From consultant to thought leader: Gary Cox shares the journey to his book Cultivating Champions of CI : A Leader’s Toolbox for Creating a Continuous Improvement Culture
One thing I have acknowledged and accepted is this fundamental truth: we all experience the same challenges in leadership and business success.
Before we get started, tell us a little bit about yourself!
Born in England, my family immigrated to Canada in the fall of 1969. I was 10 years old. I have lived in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, ever since. I married my high school sweetheart and this year we’ll celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary. We have two daughters, both with families, each having two children. They live close so we spend lots of time with our grandchildren. I am very blessed by my family and circle of close friends. I retired from Canada Post Corporation after a 38-year career. I started that career as a letter carrier delivering mail and ended in the position of National Director of Process Engineering, Innovation and Integration. I was responsible for our Continuous Improvement Lean Six Sigma training and improvement projects. I had an amazing team and colleagues. After retiring I joined Barrington Consulting as their lead CI trainer and we started a new line of business, Operational Performance Services (Barrington OPS), servicing public and private sector clients in training, mentoring, and coaching leaders and frontline staff in the continuous improvement of their business processes. I’m very passionate about supporting people in their growth and achieving their business and personal goals.
What inspired you to turn your experience in CI into a book?
The last sentence of the previous question really sums up why. A book is one way to help others learn and grow in their leadership and in development of others, and I accept that helping others succeed is a measure of my own success. If I can share my 25-plus years in what I’ve learned as a leader, mentor, coach and continuous improvement student and advocate, and make a positive contribution to the growth of others, I consider it an honour.
My business mission statement, which I share in my book is: “To be recognized as a leader with integrity in operational efficiency by utilizing proven methods and practices. My mission is to coach and mentor others in their self-development, helping them increase their knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward achieving both personal and business goals.” I wrote that statement a decade into my career and it remains a guiding mission for what I do. I have a personal mission statement too, which overarches my business mission statement.
The book includes interactive questions at the end of each chapter. What outcomes are you hoping readers achieve through these reflective exercises?
The interactive questions are the heart of where people who read the book will gain the most growth. It’s not the story of Sherry the general manager, or Karl the resistant leader, or my thoughts or personal lessons that will make a difference, it’s their self-discovery of something they didn’t know before, or affirmation of something they did know but want to keep doing. That’s where the most value to readers will come from. If the readers see a path they want to be on and discover their way, or affirm the path they are on is where they want to be, then the questions have accomplished what I wrote them to do.
You’ve spoken at global conferences and developed custom CI courses. How do you tailor your teaching to resonate with diverse audiences across different cultures and industries?
Throughout my career I have had opportunities to work with and talk to a very diverse sector of industry leaders and frontline staff in both the public and private sectors. One thing I have acknowledged and accepted is this fundamental truth: we all experience the same challenges in leadership and business success.
The company may feel they are unique, the their processes are different from any other. But I have learned when you dig deep into what people do and how they do it, they are all very similar. People deliver a service or make a product. Employees at the core all want the same thing: to be respected, appreciated, and heard. All leaders also want the same thing: to make their company profitable. I work to develop training and mentor people to make both happen.
So, while I have created custom programs for companies who do everything from growing grapes to running a dairy farm, processing chickens, installing heat pumps, delivering refrigerated produce, or creating 3D fibre-cell structures for growing cells that will one day be used in skin grafts, or even for growing human organs for those who need a liver transplant. It always comes back to the basics: those who do the work know what is working and what isn’t. My job is to help them self-discover their options for doing it easier, faster, and cheaper, and mentor the leaders in how to best make that happen by engaging those who do the work.
When did you decide to pursue self-publishing versus a traditional publishing route? What was your self-publishing experience like?
I realized the odds of getting a publisher or an agent was a long shot. All my research suggested that it was less than 2 percent who get an agent, and about 5 percent for a publisher to pick you up. Truth is, I tried targeted query letters to both agents and publishers. Only a few got back to me, and while they didn’t pick me up, a couple explained why: I just didn’t have the platform to generate a ROI quick enough. I get it. They only have so much time and must invest it in projects that will give them the greatest return. Even a “flyer,” like my book would be, needed a lot of work beyond the 72K word script and well-crafted query. That’s where Tellwell’s approach seemed like the best alternative. The full range of services and support could be customized to fit my needs. And I needed everything! So, I pitched the book and the idea of leveraging Tellwell to support publication to Andrew Creaser, the managing partner at Barrington Consulting Group, and he agreed it was an investment he was willing to make. He believed in me and what the book could do for solidifying me and Barrington OPS as thought leaders in the continuous improvement space.
As for the experience? Well, I can’t express how amazing the journey was working with the Tellwell team. Every aspect, from book cover design, my editor, my interior designer, the marketing expert, all worked with my interest in mind. The questionnaires you ask your authors to complete focus the author and get both the expert and author on the same page. As a process-efficiency expert, I must say, your Octavo process of keeping me informed where I was in the process, what was next, who was doing it, was among the best processes I’ve experienced. Seriously!
What’s next for you? Are there new projects, books, or creative ventures on the horizon that you’re excited about?
Andrew has given me full autonomy and support with the book and what I do with it, including the starting of a personal YouTube channel on the CI topic, which I’m super excited about. The growth of subscribers has been steady. It’s still a long way from being a platform a literary agent will consider noteworthy, but it’s a start. I interview experts in continuous improvement from my expanding global network, many of whom came via LinkedIn, personal contacts, and conferences. We talk about the topics of leadership and continuous improvement. You can check it out at Cultivating Champions of Continuous Improvement – YouTube. I also draw cartoons as a hobby and have a cartoon strip, “The Cox-Box,” which has been around since 2010. I drew continuous-improvement cartoons for iSixSigma magazine for several years. I have recently started posting my cartoons on my website, Gary Cox – garycoxcreates.ca, which Tellwell helped me set up.
I don’t know if another book will be in my future, but one thing is for sure: as long as I am able to continue contributing to accomplishing my personal and business mission statements, I will.
