Book Reviews

Take Command: Find Your Inner Strength, Build Enduring Relationships, and Live the Life You Want (Employee Engagement for Manufacturing Leaders) | Joe Hart and Michael Crom, 2023 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe What Take Command Means for Employee Engagement in Manufacturing Almost every employee engagement problem I have worked on in a plant started as a conversation … Read More

Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes book review by Trevor Blondeel (Speak Up Culture for Manufacturing Leaders) | Dr. Sunita Sah, 2025 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe What Defy Means for Speak Up Culture in Manufacturing Open a dictionary and defy means to challenge, to resist boldly or openly. Sunita Sah gives … Read More

Making Manufacturing Sexy: The Mindset Shift from Firefighting to Leading book review by Trevor Blondeel (Leadership Mindset for Manufacturing Leaders) | Karin Lindner, 2026 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe Why Leadership Mindset Is the Shift Manufacturing Skipped A supervisor replaced the same conveyor sensor three times in one quarter. Order the part, install it, close the ticket. … Read More

Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions Book Review by Trevor Blondeel book review by Trevor Blondeel (Critical Thinking for Manufacturing Leaders) | L. David Marquet and Michael A. Gillespie, 2025 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe What Distancing Means for Critical Thinking in Manufacturing Toyota solved part of this problem decades ago and called it … Read More

Red Cape Rescue: Save Your Career Without Leaving Your Job (Self-Leadership for Manufacturing Leaders) book review by Trevor Blondeel | Darcy Eikenberg, 2021 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe What Red Cape Rescue Means for Self-Leadership in Manufacturing Picture a clear glass of water. Drop one bead of ink in it and the whole glass goes cloudy. That … Read More

Reclaim Your Workday: Sustainable Productivity Strategies for the New World of Work (Time Management for Manufacturing Leaders) book review by Trevor Blondeel | Marcey Rader, 2025 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe What This Book Means for Time Management in Manufacturing For plant managers, operations leaders, and frontline supervisors, the workday rarely gets reclaimed. It gets survived. You … Read More

Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results (for Manufacturing Talent Development) book review by Trevor Blondeel | Nir Eyal with Julie Li, 2026 Subscribe at manufacturinggreatness.com/subscribe What Beyond Belief Means for Manufacturing Talent Development Manufacturing talent development takes more than training programs and structured one-on-ones. Leaders are running shifts … Read More

Becoming the Warrior: Harnessing Your Inner Strength to Silence Self-Doubt book review by Trevor Blondeel | Jenn Donahue, PhD, 2025 What This Book Means for Manufacturing Leaders For plant managers, operations leaders, and frontline supervisors, the expectation to improve production efficiency, employee retention, and team engagement never lets up, yet many struggle with internal self-doubt … Read More

High Agency Human: Navigate Adversity and Live Big book review by Trevor Blondeel | Vickie M. Lanthier, 2026 What This Book Means for Manufacturing Leaders On any given day, operations managers and shift supervisors are dealing with labor shortages, skills gaps, and constant pressure to improve production efficiency and manufacturing productivity. While most leadership development … Read More

Time Freedom: Rethinking Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now book review by Trevor Blondeel | Brian Herriot, 2026 What’s It All About? Advanced readers sometimes get the opportunity to preview a book before it hits the shelves, and fortunately I was able to do that with Time Freedom: Rethinking Your … Read More