State Of Readiness Joseph F Paris Jr

Video Version








About the Podcast

I have known Michael Webb for several years.  He has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Operational Excellence Society almost since its inception and led the Operational Excellence Society Chapter in Atlanta. 


We start the podcast by discussing the application of operational excellence and continuous improvement principles to sales and marketing activities.  Paris made note of the challenges due to the personality-driven nature of sales and getting salespeople to document processes and how there might be a natural conflict between the human-empathetic side of sales with the data-driven needs of management.


Michael explained how sales processes can be defined through engaging salespeople to determine what drives value for customers.  This allows processes to be measured and improved.  To this end, defining what is of value operationally is important and discussed how processes should focus on creating value rather than only eliminating waste.


Michael highlighted how statistical analysis can be applied to sales activities like lead qualification when processes are defined properly.  This brings more science to sales.  And regarding management needs, Michael emphasized processes should serve salespeople but allow enough standardization for effective management and fostering opportunities for coaching.  Striking a balance when it comes to documentation is ideal; harvesting only the information that is of value and minimizing the narrative form of documentation (nobody reads it anyway).


Towards the end of the interview, Michael overviewed his books, including Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way which shows how Six Sigma principles apply to sales, and Sales Process Excellence which earned a Shingo Research Award and provides a textbook on improving sales processes.


And finally, no interview would be complete today without some commentary on where AI is going and its impact on sales and marketing processes and personnel.  To this end, we both believe that human interaction will remain important for establishing trust and empathy.


About Michael Webb

Michael Webb is an internationally known author and management consultant.  He brings data-driven management approaches to sales and marketing organizations.  Before starting his own consultancy firm, Sales Performance Consultants, Inc., he held roles in sales, sales training, and sales management for IMPAX Corporation, PCT Incorporated, Rockwell Automation, and others.


When exposed to production improvement methodologies (e.g., Six Sigma, and Lean) he saw parallels to B2B sales production.  He pioneered ways of helping sales teams distinguish value from waste.  He also created ways for sales teams to develop operational definitions.  These enabled continuous improvement in sales productivity, forecast accuracy, and other metrics.


His approach recognizes the critical role beliefs play in the behaviors of sales and marketing people as well as customers.  He engages front-line salespeople, managers, and executives as well as cross-functional teams.


His 2006 book, “Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way”, earned 4.5 stars on Amazon and sold more than 21 thousand copies.  And his 2014 book, “Sales Process Excellence” earned the prestigious Shingo Research Award in 2015.  His articles range from sales quality and process to reducing waste and capitalizing on customer value where they draw on his extensive experience working with direct and channel sales and marketing teams of large and small companies.


Author of: 

Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way: In Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way, Michael Webb shows how to blend marketing and sales efforts with the cutting-edge methods of Six Sigma to boost their bottom lines.

Sales Process Excellence, 2015 Shingo Award Winner:  In 'Sales Process Excellence', Michael Webb t

Video Version








About the Podcast

My guest today is Scott Lushin, Senior Manager of Global Operational Excellence at Donaldson Company, Incorporated.


In this episode, Scott takes us through his professional journey. Starting off in retail automotive and the restaurant business, it is obvious that has two passions; problem solving and leadership. Although his passion for problem-solving made itself readily apparent in his early life, his skills in leadership made themselves known later and over time.


Scott started his journey right out of high school at an automotive service chain where he became manager and then training manager. After a few years, he eventually moved on to work in the food industry at a chain of restaurants; becoming training manager then district manager. Against his mother’s advice against seeking a job in manufacturing, he joined Donaldson through a temp-agency.


He has always been a ‘thinker’, a problem solver, even as a kid he loved to solve problems. The more complex the problem, the more fun they were to solve. He could spend days trying to unravel a problem and eventually he got very good at it. His problem-solving specialty is manufacturing and process improvements. Scott sees the world through a different lens, which is why he is often called upon to solve complex problems. He especially loves being thrown into a complex problem and forming a team to tackle it.


Even though Scott did not (and does not still) have a college degree, Donaldson must have seen something in Scott, as he has been there 32 years. He has held positions and roles too varied to list, but include: Operations Supervisor, Manufacturing Engineer, C.I. Engineer, C.I. Specialist, Operations Management, and since 2019 leading efforts with Global Operational Excellence.


There was a time when a person without a college degree could grow to leadership roles in a company and Scott is living proof. Has that time passed? Or has enough time not passed to make that determination. We shall see.


LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottlushin/
Company: Donaldson Company, Incorporated
Title: Senior Manager, Global Operational Excellence
Website: https://www.donaldson.com/
Year Founded: 1915
Company Type: Publicly Traded (DCI)
About: Donaldson Company, Inc. manufactures and sells filtration systems and replacement parts worldwide.  The company operates through three segments: Mobile Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Life Sciences.  Its Mobile Solutions segment provides replacement filters for air and liquid filtration applications, such as air filtration systems; liquid filtration systems for fuel, lube, and hydraulic applications; exhaust and emissions systems and sensors; indicators; and monitoring systems.  This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the construction, mining, agriculture, aerospace, defense, and transportation markets; and to independent distributors, and OEM dealer networks.  The company's Industrial Solutions segment offers dust, fume, and mist collectors; compressed air and industrial gasses purification systems; and hydraulic and lubricated rotating equipment applications, as well as gas and liquid filtration for industrial processes.  This segment sells its products to various distributors, OEMs, and end-users.  Its Life Sciences segment provides micro-environment gas and liquid filtration for food, beverage, and industrial processes; bioprocessing equipment, that includes bioreactors and fermenters; and bioprocessing consumables, such as chromatography devices, reagents and filters, and polytetrafluoroethylene membrane-based products, as well as specialized air and gas filtration systems for applications, including hard disk drives, semi-conductor manufacturing and sensors, battery systems, and powertrain components to OEMs and various end-users.

Video Version








About the Podcast

Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness. I am your host, Joseph Paris.
My guest today is Ben Guttmann, Author of “Simply Put; Why Clear Messages Win―and How to Design Them.”




We start the conversation going back to high school where Ben was fortunate enough to have attended a high school that had a business department and offerings for those who were interested in business goings-on. It's here where Ben got hooked on marketing.


We share our ideas on communicating, mostly born of experiences. Why do people feel they have to pack so many words around an idea to get the point across; and all at the risk of making the message less clear.


As an example, Joseph shares his experience as an elementary school student. When returning from summer vacation, the teacher would always ask for a "500 word essay on what I did on my summer vacation." Joseph shares that "I went fishin' and I went swimmin.' Now I have to find another 493 words of fluff to pad it and complete the assignment."


Ben shares how he and a few friends came to start their own marketing firm, Digital Natives Group, starting out of an opportunity that presented itself while they were attending Baruch College. One of Ben's professors, who also ran a marketing agency, needed help with digital marketing.


They meet with the professor's partner, and Ben and his friend decide to start a marketing agency specializing in digital with the professor's firm being the first client. They even set-up shop in the basement of the professor's agency.


So, in the spirit of "Simply Put", I will leave it here. Enjoy the podcast.





Ben Guttmann is an experienced marketing and communications expert and educator on a mission to get leaders to more effectively connect by simplifying their message. He is a former co-founder and managing partner at Digital Natives Group, an award-winning agency that worked with the NFL, I Love NY, Comcast, NBC, Universal and other major clients. Currently, Ben consults with a range of thought leaders, venture-backed startups, and other brands.


He went attended Baruch College where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Marketing Management. He presently teaches digital marketing at Baruch as an Adjunct Lecturer and serves on the Advisory Board of the Zicklin School of Business.


 An interesting conversation which I am sure you will enjoy.


LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benguttmann/
Company: Unisphere Ideas
Title: Principal
Website: https://www.benguttmann.com/
Year Founded: 2022
Company Type: Sole Proprietor


Also an Adjunct Lecturer at Baruch College Marketing Department where he currently teaches digital advertising,

Video Version








About the Podcast

Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness.  I am your host, Joseph Paris.


My guest today is Jesse DePriest, President of Jesse DePriest Consulting, LLC; Privately held consultancy specializing in Lean including; strategy development and deployment, leadership development, process design and analysis, process improvement, problem solving, teamwork. 


I have known Jesse for several years and his story is as American as Apple Pie.


Jessie grew up on a dairy farm in Alaska where he was the youngest of 10 brothers and sisters.  Those of you might not appreciate how challenging working on a family farm might, be not to mention that farm being a dairy farm.  It starts with understanding that the cows have to be milked twice a day, every day of the year.  There is no rest.


But having such a challenging job and its responsibilities (even with 9 others to help out) makes a person both resilient and resourceful.  Resilient, in that you better be tough and durable otherwise the job will break you.  Resourceful, because the challenges make you want to always find easier and better ways of doing your tasks.


Jesse went to university on an ROTC scholarship at the Oregon Institute of Technology where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.  Afterwards he went into the US Army as an officer flying and tending to Blackhawk helicopters; where he and his unit consistently earned performance commendations.


After his time in the US Army, Jesse entered the private sector working at various manufacturing companies and also banking; which was his last W2 job before starting his consulting practice.


The conversation follows Jesse’s journey and the lessons learned along the way.  Topics include his thoughts on; Lean principles and practices, leadership, psychological safety, why most everyone knows what should to create a high-performing organization but consistently fail to deliver it (hint: it has to do with KPI’s), and other lessons learned from his experiences.


 An interesting conversation which I am sure you will enjoy.


LinkedIn Profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/fjdepriest/
Company: Jesse DePriest Consulting, LLC
Title: President
Year Founded: May 2019, Omaha NE
Company Type: Privately held consultancy specializing in Lean including; strategy development and deployment, leadership development, process design and analysis, process improvement, problem solving, teamwork.

Video Version








About the Podcast

Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness. I am your host Joseph Paris.


My guest today is Daniel Varroney, President and CEO of Potomac Core; a consultancy specializing in helping trade organizations transform into strategic partner for industry and professions.


I have known Daniel for many years; having first met him when I was a member of the New York City Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) which is an organization of professionals serving the mergers and acquisitions ecosystem and he was its Global CEO.


The main topic of our conversation is the challenges that businesses face today are bigger, faster, and more frequent than in times past.




For your consideration, within just the last six years (since 2016 when President Trump was elected) we have had; tariff and trade wars (friends and adversaries alike), challenges with refugees and managing borders (not just in the States), Brexit, COVID (and everything directly and indirectly associated with it), Russia invasion of Ukraine (and the resultant food and energy disruptions), unacceptably high inflation (and the resultant interest rate hikes), political discourse, and probably several items I missed.


How is a company, industry, or profession to cope? Not to mention influence?





The obvious answer is to form advocacy organizations to act as platforms to consolidate their voice and interests.


Which leads us to his book; “Reimagining Industry Growth” offers readers a blueprint to harnessing the power of leading industry associations as strategic partners. By utilizing those partnerships, business leaders will become able to leverage the collective strength of the supply chain to overcome challenges, address uncertainty, mitigate risks, and position their industries for growth.


An interesting conversation which I am sure you will enjoy.


LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danvarroney/
Company: Potomac Core - Association Consulting
Title: President and CEO
Year Founded: 2012, Arlington Virginia
Company Type: Privately held strategic consultancy that applies research driven strategies to reimagine new growth pathways for Industries and Professions. Our mission is to deliver research guided processes that help Trade Associations transform into Strategic Partners for Industries and Professions. As such, we help transform organizations into the important role of real time business solution providers.

Video Version








About the Podcast

Hello and welcome to another edition of State of Readiness. I am your host Joseph Paris.


My guest today is Innocent Hadebe, Director of Business Excellence for Chick-fil-A Corporate.  I met Innocent like a meet a great many people and that would be through LinkedIn.  Of course my initial attraction to Innocent was that we were like minded professionals pursuing Operational Excellence.


But it was not until we met face to face in Orlando at an Operational Excellence conference where I was able to really understand Innocent and his story; which was fascinating. 


Innocent was born and raised in Zimbabwe from a family with limited means; extremely limited by Western standards.  I won't share Innocent’s journey in this text but rather I would have you listen to it first person in this inspiring interview.


However, I will say that Innocent debunks the idea that the American dream is dead.  He proves that anybody who has a dream of their future self, remains laser focused on realizing that dream, works hard plays by the rules, can persevere and achieve anything they set out to achieve.


In addition to Innocent’s responsibilities at Chick-fil-A, he also started founded the Lot Water Project which is a 501.c3 Not For Profit organization dedicated to bringing clean potable water to remote villages in Zimbabwe.  The details for the Lot Water Project can be found here; https://thelotwaterproject.org/


Be sure to listen to the bonus track just after the outro.


LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/innocent-hadebe-mba-pmp-six-sigma-black-belt-25349388/
Company: Chick-fil-A
Title: Director of Business Excellence
Year Founded: 1946
Company Type: Privately held American fast food restaurant chain.  With almost 3,000 restaurants, it is and the largest chain specializing in chicken sandwiches.







Company: Lot Water Project
Title: Founder
Year Founded: 2020
Company Type: A recognized not-for-profit (501.c3) organization that is passionate and committed to bringing safe drinking water to communities across the continent of Africa.