Manic Energy Podcast

We've been doing strategic planning for a couple of decades now. And I'll be honest, for most of that time, I didn't even know that's what we were calling it. It was happy hours and bar napkins and whiteboards and somebody saying "can you email that photo out?" And somehow that turned into running a company. This episode is part two of my conversation with Dave Hokanson and Katie Brooks about how...

Twenty years of working alongside someone teaches you things you never expected to learn. This episode is one I've been wanting to do for a while. Dave Hokanson is my business partner, and we've been working together for almost two decades, but somehow there were still pieces of his story I'd never heard. So Katie Brooks and I sat down with him to dig into how he got here, from a kid f...

What happens when the person who knows your hunting stories, your late-night bourbon debates, and your family inside and out also happens to be one of the sharpest business minds you know? You stop taking it for granted and start recording. This week, Katie and I sat down with Dr. Cyrus Press, my brother-in-law and one of the people I've learned the most from over the years. Cyrus is a practic...

What if the secret ingredient to growing an entire regional economy wasn't a policy or a tax incentive — but a person? A curious, quietly relentless human who just keeps showing up, connecting dots, and refusing to let northeast Minnesota be a flyover? That's the energy Rachel Johnson brings to her role as President and CEO of APEX — and this conversation left me genuinely fired up about w...

What makes a company truly healthy, the balance sheet, the products, or the people inside it? I've been asking myself that question a lot lately, and this conversation cracked something open for me. I'll be honest, Derek and I barely knew each other before this. We'd bumped into each other a few times at holiday parties through my partner Anne Lang at Lake Superior Consulting. But one...

What if the real measure of success isn't revenue, contracts, or headcount but whether the people on your team get to come home as themselves? That's the question at the heart of this conversation. And honestly, it's one that hit me harder than I expected. I'm sitting down with Josh Krick, Program Manager for Lake Superior Consulting's utility locating department and we're...

What happens when you spend 28 years in one place… and then finally decide you’re not done living? Today’s episode is about getting unstuck—by choosing discomfort on purpose. I’m joined by Rob Jonasen, a cathodic protection technician at Lake Superior Consulting—and honestly, this conversation hit close to home because Rob’s role is one of the first roles I ever started in. Rob’s a Duluth–Superior...

What happens when two identical twins grow up to become powerhouse women in engineering, leadership, and motherhood… and still need regular “twin time” to keep the world spinning right? This episode is fun on the surface, but underneath the laughs, it’s really about identity, ambition, family, and what it means to grow alongside someone who has known you literally your entire life. In this episode...

AI is here, it’s not slowing down, and whether you’re excited or a little uneasy… you’re not alone. The real question isn’t “Is it good or bad?” — it’s “How do we use it to our advantage?” On this episode of Manic Energy , Katie Brooks and I sit down with Kaycee Wheeler to talk about artificial intelligence in a way that actually feels usable — not hype-y, not doom-y… just real. And before we even...

There was a time as a kid when a power outage felt like an adventure—candles, blankets, stovetop heat, and the weird magic of waking up to everything “back to normal.” As an adult, it hits different… because now I’m not just thinking about light—I’m thinking about heat, water, pipes, food spoilage, and how much of life rides on a grid we usually never notice. Today on Manic Energy , we’re digging...

What if the biggest “building” shaping your life right now isn’t a hospital, a bank, or a factory… but a concrete box full of servers, power, and cooling that you’ll probably never see? This episode is my attempt to make data centers feel real—not mystical, not political, just understandable. Today I sat down with Lucas Mistelske—and we immediately got rolling. We barely knew each other going in,...

What does it actually take to move energy safely across hundreds of miles—without the people who depend on it ever noticing it’s there? This conversation is a reminder that the “invisible” infrastructure around us is built on a whole lot of hard-earned experience, problem-solving, and accountability. Today, Katie and I sat down with Aaron Perrault , one of Lake Superior Consulting’s Engineering Di...

What does it look like when the voice of reason finally steps into the spotlight? And what happens when the person who’s been quietly shaping the story decides it’s time to tell their own? On Manic Energy , I’m usually the one in the driver’s seat—asking the questions, pulling the thread, chasing the “why” behind the work. But in this episode, we flipped it. Because at some point it hit me: we’ve...

What if the “real work” of a project isn’t the schedule… but the way you help people do their best work together? On this episode of Manic Energy , Katie Brooks and I sat down with Caitlin Sloan , Project Management Director at Lake Superior Consulting —and someone I’ve known for a long time. I am genuinely excited to introduce her to you because Caitlin’s path to project management is not the typ...

What if the “shale revolution” wasn’t just a headline, but a handful of people making terrifying, high-conviction bets in real time—with no guarantee it would work? That’s the story I got to dig into with geologist and executive Dick Stoneburner, and honestly, it left me thinking about risk, scale, and what it really means to help build an energy system the world now takes for granted. Dick grew u...

It’s a strange feeling—listening to yourself talk and realizing you’re building something bigger than you thought. But there’s a moment early in every journey where you look around and think: Okay… we’re really doing this. A few days after launching the first episodes of Manic Energy, I sat down in the studio with two people who have been in the trenches with me since day one: Katie Brooks , our f...

People love to glamorize business development. They picture golf outings, steak dinners, and endless wine. But the truth? It’s a grind of long flights, failed meetings, and conversations that may never go anywhere—until one does. In this episode, I sit down with Luke Wilkens , Business Development Manager for the Engineering Group at Lake Superior Consulting. Luke’s been in the energy industry sin...

If you’ve ever opened your benefits portal during open enrollment and felt your brain short-circuit—this one’s for you. Health insurance is one of those topics everyone has to deal with, but few of us really understand. It’s confusing, expensive, and somehow still full of surprises, even for those of us on the inside. That’s why I wanted to talk to someone who actually knows how this all works—and...

The energy industry never sits still—and neither do the people who build it. From the rock layers below our feet to the boardrooms where billion-dollar ideas take shape, this world is a constant evolution. But what does it look like to live that evolution? To go from research to risk-taking, from fluid modeling to leading a global consulting business? In this episode, I sit down with Ivor , a petr...

When you hear “HR,” do you think support system or principal’s office ? For too many people, it’s the latter—and that’s exactly why this conversation matters. In this episode of Manic Energy , I sat down with Rob Unzen, someone I’ve had the privilege of working alongside and learning from. Rob has spent most of his career in human resources, recruiting, and now operations leadership. He’s seen HR...

What does it really take for people to show up and care ? Not just clock in and out—but actually bring their energy, their ideas, their whole selves to work. That’s the heart of employee engagement, and it’s something I’ve wrestled with my entire career. I’ve seen it all—tiny shops where everyone reports to the owner, high-growth businesses still figuring it out, and even the big, publicly traded...

I used to think leadership was all about numbers—the financials, the balance sheets, the results on paper. But Cary reminded me that numbers are just the surface. Behind every metric is a person, a choice, a vision. And when you love people as much as you love the process, that’s when leadership actually comes alive. In this episode, I sat down with Cary Hill, VP of Finance and Accounting at Lake...

What if your business could change the world—not just through the products you make, but through the way you show up in your community? It sounds big, maybe even impossible, but after this conversation with Kailey Tachick from Dairyland Electrical Industries, I’m convinced it starts smaller than you think. I’ve known Kailey and her family’s company for years, but sitting down with her in the studi...

For nearly two decades, I’ve been the one asking the questions, listening, building, moving. But sometimes, you’ve got to flip the script. Sometimes, people want to know why you care so much about the work you do—and the truth is, my answer is tangled up in a long, winding road of risk, grit, trust, and a whole lot of “well, here goes nothing.” Back then, I was just a kid working graveyard shifts...

In this debut episode of Manic Energy , host Ryan Swor sits down with longtime colleague and fellow energy enthusiast Katie Brooks to answer the big question: why start a podcast about energy in the first place? Ryan shares his journey from fresh-out-of-school rookie to president and part-owner of Lake Superior Consulting—and why that journey inspired this show. Together, he and Katie explore the...