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PODCAST

Excellence Unlocked

Ishan Galapathy

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

business management

All Episodes

14:43

Ep96 Tools Only Matter When Teams Use Them

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/04/07

We 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

en-AU

10:43

Ep95 Fix the System Not the Person

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/03/31

When 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,

en-AU

46:07

Ep94 Building Better Teams Across Cultures, Countries...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/03/24

Lasting 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

en-AU

22:29

Ep93 The Hidden Power of a Well-Run Daily Huddle

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/03/20

workplaces start the day with a quick huddle. A few questions, a few updates, then everyone moves on. It feels productive, but often it’s little more than a casual chat. What’s missing is structure. Without clear metrics, visual dashboards and disciplined meeting routines, those daily gatherings rarely move the needle on performance. The truth is many businesses, including large multinational companies, still operate this way, so if your meetings feel loose and unstructured, you’re

en-AU

22:29

Ep92 Transformation succeeds or fails in the middle

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/03/10

Transformation sounds exciting in the boardroom – new strategy, sharper governance, higher standards, tighter cadence – but step out of the PowerPoint deck and into the engine room, and you’ll find a different story. Middle managers sit at the intersection of strategy and execution, reporting upward, translating vision, and stabilising teams amid rising scrutiny. However, it’s not about whether your transformation plan is strong. It’s whether you have equipped the

en-AU

44:12

Ep91 From Complexity to Clarity: Leading...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/03/03

Leadership in supply chain is ultimately about creating agility, sustaining improvement, and making courageous decisions that protect long-term performance – and personal priorities. Ishan is joined by Cedric Lemetta, former Chief Operating Officer of L’Oréal Australia & New Zealand, to explore what operational excellence looks like at scale. Cedric shares the realities of managing a highly complex, import-led supply chain across Australia and New Zealand, including multi-site

en-AU

15:00

Ep90 Growth fails not because of ambition — but...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/02/24

Growth is exciting, but exhausting. We celebrate the rising revenue, the expanding customer base, the new opportunities opening up. But behind the scenes, growth also stretches capacity, tests systems, and drains energy. It exposes the cracks. It multiplies complexity. And if we’re not careful, it can strain the very engine that got us here. Over the past few weeks, Ishan has been reflecting on what really happens during transition phases — when momentum is high but structures are still

en-AU

11:58

Ep89 When the base is solid, everything rises

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/02/17

In Spain, there is a centuries-old tradition in which teams build towering human pyramids – sometimes up to ten levels high – through extraordinary trust, coordination, and collective discipline. It’s a powerful analogy for business excellence. No one climbs unless the base is solid. No one moves without rhythm. And no one improvises at level nine. Yet in business, we often launch bold strategies with vague ambition and expect people to “figure it out.” Ishan shares a

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38:25

Ep88 Leadership excellence: conversations, connection...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/02/10

Great leaders don’t just deliver results. They leave fingerprints on the people they lift along the way. And today’s guest has done exactly that across nearly three decades inside one of Australia’s most iconic companies. From safety coordinator to Chief Supply Chain Officer at Arnott’s, Tim Morgan’s career is a masterclass in growing by serving others, connecting deeply, and leading with intent. He’s guided teams through turnarounds, transformations, and global

en-AU

17:22

Ep87 Listen better, performance follows

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/02/03

A strange noise in a car that vanishes at the mechanic becomes the spark for a powerful business lesson: listening matters. Ishan explores what we can learn from mechanics who hear problems before they break, pilots who inspect aircraft for subtle warning signs, and leaders who tune into their organisations. There are three critical ways to listen to a business: to your assets, your people, and your operating rhythm. From daily equipment checks and frontline feedback to weekly, monthly, and

en-AU

16:19

Ep86 Summer Series: Capability before complexity –...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/01/27

One of the biggest myths in modern operations is that performance problems can be fixed with better tools. Dashboards, automation and system upgrades promise clarity, but often amplify the very capability gaps holding organisations back. Drawing on insights from guests on previous episodes of Excellence Unlocked, Ishan builds on the summer series to explore why thinking capability must come before complexity. You’ll hear from three highly experienced operational excellence leaders. Manu

en-AU

5:33

Ep85 Summer Series: Disruption, Priorities, and...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/01/20

After five intense weeks in Sri Lanka filled with family, friends, and nonstop catch-ups, Ishan is recording this episode in Thailand – off schedule and completely off script! This part of the journey was meant to slow things down. Instead, the last three days turned into a masterclass in disruption. You know the feeling — when you need a holiday to recover from the holiday. Add packed expectations, tight timelines, and food poisoning that took turns sidelining family members. Definitely

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16:28

Ep84 Summer Series: People, not tools, are the real...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/01/13

When organisations want to lift performance, they usually reach for new tools, new systems, new dashboards. But here’s the truth: tools don’t change culture — people do. Excellence has never been a technology problem. It’s always been a people game. Over the past couple of years of Excellence Unlocked, one theme has come through loud and clear: when people are involved early, listened to deeply, and trusted to lead change, performance follows. You’ll hear from three

en-AU

13:43

Ep83 Summer Series: Automation without discipline Is...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2026/01/06

In this special summer edition of Excellence Unlocked, Ishan brings some of the best insights from past guests – starting with a critical lesson for manufacturers, warehouses, and supply chain leaders everywhere. Yes, automation can reduce labour costs. Yes, it can drive efficiency. But done badly? It can make performance worse, faster. You’ll hear from three highly experienced supply chain leaders: Peter Campbell, a former EY consultant and PhD-qualified practitioner who shares hard-won

en-AU

8:11

Ep82 New Year, Better Systems

Excellence Unlocked ·

2025/12/30

As the clock ticks down to midnight, Ishan looks ahead to the fresh start that 1 January brings and the goals we so often set with the best intentions Lasting progress comes not from ambition alone, but from the systems, habits, and processes built into everyday life and work. Whether the goal is improved health, stronger finances, or better business performance, success follows the structure that supports it. As we welcome a new year, the invitation is to design systems that make progress

en-AU

23:01

Ep81 The Power of the Pause: Celebrating Wins That...

Excellence Unlocked ·

2025/12/23

When is there a better time than on Christmas Eve to reflect on the power of celebration? In the rush to deliver projects, transformations, and results, it’s easy to move straight on to the next challenge without pausing to reflect. Ishan explores why stopping to recognise progress, acknowledge achievements, and celebrate with your teams is essential to unlocking sustained excellence. From daily recognition to milestone celebrations, positivity and progress are contagious. As we reflect on the

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15:33

Ep80 The hidden power of a tidy, intentional workplace

Excellence Unlocked ·

2025/12/16

True efficiency isn’t about adding more bells and whistles; it’s about ditching the clutter that’s slowing you down. The big idea is simple: when your workspace and processes aren’t a scavenger hunt, everything runs smoother. Enter the 5S approach—sort, set in order, shine, standardise and sustain—a tidy little recipe for turning chaos into calm. Clear out what’s useless, keep what matters close, and suddenly productivity feels less like a battle. The real

en-AU

13:39

Ep79 The lean origin story: how greatness gets built

Excellence Unlocked ·

2025/12/09

Continuous improvement didn’t appear out of nowhere; it evolved over more than a century of problem-solving and innovation. The story begins in the early 1900s with Henry Ford, who reshaped manufacturing through the moving assembly line, standardised work and the relentless removal of waste. After World War II, Toyota expanded on these ideas and created the Toyota Production System, refining waste reduction, improving flow and building a culture where everyone contributes to better ways of

en-AU

22:39

Ep78 Unlocking excellence by seeing what others overlook

Excellence Unlocked ·

2025/12/02

A casual fruit-picking weekend proves that powerful lessons in business excellence often come from the simplest places. Today, Ishan turns that moment into three principles that drive meaningful improvement: seeing familiar processes with fresh eyes, pursuing opportunities others overlook, and applying simple tools with greater depth across the organisation. Through real operational examples, Ishan shows how small adjustments in speed, flow or daily routines can generate significant gains, and why

en-AU

17:23

Ep77 How KAIs, not KPIs, unlock daily excellence

Excellence Unlocked ·

2025/11/25

Standards on paper mean little when teams model what they see, not what they’re told. Many organisations remain stuck in “third gear,” weighed down by disengagement, reactive leadership and KPIs (key performance indicators) that only surface issues after the fact. Ishan unpacks how KAIs (key activity indicators), those consistent daily huddles and visible involvement, form the behavioural backbone of high performance. He shows how to align actions with expectations, engage

en-AU

97 results

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