Podcast episode 24: Ed Phinney of Pacific Aerospace brings a hands-on mindset to leadership
[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5588846/height/90/width/450/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”90″ width=”450″ placement=”top”]
My guest this week is Ed Phinney, the engaging chief executive officer of Pacific Aerospace and Electronics in Wenatchee. Phinney, a native of Selah, has carved out a career that has been driven by taking initiative rather than waiting for opportunities to present themselves. Community building is embedded in his hands-on leadership approach. Phinney from time to time will try his hand at making the parts the engineers create. His team gets a great chuckle out of it, Phinney told me.
Phinney encourages his engineers to follow his lead and see how well their designs work in practical application. We talked about creating a high-performance workplace in a small town like Wenatchee and the sense of collaboration and cooperation that he tries to foster so that everyone can contribute to solving challenges. Pacific Aerospace specializes in hermtically-sealed components for use in extreme environments — from cochlear implants for the hearing impaired to parts for the F35 Joint Strike Fighter. There are many leadership lessons in this episode that could be applied to any type of business or organization.
Pacific Aerospace and Electronics CEO Ed Phinney
