Because People Aren’t College Educated Doesn’t Mean They’re Stupid

I am a retired executive that successfully created and led the performance improvement of many manufacturing operations to world class levels. My experience was gained in operations that were large in scale (gun mounts and missile launchers, gigantic mining machinery),? micro medical devices, and in managing multi-plant, global operations (Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, China, Australia.)

A large part of this success was because I could work on the floor with the people on the manufacturing floor and we collaborated and learned from one another.? I learned early in my career that they were extremely intelligent, creative, terrific problem solvers and unbelievably skilled and if they were respected, trained to understand the whys of what they were doing, and would become deeply committed to organizational success if they were allowed to be involved in the forward thinking. The more control they had over their work and work environment, the more engaged they were and the better the organization performed.

Some truths learned, and observations made over the decades:

1.????? Manufacturing, along with agriculture, is a critical wealth building (value adding) foundation of any country or society.? Everything else should strengthen these foundations or they diminish the country in the long term. (The non value adding activity isn’t necessarily not needed, but it should be critically evaluated as to ?its necessity.)

2.????? These foundations are enabled by people that know how to “do stuff”.? They are skilled workers that are intelligent and caring and proud.? Most often they are not college educated because that wasn’t their life path.? However, learning to do and think takes as much time and commitment as learning to think and think. It takes years of hands-on effort to become a true journeyman in the trades.?

3.????? In my experience these people have low opinions of people that talk about things but can’t do them.? Incompetent management cannot fool them. Neither can politicians or media “talking heads” that blather about what will be or what supposedly is with no concept of how-to bring win-win solutions to life.

Most are win-lose. The “doers” know this. Most solutions proposed by politicians take from them and they know it.? This was true in every county we had manufacturing plants in the world.

4.????? They have formidable memories.? If you said you were going to do something and didn’t, they remembered.? They will hold you accountable. If you made a promise you can’t keep, you’d better tell them as soon as you learn you can’t keep the promise, and why.? They will be reasonable, if disappointed.? They can handle timely, responsibly reported bad news.

5.????? They will admit their mistakes. And learn from them. They don’t trust or respect those who won’t.

6.????? They will not be told what to think.? They respond well to a balanced presentation of facts and will form their own conclusions. If everyone has the same facts, they usually reach the same conclusions.? It’s not always convenient or easy to provide sufficient facts for all to have the same information. Given the media we have today ?we must look for information on any subject from multiple sources to triangulate on what might really be true. It seems the commitment to factual journalism is diminished. The imposition of unwanted bias in reporting is rampant and resulting in poisonous divisiveness as not everyone has the same facts.? It is insidious, pervasive, and dangerous.

7.????? The number of skilled “doers” in our workforce have been systematically diminished by our country’s offshoring of manufacturing jobs for decades now.? We have been losing the contribution of this undervalued national treasure.? The skilled machinists, welders, electricians, are fewer in number and it’s a core weakness in our economy that’s become critical.? The atrophy of our skilled labor base diminished their numbers.? It did not diminish the number of our intelligent people.? They are still here, but marginalized. They still have the native ability to think, solve problems, evaluate, and remember, and when voting hold politicians accountable. We are wasting them. Patronizing, elitist snobbery infuriates them. To me it seems that politicians, media pundits, and pollsters are dismissive of these people and as a result grossly underestimate their intelligence.? It’s incredibly offensive how they are patronized and trivialized as “racist” or “misogynic,” “deplorables”, or “garbage.” They in turn often scorn the politicians and media as “not able to ‘do”? and lacking in integrity.? Continue treating them that way at your peril. These aren’t homeless or immigrants on the dole from our government, though our society is driving them down.? They are smart voters able to see beyond the end of their noses.

8.????? Our political parties are failing us.? They pander to all and are irresponsible in that their short-term party interests super cede national long-term commitment to foundational economic strengthening.? It’s tragic. Yet again in this past election we were relegated to voting for the lessor of two evils. The choice between a convicted felon or a career politician that hasn’t proven the ability to “do” and seemed to believe spouted evasive nonsense wouldn’t be seen for what it was. In my opinion, any white man in her position would have gotten the same result from the people I am speaking about.? (330 million people in this country and they were the best the parties could do?) The accusations ?of “racism” and “misogyny” totally miss the point and will only prolong our collective misery. If you call people something long enough, they will become what you call them. WAKE UP! Stop the name calling and BS excuses for your failures.? Stop doing harder and faster what doesn’t work and get down to some real root-cause problem-solving.? Fix the problems, not the blame.

9.????? In any manufacturing operational environment, early steps to improvement are to identify skills critical to the success of the department or operation, evaluate the current state, and? develop a plan that is executed to guarantee the skills are present when needed.

10.? We don’t have that approach in our national thinking. It could be a start.? A good start is vital to a well-facilitated and effectively implemented problem solution. And it can’t reflect an elitist, superficial platitude. The “Talk About -? Think About -Talk About Thinking About” cycle must start to include meaningful “Do.” Then build on what works and trash what doesn’t. It will take deeper thinking than our current politicians and media have demonstrated to date.

11.? Skilled doers and powerful thinkers need to work together to maximize our chances of success. I don’t know if it’s possible, but? if it isn’t real, the doers will know, and we will fail.? Along the way, we can’t fail to be objective in our assessment of progress and results, or we will dig our trust hole deeper. ?I don’t think tariffs will work without hurting the mass of our taxpayers.? Other incentives or legal requirements to invest in critical capabilities that stimulate development of skills, not products, that strengthen national economic strength must be identified and the products that require them protected from being usurped by foreign interests. It may be, but doesn’t necessarily need to be, “high tech.”(Corporate leadership must embrace a greater purpose than mindless “damn the torpedoes” profit maximization and recognize such policy has made the goose that laid the golden egg very ill. Some demonstrated commitment to supporting our? national manufacturing sector for the long-term greater economic good would be nice.) Green energy generation products may be a popular fad, but it’s not a long-term fix to our crisis of lost capability at the working level. After all, its product, not skills focused, and it can be sourced internationally and has been. It’s not at a micro enough level. We need to stop building the fundamental skill of “doers” in the economies of foreign countries at the expense of ours, regardless of their current political climate regarding relations with the U.S. I see the problem and I don’t have the solution, but we must develop one.?

Please contribute your thoughts. Agree or disagree. If you agree, what do you think might help?