Dr. Donna Hicks is an Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. You may recall that she has facilitated dialogues in numerous unofficial diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Colombia, Cuba, Libya and Syria. She has consulted with governments, corporations, schools, churches, and non-governmental organizations.  And she is an expert on the subject of dignity. On this podcast, Donna introduces the Dignity Model and explains how...

Listening is not always a dedicated subject in educational curriculums.  Think about it. There are speech classes, debate teams. You don't hear much about listening classes. That's why it's one of the foundational leadership classes taught in Barry-Wehmiller's internal university. We teach our people to "listen like leaders." It not only affects their relationships at work and with customers, but it has been shown to have a pround affect at home with their families, friends and neighbors.  ...

Laurie Butz is the President and CEO of Capital Credit Union, a credit union with more than 120,000 members in northeast Wisconsin. And we at Barry-Wehmiller definitely consider Laurie part of our extended family. Laurie’s husband, Dennis, worked for many years for our Paper Converting Machine Company, or PCMC, based in Green Bay, WI, part of our BW Converting group of companies. Our CEO, Bob Chapman, has been privileged to be part of Laurie’s leadership journey. And Laurie has enlisted...

On several episodes of this podcast, you’ve heard about Barry-Wehmiller’s efforts to transform how business education is taught. If you want leaders who have the skills and courage to care, that should be part of their education before they are out in the world and in positions of responsibility. But what if we can reach people before they are in business school? What if these skills of Truly Human Leadership are taught alongside history, math, science and grammar in primary and secondary...

If you want to change the way people lead, maybe you should go to the source of where they’re taught to lead – business schools. Maybe the way we teach people to lead should change. Christopher Reina is the Founding and Executive Director of the Institute for Transformative Leadership and an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at Virginia Commonwealth University. Chris came into our orbit at Barry-Wehmiller a number of years ago. Our relationship with...

Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman met Steve Jones, former head football coach at Kimberly High School, several years ago through a mutual friend. Coach Jones said something to Bob that made a lasting impression: “When people truly care for one another, it’s amazing how hard they will work for each other.” When Coach Jones stepped down in 2021, his career at Kimberly High School included five WIAA state championships, 10 conference championships, a 70-game winning streak that set a state...

The leaders of your business can affect its health and vibrancy. They also can have a tremendous impact on the people within their span of care in the business. So, when it’s time to bring someone new into your organization, how do you know when you’re hiring the right person? You can’t always rely on your gut or a couple of meetings. If you make the wrong decision it can be devastating to the business and the people within. When Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute works with an...

Dr. Melinda Bremley is the newest Partner at Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, Barry-Wehmiller’s consulting arm that specializes in helping other organizations unleash the extraordinary in their businesses and their people. Melinda and the rest of the team at Chapman & Co do this by helping those organizations identify, develop and equip their leaders. You can learn more about Chapman & Co. on their website: ccoleadership.com Melinda has over 25 years of experience in...

Times of transition can be challenging for any organization. But challenging times and times of change often presents many opportunities for growth.  But the ability to maximize those opportunities depends on effective leadership. Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is Barry-Wehmiller’s consulting arm that specializes in helping other organizations unleash the extraordinary in their businesses and their people. A few years ago, Chapman & Co. acquired Leadership Alliance – a...

It is a universal truth -- every one of us, no matter what our job or where we live, simply wants to know that who we are and what we do matters. As leaders in business, we have the awesome responsibility to let people know that they do. Our goal at Barry-Wehmiller is to show the world that business can be a powerful force for good when we realize that the way we lead impacts the way people live and have the courage to care for those we lead.  And that is what Barry-Wehmiller CEO, Bob...

At Barry-Wehmiller, we consider leadership to be an awesome responsibility--it holds the key to growing our business and, as important, improving the lives of our team members. It’s our job, as leaders, to help them establish goals so they know how to contribute, to remove barriers that get in the way of them achieving their goals, and help them chart a path for their growth. Our team members deserve that and, consequently, if we’re asking them to contribute, we must ensure that they are...

While presenting our message of Truly Human Leadership, our CEO Bob Chapman is often asked: What about the people who don't get it? What about the people who actively work against positive change? Barry-Wehmiller has acquired more than 130 companies and we've certainly found that the people within that company are a product of their experiences. They may have experienced great leaders in their past or, more likely, they have had some negative experiences. Consequently, some have difficulty...

When Lean was introduced to the Barry-Wehmiller organization a number of years ago, CEO Bob Chapman's concern was that people would be lost along the way. But we found a way to adopt Lean methods and stay true to our Guiding Principles of Leadership.  Instead of using Lean to reduce waste, we use it to reduce frustration. It's part of the bag of tools we use in continuous improvement to ensure a stable and thriving business for the benefit of our people. It's part of our overall Operational...

John Michel is a former Air Force General who has not only used his leadership experience in service of his country, but also to help transform businesses into places that think more about people than profit. John has written two books, (No More) Mediocre Me: How Saying No to the Status Quo Will Propel You From Ordinary to Extraordinary and The Art of Positive Leadership. He has written articles for the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Huffington Post, National Geographic, Joint Forces...

Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is Barry-Wehmiller’s consulting company that helps organizations identify, develop, and equip leaders. They bring the lessons we have learned at Barry-Wehmiller and our principles of Truly Human Leadership alongside scientific methods to provide individual and organizational assessments, training, and consultation. They help their clients drive exceptional results through a culture where people and performance are in harmony. On this THL Refresher...

Rhonda Spencer is Barry-Wehmiller’s Chief People Officer. She has been with our company since before the development of our Guiding Principles of Leadership and was one of the major voices in its creation. It’s her primary responsibility to be the steward of our values and make sure that light shines to the furthest reaches of our organization. Rhonda joined Brent Stewart and Mary Rudder on this podcast to talk about the nuts and bolts of how we try to make everybody feel like they matter at...

Imagine going to get coffee for your team and finding your coffee maker had been repossessed. In the early 1980s, Barry-Wehmiller was in trouble as a business, but we learned to embrace the lessons that arise during times of adversity and uncover the opportunities hidden within periods of crisis. BW CEO, Bob Chapman, tells this story in his book,  Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring For Your People like Family, co-written with Raj Sisodia. On this podcast, Bob talks about...

Here are some insights on the effects of burnout:  The World Health Organization (WHO) officially recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon in 2019. It estimates that over 75% of professionals worldwide experience burnout at some point in their careers. According to Gallup, burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times more likely to actively seek a new job The American Institute of Stress estimates that workplace stress and burnout cost U.S. businesses...

A few years ago, the World Health Organization added “burn-out” to the International Classification of Diseases. Here’s how they define it: Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Quite a while ago, we learned from the Centers for Disease Control that your immediate supervisor is more important to your health than your primary care doctor. If burn-out results from chronic workplace stress, we’re seeing that to...

As we’ve talked about in several past episodes of this podcast, Barry-Wehmiller’s CEO, Bob Chapman, has a passion for transforming the way business education is taught in our universities. We want to transform these institutions that train people to manage into institutions that foster Truly Human leaders who honor individual dignity and demonstrate the courage to care for others. It's why we helped found the Humanistic Leadership Academy. But it’s not only important to teach students how to...

Throughout his writing career, Raj Sisodia has put together a roadmap of how businesses can be a powerful force for good in the world through powerful stories of conscious organizations and their leadership. However, in Raj’s new book, Awaken, The Path to Purpose, Inner Peace and Healing, he uses his own story to show others how to turn inward if they want to be an effect, empathetic and truly human leader. On this podcast, Raj talks about the circumstances that inspired his turn inward,...

It was Simon Sinek who coined the term “Truly Human Leadership.” Simon and Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman became fast friends when they first met years ago. Simon wrote about Barry-Wehmiller in his book, Leaders Eat Last, and he also wrote the foreword to Bob and Raj Sisodia’s book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring For Your People Like Family. He is a significant voice and one of our most important allies in spreading our message. In 2015, Bob and Simon recorded this...

In 2016, Harvard Business School published a case study on Barry-Wehmiller's approach to leadership that is now taught at 80 business schools. In this episode of our podcast, its authors, Jan Rivkin and Dylan Minor talk about the case study method of teaching, why they chose Barry-Wehmiller as a subject, how business school students are responding to people-centric principles and how Truly Human Leadership might apply in our current business and political climate.

Joey Coleman is the founder and Chief Experience Composer of Design Symphony – a customer experience branding firm and also the author of Wall Street Journal bestseller, Never Lose a Customer Again. Joey has a new book that very appropriate for our current times where we’ve had a Great Resignation and people are demanding better leaders and better work experiences, Never Lose an Employee Again: The Simple Path to Remarkable Retention. Whether you are an owner looking to hire your first few...