Latest / Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder / Building Bridges in Leadership and Modular Construction Advances with Sneha Kumari

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Building Bridges in Leadership and Modular Construction Advances with Sneha Kumari · Learnings and Missteps by Depth Builder

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, team, hold me accountable for any pain point that you have, and then I would take that as an action.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: So pretty much having my team hold me accountable kind of gave a different twist to this whole process of leadership.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Then, when I did that, the whole mindset of change and continuous improvement automatically came to them, meaning hey, I am the owners, I am the leader of my bay, my station, I am empowered to make changes.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And when I did those changes with them, there was a sense of accomplishment.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: It felt like we are learning every day and you just improved from one state to the next state.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: What is going on?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: L&m family?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I am here with a super spectacular guest, ms Sneha, who I got to meet in person and I'm just going to tell you.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Getting to hang out with her in person, in real life, and then having the opportunity to be interviewed by her and then followed up with me, interviewing her, is the ultimate.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: You should be jealous.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: She is a thought leader in the modular construction space, leading and making waves to make our industry better.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: How are you doing, ms Nal?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I am doing awesome, awesome, especially because I'm here recording this episode with you.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Literally before backstage, you and I were discussing how I love your videos or how cool they are, so I feel already a little bit celebritish to be part of this episode.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So thank you.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, we meet people online and on LinkedIn and stuff and you never really know how warm and spectacular they are.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: And when you and I got to hang out and talk about ideas, that warmth came through, which I think maybe it's just my assumption, but I think that when people think about folks that are in process improvement, they don't attach a warm human being to the Six Sigma improvement maniacal brainwaves.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely Right, just backing up my journey with Six Sigma.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Lean started in manufacturing.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I come from manufacturing, I am an end-to-end supply chain leader, and so folks out there listening in supply chain is not just logistics.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Supply chain is not just about purchasing.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: There's a lot more to it, ever since your product is at the stage of inception to finally delivering it to your customer.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Everything involves supply chain, and so that's what I've done for the most part of my career.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: But while I was doing that, lean and Six Sigma was just coming automatically.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Because, come on, if you have been in this world of manufacturing, you know it's hard out there.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: None, not a single day is boring.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: You have challenges every day, and every day you are, you know, you come across a new challenge.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: You're like, oh my God, like why didn't I encounter this before?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: And so there's always this whole cycle of continuous improvement that you are into.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You just are in the before, and so there's always this whole cycle of continuous improvement that you are into.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: You just are in the mode.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And so, because I've been doing that for so long, it's just, you know, second nature.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Now I would.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it gets to my life, my personal life also.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I think, jesse, you and I also connected on that.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: But then when I entered like construction, so I started with prefab manufacturing and then into modular construction and then also like stick build construction, like on the side together, and that was when I realized that it's different being on the shop floor wearing the hard hat, walking the floor with folks.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I did get some pushback Like hey, we don't get lean, that's a manufacturing thing, don't bring it to us, and so so sometimes the term itself can be a little littering for folks and so I stopped also like for some time, like, okay, let's try and improve things, let's try and change stuff around which people are more assertive to in construction.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: That's what I felt, especially the folks on the floor also, as you were like coming back to your point, yeah, not every time you are taken very like.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I think we are taken seriously, especially with the leadership who are in the, who are looking for a change, a culture change, but then the doers of the doers in the process probably are not are like okay, especially if you're a consultant, right, if you came out you're an outsider, you're an outsider.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: What do you know about my pain points?
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And so being able to make sure that they understand we are part of the process has been, I would say, the biggest challenge that I have just continued overcoming, tried my ways out, see how do I adapt and you know, make sure that I am one of them.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I have been doing this for some time and I've been on the receiving end and I have lived their pain points as much as they are right now.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: So a few things come to mind Empathy for the worker.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: You said the word culture, so I want to come back to those two things.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: But I'm really curious what was it about process improvement or this type of work when you got into manufacturing?
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: What was it that drew you to choose that work?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know I would say people.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: So I started managing teams early and so I would say that you know I did.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I had my made my own share of mistakes, right While I was trying to lead folks who were older than me.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: It wasn't easy.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: It wasn't easy to gain trust, to earn trust, it wasn't easy to get your point across right.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And so, trust me, I'm glad, and I feel I'm blessed, to have been in those roles and led people who were like way more decades more experienced than me at the age when I started.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: But I did my own share of mistakes in managing, in my leadership style.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: But one thing that, as like you know, I did my Six Sigma training.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: I've gotten Six Sigma certified twice actually in my career.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I did my Six Sigma training.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I've gotten Six Sigma certified twice actually in my career.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: And so while I was doing and then lean and you know, going to school for that and stuff like that what I saw was when I was a leader, when I told my team that hey, team, hold me accountable for any pain point that you have.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: So you know, I'll do my, I'll use the G word Gemba, I'll do my Gemba Fox and we'll do a short, quick standup, say I'm going to station, whatever one.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: And I was like, hey, so you have a problem with framing, there's something going on wrong and so what's that Right?
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: So they were like, okay, can you help me with this particular side?
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Or you know the dimensions are not coming out right or things like that, and then I would take that as an action.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: So, pretty much having my team hold me accountable kind of gave a different twist to this whole process of leadership.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Then, when I did that, the whole mindset of change and continuous improvement automatically came to them, meaning hey, I am the owners, I am the leader of my bay, my station, I am empowered to make changes.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And when I did those changes with them, there was a sense of accomplishment.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: It felt like we are learning every day and you just improved from one state to the next state and it's never, it doesn't end, you're never perfect, you just it's a journey and it keep going.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: And I think that's what kept me going, that's what I think my team, that's what kept my team going was just because we were learning and there was all there was people not with them and definitely not for them.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: It was just for my metrics so that I could get production rates and get my bonus and all that.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And I think the people feel that.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: But it feels.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's how naturally we're drawn to serving the people.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: How accurate is that?
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: So when I started, there was I'll be super, super transparent here there was some kind of ego, right, like, okay, involved, I'm here, I'm the boss, I have people I know a lot, there's a reason why I'm here, right, and it really had a rocky start.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: When you work with people and it's not just about people you have people with diverse backgrounds.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: I come from a diverse background.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I'm a brown woman, I'm an immigrant here, right, and I was dealing with other people who come from very different backgrounds.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: So it was so important for myself to ground myself to understand people first before just you, you know, thinking about them as just machines doing work day in, day out.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: If you don't add that flavor, because you know people say that, okay, keep your personal professional life separate, I really don't believe in it.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I really think that both of those lives are attached.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: You are motivated by each, by happenings, happenings meaning events happening in both sides of your those worlds.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: So let's be honest, if I'm not motivated my personal life, it affects my professional life and I'm not.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: So just, you know, getting to know people, their backgrounds, what motivates them, and really understanding what's in it for them, changed my leadership style a little bit, and then you are part of them, you're on their side.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: How do we keep winning while we are on, you know, while we are playing this sport?
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: That's how I went about this.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, so much wisdom there.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: So for the young L&M family member that's like first time leadership position.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: They've got people to report.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: What are a couple of things that you recommend they focus on so they don't learn the hard way, the way we do?
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: So, as I said, when I got the role and it was like about 40 people, jesse, that's a big team, big team to handle.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: About 40 people, jesse, that's a big team, big team to handle, and I was proud.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I was proud and I think you should be like taking a moment to stop and, you know, celebrate your win.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: But one thing that I think you already use the word that I always say have lots of empathy for the people that you're working with.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Hierarchy is one thing.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: You have been put in a role for a reason, probably because of the experience, probably because of for a reason, probably because of the experience, probably because of your style, probably because of the connection you can make with people right, value it and use it and people are different, just like you and try and invest time in your people first before setting up your kpis.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Let's's be honest, learn their names for the family.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: It matters, it really matters.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Trust me, once that happens, once you make that connect with a team as large as that, they know you value them.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Trust me, they will be your biggest cheerleaders, they will be your biggest change ambassadors.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: As soon as you have crossed that path, that's the biggest learning or advice I would share that take time, stop learn about them.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: They care about them, their families.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Just you don't have to sit and you know solve problems there.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: You just have to learn about them and show that you care and genuinely care.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Don't show off like care about people and genuinely care, don't show off Like care about people, oh my goodness.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: And so you just answered my other question as it relates to culture and trust, like how do you build trust?
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I think the fastest way is to demonstrate interest and appreciation for the human beings that are in front of us.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Simple.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: And you also said like we're whole people, like home and work aren't separate, and just to kind of hammer that point home I know you're a mom.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I bet you're an amazing mom.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Do you ever stop being a mom?
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Never, is it even possible?
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: So it's like if we just be all of us as often as we can, we'll have different outcomes, more meaningful experiences, for sure, and richer outcomes.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: I believe like sustainable, in terms of what you described to me.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: When you're doing this improvement with people or them, they have a vested interest and an understanding that, oh, we're winning together.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: As opposed to the words you said.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: What do you think it is that keeps many leaders from having that breakthrough or gaining that understanding?
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I think it's the day-to-day churn right.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: The industry that we are in today.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: It's fast-paced.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: You are constantly chasing numbers, figures, answering to your leadership.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I think the churn actually makes us stop being us and that just takes the human connection out of it you talk about it a lot right.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: The bungee jumping is all about you know people's connections and how do we connect with each other.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: So I think the churn, the back to back, chasing numbers and metrics and and you know all of that great, you are running a business.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: We are in it for that, of course, but I was listening it to somewhere like the whole CEO playbook has been wrong.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: All this, while there is an anti CEO playbook that we need to talk about, which is you are winning when your people are winning, which is when you, when your people are with you, you are winning right now.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: You, when your people are with you, you are winning right now.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: We are.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Our ceos are taught to be taking care of the shareholders, taking care of wall street, taking care of all the great you have to.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: You're running a business.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: They are investors, but we need to know that our employees, our people, are partners.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: We are equal partners when we start thinking about them and we know that you know a lot of times also, jesse I talk about because I've been supply chain you know many times we don't treat our suppliers very equally to our subs, very respectfully too, and it's that, trust me, your customer delight process is gonna be made or broken by your suppliers.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: They are your partners, they are not your, they are not inferior to you.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I have seen that kind of behavior being represented, which is not acceptable, which has to change.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Same thing for your employees.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: If the doers of your, like you, can be aiming for all these fancy millions, billions of numbers, if your doers are not on board, if they don't get what your path is, if they don't feel included, you are not winning.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: You are absolutely not winning.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: No matter how many great customers, sales contracts you sign, if your people do not understand it, you're not going to get anywhere and eventually you'll fail.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: So I think the churn, as I was saying, like the whole CEO playbook, the whole culture, has to change.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: It has to start with your people.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Once they are on board, trust me, they'll make you win.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: It's a teamwork, it's a soccer.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: I mean sorry.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I'm into soccer because of my son.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: It's the same sport, right?
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: You can be an amazing goal scorer.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you're not passing.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Yes, you got to pass the ball.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I love this idea of the anti-CEO playbook.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really have to remember his name who actually gave a TED talk on this, but probably will quote it after on the episode, but I'm really bought into it.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: after on the episode, but I am, I'm really bought into it.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so clearly you and I are aligned in our thinking of how to treat people, appreciating people, and even maybe operate or run a business.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: And you said you've come from manufacturing and you went in.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Now you're in modular construction and supply chain management.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: Was it like people said, man, she's really got it going on, we want her so bad?
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And so you made the transition and everybody just embraced you.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Well, no, no story.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Is that hungry?
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: No, absolutely not.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I came from manufacturing and I fell into prefabrication manufacturing that's how I describe it and it was not as smooth as you would think.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: As I said, like you know, first of all I'm a woman, then I am a brown woman, then I'm trying to be on the shop floor trying to change things for people.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Nah, it's not going to be easy.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: None of this is easy.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Right, construction is also a very male dominated industry.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Right, it's different.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: It's different.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: So I have had my own share of biases that I faced through my career, my own share of challenges of putting my point across and trying to be taken seriously.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: That's been a big, big challenge.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: But, trust me, we are getting somewhere.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: We are getting the seats we have been asking or we deserve.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: So that's a good thing, but we still have a long way to go.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: My mantra for change management, or, you know, making sure that I, first of all, I think the biggest quality that I have about myself is I persevere a lot.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I never I've never achieved an overnight success ever in anything that I have tried for, but I have persevered.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I cannot just let go of a problem.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: I just that's just me, small or big personal profession.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I cannot let go of a problem.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: I need to really complete it.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I just have this OCD or something or whatever.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: You know I need to close it before I move on.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: So I believe that kind of never like, no matter what I hardships I was going through, just like never stopped.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I never stopped.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I never gave up on the people I was working with.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I never gave up on myself.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I kept going, kept trying different things, because you also need to understand what's not working and when to stop and pivot.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: That's what I kept doing and that's very valid for my professional journey where, okay, if this was not working and I wasn't able to make the change happen, how did I go about it?
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: I started probably creating some you know I started an ambassador program where I picked people who actually believed in me and they kind of helped me propagate the change I wanted to go after.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: So there were different things that worked for different industries.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Every company is different, the culture is different, but the good part was it wasn't very hard to get the leadership aligned.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: The harder part was actually getting your doers on board and make sure that they understood what I was trying to implement.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So you said the word perseverance and that was the one that was coming.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Again, we got to meet a person like oh man, she knows.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: So I'm wondering where do you think that perseverance comes from?
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: you know probably life experiences.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I guess I've seen my probably mom persevere a lot.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: You know I was born and raised in india.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: You know we have always.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: And then I moved out of home pretty early to complete my bachelor's in engineering and that was a different world altogether.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: And then I moved across continents and came here to complete my master's and so I just feel and so none of that is easy Like I really have to give a shout out to every person who left their home base and have moved and shifted.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: It's not easy to build a new life altogether, to build new connections have moved and shifted.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: It's not easy to build a new life altogether, to build new connections.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: So we do take it, you know, lightly but it's a big thing, like kudos to whoever does it.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that who doesn't do it doesn't perceive it, but that's, this is a.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: It shows a testament of.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: You know, really you could move bases altogether and live in adverse environments or probably totally different sets of people and build a life.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: And I just these life experiences probably made me the way I am, how I grew up and you know the culture I've lived with.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: So you're like the transcendent superpower, right, you transcend careers, like breaking through those things different.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: And I know, and I think actually I want to say this for the L&M family members that are thinking like, yeah, but I'm not a continuous improvement person.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: It's not about that Leading change, making things better.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: You don't have to be a six sigma to do that.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: I think most of us really want to lead this world better than we found it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: So that experience is a shared experience and, on that note, you have overcome and you're probably still facing a lot of friction, a lot of lonely points, a lot of situations where you think it's just you, something's wrong with you.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: How do you cope with that?
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: What do you recommend to somebody that's embarking or in the middle of a difficult project?
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: a little project.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: What do you recommend they do to cope and deal with the friction and the loss of confidence and all that other funky stuff?
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: I still go through that.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not an expert in any of this, I'm still learning and I have to give it to people like you, jesse, for building communities, for building safe communities.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: I have always relied on community around me.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, of course, my family.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, I talk to my family.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I get a lot of energy, positive energy through them, right, of course, that's always with you, always depending on where you are.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Your parents, your spouse, your spouse, your friends, distant relatives can always be a source of strength for you.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: But sometimes I this is just me as a personnel like this is my personality, like if I come to you and I'm able to like, it's just that you and I can connect more because we come from same backgrounds, we come from same industries.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: So you being a sounding board means a lot to me at that point versus, say, my spouse being a sounding board at that point right, because we come from different industries.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: So, like you know, it just validates it more.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Not saying that we need validation, but sometimes at those points you want to talk to people who just feel like, you know, gets the industry not just you.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: You know, gets the industry, not just you, but also gets the industry the pain points.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: And I found my tribe, I found my community, and it's online.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I've not met everyone, but some of them are so good that they're happy to just lend you 15 minutes of their time.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I just feel that time is the best gift you can give to any person in your life.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: It's not that's the best, the most expensive gift you can give to anyone, and so everyone who has given me time in my life, I appreciate them a lot from bottom of my heart, because you could have done something else for your own good at that point, but you chose to give me that time.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: So I really whoever is listening to you, to this, along with you, I really sincerely appreciate you and I will always have that gift back to you to return when you need me.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: So I would say, find your tribe, and especially a tribe that comes from the same background.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: It has worked for me worked for me especially at those points where I was feeling lonely, where I could just ping someone and not even call.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Some of them I didn't even like just ping, and sometimes some you would not know, jesse, but some of the posts that you could probably put out can change someone's life- so, do not go after the likes and the shares.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Even if one person found value in a post that you made, you could actually be acting as a sounding board to someone.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: It has happened to me very early on.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: It still happens, like some post someday just hits you so hard and you're like, yeah, I am going to the same thing.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, we are not alone, and it's easy to think that we are, but we are not alone and what's coming through is like build your community, find people that have shared experiences and talk about them.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: It's not complicated Talk.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Talk a lot.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Talking helps so much.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, okay, so we already know that you're an expert in continuous improvement, manufacturing, modular construction, and people may not know that you host a podcast also.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Could you tell us about so people know and they can go listen to that after they listen to this conversation?
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Tell us about that podcast, absolutely.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: So I was doing what I was doing.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I do a little bit of digital transformations also and I came across audrey, who runs Offside Dirt, and she's an amazing human being, amazing woman leader that I've come across and I do confide in her a lot.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I've shared my life experiences with her and Audrey, I love you, you know that.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: So she was kind enough to say that why don't you write something for us and also host?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: So, jesse, if you may remember, I wrote my first lean article on Offside Dirt and you got tagged and that's how we met.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: That's how I connected.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: I wrote you a message and folks, despite the connection that he had, he immediately responded to me on LinkedIn.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: So thank you for that.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: And that's where my journey started, where you know I wrote for them.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: And then I recorded my first episode with a very dear friend, erin Khan.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: That was my first episode with her.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: She is also a woman leader in construction.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: She runs her own consulting now.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: She had led very senior roles in very soon in her construction career, so I have learned so much from her as well.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: But that's where the journey started and I host one episode every month.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: We talk about your experience, what you have learned in construction.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I try to make sure that I get some takeaways from you for my audiences that they can take back in their personal life and use it.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: The latest one that got released today is with Jesse the master Jesse this master of lean, and we spoke about 5S, the most the fundamental principle that you can think about lean but has so many benefits.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: But yeah, it's about leanifying construction.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: With Sneha Kumari.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: You can find me on YouTube.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: You can find me on LinkedIn.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Definitely, my videos are hosted on YouTube and marketed on Insta, youtube and LinkedIn.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: Amazing.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I had a lot of fun.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to listen, because I know I go crazy and go all over the place.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Please do.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Your videos are the best.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I have to say that your videos are the best, the most professional videos I've seen by far.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: But we have tried.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you, and I also know that you're working on a product to help another segment of the industry.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Can you tell us about that?
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: So you know, as I said, like digital transformation has been part of the journey to, like you know, we, in us, in construction, we come across, we have a lot of software fatigue, we use a lot of softwares.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: We probably use 18 different softwares.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: None of them talk to each other.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: We don't have time to learn about these softwares, and so I have been on the other end, right, where we are buying something new, we need our employees to use it.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Nobody uses it.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: The arrow is in the drain.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Who cares?
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: We are still paying tens of thousands of dollars.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: So while I was doing that, one thing, jesse, that came to mind that I always had a vision for, was you know when, when we got a phone, mobile phones?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: No, none of the mobile phone companies actually took effort to train us on how to use a phone, and especially when we move from the nokias of the world to apple, nobody trained us how to use a touch screen.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: There was, I wouldn't say it was smooth, but it grew on us pretty quickly, right?
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: We started we learned it.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: So I just feel like we are missing the Apple-like experience, user experience, in our industry.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: What we are not doing today is enabling our folks to do more.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: What is happening today is, instead of using a technology that can I'll use the word technology.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: It could be anything.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: It could be robotics, it could be AR, vr, a piece of software, erp, anything Instead of that being an enabler, it has become a burden Burden to learn it, burden to adoption, a burden to understand it right.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: It's so complex and many times we are probably trying to pick up something and trying to retrofit.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: In our world, not every software was meant for construction, but they are trying to get in because you don't have a lot of options.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Service sucks Big time.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Sorry, but that's the truth Big time.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: You're charged hourly, none of the reports are customized for you, you pay for setup charges and you still pay for hourly consulting charges to your technology companies after you've implemented it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: So well, long-winded story.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: This was a pain.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't like it and I wanted to do something in that space.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: So exactly why I built something specially for construction, and more so specially for modular construction, wherein you, my brother, who is a tech leader, folks out there listening to this I have nothing to do with coding.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not a developer.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: I don't understand a word of it.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: I am a Lean Six Sigma leader that connects with your pinpoints, but he has built something that really makes sense using my inputs because I come from the industry which is going to be simple, easy to use, quick to install, with tons of customer aha moments for you and lots of great service.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: That's for free, no charge.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: So that's important.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I think when you're already paying for a subscription, you deserve to be getting the best out of it until you are rammed up, and if you're not, then you should be getting that experience.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Until you feel comfortable about a piece of software, you shouldn't be paying for that.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: That's because I come from that side of the world.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: I'm still on that side of the world, I'm still trying to do these implementations.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's where I am.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: It's huge.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: You touched on a few things that I've never really been able to wrap my head around, but basically I can't think of very many softwares that I've used in my career that didn't require training.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: That's not to say that we got it, that's not to say that we got it.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: And then it's like you just pointed it out like I didn't need no training to learn how to use my phone.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: I didn't need no training to figure out how to make a movie on netflix.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Super intuitive, super easy.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: It solves whatever minor problem I might have.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and why will?
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Why should we lack that experience in construction?
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Why not like we?
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: are a trillion dollar industry.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: We move the world.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: So, oh my god, you know people, you know service providers out there need to wake up and do something about it.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Also because we haven't complained enough, like poor us, like we've just gone, because we have better things to worry about, like dude, like the trust is not connecting.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's the bigger problem than thinking why your freaking report is not right, whatever.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: So I I think why, like we should have that experience, we deserve it oh my goodness.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: So I'm curious.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: You're heavily focused on the customer experience of this thing that you and your brother are building, your brother's doing the coding and all that, the coding magic.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Magic.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Do y'all just agree on everything?
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: What are those conversations like?
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: No, because you know, the war starts I'm sorry, not a war, but a debate starts mostly when I am speaking my mind.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, this is not how I like it.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I am running on the floor and I'm trying to do a cycle count operation.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I don't like it, this is not how I'm going to do it.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Like you know, enable me to do more.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And all of these came because I was walking the floor doing these things at some point in time.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I mean, no, we don't, but I think one thing that we are always aligned on is the fact that our obsession with our customers is intact.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's something that we both will not negotiate on, and so, yeah, for the most part, he has to give in to my ideas.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: For the most part, nihal wins.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: So do you all have a name, a release date?
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Because I'm sure people are going to say what?
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: is this?
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: It's Merlene AI.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: You can go check us out on our website Still working.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: The website isn't cool yet, but it's still working.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: It's in the works and connect with us Connect with both of us.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: If you want to learn more, would be more than happy to not only show to you but also get your feedback.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: It doesn't always have to be business.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: It doesn't always have to be about money.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: It's also about building something great.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: That's how I see it.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Build something great, Build something meaningful To make a change big enough for people to remember you.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm excited.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: You already know I'm going to support you.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: You just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it because you're awesome.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: You are awesome, you are.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: I have told this on many platforms to many people.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: You and the folks you connected me to are just great.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Pure.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: We've got some amazing people out there looking to connect with more, because it's going to take a lot of people, a lot of hearts, to make things better, no doubt.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: So you've accomplished a ton.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: You've transitioned from one country to another different industries leading change, which I know how difficult that is.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: You're in the tech, creating an app to serve people to a greater degree.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: You're a mother.
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: Is there anything?
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: You don't do.
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: How do you manage all of that?
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: You know I'm really not good at managing everything.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: One thing, you see, I do feel like my mom guilt doesn't go away.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: That guilt has stayed with me and I just feel that every mom out there has that guilt in them too, especially working moms.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: But I then also, when my kids see me, they run towards me and I think my morning snuggles are the ones that keep me going.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: I just have a feeling that I'm not.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to balance a lot of stuff.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not able to balance everything perfectly right.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I want everything to be perfect.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: I mean that's just you know me, but I'm trying.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I also don't want to give up on my passion and I also I know that my kids growing up, seeing me the way I am, will respect that about me and also respect that about other women they come across in their life.
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: That just sounds so awesome.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: So what do you do to rest?
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: How do you take care of yourself?
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: I think this is important.
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: I know we have a lot of high achieving, high operating people out there.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: What tips, tricks do you use?
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: I believe that, to each their own, everyone has a different way to rejuvenate and relax.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: For me, small things matter.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: So, as I said, like you know, just spending 30 minutes with my kids, say, out in the park, just not thinking about work, just refreshes me, it just feels like a complete day.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Being able to take time to work out, which I haven't been able to lately, feels great, feels like I had a complete day that I wanted to do.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Being in nature helps me a lot.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: So like just time, once a quarter, once a month, sometimes just taking a quick road trip you know I live across California.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: There's some very cool nature-y things out there we just take a short trip.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: You know, shut down stuff.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I don't even shut down, I'll just probably take phone calls.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: But I'll be on a trip and it's just great.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: It just does wonders to me.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Self-care is important.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Finding your tribe, finding time to talk to people is important.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: So through these things I'll just probably network, talk to different people, find new connections, and that helps me.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: I have to do more about my self-care and probably the stage like my kids are three and five, it's a difficult stage.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: They are dependent on me, my product is dependent on me, my job is dependent on me, so there's a lot.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: So I know it's gonna get only easier at some point because the more experience I get, but I try to appreciate what I have, I and just, it's hard to say, live in the moment.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: I procrastinate, I keep thinking about the future too, but I also try, like you know, just that consciousness is there where I said okay, like you know, now I'm with my kids, so I just have to be with them.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Now if I'm with my spouse, so I have to be with him and then just enjoy the world around me.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness, I love it.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Be present, change your environment, engage with nature, engage with your community, spend time with your family.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: It's not like some magic impossible list.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: We can do these.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: Being in the moment, you were fully present, like I felt like it was the only thing in the universe and it's because you were completely present and I appreciate you so much for doing it.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: So, closing question what is the promise you are intended to be?
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Nothing, nothing super different comes to me.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: I, just as I said, like I want to be able to leave an impact in people's lives, especially the people around me, in some way.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: They know me.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: They don't know me.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: I want people to know me as I'm for a positive change that I made in their life.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: That could be through, that could be through a personal help.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: I think that's a goal.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to chase money.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying I'm not like everyone needs money to survive.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: You know, live a decent life.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: That's going to cause you churn.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: Yes, that is a goal, but I think, for the most part, to get the bigger side of things, I really want to build something that made a positive impact for people around me.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: If I could do that, I think that will define success for me.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: That's where I want to go.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: That's my, I would say that's what I'm trying to intend as of now for sure.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, you know, there's no doubt in my mind that you haven't already been impacting people and that you will continue to do so in meaningful ways.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Any shout outs you want to give Shout outs to everyone I'm connected to Shout out to you, shout out to Lance.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Shout out to Lean, shout out to Audrey.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Shout out to all my construction tribes.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Shout out to my manufacturing folks.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: Tribe out there.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: I cannot, I'm not going to take names because I'm going to.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm going to forget them because this is a timed podcast, but everyone who I'm connected to on LinkedIn, on phone, that I have stopped and taking the time to respond to you, trust me, I care and if I have not responded to you, believe me, I was probably stuck somewhere.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: I'm very good at it.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Sorry, I take pride in it, but I'm very.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I try.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to juggle a lot, but I, if I'm trying to juggle a lot, but I, if I'm not responding now, I will but shout out to all of you for being amazing humans.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Shout out to people who are not so nice, also on my journey, for making me learn something from them.
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Those were life experiences and I'm sure you learned something dealing with me when you were.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I mean, I appreciate people a lot, every single person who came in my life, who was a part and will be in future.