Shon Isenhour with Eruditio

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Podcasting, strategic advantage, storytelling, Industrial Talk, asset management, supply chain, maintenance reliability, mentoring, blended learning, AI integration, human element, project-based learning, curriculum updates, edutainment, personalized education.

00:00

Hey there and welcome to Industrial Talk. Before we get into the conversation that I had with Shon at SMRP, the company's Eruditio, I've just got a simple question to ask you that you need to consider, put in your strategy, put in your strategic thinking going forward. Is that, do you as a company have a podcast. And if you can't say yes or no, well, let me encourage you that you should, your company should have a dedicated podcast. Here's the reason why one. It's a content generating machine. It is, you know, if you're struggling with with how to create content, or that blog, or whatever it might be, here is a platform, a platform, a podcasting platform, you should be able to do it with no problem, podcasting platform that does a lot of that work. And then you say, Well, Scott, or bud Scott, which is not a word, by the way, but Scott, I don't have the personality. Well, here's the deal. What you do is you just soldier on. You just do it because you need to tell your story. It just says, I believe, in my heart of hearts, that companies that are successful versus companies that struggle, are the companies that tell their story, that consistently tell their story about who they are, bring that human element to your company and be able to allow your market to know who you are. Develop that beer factor that you know, hey, I want to hang out with the guys that is so important. So have a podcast. You need to tell your story. But more importantly, I believe it gives you a strategic advantage. Here's what I mean, outside of the fact that I think companies that will succeed and prosper going forward are the ones that I can find information on, right and that I can create an emotional contact with. The other thing is that you're competing, you you're you're competing against a lot of companies, right? Big, gigantic companies with tremendous resources, a heck of a balance sheet, to be able to help and push their message everywhere, right? Well, here is an opportunity for you, mid, small, semi, large, whatever you want to bracket them in here's an opportunity for you to be able to tell your story, tell what you do, create that human component to you, your company, so that when I'm searching and others searching for you, they can find you. Just Just makes complete sense. Now, if you're saying to yourself, yeah, Scott, we have a podcast. Well, let me just offer something. If you don't have a podcast, I still offer the same opportunity. But let me offer you this opportunity to put your podcast out on the Industrial Talk network, put it out there, more eyes, more traction, more attention. That's what we're all about. We need for you to succeed. And for you to succeed, you need to tell your story and tell it consistently and effectively over and over again. There's plenty of topics to discuss, but I offer you the opportunity to put your podcast out on Industrial Talk, because here's what Industrial Talk is. It is, shall we say, the ESPN of industry. So when somebody is looking for some information about industry, if they're looking for somebody to connect with that has that, that gravitas within industry. Go to Industrial Talk, find an individual. Ah, there he is. Oh, I'm going to listen to what that individual has to say. Oh, I like him or her or whatever. I'm going to reach out, because all of the contact information is out there. Take me seriously. You need to tell your story, you need a podcast, you need to amplify your message, you need to get more eyes on it, and you need to create real content from these conversations so that you can stand out. Because you need to succeed. It's morally imperative for you to succeed there. How about that for a soapbox? All right, let's get on with the conversation. Once again. His name is Shon. You're a DC OSA company, and we were at SMRP, the user it's not a user conference, it's an organization that really focuses in on asset management, supply chain, not. Supply chain, asset management, maintenance and reliability. Disregard the supply but there are supply chain people there anyway. That's SMRP. You need to put this one on your calendar. So enjoy the conversation.

05:16

Welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's

05:34

go all right once again. Welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for joining the number one industrial related podcast that celebrates industry professionals all around the world. You're bulls, you're brave, you do greatly. You are the heroes in this story. That's why we celebrate you. Thank you very much for what you do. We are on site here in Dallas. No, see, it's not Dallas. It's the sister of Dallas, and it's Fort Worth Texas,

06:01

the smaller sister.

06:03

06:32

Always happy to have you on the show.

06:35

Welcome to glad to join you. I should say, yeah, it is,

06:39

it's, it's, it's always like, coming home,

06:43

it is. It really

06:44

is collegial environment. Everybody's like, Hey, good to see how you doing. It's so nice. The people are great. Having a good conference.

06:54

Yeah, it's been a really good conference. The traffic has been really good. We've got, yeah, right at the door, yeah, well, it's, you know, that was, that was good luck. I'll tell you, premium, premium real estate. Yeah, yeah. I know it's been really good. We've got to catch up with a lot of older clients that we've had for years and have known really well, but we've met a lot of new ones as well.

07:12

So you're, you're, see, I'm gonna jump, but I don't need to mean to jump, because there's going to be new listeners. They need to understand who Shon is. Give us a little background, absolutely.

07:23

So I'm Shon Isenhour. I'm the owner of Eruditio. We are an education first training company based in Charleston, South Carolina, and we love working with just about all kinds of industries and and pretty much all over the world.

07:39

Here's here's the reality,

07:42

if that's not a a

07:44

needed, needed solution, how does your organization inspire the next generation?

07:54

I think you know, one of the things that we bring is a lot of mentoring.

07:59

See that where it's been coming up. I'm going to steal it for tomorrow's closing, you know, panel,

08:05

absolutely, yeah, it's, it's been, it's been a big part of our, our curriculum and the way we do things. And, you know, what we find is, you know, there are folks that have been in the industry for years and are really looking to be mentored into a new role or a new field, they want to, you know, leave behind maybe a maintenance supervisor role and and move into reliability engineering or maintenance engineering or something like that. And so that's that's been really good. But, you know, the other thing that we do is we bring a lot of really cool technology from an education standpoint, we're unveiling our IBO, plus this week here, this is our big slow down. I IBL, expired, inspired, blended learning plus. And what we did is we took a product that we've had for probably at this point, 15 plus years, and really almost completely re engineered it with a lot a lot more downloadable resources, a lot more ways to network with peers, a lot of very good threed animation and simulations that I think really helps the learner wrap their head around it, but it's still paired with our traditional coaching model, so that they've got the ability to implement a Project and drive a real ROI.

09:22

But that doesn't happen overnight. No,

09:25

we've been working on it for months. At this point, in fact, we made a concerted effort in January at our continuous improvement workshop internally that we were going to make a lot of these changes. And so the team has been working on it, developing all the downloadable resources and developing new ways to explain these complex topics.

09:43

How? Yeah, how do you how do you deal

09:46

with the changes that are just naturally occurring in industry? I mean, come on, it's, it's fast out there.

09:55

How do you do that? Yeah, it really has. I mean, you know, the big, big thing everyone's talking about this. Conference is AI, you know, we don't mention that. I think, you know, one of those things. And so we've, we've embraced that fully. We don't think AI is going to take many of the jobs in this space. We think the people with good AI skills will take the jobs. And I think that's something that people need to hear, and it needs to resonate, because you don't need to boycott or or avoid AI, no, but you also don't need to hand it all over to AI. It is simply being able to use those tools effectively within your environment with that human engagement,

10:39

a theme that's been very clear throughout this event, has been, AI, of course, but that human element, it just makes your efforts more efficient. And it's you're never going to at this particular time. I can't say never, never, but you're never going to just say, hey, AI, you know, drive the bus you're always going to have. Ai, hey, is discovered or identified a challenge. Let's bring a human in. Let that human decide whether it's worth going out or whatever, and then go forward. You agree? Absolutely?

11:19

No, I think, you know, the things that AI absolutely cannot do. It doesn't understand body language. It doesn't understand, there you go. That's the soft side, right? It doesn't understand people and change. It doesn't understand psychology, really. So those are always going to be places that I would suggest listeners continue to focus on because it can't. It's not going to replace that. Does it know? Does it have the ability to take large databases and see trends that we can't see absolutely but it's not going to that's not going to change the fact that you've got to interface with people and help them make the change. And that's whether you're a maintenance supervisor, a maintenance manager, an operations supervisor, it doesn't matter. You've got to be able to make that happen.

12:04

How does your organization institute that nimble

12:10

culture? Because, you know, it's

12:14

things are changing. Things are happening fast. How do you keep your your educational material relevant?

12:20

We found that we do have to update relatively regularly. So we schedule those things. We've got project plans going out for years, literally at this point where we'll continue to update and bring in new content. You know, some of the core things haven't changed. We know you need to plan work. We know that you need to get work. We know that you need to schedule Right, right? That's the same. How we explain it may be different, you know, I may want to bring it in and show it to you in a new way. You know, in some of our new content, we've got talking tool boxes, you know. I mean, it's, you know, we couldn't do that two or three years ago because the technology wasn't there. But, you know, we can explain it in a lot of different ways, and I think that's why we have to keep refreshing

13:07

it over time. Yeah. How does your organization inspire the next unit? How that young? What do you we have to You're responsible there. I believe many of the individuals, many of the companies here are responsible thinking more macro. Hey, if we don't bring in new blood, new talent, inspired, trained, you know, we're going to struggle.

13:33

Yeah, well, I think, you know, when we think about it, I'm going to use the word that had a negative connotation for years, but I think it is. It has to change, and that's edutainment, right? You know it's we have to be able to make the material palatable the next piece. You can't just have edutainment. There's got to be that application of that knowledge. There's got to be, for us, a project, so that you're demonstrating that you can do what you've learned, but if I can't keep your attention, then, and you know, attention spans are shorter than ever, so we've got to be able to grab their attention, entertain them a little bit, maybe tell some jokes. Hopefully they're funny, hopefully they're not all dad jokes, but you know, at the end of the day, we we got to make sure that we entertaining and pull them in, but then we got to make sure they can apply and use what they've learned going forward. How do you how do you ensure that that's the case? All of our IBL products, as an example, are project based. So at the end of the day, they have to take a module, they go through that content, they then use it in their facility, apply it. So if they go through the hierarchy module, they go build a hierarchy. If they go through the RCA module, they go do a root cause analysis, and then they submit that to their coach. Their coach is going to give them feedback, all right, so they've got that relationship with that coach as they're going forward, if their project changes, we can change their curriculum and add additional content. But the idea there is that there is a relationship with that Coach. Change in that project, and that's how we get that application to be able to drive that ROI, it

15:04

would seem to me that you don't, you don't let it go. You need to have that trusted, I'll say, Sherpa, to help me along with that. Because if I'm a company and I recognize the necessity to be able to I have a deficiency. I need to train. I need to do it, many of the many of the time, it's, it's just, it's, it's, needs to continue to be reinforced well.

15:30

And I think another thing, and you know, some of your listeners won't be able to see this, but your viewers will. These are our little cards, and we hand these out in the booth, but we also use these in our classes, and they're downloadable within the resources. But the point here is this allows them to have a safety net. Now. They can go back and explain this to their boss, they can go back and explain this to their peers. They can go back and explain it to their direct reports. And in the beginning, they may need the card and they may want to point at it and look and show things right, but later they throw that card away, yeah, right, because they know it well enough at this point to be able to have that discussion. Maybe they draw it on a window with a whiteboard marker, right? But this is that crutch is a bad word, but this is that, you know, that's why, that's how we get there, right?

16:16

No, you definitely, and it's repetition,

16:19

yes, absolutely, you know. I think, you know, anytime we can have someone else teach the material that they're learning, they're going to retain a lot more of that material.

16:30

So as an example, I remember

16:34

math, and I came to the conclusion that I need to know math, and that means I need to start from the beginning and work forward and be committed and do repetition. Of course, I went all the way through and, you know, did other stuff, but it was the repetition. I remember that vividly, yes, and just do it over.

16:53

But the fear, if you had a fear of math and you weren't comfortable, yeah, you may never get the repetition, yes, so we're enabling that yes with some of those downloadable resources.

17:06

Last question, yeah, where do you see it going?

17:09

17:44

It Well, I think that there's so much sweat equity that you put into creating the curriculum, that's a lot of work. I taught I didn't like it. It's a lot of work. And it's a lot of work to be entertaining. It's a lot of work to try to be engaging. And a lot of people, of course, naturally want to avoid that. But if you can compress that in some way, shape or form, deliver something that is that resonates, I think that quickly be nimble about it. I think there's

18:18

something there. I definitely think the story is what matters right at the end of the day, and if, if and when the technology gets to that point where it can create that story, that learning story, will drive the way education works.

18:31

I love it. You're amazing. I appreciate you. I know you're busy. I appreciate you. Buzzing on over here, looking

18:37

sharp and cool, looking Thank you. You too, loving that tie,

18:41

yeah, well, here, here's the deal. We have an obligation to elevate our fashion game here in industry. Yes, we do. There it is. That's that's my that's my story. I'm sticking to it. Shon, how do

18:54

19:18

he's done it before. I'm speechless. Yeah, we're gonna have all that contact information out on Industrial Talk. So fear not, if you didn't have a pain paper and pencil running it down, we'll have it out on Industrial Talk. So fear not. You'll be able to connect with them. All right. Once again, we're broadcasting from SMRP. We're on the floor, and it is a collection of problem solvers. You need to be here. So put that on your calendar. We're gonna wrap it up on the other side. Stay tuned. Side. Stay tuned. We will be right back.

19:45

You're listening to the Industrial Talk podcast network

19:53

that's Shon. All His contact information is out on Industrial Talk, so reach out to him and. He's, he knows what's going on. If you're in the world of asset management, maintenance, reliability, you need to have somebody to talk to, someone to be in your corner. Yeah, he's one that you want to have in your corner. He just is. He's and he's a nice guy, you can tell man, yeah, wealth of knowledge. SMRP, if you're in that business, you need to be at that conference. That is a must attend a conference. And what if you are you need to look me up and say, Hey, Scott, let me tell your story, which then dovetails with my initial monolog of saying you need to tell your story. No matter what. Do it? Commit to it, you say, but Scott, which is not a word again, but Scott, I don't have a personality. Use Industrial Talk as your training will we'll help you. We will help you in all aspects. We will make it painless. That's right. Be bold, be brave. Derek, greatly hang out with Shon and you will be changing the world. We're going to have another great conversation coming from SMRP shortly. So stay tuned. You.