Truly Human Leadership

On this episode, we remember BW Chairman Bob Chapman, who passed away on March 19, 2026. Bob Chapman was more than a business leader, author and speaker, he was a relentless optimist who dedicated his life to building a better world. He worked to redefine what it meant to be a leader in business, to further the understanding that it was an awesome responsibility because the way we lead impacts the way people live. He worked tirelessly to bring more caring to business and built the foundation for Barry-Wehmiller to champion new definitions for success in business: by demonstrating that economic growth and human vibrancy can exist in harmony. Bob became CEO of a struggling Barry-Wehmiller in 1975 upon the death of his father, William Chapman. At the time, the company was a $20 million supplier of equipment for the brewing industry. As of 2025, when Bob handed the reigns of the business to his son Kyle, the current President and CEO, Barry-Wehmiller had become a $3.6 billion-plus global powerhouse with 12,000 team members and a portfolio spanning industrial and packaging automation, professional services, and life sciences technology. Beyond his business acumen, in the late 1990s into the 2000s, Bob underwent a personal transformation that changed his thinking from that of traditional "management" to what would later be called Truly Human Leadership. He then spent the last 15 years of his life sharing the lessons of his transformation by writing prolifically and speaking to audiences around the world. Although there's no way we could encapsulate the whole of Bob and what he has meant to so many, on this episode, we want to try to pay tribute to Bob through a clips of a number of interviews we've featured with Bob over the duration of the podcast. Clips that we selected that not only pay tribute to his ideas and insight, but that hopefully showcase the person he was.

Our last episode featured an interview with Raj Sisodia and Nilima Bhat on their new book, Healing Leaders: 7 Steps to Recovery of Self. In that discussion, we talk about their previous book collaboration, Shakti Leadership: Embracing Feminine and Masculine Power in Business. To compliment the discussion of Healing Leaders, we're going to re-release a podcast episode from 2016 where Raj and Nilima talk about Shakti Leadership in more depth. Raj once said, "Vulnerability is not a liability, it's an ability. He was speaking about the benefits of bringing both the masculine and feminine sides of our psyche that exists inside every one of us to our leadership every day. Moving from leadership that is about acquiring power to leadership that nurtures and inspires people. We at Barry-Wehmiller have long believed that there's room for emotion and caring in business. And that's why these two conversations with our friends Raj and Nilima are important insights into how leaders can bring those attributes into their stewardship of those within their span of care.

Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman has said this about the importance of listening: Time and again, I've written that listening is the most important thing a leader can do. But it transcends the leader role. Listening is the most important thing we, as humans, can do for one another. It shows empathy, it shows you care, and most importantly, it shows the person you are listening to that they matter. We are not taught to listen in our society. So much value is placed on speaking, but not listening. How many listening classes do you see in schools or colleges? They have "speech" classes and debate teams. The skill of listening is special and we need to be taught how to do it well. Learning the skills to become an effective listener will not only make you a better leader, but a better human being as well Listening is something we talk about often at Barry Wehmiller, and you've probably heard a lot about it on this very podcast. It's the foundational class of Barry Wehmiller University, our internal school for our team members. We call this class Listen Like a Leader. It's also one of the most important offerings of our consulting company, Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, as they bring Truly Human Leadership to their clients. And it was the reason Bob and his wife Cynthia created their non-profit, Chapman Foundation for Caring Communities, who brings our listening curriculum to municipal and non profits organizations under the name Our Community Listens. On this podcast, we want to feature an interview with someone our listening curruculm has had a large impact on, Gregory Bulanow, a retired a fire chief in North Charleston, South Carolina. In 2014, Chief Bulanow was looking for training for the leadership of his department and heard about Our Community Listens through word of mouth. After he attended, the chief knew this was something that could make a huge impact on his department and on the North Charleston community. In his retirement, Chief Bulanow is still a professor bringing our listening curruculm to his community. His story was featured in the revised and expanded 10th anniversary edition of Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia's book, Everybody Matters the Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family. This interview with Chief Bulanow was dome several years ago before his retirement and he talked about the significance of listening in his work, and he starts off talking about why a class such as this would apply to his department.

Over the years, we've talked about the Harvard Case Study that was written about Barry-Wehmiller in 2016. It's a best seller, taught in over 200 universities to more than 30,000 students. On an earlier podcast, we talked to the authors of the case study, one of which is our guest today, Harvard Professor Jan Rivkin. The earlier episode kind of dealt with the how and why the case study was written, but on this episode, we want to go a little deeper. The Harvard Case Study of Barry-Wehmiller deals with layoffs, a subject that is very prominent in people's minds today. So, on today's episode, we talk with Professor Jan Rivkin about this issue and we also dive into the subject of business education and how leadership is taught and how students are thinking about leadership and how they react to the Barry-Wehmiller case study. It's a wide-ranging discussion, but one that is very pertinent to many issues we are facing today.

A few months ago, our friend Simon Sinek visited our BW Papersystems location in Phillips, WI to record an episode of his "A Bit of Optimism" podcast with Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman. It wasn't the first time Simon had been to Phillips, WI, as you'll soon hear, and for his podcast, Simon not only wanted to talk to his good friend Bob, but other BW teammates in Phillips, some he had met almost 15 years ago. That episode of Simon's podcast is out now. I highly encourage you to listen to it or watch the video version on You Tube, which is almost a mini documentary. You can find this and all things Simon at his website SimonSinek.com On this episode of our podcast, we want to bring you something special. While in Phillips to record, Simon and Bob held a Town Hall for the team members there as a thank you and to recognize them for the inspiration they have been, not only to Simon but countless others. We're going to bring you that Town Hall, which is a great dialogue between Bob and Simon, but also includes a couple questions from the audience, including the high school aged son of one of our team members that is a big fan of Simon's and was very excited to talk to him. Also, Simon and Bob talk about the 10th anniversary revised and expanded edition of Bob and Raj Sisodia's book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, which is available now. Find out more about that at everybodymattersbook.com. So, here is a companion piece to Simon Sinek's A Bit of Optimism podcast featuring Bob Chapman and Barry-Wehmiller. Here's a Town Hall with Simon Sinek and Bob Chapman.

This week, we are celebrating the release of the new revised and expanded edition of Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, Barry-Wehmiller Chairman Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia's book on Bob and Barry-Wehmiller's journey to Truly Human Leadership. On today's podcast, we want to share a story of Bob and the book's impact on one particular leader. Jason Lippert is the President and CEO of Lippert Components, a global supplier of a broad array of highly engineered components for the leading manufacturers of recreational vehicles, automobiles, watercraft and prefab homes. They also operate in adjacent markets, including hospitality, transportation, construction and agriculture. Lippert and Barry-Wehmiller are very similar in size, both are on their third generation of family leadership. And they both have similar values when it comes to stewarding the lives in their span of care. On this episode, I have a conversation with Jason about his leadership journey. How he became a Truly Human Leader and what that meant for Lippert Components. How they approach leadership and personal development. How they approach community service and why that's important to their company culture. We also talk about the impact Bob and Everybody Matters had on his leadership and his company.

We told you in the last episode about the new revised and expanded edition of our CEO, Bob Chapman's book, Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, which will be out Oct 21. Learn more about it at everybodymattersbook.com. If you read the original version, you know it's a story of transformation. It's about a leader who realized there was a better way to lead that was different than everything he was taught and thought he was supposed to do. And how his company changed because of those realizations and why others should change as well. On our podcast today, we havea fantastic discussion with a leader who also had a dramatic transformation experience. Mohammad Anwar is the CEO of Softway, a people-first consulting firm that helps evolving organizations truly transform in areas of technology, communication, and culture. Mohammad and Softway's story was chronicled in their first book: Love as a Business Strategy. Their recently released book, Love as a Change Strategy details Softway's further learnings. On this episode, we talk to Mohammad about his leadership journey. We talk about his amazing transformation and how Softway transformed. We talk about what it means to be a human centered technology company. And we talk about why Mohammad thinks AI can help humans get back in touch with their humanity.

BW CEO Bob Chapman often tells a story about meeting Steve Jones, who was formerly a high school football coach at Kimberly High School in Kimberly, WI. Steve led his teams to five consecutive state titles from 2013-2017 with an incredible run of 70 consecutive victories, a Wisconsin state record. With those impressive credentials, Bob asked Steve what he taught his players about winning and losing. Steve said they didn't. He said that they teach them to play their position well for their fellow team members. Do it as an act of respect for their fellow team members. He said, "When people truly care for one another, it's amazing how hard they will work for each other." To Bob, it begged the question: if you create an environment of unconditional care, wouldn't the people there want to "play their position well" for their teammates? But how do you create that environment? Well, that's the subject of today's podcast. Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is Barry-Wehmiller's company that is a human-centered consultancy that helps organizations and their leaders align people, culture and strategy to drive results.​ They help build agile, purpose-driven workplaces ​where individuals thrive, teams perform and impact endures.​ You can find out more at ccoleadership.com When it comes to building a high-performing team, Chapman & Co. will say it isn't just about assembling talented team members and setting a shared vision or common goals. You can have exceptional individuals, a compelling mission and still feel like something's not clicking in your team dynamics. Most teams don't need fixing, maybe they just need perspective. On this podcast, you'll hear from Praisy Isaac and Emily Gauvain, experts on team building at Chapman & Co. They're going to talk about the hidden dynamics that determine whether teams merely function or genuinely thrive and ultimately create that environment of care where people want to play their position well for their teammates.

There is a hunger for a new kind of leadership. Throughout business and organizations, people continue to be taught to be managers, not leaders. They make sure everyone is in their seat on time, they take headcount for the day, they check off the boxes of daily tasks. But this is changing. As the evidence of the success of caring organizations becomes overwhelming, organizational leadership is reconnecting with their own humanity and recognizing the humanity of those they lead. They are recognizing that the people within their span of care are not numbers on a spreadsheet that are part of the calculations that equal profit and loss, but someone's precious children and should be treated accordingly. They are recognizing that the people within their span of care are not just functions, but whole beings who are capable of so much more than the role into which they've been pigeonholed. Leaders inspire. Leaders care. Leaders help people grow. It's not about the tasks, it's about the person. When we treat people with respect and dignity and create opportunities through which they can realize their potential and be appreciated for it, we, in business, can really impact the world in a positive way. Jacob Morgan interviewed Barry-Wehmiller CEO Bob Chapman and 140 other CEOs and leaders for his new book, The Future Leader. He took that insight and turned it into a roadmap for leaders present and future to see that leadership is not management, it's something much bigger and much more valuable. This is Jacob's second appearance on our podcast. Hear Jacob talk about his research on the future of leadership on this episode.

Almost ten years ago, our CEO, Bob Chapman's book, Everybody Matters was released. It is a documentation of the lessons Bob and Barry-Wehmiller have learned along our journey. Among the most important insights we gained: Everybody wants to know that who they are and what they do matters. Mattering is a term that is getting more and more attention lately. A while back, you may remember episodes of our podcast that featured our friend Jennifer Wallace, who has written a book on mattering and children. And separately, Professor Isaac Prilleltensky, who has done a lot of research on the subject. On his episode, Dr. Prilleltensky said that mattering consists of feeling valued and adding value. On today's podcast, we're going to have a discussion about mattering with Zach Mercurio, a researcher, author, and speaker specializing in purposeful leadership, mattering, meaningful work, and positive organizational psychology. He has a new book titled: The Power of Mattering, How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance. Barry-Wehmiller and Bob Chapman are featured in a chapter in Zach's book, who made this observation based on his research that included BW: How people make meaning in their jobs inevitably affects how they make meaning in life. It's an observation that aligns alongside what we say at the top of the podcast: the way we lead impacts the way people live. Zach and I talk about a number of mattering-related things on this episode. Including how mattering relates to recognition and celebration. That the skills of helping people feel like they matter can be taught. We talk about mattering as it relates to leadership. And we talk about how mattering can be a solution to the crisises of our time. But we start out talking about how conversation about mattering has come to the forefront, specifically as people start to realize they don't feel like they matter.

The term "influencer" has really become a marketing term. It's a job. People are paid on social media to influence behavior, usually toward certain products. But there are real influencers in our lives -- intentional or unintentional -- that have a much greater effect on our behaviors, in positive or negative ways. We've long held at Barry-Wehmiller that your leader is one of the most powerful influencers in your life. Many years ago, I was told that the person you report to at work can be more important to your health than your family doctor. A few years ago, Forbes published a study that said 69% felt their leader had the greatest impact on their health, on par with the impact of their partner. Bob Burg is the best selling author of the classic business parable, The Go-Giver. Another book in that series, The Go-Giver Influencer, is a book that describes the characteristics a leader should have to exert a positive influence on others. Key among them is listening. It's written, as are his other books in the Go-Giver series, as a parable, and it has a powerful message. When it was released, our CEO, Bob Chapman wrote a blurb — or recommendation. In it, he said, "If you do nothing more than read and follow the lesson in chapter seven, you will have given yourself a life-changing gift." Here's a quote from the book about that chapter that explains what he meant: "The next time you listen to someone speak, imagine you're using the back of your neck to hear… It's like listening not only to what a person says, but also to what they don't say. What they mean. What they're feeling, behind the words and facial expression." On this podcast, we talk to Bob Burg about what it truly means to be an influencer.

Barry-Wehmiller's Chief People Officer, Rhonda Spencer, was recently recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal in their 2025 HR Awards for Innovation in HR. This was a long overdue recognition of Rhonda's leadership, but also the work of the BW Global People Team and everthing they've done to help all of our people, all over the world, feel like they matter. Rhonda has been with Barry-Wehmiller since before the development of our Guiding Principles of Leadership and was one of the major voices in its creation. She was our first Chief People Officer and it's her primary responsibility to be the steward of our values and make sure that light shines to the furthest reaches of our organization. Recently, Rhonda took part in a webinar discussion with Mike Budden, one of the partners in our Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute, Barry-Wehmiller's consulting arm that specializes in helping other organizations unleash the extraordinary in their businesses and their people. They do this by helping those organizations identify, develop and equip their leaders. You can learn more about them at ccoleadership.com. On this week's podcast, we want to showcase an edited version of that discussion. It's an interesting conversation as Mike and Rhonda discuss what it means to scale a Truly Human Leadership culture globally. They talk about the processes and systems we've developed to try to make that happen and there's a lot of insight to apply to your own organization.