It gives me great pleasure to launch Operations Buzz with a short interview with Raymond A. “Chip” Mason. This interview is first in a series of what I call the “Thought Leadership Project.” The Thought-Leadership project is a conversation with business leaders on what it takes to operate smart and sustainable companies. Some of the questions are on leadership, the business environment, the challenges of running large organizations; and others explore the lighter side of the person that runs the organization. The goal is to explore leadership and its relationship to running smart & sustainable operations from multiple perspectives.