Inspire - Deb Conklin, CEO of Reddy Ice

Engineering Leadership

Deb Conklin is the CEO of Reddy Ice, the largest manufacturer and distributor of packaged ice in the United States.

She is passionate about continuous improvement and lean fundamentals. She attributes these as the key to success for her company. Deb is an industrial engineer and she chose the topic of Inspire.

3-Bullet Summary

• You can be the smartest person or have the best strategy, but it’s not enough if you can't inspire people.
• You earn people’s trust by inspiring them.
• If you’re too focused on being right and being smarter than everybody else, you’ve already failed.

3 Quotes

1. “If people don’t believe, you can’t influence the outcome.”
2. “You earn trust by having people believe in your mission and inspiring them.”
3. “When you’re not trusted or you’re not believed in, it doesn’t matter how great your plan is.”