Leadership and Change Through the Lens of Manufacturing

Manufacturing provides a particularly useful lens for exploring both leadership and change. It is an environment where leadership is practiced every day, where results are visible, and where the consequences of decisions are often immediate. Safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people all matter, and leaders must continually balance priorities while getting work done through others.

At the same time, manufacturing organizations are always changing. New technologies, automation and AI, new processes, workforce challenges, shifting customer expectations, and changing business priorities continually reshape how work gets done. Operations still have to run while the organization changes around it.

This session will explore leadership and change as related, but distinct, challenges. We will hear lessons from experienced manufacturing leaders, examine what frontline workforce data tells us about leadership and change, and learn from practitioners about putting these insights into practice.

• Buckley Brinkman, former Executive Director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity, sharing lessons from his career in manufacturing leadership and business turnarounds.

• Mike White, founder and CEO of Secchi, drawing on his experience with Caterpillar and Master Lock and his work with frontline workforce data to explore leadership and change.

A panel with confirmed panelists Derek Johnson, CEO of Aurora WDC, and Vince Clark, Manufacturing Executive (Retired) & UW–Madison Manufacturing Instructor. 

Peer breakout discussions focused on participants’ own leadership and change challenges.

Participants will leave with practical ideas about leadership, a better understanding of how people and organizations experience change, and perspectives they can take back to their own organizations.

Agenda