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Change is the only constant, and 2023 Manufacturing First Expo & Conference keynote speaker Bill Fournet, founder and CEO of Oklahoma-based The Persimmon Group, says it’s imperative that leaders both understand that fact and know how to respond.
Among the changes affecting manufacturing leaders today are robotics and artificial intelligence, which Fournet will address in a powerful morning session Oct. 25 at Green Bay’s Resch Expo.
AI, he says, is going to be the most “impactful and disruptive force in our lifetimes.”
“We see it; it’s coming so fast,” Fournet says. “And the biggest challenge for business leaders is, there’s no putting AI back in the box. It just becomes what are the ethics and principles by which you should apply it.”
A trained philosopher, businessperson and historian with a special affinity for military history, Fournet says changes like AI are fast and scary, but they also fall into predictable historic and generational patterns: Every 80 years, society and the world economy undergo substantial transformations that last about four generations. Millennials, he says, represent the end of an 80-year period and Gen Z the start of a new one.
“Gen Z, whether you like it or not, is going to start setting the tone for how we’re going to live,” Fournet says. “It’s fascinating to see what trends are already getting established, from mobility of work to homeownership. They are a very action-focused generation where they don’t want to talk about change. They want to make it.”
Fournet brings understanding of history and generational changes to his teachings on leadership, which have taken him around the world throughout his consulting and public speaking career. Fournet started The Persimmon Group in 2004 after a period of corporate burnout that came on the heels of 9/11 and its resultant recession.
“We had two kids with a third on the way; there were all the reasons why not to start a business at that point,” he says. “But my view was if you do really good work … you can be successful. Part of that was to understand culture, to really listen. I had worked for consulting firms where it was sort of like, you know, just copy and paste, change the name to somebody else and give them a report. What I loved about consulting was the diversity of people, companies and sectors which ultimately led to the diversity of problems and opportunities to solve them.”
Manufacturing is among the diverse sectors with which Fournet has worked, and he says he is excited to visit Wisconsin for the first time and speak to manufacturing leaders next month. The son of a Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in Vietnam before Fournet was born, he has long studied military philosophy and history and used that as a framework through which to approach leadership topics.
“Not everything I do is [from a] military [approach], but I look at them because they’re able to work at all levels of an organization, including 18-year-olds,” Fournet says. “That, to me, is really important: How do we take some of these lessons from teams [like military forces] that are already dealing with uncertainty?”
For a 30-year period starting in the 1980s, Fournet says, most U.S. organizations suffered a “vacuum of leadership” during which it was easy to confuse consistency (a positive) with complacency. Good leaders, he argues, can combat complacency by asking more questions instead of making assumptions. They also need to improve their ability to establish intent, which will allow them to obtain buy-in and successfully scale their businesses.
“We have gotten very action focused,” he says. “And in the end, we live in actions — but by micromanaging people at the action level, we’re not giving them the freedom to think and they’re all becoming order-takers. Don’t assume that people already know the answer or that they read the same answer as yours. Ask the questions to find out where they’re at, because once you do that you can start building judgment. Then you can delegate more, you can scale, and you can get people rowing in the same direction.”
“Lead for Tomorrow: How to Thrive in the Age of Disruption” is sponsored by Acuity Insurance, and Fournet’s presentation will be introduced by Acuity Manufacturing Consultant Mike Schlagenhaufer, who will open the 13th annual expo and conference by sharing his thoughts on the topic of “Getting Creative with your Workforce.” Schlagenhaufer also penned this month’s “Insight From” feature on the same topic (turn to page 38 to learn more).
Presenting sponsor First Business Bank will also take the stage in the morning; Vice President for Commercial Banking Travis Froze will speak on the topic of “Leveraging Business Partnerships for Success.” Froze says his remarks will focus on helping attendees learn the nuances between transactional and relationship-focused collaborations, not only with banks but other key business partners.
For the second year in a row, Manufacturing First will also feature speakers on the main stage during lunch. Mo Abuali, a technology expert from Wipfli, will lead a lunch and learn session entitled “Industry 4.0 Driving Manufacturing,” which will guide manufacturers through their Industry 4.0 journeys, exploring how to leverage the Industrial Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, as well as build the business case for Industry 4.0.
Following Abuali’s presentation, author and confidence coach Ben Fauske of St. Norbert College’s Center for Exceptional Leadership will take the stage to deliver a lunch and learn presentation on the topic of “Learn how to Find, Lead and Coach with Confidence.” Fauske, author of “Authentic Confidence: The Secret to Loving Your Work and Leading an Unstoppable Career,” will share his personal story of overcoming confidence issues early in his career and provide the latest research about and strategies for developing authentic confidence.
And while the speeches on the main stage will be a major feature of the 2023 Manufacturing First Expo and Conference, they’re just a small piece of a daylong event.
“It’s hard to find an event with this much learning and this much networking all packed into a single day,” says Insight Publisher Brian Rasmussen, who says he once again expects more than 225 booths exhibiting on the Resch Expo floor, as well as participating in the “Power Hour” session with cocktails, networking and prize giveaways as the afternoon winds down. “It’s worthwhile not just for manufacturers themselves, but everyone in our region who is affected by this vital business sector.”
The expo hall will be open throughout the day, and while meeting with exhibitors and networking with colleagues could fill an entire day on its own, Rasmussen says, there will also be a wide variety of optional breakout sessions offered to attendees. Sessions will be presented at 10 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. by the following presenters:
- Sandy Fragale, OSMS (10 a.m.): Empowering Employees, Improving Health, Saving Money
- Christopher Czarnik, Career [RE]Search Group (10 a.m.): Winning the War for Talent
- Molly Delsart, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College; Ryan Van Scyoc and Matthew Kelly, Moraine Park Technical College (10 a.m.): Best Practices for Safeguarding Automated Systems from Cyber Attacks
- Kathy Clark, Executive Agenda (10 a.m.): Accelerating Executive Development for Your Competitive Advantage
- Dustin Boss and Brad DeLeeuw, McClone (11:15 a.m.): OSHA Recordkeeping Compliance Update
- Jesse Funk, Appleton International Airport (11:15 a.m.): Getting the Most out of Your Trip
- John Kehoe, Involta (11:15 a.m.): Artificial Intelligence, Factory Automation Initiatives and Securing Your Factory
- Joe Kiedinger, Prophit Co. (11:15 a.m.): Leadership Reimagined
- Ryan Lindeman and James Schall, Crescent Electric Supply Co. (1:30 p.m.): Cybersecurity and Connected Manufacturing
- Greg Linnemanstons, Weidert Group (1:30 p.m.): Artificial Intelligence: How Industrial Sales and Marketing Teams can Leverage its Power
- Amy Pietsch, Fox Valley Technical College; Deron Poisson, Lakeshore Technical College (1:30 p.m.): Building a Strategic Vision and Embracing Servant Leadership
- Curtis Schroeder, Jeremy Walker and Steven Diedrich, Consolidated Construction (1:30 p.m.): Take Advantage of Construction Price Trends and Technology in your Expansion
More information about this year’s event is available at manufacturingfirst.com.
“Manufacturing First has evolved into the place to be to meet with manufacturing leaders,” says Ann Franz, executive director of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance, which presents Manufacturing First jointly with Insight Publications and First Business Bank each year. “It truly is a celebration of the depth and breadth of all of the amazing manufacturers in this region.”
