In this fast-paced, no-fluff 60-minute webinar designed for Assembly Magazine’s community of assembly engineers, operations managers, and manufacturing leaders, Julian M. Allen Jr. shares what it really takes to succeed as a rising leader in today’s high-pressure assembly environments.

Drawing from his new book Operational Leadership Uncensored: Real Talk for Burgeoning Manufacturing Leaders (Productivity Press, 2026), Allen delivers practical, immediately usable strategies for leadership fundamentals, motivating high-performing crews, giving feedback that changes behavior, solving root-cause issues on the line, and turning struggling teams into consistent performers.

Real stories from facility startups, lean transformations, and automation implementations across 17 sites bring these lessons to life.

The session includes quick polls, “what would you do?” scenarios, and tools from the book. The final 20 minutes are reserved for live Q&A on attendees’ toughest operational leadership challenges—with a chance to win a signed copy of the book.

By the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to:

• Identify the most common (and often unspoken) pitfalls new assembly and manufacturing leaders face and apply proven, real-world strategies to avoid or recover from them quickly.
• Build and connect with high-performing “crews” by mastering relatable communication, understanding team wants/needs, and creating the kind of presence that earns respect on the assembly floor.
• Execute effective feedback conversations, decisive decision-making under pressure, and behavior-change techniques that turn average or struggling teams into consistent performers — even during crises or major technology rollouts.
• Develop a personal leadership growth plan that leverages self-awareness, mentoring relationships, and career-navigation skills to fast-track advancement in the evolving manufacturing landscape.