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As I have probably mentioned, I spent the first fifteen years of my career inside the walls of the steel mills of Northwest Indiana. My first real leadership role was as a Supervisor and one of our core responsibilities as a Steel Mill Services provider was managing the slag pits at the blast furnace. It was demanding work, not because it was complicated, but because the margin for error was razor thin.
Before I tell the story, here is the simple version of how a blast furnace works. A blast furnace is a massive vertical structure used to turn iron ore into molten iron. Iron ore, coke, and limestone are charged from the top. Hot air is blasted in from the bottom, causing the coke to burn and reach temperatures high enough to melt the iron ore. As the ore melts, impurities separate. The heavy molten iron settles at the bottom and is tapped out and sent to the Basic Oxygen Furnace for further refinement. The lighter impurities form slag, which floats on top of the iron. When the furnace taps, the slag is directed into pits where it cools and solidifies. Those pits must be watered correctly to control temperature, prevent explosions, and ensure the slag can be excavated and processed.
That was our job and it mattered.
Between furnace taps, we had only a short window to water the pits. If the pit was under‑watered, the slag would cool into a dense, rock‑hard mass that was nearly impossible to excavate. If the pit was over‑watered, the slag became too wet to run through the processing plant. Worse yet, if molten iron broke through and hit standing water, it could cause a violent steam explosion. The job was simple, but the consequences were not.
At that point in my career, I had just completed my early Lean Manufacturing and Total Quality Management training. I was eager to prove myself. I wanted to show that I could take what I learned in the classroom and apply it in the field. So, I decided to write a procedure for the watering schedule. I sat with the Lean trainers and walked through every step. I drew diagrams of the water pipes, valves, and nozzles. I labeled everything. I calculated the exact watering time for each pit. The trainers were impressed with my hands‑on knowledge. We put the company logo on the document, and I proudly handed it to the day‑shift water tender and told him this was the new procedure.
He nodded politely. I drove back to the office ready to accept my congratulations. It was a Friday, and I went home for the weekend feeling like I had done something meaningful.
Monday morning told a different story.
When I arrived at the blast furnace, I was met by the loader operator, the water tenders, the truck drivers, and the head of the blast furnace department. They were standing in front of what looked like an erupting volcano. The slag was molten and out of control. The loader operator was furious, and I was the focus of that anger.
In my excitement to apply my new training, I had forgotten one critical detail. I never invited the water tender or the loader operator to the meeting where I wrote the procedure. I had created a process for people who had decades of experience without asking them a single question. I had replaced their expertise with my assumptions.
After apologizing and smoothing things over with the department head, I gathered the real team, the people who actually did the work, and we rewrote the procedure together. I mostly took notes. That was the first and last time I ever wrote a procedure without a subject matter expert.
The lesson was simple and permanent. Leaders do not create operational excellence by themselves. They create it with the people who know the work best. Subject matter experts are not optional. They are essential. They are the difference between a process that works on paper and a process that works in the real world.
LEADERBOAT MANUAL PAGE (PDF Attached Below)
Leading With Subject Matter Experts
1. Never Build a Process Without the People Who Do the Work
If the people closest to the work are not in the room, the process will fail.
2. Respect Experience as a Form of Intelligence
Years on the job create insights no classroom can replicate.
3. Ask Before You Assume
Subject matter experts know the exceptions, the risks, and the realities.
4. Make SMEs Co‑Authors, Not Reviewers
Bring them in at the beginning, not the end.
5. Validate Every Step in the Field
A process that works in theory must be tested in practice.
6. Treat SMEs as Strategic Partners
Their knowledge protects safety, quality, and operational stability.
7. Capture Their Knowledge Before It Walks Out the Door
Retirements, turnover, and promotions can erase decades of expertise if leaders do not document it.
LEADERBOAT TOOL KIT OF THE WEEK
The SME Integration Checklist
Step 1: Identify the Experts
List the people who know the work better than anyone else.
Step 2: Bring Them Into the Process Early
Invite them to planning sessions, not just reviews.
Step 3: Ask Three Core Questions
• What can go wrong
• What do new people misunderstand
• What exceptions break the process
Step 4: Build the Procedure Together
Let the SME lead. You document.
Step 5: Field‑Test the Process
Run it in real conditions with the SME present.
Step 6: Capture Tribal Knowledge
Document tips, warnings, and unwritten rules.
Step 7: Review Annually
Processes evolve. SMEs help keep them accurate.
The ice cream shop that makes money when it's cold
28 Wishes sells ice cream in Los Angeles. Below 70°F, sales fall about 20%. The weather is out of their hands. Rent isn't.
So the owners started putting about $20 a day into Kalshi weather markets, taking the cold side. The days that keep customers away now pay something back.
This is hedging. Big companies have done it for decades, buying protection against bad weather, fuel spikes and rising rates. It used to take a broker, a trading desk, and an order size no corner shop could meet.
Kalshi opens it up. Contracts on weather, fuel prices, inflation, tariffs and regulation, starting at a few dollars. Take a position on the outcome that would hurt you. If it hits, the payout softens it. If it doesn't, the contract expires and the good month was the point.