Hardware Podcasts

Creating Manufacturing Environments Where Engineers Can Thrive w/ Josh Tarbutton

The Manufacturing Executive · 2 Dec 2025 · 38m · Episode 286

What this episode covers

Josh Tarbutton, Chairman and Chief Innovator of Bravo Team, discusses creating engineering cultures that foster innovation by balancing autonomy with trust. He explains how his background in the Army and academia shaped his leadership philosophy, emphasizing the need to support engineers with clear objectives and resources rather than micromanagement. Tarbutton highlights the critical disconnect between sales and engineering, advocating for early engineer involvement in scoping to prevent unrealistic expectations and burnout. He also warns against the long-term costs of under-investing in capital infrastructure and talent, arguing that fear-driven leadership stifles the creativity necessary for manufacturing competitiveness.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Bravo Team, Gorilla 76, Google, International Harvesters
Products
Gmail
Also
Georgia Tech, UNC Charlotte

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