Using Stories to Differentiate Yourself

In the busy world of manufacturing, how do you make yourself stand out? It’s all about differentiation —and the differentiation expert himself, Mark Levy, recently came onto the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast to share more!

Mark is a business strategist who helps his clients find bold, innovative ways to showcase their big ideas and differentiate themselves from the competition. Mark has worked with dozens of corporations, brands, and thought leaders, including Simon Sinek, Amazon, Harvard Business School, and Major League Baseball, as well as leaders from government bodies like the United Nations. He was also a recent speaker for Tedx Talk, where he spoke about using the obvious to stand out in business and in life.

During his recent appearance on Mindfulness Manufacturing, Mark shared great lessons and stories about how leaders can stand out, improve communications with their teams, and highlight their organization’s mission and values through everyday leadership.

#1: Communicate Value Through Your Leadership

To inspire your team and find creative ways to differentiate your leadership and organization, start by looking at your communications. Think about how you’re showing up and communicate your organization’s values, mission, and goals. Are you being clear? Are you presenting key information in a memorable way? To transform your team and change how you stand out, find clear, engaging, and memorable techniques for communications with your team, especially when it comes to sharing your organization’s values and mission.

#2: Improve Your Storytelling

When sharing information with your team, try to share a story or fact that backs up your information. This will make it more memorable and relatable, and your information is more likely to resonate. To improve your storytelling skills, make a sheet or list that compiles facts, figures, and stories to back up your claims. Then, draw on these stories or facts when sharing information with your team.

#3: Celebrate Proud Moments

In a busy and solution-focused industry like manufacturing, it’s easy to overlook success in favor of focus on productive problem-solving. But celebrating your success can go a long way, too! When you celebrate proud moments in your organization, it shifts your team’s mindset from challenges to success, and works to motivate them to identify and replicate successful moments. To celebrate success, consider starting your meetings by talking about some recent proud moments and highlighting success and achievements.

Learn More with Mark Levy

To hear more from Mark Levy, check out his recent Tedx Talk here, and tune in here to his recent appearance on Mindfulness Manufacturing!

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

In manufacturing, we often emphasize complex processes and new technologies, like artificial intelligence. But to bring true change and productivity to your organization, don’t forget about your people!

In this episode, learn all about the balance of technical skills and human connection with guest Emily Nichols! As a professional engineer with decades of experiences in manufacturing and innovation, Emily has worked with organizations like PepsiCo, Janssen, and Henkel. She now works with organizations who want to strengthen the human skills they need to thrive in an increasingly technical world. In this episode, she shares more about the important role of human skills, and offers lessons and insights for forming stronger connections, breaking down systemic barriers, and how to improve your “people score.”

2:01 – Even in fields like manufacturing, human skills play a very important role

5:43 – Current and emerging trends, like AI, make human connection even more important in retention and recruitment

8:29 – To form connections, increase your presence on the shop floor

12:36 – Visual uniformity can foster better connections and help you break down perceived barriers

19:39 – If you want more connections, you need to listen to and respect the expertise of everyone on your team

20:37 – To support women in your organization, you need to address systemic issues

23:39 – Even small changes, like using more inclusive language, can have a big impact on your culture

25:06 – We are people first, not machines

Connect with Emily Nichols

Visit her website

Connect on social media: @connectbettertoday