We Need Everybody!

Wisconsin faces a serious obstacle to our economic growth aspirations. An aging population and historically low fertility rates combine to create a huge shortage of the people necessary to keep our workforce strong. This Body Gap creates strong headwinds to future...

Leadership On and In the Field

I try to get out of my bubble as often as I can. Several weeks ago, I attended Manpower’s “Women in Manufacturing” summit in Milwaukee to expand my thinking. I was not disappointed. One of the panels challenged the traditional view of leadership. That view defines...

Told You So

Told you so! Sometimes it feels pretty good to say that. You may remember several months ago I wrote one of my pieces about cybersecurity and talked about a businessman who wasn’t particularly worried about his computer systems. “I don’t have anything they would...

Can We Make the Switch?

A critical switch is underway. Our future depends less on great answers for the Skills Gap and more about effective solutions to the looming Body Gap. Wisconsin does a terrific job addressing the Skills Gap – arguably better than any other state – but it won’t be...

Ready for the Soft Side of Technology

Almost ubiquitous technology access and worldwide connections open channels that create opportunities that weren’t possible even a few years ago. That technology facilitates many tasks and opens possibilities that were previously beyond our imagination. These changes...

What We Can Learn from a Legend

I have followed John Hazen White, Jr. for several years across various media platforms. He’s a great manufacturing innovator and a forward-thinking leader. John’s approach to manufacturing integrates multiple facets of complicated situations into coherent pictures...