Efficiency and cost savings aren't what makes operational excellence last. People are.

The leaders who create enduring, high-performing organizations are after something beyond business results. They want a company where people end the day more capable, more confident, more energized than when it began. That's the difference between a workplace that wears people down and one that builds powerful people.

Gary Peterson spent more than 30 years building that kind of culture of continuous improvement at OC Tanner. But the hardest part wasn't creating the systems or processes to get better outcomes. It was his own transformation — coming to see how, without meaning to, he'd become the leader getting in his people's way.

Put people first, and the results follow.

And the deepest transformation you'll ever lead is your own.

You’ll Learn:

• Why operational excellence only lasts when leaders focus on building people, not just cutting costs and eliminating waste
• Why the best leaders make an identity shift from being the expert with every answer to creating the conditions for others to solve problems
• What it takes to move managers from enforcers to coaches and make continuous improvement something your team never fears, even as roles and headcount shift
• How to influence real organizational change when you have no authority to make anyone follow
• Why so many leaders give up on culture change too soon, and how long it really takes

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Gary Peterson spent more than 30 years at OC Tanner, where he held leadership roles across manufacturing, marketing, and operations, most recently as Executive Vice President of Supply Chain and Manufacturing. He led the people-first transformation that earned OC Tanner the Shingo Prize and made it one of the few companies Toyota holds up as a global showcase for its system outside automotive. Gary is an Association for Manufacturing Excellence Hall of Fame inductee.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

• Full episode show notes: ChainOfLearning.com/79
• Connect with Gary Peterson: linkedin.com/in/garypeterson
• Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kbjanderson
• Subscribe to my newsletter: kbjanderson.com/newsletter
• Check out my website for resources and working together: KBJAnderson.com
• Join me on the Japan Leadership Experience: KBJAnderson.com/japantrip

TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
03:44 Why Toyota saw something different at OC Tanner

05:02 The real purpose of operational excellence

07:19 How Gary knew the culture was changing

09:00 Creating people who change the world

12:13 The outcome every leader should want

13:07 Two pillars that shaped the journey

14:26 Breaking a culture of fear and control

15:35 The five-minute habit that changed everything

17:15 Redefining what it means to be a manager

19:12 Why transformation takes longer than you think

20:05 What to do when leaders don't support the change

22:26 The experiment that almost got shut down

24:19 Helping managers make the coaching shift

25:23 When people outgrow their leaders

28:28 Why improvement should never threaten jobs

30:23 The manager who couldn't stop yelling

32:23 The leadership habit that destroys ownership

35:35 Becoming the leader you never wanted to be

37:00 The habit that was holding people back

38:01 The executive behavior that shuts people down

40:07 Proving your worth vs. creating conditions

45:37 Showing results isn't the same as showing people

49:53 Where transformation really begins

51:16 The question every leader should ask about their people

53:34 When helping starts limiting growth

55:14 The shift that made everything else possible

Have you poured months into a strategy your team couldn't bring to life? Or watched capable people work harder than ever, and still struggle to pull together as a team?

High performance isn't about a better strategy, more talent, or longer hours. It's about how your team works together, every single day.

Karina Mangu-Ward, author of Teams That Meet the Moment, has spent more than a decade helping complex organizations redesign the messy day-to-day of how people actually get things done together. Her belief: good everyday teaming habits are both good for people and good for results. You don't have to choose between them.

Making this real doesn't require a reinvention. You just need the right structure and the intention to show up differently. In this episode, Karina shares simple, tangible practices you can use in your very next meeting or strategic project.

You’ll Learn:

• The three lies leaders tell themselves about teamwork, and why believing them holds your team back
• How the framework of the "Even Over" ends the swirl when your team is stuck choosing between two competing options
• Why creating a "Safe to Try" process gets a team unstuck when you're chasing consensus and certainty
• What a steady team cadence unlocks when everything around you feels like an emergency
• The instinct nearly every high performer has to unlearn before they can build a team that thrives

ABOUT MY GUEST:

Karina Mangu-Ward is a partner at August Public, an organizational change consultancy that helps large, complex organizations build more human-centered ways of working, whose clients include PepsiCo, Planned Parenthood, and Sundance. She's the author of Teams That Meet the Moment: 9 Practices for Unlocking Performance and Growth in Uncertain Times. Karina's passion is helping groups navigate complexity, gain insight, and unlock highly complex challenges.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

• Full episode show notes: ChainOfLearning.com/78
• Connect with Karina: linkedin.com/in/karina-mangu-ward
• Purchase a copy of Karina's book: Teams That Meet the Moment
• Learn more about Karina’s company: aug.co
• Take the Team assessment: assessment.aug.co
• Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kbjanderson
• Subscribe to my newsletter: kbjanderson.com/newsletter
• Check out my website for resources and working together: KBJAnderson.com
• Join us on the Japan Leadership Experience: KBJAnderson.com/japantrip

TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
03:01 Why great strategy still fails
04:13 The hustle culture myth that's burning teams out
05:20 Everyday habits drive extraordinary teams
07:11 Meeting the moment in uncertain times
09:13 The "Safe to Try" mindset that breaks gridlock
11:18 Setting guardrails without limiting innovation
12:06 Why small bets outperform big risks
13:29 Unlearning the need to have the answer
15:17 Why sticky practices beat complicated frameworks
17:16 Simple retrospectives that strengthen learning
20:19 The surprising cost of treating everything like an emergency
22:09 Using "Even Over" to make better trade-offs
25:28 Intention over reaction in decision-making
30:32 When perfection becomes procrastination
31:53 Why working in public accelerates learning
34:22 The power of stories over instruction
37:08 Intention + practice = better leadership
39:14 What trade-off do you need to make?

Joy isn't a perk. It's a business strategy.

Have you ever wondered whether work has to feel this hard? Whether the team you've built can actually function without you? Whether there's a way to lead that doesn't burn you — or your people — out?

Rich Sheridan built Menlo Innovations around one bold idea: ending human suffering in the workplace. The result is a company where joy isn't a slogan. It's how things actually get done. It's a place built on collaboration, human energy, and pride in what people create together.

Joy isn't constant happiness. It's the long arc of meaning and contribution alongside people who care. And it becomes possible the moment you stop being the center of every problem and start creating the conditions for ownership, continuous learning, and yes, joy.

You don't have to change the world. You just have to change your world.

You’ll Learn:

• The mistake most leaders make about mistakes, and why more mistakes can get you ahead faster
• Why what looks like a questionable decision from below makes sense from above
• The difference between joy and happiness, and why most leaders are chasing the wrong thing
• Why running a small experiment will move you further than creating the perfect plan
• What it really takes to build a company designed to last a hundred years

ABOUT MY GUEST:
Rich Sheridan is the co-founder, CEO, and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations, a software development and consulting firm known for its people-centered culture and focus on joy in the workplace. He is the author of Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer and was inducted into the Shingo Academy in 2022 for his contributions to organizational excellence.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

• Full episode show notes: ChainOfLearning.com/77
• Connect with Rich Sheridan: linkedin.com/in/menloprez
• Follow me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kbjanderson
• Subscribe to my newsletter: kbjanderson.com/newsletter
• Check out my website for resources and working together: KBJAnderson.com
• Join us on the Japan Leadership Experience: KBJAnderson.com/japantrip
• Purchase a copy of Rich's books: Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer
• Learn more about Menlo Innovations: menloinnovations.com
• Tugboat Institute: tugboatinstitute.com

TIMESTAMPS FOR THIS EPISODE:
02:37 When work no longer feels sustainable
05:26 The moment Rich realized the problem wasn't technology
07:27 What an 8-year-old noticed about leadership
08:23 Why hero-based organizations scale through exhaustion
09:39 When caring becomes carrying
12:21 The codependency leaders develop with crises
14:09 What joy at work actually means
17:13 Working with pride and delighting customers
19:17 Why human energy is a leadership responsibility
21:00 What's the cost of not having joy?
23:28 From constant firefighting to two emergencies in 25 years
25:24 Joy vs. happiness: What's the difference?
27:02 Why joy isn't happiness every day
32:17 The phrase that keeps Menlo moving forward
34:15 The leadership lesson Rich learned from flying
40:39 Why Menlo isn't chasing exponential growth
43:02 The book that changed Rich's career
45:18 Why crisis practices work when there isn't a crisis
47:28 Why your system keeps producing the same results
49:38 The shift from carrying to creating conditions for change leadership
51:46 Why stepping in can hold people back