Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/985736
14 | May - June 2018 | www.machinerylubrication.com "The foundation of our culture was this sense of gratitude, this sense of happy to be here," he said. "That sense of gratitude powered us through tough times, and that is what's important about 'glad to be here.'" Peppering his keynote with multiple videos and photos, Wooldridge shared an impressive image of six planes flying in tight formation and asked the audience how far apart the jets were. After hearing answers from the audience, he said the jets were only 36 inches apart. To illustrate just how close that is, Wooldridge had the audience stretch out their arms to the next person, telling them that the planes were as close as the next person and that it all came down to trust and how much you trust that next person or that next jet. Wooldridge further told the audience how your mindset can transform your performance and how achieving the highest level of performance takes the mindset of a champion. Holding up his helmet, which represents "one-tenth of one-tenth of 1 percent of all the pilots in the world," Wooldridge said that only six pilots get to wear that helmet every year, and every year three of those six pilots are replaced in a natural rotation due to concern over complacency. Upon enlisting in the U.S. Navy after college, he decided to be an aviator and soon realized how difficult the training would be. He developed a life-changing perspective after gaining a second chance to master catching the third wire when landing. "You fly the airplane; the airplane doesn't fly you," Wooldridge said. "In life, when you're faced with challenges, you've got the tools, you've got the skills. Grit your teeth and make it happen." Finally, the Blue Angels called, and Wooldridge led the team two times before deciding to retire. He later was asked to come back and command the team a third time. Transitioning into how he developed and worked with a high-performing team, Wooldridge shared the Diamond Performance Framework, which consists of four components: beliefs, brief, contracts and debrief. As an ambassador of goodwill, Wooldridge relayed the story of him leading the Blues to Moscow for a competition with the Russian Knights team. The teams allowed each other to fly in their planes, and despite the language barrier, the trip was successful. "They were just like us," Wooldridge said while showing pictures of the trip. "We appreciated their discipline and precision." Driving home his message of "Glad to Be Here," Wooldridge focused on the debrief aspect of the Diamond Performance Framework, saying that it was a crucial part of both the frame- work and the Blue Angels' performances. "No matter how the day went, we had a great appreciation and tremendous gratitude for what we go to do, and the processes we used made us thankful," Wooldridge added. "It wasn't a beat up on individuals; it was a safe place. We talked about what went wrong, but we celebrated what went right." ON THE FLOOR Following the opening general session, a steady stream of attendees, looking for the latest technologies and solutions to their everyday issues, visited the 115 exhibitors occupying the Indiana Convention Center. This diverse mix of companies, which covered all facets of the maintenance and reliability industry, provided every type of solution for issues faced by this industry. Each year, the conference sees the return of several long-standing exhibitors who are continually impressed with the Reliable Plant experience. One of those companies is Turner Industries, which has been with Reliable Plant for four years. "We love coming to Reliable Plant," said John Josserand, manager of business development with Turner Industries. "We've seen a lot of new customers we haven't seen before, and we get a lot of exposure to a part of the country that we're not in. We've had some good folks coming by. We thought day one was representative, but day two has been even better." Tony Nguyen, director of strategic transformation and innova- tion with SGS North America, and Rich Wurzbach, president of MRG Laboratories, partnered on the exhibit floor and shared their excitement over the diverse mix of companies and attendees. "Just looking at the number of new companies and visitors, I see there's a push out in the marketplace to train their operators and personnel," Nguyen said. "So, this is the right place to be to influence and show them the gears and technology." "It was exciting for me on the first day when it was asked how many new people were here, and it was more than half," said Wurzbach. "That's a great opportunity to reach out to a whole new segment to educate them on oil analysis." Conference Review