Interview with Ray Stewart, VP of Operations at Everlast
View the transcript below:
My name is Ray Stewart I’m vice president of operations for Everlast Sporting Goods Manufacturing I’ve been here for 23 years Everlast the brand is the preeminent brand in the fight Sports industry this facility we’re responsible for all the domestic production and Manufacturing and warehouse distribution some of the issues I see for you know challenging leadership not only this area but everywhere that anybody I talk to in leadership it’s probably dealing with changes in culture for example here we employ people from the silent Generation all the way to gen Z that becomes challenging because the expectations are different from cohort to cohort but one generation thinks is the correct work environment or our work method isentirely different so trying to bring all those together and making those work together can be difficult leadership development today I think is one of those continuous Improvement strategies that you have to have just to be able to keep up with the multiple you know cultures that they have to deal with in the workplace today and I think that’s you know something that companies have to strategically plan for we’re in advance the concept of valuing people I think is not really new from my perspective you know I’ve read the articles I’ve read the you know the surveys that are out there that say you know one to five at what level does recognition come into play and it’s always one two or three the engagement level of the workshops that I went to and I did go to every one of them it was it was pretty high I think for several reasons one I think the speaker the enthusiasm and the way it was presented helped a lot kept people’s attention and the fact that you know the topics that you were presenting you had to also keep up with on the handouts thatyou had so and for me for example kept me on my toes because I had to fill in the blanks and I’d make sure I caught that that information at the right time the engagement I think was was highlighted when we did the the participation with the other people thatwere at the workshop not only did you get immediate feedback for the topic that we were discussing but it also kind of made it fun and I think getting somebody else’s opinion or insight into what their takeaway was that helped me understand better what you know the topic that would be discussed was about the reason I would I would actually recommend the workshops through other groups I think there’s some very good Tools in it to help manage their business not only their supervisors but you know for the leaders themselves my Takeaway on this was you know this you know several good tools that that I’ve actually started using already you know the the five aspect test and I think there’s a much broader use of that in the future for us not only that there’s a lot of these things that I can internalize myself helped me to manage better.