Leading From the Front!

The exit is the easy part to talk about. What comes after is where leadership actually gets tested. In Part 2 of this conversation, Dr. Gary McGrath continues with his son Mike McGrath, picking up at the moment Mike walked away from a deal everyone wanted him to stay for and what the following twelve months demanded of him as a leader. Mike acquired new companies in an unfamiliar industry, inherit...

Everyone talks about the exit. Nobody talks about what comes after: who you are when it's done, and how you lead when you're still working that out. Mike McGrath built the Charge Group from scratch, sold it to a Philadelphia-area healthcare company in 2019, and spent five years leading growth and acquisitions from the inside. When a second acquisition came, he walked away and started over,...

What does it actually take to hold someone accountable when you've handed them the whole company? And what changes when that person is your son? Bill Murphy bought Rodeco Metal Finishing in 1982 and ran the Sanford, North Carolina manufacturing business for over three decades. In 2017, he transferred 100% of the company to his son Ryan in one move. No phased buyout. No board seat. No gradual o...

The hardest part of leading a creative company isn't the creative. It's staying clear when the team is waiting for an answer and the safe choice keeps presenting itself. Jen Moss is co-founder of JAR Podcast Solutions, a Vancouver studio that builds branded podcasts for Amazon, Lululemon, RBC, and D-Wave. Before founding JAR, she spent eight years producing audio documentary work at CBC an...

Most organizations think they have a sales problem. What they actually have is a leadership problem. They promote the best rep, hand them a team, and watch things fall apart. Not because the person wasn't talented, but because the instincts that made them great at selling work directly against what leadership requires. In this episode of Leading From the Front, Dr. Gary McGrath sits down with...

What does it actually take to lead three very different organizations through disruption, restructuring, and cultural transformation? In this episode of Leading From the Front, Dr. Gary McGrath sits down with Matt Espe, a former GE executive who went on to serve as CEO of IKON Office Solutions, Armstrong World Industries, and Ricoh North America. Across three very different companies, Matt faced t...

Your team has ideas. So why aren't you hearing them? In this episode of Leading From the Front, Dr. Gary McGrath sits down with Melissa Dinwiddie, a Juilliard-trained performer and innovation consultant who has worked with organizations like Google, Meta, and Salesforce. Together they break down what actually blocks creativity inside organizations, and what leaders can do to unlock it. You wil...

What does it actually take to walk into a company in crisis and rebuild it from the ground up? In this episode of Leading From the Front, Dr. Gary McGrath sits down with Jeanne Taylor Hecht, CEO and Chairwoman of Lexitas, a full service contract research organization supporting pharmaceutical, biotech, and med tech companies in ophthalmic drug development. Jeanne took over as CEO after serving as...

Leadership is not what you intend. It's what you model. Leading From the Front is a coaching-led podcast for aspiring CEOs, founders, and senior operators who want to lead with greater clarity, accountability, and intention. Hosted by Dr. Gary McGrath, each episode breaks down a real leadership challenge — the decisions that test values under pressure, the conversations that either build or er...