A Conversation With Richard Kopelman, CEO of Aprio

About this episode

Richard Kopelman discusses his leadership journey and the importance of a growth mindset in business.

Richard Kopelman, CEO of Aprio Advisory Group, has spent more than three decades with the firm, evolving from a generalist learning the craft to leading a rapidly scaling, global organization. Along the way, he built and grew practices, leaned into specialization, and then expanded back out into enterprise leadership. He describes becoming CEO as “starting over as a freshman,” a mindset that seems to have served him well through 50+ mergers and significant growth. His leadership journey reflects a pattern of exploration, reinvention, and a willingness to take calculated swings… even if not every one is a home run. Episode Takeaways A growth mindset is a deliberate leadership choice. Aprio’s shift away from “why not” thinking toward abundance unlocked expansion, including bold moves like acquiring a law firm If everything is working, you are probably not taking enough risks. Richard’s “bat .500” philosophy reinforces that smart experimentation beats perfection Leaders must let go of technical identity to lead the business, but still dive deep when needed. It is less about abandoning expertise and more about using it strategically Alignment requires repetition. If you are tired of…

People in this episode

Host: Julie Williamson

Guest: Richard Kopelman

Topics covered

• leadership
• growth mindset
• business strategy
• risk-taking
• organizational change

Keywords

• leadership
• growth mindset
• risk-taking
• business strategy
• Aprio
• mergers
• experimentation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aprio Advisory Group

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