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Host Sean Frost is joined by experts in the manufacturing industry to discuss bringing big ideas to life. Join us every episode for a deep dive into manufacturing trends, processes, innovation, and how to be successful in the ever-changing world of manufacturing.
Ep06_KentLammers
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[00:00:00]
Sean Frost: / welcome back to another episode of Inspiring Innovation. We appreciate you listening and tuning in to get some value out of this podcast in terms of what are trends in the industry, what are best practices. What are some success stories that we can share, bringing in our experts and what are some of the challenges we've all faced together.
So if you are a product engineer, a supply chain professional, a buyer, this podcast is geared towards you and we appreciate you liking, [00:01:00] subscribing and tuning in wherever you listen to podcasts. And I'm really excited about today's episode because we have. Our CEO Kent Lammers with us. And, you know, we had to basically do a little bit of training our team here on how do we do this before we brought in the big guns.
So, we're, we're excited to have Kent with us today. And Kent's been with the company for over 40 years. He's come up through the accounting and finance side of the company, so we'll touch on that. A lot today, but just really excited to have him here. And I thought, Kent, that we would start with your personal story.
How did you come to discover Polo Custom Products? How did you meet our owner? And where, where did your polo journey start?
Kent Lammers: Thanks, Sean, first of all for having me. It's great to um, share some of the stories about Polo and some of the background with our audience. So it kind of started back early or late [00:02:00] seventies, early eighties.
Our chairman of the board for Polo Custom Products purchased a local racket club and I was working the front desk at the time. and going to college. And so I had met him and, had been working at the club for quite a while, since I was pretty young and to feed my tennis habit.
And so, I was working the front desk, started below that, but then gradually worked up and got promoted to the front desk. And just talked to him one day and said, Hey, if I'm going to Washburn University someday, if there's an opening at the company, back then it was called MC Industries. And I might be interested.
And so that's how we met. And when we met and then continued to go to Washburn University and then did land a job at the company now Polo Custom Products. And I was really fascinated by the quality of the people, how nice they were. Mostly local, local graduates of [00:03:00] Washburn and The positive influence on the culture in the company kind of was a magnet for me.
And so that's kind of how it all began and still at Polo today.
Sean Frost: That is awesome. it's, it's cool to hear that history and I. I didn't realize even how far back it it went. So thank you for sharing that with us today. Yeah, sure. And let's talk a little bit about accounting and finance and your background in those areas and maybe some best trends even in manufacturing.
So how has that influenced the way that you approach the, your current position and, and what are some of maybe the. The best practices for accounting and finance and manufacturing?
Kent Lammers: Well, my interest first of all, I would've never guessed I'd be in manufacturing. When I was going through high school, I was always dreaming of being an architect and then maybe landscape architect, something surrounding that kind of industry.
And then [00:04:00] went to Washburn, started taking a lot of IT courses. And then after that, Finance related because I, I really navigated towards the finance industry and, and the nuances surrounding accounting. And so early in the company, I started kind of in an IT position that was back with the big mainframes and everything like that, but quickly kind of navigated towards the accounting side because I had more visibility in other departments of the company that way. And so that whole experience kind of sharpened some skillset with regard to navigating the technology world today and the importance of keeping up with that, not necessarily always being leading edge, but being at a point where you strike the balance between affordability.
And ongoing needed technology and, and I'm glad I did that because [00:05:00] technology is an integral part of not only a finance department, but in the manufacturing plant as well. And I feel that the accounting background gave me perspective in terms of being able to. Analyze certain things that are possible with regard to either an acquisition or divestiture and some of those things that are required as, as polo evolves.
Mm-hmm. So I, I felt like that the background I got through Washburn from both a technology and IT, and finance perspective has really helped me.
Sean Frost: and that's, that's an interesting point that I didn't. I don't mean to get into, but I think might be interesting for our viewers is we did some acquiring and divesting.
And so you learned some serious lessons through, through that. Is there any story that you care to share from that or any anything for, for our viewers to know about [00:06:00] Polo's history? You mentioned Mc Industries before and. And I believe Polo was a division of that at one point.
Kent Lammers: Right. So, Polo Custom Products, or the Polo was a division of mc Industries.
We also had Mark Clark Medical company a secure ticket, right? And in the eighties we had Sunflower Marketing. So we did also purchase a Thermo Thermoforming company in California years ago, and have since divested all of those except Polo. I think some experiences that were helpful is that number one, due diligence on both sides, not only on an acquisition, but divesting something.
So making sure that the due diligence conforms with the culture that you've established in your company. That, that's probably one of the biggest challenges companies have. If the dollars look right in terms of growth and opportunities, it doesn't mean that the [00:07:00] culture of an existing company or one that you're unfamiliar with fits well into your business model.
And sometimes I think unfortunately that gets overlooked in the process or the assumption is that can be corrected overnight. And we learned that on both sides of the coin, that that's not, not, not necessarily the case. and as you probably know, culture is one of the most important elements in our company.
And I think every company it's super important. And maintaining that continuity is what helps bring success. Mm-hmm. So I think the experiences I had with that throughout my career, Help me realize that it's not just about the, the dollars and cents of a transaction, but some of the important intangibles as well.
Sean Frost: So, with your 40 years in manufacturing, what have been some of the major changes that you've seen and, and some of the [00:08:00] trends that have come out of it. What's maybe some of the things that have stayed the same and what have, what are some of the things that have really changed a lot in, in your time in the industry?
Kent Lammers: Yeah. I think that some of our manufacturing processes haven't changed a lot, but I, I would say that the products that we make have. So we started out with simple products dust covers, checkbook covers, things like that.
Sean Frost: Not a ton of market demand for those,
Kent Lammers: no, not a ton of demand today.
So we've evolved into making a lot of complex components based upon our customer's needs, and a lot, a lot or the processes are similar or the same. We use technology in other ways in manufacturing, but it might not necessarily be on a sewing machine. So what I've seen is the complexity of the product mix.
While we still do some simple things, we're also really, really good due [00:09:00] to our product development teams at creating a product that has complexity with it. So that's the, a big change I've seen. Is that we can branch out now and offer OEM products that we would never have dreamt that we could do.
Sean Frost: Yeah, no, that's a, that's a great point. And we have a incredibly gifted, talented, and experienced product development team that can really dig deep in terms of what materials are sealable, what's cheaper, what's more sustainable, what's environmentally friendly, you know, all those types of things that are important to our customers.
And like you said, complex, those are, I'm glad we have those, those really smart people working on those things. So, What are some trends that you've seen in manufacturing happening today? And how can people within our industry and our space get ahead of the, the trends that are, that we're [00:10:00] facing in 2023 here?
Kent Lammers: Well, some of the trends are kind of all, all over the place. I think from, as we position polo since we're an OEM company, the trend that we try to keep up with is what's the demand of our customers and what's that look like?
There could be a host of trends in various markets that we serve, and those can be not necessarily cyclical, but more based upon what's happening in the world. Mm-hmm. So we stand ready for all those kinds of different things, whether it be government, medical or any of the markets we serve. I would think that the, the part of polo that makes us very competitive is, No matter what the product or the need from our customers, it's a relationship business.
And technology can help and it can be a hindrance to that. We like to think that we're [00:11:00] using it in a way that's helpful and the relationship with the customer doesn't suffer as a result of some of the technology we can use. Mm-hmm. So I guess in positioning Polo. With regard to trends, I would say that if we continue to know the customer as well or better than themselves, we stand a good chance of riding through the technology and innovation that's occurring in the marketplace, no matter what market we're serving.
So the customer and vendor relationship is more than just making a commodity. We want, and our team, I think, embraces this. We wanna be so solid with our customer that they're coming for us to solve complexity and we're good at that. And I think that that's where the future is, continuing to enhance the relationship, find out where our customer's going, and we [00:12:00] want to go there with them.
And then if it's something we can't do, we will be honest about that. So that's kind of where we posture in terms of we want to be the company that our customer reaches out to to solve anything that they need as they grow.
Sean Frost: So you've mentioned this already several times. Innovation is important and culture is important. And so how do you go about having a culture of innovation at Polo?
Kent Lammers: That's a great question. I think culture is one of the four pillars that I try to operate in with regard to culture, vision, strategy, and talent.
Those are the four main areas I try to focus my time on. And when Polo was a much smaller company, the culture of employees and the culture of innovation was much easier. What we are positioning ourselves for is to maintain that culture [00:13:00] that we have no matter how big we get. 'cause it, it is a difference maker on the positive side.
So four Inno innovative ideas. The attempt is to empower each department to embrace that so that that goes across the entire company from the production floor to the sales team. If we notice some kind of trend that we wanna be a part of, we'll explore it. If our customer is doing something or requiring something that we don't know how to do, we'll learn it.
We've proven on, on several fronts that we can. Create a business unit or production sell to make things that we hadn't made before. And we do it pretty well. And so I think just given the autonomy to every department that if they see something that we should embrace, let's share that information, discuss it so there's no lid on anyone that, that says, Hey, let's look at this.
We can always [00:14:00] look at it, evaluate the pros and cons, and. I think that opens the door to possibilities.
Sean Frost: it made me think of a, a story where we had a production associate who discovered a better way to produce a product and to reduce risk for our customer and making sure that there wasn't any quality issues with a very important component for this particular product.
And I remember you encouraging to reward that production associate for raising their hand and for bringing that forward and for all the improvements that came to that particular product because of their situational awareness and, and the way that they discovered that process. So,
Kent Lammers: the director and vice president of HR and myself talk to every new employee.
And sometimes that's in person and sometimes it's remote. If it's a, a location away from the corporate office. [00:15:00] In that dialogue, we tell them as they're being trained. If you see something that doesn't look right, question it. If you see something as you become an expert in your field that can be done better, tell us there's nothing sacred.
For well-seasoned veterans on the floor, they're, they know the job better than we do, and it's paramount that we listen to them. They do the job every day. They know the answers much better than we do oftentimes. So while it, while it sounds elementary, sometimes you can just walk by them and forget that they're the expert.
Mm-hmm. So, I'm a big fan of listening to the production teams at every location. Getting their input and ensuring that if they bring something to our attention, that there's a trust factor there, that they feel comfortable with some vulnerability if it's an idea that's not adopted. So that's really, really big and, and that's part of that [00:16:00] good culture that, that we talk about is feel free to share anything that needs improved or a new idea.
In my entire career, I've never once been disappointed with diverse decision making. It's never led to a scenario of, of a negative outcome. So I think that's pretty telling. When you get more people willing to share ideas, ultimately you make maybe one decision, but it was from many, many inputs. And I want to that to continue at Polo.
Sean Frost: A hundred percent. Those are all really great points. And another thing that that reminded me of was a story that I heard where you were training in sewing and I think maybe Brian was giving a customer tour and they. They were wondering about our sewing capabilities 'cause they saw you out there on the line.
Kent Lammers: Yeah, it was a true, true story. I was training with another person from Topeka [00:17:00] and first time we'd actually been trained on the sewing machine and. Brian's given a tour to the c e o of another company and I could just read his body language. When he walked by and saw us sewing, he was like, I don't know if I wanna do business with this company.
Right. So right away recognized that we said, Hey, here's who we are, and we're being trained. We've never operated this. We're not making your product. Yeah. So yeah, it was a funny story and but we were covered on the one
Sean Frost: way to rebound.
this question's kind of along the same lines, which is new processes, new technology is important today. How do you go about adopting the organizational changes that come with those things and what's been the benefit of implementing some new processes and some new technology through your time at Polo?
Kent Lammers: Well, processes definitely drive results because for the [00:18:00] most part associates are all trying to do the right thing and row the same direction. So processes and doing it consistently, time over time are very important because people change things shift from time to time. If you don't have sound processes and documentation and principles surrounding that, thus, you know, ISO guidelines tell you that it's pretty important and we have audits routinely with regard to that.
So, it's so important but sometimes gets overlooked. We try to drive the fact that if something's worth doing, it's worth documenting it and having it so when later when we questioned it, we also have the context on why it needs approved. If it's random, the output becomes random. Mm-hmm. And with the quality guidelines that we subject ourselves to and for our customers I think process, documentation [00:19:00] and validation are critical, especially in a custom business.
So that, and that not, that's not only on the production floor that's in every department. It's hr, it's finance, it's PD. Have a well designed, documented process. That way you can be assured that it's gonna carry forward in the future.
Sean Frost: Can you speak more to adopting a new technology because you don't need to go into the specifics or any hair that may have changed color in this process, but the ERP system that we adopted, you were a major driver of selecting and implementing and, executing that project.
Yeah. So can you share a little bit of high level learnings about how to undertake such a huge
Kent Lammers: Sure.
Sean Frost: Challenge like that?
Kent Lammers: That ERP I think was when we went from our mainframe, which served our needs for 30 plus years [00:20:00] in the company, which hats off to some of the prior people that worked for us or who worked for us that did a great job programming that.
But we decided that ERP system was necessary to automate time tickets, cost studies, everything that we need to evaluate the business. And something like that, kinda like a new payroll system impacts everybody in the company and everyone reacts to change differently. So, that can be a tricky ordeal.
The one of the keys is to have empathy with folks on how they handle that change and adjust the communication style to that person or department. 'cause everyone's gonna be different. And then what, what we did was we researched failures on an E r P system and said, let's not do that. [00:21:00] Because at the time, and, still today, it was one of the biggest investments we've ever made in the company.
And we, we weren't gonna have a second chance, so it could not fail. So study what won't work and don't do that. And then try really, really hard to get the outputs you need. That drove the decision in the first place. Now when our board approved that expenditure one of our board members said It's gonna take five years before you get your arms around it, and then you'll be able to get the results that you want on the data and everything else.
And that was about right on. Hmm. It took us that long to just kind of tweak it, adjust it, find out what information was valued and what information was not needed. Today I think we can fairly say that we couldn't live without it. I'm all about measuring, so the department leaders have the information that they need [00:22:00] to, to run their teams.
And with that instant data, They can gauge the pulse of the company as day to day, hour to hour. The other piece to that, as I recall, and, and being part of that with the IT team was that communication transparency something's not working well, let's discuss it. And we had lots of meetings every day because there was something not working when we went live.
Every day for quite a while, and he just had to have the mentality that it's worth it, write it out. Now I wouldn't say you'd wanna do that very often, that kind of change. However, hats off to our Rob Ward and his team for doing such a great job and, and getting that migrated. And it, it was a big step for Polo and we utilize\ that functionality so much today. I, it's one of those things, you can't imagine not having it.
Sean Frost: [00:23:00] it makes me uh think of the saying standing on the shoulders of giants. I, I feel very fortunate to be at the company after that process because we take it for granted how great the information is that we're able to get back in terms of the actionability of the, the information that comes out and, and what we can do to adapt our day-to-day approach to reach out to different customers, to notice when things are. not where they are supposed to be in the process. And so, so we can be nimble and agile, which is so important to the success of our customers at the end of the day.
And so, thank you for all the hard work and tears and sweat and and hair pulling that came out of, of that process as well.
Kent Lammers: those were some long days, Sean. And, and I remember one time and, and the IT department deserves all the credit for sure. But I was on a call the night of the flipping the switch and going live, [00:24:00] and I remember I had decided to go home and phone in and I fell asleep on the phone.
This was like midnight or one in the morning. so I actually fell asleep on the phone. And, and woke up eventually, but that's how many hours we worked straight.
Sean Frost: Yeah.
Kent Lammers: For that. And it was just also the belief that, hey someone on our team said, Hey, nobody's gonna die during this.
Keep that in mind. You know, when you're looking the next day and there's so many things maybe not working right. We're not gonna have any fatalities as a result. So just keep perspective on it and The legacy system worked for a long, long time, and, and it did. It met its needs. Our needs. Mm-hmm. And, but this was something that prepares us for growth.
Sean Frost: So continuous improvement is important in manufacturing. How have you all approached that throughout different departments, throughout different [00:25:00] operations throughout the company? How do you view continuous improvement and how has Polo executed that throughout the years?
Kent Lammers: Yeah, that great question. Continuous improvement is really something that we give each department in each location autonomy to define what that looks like.
Because if you're not continuously improving, you're falling behind. So, the message that we try to share with our leadership team and everyone in the company is constantly look for those ways and ask questions are, are we doing the best practice? Do we think we are and we're not? 'cause it's a constant questioning and also like we discussed the change in IT.
The tendency on something like that it's, is to get it running and then not improve it. We get our daily processes and routines down, but we're only looking at, you know, a tip of the iceberg on what it can do for us. So the magic [00:26:00] lies in digging below and underneath the bottom part of the iceberg, and finding out technology and economies that we can maximize that we don't know that we have.
We've done that on numerous cases and it's turned out to be a fantastic situation. So there's always ways to improve because everything's always changing. So if you think of it that way it's not that our processes were bad to begin with, but they can become that way as the environment around us changes.
So it's just a mentality to constantly be aware of that. And if you're not willing to change you, you're falling behind.
Sean Frost: So that brings up another point that this is a really good segue into this question, which is balance and flexibility. You know, how has Polo been able to maintain, you know, staying true to our values? [00:27:00] Along with adapting to the different needs of our customers and the markets that we serve.
Kent Lammers: I just think that we don't take shortcuts 'cause I think sometimes while, while efficiency is, is something that we desire and that we want for our customers we also don't wanna do that at the expense of the right way to make something.
And that carries over into the right way, not only to make a product, but the right way to interact with our vendors, the right way to react to our internal customers if we're an administrative department. So, that's kind of the litmus test is just being able to have that at the forefront.
Sean Frost: So a lot of people are focused on sustainability today, and that's definitely playing a role in what we've just talked about, but also I think the future of manufacturing. So how does Polo view sustainability and how can other people [00:28:00] in manufacturing prepare themselves for the long haul.
Kent Lammers: Sustainability as it relates to environmental and things like that?
Or is this
Sean Frost: yeah, so there's. We could take it in that direction. There's two of those. So, I was, I was thinking more honestly, operationally. Mm-hmm. But I think they're, they're interrelated in a sense too. I mean, it is definitely a focus Yeah. Of our customers to, to be environmentally friendly and to, to find ways for us to report all the great things that we already have been doing.
Kent Lammers: sustainability in terms of our company in general and growth going forward. We have the mindset to continuously invest in the company and foster growth. And that requires A good vision with strategic thinking, and I feel we have that in place.
And we also, from time to time just check our strategic mission and [00:29:00] look at that to make sure that it's current, relevant and sets us up for success. Now that sounds real easy, but it's a, a process and an effort that once you do that, I. You've been involved in some of that as well. It's easier said than done.
That's why so many companies skip it and they wing it, and then a couple years later, they're no longer around. So we're intentional about it, and then we cascade a lot of that throughout the organization. The other piece to strategy and vision is, is utilizing feedback, like I mentioned and talked about earlier.
We have a team, a strategic team, but that doesn't mean. That others cannot ask or suggest directions that we might want to take. It's just a better way to with a smaller team driving that initiative. It's more efficient to help identify what those are. But the internal [00:30:00] customer to the strategy team is our entire executive team, and that branches out to the entire organization.
So it's important to us that we accurately communicate what the intention is. And then drive goals based upon that. The worst thing I think that a company can do is fail to indicate what that looks like and some of the associates might be confused on where, where the company's been, where it is, and where it's going.
Those three elements have to be present for any company, in my opinion, to succeed. So we, we Place a focus on that with regard to sustainability surrounding E S G A couple of years ago, we decided to focus on that and what we learned is, which didn't surprise me, that we were already doing numerous things in that category.
So we began documenting all of those items and [00:31:00] our manufacturing processes right now are, are such that there's not a lot of. Unfriendly environmental outcomes from it. Mm-hmm. However, we learned that we're doing so many little things that when we started writing it down and looking at it, it's a lot.
Mm-hmm. So we have a task force across various company departments now and locations that are going to empower and it will be launched on our website about Polo's, ESG program, and we're gonna identify it with a specific name. Separate from ESG and we're gonna brand it in a way that is friendly to our customers, our vendors, and it's tangible.
It's got some great stuff in it. Mm-hmm. So that'll be something launched at some point in the near future.
Sean Frost: I appreciate you sharing that. And I think that Tangible is a, is a key word in there. And, and that's what I've loved about working at Polo. I [00:32:00] mean, strategy, like you mentioned could be a fuzzy topic, right?
I mean, a lot of, a lot of people come up with this strategic plan that's a binder that that just goes and sits on a shelf and collects dust somewhere. Whereas I feel like our process has been. Very concrete, this most recent round of revisiting it, I think people know where they contribute. They see actionable goals that they, you know, that are in their area of the business where wherever that spans all the way across, you know, all the way down to our production floor.
So, kudos to all the great work that's gone in there. And I wanted to mention too, just for the audience, one of our board members' comments. About what strategy is because he shared a video with us that it was great with a business professor that basically said, it's two things. It's where do you want to play and how do you wanna win?
Kent Lammers: That's right.
Sean Frost: And I thought that was very succinct and very [00:33:00] actionable. And, and it spoke to what you mentioned, where it's like, if you don't decide where you want to play or what actions you're gonna do, Yeah. You get random, random outcomes.
Kent Lammers: Right.
Sean Frost: And somebody else is deciding that and they're gonna win, you know?
Kent Lammers: Yeah. And the other thing that happens is you're not moving forward. You might adjust your course and say, you know, that, that was a little different than I anticipated. Mm-hmm. At least you're moving forward. another element to that is it allows us to with that philosophy, Allows us to analyze our mistakes too, and, and losses.
Mm-hmm. Nobody's gonna win every game or win every time, whatever the scenario is. Mm-hmm. The key is learn from that. And what would you have done differently? Right. A football team doesn't expect to go undefeated the whole year and then win the Super Bowl. The key along the way, analyze, and they, and they all had a strategy going into the game.
Mm-hmm. The key is to [00:34:00] analyze your loss and why, what, what failed.
Sean Frost: Right.
Kent Lammers: And same applies to business.
Sean Frost: You make the best decisions that you can with the information that you have today and course correct.
Kent Lammers: Yeah. It's a, it's a roadmap, right. So, you know, where some of the.
Anomalies are mm-hmm. And where things might have deviated from what you planned originally. And if there's good reason to act outside of the budget items, we discuss it and determine, and to your point about agility earlier, I think that that is one of our advantages. We're an agile company and we can be flexible quickly when we need to.
Some companies that have gotten so big have kind of forgotten about the importance of agility. And I am confident that as we grow, we're still gonna challenge ourselves to be agile even though we're larger. 'cause that being able to slightly pivot [00:35:00] is a fantastic opportunity and a strategic way to move forward and be successful.
Sean Frost: We try to provide that exact agility value to our customers because our customers work for large bureaucratic OEMs, so we can be their edge on the outside that can react quickly and and faster than they can and, and get scale products in a way that they wouldn't have been able to do internally.
And I think I think so many of the things that you all have set up over the years allow us to do that. Like even those ISO guidelines that we talked about, we've got a cross-functional team of people around the table when we're looking at a product. And we've got agendas so that we can get through everything that, you know, sometimes our competitors, it would take hours and hours and hours to have that meeting.
But we've got really great people, really great processes, and we've got [00:36:00] representation from, from quality, from the get-go. Yeah. So that we make sure that we're making products that can't afford to fail.
Kent Lammers: and the key to, to that, Sean too, in my opinion, and, and, and our director of quality is fantastic mm-hmm.
Is to make sure that we don't write something just to put it in the book. It's to document what we actually do. So, it sounds simple, but it's amazing on over time, if something's unchecked, how it takes on a life of its own. And you're wondering, How did we get to that point? That's not what's written, right?
Well, that's what an audit I s o audit's supposed to uncover. Absolutely. The easiest way is just stay true to your procedure and if you find it's necessary to change it, document it.
Sean Frost: Right.
Kent Lammers: The worst thing you can do is to go stale on documentation. Mm-hmm. And then because then it loses its purpose.
Sean Frost: So from your perspective, what are some of the keys to success in manufacturing and how can how can people position themselves [00:37:00] for long-term prosperity in our industry?
Kent Lammers: Well, not only in our industry, but it overlaps into others too. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Is I'm a huge believer on open communication and transparency.
And a lot of companies I think agreed with that a hundred percent. Mm-hmm. But then they go to their day-to-day and they, and they don't execute that. We're not about micromanaging, but what we are about is openly communicating challenges and failures. And when somebody needs help, it's not a weakness to ask for it.
It's actually a strength. That might be totally opposite of how we're conditioned growing up, but that's the truth. The more you document your job, the safer you are, the more you ask for help when you need it, or admit you don't know, something that you feel you should, the stronger you're gonna be and the stronger the company is, we're [00:38:00] advocates of ongoing training at every level of the company.
So, People are not prohibited from saying, Hey, you know, I, I'd like to learn more about that, to do more my job more effectively. We embrace that kind of thinking and I would like to think that we do a pretty good job of selecting those items that are pertinent in those areas. And I think that in manufacturing, in any kind of organization that that is you know, you might have heard.
Simon Sinek talk about the infinite game rather than the finite game. Those are elements of an infinite game. Don't be thinking so small. You're worried about what happens today. Think of the impact that that has for days, months, and years to come. That's where, that's where the prosperity, and then that energy and that momentum continues to build success.
Build success. Okay. Throw a failure in there. Yeah, [00:39:00] convene, analyze it and find out why. Learn from it, move on. Mm-hmm. So those are some elements that come to my mind.
Sean Frost: And then lastly, can you share any stories or of successes or challenges that faced in, in your time at Polo and how that's shaped your leadership approach or your decision making throughout your career and in your role today?
Kent Lammers: Yeah, I, I think throughout my career in terms of a couple things jump out whatever role I had at the time, I wanted to be the best at that, that I could be. So if it was controller or CFO, I just focused on being the best at that position and going above and beyond and not worry about tomorrow. And so that really kind of shaped my thinking in terms of encouraging others to [00:40:00] constantly learn. Because the other element to this that I saw when we went to the ERP system and we've experienced some.
Some great growth in the last two or three years, especially post pandemic, is that if a person's not constantly trying to improve as you grow, you can fall behind. And we don't necessarily want that to happen to our people. The other thing that I'm very big on is creating other leaders. That was an element that.
Existed in the culture that I came through the company and the history, and it fits natural with my style. I want to create successful people, probably more so than I focus on myself. And that way everybody wins when you've got great leadership throughout the company. So creating future leaders is, I think, in my role [00:41:00] paramount way to think about it.
And then empower leaders to, to create other leaders and it, the high tide lifts us all. Mm-hmm. So that's some things that I've adopted, which I think people embrace and it's refreshing. I would like to think so those are a few things that come to mind.
Sean Frost: Yeah. Those are great, Kent. And I can't thank you enough for your time today.
Kent Lammers: Sure.
Sean Frost: And all the insights. I think our audience is gonna love it. So thank you so much for joining us. Kent was an amazing guest and I hope you guys found as much value out of it as I did. Please subscribe. Please comment what you liked, what you wanted to hear more of. We'd love to get your feedback and we'd love to en enhance this podcast for you. so We launch this every second Tuesday of the month, and we'd love for you to tune in.
We appreciate everyone that's been listening and we hope that you're finding some value and insights in our industry. [00:42:00]