S1E11: Solving Inventory Problems | Mike Ryan

Our guest in this episode solved problems for a living. The type of problems that cost manufacturing companies millions of dollars annually and prevent them from investing in their businesses the way they want to. In this episode we meet with Mike Ryan from the M. Ryan Group. When you connect with him on LinkedIn, you'll see that his handle is quite literally 'isolveproblems', and for good reason.

During the interview, he shares his experience working with companies like GE and Goodyear, and lays out some wisdom in solving supply chain and inventory problems for manufacturers and distributors. His journey to becoming an entrepreneur is fascinating and relatable. After leading teams in Supply Chain and Operations functions at large organizations for many years, he recognized that the problems he'd been solving for a single company were relevant to many and placed a bet on himself.

If your company carries inventory and you would like to see it tying up less capital, you may want to listen to this episode on repeat. If it doesn't, don't worry, you'll quickly see how Mike's pro tips on effective inventory management have meaning for leaders in any industry.

🔗 Links & Resources:

• https://mryangroup.com/
• www.linkedin.com/in/isolveproblems/
• www.cultureshoc.com/contact-us/

Quoteworthy Moments:

• 00:04:55 - "And what I learned about myself at that point was, number one, if somebody put it together, I could take it apart."
• 00:11:18 - "Really, the core is it's communication."
• 00:18:30 - "having that framework of EOS on top of the GE experience really helped kind of coalesce some of the fundamentals of how I run my business"
• 00:19:24 - "But I think the elegance is in the collection of and simplification of these different systems, processes, and tools to give common language, to get everyone rowing together."
• 00:24:49 - "And I mean, what I've learned is that I have the most fun when I'm working with people who want to be helped."
• 00:27:52 - "We talk all the time about charging into the uncomfortable, doing the things that you know are going to lead to a better outcome, even if they're painful." 00:28:34 - "There's implied security, but there's no real security."
• 00:34:47 - "if I want to be successful, if I want to keep my wife and our kids warm, safe, dry, and fed, this is a storm I need to lean into and I need to push through." 00:40:35 - "Being direct should be seen as kind."
• 00:44:45 - "People need to understand the why."
• 00:48:12 - "And I think it's because we're afraid to look dumb."
• 00:55:38 - "He's selling 22% more, you're only buying 6% more."
• 01:04:16 - "When there is a people storm and you line up and you face the storm together and you come through it, you always come through it stronger."
• 01:08:05 - "It's always exciting to bring a new product to market, right? It's new. It's exciting. People are jazzed to sell it. It's kind of unexciting and boring to take care of the older stuff and being mindful of, hey, for every product I bring in, maybe I take an older product out."