293: Manufacturing Leadership That Works with Author and Geislinger CEO Jason Woodard

293: Manufacturing Leadership That Works with Author and Geislinger CEO Jason Woodard

From Manufacturing Happy Hour by Chris Luecke

June 23, 2026 · 36 min · Episode 293

About this episode

Chris Luecke interviews Jason Woodard about effective manufacturing leadership and building trust with frontline teams.

Your frontline team can only perform as well as the processes they're handed. So why are so many leaders still blaming the wrong people instead of listening to the ones closest to the problem? In this weeks’ episode Chris sits down with Jason Woodard, a 35-year manufacturing veteran, CEO of Geislinger Corporation, and author of Manufacturing Leadership That Works. Jason gets pretty candid about what he's seen over the course of his career. We're talking a plant manager leaving nasty notes on dry-erase boards for exhausted frontline workers, and Jason himself rolling up his sleeves and coming in on a holiday weekend when the rest of the leadership team had plans. Getting into the valuable stuff, Jason talks about what it takes to build trust with your team, holding the right people accountable, and why leading yourself should come before leading anyone else. In this episode, find out: Why blame culture in manufacturing is almost always directed at the wrong people What Jason witnessed early in his career that shaped everything about how he leads today What Jason's time as a journeyman maintenance mechanic on the night shift taught him about leadership that no management role ever…

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