1,000 Stories

From college football player to business owner and investor, the dreams and goals of Matt Wren have shifted multiple times. But what’s the through-line? Matt Wren is the Vice President of Business Development at Moser Consulting and the co-founder of Extract Energy, a CBD energy drink company. The list doesn’t stop there, he’s had his hands in many different businesses, ranging from an IT company...

Dr. Kevin Berkopes is probably the smartest guy in most rooms. But his philosophy?   "I work from the paradigm that I'm always looking for the next thing to learn."   Dr. Berkopes is a CEO of XR Technologies and former teacher passionate about education equity. His chosen experiences teaching in places like the South Side of Chicago to rural Appalachia have led him to see that everyone is capable...

Imagine: you’re in your 20’s. Overnight, you become the co-president of a 170-person company, with pretty much zero warning or preparation. What would your first day look like?   For Josh Block, it involved a lot of questions, and zero ego. And that’s the way he’s operated ever since.   Josh is the President of Block Imaging, a second-generation family business providing radiology and imagine equi...

Throughout her experiences, she’s learned valuable life, business and marketing lessons. Now, Becky Beckman is a Principal and the Director of Marketing at Gibson , where she says her job is to manage all the chaos behind-the-scenes to present a calm, sleek, unique brand to the community. Listen in as Becky reveals why positivity, family, and balance are key to growing and creating opportunity rig...

The next generation of our investigation kicks off, and who better to lead us into the future than a man who is bringing up the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs? Don Wettrick is a teacher-turned-startup founder with has an intense passion for tapping into young talent and reframing the way we approach education. Don spent well over 20 years in the classroom, flipping traditional edu...

The investigation comes to an end…or does it? It’s the end of our first season. Joe Mills and Reid Morris set out to find an answer—to find the commonalities among growth-minded people. And candidly, that didn’t happen the way they thought it would. And it maybe didn’t happen at all. So what’s next? The investigation continues. Listen in to hear Joe and Reid recap what they’ve learned and what the...

You’ve heard the saying You’re only as strong as your weakest link . But what if your team was united around a shared purpose, each more fulfilled and engaged than the last? Strong links only. Wil Davis , Principal at Noble Why , reveals this is how successful entrepreneurs and business form their teams. But Rome wasn’t built in a day. As a leader, you must identify your purpose, build an empowere...

The investigation continues… Leading Joe and Reid to ask, “What kind of tools are out there to help develop growth-minded and people-first leaders?” Chip Neidigh is the CEO and Founder of Kairos Consulting , a leadership development agency. They use the enneagram to help executives implement a people-first culture. In this episode of 1000 Stories, he reveals how to avoid “invasive support,” what e...

And now the investigation turns to a man familiar with being under the lights… Leadership coach and author Gary Brackett knows all about winning. He’s crushed every obstacle on his journey from Rutgers football walk-on to NFL Colts linebacker to restauranteur to executive advisor. He says reaching goals is about putting in the hard work, cultivating a success mindset, and never letting anyone else...

From intuition to introspection… The investigation continues when Joe chats with a leader with extraordinary self-awareness— Jon Speer , founder of Greenlight Guru . Jon follows two core principles—trust and forgiveness—to guide his leadership style. Learning to trust others to perform as hired and forgiving himself for making mistakes in his pursuit of growth is foundational to a more fulfilling...

We’re at the point in our investigation that the red-hot lead is hard to ignore…the best growth-minded leaders have an insane level of intuition. And, like every great investigative team, Joe and Reid are following the rabbit hole. It’s time to bring in a subject matter expert who can shed some light on this hard-to-ignore discovery. Enter: Kevin Bailey Serial entrepreneur and CEO, Kevin is in the...

The investigation continues…with Sara Croft , professional innovator. Sara helps brands grow by thinking outside the box. As a marketing leader at Innovatemap , she applies instinct to problem-solving—and approaches her career the same way. Since life rarely goes according to plan, Sara says you may actually miss the best opportunities by being overly intentional. Intuitive decision-making is foun...

Every investigation encounters a little shake-up. Enter Lindsay Boccardo —a professional disrupter. Her mission is to help people connect better and find purpose in their work. As a career strategist, keynote speaker, business owner, and Host of YouTube’s The Porch , she empowers listeners to buck convention and do what they love. Her ideology mixes sociology, psychology, and gut-level intuition,...

As the trail continues, it has led to Danielle Falconer . She’s been training to win her entire life. As VP of Strategy at Element Three, she helps clients win by solving their problems and growing their brands. Her success has propelled her to the top in her field. Getting comfortable with discomfort is key to her success. Discipline, preparation, and grit are her natural gifts. The harder the ch...

You speak to where your passions are. And in this conversation, John Gough ’s passions are totally evident: his six children. But it begs the question: can passion at home translate to passion at work? Or does a watershed moment of prioritization have to take place? As the VP of Digital and Web at Element Three , John approaches every decision with integrity and intentionality. By aligning his pri...

Darren Halbig is, at his core, an artist. He’s a designer by trade, and a massively creative individual. When he stepped into a leadership role at Element Three, he reached a boiling point—he had to give up design in order to prioritize leading his 25-person team. So..was it worth it? In this candid conversation, Joe and Reid connect the dots between Darren’s parents fostering 70 to 100 children a...

What does it take to foster growth in people and business? Or maybe the better question..is who? Let’s start our investigation inside of the Element Three walls with CEO and founder of Element Three and host of her own podcast, Scared Confident . Tiffany is a 20-year vet of the marketing industry and leader of an award-winning business. In this episode, Joe helps Tiffany dive deep into the self-do...

What does it take to foster growth in both people and business? Or-maybe the question really is: Who does it take? In this Element Three original show, co-hosts Joe Mills and Reid Morris set out on an investigation to answer that burning question. Join them as they sit down with leaders they admire to discover what makes the most growth-minded leaders tick-from E3 founder Tiffany Sauder to perform...