Podcast
Excellence Unlocked
Hosted by Ishan Galapathy · EN
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.
13episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep103 Mentoring, Communication and Industry Leadership – Stephen Lakey
1w ago00:42:57Tap to summarizeBuild 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 Association and technical specialist with Gamma Solutions. Known for his work in mentoring, communication coaching and industry development, he has played a key role in elevating the ASCLA Awards into a major national event. Stephen outlines his career journey, the power of mentoring, and why communication remains the biggest unlock in organisations. From introverts mastering public speaking to leaders developing future talent, Stephen shares practical strategies, alongside insights on supply chain technology, automation gaps, and why investing in people ultimately drives performance. Australasian Supply Chain & Logistics Association (ASCLA) https://www.ascla.com.au/ Stephen Lakey https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenlakey/ For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep102 Why Great Ideas Fail Without Stakeholder Support
2w ago00:12:37Tap to summarizeExcellence 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 the individuals with the authority to accelerate it, delay it or quietly kill it altogether. One of the best examples comes from Disney in the early 1990s. At the height of its animation comeback, one project had all the confidence, attention and internal momentum. The other was viewed as the weaker bet. But over time, through deliberate stakeholder engagement, that perception shifted. Leadership became more involved, belief grew, momentum changed direction and the so-called secondary project became one of the biggest animated films ever made. Can you guess which one? Listen in to find out! For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep101 The Hidden Cost of Familiarity
3w ago00:15:15Tap to summarizeThe 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 was originally designed to achieve. The debate over whether Lean contains seven wastes or eight completely misses the point of what Taiichi Ohno built inside the Toyota Production System. The goal was never memorisation. The goal was learning how to observe what adds value and what quietly drains it away. From Ohno’s famous “chalk circle” exercise to modern research into inattentional blindness explored in The Invisible Gorilla, the lesson remains remarkably relevant today. Waste often hides in plain sight through rework, excess activity and unnecessary delay, slowly reducing performance across almost every organisation. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep100 Special birthday episode: Ishan’s Journey and his Unlock Philosophy
May 500:54:27Tap to summarizeIn 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 challenge is learning how to unlock it. Ishan shares the career and life transitions that shaped his thinking, from manufacturing roles at Arnott’s and Kellogg to building his own consulting practice. His work now helps companies simplify productivity, engage frontline teams and solve the problems that matter most. At the heart of his approach is a belief that leaders do not need more tools, templates or shiny technology. They need to involve their people properly, especially the quiet “fence sitters” who often hold the answers. This is a personal, practical and revealing look at the person behind the ideas. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep99 When Cutting Costs Starts Cutting Capability
Apr 2800:15:10Tap to summarizeRedundancies 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 that helps a business improve. The thinking behind these decisions is often flawed, confusing cost cutting with cost reduction, dismissing recovery as failure, and mistaking chaos for unreadiness. Add siloed thinking around operations and a rush to move too fast, and the illusion of control quickly replaces real progress. The outcome is a smaller business, not a stronger one, and the loss only becomes clear when the gains stop. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep98 Three Simple Tasks That Reveal Great Leadership
Apr 2100:09:54Tap to summarizeA 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 starts small, with preparation, not grand plans. Cook a delicate coconut curry and you confront the truth about execution, where success depends on constant attention. These are not cooking lessons. They are the foundations of operational excellence. Thrift, planning, execution. Long before strategy frameworks, people understood this. The question is whether we still do today. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep97 What Operational Excellence Looks Like in Real Life – Troy May
Apr 1400:46:25Tap to summarizeSustainable 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 leader whose career spans Goodman Fielder, Arnott’s and now Lion. Drawing on three decades of frontline and leadership experience, Troy reflects on the lessons that shaped his approach to servant leadership, accountability and continuous improvement. He shares practical insights on leading change in complex manufacturing environments, engaging teams at every level, and balancing long term cultural change with the pressure to deliver results. It is a thoughtful conversation grounded in real operational experience. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep96 Tools Only Matter When Teams Use Them
Apr 700:14:43Tap to summarizeWe 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 toolkits. They fall back on what is simple, familiar and practised. What isn’t embedded becomes noise. What isn’t rehearsed becomes useless. The uncomfortable truth is that many tools quietly turn into organisational baggage, adding weight without adding value. This reframes operational excellence entirely. It is not about how many tools exist, but whether teams can execute instinctively under pressure. Because when it counts, clarity beats complexity, and capability always outperforms theory. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep95 Fix the System Not the Person
Mar 3100:10:43Tap to summarizeWhen 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 focus away from individuals and towards the system itself. What allowed this to happen? What conditions made the error possible? That change in thinking transforms everything. Teams become more open, problems surface earlier and learning accelerates. This is where operational excellence actually begins. Not by fixing people, but by improving the environment they operate in. Get the system right, and performance follows naturally. For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →Ep94 Building Better Teams Across Cultures, Countries and Complexity
Mar 2400:46:07Tap to summarizeLasting 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 “Para” Ekanayake, Distribution Centre Manager at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in Sydney. Para reflects on a career spanning Sri Lanka, Jordan, Bangladesh and Australia, leading large-scale manufacturing, transformation and distribution operations across complex, multicultural environments. He shares the pivotal experiences that shaped his leadership philosophy, why strong teams outperform hierarchy, and how leaders can unlock performance by building trust, encouraging accountability, setting boundaries and creating cultures where continuous improvement becomes part of everyday work. Connect with Para on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/para-ekanayake/ For a copy of Ishan’s book, Unlock, please visit: https://ishangalapathy.com/books/ More About Ishan Galapathy and to access his ‘Chaos to Excellence’ White Paper: https://ishangalapathy.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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