PODCAST · business
Excellence Unlocked
by Ishan Galapathy
If you're immersed in the world of manufacturing or supply chain management, you've likely encountered the elusive concept of excellence. But what does it truly mean? Is it a destination or a journey? And how do we navigate the path to unlock excellence within ourselves and our organisations?With more than 25 years’ experience in manufacturing across the Asia Pacific region, Ishan Galapathy delves into the heart of excellence, shifting the focus from tools and technology to the true drivers of success: our people.Ishan shares insights and techniques honed from years of working with teams and leaders, helping them unleash their hidden potential and achieve remarkable results. Whether it's uncovering hidden capacity or fostering a culture of continuous improvement, he explores practical strategies for unlocking excellence in your workplace.https://ishangalapathy.com/
Episodes
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Ep124 What Maintenance Can Teach Us About Excellence – Ian Cooper
Communication, not skill or technology, is the real bottleneck on most factory floors. That’s according to fitter-turned-business-owner Ian Cooper, who argues it’s lean manufacturing’s unspoken eighth waste: when maintenance and operations don’t understand each other’s constraints, Band-Aid fixes...
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Ep123 Hidden Capacity: Stop Digging Holes That Don’t Need Digging
Most organisations chase capacity in the wrong place. We add people, extend hours, buy more technology, when the capacity we're looking for is often already there, quietly trapped beneath rework, excess and delay that everyone has simply learned to accept as normal. Lego found $450 million…
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Ep122 Converge, Diverge, Converge: The Rhythm of Great Problem Solving
Different perspectives feel like a strength, until they quietly become the reason five people leave a meeting solving five different problems. A tapping exercise from Stanford reveals why: once you know something, you can't imagine not knowing it, and that gap is where teams get stuck. The fix...
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Ep121 The Danger of Being Exceptionally Good at the Wrong Thing
Sometimes the smartest, most experienced people in the room can look straight at the future and completely misread it. Not because the data is wrong, but because it answers the wrong question entirely. This episode traces that pattern through Nokia, Kodak and the Swiss watch industry, three…
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Ep120 Inside the Complex Air Crash Investigation of USAir Flight 427 – Capt. John Cox
Great problem solvers don't chase theories, they chase evidence, even when it takes years to find it. That's the lesson from Captain John Cox, who led the four-year investigation into USAir Flight 427, one of the most complex air crash investigations in history. With 56 years in aviation…
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Ep119 Understanding the Problem Before Solving It
Real problem solving starts long before the whiteboard comes out. When Flight 427 went down in 1994, it took investigators nearly five years to find the answer, not because they lacked evidence, but because premature theories are seductive and discipline is hard. Most workplace problems aren't…
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Ep118 Rework: How Small Errors Can Lead to Massive Problems
Rework is the thief hiding in plain sight. We rarely count it as waste — we just call it "work." But every correction, resend, and re-check is a bill we already paid once, now due again. A warehouse re-slotting project seemed to be working... until productivity refused to move. The real issue...
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Ep117 Continuous Improvement Is a Leadership Skill — Paul Ives
Operational excellence doesn't begin with processes or tools – it begins with people. Manufacturing leader Paul Ives argues that continuous improvement only succeeds when leaders create the right culture, earn trust and consistently reinforce the behaviours they expect. With more than two decades...
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Ep116 The Gordian Knot and the Problem With Complexity
The biggest breakthrough in problem-solving may be recognising that the problem itself is wrong. The ancient story of Alexander the Great and the Gordian Knot offers a powerful lesson for modern organisations: sometimes the smartest solution isn't to untangle complexity, but to question why it...
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Ep115 Excellence Beyond The Finish Line
What keeps you running when winning is no longer possible? In 1964, Sri Lankan Olympic runner Ranatunge Karunananda found the answer in the most unlikely place. Lapped repeatedly in the 10,000 metres final, he kept running long after the winner had finished and the crowd had stopped laughing. He...
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Ep114 The Hidden Cost of Small Inefficiencies
Small inefficiencies are easy to dismiss. One extra piece of paper, one unnecessary approval, one duplicate report or one additional click hardly seems worth worrying about. But frequency changes everything. When a small inefficiency is repeated thousands or millions of times, it becomes...
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Ep113 People Resist Exclusion, Not Change
The best ideas don't fail because they're wrong—they fail because people weren't part of creating them. Leaders often spend weeks refining a change before announcing it, then wonder why they face resistance. The problem isn't the change itself; it's that everyone else is hearing it for the first...
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Ep112 From Johannesburg to the Boardroom: Lessons in Leadership – Mike Allen
What does it really take to build a world-class factory floor? Mike Allen is a 25-year supply chain veteran who's led operations across Kellogg, a family-owned giant, and Haleon (Panadol, Advil, Sensodyne). Drawing on his time navigating South Africa's distinct operational pace and three separate...
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Ep111 Why Great Ideas Stay Hidden at Work
The greatest untapped asset in most organisations isn’t technology, strategy or even talent – it’s the ideas people never share. Ishan highlights Ferrari's transition to electric vehicles as a subtle leadership challenge: inviting celebrated external designers may broaden perspectives, but it can...
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Ep110 The NASA mindset behind world-class excellence
The biggest moments of success are rarely won in the spotlight. They’re earned long before anyone is watching. Using NASA’s Artemis program as a powerful case study, Ishan reveals why excellence isn’t built by heroic last-minute efforts, but through disciplined preparation, rigorous thinking and...
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Ep109 Robotics, People and Process – Paul Mason
Paul Mason is a mechatronics engineer, computer scientist and CEO of Robotics Australia Group, the peak body for Australia’s robotics and automation sector. He also co-hosts the Manufacturing Tech Australia podcast and has spent more than two decades helping businesses improve manufacturing,...
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Ep108 Eliminating Complexity: The Qantas Strategy Behind Long-Term Excellence
The biggest breakthroughs rarely come from working harder. They come from removing what no longer serves a purpose. Drawing on Qantas’ remarkable Project Sunrise and the legendary Double Sunrise flights of World War II, Ishan reveals why sustainable excellence is built through simplification…
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Ep107 Want Better Results? Remove Friction, Don’t Add Pressure
Success is rarely unlocked by adding more. More often, it comes from removing the friction that quietly slows people down every day. Behavioural economist Rory Sutherland has long argued that people experience the world psychologically, not objectively. One of his most famous examples involved an...
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Ep106 The RED Waste: How Rework, Excess and Delay Destroy Momentum
Many organisations believe better results come from working harder, adding more resources or finding stronger leaders. In reality, the greatest barrier to performance is often hidden within the system itself. Nature offers an unexpected lesson. Canada geese can fly up to 70 per cent further as a...
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Ep105 The Illusion of Efficiency: When Familiar Is Not Best
The biggest barrier to improvement is not always resistance to change. Sometimes, it is success. When systems appear to be working, people naturally settle into routines that feel reliable, efficient and safe. Over time, familiar ways of operating can become so deeply embedded that they stop…
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Ep104 What Actually Makes a Good Business Strategy?
Why do some organisations thrive while others slowly lose relevance, despite having smart people, solid products and proven experience? Drawing on examples from aviation, research from leading thinkers, and lessons from companies including Amazon, Toyota, Microsoft and Kodak, Ishan explores what...
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Ep103 Mentoring, Communication and Industry Leadership – Stephen Lakey
Build bridges first and the opportunities follow. The simplest shift in networking is to ask what you can do for others, not what they can do for you, and that mindset shapes careers, leadership and impact. That’s according to Stephen Lakey, Chair of the Australasian Supply Chain and Logistics...
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Ep102 Why Great Ideas Fail Without Stakeholder Support
Excellence rarely breaks down because of a bad idea. More often, it stalls because the wrong people were left out of the conversation. Every project, every initiative and every attempt to improve performance depends on stakeholder engagement, whether that’s the people affected by the change or…
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Ep101 The Hidden Cost of Familiarity
The biggest problem in most workplaces is not that waste is hidden, but that people gradually stop noticing it. Processes become familiar, inefficiencies become normalised, and teams become so focused on frameworks, categories and terminology that they lose sight of what continuous improvement…
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Ep100 Special birthday episode: Ishan’s Journey and his Unlock Philosophy
In this special 100th episode the spotlight is on Ishan Galapathy himself. From engineering student in Sydney to global operational excellence leader, consultant, author and speaker, Ishan’s story is built around one central idea: businesses already have more potential than they realise. The...
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Ep99 When Cutting Costs Starts Cutting Capability
Redundancies are rising, but something more fundamental is being cut. Continuous improvement teams, once relied on to drive efficiency and long-term performance, are being removed under short-term financial pressure. It can feel decisive, even necessary, yet it risks weakening the very engine…
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Ep98 Three Simple Tasks That Reveal Great Leadership
A quiet Sri Lankan kitchen reveals a powerful lesson in leadership. Three simple tasks uncover what many organisations still miss. Cut a pineapple and you learn the discipline of using resources wisely, not wasteful, not careless, just right. Build a fire and you discover that real progress…
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Ep97 What Operational Excellence Looks Like in Real Life – Troy May
Sustainable operational excellence is built through clarity, consistency and patient investment in people. Tools matter, but results only stick when leaders communicate clearly, build capability and reinforce the right behaviours over time. Ishan speaks with Troy May, a senior manufacturing…
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Ep96 Tools Only Matter When Teams Use Them
We assume tools will save us. They won’t. Not unless people can actually use them when it matters. Modern organisations are overloaded with frameworks, dashboards and methodologies, all introduced with good intent. But when pressure hits, complexity collapses. People don’t reach for manuals or...
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Ep95 Fix the System Not the Person
When something goes wrong at work, the first question is often who caused it. It feels fast, decisive and accountable, but it rarely leads to real improvement. Blame creates closure, not clarity. The problem appears solved, yet the same issue quietly returns. A more effective approach shifts the...
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Ep94 Building Better Teams Across Cultures, Countries and Complexity
Lasting operational excellence is built through trust, clarity and the disciplined use of human potential. Sustainable transformation does not come from tighter control, but from creating environments where people feel respected, heard and empowered to contribute. Ishan speaks with Parakrama…
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Ep93 The Hidden Power of a Well-Run Daily Huddle
workplaces start the day with a quick huddle. A few questions, a few updates, then everyone moves on. It feels productive, but often it’s little more than a casual chat. What’s missing is structure. Without clear metrics, visual dashboards and disciplined meeting routines, those daily gatherings...
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Ep92 Transformation succeeds or fails in the middle
Transformation sounds exciting in the boardroom – new strategy, sharper governance, higher standards, tighter cadence – but step out of the PowerPoint deck and into the engine room, and you’ll find a different story. Middle managers sit at the intersection of strategy and execution, reporting...
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Ep91 From Complexity to Clarity: Leading High-Performance Supply Chains – Cedric Lemetter
Leadership in supply chain is ultimately about creating agility, sustaining improvement, and making courageous decisions that protect long-term performance – and personal priorities. Ishan is joined by Cedric Lemetta, former Chief Operating Officer of L’Oréal Australia & New Zealand, to explore...
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Ep90 Growth fails not because of ambition — but because of capacity
Growth is exciting, but exhausting. We celebrate the rising revenue, the expanding customer base, the new opportunities opening up. But behind the scenes, growth also stretches capacity, tests systems, and drains energy. It exposes the cracks. It multiplies complexity. And if we’re not careful…
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Ep89 When the base is solid, everything rises
In Spain, there is a centuries-old tradition in which teams build towering human pyramids – sometimes up to ten levels high – through extraordinary trust, coordination, and collective discipline. It’s a powerful analogy for business excellence. No one climbs unless the base is solid. No one moves...
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Ep88 Leadership excellence: conversations, connection & culture – Tim Morgan
Great leaders don’t just deliver results. They leave fingerprints on the people they lift along the way. And today’s guest has done exactly that across nearly three decades inside one of Australia’s most iconic companies. From safety coordinator to Chief Supply Chain Officer at Arnott’s, Tim...
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Ep87 Listen better, performance follows
A strange noise in a car that vanishes at the mechanic becomes the spark for a powerful business lesson: listening matters. Ishan explores what we can learn from mechanics who hear problems before they break, pilots who inspect aircraft for subtle warning signs, and leaders who tune into their...
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Ep86 Summer Series: Capability before complexity – Thinking skills outperform tools
One of the biggest myths in modern operations is that performance problems can be fixed with better tools. Dashboards, automation and system upgrades promise clarity, but often amplify the very capability gaps holding organisations back. Drawing on insights from guests on previous episodes of...
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Ep85 Summer Series: Disruption, Priorities, and Unexpected Clarity
After five intense weeks in Sri Lanka filled with family, friends, and nonstop catch-ups, Ishan is recording this episode in Thailand – off schedule and completely off script! This part of the journey was meant to slow things down. Instead, the last three days turned into a masterclass in...
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Ep84 Summer Series: People, not tools, are the real engine of excellence
When organisations want to lift performance, they usually reach for new tools, new systems, new dashboards. But here’s the truth: tools don’t change culture — people do. Excellence has never been a technology problem. It’s always been a people game. Over the past couple of years of Excellence...
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Ep83 Summer Series: Automation without discipline Is expensive chaos
In this special summer edition of Excellence Unlocked, Ishan brings some of the best insights from past guests – starting with a critical lesson for manufacturers, warehouses, and supply chain leaders everywhere. Yes, automation can reduce labour costs. Yes, it can drive efficiency. But done…
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Ep82 New Year, Better Systems
As the clock ticks down to midnight, Ishan looks ahead to the fresh start that 1 January brings and the goals we so often set with the best intentions Lasting progress comes not from ambition alone, but from the systems, habits, and processes built into everyday life and work. Whether the goal is...
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Ep81 The Power of the Pause: Celebrating Wins That Drive Excellence
When is there a better time than on Christmas Eve to reflect on the power of celebration? In the rush to deliver projects, transformations, and results, it’s easy to move straight on to the next challenge without pausing to reflect. Ishan explores why stopping to recognise progress, acknowledge...
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Ep80 The hidden power of a tidy, intentional workplace
True efficiency isn’t about adding more bells and whistles; it’s about ditching the clutter that’s slowing you down. The big idea is simple: when your workspace and processes aren’t a scavenger hunt, everything runs smoother. Enter the 5S approach—sort, set in order, shine, standardise and...
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Ep79 The lean origin story: how greatness gets built
Continuous improvement didn’t appear out of nowhere; it evolved over more than a century of problem-solving and innovation. The story begins in the early 1900s with Henry Ford, who reshaped manufacturing through the moving assembly line, standardised work and the relentless removal of waste.…
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Ep78 Unlocking excellence by seeing what others overlook
A casual fruit-picking weekend proves that powerful lessons in business excellence often come from the simplest places. Today, Ishan turns that moment into three principles that drive meaningful improvement: seeing familiar processes with fresh eyes, pursuing opportunities others overlook, and...
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Ep77 How KAIs, not KPIs, unlock daily excellence
Standards on paper mean little when teams model what they see, not what they’re told. Many organisations remain stuck in “third gear,” weighed down by disengagement, reactive leadership and KPIs (key performance indicators) that only surface issues after the fact. Ishan unpacks how KAIs (key...
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Ep76 ASCLA Awards: Gratitude, greatness & recognition
Australia’s premier celebration of supply chain and logistics excellence – ASCLA Awards – delivered one of its most memorable nights yet. Hosted at Melbourne’s grand Town Hall with more than 500 guests, the evening blended breathtaking performance, heartfelt cultural acknowledgment, and…
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Ep75 Green light, red light: how to keep your business moving at the right pace
During peak hour, traffic lights on highway on-ramps allow just a few cars through at a time. It seems like a delay, but it’s a clever way to maintain steady flow and prevent gridlock. Businesses work much the same way. When too much work enters the system at once, it overwhelms capacity and…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
If you're immersed in the world of manufacturing or supply chain management, you've likely encountered the elusive concept of excellence. But what does it truly mean? Is it a destination or a journey? And how do we navigate the path to unlock excellence within ourselves and our organisations?With more than 25 years’ experience in manufacturing across the Asia Pacific region, Ishan Galapathy delves into the heart of excellence, shifting the focus from tools and technology to the true drivers of success: our people.Ishan shares insights and techniques honed from years of working with teams and leaders, helping them unleash their hidden potential and achieve remarkable results. Whether it's uncovering hidden capacity or fostering a culture of continuous improvement, he explores practical strategies for unlocking excellence in your workplace.https://ishangalapathy.com/
HOSTED BY
Ishan Galapathy
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Excellence Unlocked have?
Excellence Unlocked currently has 124 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Excellence Unlocked about?
If you're immersed in the world of manufacturing or supply chain management, you've likely encountered the elusive concept of excellence. But what does it truly mean? Is it a destination or a journey? And how do we navigate the path to unlock excellence within ourselves and our organisations?With...
How often does Excellence Unlocked release new episodes?
Excellence Unlocked publishes regularly with 124 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Excellence Unlocked?
You can listen to Excellence Unlocked on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Excellence Unlocked?
Excellence Unlocked is created and hosted by Ishan Galapathy.
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