Responsible Retail Through Ethical Sourcing with Kaylynn Jordan

Imagine the transformative power of a marketplace that not only thrives on quality products but also on the stories of the people who craft them. That's precisely the vision Kaylynn Jordan, the founder of Ethical Sourcing Network and Global Purpose, walks us through in our latest chat. Kaylynn's passion for India and the rights of workers in the global supply chain paints a vivid picture of the challenges and triumphs in connecting conscientious manufacturers with major U.S. retailers. Her narrative is a testament to the idea that behind every product is a person, a family, and a community whose life could be uplifted through ethical practices.

Navigating the intricate landscape of supply chains, our discussion pivots to the increasing reliance on Indian manufacturing capabilities and the ripple effect it has on the industry. The conversation uncovers how a surge in Indian entrepreneurs' investment in their businesses and their embrace of quality control measures are meeting the demanding standards of large-scale retailers. There's an unmistakable buzz surrounding the potential for India to revolutionize its production status quo—something we're keeping a close eye on for its ability to reshape the global market.

Wrapping up, we turn to the deep-seated impact of generational manufacturing and the importance of honoring cultural distinctions in corporate collaborations. There's a heartwarming recognition of the real difference made when companies engage in responsible employment, especially in empowering women and supporting education initiatives. It's a profound look at how enterprises can leave a lasting, positive imprint on communities, far beyond the bottom line. These stories and more await you—so make sure to hit that subscribe button for a front-row seat to the unfolding narrative of retail reinvention.

Transcript

Charles Greathouse 0:11

Hello and welcome to the Retail Journey podcast. I'm one of your hosts, charles.

James Harris 0:16

Greathouse and I'm James Harris, and today we are talking with Kaylynn Jordan, the founder of Ethical Sourcing Network and Global Purpose. Welcome, kaylynn Jordan, the founder of Ethical Sourcing Network and Global Purpose. Welcome, kaylynn.

Kaylynn Jordan 0:25

Well, thank you. It is awesome to be with you guys and just chat for a while.

Charles Greathouse 0:30

Absolutely, yeah, looking forward to it. I mean, the retail journey is nonlinear and it's not a journey any of us should have to go on our own, but I think you're the furthest upstream the retail journey that I think we've talked to. Absolutely.

Kaylynn Jordan 0:45

I'm excited to talk about it.

Charles Greathouse 0:46

Let's get into those upstream things that happen on the journey to retail.

Kaylynn Jordan 0:51

Yeah, I'm happy to talk about it.

James Harris 0:53

Yeah, let's maybe start just with what Ethical Sourcing Network is and take it from there.

Kaylynn Jordan 0:58

Yeah, so Ethical Sourcing Network. I launched Ethical Sourcing Network I'm going to refer to it as ESN from this point.

Charles Greathouse 1:05

I like it Over time.

Kaylynn Jordan 1:06

I realized that the shorter, the sweeter, the better. So ESN we launched at the beginning of 2013, specifically with our focus on manufacturing out of India. So for the past years I have been connecting manufacturing to retailers and brands.

James Harris 1:27

Yeah, awesome. So what, um you know? Tell us a little bit about your story. How did you, how'd you get into it? Why do you spend a third of your life in India? Like, where's the what's, the heart and the mission of of what you're, what you're doing?

Kaylynn Jordan 1:40

Yeah, my mom and my family. They ask me that all the time, a third of your life. Well, you know, it really came from a passion of people and started with fair trade in mind. So I came in looking at international trade and looking at the whole stamp of fair trade and what does it mean?

Charles Greathouse 2:00

Ah yeah, and so 2013 reset, right it actually was in.

Kaylynn Jordan 2:04

That actually began in 2008. That's pretty early in the life cycle of fair trade.

James Harris 2:09

Yeah, yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 2:10

So I mean, like when it started to roll, it was really beginning to evolve out and it was um, it was this really valuable stamp that had the meaning to people about fair trade. And then a whole lot of things happened around the world whether it was fires in manufacturing or women in manufacturing or all kinds of things that came into play and also the consumer began to ask what does that mean? Right? So I also began to ask that question what does it mean? And through the process, I decided that I really wanted to understand it from a firsthand experience and I started, took about two years and journeyed to India and just started going in and taking a look at manufacturing.

James Harris 2:57

Did you have any background in India at the time, or that was your first voyage?

Kaylynn Jordan 3:02

It's a really strange story and I mean, at some point maybe there's a place downtown we can all meet. And I'll give you the whole scoop of how that happened. Because we would take the whole time and we wouldn't get into what you guys?

Kaylynn Jordan 3:13

probably want to know from a sourcing perspective. But I'm happy to share that story. But it was kind of a launching point of I really felt that I needed to be in India, that there was something happening there and I wanted to be in India, that there was something happening there and I wanted to be a part of it early. And I am so happy that I did, because what I have done now, from that point of just saying India, people, people matter.

Kaylynn Jordan 3:37

There's a supply chain, there are workers. They all need a voice, whether they're informal, whether formal. How do we give voice to workers? And so I launched from that perspective of how do we begin to see what manufacturing has happened. So my company launched from a people-first perspective and as that happened, I decided you know, we need to build on that. People are people right everywhere, but they need to be supported as they go along their journey. So it's the same in manufacturing. You have a group of people who are manufacturing and then they need really good processes and things that make them successful and connections to buyers.

Kaylynn Jordan 4:24

And then from that you have this amazing product that then gets to us in our homes, and so I've just evolved from retail journey.

Charles Greathouse 4:28

It just happened.

Kaylynn Jordan 4:30

And so we just, you know, just evolved over time of where, um now we, you know, work with some really large retailers to help them, um as their sourcing office, and we're really proud of the things that we get to do there, as well as brands also, and then connect amazing manufacturers to people like you as well, who help get them in working within the Walmart system.

James Harris 4:54

Yeah, so, so obviously you work with your own clients, that's, you know more India facing and maybe they take over sales or whatever, when, when it comes stateside. And now we've formed a partnership where we find opportunities. You connect it to the right factory, you walk them through the process of doing it safely, well and with quality in mind, and then we take it from there once it reaches the US.

Kaylynn Jordan 5:19

That's exactly right.

Charles Greathouse 5:20

Yeah, yeah, and I mean as a merchant, most of that stuff in a direct import business, you start getting into a lot of the spec decision making but you're not typically sourcing Right. You know, all of my experience was at Walmart. So there's a sourcing office and they're the ones that tend to do most of that work and they're not always going to see the whole picture and as a merchant, I can't see the whole picture. So if you could share a little bit of like your experience and, um, I think there's a lot of nuance in the, the transition from there's not been a lot in sourced from india to uh, to the us, at least proportionally to others, right. Um, to the US, at least proportionally to others, right, and the journey from like hey, in 2013 when you started, there probably wasn't even much momentum in that direction.

Charles Greathouse 6:14

No, and now there seems to be a lot of momentum.

Kaylynn Jordan 6:16

No One of the biggest obstacles that I have or that I have worked on and I'm seeing a real evolution and change by the manufacturers. But there was a little bit of a buffer that was built around India manufacturers. You know, right now there's a real push to get direct import because we want the efficiencies, we want the cost savings to be able to have that. But we still need them to perform right. I mean they have to get the right product in that hits the quality, hits the specs.

Kaylynn Jordan 6:45

All red is red is red right it's kind of like it can't be some strange red. So, um, what I have seen is that there's been a evolution and the definition of between, as a manufacturer goes from working with an importer, which has been the way it was done a lot in India. They had this little insulation of having an importer around them who would go out and work as a design group and curate and then find little factories and then it would come in under their brand or it'd be shifted through them and then go to the retailer. But we all know the importance of India is going to be successful and be able to scale like others in the world that they need to be able to stand on their own and that the retailer needs to be able to trust that they can do that.

Kaylynn Jordan 7:33

So my role and what I do is very early in the process of helping those manufacturers be equipped and ready to be able to work without adding anything into the costing of that. So instead of it then being maybe a certain large percentage that the importer says I'm going to do this and then I'm going to put this into my cost of goods and it's cost retailer this we're saying how do we get these manufacturers ready at a nominal cost, at a low cost, where they say you know what, I can pass that on to the retailer and it doesn't really add any cost, there's efficiencies.

Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities

Charles Greathouse 8:10

It's a value add, not a cost add. Yes, when it seems like a direct relationship with a manufacturer is very different than a, you know, I'm working with an importer who's working with lots of different manufacturers, especially in the Walmart environment where there's enormous scale, that's possible.

Kaylynn Jordan 8:31

Yeah, I think the thing that I have run into as we work with larger retailers who are trying to do the hard thing of diversifying their supply chain and having options, is a lot of times they'll say their supply chain and having options right Is a lot of times they'll say, okay, I have this widget or I have this that I want you to go sourcing team, Can you go and have somebody make it? And these three manufacturing areas, okay, Parts of the world. And so it comes in and it's been made in one area for like 20 years. Right, it's been over and over made. And all of a sudden you say it comes to a new area and it's like, okay, what are the obstacles to having this made now in a new environment? You know, how do we? How do we get them there? So there's a little bit of an education process Sometimes it has to occur of what's important to you.

Kaylynn Jordan 9:21

I mean, for us to get the cost effectiveness or the efficiencies, we've got to make sure the raw materials are there right. We've got to make sure the equipment's in place so that you get the product. Sometimes it might look a little different. Usually it looks the same, but it sometimes might have a different manufacturing process to get to the same and it just, it's just. You have to be able to walk that journey with them and since we know that there's a very aggressive number that's been thrown out there of manufacturing out of India, right, I mean it's a big number.

Kaylynn Jordan 9:53

It's like we're going to have to be able to move some things from other places into that arena. So it's it's work walking with those manufacturers and you already have the capabilities, you already have the capacity. Maybe you need this tiny little piece of machinery. It's not a big cap expense, but you could do this and use what you already have and go gangbusters and be really successful.

James Harris 10:15

What are the big opportunities that you're, that you're working on, that you're excited about?

Kaylynn Jordan 10:18

You know, I think from my background I there's a couple of things. One is not only the growth of a manufacturer who actually takes the raw materials in and makes it, but I'm seeing the actual base of that supply chain, like, if we're talking about fabrics or textiles, we are seeing the mills begin to do a wider range of products. Things that can compete with the fabrics the performance fabrics or the luxe fabrics or the plush fabrics that people really didn't think could come from India are now coming there.

James Harris 10:56

It's exciting coming from India.

Kaylynn Jordan 10:57

Yeah, it's super exciting and so, like I said, you're just seeing them and that was not happening 10 years ago. I've seen it evolve into five years and now it's almost like I'm seeing exponential growth in the way that they're maturing and investing.

Charles Greathouse 11:16

Excellent. That feels like the beginning of a hockey stick, because once you've got that core foundation then you can start hitting quality specs, hitting consistency. It's hard to justify it without the demand and now there's been some stakes in the ground placed and movement, and to me that's very exciting for the journey ahead.

James Harris 11:40

My goodness, Well, and success begets success. So you start selling to a new country, a new retailer. Cash infusion comes from that. You're able to then add another line, hire more people, develop new products, and each each generation of success brings its own, its own opportunities yeah, there's even, you know, I mean from mean, from the financing, from the financing side, you kind of touched on it.

Kaylynn Jordan 12:06

You know I'm seeing increasingly Indian business owners wanting to invest in Indian manufacturing. So you know they want to see them successful. You know, don't? I'm finding manufacturers who used to say I don't know if I can do that, who now have access to capital or to funds, to say, okay, we can do that and we can do it now, I didn't know if I can do that. Who now have access to capital or to funds, to say, okay, we can do that and we can do it now.

Kaylynn Jordan 12:27

I didn't realize it, but now I can do it, or I can go get this new facility, this new factory, so we can scale as quickly as someone like a Walmart wants them to scale. So it's been really exciting from that standpoint.

James Harris 12:40

Excellent. So that's happening now. What about? Where is India three years from now? We've seen some of the numbers. Many retailers are putting some aggressive ones out there. Maybe at that point, $50, $60, $70 billion incremental dollars coming out of India for the US. How does that look? Is it more of what's coming now? Is it new product categories? What do you see on the horizon?

Kaylynn Jordan 13:12

What I am seeing on the horizon is I'm going to do it in two things. So I see these generational legacy manufacturers who are investing in expanding their footprint, investing still in their people, looking at their current production and what they do and saying, okay, how do I not necessarily become more automated, but how do I put in better lines so that things can be fully integrated and I don't have to go and take it over to here or bring a box?

Kaylynn Jordan 13:46

from here it's like everything's coming in and you're seeing it lining up and they can do it from mold making in-house too.

James Harris 13:53

Sounds like a Six Sigma sort of.

Charles Greathouse 13:55

Yes.

Kaylynn Jordan 13:55

All the whole Six Sigma. In fact, I've actually had three factories recently who said, oh, we're doing Six Sigma Really.

Charles Greathouse 14:03

Excellent.

Kaylynn Jordan 14:03

And it's excellent to see them thinking in processes, because I know that the quality will follow as they do that, and that they will be more profitable and have more opportunity because they're setting those things up. So I think that when you look at that legacy kind of generational I'm seeing that. The other thing that I'm seeing is them looking at what their other global, the other countries, are doing. What have they done from an equipment standpoint? What have they? What do we not have that we need to do to be able to grow.

Kaylynn Jordan 14:37

Infrastructure, and so recently I had a manufacturer who had just invested $20 million into a really amazing spot welding.

Kaylynn Jordan 14:50

that will totally blow up their capabilities of being able to do bath items, caddies, any kind of cages that might be done those types of things that have high testing needs as well for performance, um, and it's already a material that they were strong in that india is known for. It's like a steel and iron and metal material, so they're they're known for that. They just needed to put the right equipment in, and now you know what sky's the limit of what they can do.

James Harris 15:23

Yeah, that's exciting, what else?

Charles Greathouse 15:28

Like what I mean. I think about as a merchant who's been either given a goal or the task or some things that come up that are like hey, this is intuitive, very easy, I know what to do, I don't have any issues. Direct import, it's like man, I see lots of systems that are in place and I've got this sourcing team. That's my right hand, that's in Shenzhen and I'm used to working with them and I have no problem understanding how things operate. I know there's lots of teams forming on the Walmart side and we're not with Walmart, we don't represent walmart in any way, shape or form.

Charles Greathouse 16:06

But as I think about the merchant mindset trying to think through okay, now there's this other draw. What are the things that you see as like hey, you know, watch for this? Here's some good questions to ask as you go down that journey from a readiness standpoint, because we don't. From a readiness standpoint, because merchants don't typically get to have dual path solutions Things are getting bet on and like all right, this is going to happen over here and it's at least half the country is going to do one or the other, or whole programs shift over and all that represents a certain amount of risk. So, as you think about stewarding that and all of your experience actually on the ground. What are some of those questions?

Kaylynn Jordan 16:49

Well, I think that language is, and when I say language, it's not that they don't speak English, because, remember, they had a British rule for a while, and so the business language is English a while, and so the business language is English. I'm talking about language, of just those nuances, of understanding each other from that point of view, of what that is there's. Recently, I love to say the story of you know, I'll never forget talking and being in one of my early meetings and I was we were talking about an issue, a problem that I was seeing, and I said, and I'm afraid that's just the tip of the iceberg, and they all looked at me and like, cocked their head at me and I was like, oh, you know what?

Kaylynn Jordan 17:34

I have never had ice in India and they probably really hadn't seen an iceberg in the way that we do.

Charles Greathouse 17:43

And I thought Not a common analogy, common analogy.

Kaylynn Jordan 17:46

So I I I actually reflect to that a lot when I go in is like okay, what is the common language? How do I improve communication? How do we phrase it in a way that they can understand it? The hard thing from a merchant standpoint is am I giving clear specs? Do they have the direction they need to be able to make the right decision, not only from a product development standpoint, but also from a profitability, because all stakeholders want to be successful. They want to be successful as well. And am I setting them up? I was been, I have been, very encouraged with the way that Walmart is approaching um what I've seen, some of the manufacturers, especially new manufacturers in India, of saying we're going to walk like let's try one or two items and then let's okay, you want next year, I want to, I want to go, I'm going to try to double or triple that and then we go in the next three years.

Kaylynn Jordan 18:45

So I have actually been tremendously a lot of respect for what I am seeing the mindset of doing, like how do we do that? I think the challenge is getting those big items, those big moves or shifts of how do we get those in play, and that does take some investment from the India manufacturer to maybe identify. Is there a category I haven't thought about that I could do, that could allow that merchant to have a bigger spend or make a bigger shift?

James Harris 19:17

And those early bets. They kind of have to be home runs and I don't mean just from performance and delivery and all, but it has to sell. If you've got one or two items and you're wanting to see success in order to get to 10 and then 30, those two items have to work, the initial launching point has to be successful. So choosing the right item is really probably critical to that process.

Kaylynn Jordan 19:38

Yeah and I think it comes down to having your sourcing partners in your GS office or, in my case, if I'm in that role, am I giving you the information that helps you understand truly, not only what their capabilities or capacity are, but how does it look like in a really holistic way? Is there equipment that could do something different? I think the unique perspective that I bring is that I have a Western viewpoint. You know, I shop in a Walmart, I shop in a. I know how it's used, the product is used. I know how that material and, because I work in manufacturing, I know that material can be used in a different way.

Kaylynn Jordan 20:23

Or if there's just this done to it, then all of a sudden it has a new opportunity, a new life. That can be done in the store.

James Harris 20:30

There's really so many endless combinations in sourcing, so you can change the fabric a bit here. There's so many things that you just really have to live in it in a way that you know I couldn't. I work with you know sales, merchandising, analytics, but that's just. That's just a whole new vast world.

Kaylynn Jordan 20:53

Which is perfect, since we're working on it in tandem. Right, I love the fact that I can now say, okay, where where do we? Where do I take an amazing Indian manufacturer when I see them and help them be successful in Walmart and I say you know what high impact? Oh my gosh, they're the team, they're who you want to work with.

Charles Greathouse 21:12

Squad goals. That's right. So, speaking to those high capacity, you've seen the secret sauce that makes a manufacturer be someone that's going to thrive. You've seen the secret sauce that makes a manufacturer be someone that's going to thrive. Let's say, someone's listening today and they're in that manufacturing spot. I think about trying to take on something like pursuing either US expansion or, specifically, walmart US expansion. What's some of the key watchouts or advice from your experience?

Kaylynn Jordan 21:43

Well, first of all and this is, if you know it's, we have we kind of met before we talked. So I know some questions that are coming and one of them for me, it was my biggest learning and I think it this goes to that story.

Kaylynn Jordan 21:57

So my biggest learning is that you can't do things in isolation. You know you have to surround yourself with experts. I mean, if you think that you, as knowledgeable as you are, you have to always be a learner and you have to always make sure that you sound yourself or have access to experts. And I think that, um, that that is, there's a fear of doing it because one it's going to add cost and you don't know, and you don't know what that cost is going to be as a manufacturer.

Evolving Manufacturing and Human Impact

Kaylynn Jordan 22:25

So you kind of go oh no, is's going to add cost, and you don't know what that cost is going to be as a manufacturer. So you kind, of go. Oh no, is this going to cost me a ton of money and then am I going to be able to? Make money in the end, or is it going to have results? And so I think that that's their biggest fear. I think that they really believe in their manufacturing because most of them are generational. They've been manufacturing as families forever.

James Harris 22:46

They probably grew up in the in the factory yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 22:49

And so they're ready. I mean they're ready to go. They're like okay, I understand what I do.

Charles Greathouse 22:54

Yeah, yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 22:54

How do you help me do it there?

Charles Greathouse 22:56

And I've seen corporate cultures where partnering with others is second nature, and I've seen corporate cultures where there's no chance. We only do what we do. I think it's too difficult to speak in broad strokes, but you've probably experienced both.

Kaylynn Jordan 23:09

I have yeah.

Charles Greathouse 23:14

Would you give some advice to those that like, hey, they've grown up in that. I use partners and we've got teams and I bring on experts and folks. It's like, no, we do everything, I wear all the hats, I'm really proud of it.

Kaylynn Jordan 23:28

Yeah, I think we see it in both. The ones who really scale, though, are the ones who you see that they've either brought in an outside consultant. They're not afraid to hire a US design group to come in and give them some guidance on design to make sure they're hitting that US Because, quite frankly, everything is fast. I mean right how?

Charles Greathouse 23:41

fast are things moving, yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 23:42

Well. I mean but you can't. But the manufacturing process still takes time. I mean, you're making something from scratch.

Charles Greathouse 23:48

And when you start making it at scale, you then have it.

Kaylynn Jordan 23:51

Yeah, and so.

Charles Greathouse 23:52

It better be the thing that's going to sell.

Kaylynn Jordan 23:54

You can't right and you can't make a mistake or it's costly for everybody. So doing that upfront from the beginning is like what are they investing in? From the beginning is it's like what are they investing in? What are they not willing to invest in? I you know I've seen manufacturers who have gone and wanted to go into Walmart and have amazing capabilities and say that could do very large, do very well, but they don't want to invest in the part, the people who could help them with their systems and talk to Walmart.

Kaylynn Jordan 24:27

They think they can just kind of do it on their own and when they do, they make really important consequential mistakes that don't only just affect their bottom line but affect relationships and opportunity, because they don't execute or bring in the expert from the beginning.

Charles Greathouse 24:49

Yeah, yeah, I love that as a learning. That was probably Not painless, no, and it wasn't for anyone. You know it wasn't for anyone.

Kaylynn Jordan 25:02

And so you know, and it's something, it's someone just, and I'm going to use old terminology, so y'all forgive me because I know there's, like you know, we have retail, inc, luminate, all this, but I mean just not having someone who can like run the system and catch those things that need to, so that things talk to each other.

Kaylynn Jordan 25:17

Totally so that things, talk to each other and think that they can hire someone who is good at IT or has, you know, went to a great school. It's not that they can't do it or learn it.

James Harris 25:24

Right yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 25:25

But at the beginning you might need somebody to kind of come in and train and do it for you for a bit.

James Harris 25:29

And working with retailer A doesn't necessarily translate to retailer B.

Kaylynn Jordan 25:33

Oh wow, Absolutely as someone who works from across multiple retailers from a sourcing perspective. Everyone has their own systems, their own acronyms, their own processes, their own timelines, their own trend boards.

Charles Greathouse 25:52

Yeah, Right, yeah, I mean we're very focused on Walmart and Sam's Club here in Bentonville and Walmart and Sam's Club are not the same. Yeah, they're the same. You know Walmart Inc. Sam's Club are not the same. Yeah, they're the same. You know Walmart Inc. But they are not the same, yeah. So lots of different acronyms and approaches.

Kaylynn Jordan 26:09

Yeah, I mean, don't even get me started with the P-Bop, yeah.

James Harris 26:18

You know one of the things I wanted to get to today. You know the business systems lines scaling, all critical and important, but what are some of the human stories Like? What have you seen from your 12 years in India? Human impact wise. Like what does? What does this development mean to the people that are doing the work?

Kaylynn Jordan 26:37

Well, we know that it's now the most populous place in the whole world, right? So there's more people there that need work than anywhere else in the whole world. So the jobs mean something for one thing, I think. For me there's a couple of. I've been on a little bit of a journey myself, so I started in fair trade. So when I was in fair trade I would see small artisan groups. You know I might find myself in a village that does nothing, but you know, make bone frames right, like little cut little pieces of bone and mosaic them into frames. When you see that and you see the hands that touch a product at that level that's going it ends up at a TJ Maxx or a World Market you go I can't believe that that came from that tiny little village. And when you're there and you see it happening and you see that what it provides is education for children. It provides opportunity for women that wouldn't have it.

James Harris 27:40

It totally transformed my worldview when I saw that, and so from that point forward.

Kaylynn Jordan 27:46

I knew that I was going to be in and out of India and that I wanted to understand it from the supply chain, from the base of the what I called the base or foundation of the pyramid all the way up and have view into it. So that happened there. What I see today with the larger manufacturers, which I find incredibly encouraging, is I remember when Walmart launched their women in manufacturing initiative and it was great. I mean, there were so many cool things that were done and the advancement that has happened because of the investment that Walmart made. I don't think that probably Walmart realizes that it continues. You know that it motivated other retailers to do it. It motivated that they're still doing things today. It motivated, it set precedent for manufacturers who. They kept those in place. They kept those things in place that never went away, and so I see that in what I'm seeing is the evolving of manufacturing.

Kaylynn Jordan 28:50

So you might see that there is a training center that you never would have seen before and that training center might be for tailors and you go. Well, that's you know, that's a. We see a lot of um here of women, or or it's a you know it can be gender neutral. Who's doing that in india? It you? It wasn't. I mean, it was a. It was something that men did. They were the tailors. That's what happened. Now we're seeing, just in a total, you know, women um manufacturers, where it's almost you know a high percentage of women in that job.

Kaylynn Jordan 29:21

It's because the manufacturers are setting up training centers and they train people so that they can get the new equipment. I mean they're. They're even more important now because they bring new equipment in, and so when they bring in someone, not only are they training them at a basic, but they're training them on something that maybe, even if they did so or was a tailor, they had never seen this type of equipment. Because they want the quality and they're investing in that type of thing. So we're seeing that as well as just the services they provide. Recently I was in an amazing one of my favorite manufacturers and they have a full-time nurse, so they make sure that their people are well cared for and that they have the care they need. They invest in students their workers' students, so that they have education.

Kaylynn Jordan 30:07

So there's just a constant giving to their people and it's helping them grow and scale because they retain their people. They don't have to turn over and we all know for quality of product that's a pretty, a pretty important thing to have happen.

James Harris 30:24

Absolutely. Yeah, that's great. Well, should we go to the lightning round? You've already answered one. I've answered some of them. I know I'm sorry, I jumped ahead.

Kaylynn Jordan 30:33

Let me see, I'm going to get my little list out. So I know what I want to say, because I was thinking, I don't know, is it, is it a lightning round?

James Harris 30:38

if I planned it and I know what the questions are going to be Not technically, but it's all right. Okay, and I'm going to be really fast on it.

Kaylynn Jordan 30:44

Yeah, just act surprised. Okay, here we go Out of nowhere. Out of nowhere, biggest failure. No, okay, yeah.

Charles Greathouse 30:50

Talk to us about a big fail you've had in the journey of retail.

Kaylynn Jordan 30:55

The journey of retail. Well, again, I think it was the fact that I didn't really and I still struggled from a technical side for the dot-com of like, what do I need to do? Because I am such I literally, my husband and my first date was to a grocery store and we walked the grocery aisles and we've never stopped walking retail aisles.

Charles Greathouse 31:14

So it's like there it is, we're going to.

Kaylynn Jordan 31:16

I'm a retail geek. We love it. Both of us were in retail and it's just kind of our sweet spot.

Charles Greathouse 31:21

You called it the dot com, so that I mean definitely it's putting off the vibe of like, yeah, I don't dot com.

Kaylynn Jordan 31:28

I don't dot com it, don't com it.

Charles Greathouse 31:30

So I'll introduce you to the digital store walk, one of my favorite ways to oh, I can't wait. Yeah, because it's like I go on a store walk but sometimes you can sit, you can walk if you'd like, but getting really into like what's the customer going to go through digitally, but yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 31:45

I think a lot of us. Will you teach me how to do that oh?

Charles Greathouse 31:47

yeah, we'll do some digital store walks.

Kaylynn Jordan 31:48

I want to. I want to Because I'm a fast, I'm a visual person, so I don't see enough when I'm looking at a storefront on digital.

James Harris 32:01

And digital storefront on totally and digital is a big opportunity for india absolutely furniture high ticket items uh, those are very heavy. E-com purchase yeah, that's a big opportunity manufacturing.

Charles Greathouse 32:09

It was a hot.

Kaylynn Jordan 32:10

It was very important, from what I've heard on at the open call or at the summit, I mean there was a huge push on it.

Charles Greathouse 32:16

The open call you're referring to the one in india india summit.

Kaylynn Jordan 32:20

yeah, and what?

Charles Greathouse 32:21

was that like?

Kaylynn Jordan 32:22

It was really. I mean, first of all, it was exciting. It was really amazing to see so many manufacturers in one place and I ran into old friends that I hadn't seen in years and then made some reconnections and so it was amazing to see what they were doing.

Kaylynn Jordan 32:38

But for me, being someone who lives in Bentonville, it was amazing to see what they were doing. But for me, being someone who lives in Bentonville, and then being there and was just the and loving India the way I do yeah, you know, it was really Really cool to see those worlds collide. It was really cool to see my worlds collide.

Charles Greathouse 32:52

I love it. I mean, one of my favorite parts of when I did work at Walmart just the impact and there's a heart in that company of like, yeah, doing the right thing. There's a, there's a consistent theme of like we're trying to do the right thing. It's a really big company. There's lots of nooks and crannies and difficult things to go through, but stepping into, like hey, we're going to go do this and then running an open call, you know, starting to set up resources, setting setting up infrastructure.

Kaylynn Jordan 33:20

Absolutely, and they're doing it well. Yeah, totally and they're communicating it really well to the manufacturers of setting realistic goals for them. How? Do you scale. Like I said, I've been really impressed coming out of that, of what I've seen from that perspective of setting them up, of what is success. And here it is today and what is it in three, two years.

Charles Greathouse 33:41

What is it in three years? And kind of pulling around. Okay, that is not as lightning, not lightning, that's fair, but a fun one. And a fail is a tough tough question.

James Harris 33:50

So what are you reading, watching or listening to these days?

Kaylynn Jordan 33:53

Well, I, this is a fun one for me. So my favorite thing is on Sundays is to read Maria Shriver's Sunday paper. It comes to my, into my list and she does. It's called Architects of Change. And so she pulls together thinkers her thing, her, this is her thing thinkers, leaders and visionaries moving humanity forward. What I love about it I'm not being lightning again.

Charles Greathouse 34:17

Oh, that's great, we're here for it.

Kaylynn Jordan 34:19

So what I love about it is that she deals with women's issues, she deals with parenting issues, she deals with global issues, and I just find her to be really thoughtful in who she brings into that. And then my other one is a new one that I've just started and it's called 21 hats, and it is curated by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. So as a business owner, you know, as you're scaling, you're always learning and you want to surround your. Sometimes you find yourself feeling like you're like working in isolation.

James Harris 34:54

Yeah, yeah.

Kaylynn Jordan 34:56

And so it just felt it feels practical, it feels relevant for a business owner. So that's kind of the other one that I'm doing right now.

James Harris 35:03

Oh, that's excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us, kayla, are you? Kidding this has been a great conversation.

Charles Greathouse 35:09

Super fun.

Kaylynn Jordan 35:11

Super fun. You let me talk.

Charles Greathouse 35:13

Yeah Well, it's such an interesting topic and interesting time. I mean there's a, you know people talk about overnight success of like, oh wow, it's amazing that you happen to be right there, for you know the push for India manufacturing.

Kaylynn Jordan 35:29

The overnight success that was 12 years in the making. Oh, it started in 2008.

Charles Greathouse 35:31

Oh, okay, yeah, not exactly overnight, yeah, and then starts with like the actual ground up. There's something so um, encouraging about the depth of of integrity when it's like no, no, we started at like the actual ground, um, and it's not like, oh, no, I, I know this is a good group because of the one certification that they came with. Like no, no, I've, I've toured and we've talked about and we've we've processed which capabilities need to exist new machines, the depth there that all happens way before something hits an IDC, is so critical and there's areas of the planet where that's happened for years and has consistency, and India is a space where it's becoming a new.

Kaylynn Jordan 36:18

It's a really unique season, super exciting, and thank you for letting me kind of just tell a little sliver of it. Um, and I look forward. As we work together, I'm stories will just kind of ooze out and you'll be like, oh, I wish you'd told that one.

James Harris 36:32

So do I. I'm looking forward to my first trip to India.

Kaylynn Jordan 36:34

I can't wait to take you.

James Harris 36:35

Yeah, it's going to be fun and thank you all for joining us today. We'd love if you subscribe to the podcast or go to highimpactanalyticscom and you can watch or listen to any episode there.

Charles Greathouse 36:50

Thank you, awesome. Thank you.