On this week’s episode of the NEW Manufacturing Insights podcast, sponsored by Stoke RGA, Insight on Manufacturing Editor Kate Bruns and Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance (NEWMA) Executive Director Ann Franz chat with leadership coach Kathy Miller, author of two books on manufacturing leadership and the keynote speaker for NEWMA’s next Future of Work Summit, which is planned for April 14 on the topic of employee retention.
Miller, a Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame inductee, is the author of “Steel Toes and Stilettos” and “MORE is Better: Leading Operations with Meaning, Optimism and Relationships for Excellence.” The latter book describes the “MORE” framework for manufacturing operations leadership she created and currently coaches.
“This model of MORE clearly emerged for me as a valid framework, particularly for operational and industrial environments, and so those pillars where people were getting great results was [where they were] intentional about creating a sense of meaning, optimism and strong relationships in the workplace,” Miller tells the co-hosts on this week’s episode. “I wanted to create a field guide to help leaders identify what are those simple, teachable and repeatable actions for leaders to thrive.”
MORE is now available as an AI companion, too. Learn more about MORE on Miller’s website at more4leaders.com.
For a robust breakdown of MORE, sign up to attend NEWMA’s Future of Work Summit April 14 in Appleton. But to glean some other nuggets from Miller, including what she says you can do to the next seven days to start unlocking the “meaning” component and what piece of leadership advice she considers the most counterintuitive, listen to this week’s full episode on Spreaker or anywhere you get audio podcasts — including Apple and Spotify.
NEW Manufacturing Insights is produced by Woodward Community Media and will be sponsored throughout 2026 by Stoke RGA. New episodes are released every Thursday.
