Same Software, Opposite Results

Aaron Streeton has spent 20 years running operational transformations in more than 30 countries, including six months on the ground in China. His rule for owners: find the real problem before you buy the fix, because the same software can lift one company and sink another.

Aaron Streeton has spent 20 years in operations consulting across more than 30 countries. He founded Tengu Consulting in Calgary, and in 2021 he spent six months in China running a 52 site global transformation on the ground.

A telco he works with put in new dispatch software. It took twice as long as planned, cost twice as much, and tech productivity dropped 30%. A gas utility in the same province runs the same software and got more productive. His point for owners: when a fix fails, look at the requirements, the processes, and the people before you blame the tool.

His other rule is just as simple. Build the organization around roles, then develop people into them. Build it around one person and it falls apart the day that person leaves.

In this episode

• Teaching English in Japan, and how he ended up in operations consulting
• Where the name Tengu comes from, and why discipline and intention matter
• Getting quick wins while the bigger plan takes shape
• What "embrace the grit" meant on a factory floor in China
• Why every expert in the room sees a different problem
• Same software, opposite results, and what actually went wrong
• Shoulder to shoulder coaching until a new habit sticks
• AI as the new app, and why technology goes last
• Why problems are gold, and the weekly habit he calls loss accounting
• When a band aid becomes the system
• People do not mind change. They mind being changed
• What happens when a key person leaves
• The hardest conversation a leader has, and the hug at the airport
• Why he wrote The Nine Essential Questions, and who should not start a transformation right now

Timestamps

1. 00:00Intro
2. 01:14From teaching English in Japan to operations consulting
3. 03:43Why he named the company Tengu
4. 07:00Quick wins while you build the big plan
5. 08:31Running a 52 site transformation
6. 09:47Embrace the grit
7. 11:17Every expert sees their own problem
8. 12:47Same software, opposite results
9. 15:09Why he had to be in China in person
10. 17:05Finding the real problem behind the symptom
11. 18:55AI is the new app
12. 20:27Why technology goes last
13. 21:09Problems are gold
14. 22:29Containment, countermeasures and loss accounting
15. 24:05When a band aid becomes the system
16. 26:20People hate being changed
17. 28:51Aligning the team on one goal
18. 30:30When a key person leaves
19. 33:46The hardest conversation a leader has
20. 35:33Why he wrote the book
21. 37:46Who should not start a transformation
22. 38:47Where to find Aaron

About Aaron Streeton

Aaron Streeton is the founder and managing partner of Tengu Consulting in Calgary. He started in operations consulting in 2005, served as Chief Delivery Officer at a global management consulting group, and has worked across six continents and more than 30 countries. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from Queen's University and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is the author of The Nine Essential Questions for Organizational Transformation.

Tengu Consulting www.tenguconsulting.ca

The book thenineessentialquestions.ca