Driven to Lead

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Richard Culberson, experienced private equity CEO talks extensively about his approach to build real value in the companies he works with. In this insightful and refreshing conversation Richard discusses how building genuine trust the portfolio company he invests in drives better collaboration between all parties, improves transparency, and in general, drives gre...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Shaffiq Rahim, former CEO & President of Lifetech Resources, tells a story of business transformation which includes the need to completely reassess the team, make hard decisions to transition some team members out of the company, recruit new players, generate a new culture of collaboration, while keeping the business results positive and moving forward.  He...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Jeremy Barker, Founder and CEO of Murphy Door, Inc. out of Ogden Utah shares details of his incredible journey from young entrepreneur to homeless truck driver, to fireman, and now to his now wildly successful leadership of Murphy Door.   Strap in for this fast moving conversation that has a multitude of great leadership insights.  Jeremy talks about how he learn...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Mark Poeschl, CEO & Vice Chairman of Furst-McNess Company out of Rockford, Illinois - shares an inspiring business turn-around story from his days in Europe.  His natural talent for listening and his sincere approach to mutual human respect served as the foundation for a high-velocity business transformation in a culture he had not worked in previously.  His...

In this episode of Driven to Lead our guest Brendan O’Donnell, President and CEO of the DFA of California and of Safe Food Alliance talks about the experiences in his life and leadership journey that help define who he is as an executive.  He recounts experiences from early in his career that helped him establish who he is with respect to his interactions with others and with how he meets adversit...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, host Wayne Brannon speaks with Arjang (AJ) Roshan, the president and CEO of Weiler Abrasives Group. They discuss the intricacies of the abrasive manufacturing industry, AJ's journey to leadership, and the importance of embracing discomfort as a catalyst for personal and professional growth. AJ shares a pivotal story from his career that highlights the challenges...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest Henry Charrabé, CEO of Seven Seas Water Group, tells us a story about taking-on the challenge of re-designing, restructuring and rebuilding his leadership team to take the company to the next level.  Henry acknowledges that change of this magnitude is extremely difficult, but also understands that the penalty of not changing can have even greater conseq...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest Curtis Collar, CEO of Nanotech Energy tells us a story about investing time and resources into a development project that had a high level of merit, but that was ultimately not going to be supported by key members of leadership.  In this particular situation, Curtis acknowledges that the executing team had developed an appropriate level of energy and pa...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest John Beering, CEO pf Red Dot Corporation tells us a story about his transition into his current role and the key elements that lead to a positive transformation of the company that began at that time, and that continues to pay dividends to this day.  The focus that he placed on culture in his organization is driving the business to highly value everyone...

n this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest Adam Gibbs, CEO of OTC Industrials tells us a story about a time when his organization was being challenged to introduce and deliver a powerful new innovation to the company’s customer base.  What had been a very successful sales team was struggling in communicating a new approach to the customers needs.  The solution to this dilemma was the personal eng...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest Gary Ramey, CEO of Liberty Ammunition, shares stories with us about the importance of building relationships with your customers and with your team.  In his experience, this sometimes requires that the features and benefits within your product offer take a back seat to the truth and transparency necessary to build true partnerships and strong relationsh...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest Christopher Inverso, CEO of Rainier Industries tells us a story about a distribution & logistics problem for the company's products that became so difficult to manage that his team had to think out-of-the-box to survive.  Their innovative approach not only solved the problem but simultaneously addressed other related issues that actually strengthene...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, our guest Erik Lightner. CEO of Platinum Crush Corporation, shares leadership insights from his international career across the agricultural, manufacturing, construction and engineering sectors.  He highlights the need for trust and transparency in building effective teams and talks about his own journey to embrace a more collaborative leadership approach.  He en...

In this episode of Driven to Lead with guest Matthew Degyansky, we focus on how we can learn from our own mistakes as leaders and improve both our leadership skills and our business performance.  Matt shares a specific story about his journey managing a group of global business development people in the energy sector, and how his drive to succeed helped him overcome the leadership challenges he fa...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, guest Jon Sievert, CEO of Casper's Truck Equipment and Founding Member of Fourward Uplifting, shares his insights about the beliefs and actions that drive productivity and success in his business.  His mindset is to constantly pursue excellence in customer experience and customer service while partnering with his employees and colleagues in this regard.  The stor...

In this episode of Driven to Lead w/guest Jonny Feld, President & CEO of Field Vans, we get to explore the world of the overland conversion van business.  Jonny has literally grown-up in the business and is an avid off-road adventurer himself.  His family owned company builds its passion for its products into its connections to its employees, its customers and its community.   In fact, the key...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Uday Deshpande, CEO/CTO of D&V Electronics USA, shares his leadership insights from over 30 years of engineering excellence.  He describes his personal journey from practitioner to leader based on his own appreciation for being trusted and empowered as he was coming up through the ranks.  As you learn a few things about his work in testing and validation of e...

Nothing Like Hard Times to Tame the Egos — In this episode of Driven to Lead, we hear from Mark Sommer, CEO of Del West Engineering & CEO Gamma Alloys in LA County, CA.  His companies are developing high-tech materials with advanced alloy formulations to build parts for exotic vehicles, race cars and high-end Swiss watches.  Mark tells the story of how his team of engineers began with a dislik...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Linda Lovering shares her inspiring story of growing-up in the car business and seeing her family's businesses transition successfully across three generations.  By playing the long-game and investing in lasting relationships within the community, The Lovering Auto Group has built a brand reputation that has stood the test of time and which is still going strong...

In this episode of Driven to Lead, Alex Papadopulos shares his leadership journey from product engineer to CEO in just a few short years.  Alex highlights the importance of learning to delegate and empower employees as a part of his transition to the C suite.  He also credits his rise to success in great part to having an outstanding mentor who has stood by him all along the way.  His company, Sou...

The episode of Driven to Lead features Kevin Iden, President of Iden's Dealer Services based in Renton, WA.  Kevin shares the leadership principles that have grown his business from very humble beginnings to what is now the largest auto detailing business in the Pacific Northwest.  Kevin's story acknowledges that focusing on client needs and fulfilling them as a key success factor.  But Kevin give...

This episode of Driven to Lead features David J Johnson who is the President and CEO of the National Institute for Automotive Service in Leesburg, VA.  David discusses the success ASE has had building the needed relationships across the auto industry to deliver meaningful service standards and continue to drive service excellence.  The discussion includes David's previous experience leading intern...

In this episode of Driven to Lead with guest Anan Bishara, Founder & CEO of Premium Guard, Inc., we explore a story of true resilience -- starting with the formation of a fledgling US company and ending with what has now become a major international automotive supplier in filtration solutions.  This journey covers the waterfront in terms of what was required of Anan and his team -- from dynami...

This episode of Driven to Lead features our guest Todd Sager who shares his story of founding AWE from very modest beginnings 34 years ago, and building it over time to what is now a major supplier of performance exhaust systems for the automotive industry.  Todd attributes AWE's  long track record of success in great part to his vision that you must build your team of people first and then let th...