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Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and bestselling author, recently featured Simpson Strong-Tie Vice President of Engineering Annie Kao on his TED original podcast WorkLife. Adam and Annie were joined by Berkeley Haas Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Jenny Chatman (full disclosure,...

Is your company having problems finding good employees to fill all the needed positions within your company? Are you thinking wage inflation is getting out of hand? Perhaps you should look at it from a different perspective. Multiple case studies have shown that companies with low employee...

Starting in the maintenance field in the mid-1980s was an eye opener for me, to say the least I was very green. The manager of the truss plant could see I had mechanical aptitude and was driven to learn – but he also saw that I had no practical experience about troubleshooting machinery....

The late Cheryl Shepard, with the support of Rob and Gene Frogale, proved that wall panels could be successful on their own merit, unaccompanied by trusses. Her hard work and dedication went a long way toward disproving the long-held belief that trusses were the key moneymaker. Amazingly she and...

I am, or was, an off-site construction manufacturing turnaround guy. I believe in Lean and 6-Sigma in concept, but I also know that implementing them within a company is hard. Not allowing people to slip back into their old ways is even harder. Many programs go by the wayside once management...

Even before the coronavirus pushed it into the stratosphere – setting record new highs – the housing market was experiencing one of the largest booms in the country’s history. From 2012 until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. housing market had risen more than 50%,...

All industries are filled with a colorful cast of characters — but it is how you remember them and how you learn from them that will make a difference in an industry’s continuing trajectory. In this month’s issue, we are able to remember a legend as we look forward to our...

From the initial discussion with you about the needs of your factory through to installation, it’s a surprisingly straightforward experience – but it will succeed or fail based on the quality of service and know-how available to you. From purchase through installation to on-going...

Building a strong employer/employee relationship is probably one of the biggest challenges that leaders face in any organization. I have never met any manager or leader of any company who does not want to improve in this area. There are so many books, seminars, and other resource materials...

To withhold information from someone else is usually a deliberate choice, and of course there are legitimate reasons to do so. But let’s consider the instances when the reasons are less clear and motives more suspect. How often have you encountered these situations? You’re Not...