When Craig Coyle ran programs at an aerospace composites facility, he discovered a brutal truth: he wasn’t losing skilled technicians to rival manufacturing shops. He was losing them to Amazon and McDonald’s over fifty cents an hour.

When people leave a technical trade for a retail job, it is never just about the money. It means the leadership failed to give them a reason to stay.

In this episode of Rapid Fire Manufacturing, Craig joins me to strip down corporate leader development to first principles. We break down why the standard corporate approach to management is completely backwards, how a military mission statement actually functions as a task and a purpose rather than corporate fluff, and why quality, safety, and production are entirely downstream of workforce engagement.

If you want to stop the revolving door of shop floor turnover, the answer isn’t a massive consulting budget. It is twenty minutes of unscheduled time in the trenches.

Keywords: Manufacturing leadership, workforce engagement, employee retention, operational excellence, military leadership, shop floor management, aerospace manufacturing, front line leadership.