Episode 40

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Published on:

17th Nov 2025

Caring Boldly: Building a Culture of Innovation, Inclusion, and Purpose with Laura Phillips

In this episode, Lisa Ryan talks with Laura Phillips, Vice President of Engineering and Procurement at Pella Corporation, about what it really takes to sustain a century-old company while staying future-ready. Laura shares how Pella’s culture of caring boldly, where truth, accountability, and collaboration coexist, continues to drive innovation and inclusion across 21 manufacturing sites and 11,000 team members.

From her early doubts about fitting into a male-dominated field to leading large engineering and procurement teams, Laura traces her journey through mentorship, curiosity, and courage. She and Lisa dig into how manufacturers can modernize without losing their soul, create workplaces where people belong, and make manufacturing a career destination for the next generation.

Key Takeaways:

  • Turn Fear into Fuel: Manufacturing isn’t the “dirty and dull” image from old textbooks—it’s bright, high-tech, and full of creativity and problem-solving.
  • Caring Boldly: Pella’s three culture pillars: care, learn, deliver results, show up in how teams challenge each other honestly while still supporting one another.
  • Innovation Through Listening: The award-winning SteadySet installation system was born from conversations with installers about safety, efficiency, and pride in their work.
  • Representation Matters: From hosting Girl Scouts to collaborating with universities, Laura shows how early exposure changes how young people, especially girls, see the trades.
  • Flexible Futures: Four-day workweeks, job sharing, and automation are reshaping what flexibility looks like on the factory floor.
  • Tech That Serves People: Automation at Pella is designed to reduce strain, prevent injury, and make jobs more ergonomic and rewarding.
  • People Before Process: Laura’s bottom line: strategy fails without people. Listen first, engage early, and build every improvement together.
Memorable Quote: “No strategy is effective without the team. The people are the most important thing; make it about them.”

Connect with Laura Phillips:

🔗 LinkedIn: Laura Phillips

About the Host:

Lisa Ryan, CSP, is a keynote speaker, author, and Chief Appreciation Strategist at Grategy®, helping manufacturers and skilled-trades organizations keep their best employees from becoming someone else’s. Learn more at Grategy.com.

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About the Podcast

The Manufacturers Network
Real conversations with leaders in manufacturing, automation, and workforce retention.
The Manufacturers’ Network is where manufacturing leaders, plant managers, and industry innovators come to talk straight about what’s working and what’s not, on the shop floor and beyond.

Each week, host Lisa Ryan sits down with people who live and breathe this business: operations executives, HR directors, engineers, and founders who are building stronger teams and smarter systems in the face of nonstop change.

Listeners gain real-world insights on:
• Employee retention and workforce engagement
• Automation, AI, and the future of skilled trades
• Supply chain and operations leadership
• Safety, sustainability, and company culture that lasts

If you’re tired of generic “leadership talk” and want practical conversations from people who get it, this podcast is for you.

New episodes drop every Monday and are short enough for your commute, sharp enough to shape your week.

Subscribe and be part of the conversation that’s connecting manufacturers across industries, one story at a time.

About your host

Profile picture for Lisa Ryan

Lisa Ryan

As a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), an award-winning speaker and author of ten books, Lisa Ryan, CSP, works with her clients to develop employee and client engagement initiatives and strategies that keep their top talent and best clients from becoming someone else’s.
Lisa’s expertise includes: strengthening workplace culture, improving employee engagement, increasing customer retention, and initiating gratitude strategies (“Grategies”) for personal and professional benefit. Lisa’s participants enjoy her high energy, enthusiastic delivery and quick wit and they leave the session with ideas they are committed to acting on immediately to make positive workplace culture changes.
Lisa costars in two films with other experts including Jack Canfield of “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” She is the Past-President of the National Speakers Association, Ohio Chapter and holds an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Relevant Experience

• Keynote, breakout or workshop speaker at more than 100 national and international conferences
• Thirteen years of industrial marketing and sales experience, including seven years in the welding industry – and yes, she does weld
• Host of “Elevate Your Engagement Levels: What You Need to Know” on the Elite Expert Network and the C-Suite Network
• Creator of “The Seven Mistakes Managers Make to Crush Company Culture” video series
• Best-selling author of ten books, including “Manufacturing Engagement: 98 Proven Strategies to Attract and Retain Your Industry’s Top Talent”
• Award-winning speaker