What "challenging the status quo" means to me

Challenging the status quo takes on two meanings to me. One is of large, but rare, fundamental disruptive changes. The second is small, but frequent, incremental improvements. When I think of incremental improvements, I think of Gall's Law. It states: "A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked." - John Gall

Not all challenges to the status quo need to be daunting large disruptive challenges. We can make small meaningful improvements daily to improve upon the status quo.

My hobbies

I love being in nature. Hiking, kayaking, snow shoeing with the family. I have recently rekindled my love of motorcycles. During the pandemic, I bought an old bike and tore it completely apart and did a full rebuild. I got to learn so much, but the biggest challenge was building an entirely new wiring harness from scratch. The wires were all burnt and needed replacement. I took the opportunity to modernize the electronics. Now the entire system is controlled via Bluetooth from an app on my phone.

Most valuable piece of advice I ever received

I was lucky to have a great leader early in my career. He gave me the advice and taught me to look at problems different from most people. He would always tell me the best opportunities for improvement come from problems. That's the system telling us where to focus. Celebrate finding issues, because without finding them we can't fix them and improve the business.

My favorite book

Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman

One word my colleagues would use to describe me

Versatile