I first met Chris, a veteran technical expert in the manufacturing sector, when working with the Oregon Manufacturing Innovation Center (OMIC). Chris possessed a brilliant idea in danger of fizzling out.

He dreamed of providing high school students lucrative career opportunities in the manufacturing sector. It all came down to transforming career & technical education (CTE) from an afterthought in high schools to a viable program career connected learning opportunity. Done correctly, these students could be matched with manufacturers desperately seeking talent. The problem? Chris faced an uphill battle to even get his organization off the ground. Colleagues scoffed at his idea—so much so Chris named his business after the naysayers. WBTO stands for “We Boil The Ocean,” a nod to this seemingly impossible task.

At once, I recognized Chris’ passion for WBTO. I, too, shared his interest in supporting young Americans with an alternate pathway. I came onboard as more than a thought partner—I helped him take his idea to market. To achieve this worthy goal, we worked closely on focusing his idea, then fostering its growth.

Strategic Planning was the focus of my initial work with Chris. With multiple stakeholders in business and education, Chris felt pulled in many directions at once. Co-developing an effective business strategy gave him confidence to deal with interested parties and navigate complicated relationships between stakeholders. Chris explains, “I went from always playing defense to confidently moving my organization forward, thanks to Ashley.”

Making WBTO Work for Chris was another major focus in the early days. Every idea requires effective processes that leveraged the strengths of his teams while shoring up weaknesses. Creating effective processes required intimate knowledge of the work needing to be performed, which enabled Chris to leverage team strengths in new ways. 

Delegating Authority: can be the greatest challenge for entrepreneurs. Chris was no exception. As a techie, he wanted to be the one at the machine controls, ensuring the product was perfect. But trying to do that as WBTO’s head held his organization back. We worked on delegating authority to the right employees, coupled with the right processes, Chris learned to rely on his team. He explains, “Being able to count on the men and women on my team made us more productive than ever, and my organization has grown in effectiveness as a result.”

Interpersonal Awareness was never a problem for Chris as an expert contributor on the factory floor. But he quickly learned rubbing shoulders with the white-collar world and the halls of academia was the tricky part. We worked together to learn best approaches for collaborating with differing stakeholders. 

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Chris is Succeeding. So Can You: Working together, WBTO transformed from a far fetched idea into a well-oiled machine actively building the next generation of manufacturing experts in the Pacific Northwest. Chris is scaling WBTO like a champ, and we still work closely together. I’ve even had the privilege of teaching CTE students those interpersonal skills so needed for team success.

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As Chris’ story proves, even a task as monumental as boiling the ocean can be overcome through reimagining processes and people.