From decades of researching mill operation and conducting process improvement studies, the author has derived a host of valuable insights into the milling process as a system. The inter-connectedness of the process is partially appreciated in the industry at a high level, but from the author’s experience is lacking at an operational level. Furthermore, beneath this there is a gap in solid metallurgical knowledge of standard practice and principles of operation. Graduates are placed on sites and expected to operate complex processing circuits with barely any direct training in the subject. The expectation is that they will learn on the job, but from whom? An understanding built on an insight into the physics of the equipment and processes will payback immediately and provide the upliftment needed for future more advanced processing. Transitioning to high-performance systems with current processing and available technology, will provide the foundation, the springboard for our transformative technologies that will require us to operate the more complex and technically demanding processes of the future. Regardless of progress made in advanced technology, it is surely of value to uplift existing operations, for immediate return, and to provide a platform of technology and operating ability that will be able to effectively operate the more complex and technically demanding processes of the future. This must surely be the pathway to the major transformation in productivity while reducing environmental footprint that the industry is being driven towards. Embracing the opportunities lie firmly, and affordably, in the grasp of the mining industry, through leadership from the top. This paper provides the author’s view of the approach that the industry may take in liberating up to 20 per cent upside in production of current operations while tooling up for future innovation.