Focused, passionate and results driven leader with national and international industry experience in aerospace, automotive, electronics manufacturing and supply chain.
Glenn is a lean and continuous improvement professional in the practices and philosophies of the Toyota Production System (TPS), trained and mentored on the shop floor in Japan by Toyota Senseis. Glenn has over 25 years of applied hands-on operational experience in executive leadership positions at companies such as Honeywell, Toyota, BlackBerry, and Amazon.
Throughout his career, Glenn has overcome multiple significant business challenges which has given him the experience and knowledge to lead and implement transformational change and continuous improvement, with a proven track record of success and results across multiple industries.
His strong passion and obsession for leadership coaching and change management are two of Glenn's fundamental specialties. He believes that a strong commitment to people and processes is the key to employee engagement and long-term success. Glenn is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University's (formally Ryerson University) Bachelor of Engineering program with a minor in Computer Science, is a licensed Professional Engineer and holds an MBA from Herriot-Watt University.
Glenn also has a personal website where you can find topical posts and articles about leadership and continuous improvement (lean) beyond what is posted on this HPL site. Check it out at www.glennsommerville.com. He is also always interested in expanding his professional network of like-minded leaders. If interested, follow him on LinkedIn.
"I've had some really great challenges and opportunities over my career, and I have the scars to prove it! I've worked with some great and not-so-great leaders along the way too, learning equally from both kinds. To me, HPL is the next logical step in my progression toward personal fulfillment and achievement. Continuous improvement, coaching and mentoring others are what excite me.
I was first introduced to 'lean' or continuous improvement at Honeywell. At that time, lean was a business 'initiative' that a lot of companies were jumping on. I found all these new Japanese terms somewhat intimidating and at times daunting. However, I had an awesome opportunity to lead a business unit wide cultural transformation where I learned and experienced how to lead culture and change management while introducing lean principles.
During my 10 years as a General Manager at Toyota, I learned hands-on how to 'do' and lead through the Toyota Way and the Toyota Production System (TPS). I learned the importance of and how to align leaders, management systems, and culture to achieve long-term high performance. It's not a business initiative at all, or shouldn't be, but rather a way of leading.
Leading the launch of the first Lexus plant outside of Japan, the development of the 'Lexus Mindset' was a massive undertaking to gain the confidence of the Lexus dealer network across North America and prepare the entire automotive plant of 3,500 team members to exceed the customers' expectations of perfection, with every vehicle. The reward came from the customers themselves as the plant received the JD Power Gold Plant Award for the highest initial quality of any vehicle in North & South America. We were all very proud of that recognition!
BlackBerry was a fun and rewarding experience in introducing continuous improvement from scratch across a large organization and in multiple engineering, support, and traditional manufacturing teams. I learned to persevere, focus on making a difference every day, and continue to coach and mentor leaders throughout the organization while empowering them to try new things, fail, and succeed.
Amazon was all about scale and growth. The speed and scope of the business at Amazon taught me how to lead at scale. Growing the operation x10 in 5 years across the country while expanding the workforce from a few hundred to over 7,500 employees, I had to learn new ways of leading, managing and organizing myself, my team and my organization to be successful. I found that my biggest contribution was not doing, but rather coaching and mentoring others. It was an extremely challenging, but fulfilling experience.
I wanted to start HPL because of the passion I have for continuous improvement and the development of leaders. I have been privileged throughout my career to have worked for great companies and leaders that invested in my development and provided me with career and personal growth challenges. It is my desire to help other leaders grow and develop to realize their full potential. There is so much unrealized potential out there in leaders, people, and organizations and our goal at HPL is to disrupt that condition through our experience, programs, coaching, and peer communities!
I'm excited and honoured to partner with Scott, who has made it his lifelong commitment to helping leaders and organizations learn lean and continuous improvement tools that make a difference in their workplaces every day."
Glenn is always interested in expanding his professional network of like-minded leaders. Follow him on LinkedIn!
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Scott's passion is developing the thinking required for organizations to learn how to compete and win. Through the 4 Leveraged Learning Consortiums that he facilitates as the president of HPS Consortium, he developed the Organizational Systems Thinking model. The model is the foundation for the thinking of the consortium members and many of the organizations are now the benchmark for world class continuous improvement.
Scott Smith Moved on from HPL in the spring of 2024. He is still an active leader and mentor through his other business, High Performance Solutions and Consortium. We continue to work collaboratively with Scott on special projects.
Through his 30 years of experience, Scott has championed the expansion of continuous improvement and lean thinking into the manufacturing, healthcare, higher education, government, service and not-for-profit sectors through improved thinking, models and methods. Scott is the first to deploy Value Stream Mapping to improve information flow processes and launch the lean thinking approach for purchasing and supply chain management.
Scott developed his foundational thinking at Rockwell Automation - Allen Bradley as a continuous improvement facilitator and supply chain leader. It is during this time that he developed his strong understanding of organizational culture, leadership, teamwork and people engagement.
Scott earned his MBA at Wilfird Laurier University. His master's thesis was based on the supply chain development process, commodity management, that he helped develop at Rockwell Automation. The commodity management approach is the benchmark for excellence in supply chain management.
Scott also believes that it is important to give back to the communities that support us. He is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario. St. Mary's is a global leader in the deployment of lean thinking in healthcare and he is working with the hospital to develop and implement a lean thinking model for board governance.
"Working with hundreds of organizations over the last 30 years, I have seen a lot of 'stuff', some great and some not so great. Every day, I learn from both and use what I learn to improve the thinking that our consortium members and the organizations we serve use to compete and win.
My passion to make work a place where people grow and find meaning started at an early age. My father was employed as a labourer at a furniture factory. He experienced a work life that people should not have to endure. The 'leaders' (a title I now understand you need to earn) of the company abused the workers. His workplace was unsafe both physically and mentally. He was a very smart man and had a lot to offer the company, but he was never given the opportunity to contribute and learn. After a time working for the company, he was left physically broken and unable to work or support his family.
Unfortunately, this management approach is still used extensively in organizations today and is leaving scars, both inside and outside, on many people. It is my mission to make the organizations I work with a better place for everyone. Through the work we do, we will achieve this.
To have better organizations, we need better leaders. This is why Glenn Sommerville and I launched High Performance Leaders Inc. I am privileged to team up with Glenn, a leader that is dedicated to improving the way he leads and is passionate about developing other leaders.
HPL has a better way to develop the skills that are critical for leaders to develop great organizations. Together, we will make a difference that matters."
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