I grew up around forestry, logging operations and sawmills.

I have managed highway construction projects, sold manholes and been an apprentice millwright. My professional career began wearing a hardhat and Carhartts to work. I know how businesses that make and move things operate, on the construction site and manufacturing floor.

I noticed a $175K gap.

As a Sales Analyst at a cast iron manufacturer I realized the warehouse manager knew the cities who weren’t ordering the product spec’d in the spec book. The sales team knew where our products weren’t approved. This lived in everyone’s head. I built a tool, captured the information, then started talking to the cities. This led to $175K in new revenue. The gap was in plain sight.

20 years of building relationships from the bottom to the top of organizations.

Breaking down communication silos. Raising the real problems to the surface. In manufacturing, construction, healthcare and professional services. In companies growing fast. In companies where the gap between what leadership believes and what is actually happening has been quietly widening for years.

The symptom is obvious, and is never the root problem.

A regional director believed she had open communication with her teams. She walked the site regularly. Her team knew her name. She genuinely believed knew what was happening.

She didn't.

The moment she walked into the building her team got busy. They were showing her the clean house version of the operation. The reality was messy: workarounds, stalled decisions, and the problems people had stopped mentioning. Without seeing the real version of the house, there is no way she can know how things are working.

Every organization has two versions of itself.

Finding the real one requires someone the organization hasn't learned to perform for yet.

I work with leaders at manufacturing and construction companies when their teams have stopped delivering and nobody can quite explain why.

If you’re ready to find out what’s actually broken, will@wstuck.com