Enterprise Excellence Podcast with Brad Jeavons

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How can Australian manufacturers compete globally through innovation, operational excellence and exporting?

In Episode 230 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, host Brad Jeavons welcomes Mike Walsh, CEO of Branach, to explore how an Australian ladder manufacturer grew from a garage startup into an international business.

Mike shares Branach's journey of lean manufacturing, continuous improvement and product innovation, explaining how focusing on safety and quality rather than price helped differentiate the business.

Discover the challenges of expanding into European markets, establishing operations in Germany and using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to support leadership, strategy and sustainable business growth.

This episode offers valuable insights for business leaders looking to improve productivity, develop competitive advantages and expand Australian manufacturing internationally.

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How can community drive continuous improvement and operational excellence across an entire organisation?

In Episode 229 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons welcomes Brett Aislabie, Operational Development Director at Volvo Trucks Australia, to explore how Volvo is building a culture of excellence through collaboration, shared learning and Lean for Retail.

Brett explains how the Volvo Production System has been adapted for its dealer network, using bronze, silver and gold improvement levels to develop capability across approximately 55 dealers.

Discover how peer learning, best-practice sharing and connecting leaders across organisations can accelerate innovation, strengthen leadership and create sustainable continuous improvement.

Key themes: Lean management, operational excellence, continuous improvement, leadership development and building communities of excellence.

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What does it take to achieve Shingo Gold and create a sustainable culture of continuous improvement?

In this episode of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons welcomes Fabiana Trevizani, Head of Excellence at Vale Brazil, to discuss the organisation's journey to achieving the prestigious Shingo Gold Prize.

Fabiana explains how Vale used the Shingo Model to strengthen its Vale Production System (VPS), improve leadership behaviours and align operations and support teams around a common purpose.

We explore:

Leading with humility and respecting every individual
Strengthening leadership through coaching and active listening
Aligning support functions with operations
Using shared logbooks, weekly meetings and integrated gemba visits
Encouraging collaborative problem solving
Building psychological safety and employee engagement
Embedding continuous improvement into daily routines

Fabiana also shares her advice for leaders pursuing organisational excellence, including the importance of humility, courage, resilience and learning from mistakes.

This conversation offers practical insights for managers and leaders interested in the Shingo Model, Lean management, cultural transformation, operational excellence and continuous improvement.

Case study coming soon:
https://enterpriseexcellencepodcast.com/downloads

#ShingoModel #ContinuousImprovement #Leadership #EnterpriseExcellence

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How can Agile and Lean transform productivity in advanced manufacturing?

In this episode of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons speaks with Matt Oakley, Head of Operations at Ferra Group Australia, about how Ferra has combined Agile at Scale, Lean Manufacturing, Scrum, Six Sigma and continuous improvement to transform the way it operates.

Over approximately four years, Matt explains that Ferra achieved around 25% average annual growth, approximately 220% EBITDA growth, doubled revenue while increasing staff by only around 30%, and roughly doubled the value generated per employee.

In this episode, Brad and Matt explore:

🔹 Why Agile isn't just for software development
🔹 How Agile at Scale can work in manufacturing
🔹 Combining Agile, Lean, Scrum and Six Sigma
🔹 Improving productivity without simply making people work harder
🔹 Creating empowered and self-managing teams
🔹 Servant leadership and frontline problem solving
🔹 Removing blockers and improving flow
🔹 Making continuous improvement part of everyday work
🔹 Building an organisational operating system
🔹 The future of technology, automation and AI in manufacturing

Matt also shares how his military background influenced his approach to leadership, teamwork and complex problem solving.

A key message from the conversation is that organisations don't need to choose between Lean and Agile. They can take the strongest principles from different approaches and build an operating system that works for their people, customers and environment.

This episode is a practical Australian case study for anyone interested in productivity, advanced manufacturing, Agile, Lean Manufacturing, continuous improvement, operational excellence and leadership.

Learn more and access resources at:
enterpriseexcellencepodcast.com

#Agile #LeanManufacturing #Productivity #ContinuousImprovement #EnterpriseExcellence #Manufacturing #Leadership

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What if joy isn't the reward for success, but the foundation for achieving it?

In this episode of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons is joined by Kevin Surace, a Silicon Valley innovator, serial entrepreneur, CEO and inventor, to explore joy, success, innovation, AI, productivity and workplace culture.

Kevin has more than 90 worldwide patents and is recognised as a pioneer of virtual assistant technology that helped pave the way for Siri and Alexa. He has been named Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year, CNBC's Innovator of the Decade, and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

His latest book, The Joy Success Cycle, explores a powerful idea:

Joy comes before success, not after it.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why joy can be a prerequisite for success
Kevin's journey from engineer to entrepreneur and inventor
How curiosity drives innovation and problem solving
Why lifelong learning matters
Kevin's early work developing virtual assistant technology
Why organisations struggle to adopt artificial intelligence (AI)
The impact of workplace culture on AI implementation
How AI can eliminate joyless and low-value work
Why AI should increase productivity and value, not simply reduce costs
How AI is changing software development and knowledge work
Why employees should become AI-first
Kevin's "one complaint a day" rule
The relationship between mindset, behaviour and performance
How leaders can create positive and engaged workplaces

AI: Cost Cutting or Productivity?

Kevin argues that the opportunity isn't simply to use AI to reduce headcount and cut costs. Organisations can use AI to remove waste, increase productivity, accelerate delivery and create more value with the people they already have.

Brad connects this to continuous improvement and enterprise excellence, using technology to improve the flow of value while enabling people and machines to work together.

The Joy Success Cycle

Kevin's central message is that people shouldn't wait until they achieve success to experience joy.

Instead, joy can create the mindset and environment that makes greater success possible.

The conversation explores how people can take greater control of their mindset, reduce negativity, focus on what they can influence and create more positive working environments.


About Kevin Surace

Kevin Surace is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, innovator, CEO and inventor with more than 90 worldwide patents. He is recognised as a pioneer of virtual assistant technology and is the author of The Joy Success Cycle.

Listen to the Enterprise Excellence Podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1120772/episodes/19720903

Watch more episodes:
[https://www.youtube.com/ ⁨@enterpriseexcellencepodcas6777⁩  

Learn more about Kevin Surace:
https://www.kevinsurace.com/

Enterprise Excellence Group:
https://eexg.com.au/


Chapters

00:00 – Introduction
00:24 – Meet Kevin Surace
01:48 – Kevin's journey as an innovator and entrepreneur
03:45 – Being early with innovation
04:20 – Curiosity and lifelong learning
06:46 – Why Kevin wrote The Joy Success Cycle
08:00 – The connection between joy, innovation and success
09:00 – AI, workplace culture and employee resistance
10:58 – How AI can remove joyless work
13:17 – Eliminating waste through AI
14:15 – AI and the future of software development
17:17 – AI, productivity and employment
19:00 – The Joy Success Cycle
21:17 – The "one complaint a day" rule
23:37 – How joy influences behaviour and results
24:20 – Advice for leaders and organisations
27:21 – Stop worrying about what you can't control
30:55 – Creating a culture of joy and engagement
32:17 – Social influence and workplace culture
34:32 – Where to find Kevin and The Joy Success Cycle
35:28 – Final thoughts
35:30 – Brad's key takeaways


Subscribe to the Enterprise Excellence Podcast for conversations with global experts, innovators, CEOs and practitioners exploring enterprise excellence, continuous improvement, innovation, leadership, organisational culture, AI, productivity and creating a better future.

#EnterpriseExcellence #ai  #innovation  #leadership  #productivity  #workplaceculture  #joyatwork  #KevinSurace

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Why do so many organisations create great strategies but fail to achieve the results they planned?

In this episode of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons speaks with Evan Campbell, strategy execution expert and author of Adapt to Win, about why organisations struggle with strategy execution, strategy deployment, organisational alignment and strategic adaptability.

Evan introduces the concept of strategy decay—the gradual loss of focus, alignment and momentum that occurs when an organisation creates a strategy but fails to continually deploy, reinforce, measure and adapt it.

With a career spanning the United States Army, technology, software development, entrepreneurship, agile transformation and business consulting, Evan brings a unique systems-thinking perspective to the challenge of helping organisations turn strategy into measurable results.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why up to 70% of organisations struggle to achieve their strategic objectives
 What strategy decay is and why it happens
 The difference between strategy development and strategy execution
 Why a strategy PowerPoint presentation is not strategy deployment
 How organisations lose focus and alignment over time
 Why completing more projects does not necessarily create more value
 How OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) can improve strategic alignment
 The importance of combining top-down strategic direction with bottom-up engagement
 How Lean Portfolio Management helps organisations prioritise high-value work
 Why leaders need to stop or kill projects that are no longer delivering strategic value
 The dangers of rigid, traditional project management
 How organisations can develop strategic adaptability
 Why leadership teams often have false alignment around their strategy
 Three practical actions CEOs and senior leaders can take to improve strategy execution

One of the biggest lessons from this conversation is simple:

Creating a strategy is only the beginning.

For strategy to succeed, leaders must create clarity around where the organisation will play, how it will win and what outcomes matter most. That strategy then needs to be continuously deployed, measured and adapted as the business environment changes.

If you're a CEO, executive, business leader, strategy professional, transformation leader, lean practitioner, agile coach or enterprise excellence professional, this episode provides practical insights into improving business strategy, strategy deployment, organisational performance and strategic execution.

About Evan Campbell

Evan Campbell is an experienced technology and business leader specialising in strategy execution, strategic adaptability, OKRs and lean portfolio management.

His career has included serving as an Airborne Ranger and Green Beret in the United States Army, working in telecommunications and technology, co-founding successful businesses, leading agile and lean transformations and helping organisations around the world improve how they execute strategy.

Evan is also the author of Adapt to Win, a book exploring how organisations can overcome strategy decay and build the capabilities needed to adapt and thrive in an increasingly complex world.

🎙️ Listen to the Enterprise Excellence Podcast:
https://enterpriseexcellencegroup.com.au/enterprise-excellence-podcast/

📺 Watch more Enterprise Excellence Podcast episodes:
 https://www.youtube.com/@enterpriseexcellencepodcas6777

📖 Learn more about Evan Campbell and Adapt to Win:
 https://www.lbiconsulting.com/strategymeetsreality-podcast/making-strategy-real-evan-campbell

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Introduction
 01:11 – Evan Campbell's journey from Green Beret to business leader
 05:12 – Becoming a systems thinker
 07:20 – Why Evan wrote Adapt to Win
 10:22 – What is strategy decay?
 13:19 – Why organisations struggle with strategy deployment
 15:31 – The importance of strategic alignment
 17:46 – Why strategy should not just be a collection of projects
 22:28 – OKRs vs traditional management by objectives
 25:50 – Lean Portfolio Management and stopping low-value projects
 27:20 – Strategic adaptability and responding to change
 30:01 – Three actions leaders can take to improve strategy execution
 36:07 – Where to learn more about Evan Campbell and Adapt to Win

Subscribe to the Enterprise Excellence Podcast for conversations with leading experts, CEOs, practitioners and thought leaders exploring how organisations can create a better future through enterprise excellence, continuous improvement, leadership, strategy and organisational transformation.

#StrategyExecution #BusinessStrategy #OKRs #Leadership #EnterpriseExcellence #LeanManagement #StrategyDeployment #OrganisationalExcellence #BusinessTransformation #ContinuousImprovement #LeanPortfolioManagement #StrategicLeadership

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Are you a senior leader struggling with executive burnout, an overloaded calendar, and a team that depends on you for everything?
You are not alone — and you do not have to walk away from the career you love.

In this episode, Brad Jeavons sits down with Michelle Thomas, a global innovation and mining executive with 27 years of experience across oil and gas, geophysics and the resources industry.
Michelle shares the exact steps she took to recover from executive burnout and build a high performance innovation team so strong it kept running without her for an entire month.

What you will learn:
How to spot the early warning signs of leadership burnout before it escalates
Why your calendar is the key to unlocking leadership performance and team wellbeing
How to build meeting rhythms and operating cadence that eliminate chaos and create clarity
How to use Leader Standard Work (LSW) and the Week in the Life Of (WILO) to structure your time
How the Stop Start Keep framework helps you ruthlessly prioritise high value work
Why meaningful delegation is the leadership skill that unlocks team autonomy and growth
How the leadership shadow you cast every day shapes team culture and psychological safety
How to build a self-sustaining high performance team that thrives without you

Essential listening for:
Senior executives and directors experiencing burnout and calendar overload
Women in leadership navigating mid to long term career challenges and overwhelm
Innovation, technical and operations leaders in complex global organisations
HR, organisational development and continuous improvement professionals
Leaders in mining, resources, oil and gas and energy sectors

Brad's two key takeaways:

Connecting leadership change to a meaningful personal purpose is what makes it sustainable

A team system that keeps running when the leader is absent is the ultimate measure of great leadership

Free Time Optimisation Program and Transformation Resources: our new website is live! https://eexg.com.au/
#leadership  #WeekInTheLifeOf #wilo  #stop #planning  #operatingsystem  #psychologicalsafety  #leadership #executive #Recovery #continuousimprovement  #innovationleadership  #highperformanceteams  #EnterpriseExcellence #mining 

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The Enterprise Excellence Podcast — engaging and aligning everyone to execute continuous improvement and innovation for a better future.
Like, share and subscribe to help other leaders stay focused, rebuild and thrive.

To learn more about what we do, visit https://eexg.com.au/
Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.

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Is your business strategy failing to deliver results? In this episode, Brad Jeavons breaks down the Strategy and Cultural Planning System — the essential framework for business leaders who want to build a high-performance culture, drive sustainable productivity growth, and achieve real business transformation.

Drawing on the latest Reserve Bank of Australia productivity data from June 2026 and the new book Leading Enterprise Excellence by Butterworth, Jeavons, Ray and Dargan, Brad reveals why most strategic planning fails and what to do instead.

In this episode you will learn why Australian productivity is in negative territory and what leaders must do now, the two levers of organisational productivity — optimisation and innovation — and how to build a strategic planning system that actually executes. Brad also covers how to define your culture through ideal leadership behaviours, how to use SWOT analysis and the XY Matrix for strategic focus and core competency development, and how to align strategy and culture from the boardroom to the frontline.

This episode is essential listening for CEOs, senior leaders, operations managers, continuous improvement practitioners, HR and organisational development professionals, and anyone leading business transformation in Australian or global organisations.

Coming up in this series: Strategy and Behaviour Deployment, plus real-world examples from Michelle Thomas of BHP and Matt Oakley of Farah.

Download free Strategic and Cultural Planning templates at theenterpriseexcellencepodcast.com/downloads

Please like, subscribe and share to help other leaders create a better future.

To learn more about what we do, visit https://eexg.com.au/
Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.

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Is your organisation struggling with disengaged employees, quality issues, productivity challenges, or failed transformation projects? You're not alone — and there's a better way.

In this solo episode, Brad Jeavons shares the current best-practice framework developed by the Enterprise Excellence Group: a proven 5-step transformation journey that helps organisations build a genuine culture of continuous improvement and innovation at every level.

Brad walks you through each phase of the journey:

1. Assess – Voice of employee & customer, strategic and cultural maturity reviews, and extended value stream mapping
2. Design – Co-creating your culture definition and business operating system with frontline and middle management teams
3. Build – Developing leadership capability to lead culture and systems
4. Embed – Deploying the system into daily work across the organisation
5. Sustain – Annual maturity reviews and continuous improvement of the journey itself

With global employee engagement sitting at just 24% and productivity in decline, Brad makes the case that the cost of not following a structured transformation approach runs into the trillions worldwide. This episode cuts through the noise of silver-bullet solutions and gives you a clear, proven path forward.

Resources mentioned:

• Leading Enterprise Excellence – Butterworth, Jeavons, Ray & Dargan
• Enterprise Excellence Maturity Index
• Download the Enterprise Excellence Transformation Journey and Process Mapping Guide at 👉 https://enterpriseexcellencegroup.com.au/

🎙️ The Enterprise Excellence Podcast explores how to engage and align everyone in an organisation to execute continuous improvement and innovation.

If this episode added value, please share it and leave a like — helping others discover this work is how we create a better future together.

To learn more about what we do, visit https://eexg.com.au/
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Episode Summary

In this episode of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons speaks with Chris Warner, author of Flick the Switch and co-author of the award-winning book Why Care.

Chris shares insights from over 30 years in the automotive and mining industries, exploring the powerful connection between psychological wellbeing, leadership, and continuous improvement. Together, they discuss psychological safety, psychosocial hazards, leadership responsibility, systems thinking, and why thriving individuals are essential for creating thriving cultures of improvement.

Whether you're a leader, improvement practitioner, or executive seeking better performance and engagement, this episode provides practical guidance on creating workplaces where people feel safe to contribute, innovate, and thrive.

Key Topics Discussed

• Psychological safety vs psychological health and safety
 • Understanding psychosocial hazards in the workplace
 • Why psychological wellbeing drives continuous improvement
 • Leadership as system architecture
 • Creating psychological capacity for innovation and problem-solving
 • The importance of Go See, one-on-one engagement, and systems thinking
 • Reducing workplace stress through better work design

About Chris Warner

Chris Warner has spent more than three decades leading operational excellence and continuous improvement across automotive and mining industries. He is the author of Flick the Switch, co-author of Why Care, and a passionate advocate for psychological wellbeing in the workplace.

Connect

🌐 Enterprise Excellence Group: https://enterpriseexcellencegroup.com.au

📧 Contact Brad: [email protected]

To learn more about what we do, visit https://eexg.com.au/
Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.