Rick Plympton's guest appearances

Rick Plympton

For the EVOLution of Business

Opportunity in America - Events by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program

Roc Growth

Jessica Lewis

Steven Greenhouse

Charles Darwin

Robert Frank

Richard Reeves

David Sloan Wilson

Raj Sisodia

Zach Armstrong

Gregg Lederman

Laura Hall

John Nichols

Heather Boushey

Margaret Greenberg

Cody Hewitt

Stan Litow

OwlTail

In this episode, Maureen Conway interviews Rick Plympton, CEO of Optimax and one of the Aspen Institute's Job Quality Fellows.

In this episode, Maureen Conway interviews Rick Plympton, CEO of Optimax and one of the Aspen Institute's Job Quality Fellows.

Job Quality and Employee Ownership: An Interview with Job Quality Fellow Rick Plympton (Optimax)

[1:10] The early days of Optimax located in a barn but leveraging computer-controlled machining [2:45] Growth assisted by Kodak, now working with NASA Mars Rover [4:00] Focusing on "small volume, high quality, quick delivery"  and through a combination of Technology, process and attitude, becoming the largest Optics manufacturer in the US [5:15] How lean manufacturing plus a culture of openness, sharing and distributed decision-making keeps Optimax growing "We know that some of the best ideas for improvement come from the people DOING THE WORK every day...so at Optimax, we've tried to make sure that we build in processes that enable those ideas to percolate to the top." [8:00] The EVOLution of corporate culture at Optimax - "What was the right decision or the right process yesterday, may not be the right decision or the right process today, so we're continuing to look for opportunities for improvement [9:00] How to get started on the EVOLution to a self-empowered organization: "A fundamental belief that most people wake up in the morning and they want to create value, so what we have to do is provide our employees with training, resources and current information so that they can make good decisions, so that they can show up at work and do whatever needs to get done to create value. In contrast, if you look at a traditional pyramid-structure organization, it's really frustrating because people in the organization doing the work have really good ideas but what tends to happen is that many of those ideas get squashed and it destroys people's spirits." [10:35] "I don't think we began to realize until we were on the journey, Optimax was growing in the early days at the sphere of influence of the leadership team. As we let go of the reigns and started allowing others to make decisions and take responsibility, Optimax started to grow at the sphere of influence of the entire team." [11:30] Why every individual can be a superstar when their role is aligned with their gifts [12:30] How the cultural EVOLution has driven  20% annual growth, still with plenty of opportunity ahead [13:30] Rick's personal evolution as a leader - peer reviews, creating a learning culture, working with Bruce Peters (Bruce's episode here: https://fortheevolutionofbusiness.simplecast.com/episodes/teal) [15:45] How to get started on the teal journey (Recommended reading: Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux: https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/) [18:00] Why a self-empowered team does NOT need consensus, and what to do instead [19:50] The corporate structure and decision-making processes with self-empowered teams Optimax - "We're relying less and less on some sort of strategic plan...and more and more on living life in the moment and sensing and responding to the opportunities that are there today." [25:15] Aligning the reward system with the culture that you're trying to create - monthly profit sharing at Optimax, investing in higher education, 401k matching, donating time off to potential employees "I'd like to make sure that every one of our employees has the opportunity to be a millionaire by the time they retire." [28:15] How to onboard employees into a teal culture (Recommended reading: Question Behind The Question by John Miller: https://qbq.com/qbq-the-question-behind-the-question/) [30:30] Creating more "Inclusive Prosperity" through more conscious succession planning that ensures that they will stay vibrant, keep jobs here and benefit the local community - "most of the wealth created by the company goes back to the employees so the people creating the wealth share in the wealth. This would be a great way not only to benefit employees but also to strengthen communities across the nation." [33:00] Rick's Aspen Institute Fellowship on Job Quality [35:45] The leadership EVOLution necessary for the EVOLution of business toward Conscious Capitalism: "As a business leader, I think if you're willing to let go of the reigns, you'll find that you'll end up on a path that will take you places you never imagined you could go." [37:30] The importance of finding your strengths and finding a role where you can leverage those strengths [40:20] Creating a culture where people can share challenges and help each other grow: "Some people come to Optimax just looking for a job, they're at a place in life where they just want a paycheck so that they can pay their bills, but it's a beautiful thing to see that same individual a few months later where they've gone through a transition and they've learned some new skills and they've begun to understand the culture that we have and they show up at work and they're passionate about what they're doing. I just love that." [43:45] Investing in internal R&amp;D, but also looking at how to helping support employees with ideas of their own [46:00] Scaling the culture for continued growth at Optimax

[1:10] The early days of Optimax located in a barn but leveraging computer-controlled machining [2:45] Growth assisted by Kodak, now working with NASA Mars Rover [4:00] Focusing on "small volume, high quality, quick delivery" and through a combination of Technology, process and attitude, becoming the largest Optics manufacturer in the US [5:15] How lean manufacturing plus a culture of openness, sharing and distributed decision-making keeps Optimax growing "We know that some of the best ideas for improvement come from the people DOING THE WORK every day...so at Optimax, we've tried to make sure that we build in processes that enable those ideas to percolate to the top." [8:00] The EVOLution of corporate culture at Optimax - "What was the right decision or the right process yesterday, may not be the right decision or the right process today, so we're continuing to look for opportunities for improvement [9:00] How to get started on the EVOLution to a self-empowered organization: "A fundamental belief that most people wake up in the morning and they want to create value, so what we have to do is provide our employees with training, resources and current information so that they can make good decisions, so that they can show up at work and do whatever needs to get done to create value. In contrast, if you look at a traditional pyramid-structure organization, it's really frustrating because people in the organization doing the work have really good ideas but what tends to happen is that many of those ideas get squashed and it destroys people's spirits." [10:35] "I don't think we began to realize until we were on the journey, Optimax was growing in the early days at the sphere of influence of the leadership team. As we let go of the reigns and started allowing others to make decisions and take responsibility, Optimax started to grow at the sphere of influence of the entire team." [11:30] Why every individual can be a superstar when their role is aligned with their gifts [12:30] How the cultural EVOLution has driven 20% annual growth, still with plenty of opportunity ahead [13:30] Rick's personal evolution as a leader - peer reviews, creating a learning culture, working with Bruce Peters (Bruce's episode here: <a href="https://fortheevolutionofbusiness.simplecast.com/episodes/teal" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://fortheevolutionofbusiness.simplecast.com/episodes/teal</a>) [15:45] How to get started on the teal journey (Recommended reading: Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux: <a href="https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/</a>) [18:00] Why a self-empowered team does NOT need consensus, and what to do instead [19:50] The corporate structure and decision-making processes with self-empowered teams Optimax - "We're relying less and less on some sort of strategic plan...and more and more on living life in the moment and sensing and responding to the opportunities that are there today." [25:15] Aligning the reward system with the culture that you're trying to create - monthly profit sharing at Optimax, investing in higher education, 401k matching, donating time off to potential employees "I'd like to make sure that every one of our employees has the opportunity to be a millionaire by the time they retire." [28:15] How to onboard employees into a teal culture (Recommended reading: Question Behind The Question by John Miller: <a href="https://qbq.com/qbq-the-question-behind-the-question/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://qbq.com/qbq-the-question-behind-the-question/</a>) [30:30] Creating more "Inclusive Prosperity" through more conscious succession planning that ensures that they will stay vibrant, keep jobs here and benefit the local community - "most of the wealth created by the company goes back to the employees so the people creating the wealth share in the wealth. This would be a great way not only to benefit employees but also to strengthen communities across the nation." [33:00] Rick's Aspen Institute Fellowship on Job Quality [35:45] The leadership EVOLution necessary for the EVOLution of business toward Conscious Capitalism: "As a business leader, I think if you're willing to let go of the reigns, you'll find that you'll end up on a path that will take you places you never imagined you could go." [37:30] The importance of finding your strengths and finding a role where you can leverage those strengths [40:20] Creating a culture where people can share challenges and help each other grow: "Some people come to Optimax just looking for a job, they're at a place in life where they just want a paycheck so that they can pay their bills, but it's a beautiful thing to see that same individual a few months later where they've gone through a transition and they've learned some new skills and they've begun to understand the culture that we have and they show up at work and they're passionate about what they're doing. I just love that." [43:45] Investing in internal R&amp;D, but also looking at how to helping support employees with ideas of their own [46:00] Scaling the culture for continued growth at Optimax

Radical Empowerment For "Astronomical" Growth with Rick Plympton of Optimax