Welcome to Manufacturing Greatness with Trevor Blondeel, where we work with organizations to manufacture greatness by leveraging resources you already have to achieve greater retention, productivity, and profits. To learn more, visit www.manufacturinggreatness.com and click here to subscribe to Trevor's monthly newsletter. Now, let's jump in! In manufacturing plants, the same leadership action can motivate one employee and overwhelm another. Why? It comes down to brain science, communication skills, and how leaders show up under pressure. In this episode, guest Falisha Karpati shares insights on manufacturing leadership, employee engagement, and inclusive leadership for Operations Managers, Production Managers, Manufacturing Managers, and Shift Supervisors. Falisha is a Brain-Based Inclusion Consultant based in Montreal, Canada. She holds a PhD in neuroscience and brings more than a decade of experience studying how the brain works. Through her UNITING BRAINS framework, she helps organizations build human-centered cultures using practical, brain-based strategies. In this conversation, Falisha explains how differences in brain wiring directly impact frontline leadership, communication skills, trust building, and team engagement on the shop floor. She breaks down the neuroscience behind introversion and extroversion, why uncertainty increases stress in manufacturing environments, and how leaders can improve manufacturing culture by asking better questions, minimizing ambiguity, and running more inclusive meetings 01:05 –Recognition can backfire when manufacturing communication ignores individual brain differences 02:12 – Neuroscience explains how self-awareness in leadership shapes perception, behavior, and relationships in manufacturing plants 04:54 –Manufacturing teamwork and employee engagement manufacturing improve when leaders understand natural brain diversity 9:53 – Brain science brings data—not opinions—into manufacturing management and leadership in industrial operations 11:20 – A powerful reminder that perceptions matter more than intentions in building trust in leadership and strong manufacturing relationships 13:39 – Curiosity-driven leadership starts by asking instead of assuming to close the showing up gap 15:32 – High-stimulus environments explain why leaders take shortcuts that undermine manufacturing culture and clarity on the shop floor 17:11 – Autonomy looks different for everyone, redefining supervisor development, coaching in manufacturing, and performance conversations. 19:55 – Minimizing uncertainty strengthens manufacturing safety culture, emotional intelligence, and consistent leadership behaviors 20:21 – Transparent expectations help close the expectation gap and improve accountability in manufacturing plants 22:40 – Inclusive meetings unlock manufacturing innovation by improving manufacturing communication and psychological safety 24:30 – Simple meeting practices support continuous improvement culture and better team engagement in manufacturing 28:53 – Inclusive discussions fuel operational excellence and authentic leadership across manufacturing organizations Connect with Falisha Karpati Visit her website Connect on LinkedIn and Instagram Read her newsletter Full Transcript [00:00:00] We have some changes today. We've changed the name of the podcast since 2019. It's been mindfulness manufacturing our company name changed a few years ago to manufacturing greatness. So we're just aligning that 'cause we're gonna be here manufacturing greatness today, and we're gonna be talking about building some bridges and, and you know, how we continue to manufacture and, how we deal with changes people's moods and what's going on. And it remind me of a time when we were, had a great manufacturing line at the kickoff meeting in the morning, we recognized one of the team members showed appreciation, [00:00:30] put this person's name and picture up and gave them a little gift. they were upset with us and we're kind of like, well, hold on a minute. we did all this and this person's not very appreciative and getting to learn them a little bit more is that they didn't. They don't like that type of attention. people's brains are different. And in manufacturing it just complicates it for us 'cause we don't understand it. So fortunately I have a great guest on and friend today, Falisha Caridi. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. [00:01:00] It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. you are an inclusive consultant. You harness brain science to build inclusive human-centered workplaces. You create space where all brains thrive. And you studied the neuroscience, having a PhD in neuroscience, which for those who don't know what it takes to get a PhD, it's a mountain. So congratulations on that. Thank you. excited to get your knowledge and expertise to talk about this on the show what did we miss Falisha when we upset that team member? how are [00:01:30] people's brains working here? a key point is that everybody's brain works a little bit differently, Humans in general share a core brain structure. we generally have the same parts that do the same functions, but our brains also have differences. like how big certain parts are, how different parts connect to each other, and when different parts get activated. this connects with differences in behavior. so when we [00:02:00] think, behave, communicate, everything we do. Is filtered and processed through our brain. there's a, well-known quote that I love, that says You don't see the world as it is. You see the world as you are. Mm-hmm. And what that means, it's really rooted in brain science. And it means that everything you perceive, take in, think, and express. Goes through your brain. what happened [00:02:30] that day was there was a disconnect between what some team members who created that recognition process, thought this person would want and what they actually wanted, So if we take that recognition experience, maybe it's, getting an award in front of a group And having your name called out and going on stage. if you put two people in that exact same [00:03:00] situation, their brains might react completely differently. we don't necessarily know how people are going to react, what they like, what they don't like. Unless we have those conversations and ask them. just diving into a bit more about why those differences exist, why can you put two people in the same situation and they can react completely differently? our brains are shaped by two main factors. the first is natural [00:03:30] variation in how we're born. there's a wealth of research that shows genetics are connected with many aspects of how our brain works. natural variation is great. It's what keeps us interested. Yeah. We don't wanna, you know, be communicating with people who are exactly the same as us. the natural variation is there for a reason. It's super productive and positive. the second factor is our environment. each of us is shaped from our observations and experiences over time. this includes a whole range of [00:04:00] experiences like our early childhood, our family and community environments. our experiences at school, at work, even our hobbies and interests can change our brain. there's a huge body of neuroscience research that shows brain differences related to living in different cultures. practicing different skills, traumatic experiences and much more. Basically everything you're exposed to, everything that you experience over time, especially if they're repeated or intense, experiences, can change your [00:04:30] brain. what really resonated with me is that Trevor's way is not always the best way. the way you explain like my biases, right? Like. My bias was show appreciation in front of the team. Right? And, and why would I need to check in with that person? in my early manufacturing leadership days, I missed the mark. Often, I just didn't know better. Right? Like, I just thought, you start to learn that. that's why we're hoping that if you're driving into work today, through my mistakes and Falisha's knowledge, we can save you that pain. we're gonna leave you with [00:05:00] some ideas of, what you can do today, to get in front of that. 'cause it makes sense. What you're saying is that, we just have how we grew up and, and our different, you know, the. I think of Lisa Feelman Barrett and, and the theory of constructed emotions. your personality and emotions are based on your experiences and we have different experiences Right. they're just different. And that's what makes us unique and I like that. I was going through some of your material and I'm trying, 'cause I'm trying to, you know, like our listeners. To understand and better [00:05:30] equip ourselves so that we can, respond differently. But you had some neat research on introverts and extroverts, and I was reviewing it with Ryan, a client today, and he's kinda like, Hey, I think you skimmed over, that whole concept on introverts and extroverts. So can you unpack that for us and help us understand? Definitely. so I also wanna clarify, my background and what I'm doing now compared to what I did before. I have a background in neuroscience research, that was focused on brain plasticity and how our brains, are impacted by training. so what I [00:06:00] do now is, work with the wealth of research that's there. I don't do, neuroimaging research anymore. I used to, so I know exactly how these things work and I bring that experience now into. Applying neuroscience research in organizational context. Mm-hmm. so I summarize research, I communicate it. but the research, for example, an introversion extroversion is not something that I did myself. there's amazing researchers all around the world that have done this, so I'm more of a curator and a communicator Of the [00:06:30] research now. That's why you're on the show, right?
