Enterprise Excellence Podcast with Brad Jeavons

Brad Jeavons
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  • Management
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In this Podcast we interview experts on all things Enterprise Excellence, sharing their story and their insights. Experts who believe in achieving sustainable change that betters more than just an organisations' profit line. Experts who help organisations achieve a symbiotic relationship between environment and economics. Experts who believe in a culture of continuous improvement. We share world best practice and knowledge in achieving a win-win outcome for people, profit and the planet. Join us on this journey to excellence and help to create a better world for organisations, people and the planet. 

  1. 1d ago

    225, Adapt to Win – Why Great Strategies Fail and What Leaders Can Do About It With Author Evan Campbell

    Send us Fan Mail 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 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.

    225, Adapt to Win – Why Great Strategies Fail and What Leaders Can Do About It With Author Evan Campbell

  2. Aug 3

    224 Stay, focus, rebuild with Michelle Thomas Head of Innovation MinAus BHP.

    Send us Fan Mail 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  Subscribe for weekly episodes on leadership development, executive burnout, high performance teams, continuous improvement, business transformation, lean management and enterprise excellence. 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.

    224 Stay, focus, rebuild with Michelle Thomas Head of Innovation MinAus BHP.

  3. Jul 20

    223 Strategy & Cultural Planning: A System Behind Sustainable Excellence with Brad Jeavons.

    Send us Fan Mail 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.

    223 Strategy & Cultural Planning: A System Behind Sustainable Excellence with Brad Jeavons.

  4. Jul 6

    222 Simply Achieving Excellence Your Way for Sustainable Results with Brad Jeavons.

    Send us Fan Mail 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: Assess – Voice of employee & customer, strategic and cultural maturity reviews, and extended value stream mappingDesign – Co-creating your culture definition and business operating system with frontline and middle management teamsBuild – Developing leadership capability to lead culture and systemsEmbed – Deploying the system into daily work across the organisationSustain – Annual maturity reviews and continuous improvement of the journey itselfWith 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 & DarganEnterprise Excellence Maturity IndexDownload 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/ Thanks for your time, and thanks for helping to create a better future.

    222 Simply Achieving Excellence Your Way for Sustainable Results with Brad Jeavons.

  5. Jun 22

    221 Why Care? Psychological Wellbeing, Continuous Improvement and Leadership with Chris Warner.

    Send us Fan Mail 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: b.jeavons@eexg.com.au 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.

    221 Why Care? Psychological Wellbeing, Continuous Improvement and Leadership with Chris Warner.

  6. Jun 14

    220 The Playbook Approach — Why Shared Clarity is the Starting Point Every Leader Misses with Stephen Nicoll.

    Send us Fan Mail What if the biggest barrier to transformation in your organisation is not a lack of tools, strategy, or resources — but a lack of shared clarity about where you actually are right now? In Episode 220 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, host Brad Jeavons is joined by Stephen Nicoll, founder of The Lean Orange and one of the world's most experienced guides on the journey to enterprise excellence. Stephen led the team at News Corp's Scottish newspaper manufacturing facility to become the first — and only — organisation in the United Kingdom to win the prestigious Shingo Prize. He has since spent decades helping organisations across the globe build cultures of continuous improvement and innovation. Stephen and Brad explore the foundational concept of shared clarity: why organisations that skip this step almost always underachieve on their transformation ambitions, and how getting it right creates the conditions for everything else to work. Stephen shares the 12-step flow model that The Lean Orange uses with clients, including the critical step zero of building a community of excellence before any formal change work begins. He explains why the best playbooks are built by the people who will use them, how agile sprints make transformation manageable and sustainable, and why leaders who coach key behavioural indicators outperform those who manage key performance indicators. Two insights from this episode stand out. First, Stephen's challenge to flip the idea ratio: in most organisations, 90% of improvement ideas come from leadership and 10% from frontline workers. The goal is to invert that — and the result is leaders who finally have time to lead. Second, his closing provocation, inspired by a 40-year Lean veteran in California: unplug technology and plug back into people. Real engagement, he argues, is built through conversation, physical presence, and the simple question: "What do you think?" Key topics covered in this episode: •       Why shared clarity — not tools or strategy — is the true starting point of excellence •       How to conduct a benchmarking conversation that reveals what surveys and dashboards miss •       The 12-step flow model and how to build a playbook your people will actually use •       Agile sprints: making transformation manageable in the real rhythm of your business •       KBIs versus KPIs: why coaching behaviour beats managing numbers •       The 90/10 idea ratio and how to flip it in your favour •       Why technology can unintentionally de-skill and disengage your people •       The shift from 'culture' to 'character' — and why it changes what leaders do Ready to start your excellence journey with clarity? Listen to Episode 220 now and connect with Brad Jeavons on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradjeavons/ or visit the podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1120772/episodes/19266727. 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.

    220 The Playbook Approach — Why Shared Clarity is the Starting Point Every Leader Misses with Stephen Nicoll.

  7. Jun 1

    219 Effectiveness vs Efficiency: What Most Leaders Get Wrong with Gary Stewart.

    Send us Fan Mail What if the reason your business isn't growing has nothing to do with efficiency — and everything to do with whether you are solving the right problems at all?  In Episode 219 of the Enterprise Excellence Podcast, Brad Jeavons sits down with Gary Stewart — a former CEO of a Toyota Group company and one of Australia's most experienced systems thinkers — to explore one of the most important and misunderstood distinctions in organisational performance: effectiveness versus efficiency. Gary brings decades of experience inside the Toyota system to this conversation, and he pulls no punches. While efficiency focuses on the producer — doing things with less waste — effectiveness focuses on the customer: solving the right problems, creating the right outcomes. Both matter, but most organisations are so obsessed with efficiency metrics that they are inadvertently destroying their own effectiveness — and often don't know it, because the metrics they are using are being gamed. Gary shares two powerful case studies. The first involves a production manager claiming 103% efficiency — a mathematical impossibility that turned out to mask a true gross efficiency of just 50%. The second is a microbiology company on the verge of collapse that, by mapping its perfect system and systematically removing problems, errors, delays, and frustrations, reduced its project timeline from 116 weeks to just 26 weeks — and in the process solved science problems no one had ever solved, creating global patents and a new revenue stream. This is what effectiveness innovation looks like in practice. The conversation also challenges some deeply held assumptions about Lean, describing it as fundamentally a 'watching the hands' method that can take organisations to 3 or 3.5 out of 10 on the perfect line — but never to 4. The shift required to go further is not a technical one; it is a human one. And that requires leaders to give up command and control in favour of a model that develops the human mind as its primary purpose.   Key topics covered in this episode: •       The difference between effectiveness innovation (customer-focused, revenue and profit) and efficiency innovation (producer-focused, working capital and cash flow) •       Campbell's Law: why manipulable targets always get gamed, and how to use absolute benchmarks to expose the truth •       The microbiology case study: from near-bankruptcy to global patents in three years •       The factory as a dojo: Toyota's philosophy that the purpose of work is to train the human mind •       Why Lean is a 'watching the hands' method — and why that limits it to 3 out of 10 on the perfect line •       Command and control vs the ascending spiral curve: what it really takes to build excellence •       The QA network: a practical tool for building frontline ownership of quality and system control •       How to start: study Russell Ackoff, map the perfect system, and teach people how their system fails   If you lead an organisation and you are serious about building something genuinely excellent — not just efficient — this episode will change how you think about performance, leadership, and people development.   Connect with Brad Jeavons: linkedin.com/in/bradjeavons/ Enterprise Excellence Group Podcast: buzzsprout.com/1120772/episodes/19266509 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.

    219 Effectiveness vs Efficiency: What Most Leaders Get Wrong with Gary Stewart.

  8. May 6

    218 Leading Excellence In Innovation and Productivity with Mr Gary Stewart.

    Send us Fan Mail Discover why most organisations focus too heavily on efficiency while missing the deeper architecture required for true enterprise excellence. In this thought-provoking episode, Gary Stewart shares lessons from Toyota Group companies on systems thinking, effectiveness innovation, and why operational excellence starts with developing people and systems — not just processes. Summary KeywordsEnterprise Excellence, Systems Thinking, Toyota Production System, Operational Excellence, Innovation, Effectiveness Innovation, Efficiency Innovation, Lean, Productivity, Human Systems, Technical Systems, Russell Ackoff, Deming, Continuous Improvement, Leadership, Organizational Transformation, Manufacturing, Economic Complexity, Business Architecture, Absolute Benchmarks   Episode Summary:Gary Stewart joins Brad Jeavons on the Enterprise Excellence Podcast to challenge conventional thinking around innovation, Lean, and operational excellence. Drawing on decades inside Toyota Group companies including Denso and Aisin, Gary explains why most organizations focus too heavily on efficiency while neglecting the deeper systems architecture required for long-term effectiveness, productivity, and innovation. The episode explores: The “Perfect Line” concept Human systems vs technical systems Effectiveness innovation vs efficiency innovation Systems thinking and Russell Ackoff Why productivity and innovation decline when organisations focus only on efficiency How Toyota Group companies build sustainable enterprise excellence This is a thought-provoking conversation for leaders interested in continuous improvement, systems thinking, operational excellence, and long-term organisational transformation.   Episode Links: Youtube: https://youtu.be/6CRhQXgGQhw  Enterprise Excellence Group: https://enterpriseexcellencegroup.com.au/enterprise-excellence-podcast/ Contacts  Connect with Brad on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradjeavons/. Call him on 0402 448 445 or email him at bjeavons@iqi.com.au.  If you’d like to connect with Mr Gary Stewart, please reach out to us.   Suggested Next Steps for ListenersRequest Gary Stewart’s worksheet from us through contact us on our website, or email.Study Russell Ackoff and Deming Assess whether your organisation focuses too heavily on efficiency over effectiveness Explore how architecture and systems design influence operational performance Evaluate whether your organisation uses absolute or relative benchmarks Reflect on where your organisation sits on the “ascending vs descending spiral” 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.

    218 Leading Excellence In Innovation and Productivity with Mr Gary Stewart.
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In this Podcast we interview experts on all things Enterprise Excellence, sharing their story and their insights. Experts who believe in achieving sustainable change that betters more than just an organisations' profit line. Experts who help organisations achieve a symbiotic relationship between environment and economics. Experts who believe in a culture of continuous improvement. We share world best practice and knowledge in achieving a win-win outcome for people, profit and the planet. Join us on this journey to excellence and help to create a better world for organisations, people and the planet. 

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