Humanus Solutions

Andy Erickson has spent his career challenging the status quo, shifting mindsets and enabling high-performing teams. Andy is a student of leadership development and organizational culture – and he excels at putting academic theories into practice. Andy’s experience and commitment to helping others has culminated in founding Humanus Solutions, a team of collaborative consultants who coach leaders to champion people-centered organizations.

Andy earned degrees in Economics and Mathematics from Hamilton College before securing a job in Boeing 777 Operations in 1989. He received intensive training in the Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing, but became frustrated: finding opportunities to eliminate waste was easy, but implementing changes was always a challenge. He began to see that process improvement methods alone don’t cause lasting change. Something more is required.

Following a promotion into factory management in 1996, Andy assumed he would have the leverage necessary to improve processes and repair fractured systems. But he soon realized that authority alone wasn’t sufficient. No matter how much sense an idea made, or how clear the directions, if people don’t buy-in, changes won’t stick.

After years of chasing process improvement, and positions of increasing authority, Andy realized he was missing a key truth: the people hold the answers. And everything he had tried, to date, had alienated and diminished people, rather than engaging them.

Andy has dedicated his career since to applying this insight. Andy explains, "When employees feel disempowered, disengaged, and disrespected, no amount of process improvement is going to effect performance. But leaders who serve their employees, as well as the systems, unleash the ideas, insights and creativity of their team members."

Andy’s leadership philosophy is summed up in his motto: "Work shouldn’t suck." Andy says, "For most folks, work is work –it may not be a fun, joyful opportunity for self-actualization... there’s a reason they pay us for our time. But if people don’t feel their boss has some level of respect, concern and commitment to them, they won’t do their best work. Leaders who want to improve their organization’s performance need to attend to how people feel, as well as the tools and processes they use."

As a result of his insights, Andy went back to school and earned a Masters of Arts in Organizational Systems from Antioch University 2005. In 2007, he left Boeing to join JMJ Associates, a global consultancy, where he worked for managers of large-scale constructions projects for companies like Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Skanska and Jacobs Engineering. He served as a coach to senior executives and front-line leaders, helping them bring their full selves to serving their teams; he facilitated workshops and teams in which people could speak candidly, raise tough issues, and align on actions to address them. He became a valued advisor to leaders seeking to create strong organizational cultures and break-through performance.

While at JMJ, Andy met Greg Landrum. In 2016, Greg and Andy began conversations about how they apply their experiences and talents to the challenges facing the healthcare industry. In 2017, Andy and Greg created Humanus Solutions.

Humanus believes it’s time to take on what you’ve tolerated. Once you do, you will unleash a corps of people who will transform your organization. Humanus embeds in theorganizations it serves to gain an understanding ofperceptions and to lay the groundwork for improved safety, effectiveness and engagement. Assessing pain points and measuring results, Humanus illuminates the power of choice, fostering the belief that performance is a matter of intention, not compliance. In partnership with clients, Humanus harnesses existing processes and tools, provides practical leadership skills training for supervisors and engages the front lines.

Greg Landrum is the CEO of Humanus Solutions, and believes it’s time for leaders to take on what they’ve tolerated. Once they do, they unleash a corps of people to transform their organizations.

After nearly four decades of experience in industrial construction, operations management, entrepreneurialism and public service, Greg has launched Humanus, a team of collaborative consultants who lead transformational change in culture, coach leaders to champion people-centered organizations. He personally believes in his heart that people want to perform, a conviction that guides his leadership at Humanus.

"People thrive when performing at their highest levels," Greg says. "They respond to strong, caring leadership that listens and acts appropriately.My best, and most successful experiences have been leading teams of people thriving in their work."

This belief has deepened throughout Greg’s career, which started as a lab technician at an Arizona-based engineering firm in 1976. Greg oversaw semiconductor failure analysis, circuit design, prototype development and factory layout. Greg also became a regularly published author by writing monthly columns for Semiconductor International.

After four years, Greg moved on to GTE Microcircuits, a client of the engineering firm. Already recognized as a thought leader in semiconductor manufacturing, GTE convinced Greg to help them build and start up their first semiconductor facility. Greg oversaw this $100 million project and once it was complete, it was one of the world’s leading edge semiconductor factories of the time.

The successful completion and start-up of the factory at GTE attracted the attention of Intel, Greg was hired in 1985 as a project manager for its newest factory that would eventually be a competitive advantage for Intel in the microprocessor market place. Greg stayed at Intel for 17 years, holding positions in manufacturing operations, automation and new facilities construction around the globe. At each new site, Greg successfully assembled cross-functional teams with a clear mission and vision for achieving seemingly impossible results.

In 2002, Greg made a family-first decision to limit his travel and lay anchor for his family in the greater Dallas area. He took his design, planning and team building experience and applied it to the residential and commercial real estate market. As a licensed real estate professional, and custom home builder and real estate developer and investor. Greg founded and became General Manager of a real-estate investment partnership with more than $15M in holding buying properties.

Greg’s career pivoted in 2007, when he decided to run for office in the rural community of Argyle, Texas. Winning the local election twice and serving two consecutive two-year terms, Greg advocated for the community by successfully negotiating with real-estate developers and oil and gas producers to ensure the integrity of the town always stayed intact. His legacy as a mayor was facilitating the "2020 Vision" development plan to control growth and uphold a high standard of public services in the rural community.

When his second term was complete, Greg landed at JMJ Associates, the world’s leading safety leadership consultancy, a company he had worked with at Intel, Greg spent nearly seven years at JMJ, starting in business development, and later moving on to operations, consulting and global manufacturing lead. It was at JMJ Associates where Greg met Andy Erickson, whose values aligned so closely with his that they eventually conceptualized and launched Humanus in 2017.

But it was an unexpected, personal event that truly guided Greg into his new chapter with Humanus. His mother was in the hospital and under the care of doctors and nurses following injuries from a motorcycle accident. She suffered serious head injuries from the accident and was in recovery, when she contracted infections while in intensive care. It was the infections that eventually took her life.

This crisis made Greg realize that healthcare around the world is broken, in his words, "the time has come for the people who dedicate their lives to care of others to stop tolerating what they know how to prevent." He recognized many in healthcare are altruistic when they chose their career but over time find themselves disengaged, disconnected and silenced, often by the failing system they work within. He says, "zero harm in healthcare is possible, I’ve seen it in both construction and manufacturing. If I can awaken leadership to this possibility I can make a difference in the world."

To create real change for these suffering patients, leaders and workers, Humanus was born. Humanus embeds in the organizations it serves to gain an understanding of perceptions and to lay the groundwork for improved safety, effectiveness and engagement. Assessing pain points and measuring results, Humanus illuminates the power of choice, fostering the belief that performance is a matter of intention, not compliance. In partnership with clients, Humanus harnesses existing processes and tools, provides practical leadership skills training for supervisors and engages the front lines.