Episode Details

Contact Craig James:

Email: CraigJames@Cat-Strat.com

Website: www.Cat-Strat.com

Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers Network podcast. I'm delighted to introduce you to our guest today, Craig James. Craig is a man who wears many hats. Among them, executive coach, writer, speaker, modern philosopher, information technology industry veteran and co-founder, co-managing partner of Catalyst Strategies, also known as Cat Strat Services, a strategic advisory firm that helps organizations stop and think. He is the host and co-executive producer of the podcast Big Audacious Idea. 

And he and his partner, Sue James, are launching a new podcast called The Possibility Zone. Both Sue and Craig are active in the disciplines of rethinking, reflection, and strategic planning. They've also been active in nonprofit and community organizations, and currently, they serve as co-presidents of the northeastern Ohio chapter of Conscious Capitalism. Welcome to the show, Craig. 

Craig James: Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. , you should probably go into speaking or something where you energetically and eloquently said you make me sound good.

Lisa Ryan: Well, thank you. I think I'll do that—just a crazy idea. Well, Craig, I know that in your intro, it sounds like you have done lots of things. So share a bit of your background and what led you to the journey you found yourself on?

Craig James: Well, jeez, thanks for the personal interest. Try to think about making this relevant to your listeners—one of the things that characterize my background in information technology. I grew up in the I.T. industry, and that's relevant to our chat today. But going back a little bit further, I suppose there's an entrepreneurial gene or two in the blood.

My folks were a mom-and-pop shop back in the 50s, working virtually before that was even an idea. Sure enough, in the last 20 years, Sue and I started our firm. We're entrepreneurs. We're thinkers and philosophers, but we're business people, too. We bring a blend of other stuff. I'm a loner in a way, but I love to connect with people.

I grew up as an only child. Some of the things that resonate with me playing guitar, skiing, individual experiences yet connected with other humans. That's the quick one, too. 

Lisa Ryan: Well, and I know that this is the Manufacturers Network podcast, and you've spent most of your career in I.T. So when people are thinking, why does she have an I.T. guy on, what is it that you're finding as far as how is manufacturing similar? Because that's why we're having this whole conversation.

Craig James: Well, I appreciate you clarifying that, and I appreciate you having me on the show, even though I'm not a manufacturing guy. However, what's constant across manufacturing or I.T. or other services and industries is I'm a businessperson.

And, one of the things that I'm not when I look back at my days is I'm not a technologist either. There's a lot of things I'm not. I never did programming. I wasn't a tech guy. I was a sales guy, business guy, growth guy, leader within I.T., So those concepts apply both in manufacturing and information technology. I think what's interesting right now is the convergence and similarities and how this is blurring.

If we looked at information technology back, I won't date myself. Long ago, when I sold big computers, it was manufacturing. I mean, a five-million-dollar computer took weeks to produce on the line. We called them assemblies because the computers were assembled on an extensive manufacturing line, and 12 guys and white coats their blue coats came into a clean room and installed the thing over a matter of days.

So the physicality of computing, the manual manufacturing, the tangibility, the materi