53):
don't realize that, and then they make decisions but they
don't have all the facts. So rushing to a decision
is not necessarily always.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Prudent or good advice. But you know, there's the.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Opposite, and never making a decision or waiting to make
an important decision too long is also the case. So
you need to develop a mindset, and you know, a cadence,
I guess is the word I'm looking for that you
know what you need as far as information and data sets,
and then once you know that, then make a decision accordingly.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
So basically, have all your facts, assumptions and data. So
this way you're making an informed decision rather than making
decision out of emotions or so basically you're going for
the fact based decision. And when we talk about the
fact back, fact based decision making. Now from there, what
(21:55):
happens is the way our human brains are designed. People
make decisions emotionally and then justify it logically. So during
have you experienced those moments where your emotions took over
your logic and made those decisions and then either regretted
them or thought like, oh, I wish I had made
a different decision.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, no, that's very well said. Many times, what I'll do.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
I guess this is one reason that I got into writing,
because writing was very therapeutic for me, and my dad
wrote a lot, but I think it wasn't therapeutic for him.
It's just he had a tough time in communicating with
especially his kids, face to face, and so a lot
of times I would write things down and then I
(22:42):
would look at things and I would you know, read
them objectively, almost from a third person standpoint, and then see,
you know, with email, this is very very prevalent and
very good advice in that write an email, but do
not address it. In other words, don't put the email
address in the top quite yet. And then because a
(23:03):
lot of times, you know, you can say things and
you can recover and counteract something you've said when when
you're speaking or having conversation or in a debate, so
to speak. But when you write things too late, it's
already on paper, it's already in an email. So you know,
if you're emotional and you're writing something and you're upset
(23:26):
or excited or whatever, write it out, but don't put
the email address in until you know, or put your
own email address in until you know. It sounds the
way you want it to be and it's not emotional
and it's based on the facts and what's prudent and
business and compassionate all wrapped into one.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Absolutely. Now, when we're talking about decision making, you're talking
about taking that pause and also that ownership. That accountability
piece comes in. Okay, I made that decision and I'm
going to own it.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
So what are some of the ways that leaders can
hold themselves accountable as well as hold others accountable while
still maintaining that trust and not breaking that thin thread
of relationship. Because if you're a manager or leader and
now you're trying to hold somebody accountable, especially the way
(24:25):
we have moved into the softness and the communication piece,
how can they maintain that? Well?
Speaker 5 (24:35):
First of all, boy, you're going really deep here, and
it's very provocative to get my brain going this morning.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
But first of all, in our culture right now.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
What has happened is that young people by their parents
aren't as held accountable as maybe when you grew up
or I grew up, And that's not necessarily a good thing.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Accountability.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
You know, I've been an athlete my whole life and
head coaches, and you're accountable when you step out on
the field.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And that accountability is extremely visually.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Apparent, right you drop the ball, you know whatever, you
struck out, you know whatever. And so that being said,
I think early in a relationship in a company, it's
important to express that and witness accountability first and foremost
from either a person's upbringing or a person's previous experience
(25:35):
and say, look, I don't know what happened as you
grew up, and I don't know what happened at your
previous company, your previous job. But accountability is very in
Transparency is very important here at you know, fill in
company name right, But a manager or owner has to
be accountable and demonstrate that, and that means you have
(25:58):
to sometimes say you're sorry. That means sometimes you have
to say I think I made the wrong decision and
I need to really revisit this and be compassionate about
the fact that you know you're not fallible, you know
you're not prone to not making mistakes. You can make
a mistake, you know, hopefully there's fewer than most. But
(26:22):
the transparency and accountability are huge facets in gaining trust
in any relationship.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
So three points stand out for me. That it's about
building a culture of setting expectations that when you come
in any company, as you mentioned, you know X Y
Z that okay, you are joining that and listen, I'm
accountable as much as you are accountable. And also having
(26:53):
that culture where the leaders are willing to say sorry
and at the same time allowing the space to fail
because if we don't allow people to fail, then it
builds that element of fear and which is not good
for the company because there are studies after studies that
have shown that hempy employees equal directly to the company's profits.
(27:18):
So those three points are very, very strong.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Terry, Yeah, I think the failure component.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
As a young person, I always heard that and I
think fear of failure came into play for me because
I didn't want to fail even though I know it
was okay to fail. And you know, once again, athletically
you learn that play involved. No matter what the sport is,
you know your failure is clearly apparent. But as you
(27:49):
get older and as you experience, if a culture is
built where you almost expect or allow people to fail
on a small basis and then you build upon that,
I think what you'll find is that people embrace that
component and learn from the small failures so that when
(28:10):
they get to the potential of big failures, they're used.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
To preparing emotionally, mentally, and otherwise for avoiding the failure
because they know what it takes to avoid the failure
in the small scenarios.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Absolutely. So you have mentioned about that you built a
nonprofit and share with you know, how does it work
and if you have any success stories that will guide
our audience because people learn from others and their paths.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Yeah, but around twenty twelve I took a deep dive
into technical education. I was in the manufacturing sector, but
there's a huge need for changing perceptions in manufacturing. I
developed a five O one C three called Champion. Now,
Champion is actually an acronym. It's the longest acronym probably
(29:07):
you'll ever hear. But it's changed how American manufacturing's perceived
in our nation. And so that's the wherewithal and the
vision behind the organization. But that led me to writing
a couple of books to encourage people to look at manufacturing.
The first book also had mentoring and parenting included, and
(29:28):
then the second book had a relationship between the student
and the parent and how they need to be open
have open dialogue about career paths.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
But then and then ultimately I ended up developing a.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Camp for middle school students to learn about manufacturing, using
high school students as mentors.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
So we're back to that mentoring component again.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
That's fantastic, And any success stories from there, like in
what past they have taken.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Well, I've seen a lot of people that I've mentored,
and a lot of people that have where I've gone
and spoken at events and whatnot, and people that have
read the book. But generally speaking, you know, just to
give in and I put some framework on data points,
data sets young people that come in. There's usually out
(30:27):
of every hundred young people for let's say the camp,
maybe seven or eight even know the word manufacturing or
have any connotation of what does that mean? I mean,
that's how how you know we're talking middle schoolers on
the camps, and then by the end there's probably forty
seven to fifty of the one hundred that are really
fascinated about you know, what is this thing called manufacturing?
Speaker 4 (30:50):
And how do I get into this?
Speaker 5 (30:52):
And this is this is really cool and interesting and fascinating.
And so that's a success story every time we run
a camp, just seeing that transition.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
I did speak at a.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Technical college a number of years ago, and there were
some moms and dads and the audience and some their
student their child. And one mom came up to me
and said, and she was crying. She had chear coming
down her cheek, and I'm like, oh boy, I said
something wrong. And I said, I'm sorry, but why are
(31:26):
you crying? I mean, what did I say that that
made you cry? I'm sorry, and she goes, no, no, no, no,
don't be sorry. You Actually I thought I failed my son.
I thought I failed my child and that he does
he I can't send him to college. I can't afford college.
And you just told me that there's hope and that
(31:47):
you know. I said, well, your son appears to be
healthy and attentive, and he's here at this event, and
you brought him here, so I think you've done your job.
I think it's up to him from here on out.
And I said, but there is hope, and by bringing
him here to listen about manufacturing, maybe that's the solution.
But the last one I'll say is there's a young
(32:08):
man who I interviewed in my second book, and he
went to a high school that had a great manufacturing program,
but never.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Understood that it was there.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
And it wasn't until after high school that he decided
to take a job in manufacturing. And in nine years time,
he went from entering the door knowing nothing about manufacturing
to becoming the plant manager in nine years. And so
that speaks volumes into how if people you know, have diligence,
(32:41):
have perseverance, have a good work ethic, tell the truth,
show up every day how you can. There's advancement opportunities,
but you just got to show you're willing to, you know,
to do any job they give you and ask questions
and as a result, you'll be rewarded.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And that's such a powerful story. And I have seen
personally in my career people going to technical colleges, joining
bio pharmaceutical manufacturing and rising to plant managers, being directors,
because if you think about Lian six sigma being trained
on Lin six sigma, one of the key principles of
that is that if you're a supervisor, and especially in
(33:25):
the manufacturing area it comes from the Tourta way, then
you need to know what every one of your employees doing.
So as you're rising in the ranks, you know you
know where is that problem is a really something we
can solve. And then that also makes the connection that
(33:47):
so many times doesn't happen where leadership is thinking one
way like oh no, we need to do that, and
the managers or employees may be thinking this is not feasible.
So this is such a powerful way to keep moving up.
So do share with us what are your two books
about and how can people connect with you?
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Well, as far as connecting with me at champion out
dot org, if you will email me, it's Terry at
champion out dot org, and so that's.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
The easiest way to communicate with me.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
The first book is Finding America's Greatest Champion, and that
one was This book is written for students, parents, educators,
and industry members and the subtitle is building Prosperity through
Manufacturing Mentoring and the Awesome responsibility of parenting. So if
(34:43):
I wrote the first book, if I wrote a book
just about manufacturing, I didn't feel it would have the
draw for people that didn't know about manufacturing, or didn't
want to know about manufacturing, or had as misperception about it.
And so by bringing mentoring and parenting into it, I
feel that was a value add, you know, for other
(35:03):
parts of the audience. The second book is called Inspiring
Champions in Advanced Manufacturing. The subtitle is Discover the Path
to a Debt Free Career. And this is a two
sided book where the artwork and the storyline, uh, there's
a student edition on one side and then there's a
parent edition on the other, and so the manuscript is
(35:25):
one hundred and eighty degrees to each other. And so
as a young person, I was undiagnosed, but I had ADHD.
So it was really hard for me to get through
a book from start to finish. Still is, and so
I encourage people to, you know, to look at the
table of contents and try to find something that latches,
(35:47):
they can latch onto, that they can identify or find
interest in, and then start from there. And then, you know,
like I do, many times, go from different points so
that you're reading some thing that speaks to you. And
by having different people in both books that are not
always just manufacturers, or maybe they're not in manufacturing at all,
(36:10):
there's a lot of life lessons and character based information
that can help no matter what.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Well it sounds like both books would be super helpful
to people who maybe in career or people who are
deciding where to go. So thank you Terry for all
the work you're doing because you are infusing them with
curiosity and openness in looking at hey, there could be
(36:40):
an alternative pathway, and it's important that we breed that
curiosity and continue to fare it so that once we
keep on giving it the wins, then that fire can
take on. And as we are talking about, you know,
manufacturing is coming back to our nation and just kind
of continue building upon it. So thank you and the
(37:04):
home that you continue doing the work and helping other people.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Diviyah, thank you for the honor to be on today
and give me an opportunity to share my passion with
your audience.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I appreciate it absolutely and wonderful audience. I want to
wish you happy holidays because this is the time to
be with your loved ones taking that pause and reset,
and I'm going to challenge you not only just do
the reset, but do the recalibration, because yes, the goals
(37:38):
are paused. Yes there are no pressures that are a parent,
but they're waiting in the wings. So do the recalibration.
And of course we will be bringing you more learnings,
more frameworks, more strategies, more heartfelt lessons that you can
applin your life and be successful. You deserve to be successful,
(38:02):
you deserve to be happy. And I want to thank
you from the bottom of our heart for being part
of our audience. We love having you. Beyond Confidence family,
wishing you a wonderful, wonderful holiday season, and I want
to thank our wonderful tech genius one. Thank you again
(38:23):
for making this show possible. Be well, take care and
enjoy your time with your loved ones.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Thank you for being part of Beyond Confidence. With your
host d v Park, we hope you have learned more
about how to start living the life you want. Each
week on Beyond Confidence, you hear stories of real people
who've experienced growth by overcoming their fears and building meaningful relationships.
During Beyond Confidence, Vapark shares what happened to her when
she stepped down of her comfort zone to work directly
(38:51):
with people across the globe. She not only coaches people
how to form HERD connections, but also transform relationships to
mutually beneficial partnerships as they strive to live the life
they want. If you are ready to live the life
you want and leverage your strengths, learn more at www
dot wpark dot com and you can connect with WATS
(39:11):
contact at dvpark dot com. We look forward to you're
joining us next week.
The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.
We make no recommendations or endorsement for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability,
explicit or implied shall be extended to W four WN
Radio It's employees or affiliates. Any questions or common should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:22):
W four WN Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
This is Beyond Confidence with your host d W. Park.
Do you want to live a more fulfilling life? Do
you want to live your legacy and achieve your personal, professional,
and financial goals? Well? Coming up on zvoparks Beyond Confidence,
you will hear real stories of leaders, entrepreneurs, and achievers
who have steps into discomfort, shattered their satus quo, and
are living the life they want. You will learn how
(00:48):
relationships are the key to achieving your aspirations and financial goals.
Moving your career business forward does not have to happen
at the expense of your personal or family life or
vice versa. Learn more at www dot givpork dot com
and you can connect with tv ants contact Dants givpark
dot com. This is beyond confidence and now here's your host,
(01:09):
div Park.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Good morning, it's Tuesday, and of course it's a wonderful
morning because I get to be with you. So there
has been a question in the past recent years because
a lot of recent college graduates are not getting a job.
So is there another route? What other options are there
(01:33):
for our youth and how can they have different careers?
And that's exactly what we will be talking about today.
Welcome Terry.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
W Thanks for having me. I'm honored to be on.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yes, it's no fantastic to have you on the show.
So usually we start out with a moment in your
early childhood or in your early youth. Do you recall
a moment or a person that left a post and
mark on you.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Oh boy, besides family members, because my dad and my
mom and of course my uncles were very influential. I
grew up as a single child of a single parent.
But I think playing ball, a lot of my coaches
were mentors to me, and some of my teachers in
high school were mentors to me. So there's numerous ones,
(02:26):
but Frank Anderson was an ap calculus and physics teacher.
He was a mentor to me and Dave Kenson and
Jim Kane, two of my coaches in high school.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And what is one of the things that you learn
from them and are still caring?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Well, I learned how a lot of character based things
that came from my family and my mentors.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
And the character prevails all and.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
It to how you act and how you conduct yourself
actually supersedes the talents that you have, however great they are,
because as you walk out the door, your talents will
be forgotten about, but your character will be remembered.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Very true. So as we talk about character, and what
would you say are some of the important values that
you still hold true today?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Well, first and foremost the two character components I think
that I've always been raising our children and even our
grandchildren is honesty, is an integrity are the top two
facets of any persona I think. But hard work and
diligence and perseverance are also a tertiary or secondary character.
(03:54):
But honesty integrity are my top two.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, No, definitely. And when we talk about hard work
and diligence, So there are a lot of youngsters right
now who have put in a lot of hard work,
a lot of diligence, and their college work. You know,
they're graduating, and sometimes they're putting in hard work even
in the jobs. And there have been a lot of layoffs,
(04:19):
and the career is no longer a certainty in American
culture like there used to be. Okay, you know, I'm
talking about several decades back. You go in, you join
a company, you walk out, you have a pension, and
your life is set. But now it is either the
careers get outdated, or companies layoff people, or that career
(04:43):
is gone. So amidst all of these, tell us you
champion manufacturing. So tell us your journey and also a
little bit about that.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Well, I was very fortunate in that this year we're
celebrating a one hundred year legacy in manufacturing, and I'm
at the end of my forty fifth year of being
in the manufacturing sector. But I think what's happening is
over the years, and I think our educational system has
the cost have risen so tremendously that they've outpaced the
(05:18):
salaries that they offer.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
In the general career set.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
But generally speaking, manufacturing has got a huge void because
our culture has somehow can come up with this perception
that manufacturing's not done in the US anymore, and that
it's outdated and it's not technology technologically savvy, and all
these perceptions that are incorrect.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
And as a result, there's a I call it return
on education.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
Where your cost, your time frame and cost to develop
a skill set if it matches your natural abilities and inclinations,
the time frame and of getting into a manufacturing skill
based career is so much quicker, so much less costly,
and so much more financially rewarding in comparative terms.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So let's say someone you know, a youngster in high
school there deciding whether to go to college or whether
to go into like manufacturing as you're talking about, and
you still want a bright future, they don't want to
be capped at a certain level of compensation. So how
can they go about and what are any resources that
(06:35):
you can recommend?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Well, first of all, Diva, there's there's not a lot
of awareness of manufacturing careers, So that's first. So a
lot of times with young people, they're not even aware
of what they might be able to pursue. They know
that mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and most
of the family and friends are telling them, you know,
(06:57):
go down the four to five year college path. And
some of them want to go into student debt just
because they have to, which I say, don't do.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
But if we can just make.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Them aware of the manufacturing sector and how it's been
neglected in terms of a talent pool for so long,
and you know, chain do their research. Do internships during
high school. A lot of people are young people are
making the transition from internships in a manufacturing company into
(07:30):
having them pay for their education and their upskilling as
they grow within the company. But I think you have
to as a young person, you know, we go back
to those character based items, you know, integrity and honesty.
I tell young people, you know, arrive early, leave late,
and tell the truth and you'll be successful in no
(07:51):
matter what you do. And so if they just knew
about manufacturing, do their research, get into an internship.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Whether you have the money or not, even if you
have the money, give it a look and I think
you'll be surprised. And then when you get into supply
and demand, just the basic concept. There's a huge demand
in manufacturing and a short supply, which is now raised
in the bar, not only in the skill set you need,
but what they'll pay you as a result.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And what are some of the industrial sectors that they
can look for.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
You know, manufacturing is so broad based, and not only
is it broad based, but also there's more conventional career
sets that they also need. They need accountants, they need
legal representation, they need salespeople, they need HR executives and
thus dusty So I think, you know, aerospace is big in.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
This country, Defense is big in this country. General.
Speaker 5 (08:56):
Manufacturing. Entrepreneurship is a huge element in manufacturing. The young
people probably have no idea that people young people go
into manufacturing and then next thing, you know, they either
develop their own product and make it, or you know,
start their own company and then start their own manufacturing subcontract,
machine shop or what have you. There's food manufacturing, there's
(09:20):
pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
I mean it goes. You know, chip manufacturing is making.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Not a comeback, but they're starting to realize the importance
of making chips in this country.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Microchips.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
So there's so many and it's such a broad definition,
and there's so many other career sets that are embedded
as well in manufacturing.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Companies.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
So what you shed is very powerful that Okay, here
you are, you're learning how to manufacture. You're learning inside out.
You know, what are the issues, what are the problems.
You're learning that pore competencies and skill sets. So of course,
now if you decide to open up your own company,
you just don't have that external knowledge. You have internal knowledge.
(10:09):
So that said, you know you were talking about the
chips and all that, So tell us more about is
there a parallel with gamers into digital CNC manufacturing. So
first of all, tell our audience what is digital CNC
manufacturing and draw the parallel.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
Okay, well, in manufacturing today, there's a first of all,
a lot of automation. We have to be automated in
our processes to be competitive globally and many things. If not,
I'm not going to say everything, but a large double
digit percentage is digital based, is computerized. And so that
being said, there's also a concept called the digital twin,
(10:50):
which Siemens is a big advocate of, which means that
you can actually replicate a process in the digital world
and then understand potential failures potential improvements that can be
made in a digital.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
World before you implement it in a physical world.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
So when I wrote my second book, I didn't realize
my young I have three children, three adult children, and
my youngest child's who's no longer young.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Is a gamer.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
And I didn't realize in our world we have over
three billion gamers and that's how many did you say?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Three billion in the world.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Wow, So a large percentage of the population are gamers.
And so what I try to advocate, and I talked to.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Barbara Humpton it seemens about this is that there's a.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Connection between the prevalence for young people in gaming with
the digital world, the computerized world, the automated world of manufacturing.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
But if you don't know about it, you don't you
can't see that parallel.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Hmm yeah, no, definitely. So basically what you're saying is
that you can take a gamer skills and move into
the digital manufacturer.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
Yes, and it has to be I mean, there has
to be your your own interest and passion and your
own skill set intuitively has to match. But people aren't
making the decision about manufacturing because they know about it
and because they don't want it, and they've made that determination.
(12:32):
They either don't know about it or their perceptions about
manufacturing are so outdated that they kind of write it off.
And I'm here to say that, you know, there's a void,
and you know, once again supply and demand, you know,
take advantage of that, and you'll be competing with less
of a populace for a job. Instead of having thousands
(12:53):
of candidates, there may be dozens or hundreds of candidates,
and as a result, you'll stand out and if you
show pass for it, you'll definitely get a shot for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah. No, absolutely. So you have mentioned that you know
your family has a history in manufacturing. Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Well, my grandfather was the one in nineteen twenty five,
so we're one hundred years out now, and he started
with a machine tool builder in Chicago. His father, my
great grandfather, came from Norway and he passed fairly young.
So my grandfather had to go to work at a
very young age and literally, you know, figuratively and literally
(13:36):
started sweeping the floors for a machine tool builder. And
that started down our path, down the manufacturing route, and
then my two uncles and my father followed. And much
as I thought, I didn't want to work for the family,
for my father, particularly because he was his standards were
unbelievably high.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I gave it a shot. That was forty five years ago.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
So tell us about your manufacturing journey.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Well, my manufacturing journey.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
You know, I was very good in physics and math,
you know, science and math, and I initially I didn't
think I was going to go that path. So I
considered photography, I considered psychology. I considered a lot of
different things. And then I realized, you know, the competitive pool,
the opportunities, and I'm like, if I'm really talented at
(14:32):
something and I have an opportunity within the family, I
would be silly and irresponsible not to at least try.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
To pursue it or consider it.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
So I started with my uncle at a machine shop
in Milwaukee, initially as a teenager I think I was nineteen,
and then maybe even twenty working actually eighteen and nineteen,
working summers for him. And then soon after my wife
and I got married, I worked for him for about
probably a little bit less than a year, and then
(15:03):
my dad called me and said, you know, would you consider,
you know, working for the family business for me? And
as I alluded to a minute ago or a second ago,
I almost told him no.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Immediately and then.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
I really thought about it, and I thought to myself, well, hey,
that's not fair to my wife. I should really talk
to her and see get her take on it. And I,
you know, out of respect for my dad, but even
my grandfather, I should really possibly give it a shot
and think about it.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
So, you know, I gave it a shot and started.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Wisconsin calling on machine shops and manufacturers for five years,
moved down to Illinois, started doing the same there, moving
into management and sales manager, vice president, president, and then
the owner.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
And that was a forty five year journey.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
So you worked your way up. It wasn't that like, Okay,
you know, this is my father's company and I'm just
going to step into the role.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Very well put, very well put. My family and myself.
None of us and nobody thinks that they want to
be that young person or younger person with that silver spoon,
at least I never did. And so my dad I
started running the company. And my dad had cancer surgery
(16:21):
when I was twenty six, and so he basically said, right,
you're gonna have to start running the company. And I
was ill prepared even five years in to do that.
So he wanted to give me a title, and I said,
I don't want the title.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
And he goes, what do you mean you're going to
be running the company? And I go, I'm the son
of the boss. You were the son of the boss.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
And you should know that that in itself is not
necessarily a badge of honor. It's it can work against
you more than it can work for you. And until
people get to know you and see your work ethic
and that you're leading by example. And so it probably
wasn't for another ten years that I even decided to
(17:04):
take on like a managerial title.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Mmm. And that definitely speaks of your character, that integrity
that you initially talked about, because so many times what
happens is people will say, oh, that's nepotism, and so
many times people who rise up from the family there
even called nepple babies. And as you said that that
goes more against you, like because there are more things
(17:32):
tacked against you rather than in your favor, because it's
not easy to get the trust of other people.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
No, that's that's well said, and you know there's nothing
wrong with nepotism in itself, but it's up to you
and it's within your your character. How you accept the
nepotism and that opportunity, and you need to leave your mark,
and I think I did, In fact, I know I did.
And you need to take the opportunity that's been given
(18:01):
to you and make the best of it. But you
have being self aware. A lot of people don't understand that,
being self aware of how people perceive you and the
character or the image that you portray. Many times, that's
as important as anything that you stand for.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Mm hm. So in you and Johnny as he rose
in the ranks, what are some of the lessons that
you can share with her audience.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
You know, one of my favorite lessons was one of
my mentors besides my father who's who's passed, is another
individual who's since passed, and his name was John Comparini.
And I really had a tough time with making decisions
and wondering did I make the right decision, you know,
(18:51):
because you know, I was working for my dad and
once again, he had extremely high standards. So I second
guessed myself early early in you know, six sixth, seventh
and eighth year, moving into a decision making scenario. And
one thing he said, he said, he told me, he said, Cherry,
I never made a decision that I always think things
(19:15):
out very well that I thought at the time was
the incorrect decision or a bad decision. What you need
to understand is that circumstances.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Change and you need to revisit it.
Speaker 5 (19:26):
But if you do your homework and you really, you know,
look things seriously through and through and make a decision,
at the time, it was the right decision. But things
do change, you know, after the fact and forward, and
you need to revisit those things.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Absolutely, And so what I'm hearing is that no decision, well,
some decisions have to be final because you know, things
have been implemented, you can't do anything about it, yep.
But that said, you can revisit those decisions and adapt
to the changing circumstances. So in your course of experience,
(20:05):
have you developed any frameworks for decision making?
Speaker 4 (20:09):
Yeah, I think that's a really good question, Diviya.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
One thing I learned as a young person is that
people always came to me to make decisions, and my
dad taught me this as well, but then I honed
it is that people want you to make decisions and
they don't.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Give you all the facts that you need, so you
have to turn more times often than not.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Rather than given an immediate decision, you have to turn
things back and say, well, I need five more data
sets or I need five more questions answered, and then
I can give you a decision. And young people or
people that are new to the managerial profession or position
(20:53):
don't realize that, and then they make decisions but they
don't have all the facts. So rushing to a decision
is not necessarily always.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Prudent or good advice. But you know, there's the.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
Opposite, and never making a decision or waiting to make
an important decision too long is also the case. So
you need to develop a mindset, and you know, a cadence,
I guess is the word I'm looking for that you
know what you need as far as information and data sets,
and then once you know that, then make a decision accordingly.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
So basically, have all your facts, assumptions and data. So
this way you're making an informed decision rather than making
decision out of emotions or so basically you're going for
the fact based decision. And when we talk about the
fact back, fact based decision making. Now from there, what
(21:55):
happens is the way our human brains are designed. People
make decisions emotionally and then justify it logically. So during
have you experienced those moments where your emotions took over
your logic and made those decisions and then either regretted
them or thought like, oh, I wish I had made
a different decision.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, no, that's very well said. Many times, what I'll do.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
I guess this is one reason that I got into writing,
because writing was very therapeutic for me, and my dad
wrote a lot, but I think it wasn't therapeutic for him.
It's just he had a tough time in communicating with
especially his kids, face to face, and so a lot
of times I would write things down and then I
(22:42):
would look at things and I would you know, read
them objectively, almost from a third person standpoint, and then see,
you know, with email, this is very very prevalent and
very good advice in that write an email, but do
not address it. In other words, don't put the email
address in the top quite yet. And then because a
(23:03):
lot of times, you know, you can say things and
you can recover and counteract something you've said when when
you're speaking or having conversation or in a debate, so
to speak. But when you write things too late, it's
already on paper, it's already in an email. So you know,
if you're emotional and you're writing something and you're upset
(23:26):
or excited or whatever, write it out, but don't put
the email address in until you know, or put your
own email address in until you know. It sounds the
way you want it to be and it's not emotional
and it's based on the facts and what's prudent and
business and compassionate all wrapped into one.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Absolutely. Now, when we're talking about decision making, you're talking
about taking that pause and also that ownership. That accountability
piece comes in. Okay, I made that decision and I'm
going to own it.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
So what are some of the ways that leaders can
hold themselves accountable as well as hold others accountable while
still maintaining that trust and not breaking that thin thread
of relationship. Because if you're a manager or leader and
now you're trying to hold somebody accountable, especially the way
(24:25):
we have moved into the softness and the communication piece,
how can they maintain that? Well?
Speaker 5 (24:35):
First of all, boy, you're going really deep here, and
it's very provocative to get my brain going this morning.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
But first of all, in our culture right now.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
What has happened is that young people by their parents
aren't as held accountable as maybe when you grew up
or I grew up, And that's not necessarily a good thing.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Accountability.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
You know, I've been an athlete my whole life and
head coaches, and you're accountable when you step out on
the field.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And that accountability is extremely visually.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Apparent, right you drop the ball, you know whatever, you
struck out, you know whatever. And so that being said,
I think early in a relationship in a company, it's
important to express that and witness accountability first and foremost
from either a person's upbringing or a person's previous experience
(25:35):
and say, look, I don't know what happened as you
grew up, and I don't know what happened at your
previous company, your previous job. But accountability is very in
Transparency is very important here at you know, fill in
company name right, But a manager or owner has to
be accountable and demonstrate that, and that means you have
(25:58):
to sometimes say you're sorry. That means sometimes you have
to say I think I made the wrong decision and
I need to really revisit this and be compassionate about
the fact that you know you're not fallible, you know
you're not prone to not making mistakes. You can make
a mistake, you know, hopefully there's fewer than most. But
(26:22):
the transparency and accountability are huge facets in gaining trust
in any relationship.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
So three points stand out for me. That it's about
building a culture of setting expectations that when you come
in any company, as you mentioned, you know X Y
Z that okay, you are joining that and listen, I'm
accountable as much as you are accountable. And also having
(26:53):
that culture where the leaders are willing to say sorry
and at the same time allowing the space to fail
because if we don't allow people to fail, then it
builds that element of fear and which is not good
for the company because there are studies after studies that
have shown that hempy employees equal directly to the company's profits.
(27:18):
So those three points are very, very strong.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Terry, Yeah, I think the failure component.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
As a young person, I always heard that and I
think fear of failure came into play for me because
I didn't want to fail even though I know it
was okay to fail. And you know, once again, athletically
you learn that play involved. No matter what the sport is,
you know your failure is clearly apparent. But as you
(27:49):
get older and as you experience, if a culture is
built where you almost expect or allow people to fail
on a small basis and then you build upon that,
I think what you'll find is that people embrace that
component and learn from the small failures so that when
(28:10):
they get to the potential of big failures, they're used.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
To preparing emotionally, mentally, and otherwise for avoiding the failure
because they know what it takes to avoid the failure
in the small scenarios.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Absolutely. So you have mentioned about that you built a
nonprofit and share with you know, how does it work
and if you have any success stories that will guide
our audience because people learn from others and their paths.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Yeah, but around twenty twelve I took a deep dive
into technical education. I was in the manufacturing sector, but
there's a huge need for changing perceptions in manufacturing. I
developed a five O one C three called Champion. Now,
Champion is actually an acronym. It's the longest acronym probably
(29:07):
you'll ever hear. But it's changed how American manufacturing's perceived
in our nation. And so that's the wherewithal and the
vision behind the organization. But that led me to writing
a couple of books to encourage people to look at manufacturing.
The first book also had mentoring and parenting included, and
(29:28):
then the second book had a relationship between the student
and the parent and how they need to be open
have open dialogue about career paths.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
But then and then ultimately I ended up developing a.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Camp for middle school students to learn about manufacturing, using
high school students as mentors.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
So we're back to that mentoring component again.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
That's fantastic, And any success stories from there, like in
what past they have taken.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
Well, I've seen a lot of people that I've mentored,
and a lot of people that have where I've gone
and spoken at events and whatnot, and people that have
read the book. But generally speaking, you know, just to
give in and I put some framework on data points,
data sets young people that come in. There's usually out
(30:27):
of every hundred young people for let's say the camp,
maybe seven or eight even know the word manufacturing or
have any connotation of what does that mean? I mean,
that's how how you know we're talking middle schoolers on
the camps, and then by the end there's probably forty
seven to fifty of the one hundred that are really
fascinated about you know, what is this thing called manufacturing?
Speaker 4 (30:50):
And how do I get into this?
Speaker 5 (30:52):
And this is this is really cool and interesting and fascinating.
And so that's a success story every time we run
a camp, just seeing that transition.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
I did speak at a.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Technical college a number of years ago, and there were
some moms and dads and the audience and some their
student their child. And one mom came up to me
and said, and she was crying. She had chear coming
down her cheek, and I'm like, oh boy, I said
something wrong. And I said, I'm sorry, but why are
(31:26):
you crying? I mean, what did I say that that
made you cry? I'm sorry, and she goes, no, no, no, no,
don't be sorry. You Actually I thought I failed my son.
I thought I failed my child and that he does
he I can't send him to college. I can't afford college.
And you just told me that there's hope and that
(31:47):
you know. I said, well, your son appears to be
healthy and attentive, and he's here at this event, and
you brought him here, so I think you've done your job.
I think it's up to him from here on out.
And I said, but there is hope, and by bringing
him here to listen about manufacturing, maybe that's the solution.
But the last one I'll say is there's a young
(32:08):
man who I interviewed in my second book, and he
went to a high school that had a great manufacturing program,
but never.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Understood that it was there.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
And it wasn't until after high school that he decided
to take a job in manufacturing. And in nine years time,
he went from entering the door knowing nothing about manufacturing
to becoming the plant manager in nine years. And so
that speaks volumes into how if people you know, have diligence,
(32:41):
have perseverance, have a good work ethic, tell the truth,
show up every day how you can. There's advancement opportunities,
but you just got to show you're willing to, you know,
to do any job they give you and ask questions
and as a result, you'll be rewarded.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
And that's such a powerful story. And I have seen
personally in my career people going to technical colleges, joining
bio pharmaceutical manufacturing and rising to plant managers, being directors,
because if you think about Lian six sigma being trained
on Lin six sigma, one of the key principles of
that is that if you're a supervisor, and especially in
(33:25):
the manufacturing area it comes from the Tourta way, then
you need to know what every one of your employees doing.
So as you're rising in the ranks, you know you
know where is that problem is a really something we
can solve. And then that also makes the connection that
(33:47):
so many times doesn't happen where leadership is thinking one
way like oh no, we need to do that, and
the managers or employees may be thinking this is not feasible.
So this is such a powerful way to keep moving up.
So do share with us what are your two books
about and how can people connect with you?
Speaker 5 (34:08):
Well, as far as connecting with me at champion out
dot org, if you will email me, it's Terry at
champion out dot org, and so that's.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
The easiest way to communicate with me.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
The first book is Finding America's Greatest Champion, and that
one was This book is written for students, parents, educators,
and industry members and the subtitle is building Prosperity through
Manufacturing Mentoring and the Awesome responsibility of parenting. So if
(34:43):
I wrote the first book, if I wrote a book
just about manufacturing, I didn't feel it would have the
draw for people that didn't know about manufacturing, or didn't
want to know about manufacturing, or had as misperception about it.
And so by bringing mentoring and parenting into it, I
feel that was a value add, you know, for other
(35:03):
parts of the audience. The second book is called Inspiring
Champions in Advanced Manufacturing. The subtitle is Discover the Path
to a Debt Free Career. And this is a two
sided book where the artwork and the storyline, uh, there's
a student edition on one side and then there's a
parent edition on the other, and so the manuscript is
(35:25):
one hundred and eighty degrees to each other. And so
as a young person, I was undiagnosed, but I had ADHD.
So it was really hard for me to get through
a book from start to finish. Still is, and so
I encourage people to, you know, to look at the
table of contents and try to find something that latches,
(35:47):
they can latch onto, that they can identify or find
interest in, and then start from there. And then, you know,
like I do, many times, go from different points so
that you're reading some thing that speaks to you. And
by having different people in both books that are not
always just manufacturers, or maybe they're not in manufacturing at all,
(36:10):
there's a lot of life lessons and character based information
that can help no matter what.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Well it sounds like both books would be super helpful
to people who maybe in career or people who are
deciding where to go. So thank you Terry for all
the work you're doing because you are infusing them with
curiosity and openness in looking at hey, there could be
(36:40):
an alternative pathway, and it's important that we breed that
curiosity and continue to fare it so that once we
keep on giving it the wins, then that fire can
take on. And as we are talking about, you know,
manufacturing is coming back to our nation and just kind
of continue building upon it. So thank you and the
(37:04):
home that you continue doing the work and helping other people.
Speaker 5 (37:08):
Diviyah, thank you for the honor to be on today
and give me an opportunity to share my passion with
your audience.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I appreciate it absolutely and wonderful audience. I want to
wish you happy holidays because this is the time to
be with your loved ones taking that pause and reset,
and I'm going to challenge you not only just do
the reset, but do the recalibration, because yes, the goals
(37:38):
are paused. Yes there are no pressures that are a parent,
but they're waiting in the wings. So do the recalibration.
And of course we will be bringing you more learnings,
more frameworks, more strategies, more heartfelt lessons that you can
applin your life and be successful. You deserve to be successful,
(38:02):
you deserve to be happy. And I want to thank
you from the bottom of our heart for being part
of our audience. We love having you. Beyond Confidence family,
wishing you a wonderful, wonderful holiday season, and I want
to thank our wonderful tech genius one. Thank you again
(38:23):
for making this show possible. Be well, take care and
enjoy your time with your loved ones.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Thank you for being part of Beyond Confidence. With your
host d v Park, we hope you have learned more
about how to start living the life you want. Each
week on Beyond Confidence, you hear stories of real people
who've experienced growth by overcoming their fears and building meaningful relationships.
During Beyond Confidence, Vapark shares what happened to her when
she stepped down of her comfort zone to work directly
(38:51):
with people across the globe. She not only coaches people
how to form HERD connections, but also transform relationships to
mutually beneficial partnerships as they strive to live the life
they want. If you are ready to live the life
you want and leverage your strengths, learn more at www
dot wpark dot com and you can connect with WATS
(39:11):
contact at dvpark dot com. We look forward to you're
joining us next week.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!