Motivated to Lead Podcast - Mark Klingsheim

This week, we interviewed Ken Sher, who is an Executive Coach, Career Coach, Keynote Speaker, and, most recently, an author. Ken spent more than 25 years at Johnson & Johnson in leadership roles across Sales, Marketing, Recruiting, Training, and Leadership Development. Through his experience, Ken has seen that technical skills alone don't make leaders successful. The best leaders are compassionate...

 This week, we interviewed Dr. Andrew C. Denton, President of Crown College. Andrew is the 17th president of Crown College. His vision, directed by the Lord, is for Crown to be the boldly Christian college of the Midwest. He provides a high level of vision, strategy, and execution to Crown while remaining deeply committed to leading Crown to be a boldly Christian, academically excellent college th...

This week, we interview Amir Abolfathi. Amir is an experienced innovator and medical device executive with a proven record of building and scaling successful enterprises.  He was a founding team member of uLab Systems, Tusker Medical (acquired by Smith and Nephew), and Sonitus Medical. Amir also served for 6 years as an Officer and Vice President of R&D at Align Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: ALGN), the...

This week, we revisit our interview with Pam Fox Rollin. Pam coaches executives and top teams in Silicon Valley and globally. Pam also facilitates technology and healthcare organizations to succeed in strategic transformation, executive development, and culture change. Her bestselling books -- Growing Groups into Teams and 42 Rules for Your New Leadership Role -- are described as indispensable for...

This week we revisit our interview Joe Mandato. Joe holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve University, where his research focused on the evolving role of boards in ensuring effective corporate governance.  He was a 2011-2012 Fellow of Harvard University's Advanced Leadership Initiative and served as Co-Chair of Harvard's Advanced Leadership Coalition. He is a Ma...

This week, we revisit our interview with Fouad Al Noor. Fouad is the Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkSono. Prior to ThinkSono, Fouad was an entrepreneur with Entrepreneur First, where they created a medical software startup.  Fouad has also worked as a Research Assistant at Imperial College London, where they worked on the design of data logging and battery optimization circuit for a portable EEG senso...

In this week's episode, we revisit our interview with Shawn McCormick. Shawn has 30 years of financial expertise and operational experience in the medical device and life sciences industry. Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Aldevron, a private equity-backed CDMO. Shawn joined Aldevron in 2020 and remained until February 2022, following the sale of the company to Danaher, Inc. in...

This week, we revisit our conversation with Keith Grossman. Keith has been a leader in the medical technology industry for more than 35 years. He was the Chairman of the Board of Nevro Corporation (NVRO) until April 2025, having previously served as President and CEO from 2019 to April 2023. Prior to Nevro, he was named President and CEO of Thoratec Corp. (THOR) for the second time in 2014. He led...

In this week's episode, we revisit our interview with Karen Long, a Managing Director at KCK (Med Tech) Group. KCK focuses on capital investment in commercial and growth-stage medical device companies. Karen has been with KCK since January 2018, when she joined as Executive-in-Residence. Karen serves as Board Director in many KCK portfolio companies as well as Independently. Prior to KCK, Karen wa...

This week, we revisit our conversation with Todd Henry regarding his book, The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work.  Todd Henry is an author, speaker, and consultant who equips leaders and teams to unleash creativity and perform at their best. He is the founder of Accidental Creative and host of the long-running Daily Creative Podcast, with millions of downloads w...

This week, we interviewed Retired Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCulloch. Oak is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the author of the 2021 release, "Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be". Both his leadership talks, and his book are based on his 40+ years of leadership experience in combat, peacekeeping operations, disaster relief operations and in the board...

In this week's episode, we revisit our interview with Alisa Cohn. Alisa is an Executive Coach who has worked with C-suite executives at prominent startups (such as Venmo, Etsy, Draft Kings, The Wirecutter, Mack Weldon, and Tory Burch) and Fortune 500 companies (including Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Pfizer, Calvin Klein and The New York Times.) She is the author of From Start-up to Grown-up, whic...

This week, we revisit our conversation with Dr. John Lowry. John is a recognized authority on negotiation through his experience as a lawyer, management consultant, entrepreneur, negotiation coach, and university administrator. We discuss his new book, Negotiation Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Solving Problems, Building Relationships, and Delivering the Deal. His results-focused, systematic a...

This week, we interviewed Tim Lupinacci. Tim is the CEO and Chair of Baker Donelson, which is one of the 100 largest law firms in the country. We are going to discuss his new book, Everybody Leads: How You Lead and Why It Matters. As a self-professed "leadership junkie," Tim's journey to stepping up as a leader began thirty years ago as a young lawyer after disappointing a boss with an epic failur...

In this episode, we revisit our conversation with Kim Cameron. Kim is a Professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business he shares his thoughts around positive leadership and the impact it has on organizations. He is a co-founder of the discipline of Positive Organizational Scholarship—the scientific study of what produces extraordinary performance in organizations and their employe...

This week, we revisit our conversation with Dr. Karyn Gordon (Leadership & Relationship Expert), author of The Three Chairs: How Great Leaders Drive Communication, Performance & Engagement. Karyn is the CEO and co-founder of DK Leadership, a global leadership coaching company whose purpose is developing great leaders at work and home. She has spoken to more than 500,000 people across 17 countries—...

This week, we revisit our conversation with George Bradt. George has led the revolution in how people start new jobs - accelerating transitions so leaders and their teams reduce their rates of failure and fulfill potential. After Harvard and Wharton (MBA), he progressed through sales, marketing, and general management roles around the world at Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and J.D. Power'...

  This week we revisit our interview with Steven Kwast, who is the CEO of SpaceBilt. He is a retired Air Force General who has spent his life understanding the art of peaceful International affairs and national security strategies. He was raised in a remote African tribe and is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy in astronautical engineering. He holds a master's degree in public poli...

This week, we interviewed Daron Lembi. Darin has led Learnit, a global training company for nearly three decades. In that time, they have upskilled over 1.8 million individuals in the workplace. Through this journey, he has gained insights into what helps organizations grow, how great leaders learn, and why learn-it-all companies outpace their competitors every time. Coming to business from a care...

This week, we revisited our conversation with Susan Templeton. Susan is a board member and served as Vice Chair of Sebold Capital Management, an investment advisory and financial planning firm serving high-net-worth individuals and families.   Susan is also on the board of directors for Claridges Trust Company where she sits on the investment and audit committee. In addition, she is on the advisor...

This week, we interviewed Dr. Denny Coates. Denny is the CEO of Grow Strong Leaders. For over 30 years he has published award-winning, brain-based assessment and learning programs used by millions of people worldwide, as well as hundreds of articles and a dozen books, the most recent of which is Grow Strong Character. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he is a decorate...

This week, we interviewed Scott Laster. Scott is an award-winning entrepreneur with 20+ years of global medical device and digital health leadership. His time spent within an FTSE 100 and Top 4 Global Medical Device Manufacturer was focused on high-growth markets and transformational commercial business models. His roles drove deep knowledge of business structure, process excellence, and commercia...

This week, we interviewed Phil Olsen. Phil is the President of Know Your Strengths, he is a Certified DynaMetrics Professional (CDMP) with Professional DynaMetric Programs. CDMP is PDP's highest attainable credential dealing with the recognition of human potential and its applications in human performance. He is also credentialed by the Society for Human Resource Management as a Senior Professiona...

This week, we interviewed Karen Davis. Karen is a seasoned executive coach, speaker, and author with over 25 years of leadership experience in the B2B tech sector. She brings nearly two decades of coaching mastery to high-performing executives, entrepreneurs, and fellow coaches. Karen is the co-author of How to Get the Most Out of Coaching: A Client's Guide for Optimizing the Coaching Experience ,...

This week, we interviewed Jeremy Laynor, the Senior Vice President of Sales at Providence Medical Technology. We discussed his book The Point Guard Approach . Jeremy offers some insight into what it takes to be a leader at work and at home. Jeremy has a strong track record of success in medical device sales leadership, with specific experience in the spinal implant market. He most recently served...