Skip to content
Growing up on a dairy farm in Iowa taught me a lot about hard work, accountability, and making good decisions. It also taught me that my dad had a parenting style all his own.
Now, I have to admit something I'm not particularly proud of. As a teenager, I occasionally thought it was a good idea to grab beers with my friends and head out to a bonfire in the middle of a cornfield. Looking back, it wasn't one of my brighter moments. I had a good heart, but I definitely kept my parents on their toes.
My dad never handled those situations the way most parents probably would. There were no lectures. No yelling. No grounding. He had a much more effective approach.
He simply went to work.
Dad could spot a hangover from a mile away. If I wasn't feeling my best the next morning, he made sure I had plenty to do. Milking cows. Cleaning barns. Hauling feed. Whatever needed to get done that day became my responsibility.
I can still remember leaning over the gutter, puking while milking cows, wondering if I was going to make it through the morning. Going back to bed was never an option. The cows still needed to be milked. The chores still had to be finished. Life didn't pause simply because I had made a poor decision the night before.
At the time, I thought he was being incredibly tough. Years later, I realized he was teaching me one of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned. Every decision has consequences. Some consequences show up immediately. Others take time. Either way, they eventually arrive.
Manufacturing works much the same way.
Every day, leaders make decisions that appear small in the moment. A server replacement gets pushed to next year's budget. The maintenance agreement isn't renewed. Network equipment stays in service for a few years too long. Critical spare parts aren't stocked. Cybersecurity improvements are delayed until there is more time or more money.
Most of those decisions don't create immediate problems. In fact, they often look like smart financial decisions. Budgets improve. Expenses go down. Quarterly numbers look a little better.
Eventually, reality catches up.
Production stops.
Systems fail.
A vendor can't provide support because the maintenance has expired.
A critical part isn't available when it's needed most.
Customers wait longer for shipments.
Employees become frustrated trying to work around problems that could have been prevented.
The bill always comes due. The only question is whether you pay for resilience today or downtime tomorrow.
The best manufacturing leaders I've worked with understand this better than anyone. They don't make decisions based solely on today's budget or today's production schedule. They ask harder questions. What is the operational risk? What happens if this system fails? How much does one hour of downtime actually cost? Is saving money today creating a much larger expense six months from now?
Those conversations require finance, operations, and technology leaders to work together. Financial discipline matters. Operational reliability matters. Technology matters. None of those priorities can stand alone. The strongest organizations recognize that every decision affects the entire business, not just one department.
My dad probably never imagined those early mornings on the farm would shape how I think about leadership. Looking back, his lesson had very little to do with teenage mistakes. It had everything to do with accountability.
Good decisions usually make tomorrow easier. Poor decisions have a way of showing up when you least expect them.
Manufacturing is no different.