Joe Birch is the current Chief Operating Officer and Governor for the storied Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. Joe played in the OHL with the Rangers and the London Knights before finishing his playing career at Western University. He then embarked on a coaching career where he was an Assistant Coach with the St. Thomas Stars and had the chance to work with San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture. His next stop was working at the OHL Head Office for 12 years. There he created and developed the position of Director of Player Recruitment and Education Services, which then led to a Senior Director of Hockey Development and Special Events position and, lastly, he was Vice President of Hockey Development with the OHL. Joe’s diverse background in hockey provided us with some great insights to applying the principles of leadership to non-coaching positions. Specifically, we covered: His hockey journey and how he has been at the forefront of newly created positions within the OHL and the impact that they have had How he has drawn on his playing, coaching and operational roles within the game to develop the ‘human’ skills of leadership He highlighted the Kitchener Rangers initiatives surround Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and how that has been such a rewarding experience for all who are involved How he has conceptualized his org chart to optimize communication and keep the organization as whole at the heart We hope you enjoy this episode of the Beyond the X’s and O’s Podcast.